Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Collapse by Jared Diamond accurately discusses the concept of societies failing to thrive and falling apart. Within the book, Diamond analyzes societies of the past from all corners of the globe, from the Norse in the Arctic to the Easter Islanders in the Pacific. Through each society Diamond figures out how the territory was set up and what exactly brought down the collapse of the people there. Most of the reasons that societies collapsed had to deal with the environment that they were attempting to live in. For example, if people attempted to colonize an area that had poor soil, that would lead to a variety of problems for the society. The fields there would only be fit for farming or animal raising for a couple of years before the resources were depleted, and it would take a very long time for them to grow back due to poor soil quality. This would mean growing food would have to take place on a very small scale, limiting resources greatly and increasing the risk of starvation. The poor soil would also lead to slow tree growth, meaning that if a society wasn’t careful then they would use up their lumber supply quicker than they can grow it back, and without wood a society will risk failure due to lack of supplies. Therefore, poor environment quality as well as quick exhaustion of the lands resources helped cause the collapse of a number of societies in the past. Why would societies of the past overuse their natural resources so fast? Couldn’t they see that their ways of life were destroying the landscape? Diamond answers questions such as these, explaining that while it’s easy for us in the future to see what the problems were, they weren’t so clear for those colonizing the land at the time. Many of the societies that collapsed happened to first settle their while the land was at its best, when the soil was rich and the climate was good for growing, and a time that wouldn’t last. The settlers made their homes there and took advantage of the prosperous times, thinking that that was how life always was in that environment. However, when the climate changed back to its poorer state of being, the settlers were unprepared for the rapid degradation of their environment and experienced a tragic collapse. So the settlers of these collapsed societies didn’t necessarily exhaust their soils and cut down all of their trees on purpose or out of greed, rather it was due to an unexpected change of events for them that left them unprepared for a harsher climate than the one they were used to. Diamond also discusses modern day societies, those that have been around for centuries and may or may not continue to live on in the future. Examples of such societies range from the lowly populated fields of Montana to the bustling and highly polluted cities of China. Exhausting the soil and other resources of an environment is not just a problem of the past, but rather it lives on today as prevalent as ever before. Resources such as oil, fish and wood are becoming scarce in some areas which will lead to problems in the future if not soon dealt with. Environmental degradation due to abuse by big businesses is a major problem at home and overseas. Pollution from cities and industry are starting to cause problems on a global scale, causing for a need to act to avoid potential collapse.The well-being of the environment today lies in the hands of government, businesses and public opinion. Governments have the power to create regulations about how the environment can be used or preserved in order to stop resource depletion. Businesses have the choice to abuse the environment around them or try their best to remain a clean company. Public opinion helps shape the ideas of both government and big business, as the people are the ones represented in governments and big businesses will have to listen to their paying customers if they wish to stay profitable. Therefore, the well-being of the environment rests in the hands of the people and their decisions. By being informed about the resources that they use and how those resources are acquired and created, the people will have the ability to make good decisions to support environmentally sound practices that will bring about the betterment of society and environments all around the world.I personally believe that Diamond did a good job in explaining his facts, keeping the reader both well informed and interested in what he was saying. While some of what Diamond writes could come off as pessimistic, he is merely trying to portray facts about what has happened in the past and what is happening today. His bleak descriptions of reality are not meant to simply scare the reader into believing that the world as we know it is destined for collapse, but rather that people in today’s society just need to be careful with how we treat our environment. Diamond takes time to mention the good things that modern society is doing today to improve our situation, showing that there is still plenty of good news and still hope for the human race.Overall, Diamond does well in educating the reader about collapsed societies of the past. Not only does he go into detail in explaining what aspects of a society went wrong and led to the eventual collapse, but he also takes time to compare the collapsed societies to similar societies that managed to thrive. By doing this, he not only discusses what doesn’t work, but also what does work in a society. This extra detail in his writing succeeds in further educating the reader about societal success.In conclusion, Jared Diamond’s book Collapse does a decent job in explaining the environmental problems of yesterday and today, and how they have led to problems in different societies around the world, ranging from pollution to the entire collapse of a society. This well-written book describes the good and the bad in our world and tells the reader exactly what can be done to alter the course of our societies so that they can avoid the risk of potential failure or serious environmental issues such as land degradation or the exhaustion of natural resources. With the knowledge gained from this book, the reader can make educated decisions that can help the bigger picture of society by supporting businesses that are environmentally friendly and avoid the support of practices that might harm the environment further. With the knowledge from this book people can shape our society today so that it can avoid the risk of collapse in the future.

After the magnum opus Guns, Germs, and Steel, the Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond releases the follow-up Collapse, in which he uses a comparative analysis to show why some societies collapse while some others succeed. Although the complexity of the issue makes Diamond's analyses not consistently persuasive, still the book is among the most informative in this area, taking into account of its detailed evidence, scientific methodology, and multidisciplinary approaches.To investigate the collapse of societies, Diamond employs a five-point framework of possible factors: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and the society's responses to its environmental problems. He thereafter contrasts past collapsed societies with survived ones. Their different fate is partly attributed to the environmental differences i.e. some environments are more fragile than the others. A highlight here is the statistical analyses between the degree of deforestation on 81 Pacific islands and 9 physical variables. The statistical model predicted that the Easter Island should be among the worst deforested while Tikopia Island should be much more sustainable, which agrees with what actually happened. However, Diamond is not an environmental or geographical determinist. He lays particular emphasis on the societies' types of economy, values, and their response to environmental problems. It is exemplified by the story of Norse and Inuit, who shared the fragile Greenland, but held different values. Their fate was also diverged: the Norse Greenland died while the Inuit are still living in the island.The collapse of the Norse Greenland illustrates an essential theme of the book: the fate of one society is largely determined by its choice whether to cling to traditional values or to change. The Greenland Norse refused to "jettison part of their identity as a European, Christian, pastoral society" and as a result, they died. In contrast, Tikopia Islanders survived because they did not cling to their traditional values e.g., they abandoned raising ecologically destructive pigs even though the pigs were important as the only large domestic animal and the principal status symbol.Diamond's five-point framework to explain the failure or success of past societies is convincing. However, considering his objective is to tell contemporary societies what they should learn from the history and thereafter take favorable measures to achieve success, the crux becomes whether the parallels between the past and the present are appropriate. According to Diamond, their most obvious difference is that much more people are living in our planet today, retaining much more potent technology that impacts the environment. Thus, the risks for us today become higher. In addition, globalization could prompt the risks to become worldwide decline instead of in isolation collapse just like the case of Easter Island. Therefore, Diamond claims that the collapse of past societies is relevant to the modern world, which is in fact at higher risks. However, he overlooks that all of the past societies that he investigated are founded on agriculture, but the present societies are greatly relying on industry. They are entirely different in that agriculture is susceptible to climate change and environmental degradation while industry is relatively insensitive to these conditions. Hence it is debatable to make parallels between the past and the present societies.Nevertheless, modern societies could learn from the past because environmental problems have been undermining the quality of our life. Furthermore, the choice of values is still important for us to solve the problems and perhaps will influence our fate. An example is about China, which he calls the "lurching giant" and is besieged by severe environmental problems. Because of China's large population and economy, its environmental problems will not be restricted to domestic issues but will affect the whole world. More importantly, if China finally reaches First World levels, our earth will be definitely overburdened. However, no other countries have a right to prevent its economic development. Thus, the contradiction may ultimately evolve into a political issue. This case favors Diamond's claim that we cannot solve our problems without a change in human values, which agrees with the principle of "the Tragedy of the Commons".In the concluding section, Diamond explains why some societies make decisions that appear to be obviously self-destructive. "What did the Easter Islander say when he was cutting down the last palm tree in the island?" "We will find substitutes for wood."? Or: "This is my property. I can do whatever I want!"? Or: "Sorry, but I really need a canoe."? Diamonds prefers answering this with "landscape amnesia," which refers to the failure of people to perceive the gradual change surrounding them. "No one would have noticed the falling of the last little palm sapling." Failure to perceive a problem, together with failure to anticipate it, failure to solve it, or failure even to try to solve it, comprises the road map of bad decision-making.Undoubtedly, not everyone agrees with Diamond's viewpoints. Opposition has been directed against some of his foundations. Such oppositions is exemplified by Jennifer Marohasy, who disagreed with his claim that Australian land is unproductive, and it has been irreversibly damaged. In addition, the book is a slightly redundant in some chapters e.g., the story about the Norse Greenland. However it is still an enlightening book. Diamond's broad knowledge and plain writing style should prompt the public to take serious action in response to environmental problems.

Captivating! a must read!

This is now a little dated but what he predicted has come to pass. It would be an excellent undergrad text or even a journal club

Starting few chapters were good, middle chapters were quite boring, in the sense of relating stories so old. Really, enjoyed chapters from modern societies. A must read for all.

Non posso dire di averlo letto tutto d'un fiato, è stato davvero impegnativo, ho interrotto e ripreso tre volte.Questo perchè il rigore scientifico applicato da Diamond rende il libro lungo e in alcune parti un pò ripetitivo, ma sono felice di averlo completato perché mi ha aperto gli occhi sulla centralità del dibattito sulla sostenibilità.Non posso dire di essere ottimista sul futuro.Si parla di sostenibilità ma nel frattempo stiamo assistendo con un mix di senso di impotenza e apatia ad un conflitto europeo legato al controllo delle risorse, e la conseguente corsa agli armamenti ha coinvolto anche paesi come la Germania e il Giappone, impensabile fino a pochi anni fa.Assolutamente consigliato !

On ne peut pas parler d'Écologie sans avoir d'ABORD lu ce livre du début à la fin. Panorama des conséquences de mettre la satisfaction des pressions immédiates au péril de l'avenir, coupant des arbres, élevant des chèvres et ayant trop d'enfants. Les technologies nous permettent certaines croissances, mais il faut bien en comprendre les limites: par exemple l'irrigation entraîne la salaison des terres et inéluctablement à leur infertilité. Le Montana était LA belle montagne, maintenant c'est une montagne de problèmes. L'Île de Pâques était fertile, maintenant c'est fini. Le Moyen-Orient était le Croissant Fertile, maintenant c'est fini. L'Afrique du Nord était le grenier à blé de Rome, maintenant c'est fini. Les chèvres ont tout détruit. Le Kenya, le Soudan, bientôt l'Égypte... etc. En fait presque partout. La Chine a compris, replante des millions d'arbres pour contenir et espérer repousser le désert de Gobi. Il y a un timide effort au sud du Sahara et des bruits sur l'Amazonie. En refermant ce livre, on court vers le jardin pour y planter un arbre, et on ne rie plus des Végétariens. Vive la viande synthétique. Relire le roman "Make Room! Make Room!" (Harry Harrison, 1966), revoir le film "Solyent Green" (1973, en France: Soleil Vert), scénario prévu pour... 2022, juste l'année prochaine.