The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe drought in the United States from 1931 - 1939. During that time farmers lands were receiving sever wind-driven soil erosion by overgrazed rangeland and improper use of farming practices not adapted to the Great Plains. The causing factors of the Dust Bowl was years of farming without crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops or other techniques that prevent erosion.
The result of the soil erosion was major ecological and agricultural damage which made the Great Plains inhabitants unbearable. The Dust Bowl was an ecological and human disaster caused by the misuse of land and years of sustained drought. Millions of acres of farmland became useless and thousands of people were forced to leave their homes.
As bad as it was then, it is still bad now. Individuals are still practicing techniques that are destructive to the ecology and agriculture in the U.S and around the world. If you like to eat food then soil quality and erosion is still a valid concern.
Link to Article (PDF)
This is a great article for our web page. Not sure of his is accurate info, but I've heard that some of the people went crazy....actually went mental and suffered from severe depression and some even committed suicide! I will research it and see if this is accurate. My thought is that we present the human side of man made diasters ( soil erosion, global warning, etc) and how it impacts one'e well being.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's really interesting that people actually went crazy. I wonder if I lost all my top soil if I would go crazy too. I probably would. Not being able to grow outdoors would really start to bother me.
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