http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18864753Quote:
The US is currently suffering its widest drought since 1956...On Monday, NOAA reported that...55% of the continental US was in a moderate to extreme drought. Crops including corn and soybeans have been hit by the dry conditions, and several states have seen wildfires.
...Agriculture officials estimated that 30% of the corn crops planted in the 18 high-production states were in poor or very poor condition by last week...
"Topsoil has dried out and crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years," the report said. Over 1,000 counties in 26 states have been declared disaster areas because of drought, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Earlier, NOAA said that the last year in the continental US has been the country's hottest since modern record-keeping began in 1895.
Some people may not think this is a serious problem. It is. The problem of water shortages has been festering for decades and is becoming critical. There are simply no more unexploited sources of fresh water left.
At best, we will see dramatic increases in food prices. This is a certainty.
At worst, there is a very real probability that within our lifetimes, we will see shortages. American citizens may very well die of starvation.
We are used to getting our food from the supermarket - but the food still has to be produced the same way it always has and distributed. There is the grave danger that being totally distanced from the gritty work of food production has caused too many Americans to take it for granted - to think failure is impossible because it is unthinkable. This is not without historical precedent.
