Desert Power

What monks and worms can teach us about how to save the planet, and ourselves.

Photo: Warner Brothers

There is a reason why all religion begins in the desert. Deserts are harsh, inhospitable places, particularly dunes. The ecology of dunes is primarily influenced by the prevalence of high winds, which pick sand up from the windward side of the dune and deposit it on the leeward side in a shifting pattern of constant transformation.…