Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed | Jared Diamond

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed | Jared Diamond | Another Gem From Diamond

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Collapse: How Soci...

	Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond, 2005 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 402 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The View From Olympus Is Not Always Inspiring

The professed intent of this work is the establishment of an algorithm of survival, so to speak, based upon a close look at societies that didn't survive, for the most part. Quite quickly it becomes clear to the reader that cultural/ecological collapse is real but not so readily managed. As the author himself admits, one wonders what was on the mind of the man who chopped down the last tree on Easter Island. And yet this is an intriguing book, well researched, restrained for the most part, taking us to places and times we rarely think about to grasp the reality of how fragile our way of life really is. Along the way is the troubling discovery that yesterday, like today, man is his own worst enemy.

Diamond's anthology does make a case that the entire planet is in trouble. But this author is meticulous and respectful: he succeeds in giving the reader a feel for local communities and regions, dissecting aspects of economy, geography, religion and human behaviors where people had real choices and made less inspired ones. One sees that similar processes are at work today in disparate parts of world, from Montana to Australia. I for one will forever feel guilty about broiling orange roughy on the Fridays of Lent.

To give the reader some sense of his method, Diamond opens his works with a lengthy essay on the present day State of Montana. Big Sky Country is in trouble, though some folks in the Mountain Time Zone may bristle at his take on a state which has a reputation, at least, for self-sufficiency. The author calmly torpedoes a number of Montana's beliefs and practices, observing that were it a free standing nation, it would fall into Third World status. Diamond outlines a Montanan natural algorithm: its cool, dry, somewhat windy climate on the leeward side of mountains led settlers to seek an economy below the surface, where the state's only true industrial aged wealth resided--in mining. Diamond examines the relentless poisoning of Montana's land and water as a variety of natural toxins, set free in the mining process, began a century of steady leeching.

The human expression of the survival algorithm comes into play in Montana quite vividly. For a number of reasons many citizens of the state resist government efforts to organize anything like zoning or greening. Centralization is political poison, a curious state of affairs for a state that gets a 150% return on its federal tax dollar. But Montana is hardly alone in its quirky thinking. Vikings on the verge of starvation in thirteenth century Greenland make considerable donations to the papal Crusade tax. Why people make the decisions they do is the one question Diamond never quite nails down with the precision of his other observations. Perhaps the best overriding definition of our global problems can be defined as "contemporary self interest." Just as Santayana warned of the dangers of not looking back, the author raises our awareness of looking toward the future.

Although he traces nearly a dozen past and present civilizations, I found the lengthy tale of the Norsemen particularly compelling. The Vikings, having settled modern Scandinavia, began a near millennium of westward settlement. Iceland, with its climate and vegetation, was just marginal enough for permanent survival. The Viking settlement of Vinland, on the North American continent, ultimately broke down because warlike mannerisms were ultimately quashed by indigenous Indians. Greenland, however, was a slow and painful death of nearly five hundred years, where climate, technology, topography and hardheadedness eventually doomed a lengthy effort to colonize the great island. Diamond observed that the true tragedy of Greenland was the Norsemen's failure to learn from a surviving neighbor, the Inuit, who had mastered the boating, weaponry, and dietary limitations of the territory.

This is not "Inconvenient Truth" tree hugging polemic. Rather than trumpet one big problem, the author dissects many overlooked smaller ones of the past, and sets them alongside similar potential strategies of the present day, in some cases species by species. In recent years I have developed a taste for Orange Roughy, a fish mass marketed in US shopping clubs. Diamond observes that most of the world's roughy is a product of the waters off Australia and New Zealand. Recent studies have found that this species does not begin to reproduce until the age of 40, and that most captured roughy is nearly a century old. At these numbers its reproduction will reduce exponentially [406]. Thus I am a kinsman of the last logger on Easter Island, grilling the last roughy on the patio.

Roughy may seem like small potatoes, pardon the dietary allusion, but it is a good paradigm for more vital matters of fresh water, soil, food production, toxic waste, energy, and population. [Curiously, "global warming" is not a dominating theme of current day life problems, a sobering fact in itself.] Diamond discusses several international industry practices, particularly in matters of logging rain forests and drilling for oil. He devotes a chapter to "first world yuppies" who would dismiss his concerns as alarmist, again with a disarming humor--nobody has ever criticized a town for maintaining a fire house, he observes, if the town has but a few fires a year. [510]

I do not know if Diamond is conversant with the writings of St. Augustine, the notably pessimistic Christian philosopher of the fifth century. At the risk of extremely generous paraphrasing, Augustine contended then that mankind is, religion notwithstanding, inherently flawed and selfish. Diamond does not say this directly, but his body of work does not make a liar of Augustine. Diamond's concern is not just that men are selfish and narrow sighted, but that there are a lot more men today, with more technology to do more questionable things. Perhaps prayer need be added to the algorithm of survival.

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Another Gem From Diamond

This should be required reading for everyone who claims to "care" about, well, pretty much anything. I don't see how anyone who looks around, and reads the newspaper, can not be afraid about the course humanity is on. But it is a vague fear, wondering about our future, wondering whether the media reports of potential catastrophe are true.

So here we have a very intelligent, very informed writer telling us that he is concerned. There is no fear here. It is remarkably even toned. It deals with facts. Nothing political. But he is concerned. But rather than simply being concerned, he tells us why, what problems it is that concern him. And then he goes and investigates a the problems of a number of different societies. And then he leaves us with just a tinge of hope that maybe catastrophe is not in fact our destiny. Hard to believe, but at the end of the book, I really did kind of maybe believe that my soon to be born son may actually be a part of the solution rather than the problem, if we educate him.

Regardless, I came away feeling informed. I came away with more knowledge than I previously had. I came away with understanding. And a twinge of hope. This is first rate writing, actually worth reading. It's rare I wish I had the opportunity to actually thank the author personality.

Not that you're probably reading here, you're probably gathering information on your next tome meant to inform us of some of the origins of (and possible solutions to) some of the world's problems, but, Thanks to you, Mr. Diamond.

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How to Manage Ecological Change

How societies manage ecological change may determine whether they continue to exist and thrive and flourish. Science involves the acquisition of reliable knowledge. Easter Island collapsed for purely ecological reasons.

Farming, mining, and logging in Montana are subject to shrinking profit margins. Half of Montana's citizens' means of existence comes from activities outside of the state.

Easter Island, sixty-six square miles, has a mild climate. It is a windy place. It has limited rainfall and fresh water supplies. At Easter Island the inhabitants were Polynesian, (on the basis of linguistic and cultural analysis), and were isolated. The island had been settled last. More statues were produced there because the materials were better. Formerly Easter Island had a dense forest. With deforestation there was no material to build sea-going canoes. A population crash, starvation, ensued. A European visiting in 1722 observed a wholly deforested island.

In Mesoamerican there was a Mayan collapse but people were still around to fight the Spanish. Mayan warfare was intense. There was drought. Also, too many farmers had been growing too many crops on too much of the landscape. There was deforestation and erosion.

Viking expansion to North America led to the environmentally triggered collapse of the Greenland settlement. From trading, Scandanavians moved to raiding. They became Vikings. Vikings were pushed by population growth. Raids in Europe declined as effective defenses were mounted. Iceland and Greenland were discovered. In terms of ecology, Iceland is the most heavily damaged country in Europe. Original trees and vegetation are gone, the soil is eroded.

The Greenland venture failed over a period of four hundred fifty years. Surprisingly, the Greenland Norsemen didn't eat fish. They were left short of lumber, fuel, and iron in Greenland. Soil erosion, turf-cutting, and grazing damage were problems. The Norse preferred cows to sheep and goats who fit into the environment more easily. The Norse failed to develop trade with the Inuit and failed to learn from them.

Burundi and Rwanda were scenes of genocide in 1994 and were also places of overpopulation and ecological disaster. Before 1994 levels of violence were rising.

The most populous country is China. Its environmental problems are severe. The air pollution problem is notorious. China is one of the most forest-poor countries. Australia is confronted with challenges, too.

The book uses a number of cases to illustrate geographical failures in a variety of situations. It is effectively argued that multi-national companies need to be compelled to clean-up the environmental ills created by their enterprises. Notwithstanding its scientific bent and the level of detail it contains, the book remains throughout an interesting and lively experience for the general reader. An extensive section listing additional reading is included.

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A "Must Read" - Fantastic book on the challenges we face

Wow, 376 reviews as of this writing. There is probably not much I could add to this except to say that this was an eye opening and thought provoking book outlining the various challenges we face globally in the 21st century. Read in conjunction with The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century you will have to fight off that general feeling of dread you get from confronting bad news.

Your most likely response, when confronted with the challenges societies face that are laid out in the book, is denial. You have to believe that surely there are governments, institutions and organizations that are addressing these concerns and that will save us. Unfortunately, while there are efforts being made to address many of the issues, our political and philosophical viewpoints will probably prevent us from taking the necessary measures until we are in a crisis. How this plays out politically, philosophically and organizationally is well spelled out in the book.

This book is on my recommended reading list of 10 books you need to read. Get it and open your eyes.

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Okay

In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond utilizes the comparative method to examine key factors that have contributed to the collapse of previous societies in comparison with current threats and opportunities facing modern day societies. In his book, Diamond defines a societal collapse as, "a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political, economic, or social complexity; over a considerable area, for an extended time."
In his examination of past societies, Diamond acknowledges a set of environmental factors and human reactions to these factors as the driving forces of their collapse. One example he elaborates on is the complete deforestation of Easter Island and its effects on the cultural practices of its people. In his review of modern day societies such as the United States and China, Diamond recognizes technological advancements, globalization, modern medicine and having a greater understanding of past societies as factors that may place these societies at lower risk for collapse.
Conversely however, Diamond also points out that for the first time in history we are facing the risk of a global decline. Issues such as global warming and overpopulation are not isolated to specific societies. Furthermore, as technology allows us to continue to become connected with one another across international boundaries, there will soon be little chance for a society to collapse in seclusion.
Diamond offers two generic solutions to preventing a collapse of a modern society: 1) to employ long term planning for the future that incorporates making bold, anticipatory decisions on problems at a time when they are perceived but have not yet reached crisis proportions, and 2) to restructure our individual value systems as a society to accommodate to the changes anticipated for the future.
Throughout this book, Diamond utilizes traditional methods of examining the past in order to better prepare for the future. Insights and information on past societies are discussed, and readers are offered a point of view to invoke for thinking about the future. However, specific suggestions for thinking about the future are lacking, and no new knowledge or ideologies are presented in this book. Examples of how modern societies of all levels of development are changing as a result of rapid technological, environmental, or cultural change are also very thin, which may be disappointing to the reader. However, those with strong interests in history or anthropology would probably still enjoy reading this book.
Lauren Tomatani

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