4 ms·

I have done a little quick and dirty looking around, trying to get an idea of how much damage was done in the Dust Bowl and what the long term consequence were

I have done a little quick and dirty looking around, trying to get an idea of how much damage was done in the Dust Bowl and what the long term consequence were (as a point of comparison/trying to find a thing that might help mentally model where this is going). Here are a couple of links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl#Long-term_economic_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl#Long-term_economic_i... https://www.softschools.com/facts/us_history/dust_bowl_facts/814/ https://www.softschools.com/facts/us_history/dust_bowl_facts... I run r/UrbanForestry and have recently posted some soil-related pieces there and I'm trying to get a handle on a complex topic without having to get a PhD in it. If anyone can suggest some good sources for me, I would appreciate it.

tastyfreeze 6y ago
YouTube soil health videos has all you need. Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta presentations are easy to consume. Dr. Elaine Ingham focuses more on the soil life in greater detail than most care about but she does provide some important to understand details on rhizosphere interactions. Living Web Farms has quite a lot of lectures about regenerative practices. There are also a myriad of academic papers on soil health as well. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmIdq0D6-A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmIdq0D6-A , by Gabe Brown set me on the regenerative path. If you dont want to consume hours of information here is the gist. The soil is alive. Plants use microbes and fungus as an external stomach. Direct sun and disruption/tilling kill the soil life. Without life in the soil you eventually have a desert as the organics are sifted out of the sand by weathering.
meristohm 6y ago
Thanks for your efforts. Here’s a podcast[1] episode about regenerative farming, with an anecdote from a farming couple in MN who note lower cost per bushel of corn and soybeans over the past seven years after transitioning to no-till. They also observe more birds on their farm, presumably eating more insects, eating more-numerous smaller life forms supported by the soil which is up from 1-2% organic material to 5% (previous prairie, under management by pre-colonial humans, had about 12%)[1]. One of the podcast hosts is Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, editor of a recent book[2] about actions we can take as the climate changes. [1] How to Save a Planet, episode 2021-01-07 titled “Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution” [2] Johnson and Wilkinson, editors (2020); All We Can Save: truth, courage, and solutions for the climate crisis; ISBN 978-0-593-23706-9
fiftyfifty 6y ago
It would probably be worth contacting someone at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which is part of the USDA. It was literally created as a response to the soil lost during the dustbowl and was originally called the "Soil Conservation Service". They may already have studies that cover exactly what you are asking about: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/about/history/ https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/abou...
drawkbox 6y ago
Agriculture also reduces the root depth as crops are harvested fast and regular iterations. This was a large cause of the Dust Bowl issue. There was a great post on this on reddit that has photo for reference. [1][2][3] Cover crops help this now to prevent Dust Bowl like conditions and bad soil where possible [4]. Side note: Most carbon capture also happens in the root of wild grasses and plants. It isn't just agriculture but all our landscaping types that prevent root depth. We need more trees, and more wild growing but we cull it all back for the Stepford style perfect landscaping. HOAs in Arizona for instance hate wild grass and wild flowers, but they capture more carbon and can look amazing. Planting trees and plants that are more natural with deeper roots can help climate change and help the Gray-Green divide that highlights inequality on the amount of green in urban areas [5]. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/mdocyn/comparison_of_the_root_system_of_prairie_grass_vs/ https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/mdocyn/c... [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/microgrowery/comments/mdyb3h/comparison_of_the_root_system_of_prairie_grass_vs/ https://old.reddit.com/r/microgrowery/comments/mdyb3h/compar... [3] https://preview.redd.it/sp1n9tf6hdp61.jpg?width=509&auto=webp&s=3370a55cb5c380a7fdef3699bf032e540fde286b https://preview.redd.it/sp1n9tf6hdp61.jpg?width=509&auto=web... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/business/cover-crops-a-farming-revolution-with-deep-roots-in-the-past.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/business/cover-crops-a-fa... [5] https://www.geographyrealm.com/gray-green-urban-divide-wealth-poverty-visible-space/ https://www.geographyrealm.com/gray-green-urban-divide-wealt...
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago
  HOAs are a scourge. I’d love to see more states scale back the power of HOAs.
  - koolba 6y ago
    I doubt there’s much State’s can do to stop HOAs from existing. It’s a contract between the homeowners. There’s a lot of economy of scale for group maintenance as well (e.g. landscaping costs are significantly less for adjacent properties). Like most things in the USA, you can vote with your wallet and live somewhere that doesn’t have an HOA.

tastyfreeze 6y ago

YouTube soil health videos has all you need. Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta presentations are easy to consume. Dr. Elaine Ingham focuses more on the soil life in greater detail than most care about but she does provide some important to understand details on rhizosphere interactions. Living Web Farms has quite a lot of lectures about regenerative practices. There are also a myriad of academic papers on soil health as well. This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmIdq0D6-A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmIdq0D6-A , by Gabe Brown set me on the regenerative path. If you dont want to consume hours of information here is the gist. The soil is alive. Plants use microbes and fungus as an external stomach. Direct sun and disruption/tilling kill the soil life. Without life in the soil you eventually have a desert as the organics are sifted out of the sand by weathering.

meristohm 6y ago

Thanks for your efforts. Here’s a podcast[1] episode about regenerative farming, with an anecdote from a farming couple in MN who note lower cost per bushel of corn and soybeans over the past seven years after transitioning to no-till. They also observe more birds on their farm, presumably eating more insects, eating more-numerous smaller life forms supported by the soil which is up from 1-2% organic material to 5% (previous prairie, under management by pre-colonial humans, had about 12%)[1]. One of the podcast hosts is Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, editor of a recent book[2] about actions we can take as the climate changes. [1] How to Save a Planet, episode 2021-01-07 titled “Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution” [2] Johnson and Wilkinson, editors (2020); All We Can Save: truth, courage, and solutions for the climate crisis; ISBN 978-0-593-23706-9

fiftyfifty 6y ago

It would probably be worth contacting someone at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which is part of the USDA. It was literally created as a response to the soil lost during the dustbowl and was originally called the "Soil Conservation Service". They may already have studies that cover exactly what you are asking about: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/about/history/ https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/abou...

drawkbox 6y ago

Agriculture also reduces the root depth as crops are harvested fast and regular iterations. This was a large cause of the Dust Bowl issue. There was a great post on this on reddit that has photo for reference. [1][2][3] Cover crops help this now to prevent Dust Bowl like conditions and bad soil where possible [4]. Side note: Most carbon capture also happens in the root of wild grasses and plants. It isn't just agriculture but all our landscaping types that prevent root depth. We need more trees, and more wild growing but we cull it all back for the Stepford style perfect landscaping. HOAs in Arizona for instance hate wild grass and wild flowers, but they capture more carbon and can look amazing. Planting trees and plants that are more natural with deeper roots can help climate change and help the Gray-Green divide that highlights inequality on the amount of green in urban areas [5]. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/mdocyn/comparison_of_the_root_system_of_prairie_grass_vs/ https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/mdocyn/c... [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/microgrowery/comments/mdyb3h/comparison_of_the_root_system_of_prairie_grass_vs/ https://old.reddit.com/r/microgrowery/comments/mdyb3h/compar... [3] https://preview.redd.it/sp1n9tf6hdp61.jpg?width=509&auto=webp&s=3370a55cb5c380a7fdef3699bf032e540fde286b https://preview.redd.it/sp1n9tf6hdp61.jpg?width=509&auto=web... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/business/cover-crops-a-farming-revolution-with-deep-roots-in-the-past.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/business/cover-crops-a-fa... [5] https://www.geographyrealm.com/gray-green-urban-divide-wealth-poverty-visible-space/ https://www.geographyrealm.com/gray-green-urban-divide-wealt...

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
HOAs are a scourge. I’d love to see more states scale back the power of HOAs.
- koolba 6y ago
  I doubt there’s much State’s can do to stop HOAs from existing. It’s a contract between the homeowners. There’s a lot of economy of scale for group maintenance as well (e.g. landscaping costs are significantly less for adjacent properties). Like most things in the USA, you can vote with your wallet and live somewhere that doesn’t have an HOA.