Hey guys! I highly recommend Collapse to anyone interested in the evolution of humans and anyone who has enjoyed Guns, Germs, and Steel because this book is the second of the three-part series. Please take note of the following text:
Part 2, “Past Societies,” explores various ancient cultures. Some societies collapsed due to ecological damage, while others recovered from environmental disruptions.
In the South Pacific, the Easter Island society, driven by a competitive urge for monument construction, depleted all its trees, leading to a catastrophe and the eventual disappearance of the civilization. Moving further west, Pitcairn, Henderson, and Mangareva Islands deteriorated to the extent that their inhabitants experienced a breakdown of trade, the collapse of their ecosystems, and the complete extinction of Pitcairn and Henderson. Overpopulation, environmental strains, and changes in weather patterns led to a disastrous outcome for the Anasazi of the American Southwest.
Significant societies can also experience environmental catastrophes. The Mayan civilization, plagued by deforestation, over-farming, shifts in rainfall patterns, and wasteful warfare, faced a sudden collapse, drastically reducing its population. The Vikings founded multiple colonies in the North Atlantic, but all suffered from environmental degradation, some with dire consequences. The settlements in Orkney, Shetland, and the Faeroe Islands, as well as a larger colony in Iceland, misunderstood and mismanaged the forests and soils of their respective locations but eventually learned how to survive, and their descendants still reside there today. In contrast, two Greenland colonies incorrectly applied Norse farming techniques to the cold and fragile land, refused to learn from the nearby Inuit people how to fish the abundant coastal seas, and starved and perished.
Diamond also illustrates how two societies in the Western Pacific, Tikopia and Japan, dealt with environmental pressures in divergent ways. For example, Tikopia employed bottom-up community solutions, while Japan implemented top-down management. Both approaches yielded positive results that persist to this day.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I just finished school and finals and am ready for my exciting summer activities. I will keep you updated on my programs and online courses throughout the summer, and with my progress with this book, I hope to learn and discover more. See you soon!
- AnthroManTalks
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