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The "Dust Bowl" lecture was an interesting and new way to look at the outcomes and lessons learned from the horrific event. New settlers of the Great Plains saw it as the "end of the world" and compared it to the book of Revelations in the Bible. One must take into consideration however that along with the environmental catastrophe, the nation’s economy was plummeting faster than the amount of rainfall in the plains. This screwed up the people’s livelihood and some consider as the most important reason for changing people attitude towards no change.
We watched two films, both put out during the Great Depression. "The Plow that Broke the Plains" was put into production by the U.S. government directed towards farmers to pack up and settle elsewhere. It was part of Roosevelt's "New Deal." This was nothing more in my opinion but the government trying to apologize without saying it and fix their created problem. Many settlers on the plains were extremely upset at the revealing of this film. They had made a life for themselves there and to pick up and leave sounded silly.
"The Plow that Broke the Plains" was pulled out of theaters and a new one was put into production. "Rain for the Earth" hit the topic of the "Dust Bowl" from a completely opposite side of the spectrum. It preached that this was just a rough patch and the settlers just needed help, and then they’d be okay to carry on. It tried to convince others to be sympathetic toward the settlers of the Great Plains and lend a helping hand. Production of the film was never finished because of the Second World War.
This topic raises the interesting question of what should be done with the plains. Is it best to reform it back to native? Many compelling thoughts have been brought forward, but none have managed to make a big enough impact to drastically change anything. Earlier travelers recorded dust bowls throughout the Great Plains, so there have always been dust storms even before the plow. I feel it is another adaptation to settling the Great Plains. Some things we have done have possibly messed with the ecosystem, but I do know that we need to continue to manage the plains. We need to learn from hard lessons learned in the past, and incorporate all our knowledge to become one with the plains.