George Steinmetz' photo essay in Time about the drought in Texas, New Mexico, and Georgia is absolutely gasp-inducing. That's thanks to the beauty of the images, sure. But it's also the magnitude of the disaster (crops fail, waterways recede or disappear) and the shocking evidence of wastefulness (homeowners irrigate their lawns despite the record-setting drought; a golf course stays green in the middle of destruction).
![](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/electric-ford-focus-via-ford-4631.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=463)