Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Socieies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New Yor: Penguin, 2005. 592 pp. Cassi Smith
aegis 2006 108 smith
After his Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel, author Jared Diamond addresses environmental and social issues in his latest work, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. From studying fallen civilizations such as the remains of Easter Island, Diamond develops a five point framework explaining why these societies fell and applies them to current situations. According to Diamond, this five point framework (damage people inadvertently inflict upon environment, climate change, hostile neighbors, decreased support from friendly neighbors, and society’s response to these problems) applies to places such as Rwanda, Australia, Haiti, China, and the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. Diamond pulls the issues close to home fast as he first explains the current situation in a part of the world he personally holds dear, the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. This first chapter includes an explanation the author’s personal attachment, the history of Montana’s development, and an explanation of the state’s environmental problems. Toxic waste from the mining business is seeping into the water system. Salinization from agricultural practices is ruining the soil. Road construction, irrigation, logging, and forest fires are damaging the streams; as a result the native fish species are declining. Also, an introduced pest is harming the elk and deer population. Dealing with these problems, however, contains an interesting twist. In 1996 a 2,600 acre farm was bought and developed into a playground for the wealthy. Lot buyers build “cabins” starting at $800,000 (34). But these wealthy homeowners do not contribute financially to the state. “Rich out-of-state homeowners are careful to stay in Montana for less than 180 days per year, in order to avoid having to pay Montana income tax and thereby to contribute to the cost of local government and schools” (61). Those who own lots at the farm simply use the land, adding to the environmental problems, and stick the locals with the bill. This using of the land, with people focusing on social gains rather than environmental welfare, is a pattern of poor human behavior that has been going on throughout history. A great example of this behavior is Easter Island. It was not the building of expensive cabins that caused Easter Island’s eerie fate. Instead, it was the very statues that the island is famous for. Nearly four hundred of these statues are between fifteen and seventy feet tall and weigh from ten to two hundred and seventy tons (79). But there are no trees and very little vegetation on the island, while all other Pacific islands are tropically lush in vegetation. Without any resources to construct moving materials how could these large statues be built by simple men? According to Diamond, because the statues progressively get larger in size, these statues were the result of a building contest among the eleven or twelve territories on the island. It is thought that the island was deforested in order to create building supplies to erect the statues. Instead of working together to keep the resources abundant, the Easter Island people worked and competed against each other which lead to the destroying of their island. The parallel can easily be noticed between the situation in Montana and Easter Island, a lack
