Climate Modelers See Modern Echo In '30s Dust Bowl

Physorg ^ | 4-30-2008 | Columbia University

[blam]

La Nina and Pacific Decadal Oscillation Cool the Pacific (Global Warming)

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

I have a solution: lets turn food into fuel to “fight global warming”.

So what if that means pumping aquifers dry & tilling millions of acres of land, which would otherwise lie fallow. If we're going to prevent a dust bowl, empty aquifers are a small price.

/moonbat envriowhacko emoting mode

[Abathar]

Farmers are a lot smarter than they were back in the dustbowl days. They use completely different tillage techniques now and fields are planted and used completely different than back then.

We may have a “dustbowl” drought, but it will be completely different than the pictures we see from then, topsoil is too darn valuable to just let it blow away.

[SJSAMPLE]

I thought the “Dust Bowl” was caused by The Great Depression (not drought) and by farmers walking away from their fields because they weren’t economically viable. The lack of crops exposed the soil, but it wasn’t a drought that started it.

Am I missing something?

[Alright_on_the_LeftCoast]

I am getting real sick of these goofballs and their damn computer models....morons

[RightWhale]

The way the fields are plowed was changed after the Dust Bowl. This is well-known, except at Columbia.

[OeOeO]

1930s Dust Bowl on the U.S Great Plains have found that dust raised by farmers

They should have raised corn or wheat instead

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[theDentist]

“We’re DOOMED!!”

[SJSAMPLE]

LOL.

No wonder the crops weren’t economically viable.

[CedarDave]

There is a term that is used when semi-arid climates transition to arid desert climes and that is “desertification.” And many third world countries such as sub-Saharan Africa are having problems due to overgrazing and lack of a responsive government such as in the Sudan.

In this country, where I am located we haven’t had significant precipitation since early December of last year. No winter or spring rains at all. And currently for the next two days we are having blowing dust and sand that is reducing visibility and increasing fire threats as humidity is less than 10%

Clear and Windy

82°F
(28°C)
Humidity: 9 %
Wind Speed: SW 29 G 39 MPH
Barometer: 29.76”
Dewpoint: 18°F (-8°C)
Heat Index: 80°F (27°C)
Visibility: 10.00 mi.

[CedarDave]

The key point to get from this piece is that man can alter climate locally, no doubt about that. However, he can't affect global climate as a result of CO2 emissions as it is a minor greenhouse gas. That would take a drastic volcanic eruption or other severe introduction of particulates into the atmosphere.

[P.O.E.]

Most telling scene in “Grapes of Wrath”

Little girl at the communal “camp” turns on the water spigot for a drink and leaves it running.

It was supposed to symbolize the plenty such living would provide, but to me it symbolizes the waste by those who don’t have to work for what they receive.

[AndyJackson]

However, he can't affect global climate as a result of CO2 emissions as it is a minor greenhouse gas.

It is not minor, and your conclusion is without any scientfic foundation. The debate within the scientific community is not whether CO2 can affect climate,which is long settle, but rather what is the acceptible level and how many decades do we have before we have to mend our ways.

[hoppity]

My mom and dad were on a road trip, and while driving past some farms, my dad saw a bunch of kids spraying stuff in many of the fields. In the next town, he saw a group of farmers in a restaurant. He asked them what that was about (he grew up on a farm in MN). They told him they don’t till the soil anymore. They just hire teenagers to go spray Roundup all over everything, then they plant again when it’s time.

If true, that doesn’t sound like too good an idea to me, though I admittedly know nothing about farming.

[RayChuang88]

Another problem that made the Dust Bowl worse was the fact American farmers didn't follow corp rotation principles and didn't till their topsoil to follow the contours of the land, both of which contributed to the massive loss of topsoil. The implementation of crop rotation and contour soil tilling pretty much eliminated the problems that caused much of the Dust Bowl in the first place.

[NVDave]

Farmers in the region that was the Dust Bowl of the 30’s don’t use a plow any more. The modern movement is “no till,” which is used to preserve litter on top of the soil, keep more moisture and organic matter (which means carbon) in the soil.

The aquifer issue is being taken care of with regulation. Junior water rights holders in the states over the Ogallala aquifer have had their water rights severely restricted for years.

[NVDave]

Spraying herbicides is the key to no-till farming. It used to be that farmers used tillage to eliminate weeds (and possibly insects, mites and nematodes in root matter).

Now, with cheap pesticides (and Roundup is a pesticide, a herbicide specifically), it is cheaper to spray than till (especially with diesel at $3.50+/gal).

With Roundup (ie, glyphosate is the generic chemical name), you have an herbicide that kills nearly everything but the GMO corn/soybeans. Roundup has no persistence in the environment; it is de-activated by soil. I’ve sprayed Roundup on a field and you could see where it was deactivated by blowing dust.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Good points — but, AFAIK, organic gardening still requires tilling. The deleterious effects of that practice on the soil aren't often mentioned by proponents.