An amazingly informative book on the failure of some past societies, an insight into some highly volatile current socities and the lessons to be learned. Diamond identifies a five-point framework of contributing factors: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners and society's response to its environmental problems. These factors apply today as well and the biggest lesson to be learned is that the perishing of Maya, Easter Island and Greenland Norse societies could happen to us in our globalized existence as well. We have no reason for arrogance and should get off our high "First World" horses. A highly recommendable read!

If we eat more we’ll get
A handful of nothing
- Daniel Gildenlöw -

Collasso è stato probabilmente il primo libro ad avermi realmente terrorizzato. Avevo scritto un presuntuosissimo e pesantissimo commento. Questa è la versione (leggermente) potata.

Gildenlöw è svedese, come l'adolescente treccioluta che per qualche tempo ha attirato l'attenzione anche del distratto popolo italiano sul piccolo problema del cambiamento climatico. Poi c'è stato il toto-allenatori di Inter e Juventus. Per una Greta che passa, un Diamond è per sempre. E non di soli problemi ambientali/climatici muoiono le civiltà.

- Modalità spiegone spocchioso ON -
Non pago di averci spiegato le ragioni per cui, nel corso della storia, alcune società umane siano riuscite a prosperare più di altre (Armi, acciaio e malattie), Jared Diamond è tornato sulla questione, affrontando il tema dall'angolazione opposta, e ha deciso di illustrarci i motivi per cui alcune popolazioni non siano riuscite ad affrontare con successo le sfide che si sono presentate loro. Sono i declini e i crolli delle società umane, del passato e del presente, a rappresentare l’argomento di questa nuova fatica dell’autore, che non solo ne vuole comprendere le cause e le dinamiche, ma anche cercare di trarne utili insegnamenti per il futuro.

Diamond affronta lo studio delle vicende umane con un approccio molto differente da quello adottato dalla maggior parte degli “storici di mestiere”: fa infatti ricorso ad una metodologia che discende direttamente dalla sua formazione di biologo, e che mira ad una conoscenza “scientifica” dei processi di lungo e di lunghissimo periodo che hanno caratterizzato il corso della storia umana. Se in Armi, acciaio e malattie la ricostruzione, ad esempio, della conquista dell'impero Inca da parte degli spagnoli era diretta alla comprensione dei fattori che, negli ultimi 13.000 anni, avevano permesso alle popolazioni dell'Eurasia di sottomettere buona parte del mondo (fattori legati alle differenze ambientali dei diversi continenti), in Collasso lo studio dei tracolli delle società del passato e del presente è finalizzato alla formulazione di una sorta di “teoria generale del crollo”, sempre valida e applicabile nonostante le differenze che contraddistinguono i singoli casi presi in esame. Si potrebbe sostenere che Diamond abbia una visione “dualistica” (e semplicistica) della storia, in cui alcune società hanno avuto successo ed altre sono state sconfitte: un mondo popolato di “vincitori e vinti”, in cui non c'è spazio per distinzioni ulteriori. Ma bisogna ricordare che l'autore non intende dare giudizi di valore, e che solo l'interesse per i processi di lungo periodo permette di tracciare una netta linea di confine tra vincitori e vinti: i primi sono sopravvissuti, i secondi no.

Il metodo adottato da Diamond, in entrambe le opere citate, si rivela anche per altri aspetti peculiare: in primo luogo, per il ricorso alle più varie fonti di conoscenza (dall'archeologia alla botanica, dalla psicologia alla linguistica), comprese le esperienze personali dell'autore (come biologo e ornitologo, ma anche come rappresentante di una delle principali organizzazioni ambientaliste, il WWF, e come visitatore curioso dei quattro angoli del mondo); in secondo luogo, per l'adozione del “metodo comparativo” (o “esperimento naturale”), ovvero il confronto sistematico fra società del passato e del presente, differenti tra loro per alcune caratteristiche fondamentali e per il diverso grado di stabilità, necessario per scoprire “scientificamente” quali fattori abbiano avuto un ruolo determinante nel successo o nel fallimento di una civiltà.

Per crollo di una società Diamond intende “la forma estrema tra vari e meno gravi tipi di decadenza”, ovvero “una riduzione drastica del numero della popolazione e/o della complessità politica, economica e sociale, in un’area estesa e nel corso di un prolungato lasso di tempo”. A questo concorrono, secondo la teoria dell'autore, cinque gruppi di possibili fattori concomitanti, relativi rispettivamente a
- problemi ambientali
- cambiamenti climatici non causati dall'uomo (in particolare, le cicliche oscillazioni, con intervalli decennali, tra condizioni climatiche più o meno favorevoli per un determinato popolo)
- ostilità delle popolazioni vicine
- esistenza di partner commerciali con cui si intrattengono relazioni amichevoli
- risposte che la società dà ai problemi che si trova ad affrontare.
Anche se una sola di queste serie di fattori può rivelarsi fatale per la sopravvivenza di una civiltà, la maggior parte dei casi di crolli del passato e del presente si è verificata per il sommarsi di diverse cause, che tendono ad acuirsi reciprocamente: una società che deve fronteggiare gravi problemi ambientali, ad esempio, si rivelerà più esposta agli attacchi di popolazioni ostili, o ad un peggioramento delle condizioni climatiche. L'unico gruppo di “fattori di crollo” sempre e comunque importante sarebbe l'ultimo dell'elenco sopra riportato, ovvero la reazione della società alle situazioni problematiche (reazioni legate alle istituzioni politiche, economiche e sociali della società, oltre che ai valori culturali caratteristici della popolazione): secondo Diamond, proprio nell'atteggiamento assunto di fronte ai pericoli risiederebbe la differenza fra le popolazioni che sono sopravvissute e quelle che non ci sono riuscite.
- Modalità spiegone spocchioso OFF -

Seriamente, leggetelo. Regalatelo. Consigliatelo. Rendetelo testo scolastico obbligatorio tramite referendum. Io, già che ci sono, gli aggiungo una stella, perché mi terrorizza ancora.

https://youtu.be/qjevV7xczqY

13th book for 2018.

This is a big, detailed book that covers a lot of ground. To get a couple of things out of the way: it's not a repeat of Diamond's earlier book Guns, Germs, Steel; and it's not Diamond arguing for some sort of environmental determinism. Diamond believes that societal outcomes are related to three main factors:

Environment + Social Structures + Technology = Societal Outcome

This equation is misleading, as the factors interact (e..g, environment may limit trade, which then limits the sorts of technologies available; social structures directly affect what sorts technologies employed etc etc). As someone trained in geography, Diamond focuses more on the environmental side of things, but he's certainly not dismissive of the other two factors (and in fact goes to some length to discuss the political and technological factors where he thinks they are relevant).

The book covers (in great detail) a number of societies that have collapsed, in particular Easter Island's and the Norse Greenland colony.

In the case of Easter Island, he finds that several environmental factors made the ecology of the island particularly vulnerable to the Polynesian culture there (e.g., poor soils due to lack of volcanic fallout leading to slow regrowth of trees), unlike some other Pacific Islands were similar practices did not lead to societal collapse; in the case of Greenland Norse, a harsh environment could not in itself be blame, as he is at pains to point out, the Inuit with a very different societial/technological basis thrived.

He also covers societies that have done more or less better (Hispaniola vs Haiti, Japan vs China) and others where environmental factors are causing increasing stress (the chapter on Australia was particularly depressing).

The book ends with a summary of the various environmental trends that will become critical in the not too distant future (global warming; depletion of soils; over population; death of the oceans etc etc). Diamond offers excellent and heartfelt suggestions about how we could avoid going over the environmental cliff in all these cases.

Although the book was published some years ago, it's a must read for anyone wanting an overview of the state of global environment.

5-stars.

Diamond analyzes why societies past and present succeed or fail based on an application of five criteria; people’s impact on their environment, climate change, hostile neighbors, support of near-by cultures, and finally societies response to its problems. Diamond identifies 12 environmental problems facing past and present societies and importantly explains 11 myths that currently exist related to environmental concerns. The book is quite detailed in its analysis of cultural and environmental geography. The author says we just need the political will to apply solutions already available and to look at problems with long-term planning approach not quick fixes with popular political rhetoric.

Another excellent book by Jared Diamond that closely examines the relationship between the environment and the success and/or failure of various civilizations both ancient and modern. This territory was already brilliantly explored in his earlier Guns, Germs & Steel, so in some ways it feels like an addendum to the previous book, simply expanding on the number of case studies in more detail, so it's not as fresh as the previous book. Still, the insights are still there, and the modern-day discussions of Montana and Australia are also illuminating. However, the chapter on China is very underdeveloped, whereas too much time is devoted to Greenland. Overall, highly recommended if a tad overlong.

I don't know what it is about Jared Diamond - I just can't seem to get as impressed by this man as I'm apparently supposed to be, Genius Award and all. The man needs an editor, for one thing: at least 200 pages of this 500-plus monstrosity were parenthetical tangents that belonged in footnotes. His work is often referred to as "staggering," which, I'm now convinced, refers not to his intellect so much as to the overwhelming quantity of minutae he presents the reader as if it were a substitute for analysis. It is staggering - and incredibly boring at points. I had to force myself to finish this book, and it took weeks - I usually devour good books in a matter of days.

There are fascinating details in here - all is not lost. I loved the sections dealing with the Maya, the Anasazi, Easter Island, and the successful anarchism of the New Guinea highlanders. However, I fear that anyone reading this book with the intention of understanding better how to avoid the global collapse we seem to be heading for will be sorely disappointed. His summaries and, ultimately, his thesis are weak and hidden within a snow flurry of excess detail.

Very good. Ranges credibly across multiple academic disciplines and historical periods in a way that is serious, accessible and engaging. Crucially for such an emotive topic the conclusions are balanced, with Diamond eschewing single cause explanations for past societal collapses and challenging those who hold specific business sectors or industrial practices responsible for all the world’s current environmental and socio-economic challenges. As Diamond himself acknowledges, this approach leaves him exposed to criticism both from ideological purists and deep subject matter experts on the various societies and issues he examines. However, the methodology is clearly explained, the sources fairly attributed and the synthesis achieved without taking any major liberties, all whilst articulating some punchy and challenging arguments. I’m not sure you can ask much more of a work of popular history/science/anthropology/geography/philosophy.

n  They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
***
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchelln

This book is the second in a series by this author that began with Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, which I read and reviewed. In that book the author deals with the question of why some societies/people are more successful than others. This book serves as a supplement to that book in that it examines the same question, but here his primary focus is on the environmental factors and the ways that societies respond to them. He gives short histories of various civilizations, both ancient and modern, and the environmental problems that they created or faced. These histories describe civilizations that collapsed or are collapsing and contrasts them with civilizations that succeeded in managing their environment.

There are several environmental factors that affected these civilizations. The list contains things like climate change, soil erosion, water management, overpopulation, introduced foreign pests, toxic wastes, and many others. His main focus is on deforestation, which in many cases contributed to some of the other problems.

Some of the environmental problems can be linked to something the author refers to as the “tragedy of commons.” This is when a community all harvests a resource from a common source, for instance, a forest, a communal pasture for grazing, or the fish in the ocean or a river. Because it is a shared resource, but lacks effective regulation there is no compulsion for an individual to limit their harvest. This has led to many resources being over-harvested and destroyed.

The author does point out some positive trends. He uses a Top-Down and Bottom-Up framework to discuss some success stories. An example of a successful country’s management of their environment is Japan. They realized early that due to their isolation from other countries the people depended on their own natural resources and took steps to prevent things like over-harvesting. In China the government has instituted the one child rule, and also implemented some positive programs to save their environment. These were examples of Top-Down approach in that it was the leaders of the country that implemented the conservation measures. In describing the situation on the South Pacific island of Tikopia he describes a Bottom-Up approach. This civilization had no strong central government so the people themselves implemented measures to save their environment and control population. They made a decision to kill every pig on the island because they were destroying gardens even though they were a source of protein.

He describes the per-capita impact of humans. This is the average resource consumption and waste production of one person. This impact is much higher in First World countries than in Third World countries. However, with the globalization of communication people in Third World countries want the same standard of living as those they see living in First World countries. This impact is also increasing due to increased immigration to First World countries and the subsequent assumption of their living standard. One observer is quoted as saying “The apocalypse here will not take the form of an earthquake or hurricane, but of a world buried in garbage.” (Page 351)

Just like maintaining the health of our bodies, preventing environmental messes is cheaper in the long run. The financial costs resulting from people getting sick from air pollution, the increase in prices due to the destruction of fish habitat, the time spent in traffic, the cleanup of toxic chemicals, and the lack of clean water can run into the billions. The horrific view is that if ancient civilizations collapsed due to environmental problems with their primitive tools and relatively small populations, what impact might we have with our heavy machinery and nuclear power.

This was a very educational read for me. In addition to learning a context in which to think about our environmental problems, I learned valuable lessons in the histories of some civilizations which I doubt I would have ever read. However, the book did become a slog at times. Many of the histories seemed to repeat things and it got a little wordy. The Norse settlement in Greenland lasted about 500 years and it seemed to take that long to read.

This is an important book. Unlike the Norse of Greenland, or the Polynesian natives on Easter Island, we cannot plea ignorance of our environmental problems. Unfortunately many people who make some of those decisions choose to ignore this problem. As the author points out a few times (and I paraphrase):

n  The rich and powerful only earn the privilege of being the last ones to starve.n

A thorough and thoroughly depressing analysis of how societies past and presents have overpopulated, eaten, deforested, fought, and generally short-sighted and stubborned their way out of their own survival. "Oh, but that was then, now we're smarter and have ever better technology" - yeah, but uhm, we're not, and our better technologies are bringing their own host of massive, massive environmental issues. If the Easter Islanders managed to go extinct while armed with axes, we're able to do it so much more efficiently now. Very interesting, very depressing.

I did read at least half of this book. The section on Easter Island is one of the most memorable things I've read in the past few years, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

This book goes on my guilt shelf because shortly after he got to China, I got too depressed to continue. It's also a bit heavy (literally) for subway reading, and returning to New York from California with it combined with the prospect of learning about China's impact on the environment was just too much for this reader.... So Collapse is sitting on my real-life, non-virtual bookshelf with a JetBlue boaring pass marking my place, frozen in time like the artifact of some extinct civilization.

If I were really to make a comprehensive shelf of Books I Feel Like a Lazy Jerk for Not Having Read, Guns, Germs and Steel would also be on it.

Collapse is a book which takes a look at societies both past and present to examine in depth how each of these societies failed or succeeded according to a five point framework laid out by the author Jared Diamond.

The framework can be summarized as follows:
1. Damages societies cause to their environment and whether or not that damage is reversible concerning things like deforestation, resource extraction, soil erosion, sustainability of fisheries and other food sources.
2. Climate change and how societies have either adapted or failed to adapt to dry climates, wet climates and cold climates as well as the different challenges they pose for the other factors within this framework.
3. Hostile neighbors and how such hostilities have affected a society's ability to thrive in their environments.
4. Trade with neighbors and how the dependence on some trade partners has contributed to the rise or fall of different nations throughout history.
5. The last and probably most important factor is how a society chooses to address the problems they are facing. This is dependent largely on a society's politics, cultural values, economics and social institutions according to Jared Diamond.

Each chapter is more or less a case study of a different society or civilization that either collapsed or still exists today. Diamond puts these societies under the microscope of his five point framework to determine how they collapsed or how they overcame the challenges they faced. The idea is to look at the past/present in order to determine how we as a globalized citizens can solve the problems currently threatening our existence today. The challenges are daunting and although the book has a seemingly pessimistic outlook overall it's certainly not impossible for humanity to overcome them. Jared Diamond considers himself a cautious optimist when considering the environmental, climate and political problems facing us today and remains hopeful we'll find the political will to enact the changes necessary to avoid the collapse that could be facing us in just a few decades time.

I personally found the book to be very well written, researched and most of all eye opening. I think it should be mandatory reading for the inhabitants of this fragile world we share and depend on together.

Cuốn sách giấy khổ lớn với 800 trang nội dung và 50 trang giới thiệu tài liệu đọc thêm này quả là một công trình đáng giá nghiên cứu về những tác động của môi trường đến vận mệnh của một xã hội, và của thế giới.
Trước khi đọc cuốn này, mình đã hiểu rằng môi trường rất quan trọng, rằng môi trường đang xuống cấp hàng ngày, rằng chúng ta có thể góp phần làm môi trường tốt hơn qua từng hành động nhỏ, bla bla bla... Nhưng khi đọc Sụp đổ, nhìn môi trường ở khía cạnh vĩ mô, ở góc độ quản lý tầm chính phủ và quốc tế thì mới nhận thức được sự nghiêm trọng của tình hình thực tế mà mình đang trải nghiệm.
Cuốn sách đáng đọc. Đọc để biết sợ hãi với những điều tưởng nhỏ nhặt, mà đã góp phần lớn làm nên sự sụp đổ của những đế chế hùng mạnh trong quá khứ. Đọc, để hiểu và ý thức hơn về thế giới hôm nay. Đọc, để vẫn hi vọng, và mỗi ngày cố gắng vì một cuộc sống bền vững cho thế hệ con cháu ngày mai.