PUBLIC MARKS with tags astronomie & écologie

We may not be living on a fertile world, an optimal environment for life; maybe we live on the galactic equivalent of a barren weed strewn city lot.

A 2005 paper by Jianguo Liu and Jared Diamond described the increased incidence of dust storms in China. From AD 300 to 1949, China experienced a dust storm on average every 31 years. After 1990, a dust storm occurred almost every year. The authors attributed the increase in such storms partly to deforestation and changes in water usage.