@hideki does he mean the trees that are gone?
@ken and the grass 
b e a r d
@beardalaxy @hideki are you just giving additional information or are you trying to argue that human made global warming doesn't exist?
@beardalaxy @hideki i would argue that grass doesn't grow back on completely barren land quite so easily and quickly that it could just do so every year. The roots still need to be there from winter... (if i'm not mistaken)
@ken @hideki I'm just giving extra information, although I'm sure the colors were boosted quite a bit here. The Google Maps pictures were all taken during the summer time, even the one from June '07 isn't very green and looks pretty much like the other two. It does look a little bit greener but the time of day and camera quality are also a lot different. California, if you're not actually nearby the coast, is pretty hot and it gets pretty dry too.
If you look on Bing maps it's a lot greener than on Google. Can't check too much on mobile but I would guess that these images were taken earlier in the year instead of during the summer.
@hideki @ken this is in southern california and far from the coast, it's literally a desert. it might look like this in the springtime but definitely not year round. if you hop over the mountains and go further east you get to death valley which is one of, if not the hottest place in the united states.