What if you could turn desert sands into a kind of sponge that would absorb water? It’s one of those brilliantly simple ideas that could deal with one of the bigger problems of climate change – the increasing desertification of big chunks of our world.

Desert Control is a Norwegian company that has figured out how to do this. “Our vision is to make the earth green again, by stopping and reversing desertification and soil degradation. With our unique product we want to turn degraded land and sand to fertile soil, and at the same time reduce the water usage for green ecosystems up to 50 percent.”