
The Coming Desert - howard941
https://newleftreview.org/issues/II97/articles/mike-davis-the-coming-desert
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thatoneuser
Damnit I left my browser and came back and it restarted me at the top and idk
where I was haha. It's a beastly long article and the language is interesting
as others have said. I think it still flows tho so to me doesn't read as
pretentious.

So am I correct to understand that Huntington or whatever his name was was the
prominent climate scientist of his time but also just kinda randomly added
racist extra bits in causing him to not be as effective?

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scardine
tl;dr: a very entertaining account of climate-change beliefs across history.
Personally I found the writing style very pleasant.

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grigjd3
I'm glad you found the writing style pleasant. I found it grating and self-
indulgent.

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jrrohrssen
More big words, please...

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byproxy
I don't mind being a bit challenged to increase my vocabulary. But, it seems
the nature of this website attracts people that order dry, straightforward
explanation of phenomena?

I don't like overly flowery language, but I don't mind a person with a good
grasp on language and composition writing a piece that is more than "'A'
because 'B' followed by 'C'. The end." Maybe it's a fine line...

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Nasrudith
Personally I think it could use some more interweaving of commentary compared
to current knowledge for context of just how on or off base they were in
climatology, archarlogical, and sociological aspects. The Angor Wat example
was hillariously bad because megastructure monuments are way more of a
southern endeavor. I believe it took until Cathedrals to get anywhere close in
Northern Europe - and even then the huge windows had a real purpose -
lighting.

Lack of gratuitous size in buildings there makes sense from heating costs
alone - let alone sustainable population densities. Why make more space to
warm than you need to live or defend? Plus why spend time making grand rock
piles when there is winter to prepare for?

This isn't intended as a putdown to other cultures as frivolous- to them there
is less reason to prepare excess food which would never get eaten and would
probably rot. Why pickle what you can get fresh except for liking the taste -
at which point it is mere luxury salt consumption compared to just getting it
fresh.

Although I have a bit more tolerance for "multithreaded" topic presentation
than most so I may be in the minority when it comes to interweaving.

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byproxy
I don't have much knowledge in the domain, but ... pickling also adds
probiotics to foods, I believe.

>Although I have a bit more tolerance for "multithreaded" topic presentation
than most so I may be in the minority when it comes to interweaving.

The interwoven-tapestry-that-presents-a-greater-picture-but-is-hard-to-see-
all-at-once is one of my favorite styles of writing! When the writing is both
focused, but also somewhat vague, and leaves a feeling at the end of a
piece...that can feel more powerful to me than a very directed and clear
diatribe. The style seems to draw out more of an empathetic, irrational side
that feels like 'faith', almost. Annie Dillard and Eliot Weinberger are a
couple of authors that put me in this state.

You may or may not enjoy this: [https://harpers.org/archive/2015/02/in-the-
beginning/](https://harpers.org/archive/2015/02/in-the-beginning/)

