Collapse

I got sidetracked with the opening of school and have not kept up with my "book reports"! In case I get no further with them, I at least want to post my thoughts on Jared Diamond's Collapse, subtitled How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. This was the most enlightening of all the books I read this summer and it tops the list of my recommendations.

The author takes us on a tour through time and geography, examining the societies of Easter Island, the Anasazi, Greenland, the Mayans, Rwanda, Hispanola, China, and Australia. The opening chapter on Montana provides a foundation for later explorations of the reasons societies fail and gives us insight into the author's feelings and motivations. Key to his arguments are five main factors that contribute to the collapse of societies:

• Environmental damage caused by the society
  
• Climate change
  
• Hostile neighbors
  
• Decreased support from friendly neighbors
  
• Society's response to its problems

The conclusion of the book applies these factors to our current globalized society with insight and clarity. The approach is fairly rigorous scientifically and Diamond is careful to hedge when the data are not definitive. Opinions are presented as such, without trying to overplay the support of research. Although this is not exactly a doomsday-trumpeting expose, there is plenty of material to cause readers to pause and give thought to the consequences of our choices.

For example, Diamond makes it plain that the planet cannot sustain the resource and energy load required to allow 6+ billion people a "first world" living standard. We will need to adjust to lifestyles with lower energy and resource impacts that can meet sustainability requirements and work to reduce our population to around 3 billion if our society is to continue. The alternative is to allow "natural" processes to reduce our impacts and population pressure; these typically take the form of war, genocide, famine, and disease.

The key factor is number five: How will our society choose to respond?

Diamond closes with some suggestions for actions and strategies that would help lead to a sustainable future. In general his writing style is easy to handle and very engaging. The book is pretty long at 525 pages (main text), but I found it worthwhile and have already started to reread it.