To the residents, the Poppers were eastern environmentalists who were deprecating them, their family history, their beliefs, hard work, community, region and way of life. At one point sheriffs protected the Poppers, and they received death threats. The Poppers were shocked. After all, they work on ideas and statistics and were doing no more than opening a debate on the future sustainability of the Great Plains, a region they came to know and to love. The Poppers have returned to give lectures.
Deaths exceed births.
Schools are closing. Big farms are eating smaller farms and cattle are being auctioned off, sometimes at very low prices. This is a third of the Plains counties. Towns are being ghosted. The Ogallala Aquifer is being stressed and drought or floods have hit hard in the last four years.