I almost never write about environmental topics, but I did so recently because after reading an article about how the deserts are being greenified (I think that's a technical term) and Beijing is no longer in danger of being sucked into a huge sand dune, I thought that signified big progress.

And now I see this from China Dialogue (h/t : China Digital Times):

China’s tree-planting movement continues down a worrying path. The planting of artificial, single-species forests has not abated in China; in fact, it has worsened. The country’s original distribution of trees: fir trees in the south, poplars in the north, has made way for poplars everywhere – north, south, east and west. There are even attempts to start poplar plantations on the southern tropical island of Hainan.

High-density, single-species forests are a source of almost never-ending problems. Some even call them “green deserts” since they are very poor at retaining soil or water, unproductive and monocultural.

That's what we used to call a bummer. I got a giggle out of that word "monocultural" though. Sounds very political, eh?