I've been reading this book for over a year and have probably mentioned it on here before, but since I just finished it today, I wanted to give a full review. Jared Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize for 'Guns, Germs and Steel' and 'Collapse' shouldn't be far away from a prize either. Scott picked it up while we were in Costa Rica and he finished it much faster than I was able. It is a very thick book with a LOT of information. It's written a bit like a history textbook, so because of that, I had to take it a little at a time to get through. But the wealth of information - and really interesting and helpful information kept me reading it. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about anything having to do with the environment and past and present societies. Just be patient when getting through it.
'Collapse' looks at ancient societies such as Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, The Anasazi, The Mayans, The Vikings, The Greenland Norse and present day societies, such as Rwanda, Dominican Republic and Haiti, China, Australia and Montana. I learned a lot about the ancient societies that I didn't know much about. I also learned an incredible amount about the reason that some past societies collapsed and how current societies tend to do many of the same things. One of the last points that he made in the book is that these past societies were able to collapse without affecting the rest of the world because they were so shut off from the rest of the world. With our current society as it is, there is really no individual part of society that can collapse now without bringing down the rest of the world. That is why we really all have to work together to become more aware and make changes in positive directions.
Some of the things that were covered in the book that I learned a lot more about were:
- Destroying natural habitats - including deforestation, which is one of the biggest causes of collapses of past societies. We are continuing to cut down our forests around the world and are constantly harming our environment and future by doing this. We can, however use wood sustainably by maintaining our supplies and where we take from. There are huge initiatives currently to help with these issues, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, which which was created to change the dialogue about and the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. We can all be more aware of our uses of products from wood, including in our own houses, paper use, etc. and can help this effort. Companies like Home Depot have begun to give preference to products that are certified by organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council, so that we can ensure we are buying products that are being taken in sustainable ways.
- Wild Food - if managed properly, wild fish stocks can be maintained at our current level of use, but many fisheries are not being managed properly and will likely cause the end of certain types of fish. I have a seafood watch card in my wallet that covers some of the best and worst fish to eat because of the way the fish are caught. There is also a Marine Stewardship Council (www.msc.org) where you can learn more about what we as individuals can do.
- Soil Damage - I had no idea how big of an issue this is, but soil damage has led to many issues with collapses of past societies. Over farming can take nutrients out of soil and cause erosion that can completely change the land indefinitely afterwards. There are issues in Montana and Australia mentioned in this book about soil damage currently, as well as issues with past societies.
- Energy sources - this is a big one for our current society because as we become more and more comfortable in our lifestyles because of newer technologies all the time, we are taking more and more from the environment for our energy sources. If we continue on our current ways, the world as a society is going to be in big trouble in just a few decades and we First Worlders are going to have to either make huge changes in our lifestyles or will be forced to if we want to continue living as comfortably as we do.
- Freshwater uses - Water shortages have been another reason for past collapses of societies and we all know now that the lack of fresh water is a huge issue throughout the world, and personally for me, here in Southern California. Many Third World Societies do not even have access to fresh water, so we should be extremely thankful for what we do have, but if we continue on our present course, we will also be in trouble. We can think about how much water we use in watering our lawns, taking long showers, etc. etc. and can all help in these efforts.
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There are many other areas that the book mentions of course, but I don't want to write a novel on my blog site. I did just want to mention a few things that I got out of reading this great book.
