Dust Bowl Effects

Then, when World War I ended, the demand for wheat and other crops fell as did the prices. To compensate for this loss, farmers dug up more land and planted more crops which only further hurt the soil. Another cause of the Dust Bowl was farm animals. Livestock was a good source of meat and dairy products but they also consumed a lot of grass which was already being torn up. When the grass was eaten and the soil wasn’t healthy enough to support plants, many of the animals died.

With no natural vegetation to hold the earth together, the earth itself flew away, along with the livelihoods of thousands of farmers. In the 1930s, what would become to be known as the Dust Bowl blew across the Southern Plains region of the United States. As people moved to this region seeking land grants from the federal government, so did the droughts. However, these droughts themselves were not entirely responsible for the Dust Bowl’s namesake. Instead, it was the monumental dust storms that terrorized the inhabitants of the Southern Plains.

So they could buy food and have a roof over their heads. Because they had no more land of homes. The Dust Bowl is associate to the great depression because the dust bowl caused a drought throughout parts of America. Which lead to a food shortage and the market to crash. I think the dust bowl could of be prevented.

The Dust Bowl was caused by a variety of unfortunate circumstances at the worst time. The dust bowl refers the 1930’s when during the Great Depression, powerful winds ripped off the top soil (the soil that is best used for farming) and killed many crops. The farmers that were hit the hardest were the ones in the southern great plains. This region was soon known as the Dust Bowl. In the off season, farmers would plant grass to keep the topsoil from being taken with the wind.

The Dust Bowl "The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s was one of the worst environmental disasters of the Twentieth Century anywhere in the world" (Cook). The Dust Bowl had a huge impact on the people of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and the rest of the great plains, and the families living there, including my family. My great grandmother was a teenager during the Dust Bowl, she would often share of her experience and what happened during that time. She told us so we would continue her legacy, and the stories of the Dust Bowl, and the sickness and the hardship of the farming families, and how America pulled out of this disaster. Because the government had sold all this land to farmers they were all planting and turning and working the

“The Grapes of Wrath” takes place during the great depression: which was a substantial economic downside in United States history. At the same time, racism continues in the United States. The Okies are very talented farmers and most of them travel along route 66 to hope for a better life, but something was waiting for them that was unexpected to these people. They did not receive any governmental supports they were ignorant, and this makes native people easier to realize Okies as an outsider also they found menial and low paying jobs. Steinbeck implies that man turns against another human for the survival of the fittest; therefore, they do not mind to put another human in a situation that is challenging to survive.

Loneliness within Societies The 1930’s was a time of segregation. Many people were discriminated against because of their race, gender, disabilities and occupations. At this time, many people were migrant workers because they could not get jobs because of their race. In John Steinbeck’s fiction novel Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie were discriminated against. They were not able to have families or many friends because they were always moving from farm to farm.

The factors that lead to the Great Depression was bank failures, drought conditions and stock market crash. What caused the banks to fail was, banks were uninsured so they didn’t have any saving. Another reason is drought conditions. Farmers had to sell their land to make to make money. This time was called The Dust Bowl.

During the Great Depression a Midwestern phenomenon called the Dust Bowl affected many lives of newly settled Americans throughout the Great Plains region. Otherwise known as the “Dirty Thirties”, a storm of dry weather caused farmers and villagers to abandon their homes in hope to survive the deadly threat of the storm. The Dust Bowl was a big contributing factor to the Great Depression agriculturally, and economically. During the 1930’s America suffered extreme temperatures. A drought forming across all farm lands due to failure of successful crop rotation cause dust to form.

However, this has a domino effect on the remaining people in the family since they would spend the few dollars that they managed to scrape up on cigarettes and alcohol; “There may be a lack of tea or bread in the house but Mam and Dad always manage to get the fags, the Wild Woodbines. They have to have the Woodbines in the morning and anytime they drink tea (McCourt 138).” It is obvious that the smoking and drinking are detrimental to the family, but the McCourts trap themselves in an endless loop. Each time something unfortunate occurs, things go from bad to worse when this sadness or hopelessness prompt the parents to spend more money on their habits (addictions), making conditions significantly worse for their children

Ed. Amy Hackney Blackwell and Elizabeth Manor.)(p223-225). Once the farmers with other skills did find work they suffered from very low wages for their huge families that some of them had. Like in the book Life During the Dust Bowl on person states that when she was younger she can remember eating string beans and corn almost all the time, also her father did find a job beyond farming but only paid him $24 a month which is to feed himself, her mother and the eight other children.(Yancey)(pg.27). Another way the farmers suffered from the extreme poverty was that the price for the wheat dropped from $1.60 to less than twenty-five cents a bushel.(Yancey)(pg.22).

The worst man made ecological disaster in American history; The Dust Bowl. During The Great Depression, jobs, money, and food were scarce it forced the farmers to over work the soil because there was very little money and food them. So,they had to plant more crops to make ends met. But they did not realize that they were braking up the dirt creating the dust bowl. The first dust blizzard was in 1931.And there was also a drought in 1931-1939 that dried the area.

“ The story highlights a very real and relatable experience about a family driven out of their home due to economic hardship and drought. Also known as “The Dirty Thirties,” the Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms causing major agricultural damage to the American west—especially the Oklahoma panhandle area, Kansas, and northern Texas. Farming methods at the time contributed to the severity of the problem. The arrival of farmers to the Great Plains created conditions for significant soil erosion during naturally occurring periods of cool sea surface water temperatures that regulate precipitation. “ http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/legacy/ 3.

In the serious informational text, “California’s Drought Ripples Through Businesses, Then to Schools”, by npr.org, published on 4/20/14, speaks from a farmer’s view, about how the drought is affecting schools and businesses, informing people worried about the drought affecting the economy. For instance, in the article it states, “ With less water, farmers are fewer big purchases, following hundreds of thousands, of acres and hiring fewer farm laborers. All of this they’re putting less money into the local economy.” As a result, without water for farming the crops will die off and farmers will send out less crops for stores. So, then those stores will have less products and soon shut down. Another example, is in the serious informational text, “A Drought For Business: How Water Shortages Will Impact Your Bottom Line”, by Ashtyn Douglas, posted on May 27, 2015, tells from a farmer’s view, how the drought affects farming, but it is really about how the drought affects the citizens, to people worried about the effects of the drought.

They then have to rely on carb- loaded snacks that they can get for free at the local food pantry. While her husband Jim works long hours, often late into the night spreading pesticides on commercial crop farms, there is never enough money to go around. This has caused them to turn to other means of support. Namely the