Hold on Tight!

It becomes apparent in the readings of Jared Diamond that even the richest and most technologically advanced societies today face increasing environmental and economic problems that should not be taken lightly. In the comparison between the Gardner barn and the Huls barn Diamond outlined some of the parallels between the farms although purposefully leading the reader to believe the Gardner barn was still in existence. The point Diamond was trying to get across was that a societal collapse is an extreme form of continuous decline that then becomes characterized as collapse, as Norse Greenland that inhabited the Gardner Barn.We must learn from our past to be able to learn in ways of future success.

But many times when learning about collapsed societies or visiting their ruins the mystery of their remains may trigger many thoughts. Such as can this happen in our society as well? What exactly did the Mayan people encounter? Many of the abandonment's of past societies were caused partly because ecological problems, but whose to say we are not making our own bed as well. Some of the encountered circumstances were over-hunting, population growth, deforestation/habitat destruction, water management problems, etc. These problems then give rise to what actually "tips" the iceberg such as food shortages, starvation, wars, diseases, etc.Some societies have collapsed completely while others have had different rates of decline. But a common fear or concern in today's day is that "ecological suicide" or ecocide.

Today's society's are encountering extensive environmental issues than the ones mentioned above such as the buildup of greenhouse gases and other toxic chemicals and energy shortages. What we do today and how we help resolve these issues will only decide what happens in future generations and decades to come!