A Study On Easter Island

Although Leopold’s love of great expanses of wilderness is readily apparent, his book does not cry out in defense of particular tracts of land about to go under the axe or plow, but rather deals with the minutiae, the details, of often unnoticed plants and animals, all the little things that, in our ignorance, we have left out of our managed acreages but which must be present to add up to balanced ecosystems and a sense of quality and wholeness in the landscape.

he Tragedy of the Commons in The Lorax and Easter IslandThe Tragedy of the commons is a situation in which a publicly owned resource is exploited to such an extent that the resource is ruined. This means that users of the resource canno longer benefit from it. A uniform idea in the tragedy of the commons is that each person does not weigh the effect of their exploitation of the resource enough, resulting in the resource being over-exploited and eventually being destroyed. Two examples of the tragedy of the commons are Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, and the story of Easter Island. Although the parties involved in The Lorax and Easter Island may not have cooperated in the same ways, their environments were similarly exploited, resulting in a tragic loss of the public resource available to them. In The Lorax, the Once-ler stumbles upon a truffula forest which he finds to be perfect for his business. He begins to harvest the resources, but is constantly bothered by the Lorax. The Lorax speaks on behalf of the trees, hoping the Once-ler will halt his destructive behavior, however there is no cooperation between the Once-ler and the Lorax. This is unlike the tribes on Easter Island. The natives of Easter Island needed to trade and cooperate with each other to be able to construct the many large statues. Pakandam stated, “...resources were distributed unequally in various parts of the island, what one region lacked, another had in bountiful scores. This forced trade and cooperation as a natural part of life” (11). Although the parties in The Lorax and Easter Island did cooperate in the same way, they still lead to the exploitation of the available resources.

Easter Island is an example of the tragedy of the commons in many ways. The definition of the tragedy of the commons is to overuse of natural resources, causing them to become scarce or extinct. Easter Island is an outstanding example of an environment becoming a part of the tragedy of the commons. By the diminishing natural resources, and the scarcity of the species on the island, Easter Island proves to be a part of the tragedy of the commons.

This paper will provide information on the volcanoes of Hawaii, where it is known to be the home of one of the world’s largest volcanic islands, merely second to Iceland. It is not just the beautiful landscapes and wildlife that spark the interest to this particular area, but the uniqueness of the Hawaiian volcanoes and islands themselves are what make the area so significant. There will be information spanning from the history of the origin of the islands to how Hawaii must adjust to the volcanic hazards in order to keep the area livable. With these ideas in mind, I will first address background information on the area and set the scene as to what makes this area so special. Then I will transition to the history of how the

In the article by Jared Diamond, many interesting theories are discussed about Easter Island’s history and decline. Diamond makes connections to the environmental challenges we face today and he compares the catastrophe of Easter Island to our current over consumption of natural resources. While this article makes for an interesting read, much of it is offered from a single perspective and little counter evidence is offered. The author writes in a way that could engage a non-academic audience who may not be interested in counter evidence, or proper referencing. The article lacks credibility due to its narrow scope and conversational diction. At the root of this discussion however, is the notion that the Rapa Nui people were

In the essay “Island Civilization: A Vision for Human Occupancy of Earth in the Fourth Millennium” Roderick R. Nash proposes the idea of clustering population on a planetary scale, in order to reduce detrimental environmental impact and deter humanity’s current course leading to self-destruction. In addition, Nash’s plan for an island utopia is a solution to which, he believes, will end this man-instigated desolation of nature and civilization expanding past sustainable limits. However, Nash’s proposition does not take into consideration all the atrocities and the problems that can result as a consequence of instigating his proposal of an Island Civilization. Altogether, Nash’s island civilization would not be a viable option for the future

In recent years, ancient burial grounds have been frequently disturbed due to increasing surveillance by anthropologists and constructed on by state-of-the-art technology and are more critically protected than ever before. Understanding the importance of burial grounds gives an insight on the rich history of ancient Hawaii. They have influenced the burials performed, ancestors and their modern inhabitants, and how they have impacted modern Hawaii. Burial methods will range from the tallest peaks on land to burying those in the ocean. Ancestors influence these methods depending on their rank and actions, having their modern descendants have a choice to inherit these arrangements and protect their ancestors.

After the European influence upon indigenous Hawaiian culture, “Hawaiians radically reinterpreted and transformed their culture… part of this transformation was the abandonment of the kapu system in 1819.” The meaning of the organization of architecture no longer reflects upon ideology of the Hawaiians, but the adaptation of more technological advanced living space. As a result, “many temples were dismantled or destroyed, leaving only he foundation stones” (Ladegoged, #).

With the basis being discoveries unveiled through archeology,pollen analysis,and paleontology, Jared Diamond dissects and explores the enigmatic history of the Easter Island civilization in his analytical article “Easter’s End”, written five years prior to the end of the 20th century. In the magazine piece, the isolated island is revealed to have once been a prosperous territory, indicating the depletion of resources and the extinction of wildlife are caused by the negligence of its earlier inhabitants. Considering this fact, the writer concludes with strong implications of the impending calamity that will befall modern society if humans do not learn from their past and take remedial measures.

The humans living in that period were unable to supplement their previous diet, which was rich in protein, and their culture was devastated as a result; this then, is an example of progress (better hunting methods) that led to the failure of an entire culture as its problems were left unsolved. In his third chapter, Wright examines two particular civilizations that thrived but eventually declined due to resource depletion. What is interesting is the similarities that can be drawn from the examples of Easter Island and Sumer, like the widespread ignorance of the masses to actively prevent the abrasion of their land, the perpetual idleness of people to not do anything even when there was enough time to stop the tragic collapse, to current-day situations of people who even flat-out deny climate change and claim it to be part of the left-wing agenda. On Easter Island, it was over-logging that led to their collapse, since as their ecosystem withered away, logging became scarce, and wars broke out for those sparse resources. In Sumer similar environmental destruction occurred (i.e. overgrazing, land clearing), which should alarm the world population of today of what may become of the high levels

As the island began to suffer from the lack of trees, the society quickly descended into chaos; a chaos that became reality due to the conflicting ideologies of the Polynesian civilization. While structuralist argument may say that the institutions and geography at play on the Easter Island may be the reason for the collapse of the civilization, yet I believe that while the island did have less rainfall than what the Polynesians were accustomed to, the over-deforestation and infighting truly lead to the fall. (Diamond, 2005) Thus, through the readings of Keegan and Diamond, the argument on culture leading to the downfall and collapse of the Easter Island best explains

Lush to barren, bio-diverse to disturbed, blooming beauty to foul crudeness—is a common theme plaguing the natural world at this precise moment in time. Humans are overtaxing the splendor of nature, altering it into an unrecognizable wasteland ravaged by greed and economic lust. Such a modification can even be fatal, extinguishing green eternally in replacement of stark soil that sadly anticipates some form of aid with the capability to maybe replenish it. Within “The Lorax” and the land mass known as Easter Island, both environments are victim to the immoral whims of humanity and the consequent demolition it wreak, the two merely differing in the advancement of technology.

History has played out in different manners for many societies around the world depending on their location or use of resources. The main question this paper is trying to answer is whether geography and the distribution of natural resources determined the fate of societies in the past. Geography and the distribution of natural resources undoubtedly has and will continue to affect the way societies live throughout the world. This paper considers three case studies in order to answer this question. The first case study looks at is the orientation of the continents and how their geography effected those societies. Second, the effects extreme deforestation on Easter Island and how it lead to the disappearance of all natural resources and how this

Have you ever thought that things move after you put them down. Like your homework that is really important and needs to be turned in tomorrow. You had left it on the counter at home and then come home from the store and it's gone!!! Well it really did move, your dad moved it while you were gone and put it in your room under some clean clothes . But you didn't know that, your dad had to leave to take your brother to baseball. Your running frantic around your house looking for it, you go up to your room knock over your clean clothes and find it. You may start yelling at your paper and talking to yourself but your really happy you found it.

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is the eastern most island in the Polynesian region. The first European to discover the remote island was Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. When they arrived, there was over three thousand native inhabitants on the island. But, due to the kidnapping of over one thousand male slaves and sicknesses, by the year 1872 there were only approximately one hundred and seventy-five people left on the island. It declined further slowly into the 1880s but from there began to increase and in 1981 there were one thousand nine hundred natives living on Easter Island and many more living in Chile and the USA (Encyclopedia of World Cultures 1996 pg. 1, 2) The social, political, cultural and economic factors of Rapa Nui are the four main factors of their society.