[LINK] Propaganda, manipulation and the abuse of media [Was: IPA, astroturfing and fantsy themes/Science under attack]

[David Boxall]

On 21/02/2012 2:42 PM, jim birch wrote:
> ...
> If you look at the "Fertile Crescent" where farming started ten thousand
> years ago you might think the name was given as a joke.  The Sahara desert
> was created by deforestation particularly during Greek and Roman times.  It
> was actually reasonably lush just a few thousand years ago.  The fertile
> lands of ancient Greece are now one step away from desert and I doubt the
> Plato would recognise the place.  The ecological change is largely due to
> removing the trees and overgrazing with resultant loss of topsoil and
> fertility and increased runoff so the land gets drier and hotter, but is
> also worsened by consequent changes to weather patterns that produce less
> rain.  It is practically impossible to reverse.
>
> This has been referred to as the ecological cost of western civilisation.
> Possibly not a bad deal you might say but it could have been done a lot
> better.
> ...
They could pick up and move somewhere less degraded. We're doing 
something worse with the whole planet. We have nowhere to go.

-- 
David Boxall                         | "Cheer up" they said.
                                     | "Things could be worse."
http://david.boxall.id.au            | So I cheered up and,
                                     | Sure enough, things got worse.
                                     |              --Murphy's musing