MP>Some of what you describe here... drier in places and wetter in others...
  >is man-made.  When you are diverting large amounts of water into areas to
  >create a desert oasis for the rich... complete with many well kept golf
  >courses per-capita... and away from the fertile crop areas, forests, and
  >mountains, you are changing the likelihood of rain in those previously wet
  >areas.  They are not as humid as they should be because the water the rain
  >cycle feeds off of has been diverted elsewhere.  So the forested parts get
  >drier and burn more easily.

Yes, they do some things that can make a difference. I was reading the
other day about where some North American Colonization caused a large
amount of land that was farmland to be abandoned to nature and it
was slowly taken over by forest, and that changed the climate over
huge areas. One must assume that when forests were originally cut
down to create farmland, the reverse problem was created but that was
long enough ago people weren't thinking about such things yet.

They are clearing forests like crazy in South America which will
affect the oxygen created by the trees and increase the carbon that
the trees tend to store. This probably does more harm than all
the other things people complain about. Brazil alone has cleared
over 240,000 sq miles of forest and they are not slowing down.
Their deforestation is up about 260% over the past 8 years.

There was talk as well about slowly planting forests at the
edge of deserts which change the weather in the area to be
self sustaining but, as you say, the water has to come from
somewhere else.

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 * SLMR Rob  * Yes, I know I'm off topic. Thankyou for your concern
 * Origin: Capitol City Online (618:250/1)