Fires, Drought and Our Role in the Destruction They Cause

After a year with almost no rain in Southern California, almost a million people have been forced from their homes in just four days. The National Climate Data Center has reported that 43% of the country is in condition of moderate to extreme drought. Although California's wildfires and evacuations have dominated this week's news, on the other side of the country, there's a kind of slow-motion disaster that has Georgia, Alabama and Florida competing for a dwindling supply of water. It's also hotter and drier than usual in Minnesota, the North East and the Mid-Atlantic. Is it a spell of strange weather or long-term climate change? Is it caused by global warming? Will industry, agriculture and residential development have to change to ward off future disaster?