“Clear cutting of land and buildings and roadways”

 

The title says a lot in that since man  has been clear cutting land to build subdivisions, businesses and warehouses across various regions it has caused a micro system to form where it is finally affecting the climate and weather over areas involved.  Take for example all the clear cutting that has taken place over the corridor south of Atlanta from just west of Newnan to east of McDonough.  It also has affected the area from Griffin to Jackson as well.   As the area heats during the day because of the lack of trees and from the reflected heat from the concrete, asphalt and metal that line the areas it is affecting the weather in a micro area just as it does in downtown Atlanta and across the area from Paulding County to Gwinnett County.  As strong storms move in from Alabama across this area they build in intensity and are primed by the heat island effect that all this has created.  It hasn’t been that many years ago they had an EF 4 tornado in Coweta County that can be attributed to this.  The smaller EF 2 tornado of May 29, 2025 can be attributed to this effect as well that dropped just south of McDonough in Henry County.  The area west of the county is clear cutting and so as they are in Henry County.  Now more clear cutting is planned for the area around Lake Talmadge in the very western edge of the county and also in the areas planned for the new Data Centers which will create their own little micro system of heat over  a small area that can ignite a storm that passes over it.

  Remember also the storms that build in this heat island will also move eastward to haunt our neighbors in Rockdale, Newton and Jasper Counties.    It is bad enough with the traffic along the roadways of Hwys 54 and 34 W; Hwy 85 north to south; Hwy 19 & 41 north and south; and I-75 north and south.  These heavily traveled roads are creating acid rain from all the vehicles creating carbon dioxide which rises in the atmosphere and when it mixes with water it becomes sulphuric acid.  I wrote about this problem that was beginning over 40 years ago and yet no one paid attention and I said then that the storms would get worse as the areas would become heat islands and no one listened.  Well now we are seeing what I saw long ago and it can be slowed.  If the areas stop the clear cutting, make the roads less congested, and replant trees.  I will not live long enough to see things make a difference if it is begun today.  It takes time for trees to grow and to fix roadways.  People have to understand it is not the current citizens who will be able to see and feel the difference, it is the generations to come.  I hope people will begin to listen so things will get better instead of steadily worse.  We are our own worst enemy, my friends and neighbors.  We have hurt our own selves with the want of money and the uncontrolled lust for it.  I have always said follow the money well in this case it isn’t hard to see the results of uncontrolled greed.

“Clear cutting from history”

It has been about a century ago that clear cutting caused a microcosm of the climate in local areas.  Farmers had to strip away the forests to plant cotton, corn and other foodstuffs that brought in money to their pockets.  The clear cutting causes temperature extremes and also was the time of the dust bowl that engulfed much of the  United States.  The idea of clear cutting of trees today brings back those memories of history.  They say history will repeat itself and in this case it sadly could.  Farmers didn’t realize what was happening and neither do the developers of today.  And  it will come on suddenly to take hold of the area before they can react to it.  I am including photos from Heard County and Troup County from that time to give an example of the disaster it brought on.

Staff writer Dr. Mike Moon PhD.

Photo 1 Erosion from clear-cutting in Heard County 1941.

Photo 2 More erosion from Heard County 1041.

Photo 3 Clear-cutting in Hogansville 1905.

Photo 4 Clear-cutting and poor farming practices in the 1930s caused Providence Canyon in Lumpkin GA this photo is from 2010.