Last night I watched a documentary on PBS about the Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties. Most of us have only a vague notion of what those two terms mean, or at least my knowledge was sketchy. I discovered that at the turn of the 20th century hundreds of thousands of acres of American prairie were ploughed for the first time to produce wheat. These Western states included Texas, Oklahama, Kansas, and Colorado -- all with relatively low rainfall. The plough opened land which had previously been covered with drought-resistant grasses which held limited moisture.
For a number of years there was enough rain to produce bumper crops and lure thousands of homesteaders. Then two catastrophies, the Great Depression, and drought, conspired to crush the prosperity and dreams of the settlers.As prices for wheat fell, more tracts of lands were ploughed and exposed to increase output.
Then huge windstorms stirred up mountain ranges of dust and sand which turned noonday into darkness. Animals died of asphyxiation and children died of dust pneumonia. The static electricity in the air meant that touching an ungrounded automobile could knock a person flat on his back. Families huddled in their kitchens with their heads wrapped in wettened flour bags to protect them from the particulate which forced its way through every nook and cranny. And crops failed.
This apocalyptic nightmare persisted for years and not surprisingly people began to wonder whether this was God's judgement. Scripture was quoted on the front pages of newspapers and those afflicted prayed for rain and forgiveness. But it was a human-induced environmental catastrophy, the worst in American history.The Bread Basket of the US was effectively obliterated.
I watched and wondered how this fading story applies to what we are doing today. Climate change probably brought about last summer's drought and this autumn's disastrous storm. Will we blame God, or will we accept responsiblity and change our ways?
Did any of you watch this documentary? Do you know much about the Dust Bowl? What are your thoughts about today?
I had no idea! I think I just assumed they were occasional (though devastating) storms. I didn't realize they persisted or were that horrible. Regrettably, I don't think that people take accountability for climate change. For many, I think people have come around to admitting that it exists, but I don't think they have yet to make the link between their own actions and their effects. When you read your account of the Dust Bowl, the ploughing is a visual obvious factor. It's too easy to blow off science and pretend that accountability lies only with the oil companies and the other big baddies and not because of our own personal use of chemical products or from driving our gas-guzzling SUVs. Thanks for this history lesson.
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