news.discovery.com — Growing deserts in the Middle East and North Africa have already displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. The desert is making a comeback in the Middle East, with fertile lands turning into barren wastes that could further destabilize the region, experts say. "Desertification spreads like cancer; it can't be noticed immediately."
Apr 2, 2010 View in Crawl 4
archiesteelApr 3, 2010
@atomic811: no, it hasn't. 2009 has in the top tier of the warmest years, and 2010 seems poised to break records.
puddininmyeyeApr 3, 2010
"Any intelligent person knows that 3-1 = 2 doesn't mean that 1+1 is incapable or even unlikely to produce the same result."Not a great analogy. That's like saying everyone knows that three cups of water minus one cup of water...etc. Any other examples? Although your general point is taken.
physixxApr 3, 2010
What's got you so cheery?
smotpokerApr 4, 2010
@puddingI believe it is a pretty good analogy. Math is a complex system, like the weather. There are tons of ways to produce the same output using different inputs in math, chemistry, programming, etc etc. I don't see why people should assume meteorology is any different. In computer science there are tons of complex algorithms that basically do the same thing in slightly (or sometimes vastly) different ways.The implication that one cause1/effect1 automatically means there could be no cause2/effect1 relationship is absurd and I believe that analogy illustrates it perfectly. I guess another good analogy would be saying that you cannot get to Asia by going West because it is in the East or something like that. One does not exclude the other.The only other good analogy/saying I can think of ATM is: "there's more than one way to skin a cat"
poitsplaceApr 4, 2010
Nah, not many people live in that part of the US now anyway...but the continent of africa currently has a problem in the form of a gigantic desert taking up a huge amount of space that could be used to help support the billion people that live there.When its warmer, Africa and Australia can support forests or grassland across almost all of the land.
canadianmacfanApr 5, 2010
We've been changing the planet since we made the first tools without being aware of it. It's only intensified in the past couple of centuries. But just because we've been mostly ignorant of the fact doesn't make it not happen.
ireneattoliaApr 5, 2010
And Nature chuckles at puny man...