11/1/2017 0 Comments Dust BowlI often get annoyed when too much dust comes through my window and I have to clean my room for the next half an hour. However, the dust came into houses of thousands of people in the Great Plains for hours at a time, for years. The so-called ‘Dust Bowl’ of 1930’s cannot be entirely attributed to the whims of nature. Thanks to the industrial revolution, the farmers on the plains were planting wheat in a vast amount in a short time. A mule capable of planting three acres a day was replaced by a tractor planting fifty acre a day. On the top of that, there were incentives from government in the form of free train rides to the plains and doubled the size of the land claim. Due to availability of large markets, plowing of natural grasses and planting with tractors was going on at high rates. These activities were stalled when the drought hit in 1932. In the absence of any plantation, the exposed soil was heated up and was blown by the wind. Its amount was astonishingly estimated to be 30 million tons. This amount of soil can fill half of the Grand Canyon.
This whole fiasco was named ‘Dust Bowl’ by a reporter named Robert Geiger. In total, there were 14, 38 and 22 dust storms in the years 1932, 1933 and 1934 respectively. The entire phenomena lasted for ten years until it was raining again in 1939. The darkest day during this time, 14th of April, 1935 was remembered as the 'Black Sunday'. The dust stormed of this day lasted 27 days and nights after that. After that, the dust of this particular storm reached Washington D.C. and soon they passed a law creating what came to be known as the 'Soil Conservation Service'. It was headed by Hugh Bennett, who is considered as the 'Father of soil conservation'. This service was aimed at helping farmers avoid the creation of such a dust bowl in the future. A program created as a lesson from such a vast devastation deserves to be upheld in the future. The consequences of stopping funds to such a successful program are very well known from the past experiences. Allowing such kind of destruction again, for no reason, is unethical and should not be committed by a responsible state machinery. The term 'Dust Bowl' indicates a geographical area that encompasses five states: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and parts of Colorado. The origin was these dust storms, also known as ‘Black Blizzards’ was difficult to trace, as they often travelled over many miles. However, the dust that they brought with them was unique in color and it was used to identify its origin. Black colored dust was supposed to have come from Kansas, red from Oklahoma, brown from Texas and grey from Colorado or New Mexico. The plains were affected by drought, in 1931, before the dust storms started. Many years later, it was found from the investigations, that the dust storms made the drought worse. A high amount of dust in the air kept the Sun's energy to reach the ground and the surfaces of water bodies. This affected the water evaporation cycle and hence the rains afterwards. Consequently, the cycle continued. The public health was largely affected as well. There were continuous and widespread cases of dust pneumonia. The children in these areas were more vulnerable to health effects of dust. The problem was so severe that the Red Cross had to distribute thousands of dust masks and open hospitals to help people concerned with the symptoms. At the same time, people used several home remedies to keep the dust off the limits of their house, for example, sealing the windows. However, the absence of plastic and other modern adhesives kept the sealing from being near perfect and the dust seeped in. Covering the mouth with a wet cloth was one of the remedies that was used to reduce the amount of dust being inhaled. The farm animals were defenseless when the dust congested their lungs and they died of suffocation. In another case, the storms full of dust created decline in the population of predators who ate grasshoppers and jackrabbits. That made the number of these preys ascend without a bound. That was devastating for the farms and fields. In short, it made an entire section of an ecosystem collapse. With the continuous development and application of technology in the farming, new methods to conserve soil was employed. One of them was no-till farming, where the farming was planted on the remains of previous season's crops. However, use of chemicals to kill weeds keeps the process from being entirely conservation friendly. Another was to use the drought-resistant crops, which inherently have a capacity to survive an arid climate. This story of dust bowl is overwhelming and at the same time eye-opening. The assumptions of humanity about the unlimited obedience on earth have been proven false in such calamitous ways. At the same time, the suffering of people who were victims of this calamity are beyond imagination. Yet, I like to imagine putting myself in the shoes of people living on the plains at the time of the dust bowl. I would prefer staying at the plains and make full use of the government programs to conserve soil to enable restoration of soil on the ground. Vacating the place will make the land go waste in future. I would also put efforts to make the same land fertile again. Only if it fails, I would consider the option of moving to another region. This is because, moving to another place puts a lot of strain on the resources available at that place. The authorities in the new state may not have the time or funds readily available to take care of this migration. Hence, I feel it's important to stay where I already am and improve the conditions there. In current times, there are droughts which come and go in various states in the USA. If these droughts, persist for next three to five years, then there will a situation which can give rise to dust storms. Even if this reason doesn't hold true, the anthropogenic climate change is also sufficient to make the southern parts of the country's drier over the century. In this case, the states like Arizona, Texas, New Mexico are likely to experience a dust-storm situation. On the top of that, programs preventing soil erosion are finding apathy from the government. The behavior contrasts with morality that one has to feel obligated to, towards the environment. In any case, human activities and decisions are likely to be the deciding factor in triggering the next Dust Bowl.
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AuthorVivek loves nature. He feels one with it. He wants to share his story. ArchivesCategories |