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A review by dda9
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
2.0
This was an interesting book, as was "Guns, Germs, and Steel." I was a little disappointed though because I was expecting some interesting insights, but his thesis basically amounted to: societies that protected their environment survived, and those who didn't, didn't. He did provide some excellent examples, however, and made a convincing case.
Unfortunately, he seems to promote environmental protectionism at all costs, which is exactly the reason that the other side doesn't listen in environment vs. economy debates in the US. He praises a Polynesian island culture for its environmental stewardship, when this stewardship came at the cost of basically sending unmarried young men off on suicide trips into the ocean, and killing infants that were undesired or deemed "too many." He also speaks highly of China's one-child policy--a brutal violation of human rights. He doesn't say it directly, but he seems to be saying that selective abortions, sterilizations, infanticide, and other means to get rid of surplus population (even when older, as in the Polynesian death voyages) are just peachy as long as they avoid overpopulating fragile environments.
I understand the need to protect the environment, but I also understand the need for, um... ethics. Can we not have both? A little ethical consideration in this book would have made it a convincing argument. As it is, I'm afraid this was simply too much to swallow. I choked.
Unfortunately, he seems to promote environmental protectionism at all costs, which is exactly the reason that the other side doesn't listen in environment vs. economy debates in the US. He praises a Polynesian island culture for its environmental stewardship, when this stewardship came at the cost of basically sending unmarried young men off on suicide trips into the ocean, and killing infants that were undesired or deemed "too many." He also speaks highly of China's one-child policy--a brutal violation of human rights. He doesn't say it directly, but he seems to be saying that selective abortions, sterilizations, infanticide, and other means to get rid of surplus population (even when older, as in the Polynesian death voyages) are just peachy as long as they avoid overpopulating fragile environments.
I understand the need to protect the environment, but I also understand the need for, um... ethics. Can we not have both? A little ethical consideration in this book would have made it a convincing argument. As it is, I'm afraid this was simply too much to swallow. I choked.