# data[].attributes.headline
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.subject
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about population. So, how many people can reasonably live on the Earth?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.headline
Industrial Revolution for Kids - A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.subject
Industrial Revolution for Kids - A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.body
Industrial Revolution for Kids - a simple yet comprehensive overview to help your kids/students better understand and appreciate everything that went into the industrial revolution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Industrial Revolution for Kids | A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.headline
Causes of the Industrial Revolution: The Agricultural Revolution

# data[].attributes.subject
Causes of the Industrial Revolution: The Agricultural Revolution

# data[].attributes.body
From 1700 until the beginning of the First World War in 1914, a period of great social, political and economic upheaval unfolded across the globe. There are many contributing factors that made the Industrial Revolution possible. In this programme we focus on the agricultural revolution, the rise of the factory, the invention of the steam engine, and the role of Britain’s empire.

# data[].attributes.headline
Turning Points in History - Industrial Revolution

# data[].attributes.subject
Turning Points in History - Industrial Revolution

# data[].attributes.body
The industrial revolution made a myriad of products affordable for everyone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Turning Points in History - Industrial Revolution

# data[].attributes.headline
Drought and Famine: Crash Course World History #208

# data[].attributes.subject
Drought and Famine: Crash Course World History #208

# data[].attributes.body
In which John Green teaches you a little bit about drought, which is a natural weather phenomenon, and famine, which is almost always the result of human activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Drought and Famine: Crash Course World History #208

# data[].attributes.headline
*Agriculture: The Basics of Our Industrial Food System in 5 minutes

# data[].attributes.subject
*Agriculture: The Basics of Our Industrial Food System in 5 minutes

# data[].attributes.body
The surprising, and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, and the effect it has on our health and our communities.  This essential information summarizes the world's industrial food system brought about by the 'green revolution'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Agriculture: The Basics of Our Industrial Food System in 5 minutes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The surprising, and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, and the effect it has on our health and our communities. This essential information summarizes the world's industrial food system brought about by the 'green revolution'.

# data[].attributes.headline
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.subject
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about population. So, how many people can reasonably live on the Earth?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.headline
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.subject
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about population. So, how many people can reasonably live on the Earth?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History 215

# data[].attributes.headline
Fair Trade explained in under 2 minutes.

# data[].attributes.subject
Fair Trade explained in under 2 minutes.

# data[].attributes.headline
Industrial Revolution for Kids - A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.subject
Industrial Revolution for Kids - A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.body
Industrial Revolution for Kids - a simple yet comprehensive overview to help your kids/students better understand and appreciate everything that went into the industrial revolution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Industrial Revolution for Kids | A simple yet comprehensive overview

# data[].attributes.headline
Causes of the Industrial Revolution: The Agricultural Revolution

# data[].attributes.subject
Causes of the Industrial Revolution: The Agricultural Revolution

# data[].attributes.body
From 1700 until the beginning of the First World War in 1914, a period of great social, political and economic upheaval unfolded across the globe. There are many contributing factors that made the Industrial Revolution possible. In this programme we focus on the agricultural revolution, the rise of the factory, the invention of the steam engine, and the role of Britain’s empire.

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about globalization, a subject so epic, so, um, global, it requires two videos. In this video, John follows the surprisingly complex path of t-shirt as it criss-crosses the world before coming to rest on your doorstep, and eventually in your dresser.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Globalization I - The Upside: Crash Course World History #41

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about the Great Depression. So, everybody knows that the Great Depression started with the stock market crash in 1929, right? Not exactly. The Depression happened after the stock market crash, but wasn't caused by the crash. John will teach you about how the depression started, what Herbert Hoover tried to do to fix it, and why those efforts failed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Depression: Crash Course US History #33

# data[].attributes.body
Jacob and Adriene will argue that globalization is, in aggregate, good. Free trade and globalization tend to provide an overall benefit, and raises average incomes across the globe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Globalization and Trade and Poverty: Crash Course Economics #16

# data[].attributes.headline
The Globalization of Food • Explained With Maps

# data[].attributes.subject
The Globalization of Food • Explained With Maps

# data[].attributes.body
Today we have a look at the Globalization of Food and its consequences for society and health.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Globalization of Food • Explained With Maps

# data[].attributes.body
How the Great Depression influenced our country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Great Depression: Causes, Definition & Dates | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in world history. Learn about the Dust Bowl, New Deal, causes of the Great Depression, a Great Depression timeline more.

# data[].attributes.body
In this episode of History Brief, the causes and impact of the Great Depression are discussed.

# data[].attributes.body
This "newsreel" like documentary chronicles the Dustbowl with interviews from people (primary sources) who lived through the "dirty thirties." The images linger well after the film ends.  An excellent resource to use when studying the Depression era or the "Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck. The film was created as part of "The Twentieth Century" CBS series in the early 1950s with the renown Walter Cronkrite narrating the "text-film."

# data[].attributes.body
Video accounts from the people who lived through the time period.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The most visible evidence of how dry the 1930s became was the dust storm. Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and carried in storm clouds for hundreds of miles. Technically, the driest region of the Plains – southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas – became known as the Dust Bowl, and many dust storms started there. But the entire region, and eventually the entire country, was affected.

The Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. More and more dust storms had been blowing up in the years leading up to that day. In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded on the Plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds. By April 1935, there had been weeks of dust storms, but the cloud that appeared on the horizon that Sunday was the worst. Winds were clocked at 60 mph. Then it hit.

"The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face," Avis D. Carlson wrote in a New Republic article. "People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real."

The day after Black Sunday, an Associated Press reporter used the term "Dust Bowl" for the first time. "Three little words achingly familiar on the Western farmer's tongue, rule life in the dust bowl of the continent – if it rains." The term stuck and was used by radio reporters and writers, in private letters and public speeches.

In the central and northern plains, dust was everywhere.

The impact of the Dust Bowl was felt all over the U.S. During the same April as Black Sunday, 1935, one of FDR's advisors, Hugh Hammond Bennett, was in Washington D.C. on his way to testify before Congress about the need for soil conservation legislation. A dust storm arrived in Washington all the way from the Great Plains. As a dusty gloom spread over the nation's capital and blotted out the sun, Bennett explained, "This, gentlemen, is what I have been talking about." Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act that same year.

Written by Bill Ganzel of the Ganzel Group. First written and published in 2003.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The most visible evidence of how dry the 1930s became was the dust storm. Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and carried in storm clouds for hundreds of miles. Technically, the driest region of the Plains - southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas - became known as the Dust Bowl, and many dust storms started there.

# data[].attributes.body
What happens when drought, winds, and farming combine?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.

What Caused the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act of 1862, which provided settlers with 160 acres of public land, was followed by the Kinkaid Act of 1904 and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. These acts led to a massive influx of new and inexperienced farmers across the Great Plains.

Many of these late nineteenth and early twentieth century settlers lived by the superstition "rain follows the plow." Emigrants, land speculators, politicians and even some scientists believed that homesteading and agriculture would permanently affect the climate of the semi-arid Great Plains region, making it more conducive to farming.

This false belief was linked to Manifest Destiny -an attitude that Americans had a sacred duty to expand west. A series of wet years during the period created further misunderstanding of the region's ecology and led to the intensive cultivation of increasingly marginal lands that couldn't be reached by irrigation.

Rising wheat prices in the 1910s and 1920s and increased demand for wheat from Europe during World War I encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted. Farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop and break even.

Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led to massive dust storms and economic devastation-especially in the Southern Plains.

When Was The Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl, also known as "the Dirty Thirties," started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer.

Severe drought hit the Midwest and Southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. A series of drought years followed, further exacerbating the environmental disaster.

By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres-an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas-was rapidly losing its topsoil.

Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close. The economic effects, however, persisted. Population declines in the worst-hit counties-where the agricultural value of the land failed to recover-continued well into the 1950s.

'Black Blizzards' Strike America

During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called "black blizzards" swept the Great Plains. Some of these carried Great Plains topsoil as far east as Washington, D.C. and New York City, and coated ships in the Atlantic Ocean with dust.

Billowing clouds of dust would darken the sky, sometimes for days at a time. In many places, the dust drifted like snow and residents had to clear it with shovels. Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin and furniture.

Some people developed "dust pneumonia" and experienced chest pain and difficulty breathing. It's unclear exactly how many people may have died from the condition. Estimates range from hundreds to several thousand people.

On May 11, 1934, a massive dust storm two miles high traveled 2,000 miles to the East Coast, blotting out monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Capitol.

The worst dust storm occurred on April 14, 1935. News reports called the event Black Sunday. A wall of blowing sand and dust started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and spread east. As many as three million tons of topsoil are estimated to have blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday.

An Associated Press news report coined the term "Dust Bowl" after the Black Sunday dust storm.

New Deal Programs

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a number of measures to help alleviate the plight of poor and displaced farmers. He also addressed the environmental degradation that had led to the Dust Bowl in the first place.

Congress established the Soil Erosion Service and the Prairie States Forestry Project in 1935. These programs put local farmers to work planting trees as windbreaks on farms across the Great Plains. The Soil Erosion Service, now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) implemented new farming techniques to combat the problem of soil erosion.
READ MORE: Did New Deal Program Help End the Great Depression?
Okie Migration

Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states- Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma-during the 1930s. It was one of the largest migrations in American history.

Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 people to migration. Many of them, poverty-stricken, traveled west looking for work. From 1935 to 1940, roughly 250,000 Oklahoma migrants moved to California. A third settled in the state's agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley.

These Dust Bowl refugees were called "Okies." Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. "Okie" soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.
READ MORE: How the Dust Bowl Made Americans Refugees in Their Own Country

Dust Bowl in Arts and Culture

The Dust Bowl captured the imagination of the nation's artists, musicians and writers.

John Steinbeck memorialized the plight of the Okies in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented rural poverty with a series of photographs for FDR's Farm Securities Administration. Artist Alexander Hogue painted Dust Bowl landscapes.

Folk musician Woody Guthrie's semi-autobiographical first album Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, told stories of economic hardship faced by Okies in California. Guthrie, an Oklahoma native, left his home state with thousands of others looking for work during the Dust Bowl.

SOURCES

FDR and the New Deal Response to an Environmental Catastrophe. Roosevelt Institute.
About The Dust Bowl. English Department; University of Illinois.
Dust Bowl Migration. University of California at Davis.
The Great Okie Migration. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Okie Migrations. Oklahoma Historical Society.
What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation. Population and Environment.
The Dust Bowl. Library of Congress.
Dust Bowl Ballads: Woody Guthrie. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
The Dust Bowl. Ken Burns; PBS.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.

# data[].attributes.body
John Green teaches you about the New Deal, which was president Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to pull the united States out of the Great Depression of the 1930's. Did it work? Maybe. John will teach you about some of the most effective and some of the best known programs of the New Deal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The New Deal: Crash Course US History #34

# data[].attributes.body
This is a video Bonnie McBryde made for her elementary students to teach about the Irish Potato Famine. There weren't many resources out there that were on a level accessible to children, so she made her own. She researched extensively when making this so that it would be accurate. It is meant to be honest but respectful.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a video I made for my elementary students to teach about the Irish Potato Famine. There weren't many resources out there that were on a level accessible to children, so I made my own. I researched extensively when making this so that it would be accurate.

# data[].attributes.body
Globalization is a topic that is often debated controversally. It concerns all of us, but what exactly is globalization and what is its impact on every single one of us?
Explainity tackles exactly this question and gives some answers in this short clip.

# data[].attributes.headline
La Follette Jr. Proposes Federal Food Stamp Program

# data[].attributes.subject
La Follette Jr. Proposes Federal Food Stamp Program

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
La Follette Jr. Proposes Federal Food Stamp Program Video - New Deal - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On March 17, 1944, Sen. Robert La Follette urges congressional passage of a bill that would enable low-income families to buy food with coupons provided by the government.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Family Faces Food Insecurity in America’s Heartland | National Geographic

# data[].attributes.subject
A Family Faces Food Insecurity in America’s Heartland | National Geographic

# data[].attributes.body
In Iowa, Christina Dreier and her husband often must choose between paying bills and buying enough food for their family, despite having many of the trappings of middle-class life. Food stamps and the local food pantry provide some relief, but sometimes the Dreiers’ best efforts aren’t enough.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Family Faces Food Insecurity in America’s Heartland | National Geographic

# data[].attributes.headline
Making America Stronger: The U.S. Food Stamp Program

# data[].attributes.subject
Making America Stronger: The U.S. Food Stamp Program

# data[].attributes.body
NOTE:  This video contains some graphic images of the effects of malnutrition and hunger on children.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making America Stronger: The U.S. Food Stamp Program

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NOTE: This video contains some graphic images of the effects of malnutrition and hunger on children. This video commemorates the 30th anniversary of the of the reforms achieved by the Food Stamp Act of 1977 by telling the story of how food stamps dramatically reduced the extent of severe hunger in our country, how they continue to help Americans in need, and how this essential program can achieve still more.

# data[].attributes.body
THE DUST BOWL chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the "Great Plow-Up," followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Vivid interviews with twenty-six survivors of those hard times, combined with dramatic photographs and seldom seen movie footage, bring to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible human perseverance. It is also a morality tale about our relationship to the land that sustains us—a lesson we ignore at our peril.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Dust Bowl | Ken Burns | PBS | Watch The Dust Bowl | Ken Burns | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl chronicles the environmental catastrophe that, throughout the 1930s, destroyed the farmlands of the Great Plains, turned prairies into deserts, and unleashed a pattern of massive, deadly dust storms that for many seemed to herald the end of the world. Full film now streaming.

# data[].attributes.body
Excerpt from The History Channel's The Presidents series featuring Herbert Hoover.

# data[].attributes.body
Jacob and Adriene will argue that globalization is, in aggregate, good. Free trade and globalization tend to provide an overall benefit, and raises average incomes across the globe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Globalization and Trade and Poverty: Crash Course Economics #16

# data[].attributes.body
Here is the info. on food stamps.

# data[].attributes.body
A record 46 million Americans are now on food stamps. Elaine Quijano reports on what life is like for those relying on the government for food.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A record 46 million Americans are now on food stamps. Elaine Quijano reports on what life is like for those relying on the government for food.

# data[].attributes.headline
Fair Trade explained in under 2 minutes.

# data[].attributes.subject
Fair Trade explained in under 2 minutes.

# data[].attributes.body
At the heart of everything we do at Fair Trade USA is our ultimate goal to alleviate poverty among farming communities around the world.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 1: Where does my food come from?

# data[].attributes.subject
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 1: Where does my food come from?

# data[].attributes.body
In the first part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', 13 year old Tayna travels to the Dominican Republic to find out where cocoa comes from.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 1: Where does my food come from? With Welsh subtitles (for ages 12 to 16)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the first part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', 13 year old Tayna travels to the Dominican Republic to find out where cocoa comes from. This version of the film has Welsh subtitles.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 2: What is the point of Fairtrade?

# data[].attributes.subject
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 2: What is the point of Fairtrade?

# data[].attributes.body
In the second part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', Tayna finds out about Fairtrade and the difference it is making to cocoa farmers in the Dominican Republic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 2: What is the point of Fairtrade? With Welsh subtitles (for ages 12 to 16)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the second part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', Tayna finds out about Fairtrade and the difference it is making to cocoa farmers in the Dominican Republic. This version of the film has Welsh subtitles.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 3: Can changing what I buy really change lives?

# data[].attributes.subject
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 3: Can changing what I buy really change lives?

# data[].attributes.body
In the third part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', Tayna considers the impact that our choices have and speaks to a spokesperson from the Fairtrade Foundation and from a major supermarket about whether the choices we make can change lives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My Fairtrade Adventure Part 3 (for ages 12 to 16) With Welsh subtitles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pennod 3: Gall newid be dwi'n bryru... wir newid bywydau? In the third part of 'My Fairtrade Adventure', Tayna considers the impact that our choices have and speaks to a spokesperson from the Fairtrade Foundation and from a major supermarket about whether the choices we make can change lives.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Day in the Life of a Fairtrade Cocoa Farmer

# data[].attributes.subject
A Day in the Life of a Fairtrade Cocoa Farmer

# data[].attributes.body
A beautiful animated film, aimed at introducing younger children to Alvaro Pop, who is a Fairtrade cocoa farmer from Belize.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Day in the Life of a Fairtrade Cocoa Farmer

# data[].attributes.headline
Food stamp program cuts lead to 'staggering' need increase

# data[].attributes.subject
Food stamp program cuts lead to 'staggering' need increase

# data[].attributes.body
The stimulus funds used to boost our nation's SNAP program during the economic recovery ran out on Nov. 1 meaning many Americans who rely on food stamps are now forced to make do with less. The NewHour's Mary Jo Brooks reports on how the cuts are impacting Colorado families and how other organizations are picking up the slack.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Food stamp program cuts lead to 'staggering' need increase

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The stimulus funds used to boost our nation's SNAP program during the economic recovery ran out on Nov. 1 meaning many Americans who rely on food stamps are now forced to make do with less. The NewHour's Mary Jo Brooks reports on how the cuts are impacting Colorado families and how other organizations are picking up the slack.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is a GMO? Let us quickly explain...

# data[].attributes.subject
What is a GMO? Let us quickly explain...

# data[].attributes.body
What is a GMO? Its simply a Genetically Modified Organism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is a GMO? Let us quickly explain...

# data[].attributes.body
The Royal Society has produced an animation to explain the basic science of GM, compared to conventional plant breeding.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is genetic modification? | The Royal Society

# data[].attributes.headline
The Irish Potato Famine Explained: World History Review

# data[].attributes.subject
The Irish Potato Famine Explained: World History Review

# data[].attributes.body
A short history of the Irish Potato Famine which hit Ireland from 1844-1849.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Irish Potato Famine Explained: World History Review

# data[].attributes.body
Use this link to watch a series of videos about Fair Trade around the world. Including a day in the life of a Fair Trade Farmer and videos concerning the debate of fair trade.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To find out more about becoming a Fairtrade School, visit www.fairtrade.org.uk/schools

# data[].attributes.body
More information about the farming practices and agriculture in Ireland during the time of the famine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Irish Potato Famine information and videos

# data[].attributes.body
Many of us rely on our smartphone so often that imagining a life without one seems impossible! But, have you ever wondered how our smartphones are made, where they come from, and the costs of making one?

# data[].attributes.body
The video will give you background information about Ireland. The article will tell you more about the potato famine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An international team of scientists has finally solved one of history's greatest mysteries: What caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845? The research team, which published its findings in the journal eLife this week, used DNA sequencing of plant specimens dating from the mid-19th century to identify the pathogen that led to the death of nearly 1 million people and the mass emigration of another 2 million from Ireland by 1855. The discovery marks the first time scientists have successfully sequenced a plant's genome from preserved samples and opens the door for further research into the evolution of pathogens and the spread of plant disease around the world.

Scientists have long known that it was a strain of Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) that caused the widespread devastation of potato crops in Ireland and northern Europe beginning in 1845, leading to the Irish Potato Famine.

P. infestans infects the plant through its leaves, leaving behind shriveled, inedible tubers. The most likely culprit, they believed, was a strain known as US-1, which even today is responsible for billions of dollars of crop damage each year. To solve the mystery, molecular biologists from the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States examined DNA extracted from nearly a dozen botanical specimens dating back as far as 1845 and held in museum collections in the UK and Germany, which were then sent to the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, England. After sequencing the genome of the 19th century samples and comparing them with modern blights, including US-1, they were able to trace the genetic evolution of P. infestans around the world and across centuries.

The researchers concluded that it wasn't in fact US-1 that caused the blight, but a previously unknown strain, HERB-1, which had originated in the Americas (most likely in Mexico's Toluca Valley) sometime in the early 19th century before spreading to Europe in the 1840s. HERB-1, they believe, was responsible for the Great Famine and hundreds of other potato crop failures around the world. It wasn't until the early 20th century that improvements in crop breeding yielded potato varieties that proved resistant to HERB-1 that the deadly infection was stopped in its tracks. Scientists believe that the HERB-1 strain is now extinct.

First domesticated in southern Peru and Bolivia more than 7,000 years ago, the potato began its long trek out of South America in the late 16th century following the Spanish conquest of the Inca. Though some Europeans were skeptical of the newly arrived tuber, they were quickly won over by the plant's benefits. Potatoes were slow to spoil, had three times the caloric value of grain and were cheap and easy to grow on both large farms and small, backyard lots. When a series of non-potato crop failures struck northern Europe in the late 18th century, millions of farmers switched to the more durable spud as their staple crop.

Nowhere was dependency on the potato more widespread than in Ireland, where it eventually became the sole subsistence food for one-third of the country. Impoverished tenant farmers, struggling to grow enough food to feed their families on plots of land as small as one acre, turned to the potato en masse, thanks to its ability to grow in even the worst soil. Requiring calorie-heavy diets to carry out their punishing workloads, they were soon consuming between 40 and 60 potatoes every day. And the potato wasn't just used for human consumption: Ireland's primary export to its British overlords was cattle, and more than a third of all potatoes harvested were used to feed livestock.

By the early 19th century, however, the potato had begun to show a tendency toward crop failure, with Ireland and much of northern Europe experience smaller blights in the decades leading up to the Great Famine. While the effects of these failures were largely ameliorated in many countries thanks to their cultivation of a wide variety of different potatoes, Ireland was left vulnerable to these blights due to its dependence on just one type, the Irish Lumper. When HERB-1, which had already wreaked havoc on crops in Mexico and the United States, made its way across the Atlantic sometime in 1844, its effect was immediate-and devastating. Within a year, potato crops across France, Belgium and Holland had been affected and by late 1845 between one-third and one-half of Ireland's fields had been wiped out. The destruction continued the following year, when three-quarters of that year's harvest was destroyed and the first starvation deaths were reported.

As the crisis grew, British relief efforts only made things worse: The emergency importation of grain failed to prevent further deaths due to Ireland's lack of working mills to process the food; absentee British landlords evicted thousands of starving peasants when they were unable to pay rent; and a series of workhouses and charity homes established to care for the most vulnerable were poorly managed, becoming squalid centers of disease and death. By 1851 1 million Irish-nearly one-eight of the population-were dead from starvation or disease. Emigration from the country, which had steadily increased in the years leading up to the famine, ballooned, and by 1855 2 million people had fled, swelling the immigrant Irish populations of Canada, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Even today, more than 150 years later, Ireland's population has still not recovered its pre-famine level. Those that stayed behind, haunted by their country's suffering, would form the basis of an Irish independence movement that continued into the 20th century.

America: Promised Land The 2-part special premieres Memorial Day at 9/8c on HISTORY.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After 168 Years, Potato Famine Mystery Solved

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An international team of scientists has finally solved one of history's greatest mysteries: What caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845? The research team, which published its findings in the journal eLife this week, used DNA sequencing of plant specimens dating from the mid-19th century to identify the pathogen that led to the death of nearly 1 million people and the mass emigration of another 2 million from Ireland by 1855.

# data[].attributes.body
Why are corned beef and cabbage a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Irish Potato Famine Exclusive Videos & Features - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out exclusive Irish Potato Famine videos and features. Browse the latest Irish Potato Famine videos and more on HISTORY.com.

# data[].attributes.body
Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Globalization theories | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.headline
How to Enrich a Country: Free Trade or Protectionism?

# data[].attributes.subject
How to Enrich a Country: Free Trade or Protectionism?

# data[].attributes.body
What is the best way to make a country rich? Should you adopt a policy of free trade? Or is protectionism and economic nationalism the better way? We explore the history and theory of one of the central questions of economics and politics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Enrich a Country: Free Trade or Protectionism?

# data[].attributes.headline
Imports, Exports, and Exchange Rates: Crash Course Economics #15

# data[].attributes.subject
Imports, Exports, and Exchange Rates: Crash Course Economics #15

# data[].attributes.body
What is a trade deficit? Well, it all has to do with imports and exports and, well, trade. This week Jacob and Adriene walk you through the basics of imports, exports, and exchange.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Imports, Exports, and Exchange Rates: Crash Course Economics #15

# data[].attributes.headline
Worst Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Recent U.S. History

# data[].attributes.subject
Worst Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Recent U.S. History

# data[].attributes.body
Read about the biggest foodborne outbreaks in recent U.S. history, and learn how to recognize food poisoning and protect yourself from it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Foodborne illness, or food poisoning, affects about one in six Americans every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that of these cases, there are 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths annually.

You can get food poisoning when your food carries dangerous germs or toxins. Salmonella is the most common known cause of hospitalization due to food poisoning in the United States with over 19,000 cases per year.

This pathogen, along with others, can get into your food through:

improper food handling

unsafe practices on farms

contamination during manufacturing or distributing

contamination in stores

Read about the biggest foodborne outbreaks in recent U.S. history, and learn how to recognize food poisoning and protect yourself from it.

Most people recover from Salmonella infection within four to seven days. Symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps usually appear 12 to 72 hours after infection. Treatment includes antidiarrheal medications, antibiotics, and fluids and electrolytes.

2009: PCA peanut butter

The Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) experienced a Salmonella outbreak. According to CDC, 714 people got sick and nine died from PCA's peanut butter. The company prompted a recall of over 3,600 peanut butter products. PCA is now bankrupt.

2011: Cargill ground turkey

Cargill recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey when it suspected the meat may have been contaminated with an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella. This outbreak caused at least one death and about 136 illnesses across 34 states.

2013: Foster Farms chicken

California chicken producer Foster Farms was suspected of infecting a total of 634 persons with Salmonella. Incidents spread across 29 states and Puerto Rico, but no deaths were reported. The company issued a voluntary recall on all Foster Farms brand chicken products.

2015: Mexican cucumbers

Salmonella from cucumbers imported from Mexico infected 907 people in 40 states. This outbreak resulted in the hospitalization of more than 200 persons and six deaths.

The cucumbers were distributed by Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce. The company issued two separate recalls.

E. coli bacteria normally lives in the intestines of animals and humans. However, infections from certain strains of this bacteria can sicken humans. Symptoms usually develop three to four days after exposure. They include:

The strain of most often associated with outbreaks produces a toxin. The toxin is what causes the illness, so antibiotics are ineffective. According to the CDC, antibiotics and anti-diarrhea medicines may increase risk of complications. Treatment involves rest, fluids, and, in severe cases, hospitalization.

1993: Jack in the Box hamburgers

Four people in Washington and California died from eating contaminated meat from Jack in the Box. Hundreds of other customers also fell ill. This caused a national panic, nearly resulting in the end for the fast-food chain. The outbreak led to stronger government regulations of food handling.

2006: Dole baby spinach

The outbreak began in September, when the Food and Drug Administration linked E. coli infections to uncooked spinach in 26 states. Three people died, 31 suffered kidney failure, and 205 people reported cases of diarrhea and dehydration. During the outbreak, Dole recalled all its bagged spinach from shelves across the country. Investigators believe the contamination may have originated from a cattle ranch that leased land to a spinach farmer.

2006: Taco Bell fast food

In December, an E. coli outbreak affected 71 customers of Taco Bell across five states. Eight people developed kidney failure, and 53 people were hospitalized. The Taco Bell outbreak was linked to contaminated lettuce from California. Following the outbreak, these states enacted stricter standards for handling lettuce.

2015: Chipotle Mexican Grill fast food

Between October and November, Chipotle Mexican Grill had an E. coli outbreak. About 55 people in 11 states became ill after eating at the restaurant during the initial outbreak. There were 22 reported hospitalizations and no deaths. In a second outbreak for this fast-food chain, five people became ill from a different strain of E. coli. There's no confirmed cause for either outbreak.

Symptoms of botulism usually begin 18 to 36 hours after exposure and include:

difficulty swallowing or speaking

blurry vision

abdominal pain

muscle weakness

paralysis

Treatment for this condition requires hospitalization and includes antitoxins and supportive care.

1977: Trini & Carmen's hot sauce

One of the largest botulism outbreaks in U.S. history occurred in Pontiac, Michigan. Customers of Mexican restaurant Trini & Carmen's reported symptoms of food poisoning in March. The source was tracked to hot sauce made from improperly home-canned jalapeño peppers. Within days, the restaurant was closed and jars of contaminated peppers were seized. No were reported deaths, but 58 people became ill.

2015: Home-canned potatoes

According to the CDC, the largest botulism outbreak in the last 40 years occurred in Fairfield County, Ohio, in 2015. The outbreak caused 29 people to become ill and one death due to respiratory failure. The source was traced back to improperly home-canned potatoes used to make potato salad for a church potluck picnic.

Listeria infections are particularly dangerous for pregnant women. It's possible for unborn babies to catch the infection. Pregnant women are also 10 times more likely to get a Listeria infection than nonpregnant women or men. Newborns, older adults, and anyone with a weakened immune system are also at high risk.

This type of infection usually develops within a several days after eating contaminated food. In pregnant women, it can take much longer. Others often have symptoms of:

Symptoms during pregnancy include fever, muscle aches, and fatigue. Complications include miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, and infection in a newborn.

Treatment involves antibiotics.

1985: Jalisco Products cheese

Over eight months, a Listeria outbreak affected 142 residents of Los Angeles County. This lead to the deaths of 10 newborns and 18 adults. It was also responsible for 20 miscarriages. An in-depth investigation linked the deaths to Jalisco Products' Mexican soft cheeses. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the suspected cause of the outbreak was unpasteurized milk. The company instituted a voluntary recall of its products.

1998-1999: Hot dogs

An outbreak of Listeria from tainted hot dogs affected at least 100 people across 24 states, causing 14 adult deaths and four miscarriages. The contamination affected over nine brands, including Sara Lee Deli Meat. This outbreak spread from Bil Mar Foods' manufacturing plant in Zeeland, Michigan.

2002: Pilgrim's Pride turkey meat

Sliced turkey deli meat from Pilgrim's Pride caused a widespread outbreak of Listeria in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Michigan. This lead to seven adult deaths and three stillbirths. The company recalled 27.4 million pounds of poultry products.

2011: Cantaloupes

In 2011, it's believed that 33 people passed away from contaminated cantaloupe. A total of 147 people got sick. Investigations traced the source of the outbreak to Jensen Farms' packing facility near Holly, Colorado.

Hepatitis A is a liver disease. Its symptoms may include:

There's no specific treatment for hepatitis A, but your doctor may recommend rest, high fluid intake, and nutrition. In order to decrease outbreaks, the CDC recommends the hepatitis A vaccine for all children 12 months and older and for certain adults.

1997: Frozen strawberries

In Calhoun County, Michigan, an outbreak of hepatitis A affected 153 people. The outbreak was linked to frozen strawberries. The contaminated berries were for a federal school lunch program and distributed to schools across six states.

2003: Chi-Chi's salsa and chili con queso

The largest outbreak of hepatitis A happened at a Chi-Chi's restaurant in Monaca, Pennsylvania. It caused the death of three people and about 555 people caught the virus. This prompted the health department to provide hepatitis A vaccinations and post-exposure antibodies. The outbreak was traced to contaminated green onions imported from Mexico, used in the restaurant's salsa and chili con queso. The restaurant chain is no longer operating.

2016: Tropical Smoothie Cafe drinks

An outbreak of hepatitis A at Tropical Smoothie Cafe restaurants affected nine states. The CDC reported that 143 people became ill after drinking smoothies made with frozen strawberries imported from Egypt. Of these, 56 were hospitalized. No deaths were reported from the outbreak.

Food recalls, government inspections, and food handling regulations are effective preventive measures used to keep our food safe. To prevent or lower your risk of foodborne illnesses, pay attention to food recalls and check your kitchen for contaminated products.

See a doctor if you have:

bloody vomit or stools

diarrhea lasting longer than three days

extreme abdominal pain

signs of dehydration (decreased urination, dizziness, palpitations)

blurry vision

fever greater than 101.5°F (38.6°C)

Food poisoning can be life-threatening to people with weakened immune systems, including children, pregnant individuals, and older adults.

Safe food handling practices are also important.

If you suspect that food may be spoiled or contaminated, toss it in the garbage. It's better to be safe than sorry! You can also stay updated on current foodborne outbreaks by visiting the CDC website.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
17 of the Worst Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in U.S. History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Foodborne illness, or food poisoning, affects about one in six Americans every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that of these cases, there are 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths annually. You can get food poisoning when your food carries dangerous germs or toxins.

# data[].attributes.headline
​Digging for seeds of truth in GMO debate

# data[].attributes.subject
​Digging for seeds of truth in GMO debate

# data[].attributes.body
By some estimates, 80 percent of all processed foods -- cereals, baby formula, canned soups and more -- contain at least one GMO, or Genetically Modified Organism. But whether GMOs are safe and whether they should be listed on the label has led to a very big food fight.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By some estimates, 80 percent of all processed foods -- cereals, baby formula, canned soups and more -- contain at least one GMO, or Genetically Modified Organism. But whether GMOs are safe and whether they should be listed on the label has led to a very big food fight. Our Cover Story is from Barry Petersen:
Delan Perry's papaya farm on the Big Island of Hawaii may be a bit off the beaten path. But it's smack in the middle of a worldwide debate about one of life's essentials: the very food we eat.

His papayas, like almost all those now grown on the Big Island, are GMOs -- genetically-modified organisms.

"I'm sure their first question is, 'Is it safe?'" asked Petersen.

"We say, 'Of course!'" laughed Perry. "Been eating it, my kids have been eating it for 20 years now."

Twenty years ago, the Big Island's papaya industry had been thriving; growers were shipping 60 million pounds of papayas a year. But then insects began spreading a devastating virus called ringspot to nearly every papaya tree on the island. In about three years, the trees were dead. Fields were barren. The industry was literally wiped out.

But a Hawaiian-born plant pathologist, Dennis Gonsalves (then a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York), came to the rescue.

"We had a technology that could help develop a virus-resistant papaya," he said.

Gonsalves and a team of scientists pulled off a remarkable feat of genetic engineering: they took a DNA strand from the destructive papaya virus and inserted it into the DNA of a papaya seed. Just as with a vaccine for a human, the papayas became immune to ringspot.

One of the final field tests was on Delan Perry's farm in 1997. Photos show the dead and diseased trees surrounding the healthy, genetically-engineered trees.

"It grew beautiful, absolutely beautiful," Gonsalves said. "And even to this day, there has been no breakdown of resistance."

Today, American farmers grow about 10 different GMO crops, including more than 92 percent of all corn and soy. Most are engineered to ward off insects, or to resist weed-killing herbicides (or both). That means farmers can dramatically reduce insecticide use. And when they spray for weeds, the herbicide won't kill their crops.

And most of us eat GMOs every day, in processed foods like soda, cereal, chips and cheese. in November, salmon joined the list; it's genetically engineered to grow faster.

And there are more foods in the pipeline, among them a peanut without the toxin that triggers deadly allergies; and cassavas and bananas (the main source of food for hundreds of millions of Africans) that would become immune to diseases now decimating those crops.

So given all that, why are so many people so opposed to GMOs?

"As a mother and a scientist who's been looking at these issues for some decades, I am increasingly concerned at the ways in which corporations have gained more and more control and influence over our food system," said Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, a senior scientist at the Pesticide Action Network.

"Genetically-engineered seeds are responsible for an enormous increase in the use of pesticides, primarily herbicides -- weed killers," she said. "People have a healthy skepticism to corporations telling us that their products are perfectly safe. We've seen that with DDT and tobacco, for example."

A lot of the opposition to GMOs (dubbed "Franken-Food") is directed at the world's largest seed company, Monsanto. Ishii-Eiteman says she is troubled that when farmers buy herbicide-resistant GMO seeds from Monsanto, they are locked into using large quantities of Monsanto-produced herbicide as well.

And there's something else: Farmers who buy Monsanto's patented GMO seeds must sign an agreement promising that they will use them for only one harvest, or be sued.

"Farmers have done this since the beginning of farming -- they raise their crops, and they save their seeds and they plant them the next year," said Petersen. "So why push farmers not to plant seeds that are patented from Monsanto from this year to next year?"

"We spend a billion and a half dollars a year on research and development," said Hugh Grant, the CEO of Monsanto. "And there needs to be some way of seeing a return on that."

Grant says farmers who want to take their business elsewhere they have plenty of options.

"The grower has very little loyalty," Grant said. "They're looking for the best possible seed that produces the best possible crop."

But those crops are getting harder to sell, as consumers say they don't want GMOs in their food.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
​Digging for seeds of truth in GMO debate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By some estimates, 80 percent of all processed foods -- cereals, baby formula, canned soups and more -- contain at least one GMO, or Genetically Modified Organism. But whether GMOs are safe and whether they should be listed on the label has led to a very big food fight.

# data[].attributes.body
Pamela Ronald studies the genes that make plants more resistant to disease and stress. In an eye-opening talk, she describes her decade-long quest to isolate a gene that allows rice to survive prolonged flooding. She shows how the genetic improvement of seeds saved the Hawaiian papaya crop in the 1990s — and makes the case that modern genetics is sometimes the most effective method to advance sustainable agriculture and enhance food security for our planet’s growing population.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pamela Ronald: The case for engineering our food | TED Talk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pamela Ronald studies the genes that make plants more resistant to disease and stress. In an eye-opening talk, she describes her decade-long quest to isolate a gene that allows rice to survive prolonged flooding. She shows how the genetic improvement of seeds saved the Hawaiian papaya crop in the 19…

# data[].attributes.body
At a TEDx event, 11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At a TEDx event, 11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.

# data[].attributes.headline
GMO crops threaten livelihood of organic farmers

# data[].attributes.subject
GMO crops threaten livelihood of organic farmers

# data[].attributes.body
The USDA approved the unregulated release of genetically modified alfalfa, which poses a threat of contamination from one farmer's land to another's. And, as Seth Doane reports, the release has organic farmers concerned for their livelihood.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
GMO crops threaten livelihood of organic farmers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The USDA approved the unregulated release of genetically modified alfalfa, which poses a threat of contamination from one farmer's land to another's. And, as Seth Doane reports, the release has organic farmers concerned for their livelihood.

# data[].attributes.headline
How Millennials Will Forever Change America's Farmlands

# data[].attributes.subject
How Millennials Will Forever Change America's Farmlands

# data[].attributes.body
As Americans increasingly reject cheap, processed food and embrace high-quality, responsibly-sourced nutrition, hyper-local farming is having a moment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Millennials Will Forever Change America's Farmlands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The key to reviving America's agricultural economy is casting aside the sentimental images we associate with farming.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why do we need to change our food system?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why do we need to change our food system?

# data[].attributes.body
Every day you have to eat, just like the other 7.2 billion people on the planet. By 2050, at least 2 billion more people will join you.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why do we need to change our food system?

# data[].attributes.body
What's the difference between a pest and a bug? Shimon Steinberg makes the case for using good bugs to fight bad bugs, avoiding chemicals in our quest for perfect produce.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shimon Steinberg: Natural pest control ... using bugs!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What's the difference between a pest and a bug? Shimon Steinberg makes the case for using good bugs to fight bad bugs, avoiding chemicals in our quest for perfect produce.

# data[].attributes.body
Louise Fresco shows us why we should celebrate mass-produced, supermarket-style white bread. She says environmentally sound mass production will feed the world, yet leave a role for small bakeries and traditional methods.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Louise Fresco: We need to feed the whole world

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Louise Fresco shows us why we should celebrate mass-produced, supermarket-style white bread. She says environmentally sound mass production will feed the world, yet leave a role for small bakeries and traditional methods.

# data[].attributes.body
Severe drought and conflict in East Africa left more than 37 million people severely food insecure in 2017, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Emergency relief efforts helped much of the region avoid the worst with the exception of South Sudan, where famine was declared in two regions in early 2017 and the humanitarian situation continues to get worse. Jill Craig reports from Nairobi.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
голос америки

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
East Africa Battled Severe Drought, Hunger in 2017

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Severe drought and conflict in East Africa left more than 37 million people severely food insecure in 2017, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Emergency relief efforts helped much of the region avoid the worst with the exception of South Sudan, where famine was declared in two regions in early 2017 and the humanitarian situation continues to get worse.

# data[].attributes.headline
*Zimbabwe drought: Five million face food shortage

# data[].attributes.subject
*Zimbabwe drought: Five million face food shortage

# data[].attributes.body
Nearly five million people in Zimbabwe - half of the country's rural population - will need assistance by next year as a result of the ongoing drought in southern Africa, the United Nations has said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Nearly five million people in Zimbabwe - half of the country's rural population - will need assistance by next year as a result of the ongoing drought in southern Africa, the United Nations has said.

Zimbabwe is one of the worst affected countries by the driest year in decades facing southern Africa - including Malawi, Zambia and South Africa - which has placed more than 30 million people at risk.

Rainfall is not expected in the country in the near future and President Robert Mugabe has declared a "state of disaster".

Residents have reported not having proper food for days.

"A lot of people are hungry," Ambuya Grace, who lives in one of the affected villages, told Al Jazeera.

Another local, Virgilance Tsabora, said she, too, needed assistance.

"No one has come to help us. Some people got food, but many people did not," said Tsabora.

The government says it is trying to buy grain from neighbouring countries.

The drought has been made worse by the strong El Nino weather patterns, a temporary climate change of the Pacific in the region around the equator.

In February, Zimbabwe's Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa appealed to local business and charities for more than $1.5bn in aid to save more than a quarter of the population from starvation.

At a news conference in the capital Harare, Mnangagwa said the government "requires a total of [$1.57bn] with effect from February to December 2016", adding that millions were in need of food and water.

The UN's World Food Programme said in January that about 14 million people in Southern Africa are facing hunger due to poor harvests in 2015, caused by the latest El Nino.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Zimbabwe drought: Five million face food shortage

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nearly five million people in Zimbabwe - half of the country's rural population - will need assistance by next year as a result of the ongoing drought in southern Africa, the United Nations has said.

# data[].attributes.body
Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that cannot be solved person by person. We have to stand together."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that cannot be solved person by person.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why Do We Waste $1 Trillion Of Food A Year?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why Do We Waste $1 Trillion Of Food A Year?

# data[].attributes.body
"Ugly" and deformed food often gets left in fields to rot. How can we help reduce this food waste?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Do We Waste $1 Trillion Of Food A Year?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Ugly" and deformed food often gets left in fields to rot. How can we help reduce this food waste? Sign Up For The Seeker Newsletter Here - http://bit.ly/1UO1PxI Read More: USDA Food Waste FAQs http://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/faqs.htm "In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply.

# data[].attributes.body
Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible -- but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible -- but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.

# data[].attributes.headline
Fox News Follows California Beach Bum Living Off Food Stamps For Years

# data[].attributes.subject
Fox News Follows California Beach Bum Living Off Food Stamps For Years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fox News Follows California Beach Bum Living Off Food Stamps For Years

# data[].attributes.body
CNN's Carol Costello speaks to Panera's CEO Ron Shaich about eating on only $4.50 a day for a week.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CNN's Carol Costello speaks to Panera's CEO Ron Shaich about eating on only $4.50 a day for a week. More from CNN at http://www.cnn.com/

# data[].attributes.headline
What quality of life can minimum wage workers afford?

# data[].attributes.subject
What quality of life can minimum wage workers afford?

# data[].attributes.body
Washington state has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $9.32. Can the state's low-wage workers can meet their basic needs without assistance? Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the quality of life for a baggage handler at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and an employee of McDonald's.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What quality of life can minimum wage workers afford?

# data[].attributes.headline
Suburb in Wealthy Illinois County Sees Unexpected Rise in Poverty

# data[].attributes.subject
Suburb in Wealthy Illinois County Sees Unexpected Rise in Poverty

# data[].attributes.body
A suburban neighborhood of one of the nation's wealthiest counties has experienced a surprising rise in the number of people living below the poverty line -- a trend that accelerated in suburbs across the country during the recession.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Suburb in Wealthy Illinois County Sees Unexpected Rise in Poverty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A suburban neighborhood of one of the nation's wealthiest counties has experienced a surprising rise in the number of people living below the poverty line -- a trend that accelerated in suburbs across the country during the recession. Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW Chicago reports.

# data[].attributes.body
Co-creator of the philanthropic FEED bags, Ellen Gustafson says hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin. In her talk, she launches The 30 Project -- a way to change how we farm and eat in the next 30 years, and solve the global food inequalities behind both epidemics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ellen Gustafson: Obesity + hunger = 1 global food issue

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Co-creator of the philanthropic FEED bags, Ellen Gustafson says hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin. In her talk, she launches The 30 Project -- a way to change how we farm and eat in the next 30 years, and solve the global food inequalities behind both epidemics.

# data[].attributes.body
Bravo celebrity chef and food activist Tom Colicchio discusses with MSNBC's Alex Wagner the need to make hunger a voting issue in America and why some have it all wrong when it comes to the SNAP food stamp assistance program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tom Colicchio on food stamps and the 'recipe for obesity'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bravo celebrity chef and food activist Tom Colicchio discusses with MSNBC's Alex Wagner the need to make hunger a voting issue in America and why some have it all wrong when it comes to the SNAP food stamp assistance program.

# data[].attributes.body
Fresh food free of chemicals and pesticides is hard to come by in China: in 2016, the Chinese government revealed half a million food safety violations in just nine months. In the absence of safe, sustainable food sources, TED Fellow Matilda Ho launched China's first online farmers market, instituting a zero-tolerance test towards pesticides, antibiotics and hormones in food. She shares how she's growing her platform from the ground up and bringing local, organically grown food to the families that need it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Matilda Ho: The future of good food in China

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fresh food free of chemicals and pesticides is hard to come by in China: in 2016, the Chinese government revealed half a million food safety violations in just nine months. In the absence of safe, sustainable food sources, TED Fellow Matilda Ho launched China's first online farmers market, instituting a zero-tolerance test towards pesticides, antibiotics and hormones in food.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
An excerpt of The History Channel's The Presidents series featuring the first two terms of FDR--mainly his domestic policy before WWII

# data[].attributes.body
Excerpt from History Channel's "The Presidents" series featuring the second half of FDR. I do not own the rights to this video, I'm simply uploading it so my students who miss class can view it online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.body
A look at both sides of the argument.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are GMOs Good or Bad? Genetic Engineering & Our Food

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exports and Imports | Protectionism, Tariffs and Who Benefits From Them

# data[].attributes.body
A very simple overview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A brief explanation of the Irish Potato famin

# data[].attributes.body
What happens when drought, winds, and farming combine?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.

What Caused the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act of 1862, which provided settlers with 160 acres of public land, was followed by the Kinkaid Act of 1904 and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. These acts led to a massive influx of new and inexperienced farmers across the Great Plains.

Many of these late nineteenth and early twentieth century settlers lived by the superstition "rain follows the plow." Emigrants, land speculators, politicians and even some scientists believed that homesteading and agriculture would permanently affect the climate of the semi-arid Great Plains region, making it more conducive to farming.

This false belief was linked to Manifest Destiny -an attitude that Americans had a sacred duty to expand west. A series of wet years during the period created further misunderstanding of the region's ecology and led to the intensive cultivation of increasingly marginal lands that couldn't be reached by irrigation.

Rising wheat prices in the 1910s and 1920s and increased demand for wheat from Europe during World War I encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted. Farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop and break even.

Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led to massive dust storms and economic devastation-especially in the Southern Plains.

When Was The Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl, also known as "the Dirty Thirties," started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer.

Severe drought hit the Midwest and Southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. A series of drought years followed, further exacerbating the environmental disaster.

By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres-an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas-was rapidly losing its topsoil.

Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close. The economic effects, however, persisted. Population declines in the worst-hit counties-where the agricultural value of the land failed to recover-continued well into the 1950s.

'Black Blizzards' Strike America

During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called "black blizzards" swept the Great Plains. Some of these carried Great Plains topsoil as far east as Washington, D.C. and New York City, and coated ships in the Atlantic Ocean with dust.

Billowing clouds of dust would darken the sky, sometimes for days at a time. In many places, the dust drifted like snow and residents had to clear it with shovels. Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin and furniture.

Some people developed "dust pneumonia" and experienced chest pain and difficulty breathing. It's unclear exactly how many people may have died from the condition. Estimates range from hundreds to several thousand people.

On May 11, 1934, a massive dust storm two miles high traveled 2,000 miles to the East Coast, blotting out monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Capitol.

The worst dust storm occurred on April 14, 1935. News reports called the event Black Sunday. A wall of blowing sand and dust started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and spread east. As many as three million tons of topsoil are estimated to have blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday.

An Associated Press news report coined the term "Dust Bowl" after the Black Sunday dust storm.

New Deal Programs

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a number of measures to help alleviate the plight of poor and displaced farmers. He also addressed the environmental degradation that had led to the Dust Bowl in the first place.

Congress established the Soil Erosion Service and the Prairie States Forestry Project in 1935. These programs put local farmers to work planting trees as windbreaks on farms across the Great Plains. The Soil Erosion Service, now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) implemented new farming techniques to combat the problem of soil erosion.
READ MORE: Did New Deal Program Help End the Great Depression?
Okie Migration

Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states- Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma-during the 1930s. It was one of the largest migrations in American history.

Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 people to migration. Many of them, poverty-stricken, traveled west looking for work. From 1935 to 1940, roughly 250,000 Oklahoma migrants moved to California. A third settled in the state's agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley.

These Dust Bowl refugees were called "Okies." Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. "Okie" soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.
READ MORE: How the Dust Bowl Made Americans Refugees in Their Own Country

Dust Bowl in Arts and Culture

The Dust Bowl captured the imagination of the nation's artists, musicians and writers.

John Steinbeck memorialized the plight of the Okies in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented rural poverty with a series of photographs for FDR's Farm Securities Administration. Artist Alexander Hogue painted Dust Bowl landscapes.

Folk musician Woody Guthrie's semi-autobiographical first album Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, told stories of economic hardship faced by Okies in California. Guthrie, an Oklahoma native, left his home state with thousands of others looking for work during the Dust Bowl.

SOURCES

FDR and the New Deal Response to an Environmental Catastrophe. Roosevelt Institute.
About The Dust Bowl. English Department; University of Illinois.
Dust Bowl Migration. University of California at Davis.
The Great Okie Migration. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Okie Migrations. Oklahoma Historical Society.
What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation. Population and Environment.
The Dust Bowl. Library of Congress.
Dust Bowl Ballads: Woody Guthrie. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
The Dust Bowl. Ken Burns; PBS.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.

# data[].attributes.body
The video will give you background information about Ireland. The article will tell you more about the potato famine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An international team of scientists has finally solved one of history's greatest mysteries: What caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845? The research team, which published its findings in the journal eLife this week, used DNA sequencing of plant specimens dating from the mid-19th century to identify the pathogen that led to the death of nearly 1 million people and the mass emigration of another 2 million from Ireland by 1855. The discovery marks the first time scientists have successfully sequenced a plant's genome from preserved samples and opens the door for further research into the evolution of pathogens and the spread of plant disease around the world.

Scientists have long known that it was a strain of Phytophthora infestans (or P. infestans) that caused the widespread devastation of potato crops in Ireland and northern Europe beginning in 1845, leading to the Irish Potato Famine.

P. infestans infects the plant through its leaves, leaving behind shriveled, inedible tubers. The most likely culprit, they believed, was a strain known as US-1, which even today is responsible for billions of dollars of crop damage each year. To solve the mystery, molecular biologists from the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States examined DNA extracted from nearly a dozen botanical specimens dating back as far as 1845 and held in museum collections in the UK and Germany, which were then sent to the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, England. After sequencing the genome of the 19th century samples and comparing them with modern blights, including US-1, they were able to trace the genetic evolution of P. infestans around the world and across centuries.

The researchers concluded that it wasn't in fact US-1 that caused the blight, but a previously unknown strain, HERB-1, which had originated in the Americas (most likely in Mexico's Toluca Valley) sometime in the early 19th century before spreading to Europe in the 1840s. HERB-1, they believe, was responsible for the Great Famine and hundreds of other potato crop failures around the world. It wasn't until the early 20th century that improvements in crop breeding yielded potato varieties that proved resistant to HERB-1 that the deadly infection was stopped in its tracks. Scientists believe that the HERB-1 strain is now extinct.

First domesticated in southern Peru and Bolivia more than 7,000 years ago, the potato began its long trek out of South America in the late 16th century following the Spanish conquest of the Inca. Though some Europeans were skeptical of the newly arrived tuber, they were quickly won over by the plant's benefits. Potatoes were slow to spoil, had three times the caloric value of grain and were cheap and easy to grow on both large farms and small, backyard lots. When a series of non-potato crop failures struck northern Europe in the late 18th century, millions of farmers switched to the more durable spud as their staple crop.

Nowhere was dependency on the potato more widespread than in Ireland, where it eventually became the sole subsistence food for one-third of the country. Impoverished tenant farmers, struggling to grow enough food to feed their families on plots of land as small as one acre, turned to the potato en masse, thanks to its ability to grow in even the worst soil. Requiring calorie-heavy diets to carry out their punishing workloads, they were soon consuming between 40 and 60 potatoes every day. And the potato wasn't just used for human consumption: Ireland's primary export to its British overlords was cattle, and more than a third of all potatoes harvested were used to feed livestock.

By the early 19th century, however, the potato had begun to show a tendency toward crop failure, with Ireland and much of northern Europe experience smaller blights in the decades leading up to the Great Famine. While the effects of these failures were largely ameliorated in many countries thanks to their cultivation of a wide variety of different potatoes, Ireland was left vulnerable to these blights due to its dependence on just one type, the Irish Lumper. When HERB-1, which had already wreaked havoc on crops in Mexico and the United States, made its way across the Atlantic sometime in 1844, its effect was immediate-and devastating. Within a year, potato crops across France, Belgium and Holland had been affected and by late 1845 between one-third and one-half of Ireland's fields had been wiped out. The destruction continued the following year, when three-quarters of that year's harvest was destroyed and the first starvation deaths were reported.

As the crisis grew, British relief efforts only made things worse: The emergency importation of grain failed to prevent further deaths due to Ireland's lack of working mills to process the food; absentee British landlords evicted thousands of starving peasants when they were unable to pay rent; and a series of workhouses and charity homes established to care for the most vulnerable were poorly managed, becoming squalid centers of disease and death. By 1851 1 million Irish-nearly one-eight of the population-were dead from starvation or disease. Emigration from the country, which had steadily increased in the years leading up to the famine, ballooned, and by 1855 2 million people had fled, swelling the immigrant Irish populations of Canada, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Even today, more than 150 years later, Ireland's population has still not recovered its pre-famine level. Those that stayed behind, haunted by their country's suffering, would form the basis of an Irish independence movement that continued into the 20th century.

America: Promised Land The 2-part special premieres Memorial Day at 9/8c on HISTORY.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
After 168 Years, Potato Famine Mystery Solved

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An international team of scientists has finally solved one of history's greatest mysteries: What caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845? The research team, which published its findings in the journal eLife this week, used DNA sequencing of plant specimens dating from the mid-19th century to identify the pathogen that led to the death of nearly 1 million people and the mass emigration of another 2 million from Ireland by 1855.

# data[].attributes.body
How the Great Depression influenced our country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Great Depression: Causes, Definition & Dates | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in world history. Learn about the Dust Bowl, New Deal, causes of the Great Depression, a Great Depression timeline more.

# data[].attributes.body
Why are corned beef and cabbage a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Irish Potato Famine Exclusive Videos & Features - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out exclusive Irish Potato Famine videos and features. Browse the latest Irish Potato Famine videos and more on HISTORY.com.

# data[].attributes.body
More information about the farming practices and agriculture in Ireland during the time of the famine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Great Irish Potato Famine information and videos

# data[].attributes.body
Here is the info. on food stamps.