Houston remarks by the chief scientist of Britain’s Met Office regarding attitudes and actions of that nation’s Conservative-led government underscored the stark differences between the U.K.’s Tories and U.S. Republicans.

“We enter this spring with our water supply conditions in a much more vulnerable state than they were at this time last year,” one speaker warned recently at a UT water forum, “Texas Drought 2012: Are We Prepared?”

Texas red oaks are susceptible to drought, while live oaks and white oaks require less water, the Texas Forest Service says. It lists native trees such as pecans, cedar elms and bur oaks as well adapted to drought. A report by Ari Phillips of Reporting Texas.