Jared Diamond on Easter Island in "Collapse"

I recently purchased "Collapse" by Jared Diamond, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, as well as a Physiology professor at UCLA Medical School and a Anthro-Geology Professor.

Dr. Diamond provides the following explanation of the factors which caused the collapse of the pre-contact Rapa Nui culture on Easter Island*:

1. Geographic placement: It is southern location reduces the amount of rain it receives. EI, and the Hawaiian Islands Necker and Nihau, are the least forested of the Pacific because they do not receive as much rain as other Pacific Islands.

2. Lack of ability to trade. Due to the EI isolation,it did not have the opportunity to supplement its foodstuffs by trade. It also prevented EI from introducing other, large animals, like pigs, into their diet.

3. Lack of coconuts. Too cold for coconuts, which is a staple in much of the other Pacific islands.

4. Ruling Class inability or refusal to appreciate deforestation issues, while building bigger and bigger moai.
   Ironically, EI had the largest type of palm trees ever known to exist. However, these were consumed without preservation.

5. Lack of trees resulted in ability to maintain or make canoes necessary to fish off-shore, which had supplemented the diet, by, for example, dolphin. Also, there is only one beach, Akena, which could have allowed one to use fishing nets.

6. Lack of trees reduced the amount of birds which were part of the EI diet.

7. Funerary practices. Burning of the dead required inordinate amount of fuel to generate sufficient heat for cremation. Only much later did EI turn to burials.

8. After these factors became chronic, the commoners tore down each others moai (and maybe their own) as a way of revolting against the ruling elite. Canabalism resulted as one of the few ways of obtaining protein.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670033375/ref=bxgy_cc_img_a/002-0560765-2584028?%5Fencoding=UTF8

*A very, abbreviated summary - barely does justice to his insightful and detailed analysis.

This is quite the co-winky-dink; I happen to be reading the exact same book. Can't put it down. Lot more interesting than I'd anticipated.

cristiki, you have summarized the author's conclusions about Easter Island accurately. I think his conclusions are reasonable. I think people on Easter Island will probably not like them, as it presents a history of people who deforested their island faster than nature could replace it in this relatively cold and dry place, and that lead to the collapse of their economy with resultant fussin' n' feudin' and cannibalism and desecration of the moais, never much fun to think about in one's ancestors, but facts is facts.

Wait 'till you get to the chapter about Pitcarin and Henderson Islands. It's even better. I just finished the parts about the Anasazi and Mayans this afternoon. It's beginning to seem that the main reason civilizations and societies collapse is lack of food, brought about by a combination of bad luck with weather and human mismanagement of the environment.

Can't recommend this book highly enough.

I've known about this book and considered it for a while, but you guys' discussion has tipped the balance and I'll request it from the library very soon. Funny, I always think of the Moai image as one of placid wisdom, zen-like, above-the-fray. Kind of upsets my little fantasy image of them to know that they can in fact be seen as representative of tyranny and, well, as unfair as it seems to say it with the benefits of distance and hindsight, a kind of mass folly. I still think I'll always like their look though.

On 2005-11-28 18:26, christiki295 wrote:
there is only one beach, Akena,

..that's "Anakena".

Also, it might be worth noting that these theories are not new or unique to this author's work; his explaination for Rapa Nui's downfall is the same one that has been generally accepted (and published in several other places) for a few decades now.
Not saying he's ripped anyone off - just giving y'all an FYI!

Agreed, the general outlines and causes of the decline and "collapse" have been pretty well understood for quite a while. I think the attraction here is the connecting of it to a theoretical framework which helps explain it as well as, and in relation to, other crises with which it bears some commonalities. (Then again, I haven't read the book yet, so am kind of improvising a bit here.)

True enough, he credits UCLA colleague JoAnne Van Tilburg consistently and they even researched together.

Its not so much that the theories are new, as you state, they are not, but his ability to provide a concise detailed explanation in a larger socio-political context and make analogies to contemporary society are noteworthy.

TB, thanks for the typo correction & overall feedback.

I posted comments on Collapse several months ago when I read it. Great chapter on Easter Island, but, overall, this book is nowhere as good as Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. The other chapters get fairly repetitive and I ended up skimming the last couple, which I generally never do. If you haven't read Guns.., that one's a must. The Easter Island chapter was fascinating, though, but I'd recommend the library or a used copy.

Here is an article by him on Easter Island:

http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/origins/eastersend.html

With the 300 millionth child in the US, the issue of fossil fuels, and whether we have used up 50% of the world's supply, along with deforestation, I wonder if we are not already down a ways along Easter Island's path.

"By now the meaning of Easter Island for us should be chillingly obvious. Easter Island is Earth writ small. Today, again, a rising population confronts shrinking resources. We too have no emigration valve, because all human societies are linked by international transport, and we can no more escape into space than the Easter Islanders could flee into the ocean. If we continue to follow our present course, we shall have exhausted the world's major fisheries, tropical rain forests, fossil fuels, and much of our soil by the time my sons reach my current age."

A professor friend of mine at U of Indiana also states that overpopulation is the true cause of global warming, and that green house gasses are a merely a symptom of overpopulation.

Lots of Jared Diamond related articles on Rapa Nui News:
http://rapanuinews.blogspot.com/search/label/Jared%20Diamond%27s%20Collapse

Thanks for the summary, christiki. I've had this book on my shelf for about a year now, and plan to tear into it soon.

Wow, great discusion on everyones part! Yes it is true, EI is just a small version of what is happening today world wide. However, overpopulation is not the cause of our enviro. problems. Just like what happened on EI, GREED!,& therefor the convienient "lack of vision" [truth] that "leaders" impose on the rest of the populace, that follows, is the reason for our unsure future. Make no mistake, they know.-----Remy

On 2007-02-12 11:06, Mouse Art wrote:
Wow, great discusion on everyones part! Yes it is true, EI is just a small version of what is happening today world wide. However, overpopulation is not the cause of our enviro. problems. Just like what happened on EI, GREED!,& therefor the convienient "lack of vision" [truth] that "leaders" impose on the rest of the populace, that follows, is the reason for our unsure future. Make no mistake, they know.-----Remy

Were you there? I'm sorry, but the verdict is still out on the causes of deforestation on Rapanui. There are strong arguments that suggest human activity had a limited role. Like so much that we (don't) know about Rapanui, how it was deforested is shrouded in mystery and speculation.

I really don't mean to be argumentative, but I come across tons of this type of "Easter Island as morality tale" and too many people seem to find whatever happened on Rapanui a convenient example of whatever it is they want to argue.

The island of Rapanui is one of the most wonderful places I have ever been. The Rapanui people are lovely. My memories of my too brief trip there haunt me (in a good way) daily. If the rest of the world were to end up like Rapanui, it might not be such a bad thing afterall.

Well, I should have said, "maybe what happened on EI". & thank you for not wanting to "argue". I come here to relax. Remy

Tiki Chris,
I think Dr. Diamond did make the connection between shrinking resources and expanding populatioin on EI and currently on Earth.

Even today, forests are being cut down for fuel. In Israel, 2 trucks carrying 30 tons of illegally chopped wood

"With winter just around the corner, the prospect of high heating bills is on the minds of many Israelis -- particularly villagers high above sea level in the northern Galilee region, home to many of the country's poorest families.

The higher the price of fuel, and the colder the weather, the more likely people are to invade Israel's forests in search of affordable warmth. This month, police seized two trucks carrying 30 tons of wood felled without permit.

"We find a close correlation between this activity and the rise in fuel prices," said Omri Bonneh, director of the Jewish National Fund's northern region, which deploys 50 rangers to patrol tens of thousands of acres of forest. "It is driven by financial distress."LAT 11/24/07

I don't blame the poor, but it is just one example of how history seems to be repeating itself.