A U.S.-China Race with No Winners

Global warming is poised to make this “The Century of Drought.” How ironic then that the two countries racing to see who will produce the most greenhouse gas emissions — China and the United States — are already in the grips of extended droughts.

Here is the U.S., with the browns and reds showing the severest areas of drought (although the U.S. is, fortunately, much improved from where it was during the height of summer):

Here is China:

And the planet has only warmed about 0.8°C in the past century. What will these pictures look like on our current path, where we could easily warm four times as much this century or more?

This is a race with no winners and it is time for us to join the race to save the climate.