Climate History

An article on A Students Guide to Global Climate Change claims that the levels of carbon dioxide and warm temperatures have gone through a cyclical pattern. There are periods where the temps and carbon dioxide levels have risen and then gone down to rising again. I kept reading and saw that humans have obviously been affected by this cycle but it did not specify how we were affected. This got me thinking about how were humans affected by the hot/cold cycle.

I then saw an article on the online smithsonian magazine and noticed an interesting trend between the climate and human evolution. Researchers have linked the first first evolution of humans and the second evolution to times when the climate was going under drastic changes. The first evolution was when the Homo genus first appeared with small brains and the construction of simple tools. The second evolution was when there was another drastic change in the climate and the Homo erectus made their appearance. They had bigger brains and were capable of making double headed axes and more complex tools than the Homo genus.

All of my research so far has been overlapping with the science side of the climate but I am more interested into what historians see in terms of the word climate. It turned out that I was not the only one that thought "so what?" about climate change. Washington University in Saint Louis offers to students linking natural history to human history. This article is a good place for me to start and I am looking forward to see what I can find on the internet about historians and climate.

Climate Questions

I would like to research the topic of history, anthropology, and sociology of the climate. I think that it is fascination that climate has a pretty big role in the way that history was made and how it shaped certain countries today.

Climate

Climate

Climate Change
Global Warming
National Security
Ozone
Environment

Climate Change, Global Warming, and National Security have been recently talked about in recent news regarding the climate. The ozone and the environment are directly related to climate.

How does climate relate to history?

Readings About 1930s

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?

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?

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?

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?

1. President Hoover called the Great Depression a "'passing incident'" and did nothing to help the individuals. People blamed themselves during the depression because before they believed that success was earned and the trend followed through failure. The depression was a problem that many people could not have seen so they should not have blamed themselves.
2. I would have been terrified to live on Black Sunday. Just hearing about how there was no where to go if you were caught outside and not knowing when the storm is going to end is incredible. Plus sand is really irritating so standing out side for 4 hours being beaten by sand is brutal.
3. The drought started in the eastern states but then it moved west. The drought was caused by the mistreatment of land. Wheat was in high demands during World War I and farmers did not rotate their crops. I agree that it was a regional problem but not necessarily a national problem because there aren't many stories of the east having dust bowls or states like California.
4. Migrants that moved to California were not welcomed by many people making life hard. The Dust bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history.

Speech Reflection

I thought that the speeches went really well, no body had any major stumbles or struggles. Liddy's speech really stood out to me because she sounded really relaxed and comfortable speaking. Even though there was a guideline she still followed it but deviated and put some of her own touches on it. If i had to do this again I would probably practice more and have some one else read over it to catch anything that doesn't make sense.

Radio Technology of 1930

Radios in the 1930s were not small boxes that we are used to today. They were built into a large wooden box that would then be a piece of furniture in homes. The reason why radios were so large was because the first models were made with vacuum tubes on the inside. Large radios typically had large speakers that provided a rich bass, but they also had an antenna drum with several loops of large wires that served as an adjustable antenna. By 1935 22 million Americans had a radio in their home and automobiles were starting to have the built in.

1920s Speech

The 1920s was a decade that saw many changes from personal to corporate levels. The economy saw big boom, education was emphasized, and religion and faith was tested. In all three of these societies new groups either formed or emerged because of all the changes that were developing through this amazing decade. People started to move in and out of the city on a regular basis, educational clubs and organizations were formed, and there was a division among American Protestantism.

            A long period of prosperity and growth began because the aftermath of World War I weakened several European industries. The United States was now the strongest industrial power and they took advantage of this opportunity. The weak European industry was a temporary boost for America but in the long run technology was a very important factor in the economy’s growth. Automobiles made it easier for people to commute from the suburb to the city. This created an increase in the demand for suburban housing causing a boom in the construction industry.

            Education became a very important factor in the American culture of the 1920s. More people were attending schools but also spending more time at school. This led students to develop their own social pattern, hobbies, interests and activities. Now that more students are attending school there was a new generation called the Lost Generation. People in this generation felt alienated from modern society and they were unhappy about American society in peacetime.

            Lastly Nativism was a very important part of America’s new and developing culture during this decade. Nativism helped instigate the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and they started to target more people than just blacks. Nativism also created a division among American Protestantism into two sides. One side supported modernism and the other believed in traditional values and faith. The supporters of traditional values were soon to be known as fundamentalists. These people opposed scientists like Charles Darwin and his idea of creationism.

            A lot happened in this decade. Automobiles opened up the construction industry, fraternities and sororities were created, and the Ku Klux Klan was reborn. The economy saw a big boom, education was becoming more important, and religious groups were starting to spring up. Often people are hesitant about change but the people of the 1920s were open to anything after the small recession in the early years of the decade.