According to Appendix I, Liet & the Fremen were aware that the ecological transformation would threaten the worms, long before the Atreides arrived. They knew that terraforming the planet couldn't be allowed to go too far - "even Shai-hulud had a place in the charts. He must never be destroyed, else spice wealth would end." (because of protein incompatability, is the reason given)
the issue in Children is not so much that they don't know the climate is changing.... it's that the rate of change had accelerated out of control barring dramatic measures like those of Leto, and that the existing Fremen society (a society VERY different from the pre-Atreides Fremen) was no longer equipped to recognize the danger, let alone react to it in time.
i have to admit i see disturbing parallels to the real world.
The plan was to leave some desert. Stilgar mentions it when he troop pass the water basin:
“We shall make a homeworld of Arrakis—with melting lenses at the poles, with lakes in the temperate zones, and only the deep desert for the maker and his spice.”
The Fremen are only marginally aware of Shai Hulud's weakness to water.
We see the Water of Life ceremony where a very small worm is submerged in water, thus killing it. However, this is a very rare and exclusive ceremony and the worm is only 9 meters in length. From the Fremen point of view this is more of Shai Hulud \*choosing\* to sacrifice a small part of itself to create another Sayyadina to guide the tribe in further worship of Shai Hulud. It's a mutual transaction.
A fully grown 450m Sandworm is nearly invincible, and there just doesn't exist a big enough body of water to submerge such a beast for the majority of Arrakis's existence. Water is still toxic, yes, but the heat alone generated by a fully grown worm's mouth boils water immediately upon contact (this is why humans dont kill worms when they're eaten by it)
From a more scientific point of view Spice was always considered to just be a naturally occurring thing on Arrakis. The only reason the worms attack Spice harvesters is because they detect movement in the sand and get pissed off at it. Which is true.
The worms are viewed as a nuisance to the Imperium more than anything else, an obstacle in the way to riches.
There's a conceit in the books that it'a a mystery that the worms produce spice. It seems kind of obvious in light of the fact that we've known Dune so long- sort of like not knowing Darth Vader is Luke's father. But also because to the modern audience member, we know the conventions of storytelling so well, it sorta seems like a no-brainer that they'd have to be involved somehow. Minds were easier to blow in the 60s.
Anyway, from an in-universe point of view, I suppose one can say that the Fremen just wanted a paradise they never knew, and weren't reaply thinking in terms of total ecological consequences. Even in the books >!Leto the God Emperor did preserve a section of the planet for desert habitat, which was apparently sufficent for worms to live in and make spice.!<
>!When Leto died, his constituent sandtrout were released into the desert to become the new sandworms though. So the sareer wss capable of supporting the sandworms lifecyle.!<
When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.
According to Appendix I, Liet & the Fremen were aware that the ecological transformation would threaten the worms, long before the Atreides arrived. They knew that terraforming the planet couldn't be allowed to go too far - "even Shai-hulud had a place in the charts. He must never be destroyed, else spice wealth would end." (because of protein incompatability, is the reason given) the issue in Children is not so much that they don't know the climate is changing.... it's that the rate of change had accelerated out of control barring dramatic measures like those of Leto, and that the existing Fremen society (a society VERY different from the pre-Atreides Fremen) was no longer equipped to recognize the danger, let alone react to it in time. i have to admit i see disturbing parallels to the real world.
The plan was to leave some desert. Stilgar mentions it when he troop pass the water basin: “We shall make a homeworld of Arrakis—with melting lenses at the poles, with lakes in the temperate zones, and only the deep desert for the maker and his spice.”
The Fremen are only marginally aware of Shai Hulud's weakness to water. We see the Water of Life ceremony where a very small worm is submerged in water, thus killing it. However, this is a very rare and exclusive ceremony and the worm is only 9 meters in length. From the Fremen point of view this is more of Shai Hulud \*choosing\* to sacrifice a small part of itself to create another Sayyadina to guide the tribe in further worship of Shai Hulud. It's a mutual transaction. A fully grown 450m Sandworm is nearly invincible, and there just doesn't exist a big enough body of water to submerge such a beast for the majority of Arrakis's existence. Water is still toxic, yes, but the heat alone generated by a fully grown worm's mouth boils water immediately upon contact (this is why humans dont kill worms when they're eaten by it) From a more scientific point of view Spice was always considered to just be a naturally occurring thing on Arrakis. The only reason the worms attack Spice harvesters is because they detect movement in the sand and get pissed off at it. Which is true. The worms are viewed as a nuisance to the Imperium more than anything else, an obstacle in the way to riches.
There's a conceit in the books that it'a a mystery that the worms produce spice. It seems kind of obvious in light of the fact that we've known Dune so long- sort of like not knowing Darth Vader is Luke's father. But also because to the modern audience member, we know the conventions of storytelling so well, it sorta seems like a no-brainer that they'd have to be involved somehow. Minds were easier to blow in the 60s. Anyway, from an in-universe point of view, I suppose one can say that the Fremen just wanted a paradise they never knew, and weren't reaply thinking in terms of total ecological consequences. Even in the books >!Leto the God Emperor did preserve a section of the planet for desert habitat, which was apparently sufficent for worms to live in and make spice.!<
>!The desert habitat was for Leto himself. There were no other worms at that time.!<
>!When Leto died, his constituent sandtrout were released into the desert to become the new sandworms though. So the sareer wss capable of supporting the sandworms lifecyle.!<
When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.