Too dry to cry: The Amazon

There is some debate amongst the scientific community, which seems to depend on their geography moreso than discipline, as to what the cause has been of the severe drought afflicting Brazil's Amazon forest region right now.

Some say it's the constant burning in the cutting down of the rainforest that is inhibiting the formation of clouds. The Brazilian government's docs speculate instead that it's the above-normal temps in the Atlantic causing the drastic change in their climate -- similar to the causes cited for the harsher-than-historic hurricanes season of late.

Either way, it's a tragedy. Rains are evidently beginning to return, but those in the know state it's unlikely to have much of an effect for some time as the drought has been crippling the rainforest for months on end.

This week, it has been declared a state of emergency. Fears rise as waters continue to recede, causing the deeply polluted shallow rivers and nearly non-existent tributaries to create concerns regarding the potential for yellow fever to spread throughout the region.

The above photo doesn't show the dried and crusted river basins, but instead the Amazonians questing for water. I found the photo evocative of the hardships brought on by droughts of legion. It conveys for me some remembrance of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and the dustbowl of the '30s... incidently the last time the Amazon was hit this hard.