The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest (the geographic southern United States). Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel, north latitude. The main defining feature of the Sun Belt is its warm climate with extended summers and brief, relatively pleasant winters. Within the Sun Belt areas of the U.S., deserts/semi-deserts (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas), Mediterranean (California), and humid subtropical (Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina) climates can be found.
The belt has seen substantial population growth since the 1960s due to an influx of people seeking a warm and sunny climate, a surge in retiring baby boomers, and growing economic opportunities. Also, over the past several decades, air conditioning has made it easier for people to deal with the summertime heat in the Desert Southwest where triple-digit temperatures in Fahrenheit (higher than 37.7 Celsius) are usual. In recent years water shortages, droughts, and drug trafficking near the Mexican border have become a problem in the western region.
Emptiness is form
The lines have yet to fill your face
But your time is still being taken away
I'm leaving now
Crawling north where it's cold and green
I'm leaving now
Going to see sights unseen
We are young, but not for long
Absentee, your silence has been noticed
With an open wound and bright hope
May swords of hatred fall from our hands
With an open wound and bright hope