World War I created a massive demand for grain, and the government responded by subsidizing farmers to plow up the Southern Plains and plant wheat. They guaranteed a price per bushel, which triggered a land rush into regions that had been native prairie for thousands of years. At first, the rain cooperated. Harvests were strong, and farmers were convinced to mechanize with tractors and plows, which allowed them to break even more ground. But what they didn't account for was the natural climate cycle of the Plains. The wet years were temporary, and when the drought returned, there was no deep-rooted prairie grass left to hold the soil in place. The result was one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in American history: the Dust Bowl. It's a textbook example of how short-term economic incentives, combined with ignorance of long-term climate variability, can turn a landscape into a wasteland. The lesson is still relevant today.