Entry #8- Where we are headed...

Excerpt from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

by Jared Diamond

What Will the Environmental Lead Our World To?

               Many people don't usually think about the environment as being the cause of a specific society's decline and failure.  We think of major events, like the ice age, that affected everyone around the world.  However, after reading an excerpt from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, my eyes are open to the possibilities of societies paving their own way to demise because of environmental problems they created themselves, also known as ecocide (ecological suicide).  Among past societies that experienced ecocide was Norse Greenland and the Mayans.  I think Haiti could experience ecocide if it weren't for other countries helping them.  Some examples of why these problems are occurring are deforestation, water management problems, overpopulation, and chemicals in the environment.  Some people think that past societies destroyed environments, while others think past societies did nothing to harm the environment and embraced its perfection.  I think there have always been both kinds of people.  Ecosystems are very complicated and intertwined, so it's difficult to determine how ecosystems will be affected when humans use resources or kill any animals.  Some people think resources (animals and natural materials) are so abundant that we'll never run out, but this is not true; some animals have been hunted to extinction.  And other people don't believe there are major problems in the environment and we can keep living as is and keep the population growing at a fast rate.  So, why did some societies collapse, but others didn't?  Reasons could have been environmental damage, climate change, wars and battles, decrease in trade from neighboring towns, or their responses to environmental changes.  What can we do to help fix these environmental problems?  Jared Diamond suggest we team together with big businesses.  Some large businesses do things that end up harming the environment, but some of them also develop policies to conduct their business in a way that will prevent harm being done to the environment.  Jared Diamond wrote the following wise advice, "... if environmentalists aren't willing to engage with big businesses, which are among the most powerful forces in the modern world, it won't be possible to solve the world's environmental problems."  Compromising and working together usually bring about the best solution.
~Max G.