Book review--Collapse
Collapse is a tour de force of eco-geographical study. In it, Jared Diamond lays out a thesis that encompasses (or tries to, at any rate) all time and space in order to explain why certain societies throughout human history have failed to survive and why others seemingly faced with similar obstacles thrived, or at least have lasted until the present day. Broadly speaking, Diamond argues that there are only a small number of discrete factors that can cause a society to collapse, but that each can also be somewhat interdependent as well, and he examines how each of the failed/succeeding societies addressed each factor. Diamond makes his case by looking at a variety of human settlements, ranging from Viking Greenlanders to the Polynesian Easter Islanders, to discover how each settlement used its natural resources. Those societies that engaged in destructive behavior--in other words, did not use renewable strategies in using their resources--in regards to the found native materials at hand inevitably declined and eventually died out. A very limited few who did pursue a strategy of restricted use of natural resources, such as those inhabitants of New Guinea or Iceland, have managed to keep themselves alive and their societies more or less intact.
The obvious point Diamond is making is that regardless of whether a society starts with a huge abundance of energy, food, or shelter resources, or with very few, using more than what gets replaced by nature is a recipe for long-term disaster, and that a usage strategy that incorporates "renewability" is the only real answer to that potential downfall. While Diamond touches on the First World's reluctance (and our current government's refusal) to implement a strategy of renewability, he does so only lightly--this is hardly a polemic condemning us all to death if we don't stop using oil, for example. The power of Diamond's argument is instead wielded more subtly, as he delineates case after case of societies that failed due to their ignorance of the tenuousness of their grasp on their environment. By implication, of course, those societies that consciously choose to use up all of their non-renewables almost deserve their fate, which any sensible person would logically infer to be a quick decline and subsequent failure.
Diamond's writing is concise, even though the book is over 500 pages--there is simply a whole lot of information/evidence he wants to convey to us all. Some of the historical treatments of the failed societies are more interesting than others, although which ones are so may be a matter of personal taste. The modern societies Diamond covers that appear to be proving his points even as we watch, including Haiti and Rwanda, are each unique enough in their own right to help show the universality of his argument. This book should be read by anyone who needs to be told that our ecological and energy policies are wrongheaded; it would be hard to remain unconvinced that we are doing things stupidly ourselves after reading it. For the rest of us, Collapse provides a useful compendium of arguments to use against those who choose to remain ignorant.
The obvious point Diamond is making is that regardless of whether a society starts with a huge abundance of energy, food, or shelter resources, or with very few, using more than what gets replaced by nature is a recipe for long-term disaster, and that a usage strategy that incorporates "renewability" is the only real answer to that potential downfall. While Diamond touches on the First World's reluctance (and our current government's refusal) to implement a strategy of renewability, he does so only lightly--this is hardly a polemic condemning us all to death if we don't stop using oil, for example. The power of Diamond's argument is instead wielded more subtly, as he delineates case after case of societies that failed due to their ignorance of the tenuousness of their grasp on their environment. By implication, of course, those societies that consciously choose to use up all of their non-renewables almost deserve their fate, which any sensible person would logically infer to be a quick decline and subsequent failure.
Diamond's writing is concise, even though the book is over 500 pages--there is simply a whole lot of information/evidence he wants to convey to us all. Some of the historical treatments of the failed societies are more interesting than others, although which ones are so may be a matter of personal taste. The modern societies Diamond covers that appear to be proving his points even as we watch, including Haiti and Rwanda, are each unique enough in their own right to help show the universality of his argument. This book should be read by anyone who needs to be told that our ecological and energy policies are wrongheaded; it would be hard to remain unconvinced that we are doing things stupidly ourselves after reading it. For the rest of us, Collapse provides a useful compendium of arguments to use against those who choose to remain ignorant.
posted by bryduck at 12:27 PM
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