Jared Diamond Discusses "Eco-Suicide" In Interesting Article

[hatrack]

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In a more current case study, Diamond made an unconventional interpretation of the bloody Rwandan conflict. It was not a mutually genocidal affair propelled by ancient hatreds, as many historians suggest. Rather Diamond proposes the Malthusian model of too many people with too little land. The Hutu and Tutsi had lived together amicably-until geometric population growth far exceeded agricultural capacity, fulfilling the Malthus thesis. The brutal killing was thus, according to Diamond, primarily over land-not tribal membership.

Today, he sees similar destructive patterns throughout the world -the deforested landscapes of Haiti; air and water pollution in China; destruction of vast swaths of forest by sheep and rabbits in Australia; oil and chemical disasters in the North Sea and in Bhopal. Eco-suicide is an ever-present risk not just in remote parts of the world but stateside as well. Diamond advised the audience to visit Glacier National Park before 2020, by which time-thanks to global warming-its name may be Glacier-less National Park.

The state of Montana, pristine in the minds of many, is in Diamond's view a poster child for bad environmental stewardship: toxic chemicals are routinely dumped into over-salinated water supplies, while air pollution is ever-increasing. His home city of Los Angeles also elicits much hand-wringing approbation for its out-of-touch gated communities, urban sprawl and constant smog.

Not all at-risk societies end up collapsing, Diamond points out. Japan long ago recognized its vulnerability and has successfully replanted and protected its forests for the past four centuries. The Dominican Republic also preserved its forests and is now eight times richer than its desperate neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, Haiti, which has systematically ravished both land and forests. "These are societies that have come to success by right thought and action," according to Diamond. "They are sensible stewards of the environment."

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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18075311&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=506420&rfi=6

[villager]

1. and then of course, there's "rapture madness," abetting the suicidal impulses...

n/t