1930's DUST BOWL

We are a carbon based life - the earth is carbon - and we cycle carbon. Even though there is much talk about global warming there seems to be little said about the Carbon Cycle.

CO2 falls to the earth because it is heavier than air and is photosynthesised into the planet - into trees and soil, into the oceans and rivers, but not ashfelt and concrete. That's why cities are heat islands and trees and forests are cool. Carbon isn't always warming, in effect carbon plays a role in cooling the planet since trees attract rain. Water is the thermoregulator.

Soil started out life covered with grasses and trees, but steadily land was cleared to make way for crops. The Industrial Revolution enabled great growth, populations exploded, and industrial farming techniques shifted into high gear with ploughing and tilling on a massive scale... the unseen consequence brought on artificial fertilisers.

Ploughing exposed the soil (beneath the topsoil) to the harsh elements, especially the sun - but at that time little was known about the microbial populations living just below the surface. In the race for food, farmers added artificial fertilisers and ploughed and tilled, tilled and ploughed, adding more artificial fertilisers.

The resultant completely changed the cycle of soil and carbon.

Exposed soil decimated the microbial population - and without the billions of workers - systems broke down - billions upon billions of microbes died and soil released all its stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Note: a little known fact - soils have contributed nearly twice as much CO2 to global warming than all the power stations and cars put together. See PROF. RATTAN LAL.

Due to the relentless effort to produce more and more food per acre, modern farming techniques slowly addicted soil to a man-made cocktail of artificial nutrients normally cultivated when soil is left fallow - ostensibly dispensing with the microbes, natures little workers. It became a vicious cycle resulting in the lowest nutrient rich soil in human history (which in turn affects human health), exemplified by the Great Dust Bowl storms of America.

The 1930's DUST BOWL struck from 1934 to 1937. 150,000-square-miles encompassing Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico just blew away. Over ploughing the soil removed the root system of grass as anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “BLACK BLIZZARDS.”

We Are Carbon Based Life Forms Living On A Carbon Planet In A Carbon Cycle.