As if the government could do anything about

the fact that there was no water coming out

of the faucets. Well, they kind of could. They

should have known for a long time that less

and less water would be available. Which

was a very good reason to use it carefully.

By making sure that farmers didn’t waste it

on their land and that miners didn’t take it

secretly. And, as in the Amazon, endlessly

chopping down trees wasn’t a good idea here

either.

Bolivia isn’t the only country struggling with

increasing drought. In the United States,

water in California is regularly rationed

because there’s not enough of it. When

rationing happens, it means that people

aren’t allowed to wash their cars, f ill their

swimming pools, or spray their golf courses.

So it’s more of a luxury issue. But

drought and storms also cause big forest

f ires, in California and in other places. And

that’s not about luxury. People regularly have

to f lee, and there are deaths and casualties.

The countries around the Mediterranean

are also becoming warmer and warmer.

There are more forest f ires and frequent

water shortages. During the worst droughts,

people in Spain are not allowed to spray their

yards or add water to their pools. And there

you are in your f ive-star hotel with all those

waterslides... Experts predict that many

beaches in Spain, Portugal, and Turkey Will,

in the course of this century, become too hot

for summer vacations. Drought and heat are

slowly changing parts of these countries into

deserts.

Marc ter Horst

Published in Palm Trees at the North Pole, published

by Greystone Books, Canada. Originally published

in Dutch in 2018 as Palmen op de Noordpool by J.H.

Gottmer/H.J.W. Becht bv, text © Marc ter Horst,

illustrations © Wendy Panders, English translation

rights© Laura Watkinson.

Marc ter Horst is a Dutch writer of books

for children of all ages both f iction and

nonf iction His main book about climate

change Palm Trees at the North Pole has

won several prizes in the Netherlands and

has been translated into 13 languages

Marc ter Horst