We love concrete. We really love concrete. We’ve paved over so much of the planet that rainwater now has nowhere to go but straight into storm drains, creating flash floods in cities that used to just soak into the ground.
This is called “urban runoff,” and it’s like turning your neighborhood into a giant water slide—fun for five minutes, terrible for your basement. When we pave over wetlands, we’re stealing the planet’s kidneys; wetlands normally filter and store water for months.
Instead, that water now rushes into rivers so fast that fish get dizzy. Seriously, some salmon have started asking for GPS just to find their spawning grounds.
We’re Basically Cloud Con Artists
You know how you leave a sprinkler on too long and your lawn turns into a swamp? Well, we’ve done that to entire continents with irrigation. We pull water from rivers and aquifers to grow almonds in the desert and corn in places that used to be plains.
Here’s the punchline: when we spray that water onto crops, a huge chunk evaporates right back into the sky. That means we’re literally manufacturing clouds in areas where rain wasn’t supposed to fall.
In some cases, this “irrigation effect” has increased rainfall downwind by up to 30%. So yes, your salad is partially responsible for thunderstorms in Kansas. You’re welcome, Kansas.
