In this fascinating book, Diamond seeks to understand the fates of past societies that collapsed for ecological reasons, combining the most important policy debate of this generation with the romance and mystery of lost worlds.
Amazon.com
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Priz...
In this fascinating book, Diamond seeks to understand the fates of past societies that collapsed for ecological reasons, combining the most important policy debate of this generation with the romance and mystery of lost worlds.
Amazon.com
Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling.
--Jennifer Buckendorff
From Publishers Weekly
In his Pulitzer Prize–winning bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, geographer Diamond laid out a grand view of the organic roots of human civilizations in flora, fauna, climate and geology. That vision takes on apocalyptic overtones in this fascinating comparative study of societies that have, sometimes fatally, undermined their own ecological foundations. Diamond examines storied examples of human economic and social collapse, and even extinction, including Easter Island, classical Mayan civilization and the Greenland Norse. He explores patterns of population growth, overfarming, overgrazing and overhunting, often abetted by drought, cold, rigid social mores and warfare, that lead inexorably to vicious circles of deforestation, erosion and starvation prompted by the disappearance of plant and animal food sources. Extending his treatment to contemporary environmental trouble spots, from Montana to China to Australia, he finds today's global, technologically advanced civilization very far from solving the problems that plagued primitive, isolated communities in the remote past. At times Diamond comes close to a counsel of despair when contemplating the environmental havoc engulfing our rapidly industrializing planet, but he holds out hope at examples of sustainability from highland New Guinea's age-old but highly diverse and efficient agriculture to Japan's rigorous program of forest protection and, less convincingly, in recent green consumerism initiatives. Diamond is a brilliant expositor of everything from anthropology to zoology, providing a lucid background of scientific lore to support a stimulating, incisive historical account of these many declines and falls. Readers will find his book an enthralling, and disturbing, reminder of the indissoluble links that bind humans to nature. Photos.
From Booklist
Defining collapse as "extreme decline," the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997), which posed questions about Western civilization's domination of much of the world, now examines the reverse side of that coin. Diamond ponders reasons why certain civilizations have collapsed. With an eye on the implications for the present and future, he bases his analysis on his newly phrased version of an old maxim about what history teaches: "The past offers us a rich database from which we can learn." Drawing examples from this database, from Polynesian culture on Easter Island to the Viking outposts in Greenland to the Mayan civilization in Central America, the author finds "the fundamental pattern of catastrophe" that is apparent in these populations that once flourished and then collapsed. The template he holds up is a construct based on five factors, including environmental damage, climate change, and hostile neighbors. In addition, Diamond casts his critical but acute and inclusive gaze on the issue of why civilizations fail to see collapse coming. A thought-provoking book containing not a single page of dense prose. Expect demand from civic- and history-minded readers.
Brad Hooper
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This powerful call to action should be read by all high school students. Diamond eloquently and persuasively describes the environmental and social problems that led to the collapse of previous civilizations and threaten us today. The book's organization makes researching particular regions or types of damage accessible. Unfamiliar words are defined, and mention of a place or issue that has been described in greater detail elsewhere includes relevant page numbers. Students may become impatient with the folksy Montana fishing stories in part one, but once the fascinating account of the vanished civilizations begins, readers are taken on an extraordinary journey. Using the Mayan empire, Easter Island, the Anasazi, and other examples, the author shows how a combination of environmental factors such as habitat destruction, the loss of biodiversity, and degradation of the soil caused complex, flourishing societies to suddenly disintegrate. Modern societies are divided into those that have begun to collapse, such as Rwanda and Haiti; those whose conservation policies have helped to avert disaster, such as Iceland and Japan; and those currently dealing with massive problems, such as Australia and China. Diamond is a cautious optimist. Some of his most compelling stories show how two groups of people sharing the same land, such as the Norse and Inuit in Greenland, can end up in completely different situations depending on how they address their problems. The solutions discussed are of vital importance: how societies respond to environmental degradation will determine how teens will live their adult lives. As Diamond points out, in a collapsing civilization, being rich just means being the last to starve. Black-and-white photos are included.
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005. Prologue: a tale of two farms 过去社会自我破坏环境的过程可分为如下八个种类:森林退化和栖息地的破坏、土壤问题、水资源管理问题、过度狩猎、过度捕鱼、引进新物种对原生物种的影响、人口膨胀及人均增长对人类产生的影响。 PART I MODERN MONTANA Chapter 1: Under Montana's big 1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击...
2015-11-08 09:021人喜欢
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005.
Chapter 1: Under Montana's big
1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击、失去友邦支持、气候巨变、人类活动影响自然环境以及政治文化因素。
PART II PAST SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter
2. 波利尼西亚人通过有计划的殖民占领了新西兰、复活节岛与夏威夷之间的所有适合人类居住的岛屿。
3. 通过分析诸如不同岛屿上石器的化学成分,可以确知波利尼西亚群岛间许多岛屿存在岛际交流。但是复活节岛上没有发现用来自其它岛上的石材制作的石器,反之亦然,因此复活节岛可能自首次发现后就没有再与外界发生联系。
4. 首批人类定居复活节岛的大约稍早于公元900年。
5. 孢粉学(分析水下沉积物中不同层中的花粉)显示直到人类定居复活节岛初期,它还广布亚热带森林。通过鸟骨分析,可知现今本土陆鸟绝迹的复活节岛至少曾生活过6种鸟类,并有至少25种海鸟在此筑巢产卵。遗存的贝类,距今越近,体积就越小,远洋鱼类的鱼骨也越来越少。
Chapter 3: The last people alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands
6. Mangareva自然资源最为丰富。其东南部300英里外的Pitcairn有优质的玄武岩,东部400英里外的Henderson则有丰富的海鸟与海鲜。这三个岛屿是波利尼西亚东南部唯一适合人类居住的岛屿。
7. 分析指出,Handerson岛上的火山玻璃全部来自于Pitcairn,Mangareva上的手斧等工具用石也主要来自Pitcairn。Handerson岛上用作灶石的多孔玄武岩则多来自Mangareva。
8. 当Mangareva的自然环境受到破坏后,便无力再向其它两个岛屿输出货物。Pitcairn与Henderson的岛民在独自勉力维持了一段时间以后(不得不)绝种了。
Chapter 4: The ancient ones: the Anasazi and their neighbors
9. 气候条件不是非常适宜农业的地区可以通过其它方法发展一定的农业,例如利用地下水,或从事旱地农业。然而,倘若有连年的风调雨顺,人口势必会急剧增长,导致社会趋于复杂化,而各地区间也不再自给自足。一旦遭遇连年歉收,它们的应对能力反而急剧下降。
10. 古生物学家通过辨识林鼠贝冢内由于其尿液结晶而保存下来的植物,就可以重建林鼠筑巢时期巢穴附近的植物生态。而贝冢的年代可通过放射性碳年代测定法来推断。
Chapter 5: The Maya collapses
11. 玛雅的例子旨在警告即使先进的社会也可能崩溃。
12. 公元800年以后,玛雅90%至99%的人口消失了,尤其是以前人口最密集的南部低地地区。与此同时,消逝的还有其复杂的政治和文化制度。
13. 玛雅的环境和人口问题致使战争升级,民间冲突不断。在人口达到高峰之后,政治与社会的崩溃接踵而至。
14. 丘陵地的农业遭到破坏后,留下更多需要喂养的人口。然而,复活节岛上的首长们竞相竖立起更大的石像,最后甚至戴上名为普卡奥的头冠;Anasazi的权贵们颈挂由2000 颗绿松石串成的项链;而玛雅的国王也拼命兴建比对方更壮观气派的神庙,石灰刷得个比一个厚。 所有这些举动与现代美国首席执行宫们的炫耀消费有着明显的相似之处。
Chapter 6: The Viking prelude and fugues
15. 维京人在格陵兰岛遭遇了因纽特人。对于格陵兰岛的环境问题,两族人的解决方法截然不同。五个世纪后,维京人退出了格陵兰岛。由此可见,即使在最恶劣的环境中,人类社会的崩溃也并非不可避免。
16. 冰岛会成为生态环境破坏最严重的欧洲国家,不是因为这些挪威和英国的移民们踏上冰岛后突然变得莽撞大意,而是面对表部繁茂但内里脆弱的冰岛环境, 一味地照搬老经验。
Chapter 7: Norse Greenland's flowering
17. 了解格陵兰过去的气候可依靠文字记录、花粉、冰芯。冰雪形成时期的温度越高,雪中所含的氧18的比例就越高。冰芯还能反映暴风雪的程度:狂风可以把格陵兰近海的盐雾吹到内陆,带来钠离子,或把沙尘吹到冰帽上,带来钙离子。
18. 通过对骨骸成分的分析,可以计算出人类或动物一生中所食海生和陆生食物的比例。
19. 格陵兰人追逐欧洲的最新流行,却罔顾自身的环境制约。
Chapter 8: Norse Greenland's end
20. 在维京人的遗址中,找不到他们与因纽特人贸易的证据。从骨骸或基因研究中也找不到通婚的证据。
21. 维京人来到格陵兰岛时,一并带来的是他们过去几个世纪的生活经验,而这并不容易改变。他们也像中世纪欧洲的其他基督徒一样,看不起欧洲人以外的异教徒。这些都导致他们从未学习因纽特人应付极地气候的长处。
Chapter 9: Opposite paths to success
22. 小型社会或社区(如新几内亚)更适应“由下而上”的管理模式,每个成员都清楚环境保护的重要性。“由上而下”的模式则适合中央集权的大型社会。然而,中型社会可能会面临两难。
23. Tikopia岛的居民有意识地控制人口。他们有七种传统的人口调节法,包括性交中断(coitus interruptus)、堕胎、弑婴、不婚(celibacy)、自杀、送死以及在饥荒时期部落间的战争。
24. 日本森林消失的最初迹象大约始于公元800 年。到德川幕府时代,除了木材、燃料和草秣短缺外,大型建筑也不得不停工。然而在接下来的两个世纪,日本的人口数量逐渐趋于稳定,资源消耗的速度也在可承受的范围。这种转变是由好几代将军通过“自上而下”的管理方式达到的。他们崇尚儒家思想,提倡节俭和积累,因此使日本逃过一劫。
PART III MODERN SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's genocide
25. “屠杀的决定当然 是政客们出于政治原因下达的。但为何普通农民会将其实行得如此彻底?对此至少部分因素是他们感到人口太多土地太少,所以唯有减少人数,才能使幸存者们拥有多一点的土地。”
Chapter 11: One island, two peoples, two histories: the Dominican Republic and Haiti
26. 多米尼加共和国与海地同在一座岛屿,都有沦为欧洲殖民地的历史,也都被美国人占领过。在历史上,有三个时期它们曾合为一个单一的殖民地。然而今天,多米尼加共和国的森林覆盖率为28%,而海地仅为1%。两地的经济、政治发展水平也有较大差异。
Chapter 12: China, lurching giant
27. 即使中国不与外界来往,其排放的污水与废气也会影响到全世界。
28. 当中国人民的生活水平达到第一世界国家水平之后,全球人类的资源利用及对环境造成的影响将会倍增。然而,我们并不知道当前地球上的人类资源利用和环境能否承受这样的冲击。人们必须有所放弃。这也就是为什么中国的问题自动变成了全世界的问题。
Chapter 13: "Mining" Australia
29. 澳大利亚是农业生产力最低下的大陆:其土壤贫癖程度、植物生长率和生产力堪称全世界最逊。三种使贫瘠土壤重新获得肥力的主要方法(火山灰沉积、冰山运动消蚀岩石、地壳运动抬升土壤),在澳大利亚皆无可能。
PART IV PRACTICAL LESSONS引自 全文
Chapter 14: Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?
30. 没有遇见危机、没有觉察问题(由于难以觉察根源,或远程管理等)、理性的恶行、灾难性的价值观(如复活节岛上的人不惜代价竖起石像)、失败的方案。
Chapter 15: Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes
31. 大企业、环保人士与社会三方面的利益有时可以非常一致。
Chapter 16: The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?
32. 假使人口众多的第三世界居民都达到第世界的生活水平,地球将无法承受,但第一世界国家也不能因此而阻止第三世界民家和地区的发展进程。
========== #12-14 The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed. ========== #34-35 Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners. ========== #49-50 Bad leadership can exacerbate a soci...
2020-07-20 16:44
========== #12-14
The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed.
========== #34-35
Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners.
========== #49-50
Bad leadership can exacerbate a society's problems, leading to its decline and collapse.
========== #59-62
When faced with a crisis of overpopulation and food shortages, good leaders will seek solutions. Yet the Mayan leaders did the opposite – they simply ignored the worsening situation. For them, it was important to concentrate on building up their own power. So instead of finding ways to grow more food sustainably, they spent time and resources on building ever more expensive monuments to themselves and on waging war with rivals.
========== #65-66
Societies that refuse to adapt to environmental changes will die out.
========== #75-78
While the Viking community was struggling, Greenland’s native Inuit populations were experts in living in their environment. If the Vikings had learned from them they would have known, for example, that fish were a better source of food than cattle. But the Vikings refused to learn from what they thought were inferior people, and so continued with their old ways implacably.
========== #80-81
Societies can avoid collapse if they carefully manage their environment and populations.
========== #120-122
But before you start getting angry at the Chinese people and government for allowing this to happen, you should remember that we in the West share some of the blame. Western businesses are happy to outsource their polluting industries to China and we are all happy to consume cheap Chinese goods.
========== #12-14 The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed. ========== #34-35 Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners. ========== #49-50 Bad leadership can exacerbate a soci...
2020-07-20 16:44
========== #12-14
The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed.
========== #34-35
Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners.
========== #49-50
Bad leadership can exacerbate a society's problems, leading to its decline and collapse.
========== #59-62
When faced with a crisis of overpopulation and food shortages, good leaders will seek solutions. Yet the Mayan leaders did the opposite – they simply ignored the worsening situation. For them, it was important to concentrate on building up their own power. So instead of finding ways to grow more food sustainably, they spent time and resources on building ever more expensive monuments to themselves and on waging war with rivals.
========== #65-66
Societies that refuse to adapt to environmental changes will die out.
========== #75-78
While the Viking community was struggling, Greenland’s native Inuit populations were experts in living in their environment. If the Vikings had learned from them they would have known, for example, that fish were a better source of food than cattle. But the Vikings refused to learn from what they thought were inferior people, and so continued with their old ways implacably.
========== #80-81
Societies can avoid collapse if they carefully manage their environment and populations.
========== #120-122
But before you start getting angry at the Chinese people and government for allowing this to happen, you should remember that we in the West share some of the blame. Western businesses are happy to outsource their polluting industries to China and we are all happy to consume cheap Chinese goods.
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005. Prologue: a tale of two farms 过去社会自我破坏环境的过程可分为如下八个种类:森林退化和栖息地的破坏、土壤问题、水资源管理问题、过度狩猎、过度捕鱼、引进新物种对原生物种的影响、人口膨胀及人均增长对人类产生的影响。 PART I MODERN MONTANA Chapter 1: Under Montana's big 1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击...
2015-11-08 09:021人喜欢
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005.
Chapter 1: Under Montana's big
1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击、失去友邦支持、气候巨变、人类活动影响自然环境以及政治文化因素。
PART II PAST SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter
2. 波利尼西亚人通过有计划的殖民占领了新西兰、复活节岛与夏威夷之间的所有适合人类居住的岛屿。
3. 通过分析诸如不同岛屿上石器的化学成分,可以确知波利尼西亚群岛间许多岛屿存在岛际交流。但是复活节岛上没有发现用来自其它岛上的石材制作的石器,反之亦然,因此复活节岛可能自首次发现后就没有再与外界发生联系。
4. 首批人类定居复活节岛的大约稍早于公元900年。
5. 孢粉学(分析水下沉积物中不同层中的花粉)显示直到人类定居复活节岛初期,它还广布亚热带森林。通过鸟骨分析,可知现今本土陆鸟绝迹的复活节岛至少曾生活过6种鸟类,并有至少25种海鸟在此筑巢产卵。遗存的贝类,距今越近,体积就越小,远洋鱼类的鱼骨也越来越少。
Chapter 3: The last people alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands
6. Mangareva自然资源最为丰富。其东南部300英里外的Pitcairn有优质的玄武岩,东部400英里外的Henderson则有丰富的海鸟与海鲜。这三个岛屿是波利尼西亚东南部唯一适合人类居住的岛屿。
7. 分析指出,Handerson岛上的火山玻璃全部来自于Pitcairn,Mangareva上的手斧等工具用石也主要来自Pitcairn。Handerson岛上用作灶石的多孔玄武岩则多来自Mangareva。
8. 当Mangareva的自然环境受到破坏后,便无力再向其它两个岛屿输出货物。Pitcairn与Henderson的岛民在独自勉力维持了一段时间以后(不得不)绝种了。
Chapter 4: The ancient ones: the Anasazi and their neighbors
9. 气候条件不是非常适宜农业的地区可以通过其它方法发展一定的农业,例如利用地下水,或从事旱地农业。然而,倘若有连年的风调雨顺,人口势必会急剧增长,导致社会趋于复杂化,而各地区间也不再自给自足。一旦遭遇连年歉收,它们的应对能力反而急剧下降。
10. 古生物学家通过辨识林鼠贝冢内由于其尿液结晶而保存下来的植物,就可以重建林鼠筑巢时期巢穴附近的植物生态。而贝冢的年代可通过放射性碳年代测定法来推断。
Chapter 5: The Maya collapses
11. 玛雅的例子旨在警告即使先进的社会也可能崩溃。
12. 公元800年以后,玛雅90%至99%的人口消失了,尤其是以前人口最密集的南部低地地区。与此同时,消逝的还有其复杂的政治和文化制度。
13. 玛雅的环境和人口问题致使战争升级,民间冲突不断。在人口达到高峰之后,政治与社会的崩溃接踵而至。
14. 丘陵地的农业遭到破坏后,留下更多需要喂养的人口。然而,复活节岛上的首长们竞相竖立起更大的石像,最后甚至戴上名为普卡奥的头冠;Anasazi的权贵们颈挂由2000 颗绿松石串成的项链;而玛雅的国王也拼命兴建比对方更壮观气派的神庙,石灰刷得个比一个厚。 所有这些举动与现代美国首席执行宫们的炫耀消费有着明显的相似之处。
Chapter 6: The Viking prelude and fugues
15. 维京人在格陵兰岛遭遇了因纽特人。对于格陵兰岛的环境问题,两族人的解决方法截然不同。五个世纪后,维京人退出了格陵兰岛。由此可见,即使在最恶劣的环境中,人类社会的崩溃也并非不可避免。
16. 冰岛会成为生态环境破坏最严重的欧洲国家,不是因为这些挪威和英国的移民们踏上冰岛后突然变得莽撞大意,而是面对表部繁茂但内里脆弱的冰岛环境, 一味地照搬老经验。
Chapter 7: Norse Greenland's flowering
17. 了解格陵兰过去的气候可依靠文字记录、花粉、冰芯。冰雪形成时期的温度越高,雪中所含的氧18的比例就越高。冰芯还能反映暴风雪的程度:狂风可以把格陵兰近海的盐雾吹到内陆,带来钠离子,或把沙尘吹到冰帽上,带来钙离子。
18. 通过对骨骸成分的分析,可以计算出人类或动物一生中所食海生和陆生食物的比例。
19. 格陵兰人追逐欧洲的最新流行,却罔顾自身的环境制约。
Chapter 8: Norse Greenland's end
20. 在维京人的遗址中,找不到他们与因纽特人贸易的证据。从骨骸或基因研究中也找不到通婚的证据。
21. 维京人来到格陵兰岛时,一并带来的是他们过去几个世纪的生活经验,而这并不容易改变。他们也像中世纪欧洲的其他基督徒一样,看不起欧洲人以外的异教徒。这些都导致他们从未学习因纽特人应付极地气候的长处。
Chapter 9: Opposite paths to success
22. 小型社会或社区(如新几内亚)更适应“由下而上”的管理模式,每个成员都清楚环境保护的重要性。“由上而下”的模式则适合中央集权的大型社会。然而,中型社会可能会面临两难。
23. Tikopia岛的居民有意识地控制人口。他们有七种传统的人口调节法,包括性交中断(coitus interruptus)、堕胎、弑婴、不婚(celibacy)、自杀、送死以及在饥荒时期部落间的战争。
24. 日本森林消失的最初迹象大约始于公元800 年。到德川幕府时代,除了木材、燃料和草秣短缺外,大型建筑也不得不停工。然而在接下来的两个世纪,日本的人口数量逐渐趋于稳定,资源消耗的速度也在可承受的范围。这种转变是由好几代将军通过“自上而下”的管理方式达到的。他们崇尚儒家思想,提倡节俭和积累,因此使日本逃过一劫。
PART III MODERN SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's genocide
25. “屠杀的决定当然 是政客们出于政治原因下达的。但为何普通农民会将其实行得如此彻底?对此至少部分因素是他们感到人口太多土地太少,所以唯有减少人数,才能使幸存者们拥有多一点的土地。”
Chapter 11: One island, two peoples, two histories: the Dominican Republic and Haiti
26. 多米尼加共和国与海地同在一座岛屿,都有沦为欧洲殖民地的历史,也都被美国人占领过。在历史上,有三个时期它们曾合为一个单一的殖民地。然而今天,多米尼加共和国的森林覆盖率为28%,而海地仅为1%。两地的经济、政治发展水平也有较大差异。
Chapter 12: China, lurching giant
27. 即使中国不与外界来往,其排放的污水与废气也会影响到全世界。
28. 当中国人民的生活水平达到第一世界国家水平之后,全球人类的资源利用及对环境造成的影响将会倍增。然而,我们并不知道当前地球上的人类资源利用和环境能否承受这样的冲击。人们必须有所放弃。这也就是为什么中国的问题自动变成了全世界的问题。
Chapter 13: "Mining" Australia
29. 澳大利亚是农业生产力最低下的大陆:其土壤贫癖程度、植物生长率和生产力堪称全世界最逊。三种使贫瘠土壤重新获得肥力的主要方法(火山灰沉积、冰山运动消蚀岩石、地壳运动抬升土壤),在澳大利亚皆无可能。
PART IV PRACTICAL LESSONS引自 全文
Chapter 14: Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?
30. 没有遇见危机、没有觉察问题(由于难以觉察根源,或远程管理等)、理性的恶行、灾难性的价值观(如复活节岛上的人不惜代价竖起石像)、失败的方案。
Chapter 15: Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes
31. 大企业、环保人士与社会三方面的利益有时可以非常一致。
Chapter 16: The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?
32. 假使人口众多的第三世界居民都达到第世界的生活水平,地球将无法承受,但第一世界国家也不能因此而阻止第三世界民家和地区的发展进程。
========== #12-14 The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed. ========== #34-35 Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners. ========== #49-50 Bad leadership can exacerbate a soci...
2020-07-20 16:44
========== #12-14
The author explains the factors that cause a society to fail: self-inflicted environmental damage; climate change; problems with trading partners; damage from enemies; and the inflexibility of a society's institutions when change is needed.
========== #34-35
Societies can collapse if they lose their major trading partners.
========== #49-50
Bad leadership can exacerbate a society's problems, leading to its decline and collapse.
========== #59-62
When faced with a crisis of overpopulation and food shortages, good leaders will seek solutions. Yet the Mayan leaders did the opposite – they simply ignored the worsening situation. For them, it was important to concentrate on building up their own power. So instead of finding ways to grow more food sustainably, they spent time and resources on building ever more expensive monuments to themselves and on waging war with rivals.
========== #65-66
Societies that refuse to adapt to environmental changes will die out.
========== #75-78
While the Viking community was struggling, Greenland’s native Inuit populations were experts in living in their environment. If the Vikings had learned from them they would have known, for example, that fish were a better source of food than cattle. But the Vikings refused to learn from what they thought were inferior people, and so continued with their old ways implacably.
========== #80-81
Societies can avoid collapse if they carefully manage their environment and populations.
========== #120-122
But before you start getting angry at the Chinese people and government for allowing this to happen, you should remember that we in the West share some of the blame. Western businesses are happy to outsource their polluting industries to China and we are all happy to consume cheap Chinese goods.
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005. Prologue: a tale of two farms 过去社会自我破坏环境的过程可分为如下八个种类:森林退化和栖息地的破坏、土壤问题、水资源管理问题、过度狩猎、过度捕鱼、引进新物种对原生物种的影响、人口膨胀及人均增长对人类产生的影响。 PART I MODERN MONTANA Chapter 1: Under Montana's big 1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击...
2015-11-08 09:021人喜欢
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: VIking, 2005.
Chapter 1: Under Montana's big
1. 五种造成环境崩溃的因素:受到敌国攻击、失去友邦支持、气候巨变、人类活动影响自然环境以及政治文化因素。
PART II PAST SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter
2. 波利尼西亚人通过有计划的殖民占领了新西兰、复活节岛与夏威夷之间的所有适合人类居住的岛屿。
3. 通过分析诸如不同岛屿上石器的化学成分,可以确知波利尼西亚群岛间许多岛屿存在岛际交流。但是复活节岛上没有发现用来自其它岛上的石材制作的石器,反之亦然,因此复活节岛可能自首次发现后就没有再与外界发生联系。
4. 首批人类定居复活节岛的大约稍早于公元900年。
5. 孢粉学(分析水下沉积物中不同层中的花粉)显示直到人类定居复活节岛初期,它还广布亚热带森林。通过鸟骨分析,可知现今本土陆鸟绝迹的复活节岛至少曾生活过6种鸟类,并有至少25种海鸟在此筑巢产卵。遗存的贝类,距今越近,体积就越小,远洋鱼类的鱼骨也越来越少。
Chapter 3: The last people alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands
6. Mangareva自然资源最为丰富。其东南部300英里外的Pitcairn有优质的玄武岩,东部400英里外的Henderson则有丰富的海鸟与海鲜。这三个岛屿是波利尼西亚东南部唯一适合人类居住的岛屿。
7. 分析指出,Handerson岛上的火山玻璃全部来自于Pitcairn,Mangareva上的手斧等工具用石也主要来自Pitcairn。Handerson岛上用作灶石的多孔玄武岩则多来自Mangareva。
8. 当Mangareva的自然环境受到破坏后,便无力再向其它两个岛屿输出货物。Pitcairn与Henderson的岛民在独自勉力维持了一段时间以后(不得不)绝种了。
Chapter 4: The ancient ones: the Anasazi and their neighbors
9. 气候条件不是非常适宜农业的地区可以通过其它方法发展一定的农业,例如利用地下水,或从事旱地农业。然而,倘若有连年的风调雨顺,人口势必会急剧增长,导致社会趋于复杂化,而各地区间也不再自给自足。一旦遭遇连年歉收,它们的应对能力反而急剧下降。
10. 古生物学家通过辨识林鼠贝冢内由于其尿液结晶而保存下来的植物,就可以重建林鼠筑巢时期巢穴附近的植物生态。而贝冢的年代可通过放射性碳年代测定法来推断。
Chapter 5: The Maya collapses
11. 玛雅的例子旨在警告即使先进的社会也可能崩溃。
12. 公元800年以后,玛雅90%至99%的人口消失了,尤其是以前人口最密集的南部低地地区。与此同时,消逝的还有其复杂的政治和文化制度。
13. 玛雅的环境和人口问题致使战争升级,民间冲突不断。在人口达到高峰之后,政治与社会的崩溃接踵而至。
14. 丘陵地的农业遭到破坏后,留下更多需要喂养的人口。然而,复活节岛上的首长们竞相竖立起更大的石像,最后甚至戴上名为普卡奥的头冠;Anasazi的权贵们颈挂由2000 颗绿松石串成的项链;而玛雅的国王也拼命兴建比对方更壮观气派的神庙,石灰刷得个比一个厚。 所有这些举动与现代美国首席执行宫们的炫耀消费有着明显的相似之处。
Chapter 6: The Viking prelude and fugues
15. 维京人在格陵兰岛遭遇了因纽特人。对于格陵兰岛的环境问题,两族人的解决方法截然不同。五个世纪后,维京人退出了格陵兰岛。由此可见,即使在最恶劣的环境中,人类社会的崩溃也并非不可避免。
16. 冰岛会成为生态环境破坏最严重的欧洲国家,不是因为这些挪威和英国的移民们踏上冰岛后突然变得莽撞大意,而是面对表部繁茂但内里脆弱的冰岛环境, 一味地照搬老经验。
Chapter 7: Norse Greenland's flowering
17. 了解格陵兰过去的气候可依靠文字记录、花粉、冰芯。冰雪形成时期的温度越高,雪中所含的氧18的比例就越高。冰芯还能反映暴风雪的程度:狂风可以把格陵兰近海的盐雾吹到内陆,带来钠离子,或把沙尘吹到冰帽上,带来钙离子。
18. 通过对骨骸成分的分析,可以计算出人类或动物一生中所食海生和陆生食物的比例。
19. 格陵兰人追逐欧洲的最新流行,却罔顾自身的环境制约。
Chapter 8: Norse Greenland's end
20. 在维京人的遗址中,找不到他们与因纽特人贸易的证据。从骨骸或基因研究中也找不到通婚的证据。
21. 维京人来到格陵兰岛时,一并带来的是他们过去几个世纪的生活经验,而这并不容易改变。他们也像中世纪欧洲的其他基督徒一样,看不起欧洲人以外的异教徒。这些都导致他们从未学习因纽特人应付极地气候的长处。
Chapter 9: Opposite paths to success
22. 小型社会或社区(如新几内亚)更适应“由下而上”的管理模式,每个成员都清楚环境保护的重要性。“由上而下”的模式则适合中央集权的大型社会。然而,中型社会可能会面临两难。
23. Tikopia岛的居民有意识地控制人口。他们有七种传统的人口调节法,包括性交中断(coitus interruptus)、堕胎、弑婴、不婚(celibacy)、自杀、送死以及在饥荒时期部落间的战争。
24. 日本森林消失的最初迹象大约始于公元800 年。到德川幕府时代,除了木材、燃料和草秣短缺外,大型建筑也不得不停工。然而在接下来的两个世纪,日本的人口数量逐渐趋于稳定,资源消耗的速度也在可承受的范围。这种转变是由好几代将军通过“自上而下”的管理方式达到的。他们崇尚儒家思想,提倡节俭和积累,因此使日本逃过一劫。
PART III MODERN SOCIETIES引自 全文
Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's genocide
25. “屠杀的决定当然 是政客们出于政治原因下达的。但为何普通农民会将其实行得如此彻底?对此至少部分因素是他们感到人口太多土地太少,所以唯有减少人数,才能使幸存者们拥有多一点的土地。”
Chapter 11: One island, two peoples, two histories: the Dominican Republic and Haiti
26. 多米尼加共和国与海地同在一座岛屿,都有沦为欧洲殖民地的历史,也都被美国人占领过。在历史上,有三个时期它们曾合为一个单一的殖民地。然而今天,多米尼加共和国的森林覆盖率为28%,而海地仅为1%。两地的经济、政治发展水平也有较大差异。
Chapter 12: China, lurching giant
27. 即使中国不与外界来往,其排放的污水与废气也会影响到全世界。
28. 当中国人民的生活水平达到第一世界国家水平之后,全球人类的资源利用及对环境造成的影响将会倍增。然而,我们并不知道当前地球上的人类资源利用和环境能否承受这样的冲击。人们必须有所放弃。这也就是为什么中国的问题自动变成了全世界的问题。
Chapter 13: "Mining" Australia
29. 澳大利亚是农业生产力最低下的大陆:其土壤贫癖程度、植物生长率和生产力堪称全世界最逊。三种使贫瘠土壤重新获得肥力的主要方法(火山灰沉积、冰山运动消蚀岩石、地壳运动抬升土壤),在澳大利亚皆无可能。
PART IV PRACTICAL LESSONS引自 全文
Chapter 14: Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?
30. 没有遇见危机、没有觉察问题(由于难以觉察根源,或远程管理等)、理性的恶行、灾难性的价值观(如复活节岛上的人不惜代价竖起石像)、失败的方案。
Chapter 15: Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes
31. 大企业、环保人士与社会三方面的利益有时可以非常一致。
Chapter 16: The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?
32. 假使人口众多的第三世界居民都达到第世界的生活水平,地球将无法承受,但第一世界国家也不能因此而阻止第三世界民家和地区的发展进程。
0 有用 天意自古高难问 2012-10-11
不错
0 有用 arale 2016-03-30
Refreshed my understanding on environmental issues.
0 有用 Sheryl 2020-07-20
4.9. Example on Easter Island's society
0 有用 SnooY 2015-11-17
少生孩子多种树!
0 有用 f 2009-04-04
尊重自然尊重生命 過可以永續的生活方式
0 有用 申不变 2021-01-20
这本高中时候啃英文版啃了很久。历史细节很多,考证详细严密,算是第一次让我对环境问题有所警醒。内容其实说不上多深刻,道理都是简单明了的道理,但在有足够实证支撑的时候还是显得很有力度。
0 有用 砂之器 2020-08-25
2020-82
0 有用 Sheryl 2020-07-20
4.9. Example on Easter Island's society
0 有用 芋头 2020-03-01
Wicked problems, hard to explain, little clue to solve.
0 有用 慢Man 2020-02-29
两个原因: 1. 执政精英的短期利益和社会大众的长远利益冲突。2. 决策和传统价值观,特别是曾赖以成功的信念产生冲突。 人类所有面对的问题都是人为的,而且会在未来50年内了断,不管是通过温和的或激烈的方式。