The remorseless drought had lasted now for ten million years, and would not end for another million. The reign of the terrible lizards had long since passed, but here on the continent which would one day be known as Africa, the battle for survival had reached a new climax of ferocity, and the victor was not yet in sight. In this dry and barren land, only the small or the swift or the fierce could
drought and famine.
REVERSE ANGLE. STUDENTS.
They stare back in stunned silence. One of them, DAVID
WAGNER, sits in the front row with a pencil in his mouth.
Nobody moves ...
SCIENCE TEACHER
(chipper classroom tone)
Okay. Who can tell me what famine is?
CUT TO:
1958.
Birds are chirping. The sun is shining. All the hedges are
neatly pruned and the lawns are perfectly manicured. A sweet
stillness h
droughts
Floods, locusts
and tornadoes
But I dont have
any doubts
Were all a part of history
Why, Old Glory waves to show
How far weve come along
till now
How far weve got to go
How far weve got to go
Its been hard work
But every time
we get into a fix
Lets think of
what our children face
In -aught- -
Its up to us to pave the way
With our blood and sweat
and tears
Oh, we must be doin
somethin ri
droughts a constant threat. In response to the climate, farmers have relied on quick-ripening and frost-resistant varieties of crops, and they have cultivated south-facing slopes as well as richer bottomlands to ensure production even in years with summer frosts. Most farmland had originally been either forest or swamp, and the soil had usually required treatment with lime and years of cultivatio