A classic tale

A classic tale
 
Dear Editor,
A classic tale of short-sightedness follows:
My parents and others would sometimes tell stories of ¨The Dirty Thirties.¨  Caused by the combination of extraordinarily hot, dry weather, inappropriate farming practice and perhaps inappropriate banking practice.  Of course, nothing can be done about the weather.  New, inexperienced farmers plowed up prairie land, turned the sod upside down exposing the roots to the hot, drying wind which killed the only vegetation that held the soil in place.  The dried-out soil blew away in great dust-clouds.  Farmers went broke and the bankers repossessed the farms.  Nobody won!  Everybody lost!   
That was then, this is now!  We are faced with a similar situation.  We rely on taxes from the oil and coal industries to support the largest part of our economy.  I believe that our state University even has a division or department teaching how to extract those fuels more thoroughly.  Those fuels, our very lifeblood, is causing catastrophic climate change.  Global Warming!  We will have to make changes.  The decision is between short term profit and survival.
Recently, someone proposed that we spend a million dollars to promote the sale and use of Wyoming Coal!   That is the most short-sighted, wrong-headed suicidal idea ever!  Far better would be to spend that million dollars (or more) on a Wyoming Think Tank charged with finding a solution to this problem.  Half measures or compromise will not provide a solution.
 
Jerry Baird