At the end of her speech, Dr. Bunlap presented the audience with this statement; “Land use can do what climate change does in years, in 5 minutes. (Bunlap, 2016)” Once again reminding us that our activities can be destructive, if not managed. She encouraged the audience that the time to take action is now and reiterated how the loss of the critical zone in deserts influences plant community composition, plant nutrition/biomass, local hydrologic, carbon, and nutrient cycles, and regional dust and water cycles (Bunlap, 2016).