Blood, sweat and tears. And oil.

Sunny California, sunny Europe, sunny Middle East, sunny world: the BBC reports -

The heatwave that has been baking California since mid-July is being blamed for about 100 deaths across the state, the authorities have said. Most of the deaths have been in the Central Valley, where temperatures have reached 46C (115F) in some areas. Among the worst-hit areas is Fresno, where the local mortuary is struggling to deal with dozens of bodies.

The heat has also hit the agriculture sector, killing 25,000 cattle and 700,000 poultry, farmers say. [...]

The high temperatures over the past fortnight have led to the deaths of some 25,000 cattle in central California, about 1% of the state's dairy herd. Farmers have seen milk yields decline as cows suffer from the heat."The timing is horrendous," Andy Zylstra, president of the California Dairy Campaign, told the French news agency, AFP. "The price of milk is down 30% while feed, fuel, electricity prices are all up, and now we have these tremendous losses, It's just a kick in the head."

Several California counties have declared states of emergency because of the large number of carcasses that need to be disposed of.

The solution, no doubt, will be to acquire and burn more oil, so that air-conditioning can be maintained and improved, carcasses can be transported and disposed of quickly, and even more water can be pumped from the depleted aquifers to save the shrivelling harvests grown with the help of oil-based fertilisers and pesticides.

The US currently imports 67% of its oil and rising. It's not enough. Where's the rest going to come from? And why are we having a War on Terror?

"The American way of life is not negotiable." - George Bush senior, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.