Human Degradation of the Environment
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
A pair of environmental scientists demonstrated the detrimental effects of human activity on the land, thereby affirming a biblical passage that speaks of the ground being cursed. The semiarid Sahel region of Africa experienced significant droughts over the past 40 years. As recent rainfall increased, the region exhibited a recovery of vegetation, suggesting that livestock grazing was an insignificant factor on the droughts. However, a further analysis accounting for the efficiency of rainfall usage shows that the recovery in this particular region fell significantly behind similar regions without livestock overgrazing. Obviously, this represents a single case, but it does demonstrate that unwise management strategies employed by humans cause greater difficulties as time progresses. Such a result accords well with the effects of the curse on the ground as described in Genesis 3:17.
- Lars Hein and Nico De Ridder, “Desertification in the Sahel: a Reinterpretation,” Global Change Biology 12 (2006): 751.
- https://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01135.x
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