[standeven]

Do hand-dug berms planted with native and non-invasive plants count as technology?

And is increasing desertification one of earth's natural processes or is it an effect of technology, specifically technology we've used to pull massive amounts of carbon out of the ground and add it to the atmosphere?

Not trying to be hostile, just questioning some of your assumptions.

[jwagenet]

Hand-dug berms are certainly technology, but perhaps not “high technology”.

And desertification is a natural process, see the Middle East or the Sahara itself, but perhaps accelerated by human impact.

[i386]

Technology means the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. It is a technology. If this is good or bad, is a rather Victorian notion called the appeal to nature.

[mgraczyk]

Hard to imagine a framework for thinking about this where "hand-dug" matters, but unfortunately I think it comes down to things like this.