Is America Drying Up?

The Guardian reports, “Every US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor” (November 5, 2024). “As of November 19, 2024, 38.03% of the U.S. and Puerto Rico and 45.48% of the lower 48 states are in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor,” and this drought is impacting more than 140 million people (Drought.gov, November 19, 2024). Recently an environmental commission has suggested that the world’s water cycle is out of balance, possibly playing a role in such widespread drought conditions.

As The Guardian notes, “Dry conditions can also result in low water levels on rivers and other waterways. Ports and other water-borne transportation may become limited due to a reduction in available routes and cargo-carrying capacity, which increases transportation costs.” On the world scene, extreme droughts in Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as in Ecuador, are demonstrating that lowered water levels of rivers reduce a nation’s capacity to generate hydroelectric power. In addition, nuclear power plants are frequently located on lakes and rivers easily affected by drought.

Drought affects nearly every sector of society and can diminish a nation’s ability to grow food—and to share that food with other nations that need it. As greater and more prolonged droughts ravage nations like the U.S. and Canada—nations that provide much of the world with food and other resources—how will the world fare? Extreme and widespread drought is not just a unique ecological occurrence partially influenced by human practices. The Bible reveals that God influences and uses the weather to punish and get the attention of mankind (Deuteronomy 28:23–24). As we watch droughts continue and increase, it is important to also realize that there is hope for the future. To learn more about the real significance of events making the news today, you can read or listen to Acts of God: Why Natural Disasters?