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Guna Humus Dalam Lingkungan

( The Use of Humus in Environment )

Saturday, November 6 2010, I chat with my friend in Indonesia through facebook. His name is Henry, we chat about soil, especially humus, how to keep it fertile, how to prevent it from erosion. We had been lived for a long time in East Java, a very fertile area that very good for farming. We chat about what is the use of humus and how to prevent it from erosion. Well, this is our conversation.

Me      : Henry, sudah lama aku meninggalkan Indonesia, bagaimana keadaan di sana ?

            ( Henry, it has been a long time since I left Indonesia, how is it doing there ? )

Henry  : Baik baik, tetapi di sini ada masalah ttg tanah. Banyak terjadi erosi di mana mana, tertutama karena banjir kecil. Lapisan humus tersapu dan mengurangi kesuburan tanah di Jawa Timur.

            ( It is good, but there is a problem about soil here. Erosion occured almost everywhere, especially because of flood. Humus layer swapped away and decreased the fertile of the land in East Java. )

Me      : Kok bisa sampai terjadi banjir di sana ?

            ( How could flood happen there ? )

Henry  : Ya, karena banyak orang yang membuang sampah sembarangan.

            ( Yeah, it happened because a lot of people throw trashes not in the right place. )

Me      : Wah .... Itu menyedihkan, seharusnya orang orang Indonesia bisa lebih peduli terhadap lingkungan. Apa ada dampak yang besar terhadap tanah di sana ?

             ( That's so sad ! .... Indonesian people should care about the environment more. By the way, is there any significant effects on the soil there ? )

Henry  : Ya, karena erosi, lapisan humus terkikis. Tanah menjadi tidak subur lagi, banyak tanaman mengalami keterlambatan perkembangan. Dan pada akhirnya itu semua berdampak kembali terhadap manusia .

             ( Yes, because of erotion, humus layer swapped away. Soil be more unfertile by the time, a lot of plant facing problems in growth. And at last, all of that things have effect on human's life. )

Me        : Aku rasa, tidak mustahil untuk memperbaiki lingkungan yang mulai rusak. Paling tidak kita bisa mulai dari diri kita sendiri, lalu kita bisa menyarankan teman teman kita. Kita juga bisa untuk menanam tanaman, di sini aku belajar untuk menanam tanaman asli california. Tanaman bisa membantu mengikat material material tanah, dan itu bisa membantu melindungi tanah dari erosi.

              ( I think, it is possible to fix the environment problem that started to happen. At least, we can start from ourselves, then we can convinced the others. We can also started to plant some plants. By the way, I learnt to plant the native Californian plant. The plants can helped in protect the soil from erosion. )

Henry     : Ya, kamu betul. Ayo kita berjuang bersama untuk meningkatkan kesuburan tanah.

               ( Yeah, you are right. Let's try our best to improve the fertile of the land.)

Me         : Oke, sampai jumpa lagi ^_^.

               ( Okay, see you Henry ^_^. )

Henry    : Ya, sampai jumpa ^_^.

               ( Yeah, see you too ^_^. )

      

Dust Bowl --- tragedy in 20 th century ---

  Surviving the Dust Bowl

        Great Plains area were the most fertile area in the entire U.S. A lot of giants plants included fruits and vegetables were grow. Watermelon that larger than a man, grapes that bigger tthan basketball. It was green, beautiful, and also fertile. Unfortunately, most farmers were planting and farming without crop rotation. So, the farmers couldn't protect the land from erosion.

          The rain stopped at 1931 and with a severe drought, the soil were changed into dust and blew away when the wind blew. The dust bowl affected area about 400,000 km square, centered in panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and in adjacent part of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The Dust Bowl caused a mysterius illness in that area. Such as dust pneumonia and malnutrition. So, a lot of people started to left their home and traveled west.

          Some of the people chose to stay. They used a mask to protect themselves from the dust. They covered their house with white cloth, even though they still have to clean their house every day. The dirt was mixed with the food and the water. Because of the heavy and thick dust, the plants died and the cattles starving.

          In 1934, the frequency of the dust increased and had a different variety. Black Dust from Kansas, Red form Oklahoma, and Gray from New Mexico. In 1935, one over third people there languished dust pneumonia and malnutrition, especially children that their body immune weren't as great as an adult. At the end of 1935, the Dust Bowl stop. Most of people chose to move westward, lot of them chose California. Some of them still chose to stay there, want to fixed their everything as well as they can.