Hmm, is Cecil Adams off the mark here?

[kookbreaker]

Man wrecks planet! (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030620.html)

Some of the sources seem kinda dicey to me, anyone got better stats?

[Cinorjer]

I also read the article, and had several concerns about the accuracy of the statements.

First of all, a statement like "we lost 75,000 acres of rainforest today" deliberately picks a smaller unit of value for shock effect. That's 115 square miles, and I'm too lazy to do the kilometer conversion. Most people (unless you're farmers or country folk) don't realize how small an acre actually is. It's still a problem, of course.

The other statements like desert growth, topsoil erosion, etc. mostly treat total worldwide estimates like it's an entirely manmade problem. In fact, the statement is about how "We're doing this..." In a dynamic world, deserts are always expanding and contracting, topsoil is carried downhill by rain and flood, etc. What is needed is an accurate estimate of how much erosion is from human activity. Again, humanity does have a big impact on our land, but the figures are misleading in at least that aspect. While farming does speed up the advance of the Sahara desert, for instance, we are not responsible for the long term changed weather patterns that actually drive the desert expansion.

[reprise]

SDMB thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=192165) discussing Dopers' opinions of this particular column.