[Previous entry: "Rumsfeld: Gitmo hunger-strikers "dieting""] [Next entry: "HURRICANES SPAWN OIL INDUSTRY SCAMS"]

11/03/2005:

"A Spanish Town Withers With the Olive, Its Tree of Life"

...Trees that normally sag with hundreds of pounds of fruit at this time of year are largely barren, holding little more than a handful of olives, many no bigger than peas. Some trees have dried up and shriveled, their brittle leaves breaking in the wind. Others have been cut to stumps to preserve their sap in hopes they will regenerate.

The groves that have sustained this region for centuries and helped turn it into the richest source of olive oil in the world have been decimated by circumstances that few here thought possible. A record-breaking freeze last winter was followed by a drought that has been described as the worst to hit Spain in 60 years.
nytimes.com