In what we actually observe, this doesn't seem to be the case. (In this case - obviously issues like smoking went exactly this way.) Rather, everything from "b

In what we actually observe, this doesn't seem to be the case. (In this case - obviously issues like smoking went exactly this way.) Rather, everything from "best to deny..." to "...bribe scientists and reviewers" got skipped. It just didn't change anything. Pretty much everyone knows soil erosion, desertification, and aquifer drawdown are major issues in the US Midwest. Certainly everyone with a big enough farm to have a major impact does. Cattle feedlots have been moved out of the TX/OK panhandle area because water is so scarce. Politicians are painfully aware of it. But there's no incentive to fix it, because the fix is basically just triggering the shutdown sooner. Eventually soil and water issues will cripple midwestern farming, but avoiding that means slashing farming volume now. Better for the environment, but not for most of the people there. So... no conspiracy, everyone knows, but the problem continues. Ironically, the conspiracy story shows too much faith in our government - it assumes they would act if they knew!