Hi, looks like you asked an important question several months ago and nobody took the time to answer. I guess you have already written your paper and I hope it went well.
Certainly not an expert here, but I do believe that over thousands of years humans have remove forest cover over vast areas of the earth's surface, reducing biodiversity and creating deserts as a result.
It's controversial, but evidence is emerging that contiguous forest cover influences rainfall in a positive way while bare ground tends toward desiccation. Archaeological finds of previously thriving civilizations in places which are now barren desert suggest that human activity seriously damaged the hydrological cycle to the point that large human populations could no longer be supported in those locations.
Many governments see the need for reforestation for ecological reasons (China, India, Thailand and many more) but, from what I've seen in North America, planting trees there is usually for commercial purposes.
I plant trees because I love them and I get a feeling of joy when I see them growing. My influence on the general human tendency to create deserts is, of course, negligible. So be it.
My basic suggestion is that civilization is ecologically destructive and, with all it's frippery, does not provide us with the sense of deep well being or happiness that we really need.
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