Think about an issue in your personal life/history that required a critical decision. What about that particular situation made the decision a hard one to make? How did your solution differ from another potential reaction and how different would the results have been had you chosen that other reaction?
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Diamond discusses the issues of contemporary Montanan society and posits that it is a helpful example when reflecting on the pre-Collapse period of past societies faced with similar challenges. Do you agree that Montana's issues (choose at least 1 below to discuss) resemble the challenges that led to the downfall of past societies? How are they, or their surrounding circumstances, similar or different? Finally, what in your opinion are the crucial things a society must consider, admit, discuss, and ultimately take action on in order to overcome it's problems? For example, could Montanans just continue to turn a blind eye to the toxic waste from its mines or allow unsustainable logging/ agricultural practices and still survive?
1) Increasing population, 2)immigration, 3) increasing scarsity & decreasing quality of water, 4) locally & seasonally poor air quality, 5) toxic wastes, 6)increased risk of wildfires (or other human activity-induced natural disasters), 7)forest deterioration, 8) loss of soil or its nutrients, 9) loss of biodiversity/ damage from introduced pest species, 10) the effects of climate change.
Be sure to discuss Diamond's concepts of the 8 kinds of Ecocide as well as specific examples from Ch. 1 and the other chapter you choose.
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Rebecca Tulis
ReplyDeleteResponse #11
One of the most critical decisions I've had to make was my decision to go to the University of Michigan. Quite frankly, I knew nothing about Michigan, being out of state and had to think about 7 other schools. When I decided to visit on a cold February day, I wasn’t impressed but I somehow felt that it was the place for me. Deciding to attend the University of Michigan and attend a school I barely knew about was a huge risk but it worked out in the end and I would never go back. We always make decisions based on our well-being and since we don’t know whether or not we will truly be happy, we are taking a big leap of faith and that is exactly what Montana has to do to both preserve its environment and its economy.
Montana is a lot like Easter Island in a number of ways in terms of their failures. Montana suffers from a sort of isolation as well as a growing population due to the influx of newcomers ready to take advantage of what Montana has to offer. Easter island is a lot like this because it’s isolation is believed to be the main cause of its collapse because it had no outside influence on the way it should be run. Montana also suffers from deforestation through logging and burning of forests while Easter Island suffered from deforestation as the islanders cut them down for firewood. In fact, at one point, Easter Island was believed to be a subtropical forest until the Easter Islander’s population grew and all the trees there were cut down, therefore decreasing biodiversity, crops yields and raw materials.
The deforestation in Easter Island can be compared to the extraction industries of Montana in terms of its importance to the society but its negative affect on environment. Easter Islanders had to face a decision on whether or not they should continue to cut down the trees and sacrifice their well-being while Montana has to do just that with their extraction industries such as mining and logging. We always want to make decisions based on what is good for us but in the case of Montana and Easter Island, either decision can be harmful and detrimental to a society. If Easter Island chose to stop cutting down the trees, it still may not have survived without the resource of wood. Or if Montana chose to get rid of all its extraction industries, its economy could collapse and so would Montana as a whole.
Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005.
I must admit that the critical decisions I have had to make are too personal to write. So instead, a somewhat difficult decision I had to resolve was when I was going to try to move out of my dorm room at the beginning of the semester this year. There were girls in my hall who were completely disrespectful at all hours. They would scream in the middle of the night when they came home drunk or during rush week. My RA was always missing and I could not take living in this environment any longer (my roommate had moved out for the same reasons a week prior). I filled out a new request for waitlist, and put up my room on a bulletin board. Many people wanted to contact me because I only wanted to move into Baits, and everyone wants to get out of there. However, I decided after long discussions with my family, that I had a double all to myself and the stress/ anxiety I had may be worse if I moved into a room and had a roommate with the same attitude as the girls down the hall. The situation has mended with time. I am happy with my decision and my own space here.
ReplyDeleteDiamond says that the 8 forms of Ecocide (ecological suicide) arise in: deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems, water management problems, overhunting, overfishing, effects of introduced species on native species, human population growth, and the increased per-capita impact on people (pg 6, Collapse). When considering the issues that Montana faces today, one of them is the introduction of species on the native species. They are prominent in the losses of valuable native fish, deer, elk, and weeds (pg 53, Collapse). The fisheries supported native fish (Cut-throat Trout, Bull Trout, and Arctic Grayling). However, the introduction of the Northern Pike and Lake Trout caused a predator-prey relationship on the native species. Disease that was introduced with the fish has also wiped them out. When considering the deer and elk population, the introduction of the disease “Chronic Wasting Disease” can spread to humans. This causes a degeneration of the nervous system. The deer and elk either die naturally, or have to be killed off by humans to prevent the spread of CWD (pg 54, Collapse).
Although Diamond does not talk about introduced species in detail in the chapter on past societies, it can be inferred that this was an issue with the other areas. In the section “Twilight at Easter”, Diamond says that most of the native food and non-food species were lost or became less numerous. Land birds were completely wiped out on the island, as well as sea birds being reduced to 1/3 of the original species. Fish, shellfish, palm nuts, Malay apples, and wild fruits were also wiped or thinned out. “The only wild food source whose availability remained unchanged was rats” (pg 108, Collapse). The introduction of non-native species and disease from the immigrant Europeans more than likely had an affect on this outcome. Thus, Montana can compare its issues with those of an already collapsed society by looking at these details.
A personal life/history that required a critical decision was the decision of what I wanted to major in once I had gotten into college. This particular situation made the decision a hard one because I grew up with the thought that I would have a career in the medical field as well as I felt pressured by my parents and family. So, as I prepared in high school to major in biology or a similar major, in the middle of high school, I became more and more interested in the arts, particularly when I took a ceramics class. This made me decide that I wanted a career in the arts. My solution to major in the arts partly shocked my parents and it was a difficult time to convince them to let me attend the University of Michigan School of Art and Design. Even though they agreed and understood my decision, I feel they are still expecting me to consider having a backup in case my goal does not get reached. Everyone in my family was surprised to learn that I was an art major and if I had do made this decision, the reaction would have been different in terms of that they found it as a norm.
ReplyDeleteMontana is known for their mining and logging industries. These two industries are its primary export and source of income for the state. Thus, as Montana continues to mine and cut down its trees, they increase the scarcity of its natural resources as well as decrease the quality of water because of those industries polluting the water system. I do agree that Montana’s contemporary issues resemble the challenges that led to the downfall of past societies because the continuous extraction of their natural resources leads to several effects such as pollution that is caused by extracting, increase in the scarcity of their natural resources needed in order to survive in that environment, which results in economic hardship as well. Easter Island is one of the pre-collapsed societies however, even though it may be similar to Montana’s situation, the Easter Island society failed due to environmental abuse, in which they did not have enough wood to make canoes to trade with the outside world to obtain meat, which resulted in civil war for survival due to the scarcity of resources to survive. Montana may be on the track of environmental abuse, which can result in economic loss, however, because Easter Island was an isolated society, I do not believe that Montana will collapse to the point that Easter Island had, since Montana is among other states of the U.S. and not isolated from the rest of society. Almost all of the pre-collapsed societies failed due to environmental damages such as the Vikings in which they did not know the geography of Greenland and thus started to make a settlement based on their living back home. However, naïve of the weather and deforestation of the forests for wood, this caused a climate change in which the roots of the trees functioned to protect to soil from the harsh winds and etc. I think that a society should admit that they are mistreating their environment and over-consuming at a rate that is too fast to replace the resources that were used. Thus, they should discuss a way to minimize their consumption and abuse of the environment and take action. Without action and turning a blind eye to the damage that Montana is causing or any other society, the effects will hit them sooner or later in the collapse of Montana economically and socially as well.
One of the most difficult critical decisions I've had to make concerned my choices in response to how I felt about my parents in my younger teenage years. I found myself having all sorts of mood swings but decided that it was all part of growing up and as such I refused to act and many of the desires that I had at the time. The result being that I had a fairly uneventful time in high school. It was probably best that way otherwise I might have found myself in all kinds of trouble.
ReplyDeleteI believe this relates to an aspect of "Human nature" that can be found in the issues that Montana is suffering from. Most people have a difficult time going against their 'instinct' or desires. Many times these things that we convince ourselves we need are not really necessary and usually require that we destroy something that is not immediately apparent in order to get to them. Habitat destruction is a clear example of this. We have many things to build and not all these things are bad. One might want to build a school but because they are so convinced that what their doing is good they do not stop to think what materials are being used and where the building is going to be. As well as what will be cleared out in order to facilitate access to the area. It comes from a separation from the environment outside of our households and workplaces. We quickly forget that there are other living creatures on this planet that need their living space as much as we need ours.
There is a sacrifice that needs to be made, though once people understand what it is that we gain it will not seem too difficult. It is a prevalent philosophy that certain things must be given up in order to ensure a greater good. So there are times we must ignore our impulses and sacrifice a little just to keep ourselves well.
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ReplyDeleteKristen Zelenka
ReplyDeleteWR #11
The biggest decision I have ever made in my life, and probably will ever make, was between my freshman and sophomore year of high school when I decided to be adopted by my stepfather and my last name changed from Hayes to Zelenka. It changed how I perceived myself and how other perceived me, even from a heritage standpoint. If I wasn’t adopted I probably would not be attending the University of Michigan or be so well off. However, if I was not adopted I would also still have contact with half of my family. I think I made the right decision, it was one that had to be made, but it is also something where I think about the consequences and different possible outcomes of it everyday.
Montana’s main industries, that provide a majority of the financial infrastructure for the state, are logging and mining. Both of these industries provide thousands of jobs and serve as a main source of income. If they were eliminated, people would lose their jobs and way of life so until there is some other more devastating consequence, they will not change their practices towards these two industries. As a result, they will continue to cut down to many trees, which leads to deforestation, and they will continue their current mining policies, which will further contaminate their water. When will they decide to respond to these issues? The answer is that they will ignore it for as long as possible and only address the issues when forced to or they will ignore these problems until it is too late and they do not have the capability to respond.
The later scenario is what Diamond believes is one cause to the collapse of societies. Montana to Ester Island are similar in how both of them took advantage of the natural resources of their land, mostly be deforestation. Both societies have many options and consequences to consider if they change their current course of action about how they live their lives. If they stop cutting down trees and hurting the environment and land they live in then they may be better off for the future. On the other hand, if they discontinue their main mode of life then they will have to find other industries to support them and prosper off of. It would take a lot of innovation and planning in order to maintain the same quality of life during the transition.
Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005.
One of the most recent critical decisions I have been faced with was deciding to quit Michigan drumline. I have been playing drums since I was little, and took high school drumline very seriously. All through my childhood I dreamt of being on the U of M drumline, going to every step show before all of the Michigan football games. When I was finally accepted to the art school and started participating in drumline clinics, I was in a very difficult situation. I love being on drumlines, and now I had the chance to be on one of my favorites, especially after being called back to play snare. But, I also was starting college, and when Chuck explained the hours of practices and camps, with the hours I would be putting into my artwork, I knew I couldn’t do both. Maybe if I was a music major and it filled up some credits for me, but that wasn’t the case. I had to start thinking about my future, and drumline wasn’t in it.
ReplyDeleteIf I had chosen to do drumline my life would be very different. First of all, I wouldn’t see the light of day because when I wouldn’t be doing art projects, I would be memorizing music or at band practice. I feel that I would not have been able to be focused on both, either I would fail at school from being focused on drumline, or fail at drumline from being focused on school.
I think that one of the biggest issues Montana and other societies deal with is deforestation. This is one issue that, unless it is stopped, will ruin a civilization. Montana is dealing with forest deterioration constantly. Whether from wildfires caused from human activity, logging, or other agricultural purposes. This will only continue to happen unless people wake up and find an alternative. This is the hard choice that every society has to deal with. People may think that these issues are helping their society now, but people have to look at the long run. So even though they may be sacrificing some profit, or some products, in the long run their society will survive.