Why tackling drought is a significant part of Democrats’ economic package
Placeholder while article actions load
There are a lot of ways to measure climate change, but one of the most jarring involves counting corpses. Not corpses of those people killed by the effects of the warming planet — increased flooding, heat exhaustion, larger storms — but of those killed long ago and hidden where no one would ever find them, like at the bottom of Lake Mead.
Until drought powered by climate change shrinks Lake Mead so much that what was once its bottom becomes its shore.
So far, the contraction of Lake Mead as water levels fall this year has resulted in four bodies being found. There may be more; it’s hard to say. But this weird, grim statistic is an effective way of demonstrating the point. The world is changing — even if only temporarily — in ways that we would not have expected.
Sign up for How To Read This Chart, a weekly data newsletter from Philip Bump
The drought that’s emptying Lake Mead has gripped…
