Global Drylands Center’s Osvaldo Sala and Celina Osuna collaborated with Ed Finn, Director of ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination (CSI), and co-authored a piece for Scientific American to celebrate the premiere of Dennis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Dune and take the opportunity to shed light on the beauty and biodiversity of the earth’s deserts in the face of common misrepresentations.

“Deserts are classified by scientists as drylands, an environmental category that also includes grasslands, steppes and savannahs. Even though they make up 40 percent of our planet’s landmasses, drylands are increasingly threatened by public misconceptions about them. These false perceptions—perpetuated by pop culture—condemn a dry environment as a wasteland. To navigate the challenges of the 21st century, we need to understand and protect drylands as critical shared resources for humans and many other species to survive and thrive.”

The full article, titled “What Dune Should Teach Us about the Beauty of Drylands,” can be read here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-dune-should-teach-us-about-the-beauty-of-wastelands/

We are thrilled that so many people have taken an interest in this work and look forward to continuing to work with CSI to explore the future of drylands and their narratives!