"Robert Lee High School's typically lush, green field is bone-dry and dusty this year, on account of punishing drought. In a place where football is a religion, locals do all they can to save the sod."

"It is the day before homecoming, and there is trouble at the Robert Lee High School football field.

The field is dying.

The field that was once so lush, so emerald green, that the maintenance staff took calls from other schools begging to know its secret. Visitors sometimes assumed it was AstroTurf, then genuflected and found, to their surprise, real blades of springy Bermuda grass. Then came Texas' punishing drought. The parched field now has patches of yellow and brown while the rest struggles to stay green.

Robert Lee is not alone. All across Texas, in heat-battered towns where water towers hang like giant IVs, high schools are struggling with fields where grass has shriveled, dirt has hardened and artificial turf has become too hot to handle."

Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports for the Los Angeles Times October 3, 2011. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Climate Change and the End of Australia" (Rolling Stone) [3]