In reading the passage from “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond, it came to mind that no matter how rich we think our small area of the world is, it can come falling down with the misuse of the resources it provides. Diamond pointed out that suspicions have arose that the ruins that once were healthy and beautiful had ecological issues such as individuals unknowingly destroying the environmental resources that the people depended upon.
Interestingly Diamond stated, “Managing environmental resources sustainably has always been difficult.” He states it began when Homo sapiens developed modern inventiveness, efficiency, and hunting skills. The people in one area can easily overexploit environmental resources even though they thought there was an everlasting resource. After reading I would agree that it has always been an issue – just a bit different as the times evolve.
Diamond contributes 5 factors which contribute to environmental damages. The 5 factors are environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, and friendly trade partners, and society’s responses to the problems. The first factor is the damage that people unintentionally perpetrate. The second is the changes that climate conditions inflict upon each different society. The third is enemy neighbors that can wear down a fighting society to ruin. The fourth is the loss of support from the friendly neighbors. The fifth is the responses that society has to the issues of the environment.
Diamond’s passage makes total sense in the reasoning that the people create a society in a healthy environmental area. Increase of the population slowly depletes the resources which can ruin the society the people created. If people don’t replenish and conserve there will be nothing to continue on with.
No comments:
Post a Comment