Reprinted from http://ununderstand.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/collapse/#comment-21
I just finished reading Collapse:How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. I highly recommend it. This quote on pages 515-516 seemed to summarize major theme of the book:
First ask some ivory-tower academic ecologist, who knows a lot about the environment but never reads a newspaper and has no interest in politics, to name the overseas countries facing some of the worst problems of environmental stress, overpopulation, or both. The ecologist would answer: “That’s a no-brainer, it’s obvious. Your list of environmentally stressed or overpopulated countries should surely include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, and Somalia, plus others.”
Then go ask a First World politician, who knows nothing and cares less about the environment and population problems, to name the world’s worst trouble spots: countries where state government has already been overwhelmed and has collapsed, or is now at risk of collapsing, or has been wracked by recent civil wars; and countries that, as a result of those problems of their own, are also creating problems for us rich First World countries, which may end up having to provide foreign aid for them, or may face illegal immigrants from them, or may decide to provide them with military assistance to deal with rebellions and terrorists, or may even have to send in our own troops. The politician would answer, “That’s a no-brainer, it’s obvious. Your list of political trouble spots should surely include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, and Somalia, plus others.”
…Today, just as in the past, countries that are environmentally stressed, overpopulated, or both become at risk of getting politically stressed, and of their governments collapsing. When people are desperate, undernourished, and without hope, they blame their governments, which they see as responsible for or unable to solve their problems. They try to emigrate at any cost. They fight each other over land. They kill each other. They start civil wars. They figure that they have nothing to lose, so they become terrorists, or they support or tolerate terrorism.
The thesis of the book seemed to be that the world is fucked if we don’t change how we care for the environment.
Diamond rightly warns of alarming trends in biodiversity, soil loss, freshwater limits (China is depleting its aquifers at a breakneck rate), overfishing (much of the developing world relies on the oceans for protein) and climate change (there is a strong scientific consensus that future warming could be dangerous). These and other trends may lead to a global crash: ”Our world society is presently on a nonsustainable course.” The West, especially, is in peril: ”The prosperity that the First World enjoys at present is based on spending down its environmental capital.” Calamity could come quickly: ”A society’s steep decline may begin only a decade or two after the society reaches its peak numbers, wealth and power.”
-from a New York Times review by Gregg Easterbrook
I definitely agree with the Diamond’s main thesis. My reading of this book happened to coincide with the recent WWF’s Living Planet Report.
“The world is currently struggling with the consequences of over-valuing its financial assets, but a more fundamental crisis looms ahead – an ecological credit crunch caused by under-valuing the environmental assets that are the basis of all life and prosperity,” said WWF International Director-General James Leape, in the foreword to the new report. “Most of us are propping up our current lifestyles, and our economic growth, by drawing - and increasingly overdrawing - on the ecological capital of other parts of the world,” Leape said. (Source)
I hope Obama can grasp the importance of environmental sustainability just a BIT more than Bush does (he doesn’t at all).
Comment:
I highly recommend reading ‘Collapse’ too. This book has transformed myslef into a firm environmentalist and now I am an advisor to Mongolian Green Movement.
I also have translated the book into my language- Mongolian and willing to invite professor Jared Diamond to Mongolia at his convenience. ‘Collapse’s Mongolian translation is to be published pretty soon. Anyway, if you could get in touch with professor Jared Diamond please convey my best regards and my invitation to Mongolia at his convenience. I have tried a few time to get in touch with him, but failed most probably because of spam-monitor.
Regards,
Ochiro
Yansanjav Ochirsukh
(former Finance Minister)
Economic Advisor
Mongolian Green Movement
http://www.mongolia-greens.blogspot.com
Email: yochir@hotmail.com
Yahoo messenger ID: yochir2001
Peace Avenue
Ulaanbaatar-44/753
Mongolia
Yansanjav Ochirsukh - November 9, 2008 at 11:43 am
