In article , Larry Blanchard wrote:
In article
k.net,
says...
Well, our ancestors also did a lot of stupid destructive things, like
slash and burn agriculture, and farming out the land then moving on to
somewhere that hadn't been sucked dry of nutrients, and letting sheep
and goats destroy pasture and thus soil (the middle east wasn't a
desert until a couple thousand years ago, you know -- it got that way
from wandering tribes and their goats.

Well, the goats helped, but there was a little thing about a
climate change that did most of the damage :-).

True, but there is also some thought that the climate change was
exacerbated or possibly even triggered by the goat damage. Deserts
tend to creep, once they get started.

I've seen a wind pattern completely changed by urban growth -- back
when Santa Clarita was small, you could set your watch by the ocean
wind that cleared out the hot air, every afternoon at 2.30pm. As the
city grew and filled the narrow valley, adding lawns and other sources
of humidity (thus "heavy air"), the afternoon wind got weaker and
weaker, and now no longer does clears out the valley at all (barring
storm conditions). So instead of cooling off every afternoon, it now
stays still and hot til sundown.

~REZ~