Finished reading this last night. Took me long enough though! Jared Diamond has a knack for condensing the facts while not affecting the readability too terribly.
Diamond looks at five historic societies and examines why they failed:
Easter Island - deforestation led to irreversible environmental damage
Pitcairn and Henderson Islands - deforestation led to environmental damage and loss of trading partners
Anasazi - deforestation and climate change
Maya - unsustainable farming practices and climate change
Greenland Norse - deforestation, unsustainable farming practices, climate change, and interestingly enough a fanatical devotion to cultural self-identity.
Fast forward to modern times and Diamond illustrates very briefly some societies that are succeeding and how they are doing it. Then we look at some societies that are, according to Diamond, either on the verge of collapse or well on their way: Rwanda, Haiti and Dominican Republic, China, and Australia. yes, China and Australia. I have to admit that he takes on a "glass is half-empty" view of the state of the world today but the facts he presented about China and Australia were quite sobering.
For example, on China:
A question for those that have read it: has this done anything to raise your awareness of resource harvesting?
Diamond looks at five historic societies and examines why they failed:
Easter Island - deforestation led to irreversible environmental damage
Pitcairn and Henderson Islands - deforestation led to environmental damage and loss of trading partners
Anasazi - deforestation and climate change
Maya - unsustainable farming practices and climate change
Greenland Norse - deforestation, unsustainable farming practices, climate change, and interestingly enough a fanatical devotion to cultural self-identity.
Fast forward to modern times and Diamond illustrates very briefly some societies that are succeeding and how they are doing it. Then we look at some societies that are, according to Diamond, either on the verge of collapse or well on their way: Rwanda, Haiti and Dominican Republic, China, and Australia. yes, China and Australia. I have to admit that he takes on a "glass is half-empty" view of the state of the world today but the facts he presented about China and Australia were quite sobering.
For example, on China:
Sandstorms inflict damage of about $540 million per year, and losses of crops and forests due to acid rain amount to about $730 million per year. More serious are the $6 billion costs of the "green wall" of trees being built to shield Beijing against sand and dust, and the $7 billion per year of losses created by pest species. We enter the zone of impressive numbers when we consider the onetime cost of the 1996 floods ($27 billion, but still cheaper than the 1998 floods), the annual direct losses due to desertification ($42 billion), and the annual losses due to water and air pollution ($54 billion). The combination of the latter two items alone costs China the equivalent of 14% of its GDP each year.
A question for those that have read it: has this done anything to raise your awareness of resource harvesting?