This week we finished Jared Diamond's COLLAPSE.
This section is open for your template posts and responses.
Respond to one of the following or with your own topic:
Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?
What were your thoughts after reading chapter 15,
"Big Businesses and the Environment: Different Conditions, Different Outcomes"?
Or what are you thoughts on the final chapter:
"The World as a Polder: What Does It All Mean to Us Today?"
10 comments:
Reaction to "The World as a Polder: What Does It All Mean to Us Today?"
Diamond's last chapter examines the Netherlands and its people who, through smart decision making, engineering, solidarity, have avoided a collapse. The Netherlanders understand that with more than one-fifth of their land mass contained in polders, they must work together for their shared survival, and Diamond makes the case that as the world collectively becomes aware of the vast issues we all will face, our individual societies we will come together much as the Netherlanders did: in solidarity, understanding that if we don't all work together, the infrastructure of modern civilization will collapse worldwide. I buy into Diamond's argument, and I am glad that he ended his study on a positive note (of course, how good is hope). But I also believe that by the time the world comes together, it will be too late to save the environment as we know it today. Diamond uses a lot of ink in Collapse to show that it is a society's ability to adapt to change that helps it overcome immanent collapse. Our world is changing, our environment is changing, and whether we caused it or not (we did), the fact is that it will never be the same again. Part of our approach to overcome a worldwide collapse will have to recognize that maintaining a modern society does not preclude adapting to a new idea of society (one with greater dictatorship or no borders), a new idea of environment (one with more GM foods or no trees), perhaps a new idea of worldwide solidarity.
From this weeks chapters in Collapse, I was especially interested in chapter 14 in which Diamond describes the four ways we fail. It is interesting to me that we as a society can “fail to anticipate a problem,” that we can “fail to perceive” the problem when it does come up, that we can fail to try and solve it and that if we do try to solve it we can still fail. This breakdown helped me personally categorize how I feel about certain issues we have today. The huge spread of reasons we fail makes us realize how difficult it is to solve the problems we face environmentally and socially/politically. Especially with the upcoming election, the media is flooded with seemingly simple solutions to complex problems. In Diamond’s reality it is clear that even if certain politicians are recognizing difficult issues, it does not mean the issues are completely solved.
Politicians seem to tell the voters what they want to hear. Over the past weeks I’ve heard slogans like “we need to fix Washington” countless times. I want to know what that even means and whether or not we all even agree on what’s wrong with Washington in the first place. I feel strongly that if we were to all look at Diamond’s reasons that we fail we could possibly make better decisions as voters and hopefully we would put less pressure on our candidates to have the perfect solution. The reality is that even when we do find a problem and even when we recognize it and can fix it, many other issues can arise.
I see the simplification in this election as a huge oversight by Americans. I do not have all the answers but clearly, no one does. Diamond blatantly lays out the four reasons failure to combat society-threatening issues occurs and it seems that if we all considered how difficult it is to find a solution we would be more apt to getting something done. Instead of looking towards someone who can fix health care, the environment, the economy and the war on terror all in one flick of the magic wand, it is important to realize how close to unobtainable this is and allow someone that has imperfections to work with us to begin to maybe find solutions. No one can make it perfect, Diamond shows us that failure is not something that cannot always be avoided. If I had my choice about the way we “fix Washington” it would be that we all supported the candidate that is chosen and that we recognize failures can be learned from. Attempting to solve the problem and failing is further in Diamond’s progression than realizing there is a problem but not doing anything about it at all.
Kelsey Sovereign
Why societies make disastrous choices is a complex question, not to be over simplified.
I think it would be easy to blame an excessive importance on individualism. For example, the individual does what is good for himself/herself, but that may not necessarily mesh with what is good for society.
Individuals will often sacrifice what will be good for others at the sake of their own convenience.
Conversely, it seems simple to blame society as whole for its own failure. Society is an easily identifiable object in speech, but we often talk about it as if we are not a part of it.
I would argue, in the end, society makes disastrous choices without the intention of that outcome. Often we lead ourselves to a conclusion thinking it alleviates one problem. Industrialism can be seen as a key example of this. Created to alleviate the pressures of everyday life, it has had many unintended consequences.
Yet, it is the responsibility of both the individual and society to recognize and deal with these adverse effects.
Karin Alpert
ADP III
Weekly Response #5
I would like to respond to the proposed question, “Why do some societies make disastrous decisions.” This very important question is answered in Chapter 14 of Collapse. Individuals make bad decisions daily and similarly so do larger groups. Diamond discuses his ideas of why he thinks societies make disastrous decisions by following a strict roadmap he plans out with major points he is trying to prove. While pinpointing these mistakes societies make either consciously or unconsciously, Diamond hopes that this list or roadmap as he calls it, can be a preventative measure for future disastrous decisions.
The first reason addressed on the roadmap is that societies either have no records, record the wrong things, or forget the past after a long period of time. Diamond then continues by explaining in great detail different ways of how groups fail by reasoning through false analogy. One way of doing so is that there is just no possible way to see a problem coming. A second way is when distant managers run companies or organizations, therefore, they are too far away to notice problems coming. A third way is described through using the term “creeping normalcy.” This is when numbers or signs fluctuate too much so it tends to be hard to pinpoint or discover a problem over a short period of time. Then continuing along the roadmap, we discover that sometimes groups blatantly decide to not even attempt to solve the problems at all, or there is a clash of interests, or competition among rulers. We also find that people feel secure with what they are familiar with even if it is harmful, or many are just in denial. Lastly, the roadmap takes us to the point that people tend to focus on short-term goals rather than long term consequences.
All of the above are reasons Diamond has pointed out through his roadmap of why societies make disastrous decisions, and hopefully societies can begin to recognize their mistakes and correct them before it is too late.
In lecture, I was really interested in all the homes people around the world are building. I found it incredible that there are countries that still take advantage of their environment in a positive way. They do not take the land for granted but instead use it to their advantage. Manipulating the environment in a positive, non-harmful way to make a life for themselves. Their homes became a part of the environment, one with the natural surroundings, instead of covering it up. Living in America, most suburban homes look the same, but it is not an extension of the environment they sit on. Instead it covers up nature and destroys it. The homes here are not built out of the ground they sit on, like other homes around the world.
One thing they do have in common is the families that live in the houses personalize them. However, I cannot speak for those around the world, but many homes in America resemble each other. Even when personalized, it can look like a magazine cut out. Which in America, it seems like that is the ideal look.
Writing this response made me realize that people’s homes fall right into the consumerism society we live in. There are television shows and magazines specifically designed to target an audience that will buy their products. Leading them to have the “perfect” home.
Nothing seems original anymore. I was watching television and a commercial came on, which described my response dead on. The point of the commercial is a perfect example of what I am trying to get at. It was showing that everyone can have a home that is cut out of a magazine. Buying all the furniture and accessories in this magazine will make your life better. The commercial made it seem like with this perfect home, you will have a perfect life. Is that the ideal American life, a life from a magazine?
When societies form in a new area, they are at first timid with their surroundings. After some exploration, they almost immediately begin to over utilize their resources around them. They cut down too many trees to build the community and for fuel. The obvious is true in the chapter about Haiti and Domician Republic. Haiti had no land conservacy ideals, and after a couple decades, their island is almost complete barren. Dominican Republic, just next door on this tiny island, is flourishing with trees. The poor and jobless Haitians now come to DR as migrants to do the sort of jobs migrant workers do here in America.
A country that has prepared for centuries to avoid collapse is the Netherlands. In earlier times, art works were created portraying fearful billowing seas flooding the seaside towns of this below sea level country. After some time, the dyke and canal system was created to avoid any sort of flooding. The Nertherlands has also stayed neutral and never provoked any other countries; they have no enemies. Their citizens grow up simultaneously learning Dutch, French, English, and German. Bicycles are promoted as the main mode of transporation for short distances compared to vehicles. Not only does this help the environment for obvious reasons, it is also a great way to work in physical fitness to maintain a healthy lifestyle Overall this is a nation with an almost unbreakable infrastructure which will remain strong for years to come.
I found Chapter 15 on modern businesses really interesting. I was surprised to discover how beneficial some oil companies are to the environment, something I never thought would be possible. For example, the Kutubu oil company was able to protect plant and animal species while still extracting oil. The extra costs to take these measures benefit them in the long run by maintaining a strong reputation, and minimizing destruction that could cost millions. I think that they set a great example for other oil companies, but I fear that some might not move in this direction because of more selfish driven motives.
I thought that Diamond made a good point when talking about the role of the individual in improving the hardrock mining industry. He stressed the importance of confronting metal buyers instead of metal miners. An average American has a better change of reaching the buyer than the miner. For example, Tiffany & Co. decided to put major emphasis on environmental considerations in selecting a mining company for its gold supplier. They wanted to maintain their reputation, and did not want environmentalists protesting in front of their stores with posters about cyanide releases caused by gold mining.
We as consumers have incredible influence over companies like Tiffany & Co., and in turn, these companies have incredible influence over large mining companies. It seems less overwhelming to confront these issues in this manner than facing the mining industry as a whole. However, I believe that there is a lack of knowledge about the damage that these industries are doing to our environment, and I think the first step is educating the public and encouraging a better connection to the land before expecting them to change how they consume.
Caroline Aulis
Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?
Some societies make disastrous decisions unintentionally. Diamond refers to “creeping normalcy” which explains how trends shift gradually over time. The changes are so slight over the years, and a noticeable difference isn’t realized until decades later. Society can’t necessarily be blamed for a disastrous decision, if they didn’t know the damage they were causing at the time. However, Diamond also discusses how, once society realizes a disastrous decision, nothing is done to fix it. Many people are more focused on their individual gain than the benefit of others and the environment. They aren’t concerned about future environmental damage, just about their life, and their personal benefits. Many people also don’t want to deal with fighting to fix a problem because they, personally, haven’t lost much; so why bother putting forth the effort? This is a major problem in societies today. We need to stop thinking about our own personal gain. Societies are being damaged more and more each year, and we need to do something about it before it gets completely out of control. If people focus on the benefit of society and help repair the damage that has been done in the past, societies will benefit, as well as the individual.
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