Tag: inaction

Megadrought in the American Southwest

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Mario Tama/Getty

When the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified before Congress in June 1988 about a warming planet, the temperature in Washington DC hit a record 100F. It was a summer of unprecedented heatwaves, and 40 states were grappling with drought.

His warning was seen as a historic wake-up call – but instead of heeding the existential smoke alarm, the US removed the batteries and kept on cooking.

Nearly four decades later, the consequences of a sweltering Earth are hitting home in the US south-west and mountain west – comprising states from California to Colorado. Over the past two decades, extreme heat and dwindling moisture levels have converged to create a “megadrought” deemed the driest period in 1,200 years…

The west is now in uncharted territory, as once singular conditions become the norm. Its mightiest reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell – are at record low levels and steadily shriveling. Prolonged, triple-digit heatwaves are making cities like Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, almost unlivable during summers. And wildfires now spark year-round as parched forests and grasslands are more primed than ever to burn…

“We were given an excellent warning by climate scientists,” says Bill McKibben, the journalist turned climate activist. “And, yet, instead of mustering the will to do something about it, our political and economic systems rallied to do nothing.”

This is the beginning of a series by THE GUARDIAN. Dunno if the hacks in DC and Congress will be any more responsive (or unresponsive) than they have been to date. It is another opportunity to stick a fist in their collective faces and make rude noises along with suggestions for action. Again.

Five maps of America’s drought conditions

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Half of the mainland United States is facing drier-than-usual conditions, with 15 percent of the country experiencing “extreme” to “exceptional” drought. That in itself is far from unprecedented (it happened in 2012 and 2013, for starters) but it’s a significant event.

The real problem, though, is in California, which is facing one of its worst dry spells on record — every single part of the state is now facing “severe” drought or worse. Dry conditions may be one reason why large wildfires are breaking out in California a few weeks earlier than usual. The drought is also hurting the state’s crucial agricultural sector.

Droughts are hardly new in US history, and they’ve been a regular feature of the West for many, many years. But the current drought in California is serious even by historical standards.

RTFA for illustrations and description of the national turn to the worse our land has taken. Yes, special emphasis is on the source of much of our food in California – appropriately. But, the whole nation faces potential disaster.

That this happens within the context of rightwing nutballs in charge of half of Congress – and obstructing the whole – makes life and the cost of living more likely to face a death spiral of thumb-twiddling.