Australia is undergoing one of its most severe droughts ever [search]; as agriculture is failing whole towns are abandoned, and the government pays farmers to leave their land. Meanwhile in Africa, massive floods are washing away crops [more] and entire villages, as the poor pay the price for over-development by others as basic needs go unmet.

Both are almost certainly exacerbated, if not caused, by climate change and a whole host of other environmental crises including deforestation and poor water management. In one case it is too much water, and the other not enough, precisely the type of extreme weather events [search] predicted for decades as a result of global heating. In both cases agriculture and agricultural settlements are initially being most disrupted. Australia as an over-developed country may have more resources to put off the most egregious impacts of ecological collapse; but food and water scarcity eventually hits the rich as well. Continental scale environmental disasters portend continental ecological collapse to come.

Meanwhile President Bush plays make believe climate change leader [more] — how pathetically non-credible after seven years of climate policy obstruction [search] and action now seemingly limited to continued stalling of mandatory emission controls. The day the Toxic Texan slinks back under a rock in Crawford, Texas can not come soon enough.