Collapse

        The downfall of past societies can parallel and predict the downfall of current societies. It's actually frightening to think about, if you see how intelligent and complex civilizations have come to an end, almost too easily. If such a powerful society such as the Maya collapsed, who's to say the current prosperous societies of modern day are going to last very long? We should be learning about the mistakes that past societies have made and try to avoid making them ourselves. I feel like too many people are getting too comfortable or feeling "invincible" in their society, and not too many are taking into account that good times don't last forever.
        The author describes the history behind Easter Islands, which is strangely interesting and thought-provoking, along with describing theories on how the isolated society collapsed. After much thought, it was concluded that they collapsed largely on part due to overexploiting their own resources. Deforestation and destruction of the bird populations were major factors, which sound similar to what still goes on today. Easter Islands' collapse is thought to be a metaphor for what lies ahead of our world in the future. All the countries on earth depend on eachother, like all the clans on the islands did. If one country falls, it could cause a domino effect in the economy. The Islands were isolated in the ocean, as Earth is in space. They had no where to go after they destroyed their land, and we will have no where to go either. That fact alone is scary to think about. If the environmental destruction continues and if we continue to over-populate, we're stuck here in a mess. We only have one earth, shouldn't we be trying to take care of it as much as possible? You can say we're already ruining the planet, with global warming and deforestation and what not.
        "..if mere thousands of Easter Islanders with just stone tools and their own muscle power sufficed to destroy their environment and thereby destroyed their society, how can billions of people with metal tools and machine power now fail to do worse?" Exactly my point. With all the advanced technology now, yes, we've increased the standard of living and expanded our life-span, but we need to understand the consequences of our actions.
        After looking at the collapses of several more societies, the author concluded that the causes of the collapses were due largely in part to environmental and population problems leading to increasing warfare and civil strife. After a population peak, politcial and social collapses are usually soon to follow. Can this coincidence be seen again in our future? I think it's definitely possible, considering the frightening growth in population along with the growth of greed in people. The author connected Maya kings, who sought to outdo one another with more impressive temples, with American CEOs. Everything is based upon making money, and that is prioritized over trying to save the environment we live in. I don't think we would be knocking down forests to build a mall if it didn't make profit, right? The more competition in the economy, the more people become careless and strive to make money, no matter what the consequences are. That, I believe, will be a major factor in the collapse of our society.