Collapse (book)

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Collapse: Why Societies Survive or Collapse is a book published in 2005 by the US geographer Jared M. Diamond . Collapse is about the reasons for the collapse of several historical societies studied , what they have in common, and the lessons that modern society can learn from them.

content

Outline of the book

Collapse is divided into four sections.

  • Part 1 describes the environment of the US state Montana , examining the interplay between society and the environment. He notes that even in a modern American state, a changed ecology can cause long-term and serious damage.
  • Part 2 primarily describes the collapse of various past cultures ( Anasazi Indians in North America, Polynesians on Easter Island , Polynesians on Pitcairn and Henderson , the Mayans and Vikings on Greenland), and finds an order of five factors that cause the collapse. In contrast, he cites examples of old societies that would have ensured their survival through intelligent reactions to changes (such as the reforestation of forests in Japan during the Tokugawa era)
  • Part 3 examines today's societies (including Rwanda, China and Australia) and their vulnerability.
  • Part 4 tries to find a lesson for today from the various examples. It proposes a number of measures that our society, which is "on an unsustainable course" , can take around the twelve problems of unsustainability that he identifies in the book.

In the result of his investigation, Diamond sees "signs of hope" and reason for a "cautious optimism" for the future, despite his devastating overall diagnosis, since despite great dangers a wise reaction to the changed overall conditions of the ecological world conditions is theoretically still possible.

argumentation

Diamond identifies five main reasons that led to the collapse of the historical societies he studied:

  1. Environmental damage
  2. Climatic fluctuations
  3. Hostile neighbors
  4. Elimination of trading partners
  5. a wrong reaction of society to change

The list already shows that Diamond does not narrow its studies to ecological problems, but rather examines the interaction between the environment and human activity.

Environmental damage includes the cutting down of forests and the consequent soil erosion . But also the salinization of the soil due to incorrect irrigation and declining soil fertility due to intensive cultivation. Using the example of Easter Island , Diamond shows that the damage can go as far as total deforestation .

Climatic fluctuations, such as medieval climate anomalies or the Little Ice Age , were natural phenomena at the time of the societies examined. The climate often fluctuates at intervals that are greater than the generation time of the people of that time. Due to the lack of a font, knowledge of climate fluctuations was often lost. This made it difficult for societies to adapt to the phenomenon. In particular, a favorable climate lasting for many years can lead to a growing population. If the climate then changes to a less favorable phase, the larger population may no longer be able to be fed and the social tensions that cause this lead to the self-destruction of society. In addition, a change in the climate can massively exacerbate the problems that already result from environmental damage.

Even in historical times, societies were rarely isolated. In addition to hostile neighbors, whose contribution to the downfall of a society is obvious, trading partners also play an important role. Using the example of Henderson Island , Diamond shows how the loss of a strategically important trading partner can make a society disappear completely.

By comparing societies in the same living space, Diamond shows that the downfall is not inevitably caused by ecological aspects. For this he primarily draws on Norman Greenland and the Inuit . While the Viking settlements in Greenland ultimately perished, the Inuit were able to survive at the same time despite the hostile environment. Diamond shows that sticking to medieval European behavior - which had previously worked very well for centuries - made it difficult for the Vikings to adapt to changed framework conditions. So the chosen reaction to changes is decisive.

Diamond's arguments and many of his examples were by no means new. The German non-fiction author and environmental activist Erich Hornsmann had a similar idea in his books as early as the 1950s ... otherwise downfall. The Earth's Response to Disregard of Its Laws (1951), The Forest. A foundation of our existence (1955) and water. A problem voiced every time (1956).

Summary

In the introduction, Diamond summarizes collapse as follows:

“In this book I use the comparative method to understand societal failures to which environmental problems have contributed. In my previous book, Poor and Rich - The Fate of Human Societies, I used the same procedure to investigate the reverse question: why societies have risen at such different speeds on the individual continents over the past 13,000 years. In this book I am not focusing on the boom, but on the breakdown; I compare many past and present societies in terms of differences in ecological sensitivity, relationships with neighbors, political institutions, and other "output variables" that theoretically affect stability. The "outcome variables" I am investigating are breakdown or survival, and the type of breakdown, if one occurs. By establishing a connection between result variables and output variables, I want to establish the influence of potential output variables on the breakdown. "

- Collapse page 34

outlook

With a view to the future, he names four factors that can contribute to the weakening and demise of today's and future societies:

  1. man-made global warming
  2. Environmental toxins
  3. Energy crises
  4. the full use of the photosynthetic power of the earth.

For Diamond's consideration, the existence of a specific overpopulation always plays a decisive role . Because if parts of society were confronted with life-threatening changes in their environment, they would by no means die passively, but in the attempt to survive they would also endanger those parts of society that were previously unaffected and possibly believed they were in a false sense of security. Not only the distressed part, but the closely networked society as a whole collapses in a rapid catastrophe and experiences a "collapse".

Jared Diamond sees our world society created by globalization - from which no one can escape - in precisely the same danger.

So Diamond does not claim that unchangeable ecological factors are the only cause for the collapse of societies; political and economic factors - ultimately above all the reaction to the ecological conditions - are the reason.

After Diamond, Easter Island is the best historical example of a social breakdown in isolation. Culturally justified devastating deforestation led to a rapid deterioration of the overall situation and to a civil war that destroyed the majority of the population.

reception

The book Collapse was a source of inspiration for the novel The Whale and the End of the World (2015) by John Ironmonger.

expenditure

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frankfurt a. M. 2019. p. 465f.