The Romans also had a special 'tree line' of their own, so anywhere further north than where olive trees could grow was the land of the Barbarians. I can't reme

The Romans also had a special 'tree line' of their own, so anywhere further north than where olive trees could grow was the land of the Barbarians. I can't remember what this 'olive tree line' was called or find a link to it, or even remember at what stage of the Roman Empire that the 'olive tree line' was a thing. Back to the article, the thinking that went on prior to the Dustbowl was that 'the rain follows the plough'. Not the same as 'the rain follows the tree'. It was no accident that there were not a lot of trees in the Dustbowl areas. The indigenous people that lived there before the Columbus rocked up had cultivated the land by clearing it with fire. This created tasty pasture for buffalo to graze on. Meanwhile, out of computer models and in real life, there is an interesting bit of progress going on in Ethiopia right now. The aid agencies and their ideas on having people eat imported maize were booted out to be replaced with proper crops and some proper land management. These efforts put to shame 'Band Aid' and, odd as it seems, I really would like to go there for the cuisine. I never thought I would be thinking that Ethiopia - of all places - could be a place of fine, wholesome dining with the most amazing markets. Everything is low-tech in this DIY reboot, there is lots of teamwork and quite a Garden Of Eden is being made. The soil has fertility, rain does not wash away the topsoil, the tree-line has gained altitude and it is all going very well. I do not know if there is a micro-climate with extra clouds, however, this improvement in circumstance has not been dependent on work done 'a continent away' to magically make clouds. Ethiopian people outside of this huge 'trial area' and still farming boring crops resent missing out.