1. By Freddy Hatton and
Campbell Jackson-Mee
The causes, affects
and solutions.

2. Two main problems to a drought are the increase of temperature and lack of
rain. The increase of temperature can cause a higher risk of fires, to dying
plants and the lack of rain can cause anything from dying of thirst to
farmers, ultimately, going broke. Many creatures and plants can’t cope with
the dramatic change of climate and can create barren wastelands. Farmers
are by far the worst affected; they get so many problems thrown at them
while they aren’t even prepared. Unfortunate.
One thing that may help cause a drought are dry winds. They are caused by
wind hitting high altitude mountains which are cold, so when the wet winds
hit the mountains, the water inside the winds get cold and freezes. The
frozen water falls down onto the tip of the mountain and the wind that
continues on the other side of the mountains is dry.

3. First of all, when a drought occurs, water resources begin to drop. (lakes,
rivers, ground water etc.) Then all of a sudden we’re slowly losing drinking
water and plants stop growing. Also, while there’s a drought, water
becomes very scarce so grass goes brown which cattle then can’t consume,
so ultimately animals DIE.
Cattle dying and crops dying means farmers can’t earn money when
selling meat and crops. But, strangely, there is a positive spin on droughts,
Fruit growers get unlimited sunshine for the fruit and no rain to rot the
fruit.
Now looking at urban life; with water dropping fast, dams can’t be filled to
generate our precious electricity. Plus, since the water is low, water
privileges like long hot showers and using water for unnecessary duties
must be limited to near nil. Many people probably underestimate the
power of droughts, but you just wait until your tap doesn’t give up water.

4. For farmers, since their crops and animals are their biggest concern, a
good idea would be to build more shelters to keep out most of the
sunlight, allowing only little for their growth. Also, selling meat and
crops before their animals and plants are affected is obvious but ideal
in stressful times plus storing extra food and using excess water from
duties is a great step in the right direction. For us in the city, we
should (as stated before) save and collect excess water and use it for
necessary tasks such as watering plants and brushing teeth. Once
you hear about a serious drought, you should warn others to get
prepared! Or else there could be consequences… Overall, ultimately,
there is no way to stop a drought; we can’t make it rain. But we can
find ways to survive them.