Climate Topic

The topic that interest me most is the science behind climate. This interests me because knowing how predictable climate is affects how much humans have to do with it.

Climate

weather
temperature
rainy
dry
humid

These words came to mind when hearing the word climate because first I thought of a definition and then I thought of examples.

Is climate predictable?

Dust Bowl

Sarah Margaret Cimino

1. Farmers plowed deep into the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains displacing the natural grasses. 
2. The native grasses of the Plains were deep-rooted and kept the high winds from blowing away soil. They also trapped moisture.
3. cotton farmers left fields bare during the winter or burned what was left in the field to control weeds
4. In the study, cooler than normal tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures and warmer than normal tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures created ideal drought conditions due to the unstable sea surface temperatures which resulted in dry air and high temperatures in the Midwest during the 1930s
5.  In the 1930's, the jet stream was weakened causing the air from the Gulf of Mexico to become drier.
6. But plow-based farming in this re­gion cultivated an unexpected yield: the loss of fertile topsoil that literally blew away in the winds
7.  Years of over-cultivation meant there was no longer protection from the elements. 
8. When the drought killed off the crops, high winds blew the remaining topsoil away.
9. The farmers destroyed the nutrients in the soil
10. There was a lack lack of understanding of the environment.

Questions:

Could the dust bowl happen again?

Why was there a lack of understanding?

dust bowl causes

Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. 
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/dust-bowl-cause.htm 
http://weather.about.com/od/weatherfaqs/f/dustbowl.htm 
https://weather.com/news/news/dust-bowl-20120718#/5 


replaced crops with wheat instead of natural drought-resistant grasses 
dry land farming
poor farming habits

In the study, cooler than normal tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures and warmer than normal tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures created ideal drought conditions due to the unstable sea surface temperatures. The result was dry air and high temperatures in the Midwest from about 1931 to 1939.

1930's questions

1. Read about the Great Depression (Links to an external site.).  According to this article, what was wrong with President Hoover's response?  Why did people blame themselves when things went wrong, and how valid or invalid was this response?
-President Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis.  Since the prevailing attitude of the 1920s was that success was earned, it followed that failure was deserved. The unemployment brought on by the Depression caused self-blame and self-doubt.  It was  valid because this forced the people to deal with it themselves and be individualistic. Because Americans are individualistic, like Hoover, did not think that the government should help. 
2. Read about Black Sunday
 (Links to an external site.). How would you have felt if you'd been there on that day? What kinds of fears, concerns, or questions would be going through your mind during, and after, the event described?

-I would have felt very scared and I would wonder when it's going to be over and what type of damage it has caused. Is this going to happen again? How can we stop it? What is causing this? 

3. Read about The Drought

 (Links to an external site.).  What areas were affected by it?  What caused it.  The author ends this article with a pithy quote.  Do you agree or disagree with this historian's perspective? Why or why not?

- The drought affected  the western third of Kansas, Southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico. . Although dry spells are unavoidable in the region, occurring roughly every 25 years, it was the combination of drought and misuse of the land that led to the incredible devastation of the Dust Bowl years. I agree with the quote because no one was doing anything to fix the issues and the fact that the issues were happening resembles the lack of care for the natural environment.They need to think about the present.

4. Read about Mass Exodus from the Plains

 (Links to an external site.).  Were does the migration of people out of the Dust Bowl rank in terms of other migrations in US History?  What made life hard for people once they arrived in California?

-The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states: 200,000  moved to California. Life was hard foe the migrants in California, they did not receive a warm welcome. It was hard because many California farms were corporate-owned and the farms  were larger and more modernized that those of the southern plains, and the crops were unfamiliar. The workers were paid by the quantity of fruit and cotton picked with earnings ranging from seventy-five cents to $1.25 a day. Out of that, they had to pay twenty-five cents a day to rent a tar-paper shack with no floor or plumbing. 

The radio and politics in the 1930s

-This article said that 
-Calvin Coolidge was the first president to use the radio to his advantage
- his 1925 inauguration was the first to be broadcast on radio. 
-the American president most associated with radio is Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Between 1933 and 1944, Roosevelt delivered 30 “fireside chats”.  
-government leaders relied on radio to convey messages to the public (President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats”) 
-After FDR no political candidate could win without campaigning on the air
- "I am very fortunate that I came in with the radio," Coolidge commented. "I can't make an engaging, rousing or oratorical speech...but I have a good radio voice, and now I can get my message across to [the public] without acquainting them with my lack of oratorical ability."
-article-By 1924, with 500 stations and three million receivers in the United States, the radio could no longer be ignored 
-both parties used it
-politcal use of the radio was altered becasue not everyone listened to the radio
-A new Harris Poll said 65 percent of Americans surveyed think radio and television talk show hosts have too much influence in Congress and the White House
- On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the first of his radio-broadcast fireside chat
- FDR used the informal radio addresses to explain his policies to the American public
-During the 1930s, approximately 90 percent of American households owned a radio
-FDR used the medium for his fireside chats 31 times between March 1933 and June 1944
-fireside chats were evening radio adresses

I know that the American president most associated with radio is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Between 1933 and 1944, he delivered 30 “fireside chats”.  THese chats were evening radio adresses. During the 1930s, approximately 90 percent of American households owned a radio so nearly everyone heard these political speeches. After FDR no political candidate could win without campaigning on the air. 

speech

    The biggest change in the 1920's was that individuals now had freedom to do things and go places they never had before. The automobile gave people freedom to go places, the rise of the flapper gave women the freedom to express themselves and have fun, education gave students freedom to be themselves, and since people had this freedom they could now be a part of a larger group such as the klan. These facts are the most important because they support the claim that freedom is the most important aspect of this era.

    The automobile strongly impacted the freedom that the people in this era gained. The automobile provided freedom to the people living in rural areas because they could now get out and go see the city. The automobile not only impacted traveling short distances but it made vacations and traveling far possbile. Thanks to the automobile, people now had the freedom to go places and do what they wanted. I believe that the automobile had the biggest impact on freedom because in today's society everyone has a car to go wherever they want. 

     Women gained a lot of freedom in this era.  The rise of the flapper gave women the freedom to express themselves through their hair and seductive clothing. In today's world, women wear whatever clothes, makeup, or hairstyle they want without thinking about it. The women in this time could now smoke, drink, dance, and attend parties. This is really important because women could get out of the house and go places to have fun on their own. The automobile and the flapper work together in a sense that they both provide escape. 

     Not only did the automobile and flapper provide freedom and escape but education did as well. Education was the first thing that gave kids the chance to be themselves and choose hobbies. School gave kids the chance to escape their families and home life to interact with friends.
     The freedom that people gained in this era allowed them to be a part of something bigger such as the Klan. The klan had 4 million people by 1924 because people had the freedom to choose to join. The people in the klan also had the freedom to choose the way they wanted to present themselves. They tried to come across as as patriots and leaders.
  All of these facts are the most important because they all relate to freedom which is the most important and valuable thing gained from the 1920's. 

Book Review

My First Day of High School by Abby Schmidt is about a woman named Susan Day who is very excited about teaching her first day of a high school economics class. Over the summer she studied all of the bizarre slang words that teenagers use so she would know what her students are talking about. On her first day a student rudely asked her for money and told her that the class was boring. This book is a lot more interesting than Susan's class seems. --Sarah Margaret Cimino--

The Klan by Evan Lake is about Jimmy who meets at Stone Mountain to form the klan. At first people were not fond of the klan. But after time as the klan grew drastically people were more supportive. As the book goes on Jimmy becomes sad because he realizes that people started to hate the klan. --Sarah Margaret Cimino--

Story book about 1920s

For this assignment, I made a short story book about the women and flappers in the 1920s. I used 14 slang terms in the story. I made my story about a girl named Jane that just graduated college because this was the time period that educated women were more common. I made Jane very special. She is a doctor so she is very intelligent and admired for having such a big job for a woman. Jane is also special because not only is she a doctor but she is also a flapper. She is considered "bohemian" because she is upper class.  She attends parties and goes dancing with her boyfriend John.