Grasshoppers In The Dust Bowl Essay
Grasshoppers In the Dust Bowl
Grasshoppers aren’t normally referred to as a source of destruction. They’re small insects that kids try to catch in their backyards. But did you know that the small and seemingly harmless insects caused more destruction in the Dust Bowl than the drought and “black-blizzard”? This paper will shed light on the overlooked cause, first by comparing the destruction caused by the grasshoppers and dust storms, seeing how the grasshoppers specifically affected the plains, and then looking at the aftermath from both of the causes of the event from the ‘30s.
The damage caused by the dust storms seemed minute next to the damage caused by the grasshoppers. President Roosevelt said in one of his Fireside Chats, “What the sun
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What the dust destroyed was easier to fix than what the grasshoppers had taken. It was simple to fix blowing soil and dry ground: keep the ground wet. Soil destruction was easily fixed by the Soil Erosion Service, created by Congress, a program that created drainage pipes to keep the ground wet and reverse what the man-made drought had caused (“When the Dust Settled”). Blowing soil was reduced by 65% and didn’t cause damage anymore. The grasshoppers, however, could still come back and were still a threat after picking almost every farm clean of crops Absolutely nothing was left, as Albert Marrin wrote in his book, Years of Dust. This is especially emphasized on page 56, where he says: “All his hopes, all his hard work, had amounted to- nothing” (Marrin 56). The replanting of crops was easier said than done after acre after acre was eaten to the roots by seemingly harmless creatures.
Ultimately, the grasshoppers caused more destruction than the drought. and continued to be a problem after the Dust Bowl ended. After comparing the destruction during and after of the grasshoppers and the dust storms, looking at the destruction the grasshoppers did specifically, and noticing how both events left destruction in their path, grasshoppers did cause more destruction than the man-made storm, and mother nature
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111 Words | 1 PagesThe livestock was another group that was affected in the dust bowl. When the AAA demanded the farmers to plow over there land they killed 6 million young pigs were slaughtered. Many of those pigs just starved because the farmers were no longer working so they could not feed them. When the dust bowl came money farmers and ranchers livestock were killed and when they cut them open there was only dust in there lungs and guts. The cattle grazing was reduced and millions of more acres were plowed and planted.
Summary Of The Worst Hard Times By Timothy Egan
511 Words | 3 PagesThese farmers tilled the land pulled up any remaining grass in the area only making the dust storms worse. During this time farming, there were a lot of struggles and difficulties for the families that were working the land. They had many hardships with the dust storms that was caused by fierce winds that would knock people and animals to the ground, making it impossible to breath and see causing the person to be lost as to which way they were headed and which way they came. In some instances the sandstorms go so bad it would even suffocate the animal or someones loved one. They also had difficulties with grasshoppers and rabbits that would add to crop failure and resulted in many losing so much money on the farms that some would quit and abandon their wheat
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973 Words | 4 PagesDust Bowl, The Southern Plains in the 30’s written by Donald Worster and published in 1979, is an informative text on the Great Plains during the Great Depression. Donald Worster is a credible author because he not only earned a Ph.D. from Yale in environmental history, but he also had previously written a book on the environment and the economy. This book was written well and Worster did a good job of revealing how people and how they live have effected the areas environment. He spoke of places including, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and many more.
Dust Bowl Summary
1077 Words | 5 PagesThis over farming diminished the nutrients in the ground and removed all of the grass and sod holding the dirt in place which resulted in it creating the giant dust storms. Storms like this have happened in the past but not to the same degree. He mentions how the climate in the Southern Plains is problematic as there is little rain and every so many years there are big storms that tear throughout the area. The difference between the storms that occurred before the Dust Bowl, is that there was grass and sod keeping the soil in place instead of just bare earth with shallow roots for anything that managed to cover the earth. Worster claims capitalism and the farming practices are responsible for this as the farmers strive to make a profit without caring about the state of the land is in.
Dust Bowl Dbq Essay
460 Words | 2 PagesYears ago in the 1930s, tragedy struck in America. Along with the wounding great depression, those in the Southern Plain were hit with a catastrophic dust storm known as the Dust Bowl. From acres of farms being destroyed to people losing their lives, the Dust Bowl was an unfortunate disaster. Some may say “the earth ran amok” (Doc A). The devastating Dust Bowl was ultimately caused by poor weather conditions, new farming technology and the immense removal of grass.
The Dust Bowl Dbq
811 Words | 4 PagesThe Dust Bowl negatively affected people in an economic way. How Drought played a big role in The Dust Bowl “ Federal aid to the drought-affected states was first given in 1932, but the first funds marked specifically for drought relief were not released until the fall of 1933. In all, assistance may have reached $1 billion (in 1930s dollars) by the end of the drought (Warrick et al., 1980). “ ( Source - http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/EconomicsoftheDustBowl.aspx )
Farming During The Dust Bowl
77 Words | 1 PagesDuring the Dust Bowl some people made the decision to stay at their farms. Huge drifts of dirt piled up on homesteaders’ doors, came in the cracks of windows and came down from the ceilings. Barnyards and pastures were buried in dirt. After about 850 million tons of topsoil was blown away in 1935 alone. The government responded to this by saying “Unless something is done, the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert.”
The Dust Bowl And Informative Speech
497 Words | 2 PagesThe FDR speech paints them in a more innocent light as victims to a cruel world while the informative text puts the blame on the farmers for using horrible land techniques. “The Dust Bowl” state “. They made two big mistakes. First, in order to plant as much wheat as possible, they plowed over all of the natural prairie grasses that kept the topsoil2 in place. Second, they planted crops too often, instead of giving the soil a break every now and then.
Dust Bowl Dbq Analysis
363 Words | 2 PagesThe third cause of the Dust Bowl was short grass prairie. In Doc B, it states that a lot of the grass was mostly Buffalo grass for the animals to eat. This ties in with the first and second paragraph because the soil was killing the grass. How it was killing the grass was since there was so much soil not being watered, the grass would die as well. The animals would starve as well since the grass was not watered.
Essay On Dustbowl
574 Words | 3 PagesThrough the completion of this project, my knowledge of the dustbowl has considerably expanded. I have learned about the dustbowl through textbook and lectures in class; however, this project has taught me the most about the dustbowl than any other source of information. This project improved my understanding of the dustbowl due to the fact that we used primary sources for our information. Primary sources allow us to get first-hand experience for any event and an actual account as to what happened. Although secondary sources helped my understanding of the dustbowl, primary sources gave me an actual representation of what occurred during the dustbowl through the use of providing interviews, photographs, and articles during the period of the dustbowl.
What Caused The Dust Bowl Dbq
435 Words | 2 PagesThe two things that contributed to the start of the dust bowl are, over-farming and drought. The dust bowl was a terrible dust storm that devastated lives of thousands in the Southern Great Plains. The dust bowl occurred in the 1930’s. People called this time the blackest year.
How Did The Dust Bowl Affect Society
527 Words | 3 PagesThe dust bowl was caused by severe drought,bad farming and change of weather. During the 1930’s,severe drought,failure to know how to farm and to prevent wind erosions,the aeolian processes. The impact this disaster had on the society was scared,because people didn’t know if they were going to make it. Another impact this horrific disaster had on the society was all of their crops were destroyed.
Dust Bowl Thesis
912 Words | 4 PagesThe dust bowl is very serious. “But in the summer of 1931, the rains disappeared. Crops withered and died. There had always been strong winds and dust on the Plains, but now over plowing created conditions for disaster. There was dust everywhere, because the people couldve worried about others than themselves.
Essay On The Dust Bowl
1291 Words | 6 PagesLivestock could not breath or find food sources. Thousands of people lost their homes due to the storm. Changes in farming and agriculture in the early 1900s altered the landscape and soil creating the perfect environment for the Dust Bowl and impacted living conditions and economic policy. First, changes in farming and agriculture over the years led to the conditions that caused the Dust Bowl and impacted the Great Plains. “Wind and drought alone did not create the Dust Bowl.
Essay On The Grapes Of Wrath
447 Words | 2 PagesIn John Steinbeck’s movie and novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” he presented the ecological, sociological, and economic disaster that the United States suffered during the 1930s. The movie is set during the Great Depression, “Dust Bowl,” and it focuses on the Joad’s family. It is a poor family of farmers who resides in Oklahoma, a home fulfilled by scarcity, economic hardship, agricultural changes, and job losses. Unexpectedly, affected by their hopeless situation, as well as they are trapped in an ecological madness, the Joad’s decided to move out to California; Beside with other people whom were affected by the same conditions, those seeking for jobs, land, a better life, and dignity.
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