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Thomas Templin
10/5/14
Environmental Studies 1010
Essay 1: Easter Island and the meaning of Diamonds quote. Before humans, Easter Island started out as tropical forest filled with all sorts of trees, bushes shrubs, herbs, ferns, and grasses, but as it became home to humans this had all changed. By the time it was discovered on Easter of 1722 by Jacob Roggeveen the island had already been turned into a wasteland. The people of Easter Island had a highly developed system of damaging any forest, to be used for a food source, firewood, tools, the creation of large statues, and the erection of the statues. Over the centuries of continuing this process they may have noticed that they were running out of resources, but this did not let them change their ways of living. By the time the last trees were chopped down, the islanders had no more options for survival but to turn to cannibalism. The way the people of Easter Island lived is an exact meaning of the concept of the tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons is a theory in which an individual acts in a way to suffice their self-interest, while decreasing a resource for a groups long term important interests. The only
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Easter Island is Earth writ small”. He is referring to the fact that in today’s world we have a similar problem compared to on Easter Island, though it may not be as serious as to having only one tree left next year. In society today we are experiencing a very rapid growth in our population, as did the islanders. With this increase of people, we are worried about the amounts of resources each person is consuming due to the fact that everyone is trying to meet the needs of their self-interest, and not thinking long term, just like on Easter Island. This problem is no longer happening in one area, it is affecting everyone worldwide, and to me that’s a pretty scary
The proposed Island Civilization way of life would require all humans, a notoriously stubborn race, to completely alter their existence. One can see by exclusively looking at the proposed population requirement that this plan could never be carried out. Mankind reproduces at a rate of ten thousand lives an hour, and shows no sign of slowing down. With a current population near seven billion, this stipulation is all but achievable. To add to the inoperable nature of this way of life, the idea of having a completely self-sufficient community with a population numbering in the millions in such a constricted area is highly unrealistic. There is simply not enough area on earth that can provide all the resources essential to human existence within such a small area restriction. This proposed solution portrays Earth as utopian society that is clearly
When the Europeans traveled to the New World, they expected the wilderness to resemble the Garden of Eden. The reality was a rude awakening. They found the vast lands of the new world to be full of uncultivated
To begin with, the Lorax and Easter Island have many differences but the most obvious one is that in the Lorax one person/thing (the onceler) was responsible for the destruction and the depletion of a resource. Unlike the Lorax a whole generation of people led to the destruction and depletion of many resources, and not just one individual profited from the exploitation but a whole species of people did. In the Lorax you can see that the onceler used the truffula trees for economic purposes. He got filthy rich from the exploitation. Whereas, in Easter Island a whole group of people benefited from it, they build pyramids, cut down trees to build temples, and depleted the land of all its natural sources.
This quotation opens your eyes, I know of no one who wants to destroy the earth either. The majority of man kind doesn’t think too much about what is happening to the earth due to their actions. When most of us drive a car or spray deodorant we don’t think of the consequences. It is the responsibility of those who create problems to help fix them and prevent them from happening again. In society today it i...
... harvest fruits and berries and grains from the island. This will supplement the food that can be grown and harvested on the island. Everyone on the island will share the food available equally. If a point comes where there is more food than what the people can eat, at that point we will dry grains, fruit, and vegetables for use later. Even meat can be thinly sliced and smoked and dried to preserve it.
...t the guaranteed developmental boom following the completion of the project will also ensure an even greater and more damaging human impact as there will be more beachfront lighting, boats, and beach pollution. Unconcerned with the negative ramifications of the beach nourishment project, islanders on Topsail prove their allegiance to development, tourism, artificial beaches, the promise for a more booming economy and the selfish desire for hurricane protection even though they riskily built homes on one of the most hazardous and unprotected barrier islands in the United States. Topsail’s willingness to betray the environmental protection organizations it’s worked tirelessly to support makes me question whether the promotion of the Topsail Turtle Project and the Turtle Hospital was a noble cause to save endangered animals or a farce to attract the media and tourism.
Another example she uses to make her point is about coral. When thinking of coral, the idea that comes to most is it is a plant that lives in the ocean and provides a beautiful color. Coral provides more than that for the ocean as we see it provides “Thousands-perhaps millions- of species have evolved to rely on coral reefs, either directly for protection or food, or indirectly, to prey on those species that come seeking protection or food” (Kolbert 130). When carbon dioxide enters the ocean, it forms into an acid called carbonic acid, which has been eating away at most of the coral and not allowing it to grow or survive in the water. This other example used by the author showing humans how we are destroying important aspects to earth. We should be more alarmed to what is occurring in the ocean because we also depend on it for some of our resources. It also goes to show if we are capable of putting other animals in danger we are fully capable of erasing our own
Between the years 300BC-400BC, a group of inhabitants landed ashore the island of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. Once ashore, these settlers began collecting resources and learned to survive with no help from the outside, stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific. They created methods to hunt, fish, make clothing, and cook food properly. In addition, the people of Rapa Nui also separated into different groups or tribes. These tribes coexisted on the island for some time – until civil wars broke out across the island. The inhabitants of Rapa Nui disappeared from the island without a trace. The cause of their disappearance is unknown although experts believe the inhabitants of Rapa Nui were irresponsible with their resources.
In our world there are many resources, all of which people do not have a choice in sharing such as our air and our oceans. These resources are looked at as infinite, although this is not actually the case. Each time one person does something to pollute or use these types of resources, it affects the whole of society. This is the idea of the tragedy of the commons. This tragedy is the phenomena in which a resource may be used to such an extent that it is ruined for all. An example of this tragedy is given in the following scenario: given an open pasture as a commons to which all the herdsmen have a stake; each one will try and keep as many animals on the commons as possible. By adding one more animal to his herd, an individual gains a positive to himself but the negative effect of over grazing is felt throughout the commons. The effect, of overgrazing by one additional animal appears minimal so the other rational herdsmen conclude to add an additional animal to their own herd. Since all the herdsmen are thought to be rational this conclusion is reached by each of them. The effect of, overgrazing will become detrimental to the pasture and all the animals will die. There in is the tragedy because of peoples’ greed to use and or need of a limited resource the over use or degradation of it leads to its destruction. The destruction of these resources leads into another topic discussed by Shari C...
The “Tragedy of the Commons” is an inevitable result of human nature coined by ecologist Garrett Hardin in his 1968 article of the same name. In the article Hardin reports that open resources such as game animals or rivers, “commons”, will be destroyed due to natural human selfishness by the individual. This is clear in the case of overfishing in Peru, for example, which environmental historian Gregory Cushman discusses in his book on Peruvian fishing industries. Hardin provides two solutions: either privatization or mutual coercion agreed upon by those most affected. Due to globalization the people who are most affected are far too diverse to collectively agree to cut back on consumption. The cause of over consumption no longer lies upon the
As Dennis Weaver once said, “We don’t have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment.” One of the biggest problems of modern society is its ignorance for the crumbling environment. Everyday people all around the world pollute the environment whether it’s with cars or overuse of electricity. The popular novel, The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss talks about the environmental problems society faces today. The Lorax warns of the effects cutting down trees can have on an environment; coincidentally, Easter Island’s history warns society of the same matter. The Lorax and Easter Island’s story have many similarities and differences, but both show environmental issues society has been facing for centuries. Although scientists cannot agree on the
Today most experts believe that Easter Island was first settled by Polynesians looking for a new homeland. About 1680 A.D, the quality of life on the island began to decrease. At this time, clan rivals erupted in a bloody battle between long ears and shorts ears. This destruction of the islands natural resource undoubtedly contributed to its decline.
The first settlers, also known as the Rapa Nui, arrived around A.D. 300 – 400, and are believed to be of Polynesian descent. According to legend, these first settlers were a small colony of men, women and children who braved the ocean in nothing more than a catamaran. Their chief, Hotu Matu’a, led them to the island after fleeing their native homeland of Marae Renga following a defeat in war. The population on Easter Island has varied from 7 up to 17,000 before settlers from Europe arrived. Years of famine, introduced diseases from visitors, internal tribal warfare and slave raids led to severe population fluctuations.
Rae’s poem “One world down the drain” and Margaret Atwood’s narrative “Chicken Little goes too far” address the issue of “the sky is falling” or “[the] world [going] down the drain”, metaphoric ways of referring to global warming. Both pieces of writing discuss the negligence of human beings in the battle against global warming and CO2 that has caused it. There are many similarities between the two pieces of writing as they both express concern and criticism toward people’ denial to environmental complication. However, there are also a lot of differences amongst them. ‘Chicken Little goes too far” is written in a slightly humorous way in order to mock businesses of ruining the earth in their race for profit. The story also criticises the “stuck-up”