1 00:00:06,924 --> 00:00:09,886 [dramatic music] 2 00:00:09,927 --> 00:00:13,473 * * 3 00:00:13,514 --> 00:00:15,850 - Greetings. Bill Nye here. 4 00:00:15,892 --> 00:00:19,729 Chicago-style, best hot dog on the planet. 5 00:00:19,771 --> 00:00:20,897 Some say it's the relish. 6 00:00:20,938 --> 00:00:24,025 Others swear by the mustard, but for me, 7 00:00:24,067 --> 00:00:27,153 it's all about the wonderful combination of flavors 8 00:00:27,195 --> 00:00:29,864 all in a fresh-baked bun with wheat grown 9 00:00:29,906 --> 00:00:32,742 on the Great Plains just a few miles from here. 10 00:00:32,784 --> 00:00:37,538 I'm glad I snagged one, because this hot dog is under attack. 11 00:00:37,580 --> 00:00:39,040 Yeah, I said it. 12 00:00:39,082 --> 00:00:42,293 In fact, hot dogs everywhere are about to become extinct, 13 00:00:42,335 --> 00:00:45,546 the beef, the bun, the condiments, all of it 14 00:00:45,588 --> 00:00:48,257 threatened by a disaster that will wipe out 15 00:00:48,299 --> 00:00:51,427 our food supply from the ground up. 16 00:00:51,469 --> 00:00:54,097 Maybe I should have grabbed some chips. 17 00:00:54,138 --> 00:00:55,598 I'm in Chicago, 18 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,892 where everyone knows it's windy, 19 00:00:57,934 --> 00:01:00,603 and today it's really living up to its name, 20 00:01:00,645 --> 00:01:03,606 but this is no draft off Lake Michigan. 21 00:01:03,648 --> 00:01:05,817 This is an environmental calamity 22 00:01:05,858 --> 00:01:09,654 born in the American heartland, and it's heading our way. 23 00:01:09,695 --> 00:01:13,324 This catastrophe will turn day into night, 24 00:01:13,366 --> 00:01:16,786 rich soil into dry dust. 25 00:01:16,828 --> 00:01:20,206 Get ready for the biggest, baddest dust storms 26 00:01:20,248 --> 00:01:21,958 the world has ever seen. 27 00:01:21,999 --> 00:01:24,293 [siren wailing] 28 00:01:24,335 --> 00:01:27,296 Oh, man, here we go again. 29 00:01:27,338 --> 00:01:30,299 [dramatic music] 30 00:01:30,341 --> 00:01:37,473 * * 31 00:01:50,361 --> 00:01:52,321 [cow lows] 32 00:01:52,363 --> 00:01:59,620 * * 33 00:02:00,037 --> 00:02:01,497 - Greetings, friends. 34 00:02:01,539 --> 00:02:04,000 Welcome back to the Disaster Institute, 35 00:02:04,041 --> 00:02:07,336 where we chronicle the great cataclysms that have happened 36 00:02:07,378 --> 00:02:09,922 in the past, are happening now, 37 00:02:09,964 --> 00:02:12,508 or could happen at any moment. 38 00:02:12,550 --> 00:02:15,678 Tonight, a disaster unique in this great hall of ours. 39 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,681 Some catastrophes strike in a few minutes. 40 00:02:18,723 --> 00:02:22,643 Others take a few days, but this one, 41 00:02:22,685 --> 00:02:26,481 it will last for years, decades, maybe even forever, 42 00:02:26,522 --> 00:02:30,651 relentless doomsday storms, not of rain and floods, 43 00:02:30,693 --> 00:02:33,821 but of wind and earth that will strip the life from the land 44 00:02:33,863 --> 00:02:36,949 turning our fertile planet into a starved, 45 00:02:36,991 --> 00:02:39,827 desiccated wasteland. 46 00:02:39,869 --> 00:02:45,333 * * 47 00:02:45,374 --> 00:02:47,543 Hey, cool scythe. 48 00:02:47,585 --> 00:02:49,879 For you non-artisan farmers out there, 49 00:02:49,921 --> 00:02:52,882 it's a tool used to harvest wheat and other grains. 50 00:02:52,924 --> 00:02:56,219 Of course, this guy uses it for something-- 51 00:02:56,260 --> 00:02:59,055 I think you know what he uses it for. 52 00:02:59,097 --> 00:03:01,933 * * 53 00:03:01,974 --> 00:03:05,186 This is a story about storms of dust, 54 00:03:05,228 --> 00:03:08,231 epic storms that will sandblast the land 55 00:03:08,272 --> 00:03:11,901 and scrub humankind off the face of the Earth. 56 00:03:11,943 --> 00:03:14,153 * * 57 00:03:14,195 --> 00:03:18,533 We're about to take a ride on our Disaster Simulator. 58 00:03:18,574 --> 00:03:22,620 I want you to experience this disaster firsthand 59 00:03:22,662 --> 00:03:25,206 from three points of view: 60 00:03:25,248 --> 00:03:29,210 A young shop owner and other survivors taking shelter 61 00:03:29,252 --> 00:03:31,254 as noon turns into night, 62 00:03:31,295 --> 00:03:37,218 a scientist who sees visions of dust by peering into water, 63 00:03:37,260 --> 00:03:39,929 and we'll travel to the point of view of the past, 64 00:03:39,971 --> 00:03:42,890 90 years ago, when the dust storms 65 00:03:42,932 --> 00:03:45,518 first arrived and destroyed farmlands 66 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,395 where the world's grains were grown. 67 00:03:47,437 --> 00:03:53,443 Grains, like wheat and corn, are staples on kitchen tables 68 00:03:53,484 --> 00:03:55,236 all around the world. 69 00:03:55,278 --> 00:04:01,200 Bread, pasta, popcorn, cookies, tortillas, couscous, beer. 70 00:04:01,242 --> 00:04:03,286 Grains are in almost everything. 71 00:04:03,327 --> 00:04:06,789 They're one of the first crops we humans cultivated. 72 00:04:06,831 --> 00:04:11,169 Grains feed us, our livestock, and the global economy. 73 00:04:11,210 --> 00:04:16,132 No grains, no civilization. 74 00:04:16,174 --> 00:04:23,097 * * 75 00:04:24,766 --> 00:04:28,352 Our story begins here, in the not-so-distant future, 76 00:04:28,394 --> 00:04:31,105 what people call the Great Plains, 77 00:04:31,147 --> 00:04:34,942 millions of acres of farmland in the American Midwest. 78 00:04:34,984 --> 00:04:37,236 People also call it the breadbasket, 79 00:04:37,278 --> 00:04:41,199 because the grains here nourish people everywhere, 80 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,285 and what nourishes the grains? 81 00:04:44,327 --> 00:04:46,454 Mountain Dew Code Red. 82 00:04:46,496 --> 00:04:47,747 No, I'm kidding. 83 00:04:47,789 --> 00:04:50,083 The grains are nourished by the Sun, 84 00:04:50,124 --> 00:04:52,460 the soil, and the water, 85 00:04:52,502 --> 00:04:55,630 and water is precisely where the trouble starts. 86 00:04:55,671 --> 00:04:57,673 She's a hydrologist, 87 00:04:57,715 --> 00:05:00,385 a scientist who studies the water 88 00:05:00,426 --> 00:05:02,720 on and beneath the surface of the Earth. 89 00:05:02,762 --> 00:05:05,723 Right now she's measuring the groundwater level 90 00:05:05,765 --> 00:05:07,517 under this cornfield. 91 00:05:07,558 --> 00:05:09,185 It's one of hundreds of measurements 92 00:05:09,227 --> 00:05:11,687 she's been making in the area over the past few months, 93 00:05:11,729 --> 00:05:14,148 and she's alarmed by what she's found. 94 00:05:14,190 --> 00:05:17,527 Groundwater levels are dropping way faster 95 00:05:17,568 --> 00:05:20,738 than normal, dangerously so. 96 00:05:20,780 --> 00:05:23,199 The Ogallala Aquifer is vanishing, 97 00:05:23,241 --> 00:05:28,204 and that could spell disaster for the entire world. 98 00:05:28,246 --> 00:05:31,833 The Oma-Lady Gaga what? 99 00:05:31,874 --> 00:05:33,501 [birds chirping] 100 00:05:33,543 --> 00:05:36,504 [dramatic music] 101 00:05:36,546 --> 00:05:37,547 * * 102 00:05:37,588 --> 00:05:39,882 - The Ogallala Aquifer. 103 00:05:39,924 --> 00:05:43,845 An aquifer is like a great lake hidden underground. 104 00:05:43,886 --> 00:05:47,724 This one was created by melting glaciers and rainfall 105 00:05:47,765 --> 00:05:50,143 over the last few thousand years. 106 00:05:50,184 --> 00:05:53,187 The Ogallala Aquifer isn't just tricky to pronounce. 107 00:05:53,229 --> 00:05:56,691 It's also one of the biggest aquifers on the planet, 108 00:05:56,733 --> 00:06:00,403 100 trillion gallons of fresh, clean water 109 00:06:00,445 --> 00:06:03,114 just ours for the taking. 110 00:06:03,156 --> 00:06:04,866 And that's the problem. 111 00:06:04,907 --> 00:06:07,285 We've been taking it since the 1940s 112 00:06:07,326 --> 00:06:12,707 to irrigate farms across eight enormous midwestern states. 113 00:06:12,749 --> 00:06:15,084 This water source supports nearly 20% 114 00:06:15,126 --> 00:06:17,795 of grain agriculture worldwide. 115 00:06:17,837 --> 00:06:20,798 Our hydrologist confirms that water levels 116 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:23,718 are dropping fast, too fast. 117 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,971 Where is all that water going? 118 00:06:27,013 --> 00:06:29,807 * * 119 00:06:29,849 --> 00:06:33,186 Industrial agriculture, the large-scale production 120 00:06:33,227 --> 00:06:37,106 of food crops and livestock, requires a lot of water. 121 00:06:37,148 --> 00:06:39,067 This gentleman is the CEO 122 00:06:39,108 --> 00:06:42,028 of one of the biggest agribusinesses in the world, 123 00:06:42,070 --> 00:06:44,781 and business has never been better, 124 00:06:44,822 --> 00:06:50,119 but record profits require record amounts of water. 125 00:06:50,161 --> 00:06:53,498 The company has been pumping the aquifer day and night 126 00:06:53,539 --> 00:06:55,875 to feed its thirsty crops. 127 00:06:55,917 --> 00:06:59,003 It's also been selling off huge amounts of water 128 00:06:59,045 --> 00:07:02,298 to other huge industrial farming operations. 129 00:07:02,340 --> 00:07:06,594 They are literally sucking the ground dry. 130 00:07:06,636 --> 00:07:08,054 They suck. 131 00:07:08,096 --> 00:07:12,058 If there ever was an act of cow, this is it. 132 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:13,101 [dramatic music] 133 00:07:13,142 --> 00:07:14,394 [cow lowing] 134 00:07:14,435 --> 00:07:17,230 Act of cow symbolizes the human negligence 135 00:07:17,271 --> 00:07:20,608 that can trigger a disaster or make one worse. 136 00:07:20,650 --> 00:07:22,443 It's inspired by a bovine named Daisy, 137 00:07:22,485 --> 00:07:25,738 who as legend has it kicked over a lantern 138 00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:27,615 and started the Great Chicago Fire. 139 00:07:27,657 --> 00:07:29,242 [cow lows] 140 00:07:29,283 --> 00:07:32,829 You might think hoarding all this water is unlawful. 141 00:07:32,870 --> 00:07:34,664 You might think Jennifer Hudson won 142 00:07:34,705 --> 00:07:37,208 her season of "American Idol." 143 00:07:37,250 --> 00:07:39,293 - Jennifer Hudson was robbed, obviously, 144 00:07:39,335 --> 00:07:42,088 but what we're doing is completely legal. 145 00:07:42,130 --> 00:07:44,757 - Unfortunately, both of those things are true. 146 00:07:44,799 --> 00:07:48,219 Much of the Ogallala Aquifer underlies land 147 00:07:48,261 --> 00:07:50,805 that is privately owned, and the handful 148 00:07:50,847 --> 00:07:54,350 of corporations that own that land can pump the water 149 00:07:54,392 --> 00:07:56,185 to their heart's content. 150 00:07:56,227 --> 00:07:59,480 According to the law, it's their water, not ours. 151 00:07:59,522 --> 00:08:00,732 The thing is, 152 00:08:00,773 --> 00:08:04,110 nature doesn't much care for human laws, 153 00:08:04,152 --> 00:08:06,779 and this reckless pursuit of profit 154 00:08:06,821 --> 00:08:09,115 will have devastating consequences. 155 00:08:09,157 --> 00:08:12,702 Negligence and greed, the main ingredients 156 00:08:12,744 --> 00:08:14,954 for this act of cow. 157 00:08:14,996 --> 00:08:19,375 Another reason they're pumping all that water, drought. 158 00:08:19,417 --> 00:08:22,336 The warming climate has caused a major drop in rainfall 159 00:08:22,378 --> 00:08:23,755 in this part of the country. 160 00:08:23,796 --> 00:08:27,050 Scorching temperatures are making the land drier. 161 00:08:27,091 --> 00:08:30,887 As the drought deepens, water rationing begins, 162 00:08:30,928 --> 00:08:32,472 but the damage has been done. 163 00:08:32,513 --> 00:08:35,391 Massive crop failures are turning fertile lands 164 00:08:35,433 --> 00:08:37,477 into barren deserts. 165 00:08:37,518 --> 00:08:40,813 And when the prairie winds come hotter and stronger, 166 00:08:40,855 --> 00:08:43,900 they blow dirt high into the air, 167 00:08:43,941 --> 00:08:46,027 and just as ODB always said, 168 00:08:46,069 --> 00:08:48,529 "Dirt? Dirt don't hurt." 169 00:08:48,571 --> 00:08:50,073 Right? 170 00:08:50,114 --> 00:08:52,158 Wrong. 171 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,245 [wind whistling] 172 00:08:56,287 --> 00:09:01,125 The Great Plains are so windy because they're so flat, 173 00:09:01,167 --> 00:09:05,004 no trees, hills, or other terrain to provide friction. 174 00:09:05,046 --> 00:09:07,340 In fact, this part of the American Midwest 175 00:09:07,382 --> 00:09:10,510 is one of the windiest places on Earth. 176 00:09:10,551 --> 00:09:13,346 Normally, that relentless wind isn't a problem, 177 00:09:13,388 --> 00:09:15,598 but when drought dries up the land 178 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,850 and turns soil into dirt 179 00:09:17,892 --> 00:09:20,561 that wind becomes the weaponizing force 180 00:09:20,603 --> 00:09:25,733 that creates vast, unstoppable storms of dust. 181 00:09:25,775 --> 00:09:28,111 Our hydrologist and other scientists 182 00:09:28,152 --> 00:09:30,029 are all too familiar with the doom 183 00:09:30,071 --> 00:09:32,990 that dirt and wind can bring. 184 00:09:33,032 --> 00:09:35,618 They sound the alarm about the dangerous conditions 185 00:09:35,660 --> 00:09:37,620 on the Great Plains. 186 00:09:37,662 --> 00:09:40,289 Rising temperatures caused by climate change, 187 00:09:40,331 --> 00:09:43,000 severe drought, and dwindling water supplies 188 00:09:43,042 --> 00:09:45,002 are all out of control. 189 00:09:45,044 --> 00:09:47,380 If we don't work to conserve our water, 190 00:09:47,422 --> 00:09:49,757 protect the soil from over farming, 191 00:09:49,799 --> 00:09:51,968 and slow climate warming 192 00:09:52,009 --> 00:09:54,429 we could be facing an environmental disaster 193 00:09:54,470 --> 00:09:58,182 like the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s 194 00:09:58,224 --> 00:09:59,559 or worse. 195 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:01,477 - I wall of dust stretching from eastern... 196 00:10:01,519 --> 00:10:05,148 - For most people not alive during the 1930s, 197 00:10:05,189 --> 00:10:08,818 the term "Dust Bowl" might not mean a lot, 198 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:10,486 like our young shop owner here, 199 00:10:10,528 --> 00:10:15,241 who just opened for business after relocating to Chicago. 200 00:10:15,283 --> 00:10:16,951 - Because of frequent droughts 201 00:10:16,993 --> 00:10:18,619 in the region and an expansion of... 202 00:10:18,661 --> 00:10:21,372 - What she doesn't know is that this entire region 203 00:10:21,414 --> 00:10:24,751 was once in the grips of an environmental disaster 204 00:10:24,792 --> 00:10:27,795 that lasted for ten long years. 205 00:10:30,673 --> 00:10:32,592 Dust Bowl? 206 00:10:32,633 --> 00:10:34,343 You mean "The Grapes of Wrath," 207 00:10:34,385 --> 00:10:37,555 the book many of us pretended to read in high school? 208 00:10:37,597 --> 00:10:40,308 That big drought where a bunch of desperate farmers 209 00:10:40,349 --> 00:10:41,934 moved to California. 210 00:10:41,976 --> 00:10:44,020 That was like 90 years ago. 211 00:10:44,062 --> 00:10:45,813 The world's completely different now. 212 00:10:45,855 --> 00:10:49,025 We're not dragging plows behind horses anymore. 213 00:10:49,067 --> 00:10:51,652 We have irrigation, modern technology. 214 00:10:51,694 --> 00:10:54,447 We should be finding better ways to farm the land, 215 00:10:54,489 --> 00:10:58,701 not listening to some retread history lesson. 216 00:10:58,743 --> 00:11:03,664 But history won't be ignored, and the land won't be fooled. 217 00:11:03,706 --> 00:11:06,375 What most people don't realize 218 00:11:06,417 --> 00:11:08,795 is that the Dust Bowl of the 1930s 219 00:11:08,836 --> 00:11:10,713 wasn't just about drought. 220 00:11:10,755 --> 00:11:13,633 It was about huge storms of dust, 221 00:11:13,674 --> 00:11:15,551 and they're happening again, 222 00:11:15,593 --> 00:11:19,430 apocalypse right here on American soil. 223 00:11:19,472 --> 00:11:21,599 [all screaming] 224 00:11:21,641 --> 00:11:24,185 That's 100 million tons 225 00:11:24,227 --> 00:11:27,021 of Mother Nature's weaponized dust... 226 00:11:27,063 --> 00:11:29,357 - Ahh! - I got you. 227 00:11:29,399 --> 00:11:31,609 [wind whistling] 228 00:11:31,651 --> 00:11:37,448 With gale force winds of 50 miles an hour or more, 229 00:11:37,490 --> 00:11:39,617 and it does not look happy. 230 00:11:39,659 --> 00:11:42,787 [wind whistling] 231 00:12:04,892 --> 00:12:06,936 To the people of Chicago 232 00:12:06,978 --> 00:12:08,896 it seems like the end of the world. 233 00:12:08,938 --> 00:12:11,858 What is happening? Where did this come from? 234 00:12:11,899 --> 00:12:13,443 When will it stop? 235 00:12:13,484 --> 00:12:16,529 - [coughing] 236 00:12:16,571 --> 00:12:19,615 - [coughs] Thank you. 237 00:12:19,657 --> 00:12:21,743 Whew. 238 00:12:21,784 --> 00:12:25,621 [breathing heavily] 239 00:12:25,663 --> 00:12:30,334 Oh, wow. 240 00:12:30,376 --> 00:12:33,379 [sirens wailing] 241 00:12:33,421 --> 00:12:36,340 [morose music] 242 00:12:36,382 --> 00:12:43,598 * * 243 00:12:44,348 --> 00:12:47,185 And there are more storms where that came from. 244 00:12:47,226 --> 00:12:50,354 [dust cloud rumbling] 245 00:13:00,073 --> 00:13:01,032 [horns honking] 246 00:13:01,074 --> 00:13:03,993 - Ahh! Ahh! 247 00:13:04,035 --> 00:13:05,870 [indistinct shouting] 248 00:13:05,912 --> 00:13:09,415 [sirens wailing] 249 00:13:09,457 --> 00:13:13,002 - [grunting] 250 00:13:13,044 --> 00:13:19,592 [wind howling] 251 00:13:19,634 --> 00:13:21,677 [tense music] 252 00:13:21,719 --> 00:13:28,184 - [sobbing] 253 00:13:28,226 --> 00:13:31,562 - America's breadbasket is bare. 254 00:13:31,604 --> 00:13:34,524 If we don't find a new source of grains, 255 00:13:34,565 --> 00:13:36,901 the country will starve. 256 00:13:36,943 --> 00:13:42,740 [wind whistling] 257 00:13:42,782 --> 00:13:45,701 Welcome to the new normal. 258 00:13:45,743 --> 00:13:50,832 Man, midnight at noon! 259 00:13:50,873 --> 00:13:53,126 Let's get out of here. 260 00:13:53,167 --> 00:13:57,380 - Go! Let's go! 261 00:13:57,422 --> 00:14:01,426 [wind howling] 262 00:14:04,846 --> 00:14:09,225 [wind whistling] 263 00:14:09,267 --> 00:14:11,477 - [panting] 264 00:14:11,519 --> 00:14:12,812 Oh, man. Augh. Augh. 265 00:14:16,733 --> 00:14:20,194 Oh...oh. 266 00:14:20,236 --> 00:14:23,364 [wind howling] 267 00:14:31,456 --> 00:14:34,959 [panting] 268 00:14:36,377 --> 00:14:38,004 Hey, guys. 269 00:14:41,049 --> 00:14:43,092 At this point, you might be thinking, 270 00:14:43,134 --> 00:14:46,721 "Bill, please, the Great Plains becoming a desert, 271 00:14:46,763 --> 00:14:50,892 Chicago buried in dust, no more hot dogs ever." 272 00:14:50,933 --> 00:14:52,351 That's right. 273 00:14:52,393 --> 00:14:54,437 This is an environmental collapse, 274 00:14:54,479 --> 00:14:56,439 and it's happening right now. 275 00:14:56,481 --> 00:14:58,357 If we have any hope of making it 276 00:14:58,399 --> 00:15:00,860 through this Dust Bowl reboot, 277 00:15:00,902 --> 00:15:06,157 we'll need to know how we survived the first one. 278 00:15:06,199 --> 00:15:07,950 [coughs] 279 00:15:07,992 --> 00:15:10,912 [wind howling] 280 00:15:19,170 --> 00:15:21,255 America's heartland is in the grips 281 00:15:21,297 --> 00:15:23,216 of a modern-day Dust Bowl, 282 00:15:23,257 --> 00:15:26,177 and it's not as cute and retro as it sounds. 283 00:15:26,219 --> 00:15:29,097 Huge swaths of the country are withering. 284 00:15:29,138 --> 00:15:31,516 Some are saying it's the end times, 285 00:15:31,557 --> 00:15:33,476 and they just might be right. 286 00:15:33,518 --> 00:15:35,770 Oh, thank you. 287 00:15:35,812 --> 00:15:38,356 The American Midwest is only the beginning. 288 00:15:38,398 --> 00:15:40,733 The entire planet is now in jeopardy 289 00:15:40,775 --> 00:15:43,569 as storm conditions spread to other continents. 290 00:15:43,611 --> 00:15:45,738 So how did it get this bad? 291 00:15:45,780 --> 00:15:50,118 Didn't we learn anything the first go around? 292 00:15:51,536 --> 00:15:53,746 Back then was a lot like today. 293 00:15:53,788 --> 00:15:57,208 Our civilization was grappling with a global pandemic, 294 00:15:57,250 --> 00:16:00,628 the Spanish flu, but with the virus burning out, 295 00:16:00,670 --> 00:16:03,297 people were going out and feeling optimistic. 296 00:16:03,339 --> 00:16:05,883 Sure, there was a lot of political upheaval, 297 00:16:05,925 --> 00:16:09,554 and there were wannabe tyrants, but the economy was booming. 298 00:16:09,595 --> 00:16:12,140 Millionaires were being made. 299 00:16:12,181 --> 00:16:15,977 I'm talking about almost a century ago. 300 00:16:16,018 --> 00:16:18,104 - Oh, man. 301 00:16:18,146 --> 00:16:19,981 - It's the 1920s. 302 00:16:20,022 --> 00:16:21,858 The League of Nations is founded. 303 00:16:21,899 --> 00:16:24,527 Women finally get the right to vote. 304 00:16:24,569 --> 00:16:27,113 Alcohol is made illegal for some reason. 305 00:16:27,155 --> 00:16:28,865 The first Ponzi scheme is hatched 306 00:16:28,906 --> 00:16:31,325 by a guy named Charles Ponzi. 307 00:16:31,367 --> 00:16:33,953 Jazz music and the foxtrot are all the rage. 308 00:16:33,995 --> 00:16:37,248 Gatsby gets great. Flappers go a-flappin'. 309 00:16:37,290 --> 00:16:39,375 They're calling it the Roaring Twenties, 310 00:16:39,417 --> 00:16:41,961 because people are working hard and playing hard, 311 00:16:42,003 --> 00:16:45,965 and everything seems possible through modern technology, 312 00:16:46,007 --> 00:16:50,595 powered flight, radio, and horseless carriages. 313 00:16:52,180 --> 00:16:54,557 - You know, when I see old movies from back then, 314 00:16:54,599 --> 00:16:56,601 it seems unreal. 315 00:16:56,642 --> 00:16:59,145 Maybe it's the black and white or the clothes 316 00:16:59,187 --> 00:17:02,815 or the old-time dance moves, but I have to remind myself, 317 00:17:02,857 --> 00:17:05,318 those people were just as real as you and I, 318 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:10,865 their fears as real as ours, their dreams as big as our own. 319 00:17:10,907 --> 00:17:13,159 It all began in the American heartland, 320 00:17:13,201 --> 00:17:16,829 where a great farming boom was taking place. 321 00:17:16,871 --> 00:17:18,998 Acreage was cheap and plentiful, 322 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:21,709 and real estate speculators were getting rich 323 00:17:21,751 --> 00:17:24,629 selling dreams to new arrivals. 324 00:17:24,670 --> 00:17:28,299 That part of the country was renowned for its fertile soil, 325 00:17:28,341 --> 00:17:30,510 but the region was also notorious 326 00:17:30,551 --> 00:17:32,512 for periods of drought. 327 00:17:32,553 --> 00:17:35,890 Irrigation and aquifers were still a long way off. 328 00:17:35,932 --> 00:17:38,184 "Not to worry," said the land speculators. 329 00:17:38,226 --> 00:17:42,230 "Everybody knows that the rain follows the plow." 330 00:17:42,271 --> 00:17:43,606 I'm serious. 331 00:17:43,648 --> 00:17:46,317 Call it superstition or call it pseudoscience, 332 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,195 but people really believed that plowing a field 333 00:17:49,237 --> 00:17:52,281 could coax water to fall from the sky. 334 00:17:52,323 --> 00:17:54,534 It was even promoted by many scientists 335 00:17:54,575 --> 00:17:56,369 and government officials. 336 00:17:56,411 --> 00:17:59,288 * * 337 00:17:59,330 --> 00:18:04,335 They had acts of cow back then too. 338 00:18:04,377 --> 00:18:08,881 The idea that the rain follows the plow may seem ridiculous, 339 00:18:08,923 --> 00:18:11,342 but remember, most of us humans have believed 340 00:18:11,384 --> 00:18:13,803 something ridiculous at one time or another, 341 00:18:13,845 --> 00:18:17,932 like the Earth is flat, or smoking is good for you, 342 00:18:17,974 --> 00:18:20,643 or I could have played pro hockey. 343 00:18:20,685 --> 00:18:23,146 - [scoffs] 344 00:18:23,855 --> 00:18:26,023 - Each harvest brought greater abundance, 345 00:18:26,065 --> 00:18:28,735 which lured more would-be farmers. 346 00:18:28,776 --> 00:18:30,153 In just a few short years 347 00:18:30,194 --> 00:18:33,072 40 million acres of prairie land 348 00:18:33,114 --> 00:18:35,074 in the Southern and Central Great Plains 349 00:18:35,116 --> 00:18:38,161 were plowed and churned and remade into fields 350 00:18:38,202 --> 00:18:41,330 of wheat, corn, and other crops. 351 00:18:41,372 --> 00:18:43,332 Families who came to the plains 352 00:18:43,374 --> 00:18:44,834 with nothing to their name 353 00:18:44,876 --> 00:18:47,503 were now landowners with their own homes. 354 00:18:47,545 --> 00:18:50,757 It seemed like the good harvest would never end. 355 00:18:50,798 --> 00:18:53,718 Agriculture had remade the heartland. 356 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:55,720 Dreams were coming true, 357 00:18:55,762 --> 00:18:58,848 but nightmares were just around the corner. 358 00:18:58,890 --> 00:19:01,934 The early 1930s brought a prolonged drought 359 00:19:01,976 --> 00:19:03,686 with no end in sight. 360 00:19:03,728 --> 00:19:07,356 No one was worried at first. 361 00:19:07,398 --> 00:19:10,109 It turned out the rain didn't follow the plow. 362 00:19:10,151 --> 00:19:12,987 What did follow was the scorching sun 363 00:19:13,029 --> 00:19:18,743 turning the rich, dark soil into brown, dry dirt. 364 00:19:18,785 --> 00:19:21,037 And then the fierce prairie winds came, 365 00:19:21,079 --> 00:19:22,789 as they always did. 366 00:19:22,830 --> 00:19:24,665 No one paid it much attention. 367 00:19:24,707 --> 00:19:26,709 Winds were a fact of life, 368 00:19:26,751 --> 00:19:31,172 but now they became a fact of death. 369 00:19:31,214 --> 00:19:36,552 * * 370 00:19:36,594 --> 00:19:40,139 Imagine what that first dust storm must have been like. 371 00:19:40,181 --> 00:19:42,642 You've got to remember, nobody had ever seen 372 00:19:42,683 --> 00:19:44,477 anything like it before. 373 00:19:44,519 --> 00:19:51,442 * * 374 00:20:03,204 --> 00:20:06,999 When the duster ended, people began the long ordeal 375 00:20:07,041 --> 00:20:08,501 of clearing out the dirt 376 00:20:08,543 --> 00:20:11,045 and salvaging what remained of the crops. 377 00:20:11,087 --> 00:20:13,548 For the farmers, the only thing that mattered 378 00:20:13,589 --> 00:20:17,343 was that it was behind them, but it wasn't. 379 00:20:17,385 --> 00:20:20,930 It would happen again and again. 380 00:20:20,972 --> 00:20:28,104 * * 381 00:20:29,605 --> 00:20:33,151 What was going on? Was it God's wrath? 382 00:20:33,192 --> 00:20:35,820 Most people said it was just bad weather. 383 00:20:35,862 --> 00:20:38,448 Bad weather. Oh, that's cute. 384 00:20:38,489 --> 00:20:41,826 The dusters were brutal and relentless. 385 00:20:41,868 --> 00:20:45,705 At one point, they came every day for 38 straight days. 386 00:20:45,747 --> 00:20:47,498 Months bled into years. 387 00:20:47,540 --> 00:20:50,001 Hundreds of thousands of people eventually fled 388 00:20:50,043 --> 00:20:52,420 in search of a better life someplace else. 389 00:20:54,338 --> 00:20:58,092 With nowhere to call home, these desperate farm families 390 00:20:58,134 --> 00:21:01,054 were seen as unwelcome intruders, 391 00:21:01,095 --> 00:21:04,974 refugees in their own country. 392 00:21:05,016 --> 00:21:07,351 The plains and the people living on them 393 00:21:07,393 --> 00:21:09,687 were literally filling with dirt. 394 00:21:09,729 --> 00:21:11,981 Dust pneumonia was rampant. 395 00:21:12,023 --> 00:21:14,067 Thousands died. 396 00:21:14,108 --> 00:21:16,235 A handful of scientists suspected 397 00:21:16,277 --> 00:21:18,946 that the dust storms were not a natural phenomenon. 398 00:21:18,988 --> 00:21:21,532 What if people had something to do with it? 399 00:21:21,574 --> 00:21:24,952 Most folks thought that idea was ridiculous. 400 00:21:24,994 --> 00:21:27,121 Humans can affect the environment 401 00:21:27,163 --> 00:21:29,749 on such a huge scale? 402 00:21:29,791 --> 00:21:31,417 In just a few years, 403 00:21:31,459 --> 00:21:33,294 there were hundreds of dust storms, 404 00:21:33,336 --> 00:21:36,422 each one a destroyer of land and lives, 405 00:21:36,464 --> 00:21:39,300 but the biggest duster of all would be the one 406 00:21:39,342 --> 00:21:41,677 that changed history forever. 407 00:21:41,719 --> 00:21:44,931 It came to be known as Black Sunday. 408 00:21:44,972 --> 00:21:52,105 * * 409 00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,196 - * This Dust Bowl just don't want to end * 410 00:22:00,238 --> 00:22:03,783 - The relentless dust storms of the 1930s raged on 411 00:22:03,825 --> 00:22:05,785 for months, years. 412 00:22:05,827 --> 00:22:08,121 It seemed like it couldn't get any worse, 413 00:22:08,162 --> 00:22:12,166 but on Sunday, the 14th of April, 1935, 414 00:22:12,208 --> 00:22:13,793 it got worse. 415 00:22:13,835 --> 00:22:17,505 The day went down in history as Black Sunday, 416 00:22:17,547 --> 00:22:20,925 when a tsunami of dust swept across the High Plains 417 00:22:20,967 --> 00:22:23,720 and turned a sunny afternoon into midnight. 418 00:22:23,761 --> 00:22:26,389 * * 419 00:22:26,431 --> 00:22:28,224 - And on the following day, 420 00:22:28,266 --> 00:22:30,476 the world would hear the region referred to 421 00:22:30,518 --> 00:22:34,564 for the very first time as the Dust Bowl. 422 00:22:34,605 --> 00:22:36,190 The storm first blasted 423 00:22:36,232 --> 00:22:38,818 the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, 424 00:22:38,860 --> 00:22:41,487 where winds reached 60 miles an hour, 425 00:22:41,529 --> 00:22:43,823 and the darkness was so complete 426 00:22:43,865 --> 00:22:45,575 people couldn't see their own hands 427 00:22:45,616 --> 00:22:47,076 in front of their faces, 428 00:22:47,118 --> 00:22:49,412 - * But vacant eyes and children's cries * 429 00:22:49,454 --> 00:22:53,249 * * 430 00:22:53,291 --> 00:22:57,170 * This Dust Bowl blues won't get me down * 431 00:22:57,211 --> 00:23:01,090 - The Black Sunday mega storm blew 300 million tons 432 00:23:01,132 --> 00:23:03,051 of dust across the Midwest 433 00:23:03,092 --> 00:23:06,304 all the way to the East Coast of the United States. 434 00:23:06,345 --> 00:23:09,515 In New York City, the dust blocked out the Sun, 435 00:23:09,557 --> 00:23:12,143 like a solar eclipse, for five hours. 436 00:23:12,185 --> 00:23:16,272 Dust enshrouded the Statue of Liberty. 437 00:23:16,314 --> 00:23:21,903 Red dust from Black Sunday found its way into the clouds. 438 00:23:21,944 --> 00:23:26,449 That winter red snow fell on New England. 439 00:23:26,491 --> 00:23:31,037 In Chicago, Black Sunday dumped 6,000 tons of dust 440 00:23:31,079 --> 00:23:35,875 onto the very windy city. 441 00:23:35,917 --> 00:23:38,252 [somber music] 442 00:23:38,294 --> 00:23:40,755 The dusters continued battering the plains 443 00:23:40,797 --> 00:23:42,965 for five long years. 444 00:23:43,007 --> 00:23:46,010 An ecosystem that took thousands of years to form 445 00:23:46,052 --> 00:23:49,639 was blown away in less than a decade. 446 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,809 [wind howling] 447 00:24:02,860 --> 00:24:05,154 If you're scoring along with us, 448 00:24:05,196 --> 00:24:07,865 the Dust Bowl did more damage to the environment 449 00:24:07,907 --> 00:24:11,077 than every volcano, earthquake, tidal wave, 450 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,746 tornado, and hurricane since the beginning 451 00:24:13,788 --> 00:24:17,125 of recorded history combined. 452 00:24:17,166 --> 00:24:20,461 And now, today, history is repeating itself, 453 00:24:20,503 --> 00:24:22,672 and this time, it's gonna get even worse, 454 00:24:22,714 --> 00:24:24,465 end of the world worse. 455 00:24:24,507 --> 00:24:26,509 Would you like to know what happens next? 456 00:24:26,551 --> 00:24:27,802 - Mm-hmm. 457 00:24:27,844 --> 00:24:29,971 - Mm-mm, mm-mm. 458 00:24:31,389 --> 00:24:33,224 - The Great Plains are stripped bare 459 00:24:33,266 --> 00:24:35,476 by the relentless dust storms. 460 00:24:35,518 --> 00:24:38,521 The U.S. heartland eventually withers, 461 00:24:38,563 --> 00:24:42,608 and the nation is forced to look elsewhere to feed itself. 462 00:24:42,650 --> 00:24:46,195 China ramps up production to meet the demand, 463 00:24:46,237 --> 00:24:48,364 but over farming and drought conditions 464 00:24:48,406 --> 00:24:50,742 caused by a rapidly warming world 465 00:24:50,783 --> 00:24:54,412 bring about yet another Dust Bowl in the Far East. 466 00:24:54,454 --> 00:24:57,206 China can no longer afford to export its food 467 00:24:57,248 --> 00:25:00,084 to the increasingly desperate United States 468 00:25:00,126 --> 00:25:02,712 and focuses on feeding its own citizens. 469 00:25:02,754 --> 00:25:04,130 - [speaking Chinese] 470 00:25:04,172 --> 00:25:07,884 - Nearly 100 million people migrate away 471 00:25:07,925 --> 00:25:11,512 from the growing dust storms, plunging China into chaos, 472 00:25:11,554 --> 00:25:13,473 as cities struggle to accommodate 473 00:25:13,514 --> 00:25:15,099 the hungry newcomers. 474 00:25:15,141 --> 00:25:18,186 Tensions run high as food runs short, 475 00:25:18,227 --> 00:25:21,856 and hundreds of thousands of people starve to death. 476 00:25:21,898 --> 00:25:26,069 The U.S. and China are just the first two dominoes to fall. 477 00:25:26,110 --> 00:25:28,905 As the two main food exporters collapse, 478 00:25:28,946 --> 00:25:31,157 other nations soon follow. 479 00:25:31,199 --> 00:25:36,496 Starvation and unrest put our backs against the wall, 480 00:25:36,537 --> 00:25:39,123 and the human race finds itself having 481 00:25:39,165 --> 00:25:40,750 to make tough decisions 482 00:25:40,792 --> 00:25:43,711 about who eats and who starves. 483 00:25:43,753 --> 00:25:47,715 * * 484 00:25:47,757 --> 00:25:50,551 With the ever-multiplying dust storms and drought 485 00:25:50,593 --> 00:25:53,721 there's less and less water to go around as well. 486 00:25:53,763 --> 00:25:57,642 The Ogallala Aquifer dries up along with other aquifers, 487 00:25:57,683 --> 00:26:00,269 lakes, and reservoirs around the world. 488 00:26:00,311 --> 00:26:05,066 Many nations simply run out of water. 489 00:26:05,108 --> 00:26:07,610 In a last-ditch effort a group of hydrologists 490 00:26:07,652 --> 00:26:10,238 figures out how to efficiently desalinate seawater, 491 00:26:10,279 --> 00:26:12,573 but it's too little too late. 492 00:26:12,615 --> 00:26:15,952 I think it was the late, great Bob Marley who said-- 493 00:26:15,993 --> 00:26:17,745 and I paraphrase-- 494 00:26:17,787 --> 00:26:20,581 "A hungry mob is an angry mob." 495 00:26:20,623 --> 00:26:23,126 There's only so much the police and the military 496 00:26:23,167 --> 00:26:25,545 can do to control the madness. 497 00:26:25,586 --> 00:26:29,799 Our civilization, the entire human endeavor, 498 00:26:29,841 --> 00:26:33,761 is reduced to, well, a handful of dust. 499 00:26:33,803 --> 00:26:37,056 So how could we have prevented these doomsday dust storms 500 00:26:37,098 --> 00:26:39,016 in the first place? 501 00:26:39,058 --> 00:26:43,563 How do we stop the beginning of the end of the world? 502 00:26:43,604 --> 00:26:46,691 - [coughing] 503 00:26:46,733 --> 00:26:48,818 [wind whistling] 504 00:26:48,860 --> 00:26:53,906 - [coughing] 505 00:26:58,870 --> 00:27:01,038 - Ah! - [gasps] 506 00:27:02,832 --> 00:27:05,918 [all shouting] 507 00:27:29,734 --> 00:27:32,320 - As our disaster simulation comes to an end, 508 00:27:32,361 --> 00:27:36,157 Earth is choking on dust storms the size of continents, 509 00:27:36,199 --> 00:27:38,826 and I've dug myself out of a powdery grave. 510 00:27:38,868 --> 00:27:40,578 Whew. 511 00:27:40,620 --> 00:27:44,040 I did not see that coming, but now that I think about it, 512 00:27:44,082 --> 00:27:45,541 dirt weighs a lot. 513 00:27:45,583 --> 00:27:48,920 A cubic meter of dirt weighs about 3,500 pounds, 514 00:27:48,961 --> 00:27:51,089 almost two tons. 515 00:27:51,130 --> 00:27:55,760 That felt more like four or five. 516 00:27:55,802 --> 00:27:58,096 [tense music] 517 00:27:58,137 --> 00:28:01,557 Talk about biting the dust. Get it? 518 00:28:01,599 --> 00:28:05,019 He gets it, just not a big laugher, this guy. 519 00:28:05,061 --> 00:28:08,106 So how do we prevent a modern-day Dust Bowl? 520 00:28:08,147 --> 00:28:10,066 To answer that we need to understand 521 00:28:10,108 --> 00:28:12,402 what really caused the first Dust Bowl. 522 00:28:12,443 --> 00:28:14,779 Was it a few exceptionally dry years 523 00:28:14,821 --> 00:28:16,781 followed by some really strong winds, 524 00:28:16,823 --> 00:28:18,950 some sort of polar vortex? 525 00:28:18,991 --> 00:28:20,952 Was it Mother Nature at work, 526 00:28:20,993 --> 00:28:23,162 or did we cause this catastrophe? 527 00:28:23,204 --> 00:28:25,373 Come on. Let's hit the lab. 528 00:28:25,415 --> 00:28:28,668 Sorry, Grim Jim, but you ain't invited. 529 00:28:28,710 --> 00:28:30,169 You know, not many people know 530 00:28:30,211 --> 00:28:34,841 that the Grim Reaper's given name is James. 531 00:28:37,677 --> 00:28:40,638 [dramatic music] 532 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,725 * * 533 00:28:43,766 --> 00:28:45,476 Now, I know what you might be saying. 534 00:28:45,518 --> 00:28:49,063 Hey, science guy, aren't those just two pots of dirt? 535 00:28:49,105 --> 00:28:52,150 First of all, don't sass me when I'm in my lab coat. 536 00:28:52,191 --> 00:28:54,610 Secondly, the difference between these two pots 537 00:28:54,652 --> 00:28:58,239 of earth is the difference between feast and famine. 538 00:28:58,281 --> 00:29:01,409 This is dirt. It's sand and silt. 539 00:29:01,451 --> 00:29:04,579 Water either runs off the compacted surface 540 00:29:04,620 --> 00:29:06,456 or it drips right through. 541 00:29:06,497 --> 00:29:09,542 Dirt is what gets on the floor and on your knees. 542 00:29:09,584 --> 00:29:12,128 Nothing's growing here. 543 00:29:12,170 --> 00:29:15,715 Now, this, this is what makes everything possible, 544 00:29:15,757 --> 00:29:18,760 the food in your belly, the clothes on your back, 545 00:29:18,801 --> 00:29:22,680 the money in your wallet, "The Great British Bake Off," 546 00:29:22,722 --> 00:29:24,557 because this isn't just dirt. 547 00:29:24,599 --> 00:29:28,686 It's the stuff of life. This is soil. 548 00:29:28,728 --> 00:29:30,980 * * 549 00:29:31,022 --> 00:29:33,107 Soil is alive. 550 00:29:33,149 --> 00:29:36,944 It's an ecosystem all its own, chock-full of living things, 551 00:29:36,986 --> 00:29:40,364 like nematodes, mites, ticks, weevils, 552 00:29:40,406 --> 00:29:45,953 fungi, and bacteria, lots and lots of bacteria. 553 00:29:45,995 --> 00:29:49,248 There are more living things in this handful of soil 554 00:29:49,290 --> 00:29:51,501 than in all the humans on the planet, 555 00:29:51,542 --> 00:29:53,961 all told as many as 10 billion 556 00:29:54,003 --> 00:29:56,547 little living things right here. 557 00:29:56,589 --> 00:29:58,257 Soil is complex. 558 00:29:58,299 --> 00:30:00,176 It's creating the perfect conditions 559 00:30:00,218 --> 00:30:04,055 for plants to grow and thrive. 560 00:30:04,097 --> 00:30:06,099 If we're not careful, 561 00:30:06,140 --> 00:30:09,352 soil dies and turns back into dirt. 562 00:30:09,394 --> 00:30:11,145 That's exactly what happened 563 00:30:11,187 --> 00:30:13,231 during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. 564 00:30:13,272 --> 00:30:16,025 In fact, the seeds of the Dust Bowl 565 00:30:16,067 --> 00:30:19,862 were planted a long time ago, literally. 566 00:30:19,904 --> 00:30:21,531 * * 567 00:30:21,572 --> 00:30:25,159 One of our early ancestors, like our friend Kor here, 568 00:30:25,201 --> 00:30:27,370 had a remarkable realization. 569 00:30:27,412 --> 00:30:29,664 Instead of eating all the fruits and seeds 570 00:30:29,705 --> 00:30:31,249 from a nutritious plant, 571 00:30:31,290 --> 00:30:33,584 you could hold onto a few seeds 572 00:30:33,626 --> 00:30:36,045 and carefully place them in the ground. 573 00:30:36,087 --> 00:30:39,257 There they would grow into new plants. 574 00:30:39,298 --> 00:30:41,801 Sometimes the biggest leap begins 575 00:30:41,843 --> 00:30:43,261 with an accidental step. 576 00:30:43,302 --> 00:30:44,846 Isn't that right, old friend? 577 00:30:44,887 --> 00:30:48,015 - [grunting] 578 00:30:50,977 --> 00:30:53,187 - Hmm, cool. 579 00:30:53,229 --> 00:30:55,815 By around 10,000 years ago 580 00:30:55,857 --> 00:30:59,444 we really had it going on with our gardening skills. 581 00:30:59,485 --> 00:31:03,281 Most of us stopped the hunter, gatherer, scavenger lifestyle 582 00:31:03,322 --> 00:31:05,366 and settled down to till the soil 583 00:31:05,408 --> 00:31:08,911 and grow our food right where we lived and slept. 584 00:31:08,953 --> 00:31:11,330 Without a doubt, this was a huge idea. 585 00:31:11,372 --> 00:31:14,125 We could work the same land year after year, 586 00:31:14,167 --> 00:31:16,044 generation after generation. 587 00:31:16,085 --> 00:31:18,337 More importantly, that finally meant 588 00:31:18,379 --> 00:31:21,174 we could install home entertainment centers. 589 00:31:21,215 --> 00:31:24,135 Back then, the scythe was a symbol 590 00:31:24,177 --> 00:31:26,054 of harvest and abundance. 591 00:31:26,095 --> 00:31:30,141 * * 592 00:31:30,183 --> 00:31:33,311 Hey, James Francis Reaper, 593 00:31:33,352 --> 00:31:35,855 I told you, man, get out of here. 594 00:31:35,897 --> 00:31:37,732 [thunder rumbles] 595 00:31:37,774 --> 00:31:39,317 [light music] 596 00:31:39,358 --> 00:31:41,903 Settled agriculture changed our planet 597 00:31:41,944 --> 00:31:44,363 and our diet forever. 598 00:31:44,405 --> 00:31:46,741 We figured out how to grow just about everything. 599 00:31:46,783 --> 00:31:49,243 If we saw it in the wild, it tasted good, 600 00:31:49,285 --> 00:31:50,912 and it didn't kill us, 601 00:31:50,953 --> 00:31:53,289 we made it work in our backyard. 602 00:31:53,331 --> 00:31:55,500 Backyards grew into farms, 603 00:31:55,541 --> 00:31:57,502 then into bigger and bigger farms, 604 00:31:57,543 --> 00:32:01,672 with more and more crops crowded side by side. 605 00:32:01,714 --> 00:32:04,133 We even learned how to crossbreed plants 606 00:32:04,175 --> 00:32:06,844 to create new and more robust crops. 607 00:32:06,886 --> 00:32:09,514 * * 608 00:32:09,555 --> 00:32:12,141 By the 1930s we'd already been farming 609 00:32:12,183 --> 00:32:14,018 the planet for quite a spell. 610 00:32:14,060 --> 00:32:17,355 So when people saw the chance to snatch up a piece of land 611 00:32:17,397 --> 00:32:20,525 to call their own, how could they resist? 612 00:32:20,566 --> 00:32:23,069 Everything was dandy until the rain didn't show up 613 00:32:23,111 --> 00:32:25,363 for a few years in a row. 614 00:32:25,405 --> 00:32:28,366 It wasn't entirely your fault, man. 615 00:32:28,408 --> 00:32:30,952 You were just doing what seemed to come naturally. 616 00:32:30,993 --> 00:32:32,703 When you looked at the prairie, 617 00:32:32,745 --> 00:32:35,873 it looked like the grass grows about yea-deep. 618 00:32:35,915 --> 00:32:38,000 How could you have known that you were tearing 619 00:32:38,042 --> 00:32:41,212 into an ancient ecosystem that had been holding the soil 620 00:32:41,254 --> 00:32:43,131 in place for thousands of years? 621 00:32:43,172 --> 00:32:44,716 * * 622 00:32:44,757 --> 00:32:48,010 There's more to prairie grass than meets the eye. 623 00:32:48,052 --> 00:32:50,263 * * 624 00:32:50,304 --> 00:32:51,889 Most of the prairie grass plant, 625 00:32:51,931 --> 00:32:54,851 it turns out, exists out of sight 626 00:32:54,892 --> 00:32:57,770 with roots extending deep into the earth. 627 00:32:57,812 --> 00:33:00,481 These deep, hidden root systems evolved 628 00:33:00,523 --> 00:33:04,736 over tens of thousands of years to thrive in a landscape 629 00:33:04,777 --> 00:33:08,030 where water comes along only now and then. 630 00:33:08,072 --> 00:33:11,826 Prairies develop where it's too wet for desert-style life, 631 00:33:11,868 --> 00:33:14,746 yet too dry to support a dense forest. 632 00:33:14,787 --> 00:33:20,251 Now, these grasses go down almost 15 feet, 5 meters. 633 00:33:20,293 --> 00:33:23,463 You can see why wheat and corn and other crops 634 00:33:23,504 --> 00:33:26,382 couldn't hold the prairie soil together. 635 00:33:26,424 --> 00:33:28,301 Their roots are too shallow. 636 00:33:28,342 --> 00:33:30,261 They didn't evolve to survive here. 637 00:33:30,303 --> 00:33:33,014 This isn't their turf. 638 00:33:33,056 --> 00:33:35,433 But when those new crops were first planted, 639 00:33:35,475 --> 00:33:38,936 they sure could soak up the nutrients in the soil. 640 00:33:38,978 --> 00:33:40,313 Farmers figured that out. 641 00:33:40,354 --> 00:33:42,440 So they plowed the prairie everywhere 642 00:33:42,482 --> 00:33:44,108 to plant their crops. 643 00:33:44,150 --> 00:33:45,902 What they didn't know was 644 00:33:45,943 --> 00:33:49,072 that they were destabilizing an entire ecosystem, 645 00:33:49,113 --> 00:33:53,534 killing ancient roots that held the soil together. 646 00:33:53,576 --> 00:33:56,037 When the rain stopped, and the winds picked up, 647 00:33:56,079 --> 00:33:57,914 as was bound to happen, 648 00:33:57,955 --> 00:34:03,086 the soil dried out and took to the sky. 649 00:34:03,127 --> 00:34:06,089 [dramatic music] 650 00:34:06,130 --> 00:34:08,716 * * 651 00:34:08,758 --> 00:34:12,470 On Mars, there is no grass, no soil as such, 652 00:34:12,512 --> 00:34:14,889 just a lot of red dirt. 653 00:34:14,931 --> 00:34:17,058 Dust storms can grow so vast 654 00:34:17,100 --> 00:34:18,935 that they engulf the entire planet. 655 00:34:18,976 --> 00:34:20,311 I know what you're thinking, 656 00:34:20,353 --> 00:34:22,980 "We're not farming on Mars, Bill." 657 00:34:23,022 --> 00:34:26,984 Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned there. 658 00:34:27,026 --> 00:34:30,530 If we are not careful, our beautiful, blue marble 659 00:34:30,571 --> 00:34:34,867 could end up a dry, brown ball. 660 00:34:34,909 --> 00:34:36,494 As my dad always said, 661 00:34:36,536 --> 00:34:39,872 "Just don't end up like your Uncle Mars." 662 00:34:39,914 --> 00:34:42,542 The Dust Bowl was the first example 663 00:34:42,583 --> 00:34:45,670 of wide-scale, human-caused climate change, 664 00:34:45,712 --> 00:34:48,381 and it nearly destroyed American agriculture. 665 00:34:48,423 --> 00:34:50,591 So how did we get out of that mess? 666 00:34:50,633 --> 00:34:53,678 How did we restore the heartland that feeds us now, 667 00:34:53,720 --> 00:34:57,515 and how can we avoid causing the same disaster again? 668 00:34:57,557 --> 00:35:00,810 Well, for that, we'll need science. 669 00:35:00,852 --> 00:35:02,979 * * 670 00:35:08,151 --> 00:35:11,237 - When the black blizzards hit the Great Plains 671 00:35:11,279 --> 00:35:14,282 farmers and many meteorologists were shocked. 672 00:35:14,323 --> 00:35:17,285 They had no idea why this was happening, 673 00:35:17,326 --> 00:35:19,912 but a handful of scientists recognized 674 00:35:19,954 --> 00:35:22,415 if the farmers didn't change their ways 675 00:35:22,457 --> 00:35:25,918 the precious soil would soon die and blow away. 676 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,964 Farmers were thinking of soil as an inanimate medium, 677 00:35:30,006 --> 00:35:31,924 like a mineral to be mined, 678 00:35:31,966 --> 00:35:35,219 rather than a living ecosystem to be nurtured. 679 00:35:35,261 --> 00:35:38,890 At first, no one would listen to a bunch of science nerds, 680 00:35:38,931 --> 00:35:41,434 but eventually, as the disaster worsened, 681 00:35:41,476 --> 00:35:44,228 people were willing to accept the facts. 682 00:35:44,270 --> 00:35:46,230 I guess listening to the experts 683 00:35:46,272 --> 00:35:49,817 was less bad than death. 684 00:35:49,859 --> 00:35:52,236 I was being sarcastic. 685 00:35:52,278 --> 00:35:57,158 Get back to your cubicle, James. 686 00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:00,453 A task force was created by the U.S. government 687 00:36:00,495 --> 00:36:03,289 to rethink how we farmed the land. 688 00:36:03,331 --> 00:36:07,085 They invested in new ways to maximize each harvest 689 00:36:07,126 --> 00:36:10,004 while minimizing the impact on the environment. 690 00:36:10,046 --> 00:36:12,131 At one point, the government mounted 691 00:36:12,173 --> 00:36:14,300 an effort to save the topsoil. 692 00:36:14,342 --> 00:36:17,678 It was called Operation Shelterbelt. 693 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:19,680 To be fair, back then, 694 00:36:19,722 --> 00:36:23,226 we were still new at naming operations. 695 00:36:23,267 --> 00:36:25,520 The project called for planting trees 696 00:36:25,561 --> 00:36:27,647 to block the winds and prevent erosion. 697 00:36:27,688 --> 00:36:33,152 By 1941, the Shelterbelters had planted 220 million trees 698 00:36:33,194 --> 00:36:35,321 stretching 100 miles. 699 00:36:35,363 --> 00:36:37,323 It was the largest effort to address 700 00:36:37,365 --> 00:36:39,742 a climate problem ever attempted. 701 00:36:39,784 --> 00:36:43,079 Using nature to protect nature, genius! 702 00:36:43,121 --> 00:36:45,832 Or should I say, tree-nius. 703 00:36:45,873 --> 00:36:47,583 [laughs] Sorry. 704 00:36:47,625 --> 00:36:49,669 Not sorry, not sorry. 705 00:36:49,711 --> 00:36:53,256 Wind-blocking tree walls are a concept still being used 706 00:36:53,297 --> 00:36:55,383 to this day on modern farms 707 00:36:55,425 --> 00:36:58,344 all over the Great Plains and beyond. 708 00:36:58,386 --> 00:37:01,347 The newly established Department of Agriculture 709 00:37:01,389 --> 00:37:04,559 taught farmers a new way to plow their fields. 710 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,353 Furrows that run straight up and down a slope 711 00:37:07,395 --> 00:37:10,231 can be easy to plow, but when it rains, 712 00:37:10,273 --> 00:37:13,443 they become water channels that wash away seeds 713 00:37:13,484 --> 00:37:15,528 and topsoil like rivers. 714 00:37:15,570 --> 00:37:18,156 Watch. 715 00:37:24,454 --> 00:37:26,748 This is not good. 716 00:37:26,789 --> 00:37:30,126 With guidance, farmers learned how to shape the soil 717 00:37:30,168 --> 00:37:33,004 into terraces and then how to plow their fields 718 00:37:33,046 --> 00:37:36,257 with furrows following the contours of the land, 719 00:37:36,299 --> 00:37:39,761 running at right angles to the slopes of hills. 720 00:37:39,802 --> 00:37:41,846 This protects topsoil. 721 00:37:41,888 --> 00:37:44,307 Watch. 722 00:37:44,348 --> 00:37:47,310 [light music] 723 00:37:47,351 --> 00:37:50,772 * * 724 00:37:50,813 --> 00:37:52,023 It might seem obvious, 725 00:37:52,065 --> 00:37:53,941 but I guess it wasn't at the time. 726 00:37:53,983 --> 00:37:56,444 Billions of tons of soil were lost 727 00:37:56,486 --> 00:37:58,905 due to destructive plowing patterns, 728 00:37:58,946 --> 00:38:00,698 but within a few years, 729 00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:07,163 contour farming reduced topsoil losses by more than 65%. 730 00:38:07,205 --> 00:38:10,541 Soil conservation methods restored a large swath 731 00:38:10,583 --> 00:38:11,751 of the Great Plains. 732 00:38:11,793 --> 00:38:14,712 In total 11.3 million acres 733 00:38:14,754 --> 00:38:17,757 of dusted-over farm fields were revived, 734 00:38:17,799 --> 00:38:19,384 but it couldn't all be saved. 735 00:38:19,425 --> 00:38:23,304 To this day dunes of dirt from the original Dust Bowl 736 00:38:23,346 --> 00:38:27,517 still cover millions of acres of abandoned land. 737 00:38:27,558 --> 00:38:30,269 * * 738 00:38:30,311 --> 00:38:33,898 All of these changes were made in just a few years. 739 00:38:33,940 --> 00:38:36,150 Some worked. Some didn't. 740 00:38:36,192 --> 00:38:39,487 And then we found a way to tap into the vast source 741 00:38:39,529 --> 00:38:43,491 of water that was literally right beneath our feet. 742 00:38:43,533 --> 00:38:46,327 Ten years after the Dust Bowl came to an end 743 00:38:46,369 --> 00:38:50,123 we started drilling down into the Ogallala Aquifer. 744 00:38:50,164 --> 00:38:52,917 Industrial-scale extraction of the aquifer 745 00:38:52,959 --> 00:38:55,837 made irrigation possible and continues 746 00:38:55,878 --> 00:38:58,506 to hydrate the entire region, 747 00:38:58,548 --> 00:39:02,093 but we're draining the aquifer at least six times faster 748 00:39:02,135 --> 00:39:05,221 than rain is able to refill it. 749 00:39:05,263 --> 00:39:08,891 You might think this story is about dust and dirt, 750 00:39:08,933 --> 00:39:10,768 but it's really about water. 751 00:39:10,810 --> 00:39:13,479 Some scientists think the groundwater could be gone 752 00:39:13,521 --> 00:39:17,108 within ten years, and once that water runs out, 753 00:39:17,150 --> 00:39:22,739 the Great Plains will once again be facing ruin. 754 00:39:22,780 --> 00:39:25,700 And it's not just in our own backyard. 755 00:39:25,742 --> 00:39:29,620 Aquifers around the world are in danger of running dry, 756 00:39:29,662 --> 00:39:32,248 but scientists are finding better ways 757 00:39:32,290 --> 00:39:35,710 to distribute groundwater, and even refill them. 758 00:39:35,752 --> 00:39:37,211 The best example of this 759 00:39:37,253 --> 00:39:40,089 channels floodwater into aquifers, 760 00:39:40,131 --> 00:39:42,550 which limits damage to populated areas 761 00:39:42,592 --> 00:39:46,012 while replenishing our underground lakes. 762 00:39:46,054 --> 00:39:48,347 Practices like these are working 763 00:39:48,389 --> 00:39:50,141 in places like California, 764 00:39:50,183 --> 00:39:51,851 where water tables would have dropped 765 00:39:51,893 --> 00:39:54,937 hundreds of feet deeper without aquifer management, 766 00:39:54,979 --> 00:39:57,648 but this doesn't mean we've solved the problems 767 00:39:57,690 --> 00:39:59,692 created in the 1930s. 768 00:39:59,734 --> 00:40:03,279 A new generation is at risk of repeating history, 769 00:40:03,321 --> 00:40:06,783 but they've got hindsight on their side. 770 00:40:06,824 --> 00:40:08,534 * * 771 00:40:08,576 --> 00:40:11,996 Which brings us to the modern-day Dust Bowl. 772 00:40:12,038 --> 00:40:14,082 It doesn't have to go down that way. 773 00:40:14,123 --> 00:40:16,876 We can remember what the soil has taught us 774 00:40:16,918 --> 00:40:19,253 and put new and better systems in place 775 00:40:19,295 --> 00:40:21,964 to protect the land and the water. 776 00:40:22,006 --> 00:40:24,550 We can replace water-intensive crops 777 00:40:24,592 --> 00:40:27,553 with scientifically bred, drought-tolerant ones. 778 00:40:27,595 --> 00:40:30,556 We can restore and preserve even more grassland, 779 00:40:30,598 --> 00:40:33,559 which will keep the soil moist and alive. 780 00:40:33,601 --> 00:40:35,311 We can rotate crops, 781 00:40:35,353 --> 00:40:38,064 giving the land a chance to regenerate, 782 00:40:38,106 --> 00:40:41,234 but none of this matters if we don't have water. 783 00:40:41,275 --> 00:40:45,238 We must give the Ogallala Aquifer protected status 784 00:40:45,279 --> 00:40:49,117 and treat it as the finite global resource that it is. 785 00:40:49,158 --> 00:40:51,452 The water down there doesn't belong 786 00:40:51,494 --> 00:40:54,122 to the corporations that own the land above it. 787 00:40:54,163 --> 00:40:57,875 It belongs to all of us. It's not 90 years ago. 788 00:40:57,917 --> 00:41:03,923 We understand a lot more, and we can do a lot better. 789 00:41:03,965 --> 00:41:06,134 Let me give you a hand. - Thanks. 790 00:41:06,175 --> 00:41:08,636 * * 791 00:41:08,678 --> 00:41:12,306 - I'm hungry. How about a hot dog? 792 00:41:12,348 --> 00:41:14,809 - Sure, hot dog sounds good. 793 00:41:14,851 --> 00:41:21,399 * * 794 00:41:25,778 --> 00:41:29,490 [dramatic music] 795 00:41:29,532 --> 00:41:31,534 - So what have we learned? 796 00:41:31,576 --> 00:41:35,288 The way we feed ourselves is important, 797 00:41:35,329 --> 00:41:37,373 and it affects the environment. 798 00:41:37,415 --> 00:41:39,041 For most of human history 799 00:41:39,083 --> 00:41:42,170 we wandered from place to place in search of food. 800 00:41:42,211 --> 00:41:43,963 Our ancestors rarely knew 801 00:41:44,005 --> 00:41:45,923 where their next meal was coming from, 802 00:41:45,965 --> 00:41:48,009 and hunger was never far behind. 803 00:41:48,051 --> 00:41:50,845 Can you imagine what they'd make of our modern world 804 00:41:50,887 --> 00:41:52,972 with its 24-hour drive-throughs 805 00:41:53,014 --> 00:41:55,850 and 100 different brands of breakfast cereal? 806 00:41:55,892 --> 00:41:58,561 If we want to avoid going back to the hunter, 807 00:41:58,603 --> 00:42:01,022 gatherer, scavenger lifestyle, 808 00:42:01,064 --> 00:42:04,400 we need to respect the soil beneath our feet, 809 00:42:04,442 --> 00:42:07,612 and we need to protect our most precious resource. 810 00:42:07,653 --> 00:42:10,323 It isn't oil or diamonds or gold. 811 00:42:10,364 --> 00:42:14,202 It's two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. 812 00:42:14,243 --> 00:42:15,703 It's water. 813 00:42:15,745 --> 00:42:17,371 We've got to be careful with it. 814 00:42:17,413 --> 00:42:21,042 We've only been human for a few hundred thousand years. 815 00:42:21,084 --> 00:42:25,088 We only invented agriculture around 10,000 years ago. 816 00:42:25,129 --> 00:42:27,423 It's important to keep in mind 817 00:42:27,465 --> 00:42:29,634 farming isn't natural. 818 00:42:29,675 --> 00:42:32,637 Do it badly, and you get the Dust Bowl. 819 00:42:32,678 --> 00:42:36,224 Do it well, and you feed the world. 820 00:42:36,265 --> 00:42:39,227 [dramatic music] 821 00:42:39,268 --> 00:42:46,192 * *