Reading Notes for Collapse (Prologue and Ch. 1)


Sean Porter October 14, 2006


Diamond, J. (2005). Prologue and Modern Montana. In Wendy Wolf, Stefan McGrath, and Jon Turney (Eds.), Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. (pp. 1-75). New York, NY: The Penguin Group.


Summary


In the prologue, the author develops his thesis. He gives five major interrelated factors that are the most common in collapsed or collapsing societies:


  1. The damage that people inadvertently inflict upon the environment. Which can be reversed, at least partially, by deliberate human actions.


  1. Climate change, whether caused by human factors, or just by the natural cycles of our world. He also points out that in the past, climate change was more of an impediment for people, due to shorter life spans and the lack of writing. People who had lived through drier periods would probably not be alive to warn their grandchildren and great-grandchildren that the wetter times that they lived in would not necessarily last, to temper their growth.


  1. Neighbors, hostile or friendly, can have a significant impact on the survival or downfall of a society. Often the actual cause of these types of collapses is not the military force involved, but the other factors that first weaken the society, making it ripe for conquest. For example, a famine can make any society weak and feeble, allowing their enemies who have more stable food sources to attack and overwhelm a society that would normally deflect their advances.


  1. Friendly neighbors who withdraw their support of a society can easily do as much damage as enemy neighbors attacking. Often, the friendly and hostile neighbors can be the same society, they may shift from helping to attacking, and can severely weaken a society in doing so.


  1. The societies recognition of and response to the problems that it faces. Different societies will find different and diverse solutions to the same problems, whether or not they will work, is another matter.


In chapter one, Mr. Diamond begins by detailing for us the position that Montana currently faces, because it is representative of the US as a whole. He gives anecdotes that illustrate the views of people from different backgrounds, some whose families have lived in Montana for generations, some who have bought second homes there, and even some who have moved there permanently. He also goes into great detail about the environmental problems faced by Montana. Its soil has been contaminated by mining operations and clear-cutting. Its water table has been lowered by the increased use due to growing population, as well as being poisoned by the same chemicals that have been released from the mining operations. Its native plants are being attacked by a slew of invasive non-native plants. Despite all this, there is still a strong anti-regulation sentiment, though that seems to be changing.


Relevance

This is all relevant to us because Montana's problems are highly representative of the environmental issues our nation faces today. They have the most severe cases, most likely (and hopefully), but we all must face these issues if any real solutions are to be found.


“New” Words (or phrases)


Cyanide heap-leach mining – n., A process in which cyanide is used to dissolve the gold from heaps of heavy metal ore. (Howard, 1991)


Questions


  1. Are the exact same issues facing the rest of our country, or are they highly variable based on the local climate, economy, political attitudes, etc.?


  1. Are the same views on government prevalent throughout the United States, or are they localized to specific areas? If so, is there any correlation between anti-government sentiment and more severe environmental issues? (Not looking for causation, just curious if there is a correlation.)


References

Howard, B. (June 1991). The great terrain robbery: An outdated law is wreaking havoc on the Western wilderness. Omni June 1991, 13(9), p. 20, 1p. Retrieved October 15, 2006, from Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost).