Don't Ignore the Drought: It's Bad, and It's Not Going Away

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/18-12


A farmer holds a fistful of arid topsoil in Logan, Kansas. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

Droughts, it could be argued, are the opposite of news. By definition, they represent the absence of something (namely, adequate rain) happening. And they only occur when that something has already been not-happening for a very long time. As a result, droughts tend not to make the front page. When they do – as happened last summer, when headlines trumpeted the worst U.S. drought conditions in 50 years – the public gets concerned. But soon enough, droughts begin to feel like business as usual again, invisible in their very ubiquity.

It's time to start paying attention.

Why?

Well, first off, the current drought – which is essentially the same one the U.S. has been experiencing since 2010, and which last year encompassed more than 65 percent of the country, more than at any time since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s – is having some eye-popping impacts that make it tough to ignore. In 2012, more than 9 million acres went up in flames in this country. Only dredging and some eleventh-hour rain kept the mighty Mississippi River from being shut down to navigation due to low water levels; continuing drought conditions make "long-term stabilization" of river levels unlikely in the near future. Several of the Great Lakes are soon expected to hit their lowest levels in history. In Nebraska last summer, a 100-mile stretch of the Platte River simply dried up. Drought led the USDA to declare federal disaster areas in 2,245 counties in 39 states last year, and the federal government will likely have to pay tens of billions for crop insurance and lost crops. As ranchers became increasingly desperate to feed their livestock, "hay rustling" and other agricultural crimes rose.

[daleanime]

1. K&R

But the debt ceiling, but the budget crisis.....

[madrchsod]

2. dust bowl days

[MrYikes]

3. You are kidding me, right?

ranchers became increasingly desperate to feed their livestock, "hay rustling" and other agricultural crimes rose.

Right wing conservatives would never sink to crime,,,,right? I mean, they are the upstanding christian (sorry, can't continue to think up words, they're getting stuck in my throat).

[NoOneMan]

6. "Right wing conservatives would never sink to crime"

Are all farmers and ranchers right wing conservatives?

[LWolf]

7. Not all ranchers are right wing conservatives. nt

[Ghost Dog]

4. UN climate change conference blah blah told you what's going to happen.

You said: no deal.

Famine. Fuck.

[limpyhobbler]

5. k/r