Spreading drought in large portions of the U.S. breadbasket brings a comparison to dust-bowl conditions of the 1930s. What can be learned?

he world set some unpleasant records in 1995, according to a report released by the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research group. Among their conclusions: It's hotter, and there is less to eat!

The group's 169-page report "Vital Signs 1996" strongly focuses on what it sees to be a worsening global climate leading to grain shortages, mounting weather-related insurance claims and anticipated global food-price hikes.

"In an era of high technology, humanity is suddenly struggling in 1996 with one of the most ancient challenges: how to make it to the next harvest," warned Lester R. Brown, leader of the environmental research group for the last two decades.

Citing statistics from both government and private sources, the institute reports records in 1995 for several factors central to human welfare:

• The global grain harvest was the worst since 1988, and world grain reserves - the amount of grain available to humanity if all grain production ceased-reached an all-time low of only 48 days' consumption.
• Insurance companies paid out $48 billion for weather-related damage in the first half of the 1990s, compared to $16 billion for the entire decade of the 1980s.
• The global climate was the warmest since systematic records began to be kept 130 years ago. The average worldwide temperature hit 59.7 degrees Fahrenheit (15.39 degrees Celsius).

Weather problems hit close to home

At the same time, worsening drought conditions in many areas of the United States and Mexico are leading many farmers and ranchers to draw uneasy comparisons to the infamous dust-bowl days of the 1930s, when prolonged drought devastated large areas of the lower Midwest.

Lack of feed caused by drought in Texas and other states has forced many cattle ranchers to sell large portions of their herds-even their expensive breeding stock. This has resulted in a temporary glut in the market, causing beef prices to plummet. At some cattle sales, some farmers and ranchers have had to load their cows back onto their trailers and take them back home because nobody would even bid on them. High feed costs, low beef prices and a drought that has destroyed thousands of acres of pastures have put them in an extremely precarious situation!

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn06/droughtcrisislevels.htm

Related Information on UCG Sites:

Table of Contents that includes "Drought Conditions Reach Crisis Levels"
Other Articles by Bruce Gore

God and nature:

• _Disastrous Weather - Acts of God?
• _Worldwide Weather Chaos: What Does It Mean?
• _Problems, Politics and Prophecy About Water
• _World News Review June 2004

• _Massive Drought Grips Australia
• _World News and Trends - July/August 2007

• _An Overview of Conditions Around the World - Mar/Apr 1997
• _World News and Trends - Nov/Dec 1997
• _Superdisasters: Growing Weather Danger?