| In the book Holes,
Green Lake is dry because no rain has fallen for 120
years. The book says the rain stopped coming when Trout
Walker killed Sam, the onion man, and asks, "Who do
you think God punished?" 
Desertification
means turning a place into a desert. Humans can do things
which make or expand deserts. Some of the ways they do
this are
- Overgrazing
- humans let their animals eat too much of the
grasses and other plants, and then the soil blows
away because the plant roots don't hold onto it.
- Improper
farming - if farmers use up the natural resources
like minerals and don't replace them, the land
becomes infertile and plants can't grow.
- Diverting
water - by damming rivers and taking the water
somewhere else so the land has less water.
- Cutting
trees - removing the trees can cause erosion of
the soil, and also let the wind blow the soil
away more.
- Mining
- if the land and plants are plowed up and not
replaced properly, it leads to erosion. Also,
some of the byproducts of mining can be toxic to
plants and animals.
- Changing
weather patterns - when humans change the earth
and water over big areas, the climate can change,
and make some areas deserts.
But we
don't really believe God punishes people by stopping the
rain, do we?
|
