If you knew your life would end in a year, do you think you might live and act differently? Is it game over for millions of people, or will it actually be for a billion due to starvation? But, of course, saying the game will be up does not mean it will be up today. However, we can predict that life as we know it will shatter for millions over the next year.

One of the clearest examples is the water situation in the western United States. Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, issued a stark warning. ‘If Lake Mead hits dead pool levels, it is game over for millions of people living in the Southwestern United States.’ However, there is no if about it. A Noah’s level flood would be necessary to turn things around.

America’s largest reservoir is drying up fast, which could make states like Nevada, Arizona, California, and parts of Mexico no longer livable in the near future. It is less than 150 feet away from becoming a “dead pool,” meaning no more water flowing through the Hoover Dam and no more electricity or water for every Southwestern city that relies on this resource for sustenance.

Since March, Lake Mead has dropped by more than 23 feet. At this point, the water levels are declining at an increasing pace, so they probably have only one more year. Lake Mead starts wide at the top and gets narrower the deeper you go, so we can expect a sharper drop-off as each month passes.

Is there a rush to leave the area to avoid their upcoming game-over scenario? I do not think so. We are mostly like dears caught in the headlights. We can hardly believe what is happening around us, which paralyzes us. Are we back to the French hiding behind their massive defenses against Hitler, thinking like them that we are not vulnerable to something taking us from the flank?

There is little doubt that the west’s water crisis will worsen the food crisis. Few first-world inhabitants imagine starving to death, but it is more likely to happen over the next 12 months.

Conclusion

It is surprising to me that no one, through the years, has taken me up on my offer of help to relocate to Brazil. Not only from lack of water, crashing social constructs, increasing cold, and lack of food. But, from general insanity, that is growing everywhere in the first world.

Things will only intensify from here, with options for everyone drying up. I do not think things will be fun down the road. Just up the bend is a car racing in the wrong lane. Beware of head-on collisions with the dramatic life changes we are facing all too soon.