To the Editor:
Throughout history, droughts and wars have caused people to leave their homes and move. A long-term drought caused the Syrian farmers to move to the cities for work and help. They got nothing from their government. This heightened the existing unrest causing civil war to explode. The fighting started the movement and when it started to go bad for the rebels more people left.
The Great Drought here saw tens of thousands Americans leaving their farms and small towns to move to California and other places. Our government reacted by starting programs to reduce erosion, build reservoirs, support farm product prices, and other programs. Much of the affected land is fallow today.
As climate continues to change, Americans will start to move again. Farm insurance is becoming critical for many farms to continue to operate. The oceans are rising and many coastal cities are flooding with king (higher than daily) tides causing changes in zoning and building codes to hold off the total evacuation of cities.
Radical weather events will become the norm. As droughts become more common, people will be relocating to areas with more stable surface supplies. Wells keep going deeper as cities and towns drain down aquifers, taking thousands of years to replace, if ever.
America's southern border is being assailed by thousands of families from the ravages of crime and long-term drought. Their only hope of life is to leave their generational homes and flee north for safety and work.
As the climate changes and the population in countries most affected increases, migration from one country to another will become continent-to-continent.
Conditions will only get worse, much worse.
Chuck Johnson
Morris
