::adoring sigh::
Jun. 4th, 2011 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojFirst impressions are important. Just started reading Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, and was immediately charmed by the absolutely perfect poem the author chose to introduce the book: Ozymandias, by Shelley.
Am currently reading about Easter Island, and how people can't quite understand how and why the Easter Islanders destroyed their own forests:
I have often asked myself, "What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?" Like modern loggers, did he shout "Jobs, not trees!"? Or: "Technology will solve our problems, never fear, we'll find a substitute for wood"? Or "We don't have proof that there aren't palms somewhere else on Easter, we need more research, your proposed ban on logging is premature and driven by fear-mongering"? Similar questions arise for every society that has inadvertently damaged its environment.
Am currently reading about Easter Island, and how people can't quite understand how and why the Easter Islanders destroyed their own forests:
I have often asked myself, "What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?" Like modern loggers, did he shout "Jobs, not trees!"? Or: "Technology will solve our problems, never fear, we'll find a substitute for wood"? Or "We don't have proof that there aren't palms somewhere else on Easter, we need more research, your proposed ban on logging is premature and driven by fear-mongering"? Similar questions arise for every society that has inadvertently damaged its environment.
