Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (titled Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive for the British edition) is a 2005 book by academic and popular science author Jared Diamond, in which the author first defines "collapse": "a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time." He then reviews the causes of historical and pre-historical instances of societal collapse—particularly those involving significant influences from environmental changes, the effects of climate change, hostile neighbors, trade partners, and  the society's response to the foregoing four challenges—and considers the success or failure different societies have had in coping with such threats. While the bulk of the book is concerned with the demise of these historical civilizations, Diamond also argues that humanity collectively faces, on a much larger scale, many of the same issues, with possibly catastrophic near-future consequences to many of the world's populations. Synopsis. In the prologue, Jared Diamond summarizes his methodology in one paragraph: Collapses of past societies. Diamond identifies five factors that contribute to collapse: climate change, hostile neighbours, collapse of essential  trading partners, environmental problems, and the society's response to the foregoing four factors. The root problem in all but one of Diamond's factors leading to collapse is overpopulation relative to the practicable (as opposed to the ideal theoretical) carrying capacity of the environment. One environmental problem not related to overpopulation is the harmful effect of accidental or intentional introduction of non-native species to a region. Diamond also writes about cultural factors (values), such as the apparent reluctance of the Greenland Norse to eat fish. Diamond also states that "it would be absurd to claim that environmental damage  must be a major factor in all collapses: the collapse of the Soviet Union is a modern counter-example, and the destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 BC is an ancient one. It's obviously true that military or economic factors alone may suffice". Modern societies. He also lists twelve environmental problems facing humankind today. The first eight have historically contributed to the collapse of past societies: Further, he says four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future societies: Conclusions. In the last chapter, he discusses environmental problems facing modern societies and addresses  objections that are often given to dismiss the importance of environmental problems (section "One-liner objections"). In the "Further readings" section, he gives suggestions to people who ask "What can I do as an individual?". He also draws conclusions, such as: Finally, he answers the question, "What are the choices that we must make if we are to succeed, and not to fail?" by identifying two crucial choices distinguishing the past societies that failed from those that survived: Book structure. "Collapse" is divided into four parts. The societies Diamond describes are: Reviews. Tim Flannery gave "Collapse" the highest praise in  Science, writing: "The Economist"s review was generally favorable, although the reviewer had two disagreements. First, the reviewer felt Diamond was not optimistic enough about the future. Secondly, the reviewer claimed "Collapse" contains some erroneous statistics: for instance, Diamond purportedly overstated the number of starving people in the world. University of British Columbia professor of ecological planning William Rees wrote that "Collapse"s most important lesson is that societies most able to avoid collapse are the ones that are most agile, able to adopt practices favorable to their own survival and avoid unfavorable ones. Moreover, Rees wrote that "Collapse" is "a necessary  antidote" to followers of Julian Simon, such as Bjørn Lomborg who authored "The Skeptical Environmentalist". Rees explained this assertion as follows: Jennifer Marohasy of the coal-mining backed think-tank Institute of Public Affairs wrote a critical review in "Energy & Environment", in particular its chapter on Australia's environmental degradation. Marohasy claims that Diamond reflects a popular view that is reinforced by environmental campaigning in Australia, but is not supported by evidence, and argues that many of his claims are easily disproved. In his review in "The New Yorker", Malcolm Gladwell highlights the way Diamond's approach differs from traditional  historians by focusing on environmental issues rather than cultural questions. While Diamond does not reject the approach of traditional historians, his book, according to Gladwell, vividly illustrates the limitations of that approach. Gladwell demonstrates this with his own example of a recent ballot initiative in Oregon, where questions of property rights and other freedoms were subject to a free and healthy debate, but serious ecological questions were given scant attention. In 2006 the book was shortlisted for The Aventis Prizes for Science Books award, eventually losing out to David Bodanis's "Electric Universe". Criticisms. Jared Diamond's thesis that Easter  Island society collapsed in isolation entirely due to environmental damage and cultural inflexibility is contested by some ethnographers and archaeologists, who argue that the introduction of diseases carried by European colonizers and slave raiding, which devastated the population in the 19th century, had a much greater social impact than environmental decline, and that introduced animals—first rats and then sheep—were greatly responsible for the island's loss of native flora, which came closest to deforestation as late as 1930–1960. The book "Questioning Collapse" (Cambridge University Press, 2010) is a collection of essays by anthropologists criticizing various aspects of Diamond 's books "Collapse" and "Guns, Germs and Steel". As attributed causes for societal collapse in academia generally change over time, it is likely that such interpretations are simply a reflection of, or platform for, current concerns/issues. Archaeologist Karl Butzer wrote, "Current research in historical collapse suggests a primary fascination with climatic change and environmental degradation as primary agents of change, but at the cost of less attention to the necessary cross-disciplinary integration. Indeed, the recent return to environmentalism is not about a fresh interest in the environment–society interface, but a continuing failure to appreciate the complexity of  such interrelationships. At issue is not whether climatic change is relevant for sociohistorical change, but how we can deal more objectively with coupled systems that include a great tapestry of variables, among which climatically triggered environmental change is undeniably important." Film. In 2010, National Geographic released the documentary film "Collapse" based on Diamond's book.