Author Archives: David Bainbridge

About David Bainbridge

David A. Bainbridge is an esteemed ecologist, author, teacher, and historian. His areas of expertise are desert restoration, sustainable agriculture, ecological economics, and more. With over 50 years of experience and a prolific output of over 300 articles, many books and book chapters, David Bainbridge continues to pioneer in the field of sustainability.

High Efficiency Irrigation Systems for Home Gardens, Shrubs and Trees

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Climate change is bringing longer and more severe droughts and floods. Water supplies are limited in many areas and water costs are rising. Many families, communities and even countries are at risk. More efficient irrigation systems can make the most of limited water supplies. Over the last 40 years I have been testing and refining strategies for plant establishment in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of North America with rainfall as low as 7.5 cm in a good year. Many of these systems can prove useful for home gardens, and growing shrubs and trees in arid lands. My quest began … Continue reading →

Go Big! The Challenge of Large Scale Restoration of the Badiya

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The badiya[i] is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering 500,000 square kilometers (200,000 square miles) of the Middle East, including parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.[ii] It accounts for 85% of the land area of Jordan[iii] and 55% of Syria.[iv] To the south it borders and merges into the Arabian Desert.[v] Much of the Badiya has become severely degraded by historic misuse over hundreds of years.[vi] Trees were cut and used for buildings, but more intensively for firewood and making charcoal. This pressure and centuries of overgrazing by herds of thousands of camels, goats, and sheep … Continue reading →