I had no prior knowledge of Jared Diamond as an author and had not read any of his books before this Environmental course book review. Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California (born in the year 1937 in Boston) who primarily studied conservation biology and bird diversity in New Guinea; in 1985 thereby wining a MacArthur ''genius grant.
Collapse is a voluminous apocalyptical book that is rigorous in detail on a case study diversity of both the ancient (example of which include Pitcairn and Henderson Islands etc.) and modern societies like the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Haiti etc. The book provides captivating histories of the sciences that links the ancient human practice and outcome to present day practices that may yield the same drastic or even worse outcomes. Diamond’s main argument is that modern universal industrial society is creating some similar environmental problems (which are likely to mature into universally critical issues in some decades to come) that led to the collapse of ancient societies like the Mayan civilization and the Easter Island while others who faced similar challenges managed to survive. Therefore, I gathered two key theses from this book:
• Environmental accidents are the key issue that cannot be ignored as far as human history is concerned: Surprisingly and of great Interest to me, Diamond argued to this effect that it was by coincidence that Europe got industrialization, not culture or brainpower.
• Some ancient societies (like the Easter Islanders, Norse colony, Maya, and the Greenland) ruined the very source of their livelihood.
Bearing in mind the first thesis that I presumed from this book in line with Diamond’s argument, the environment plays a vital role in every ...
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...s, when times change." Thus as an endnote, I accept with Diamond’s opinion that the many choices we make as human can make the difference between prosperity and ruin of our environment and society and I wish that people care more about the environment; try to slow down global warming; and make meaningful efforts to preserve our wildlife, forests, oceans and lakes for generations yet to come.
The government has a key role to play and should pass laws that will promote the preservation of the ecosystem.as an health management and policy major, I am already thinking in line with proposing policies that will take into account our cultures and the present economic status, mandate tax increase on environmental mismanagement harmful practices that endangers the balancing of the ecosystem and exempt taxes on ideal environmental health practices
Works Cited
jared diamond
Jared Diamond is born in Boston on 1937. He is a physiologist, ecologist, and a prolific writer. Diamond has published hundreds of articles that is about science. Not only that Diamond is a writer, but he also received his Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard University in 1958 and PHD at Cambridge University in 1961. Diamond is currently working at UCLA as a professor of geography and physiology. He has done many research about ecology and the evolutionary of biology in New Guinea and many other southwest Pacific islands. Diamond has done many projects in his career. He is also a field researcher and director of the World Wildlife Fund. No only he published hundreds of articles, but he also wrote many essay in his life. One of his essay that he shared to the public is called, “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization.” Diamond wrote this essay on June 2003. The essay that Diamond wrote is about the environment and how it is failing miserably.
The reason Jared Diamond wrote this book was to answer the question of his political friend Yali, why did some societies like Eurasia were able to develop Guns, Germs, and Steel that were able to dominate major parts of the world, and why New Guinea was not capable of doing this? This question is certainly not a small picture kind of question because it covers a broad realm. Diamond is a book that has tried his best to cover a whole pattern of history, starting from before the Ice Age to the modern period. But Diamond's all-time famous and award-winning book was really successful in explaining the broad question. Such a type of question is critical to gain a stronger understanding of Diamond’s argument and its effect on the field of history.
It is easy to deny the reality that the state of the environment plays a large role in the survival of society. People who argue to protect and preserve it are seen as “hippies” or “tree huggers” and discarded by society. On the other hand, those who support deforestation are seen as “killing us all.” This conflict that is often portrayed on modern media is actually one that span all the way back to the beginning of civilization. Jared Diamond, recipient of the Lewis Thomas Prize and physiology professor at UCLA School of Medicine, his essay “Why do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” published by Edge on April 26, 2003, argues exactly how societies can doom themselves. Diamond creates his own roadmap as to how and why problems occur. He shows the various ways of how a problem may arise and be
In the book “Collapse” written and theorized by Jared Diamond, historical societies known for their peril due to environmental and human catastrophes. Jared Diamond analyzes the root causes of failed societies and uses his knowledge to depict today’s warning signs. The main focus of this book is to present clear and undeniable evidence that human activities corrupted the environment. To prove this Diamon used past societies, modern societies, and social business societies as a foundation. The most specific and beneficial theories that Diamond analyzes would be the decline of biodiversity on Easter Island, the deforestation of the Greenland Norse, the mining mismanagements in Australia and big businesses.
Mr. Middleton, a journalist, compiled an article describing, in his opinion, the flaws of the Endangered Species Act. He then attempts to back his opinion with studied analyses, researched facts, and testimonies. To summarize Middleton’s (2011) perspective, “Rather than provide incentives for conservation and environmental stewardship, the Endangered Species Act punishes those whose property contains land that might be used as habitat by endangered and threatened species” (p. 79). This quote is broad and generalized yet draws in readers and forces Middleton to spend the rest of the article backing this statement with more logic based facts.
Jared Diamond is a well-known American author/scientist popular for his works “The Third Chimpanzee” and “Guns, Germs and Steel” (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize)
Scranton believes that human beings are killing present life by ignoring the effects of global warming on the world. He continues to warn the reader that change is coming regardless of what people do now and that they human race must prepare for what is inevitably coming, as it will be the collapse of global civilization as it is known. Scranton states that this time we are living in, the anthropocene, presents humans with multiple challenges but mostly, “what it means to be human” (page 234). How to control the inevitable
Jared Diamond author of “The Ends of the World as We Know Them” highlights the reasons for the disappearance of early civilizations. Civilizations like the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs once inhabited the earth for hundreds of years, However; when these advanced civilizations reached the pinnacle of their capability, they faced tragedies such as war, unusual weather, environmental deprivation, terminated trade markets and unscrupulous leaders who contributed to the destruction of their civilization. One significant idea portrayed from Diamond’s article is that there are many factors that threaten American civilization. America is threatened by the destruction of their own environment.
In his book ‘Small is Beautiful’, E.F. Schumacher contemplated the theory that during our battle with nature, alleged success for humans may in fact have unforeseen consequences, due to the complex relationship that humans and ecosystems possess. In 2005 the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) published a set of prominent reports, which indicated just how reliant humans are on natural ecosystems. They also demonstrated how we are destroying the planet’s biodiversity, along with the ecosystems upon which we depend.
Plato once quoted, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. During the Prehistoric era, early humans needed to survive in the environment around them, thus creating close-knit nomadic hunter-gathers. With the rise of the Agricultural Revolution, early humans adapted new ways of finding food creating food surpluses that started a population boom. From farming villages to major cities, it created civilizations that once rose and fell. These civilizations created a large impact that affects today.
the past century was caused by human activity and continues to be caused by human activity
The factors that lead to the “collapse” of civilizations are almost directly related to those that created it. Archaeologists characterize collapse by a number of elements, some of which we have evidence for, others we do not. Most archaeologists are unsure of exactly what caused the decline of most civilizations in the ancient world, yet there are many clues to some of the events that could have contributed. The collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, the Mesoamerican Mayan, and the Egyptian cultures will be discussed in the following paragraphs, with a focus on the uniqueness of each.
* Daily, Gretchen C., ed. Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1997.
There are many natural resources and products that us people take for granted. Resources such as salt, water, sugar, and cotton are items we see and use on a daily basis. Back then, however, the availability and desire of some of these resources determines the success or crumble of certain civilizations. Throughout history, salt and sugar have shaped the development and success of some civilizations, empires, and more. If salt and sugar never existed, life today would definitely be different. Not only because of today’s uses, but because some discoveries made by some ancient civilizations may never have been found as those civilizations wouldn't flourish on those resources and then crumble. The availability and desire of salt and sugar have significantly helped the development of civilizations and cultures but it has also hindered them. Many people in these
Why Nations Fail takes an in depth look into why some countries flourish and become rich powerful nations while other countries are left in or reduced to poverty. Throughout this book review I will discuss major arguments and theories used by the authors and how they directly impact international development, keeping in mind that nations are only as strong as their political and economical systems.