Jared Diamond’s contention that Easter Island is a metaphor for the current global situation is supported and bolstered by the human tendency to expand society until it’s at it’s peak, on the cusp of collapse, the pattern of ignorance and denial towards overarching societal issues, and the propensity of of humans to damage the environment.
One major human historical pattern that supports the notion that Easter Island is a metaphor for our current global situation is the tendency of humans to expand societies until they are at their limit, unable to expand any more due to natural constraints. As explained by William Rathje, every civilization peaks at some point, enjoying prosperity, extravagance, and dominance. After this peak, a collapse is …show more content…
The farmers’ efforts were paying off for the most part, as shown in the multitude of Easter Island’s extravagant moai, giant statues, and ahi, large stone platforms (Diamond 95). Although this extravagance and prosperity was due in large part due to the great exertion of farmers and other members of society, this same exertion pushed Easter Island to its limit, causing a massive collapse at the first sign of trouble. In the case of Easter Island, this trouble took the form of natural resource depletion. As of now, American civilization appears to be peaking just as the civilization on Easter Island was just before it’s collapse (Humes 164). Due to massive global integration, if America were to collapse, many other countries would be dragged down along with it. Time …show more content…
An example of relates to the extreme deforestation that took place on Easter Island; a root cause of this deforestation may have been the reluctance of islanders to admit their problem and fix it (Diamond 115). Eventually, this deforestation ended up being one of the root causes of Easter Island’s demise. Similarly, in today’s world there is a large reluctance among most members of society to admit the waste epidemic that plagues countries such as America. Even the Environmental Protection Agency, America’s government sanctioned environmental organization, has failed to admit how large of a problem waste is becoming by including false information in their yearly municipal waste report (Humes 7-9). This human pattern of ignorance and denial towards major societal issues takes place across all societies, making it nearly impossible for them to solve the problem at hand. This is demonstrated in America’s unwillingness and inability to change their garbage habits throughout the lifespan of The Garbage Project (Humes 161). In the future, I don’t see this pattern of ignorance and denial changing. It will most likely return over and over again,
One major human historical pattern that supports the notion that Easter Island is a metaphor for our current global situation is the tendency of humans to expand societies until they are at their limit, unable to expand any more due to natural constraints. As explained by William Rathje, every civilization peaks at some point, enjoying prosperity, extravagance, and dominance. After this peak, a collapse is …show more content…
The farmers’ efforts were paying off for the most part, as shown in the multitude of Easter Island’s extravagant moai, giant statues, and ahi, large stone platforms (Diamond 95). Although this extravagance and prosperity was due in large part due to the great exertion of farmers and other members of society, this same exertion pushed Easter Island to its limit, causing a massive collapse at the first sign of trouble. In the case of Easter Island, this trouble took the form of natural resource depletion. As of now, American civilization appears to be peaking just as the civilization on Easter Island was just before it’s collapse (Humes 164). Due to massive global integration, if America were to collapse, many other countries would be dragged down along with it. Time …show more content…
An example of relates to the extreme deforestation that took place on Easter Island; a root cause of this deforestation may have been the reluctance of islanders to admit their problem and fix it (Diamond 115). Eventually, this deforestation ended up being one of the root causes of Easter Island’s demise. Similarly, in today’s world there is a large reluctance among most members of society to admit the waste epidemic that plagues countries such as America. Even the Environmental Protection Agency, America’s government sanctioned environmental organization, has failed to admit how large of a problem waste is becoming by including false information in their yearly municipal waste report (Humes 7-9). This human pattern of ignorance and denial towards major societal issues takes place across all societies, making it nearly impossible for them to solve the problem at hand. This is demonstrated in America’s unwillingness and inability to change their garbage habits throughout the lifespan of The Garbage Project (Humes 161). In the future, I don’t see this pattern of ignorance and denial changing. It will most likely return over and over again,