"We ate so poorly that the Hobo's wouldn't come to our house..."

[WCGreen]

This one quote, from an older gentleman talking about his childhood, sums up the desperation that was his while living through the the Dust Bowl years.

Ken Burns has done it again, turning his talents, cameras and his sense of empathy on one of the greatest ecological disasters in recorded history.

10 years the dry winds ripped down from Canada and scoured all the top soil that was exposed by the indiscriminate practices of the farmers who flocked to get at the cheap land. They ripped up the deep rooted natural grasses and so set the table for their own destruction.

It's heartbreaking and also sobering in the sense that we are never that far from natures wraith. Especially when we jump into action putting profits first and everything else can just go to hell.

Only thing is, the only going to hell is those who are stuck to deal with the consequences.

To me, this is an answer to all those climate change deniers who say how can man change something as awesome as nature. Well Sparky, watch the four hour film about the Dust bowl and you will see first hand how man can gin up Mother Natures furry by ignoring the consequences of those actions.

[Fridays Child]

1. I wish every American would watch this documentary.

It's important to the future of this country and the planet. The timing for this could not be more critical.

[struggle4progress]

16. +

[mimi85]

2. Agreed

Ken Burns is an amazing film maker. This def is must see tv!

[WCGreen]

3. His take on Baseball was a real eye-opener....

I've seen many of his documentaries over the years and his take on history is populist and so is bubble up reality.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I saw that Monday night and it was excellent.

The documentary about Woody Guthrie was wonderful too. My dad, my brother, and I were having a discussion about the economy over lunch yesterday and I brought up that documentary and was relating it to what's happening today. My dad, a libertarian type and a Limbaugh fan, said that the situation during the Depression was a special case and that we don't need the government to jump-start the economy like they did back then. I said that the only reason we didn't hit rock bottom this time was because government agencies were already in place to deal with it this time. I also said that things would have been better if Congress had passed that jobs bill, too. My dad and brother hate Obama, but I think they knew I was right about that.

[WCGreen]

5. Public works ts a great way to get the economy going...

[6502]

6. Liink to video or the name of the video please???

It would be great if the video was available via YouTube or the Internet Archive.

[Gabby Hayes]

8. It is called "The Dust Bowl"

It will likely air again soon on PBS.

[6502]

11. I can't get PBS in Japan :(

... PBS blocks video requests from Japan.

Is there a YouTube or other version out there?

[whistler162]

15. Amazon video on demand

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A1ZVX1Y/ref=atv_dp_gtv_hd_sib not free

[Gabby Hayes]

7. Man can cause a Dust Bowl

This is an in-your-face documentary for those who still deny Mankind's role in the Dust Bowl. It was old news for many people like me whose parents grew up on Oklahoma farms in the 1930's. I guess we all thought that every kid had been taught the same lesson about being good stewards. However, more than 2,000 nuclear bomb tests and nearly 75 years of pollution later, some Climate Change deniers still exist and they will be running the Congressional Science Committee. Somehow, some way, maybe we can bring their offices to near-standstill with a constant deluge of emails and handwritten, stamped letters. They say they only answer to their district constituents, but their doomsday actions have made all Mankind their constituents. Wherever you live on this planet, make them do the right thing.

[melm00se]

9. photos of the dust bowl

if you've never seen them

https://www.google.com/search?q=dust+bowl&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=u&rlz=1C1ASUT_enUS452US452&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mrGsUOfvLqex0AGpxIHIBQ&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643

[jamesatemple]

10. Union County, New Mexico

is located in the far northeast corner of that fine state. It is a part of the "four corners", that spot where New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and the Oklahoma panhandle come together. In 1907, my grandfather acquired 320 acres of virgin plains some 20 miles northeast of the the County Seat, Clayton, by way of the Homestead Act; my mother was born there in 1919. New Mexico was not a state when my grandfather arrived there; it was by the time my mother was born.

You would be correct in surmising that I grew up listening to stories about the "dust bowl". But my imagination at its best couldn't begin to fathom the horrors of that location at that time...until I sat, spellbound, through both parts of Ken Burns' powerful documentary. As I watched, I couldn't help but think of mom who passed away in 1997. I suspect that her viewing of the program would have engendered mixed emotions with a vast load of memories, both good and bad.

My granddad broke the land in the beginning; it broke him in the end. I never knew anyone who toiled so diligently from "can to cain't" to provide for his family. He and most of his neighbors utilized the land to sustain their families, not to get rich by growing wheat. Still, whatever the homesteader's motive, they created the dust bowl out of ignorance, not malice. No one could have loved the land more than those pioneers but that ignorance of the consequences of tilling the virgin soil was proved by the disastrous results.

The consequences of ignorance with regard to the dust bowl pales in comparison to the catastrophic consequences of global warming. Those early settlers had no idea of the monster that they were creating. In our time, scientists from all over our small planet are warning us of the dangers of ignoring the causes of climatic change. We can't use ignorance as an excuse; we've seen the consequences in the microcosm of damaging nature called the "dust bowl".

[Berlum]

12. Today it's GMO crops and weedkiller toxic poison poured over millions of hectares

of the good old USA. Corporate chemical poison kills life in the soil.

Of this farmers, corporations, and consumers must take immediate note.

[Coyotl]

13. Premiered November 18 and 19, 2012 on PBS = You can watch it here:

You can watch it here:
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/

You'd think this would be in the OP!

[trof]

14. Thanks.

Missed the first episode.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. He tells the tale so compellingly that it's impossible to ignore...

The lesson is one that we must apparently learn over and over...

Our hubris may well be our undoing.

Great post, Chris...

K&R