Frontiers in Education

James Taranto of OpinionJournal.com blogs that the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports a major study has found that:

>"'dust pollution is a serious problem on the Nipomo Mesa'. The study by the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District found that persistent winds blowing off the ocean from the northwest are picking up fine sand particles and carrying them onto the Mesa.

>"The result is that the Mesa regularly exceeds state and federal air pollution standards for coarse and fine particulate matter, said Larry Allen, county air pollution control officer. A state standard for coarse particulates was exceeded on a quarter of the days sampled. . . .

>"In addition to sand particles blowing onto the Mesa from the beach, dirt roads on the Mesa also contributed to the problem.

>"That's right, sand and dirt are "polluting" California's wilderness..."

In other words, sand from the desert is causing air pollution and should be stopped. Our friend Larwyn sees an educational issue here: what scientists are dumb enough to consider blowing sand in the desert an environmental problem? I, however, see an educational opportunity for the California State University at San Luis Obispo. Think how many students can be graduated from a "desert sand elimination" program at the community college. All those tuition dollars--and jobs funded by California's hapless taxpayers. Undoubtedly, the graduates of our academic system, vacuum cleaners under arms, will be spending fruitful careers vacuuming the desert sands.