Collapse Assignment 1

I think one of the most interesting aspects of Easter Island was how they did everything without technology, pure resources and hard work. I especially thought how they used the stones around their soil to block wind and to keep it moist was interesting.

As for important aspects of Easter Island history I think mainly how they were using their resources and the way they were as people was specifically important. There weren’t a lot of people on the island, and all the people that were, were in clans. The clans were always competing to be the best or even known as the best so they would build statues and always try to make them the biggest and thickest. (I think part of the reason why being the best clan was represented as having the biggest statues was because the bigger the statue was, the more you valued god. Also if you have a big statue, the amount of work and strength that went into that statue would be looked up to- I guess).

As for resources, Diamond talked about how there were native birds on the island but soon after, they all died due to the Easter Islanders using them as a source of food. Granted the Easter Islanders are smart but in terms of domesticating animals their only successful one were chickens. The Easter Islanders also used trees for many reasons. They used the wood to burn fires, make canoes, move them to create gardens, furnishing timber and rope to move the statues, etc.

I do see some similarities between Easter Island and our civilization. Their collapse was based on their ignorance on their cultural values vs. environmental reality. In our civilization, we use a lot of resources that aren’t reliable. Soon enough we’ll run out of those resources which will contribute to a big collapse just like the East Islanders had. Also in one paragraph the excerpt talked about how the Easter Islanders ‘toppled’ their ancestral moai and how this lead him to believe that the Islanders must’ve been filled with ‘pent-up anger’ at their leaders. I honestly feel some day in the future, the Americans are going to be so overwhelmed and tired of the government that we might overthrow it and construct complete chaos. Just a thought.

So just like how the Easter Islanders collapse was based on pretty much two main ideas, so are ours. Their cultural values are founded on religious and social ideas. (socially they value what clan is the best whereas we value who looks better and is socially higher-who has money, etc.) Our civilization is fundamentally dependent on economic growth which will soon lead to our collapse.