All but two of the 50 United States have been experiencing drought conditions in late October and early November. 87% of the nation is experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions. This drought has been occurring despite and during the same weeks as Hurricane Helene dumped enormous amounts of rain over the Appalachian mountains, and despite recent heavy rainfall and flash flooding in Missouri.
These conditions are partly caused by lack of rainfall, which there has been less of this summer and fall throughout large swaths of the U.S. But they are also caused by warmer than usual temperatures that cause water to evaporate more rapidly, leaving drier soil and unfilled reservoirs. These types of droughts have affected certain regions of the U.S. consistently, as in the southwest and west, where the region has experienced a megagrought for nearly two decades. But rarely do drought conditions extend to nearly the entire continental United States and push the mayors of major U.S. cities to urge residents to conserve water for fear of depleting already diminished reservoirs.
This is yet another sign that our planet, our ways of life, and perhaps even our very ability to survive on this planet are under threat. Many species are already living under the threat of absolute extinction, in what many scientists now call the 6th Extinction, and others have recently called a “biological annihilation.” Humans are not immune to these planetary trends that shape, and change, this unique environment where we have found our niche.
These conditions and the warmer than normal weather causing them are not natural. They are caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the industrial processes used to produce the billions of commodities that are produced every year for our consumption. And we know who is responsible for this unabated use of fossil fuels – the one percent and their corporations.
If we want to continue to have a niche here on a planet that can support us, we must make changes to the way we run our society. And we must do so now, before it is too late.
