Welcome to Erin Mankie's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

Humanity has done quite a bit of damage to this planet.

According to scientists, the climate change we are experiencing now is due to the greenhouse

effect caused by human expansion and innovation.

Industries such as farming and fossil fuels are responsible for the release of gases like

carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into our atmosphere.

And the results of these gases have been devastating, hotter summers, colder winters, and stronger

storms can all be linked back to climate change.

But one of the first modern phenomena caused, at least in parts by human involvement,

was the dust bowl.

The dust bowl wasn't one single event.

It was actually a series of dust storms that swept across much of Middle America and

parts of Canada during the 1930s.

The rampant farming in the Great Plains during the 1920s had removed the native grasslands,

turning the land into soil for growing crops.

Unfortunately, the tractors and combines that were churning up the grass were displacing

the very thing that was keeping the land moist, even during periods of severe drought.

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