Drought Monitor, September 2, 2003


Drought conditions have been persistent in the Western half of the American continent with the pattern emerging in the late 90s, and steadily worsening since. The drought in the East has alleviated. The legend for the drought monitor - Yellow = unusually dry; light brown = drought; Dark brown = severe; Red = extreme; and black = exceptional.





The Current Drought Impact Graph


Legend - red signifies drought, yellow signifies 'drought watch, green indicates a drought recovery area, and brown signifies an area classified as drought stricken which has not yet been classified as a drought area by the government.





Vegetation health map, September 2, 2003


On this graphic the greener the colors, the healthier the vegetation, and yellows and reds indicate increasingly worse conditions. The worst drought conditions are in the western Rockies, and in the national Forest regions, as well as on the western agricultural plains.




Visible Satellite Image, August 21, 2003


On the satellite image the effects of the drought can be clearly seen. There is a distinct boundary between the dark areas to the east, with healthy vegetation, and the pale colored area covering the drought stricken west. The drought has been building in severity for years, and it goes without saying that while trees have deep roots, and thus can tap ground water sources and withstand drought for some time, nevertheless, the Western Forests of the United States are under increasing stress, and this might explain the White House 'healthy forest initiative' (a misnomer if there ever was one). Given the severity of the conditions over the last few years, American forests seem destined to burn to the ground if these conditions persist, and 'thinning the forest' is not a solution, given the huge expanse of this unhealthy eco-system, visible on both the graphics, as well as from space. On the negative side, American forests are part of the lungs of the planet, but if it should prove to be the case that these forests are doomed to burn to a cinder, on the 'positive side', it should end any debate about 'global warming' and it also might cause Americans to rethink whether it was wise to drive SUVs and practice unrestricted consumption.

The Unhealthy Forests Initiative

Now we know that the White House is promoting the 'healthy forest initiative', and everyone is suspicious that this is just because they want to give away the forests to the big timber companies.

But as you can tell by looking at the graphic images above, the sudden interest by the White House in 'healthy forests' is a little more complex than this simple explanation would suggest. You see, you have an unhealthy forest problem, and the White House knows this, which is why they are suddenly so interested in trees. Of course, they will not talk about how unhealthy the forests are right now, since that would bring up that nasty talk about 'global warming', so, given the principle that every government policy should be given an Orwellian sounding name, the problem with the dangerous conditions developing in America's unhealthy forests must be dealt with by giving it the Orwellian name 'the healthy forest initiative', and if activists want to complain about 'a sell out to logging' well that's better than talking frankly about the dangerously unhealthy forest conditions, and thus getting people talking about that global warming, especially when Americans have plans to burn all the oil in Iraq (did you know that Iraqi oil is unique, in that it can be pumped out for about one dollar a barrel, making it just incredibly profitable...its an anomoly of nature...as well this is light sweet crude so it is also real desirable and profitable from a refiners point of view...the best of all worlds...of course with America's unhealthy forests moving dangerously close to burning to a crisp, one must wonder about those plans to burn up Iraq's highly profitiable oil, or one might wonder, if one knew all the details behind that Orwellian 'healthy forests initiative', now that the white house has taken such a sudden interest in 'healthy trees' (healthy trees being something you don't have right now., thus the sudden interest in healthy trees...just thought I would drive the point home...)

Unhealthy trees

Back during the Clinton administration I noticed the deterioration of America's forests. I was told, 'oh this things come and go." Some time went by. I noticed the same pattern. I was told, 'oh its just El Nino. Once that thing is gone everything will be fine." Some time went by. I was then told 'now its El Nina. Give it some time." Well now some more time has gone by, and its coming up to the close of the Bush administration, there's no El Nino, no El Nina, no Clinton, and suddenly trees are at the top of the National Agenda.

That took a hell of a long time.

You know back in those earlier days I used to pester the Clinton White House with my 'bald eagle' apocalyptic metaphor, and I was brooding about that 'El Nino' crap last night, and I couldn't help thinking about how appropriate that 'Bald Eagle' speech still seems today, after all these years have gone by, and so I reproduce the speech as I recall it ...

I used to refer to America the humiliated, standing in front of the whole world, with their rocky mountains burned as bald as an eagle. Well how embarrassing it would be for that bald headed eagle, with its featherless head burned bald, and its rocky mountains resembling those scorched mountains out in the Sahara, while billows of smoke roll down over California, and roll down over the plains. Why even bother trying to fight the fires in that inferno, I used to say. Just stand back and watch it burn, watch it burn. The sun will be turned to darkness in broad daylight, and the moon will glow blood red, and there will blood, and fire, and a pillar of smoke from that great burnt offering in the mountains...

As I said, it was an apocalyptic poem, and for what its worth, the above is how I remember that thing going...of course, what with that 'just being natural' and then El Nino, and then El Nina, well everyone thought I was nuts.

One thing I have been thinking about lately is just how bloody inaccurate those climate predicting computers really are, because you know, they give everyone a false sense of security, what with the way they are programmed so damned conservatively those things (don't want to ridicule climate science so they program conservatively). The end result is that computer comes back after processing for weeks or even months to report that you have until the year 2050 or 2100, and here it turns out that if those were programmed right they would return the answer that you are already f****d since global warming has been going on for years...but isn't that just the way things work...just thought I would remind people that those forests have been going down the crapper for a long, long time, and now, when you look down from space you can see that very noticeable developing scab on the continent, about what you'd expect after all the hell those trees have been through over the last decade or so...



Global Warming and Climate Change - links to pages on this site



related links:

Changing Climate on the Sahara brings flooding in countries along Southern Border

Global Warming is good for you (unless you are an American)

Sahara desert moves north into Europe - the heat wave of 2003

Sudden Climate change is the historical norm

Antarctic ozone hole sets record

Sahara storm may threaten Africa with famine


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