Easter Island Case Study Essay

The average U.S. citizen emits about four pounds of municipal solid waste each day. While this number may seem insignificant, think about approximately four pounds multiplied by our current population of about 318.9 million, or the population of Earth, 7.125 billion. With this in mind, think about all of the other detrimental effects we are causing to our planet. Most humans are not concerned for our planet, nor do we care about other species inhabiting Earth, which may lead us to consider other ways of living, such as Nash’s idea of an island civilization.

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

The Hawaiian Islands are well known for their beauty, tranquility, and unique culture that have shaped this state into what we see today. The special bond that the natives have formed between themselves and nature is not exactly one of a kind, but it is something that can truly be admired. Around approximately 300 AD, Hawaii was discovered by Polynesians who arrived by canoe from Tahiti. These migrants brought their polytheistic spirituality and formed a large intricate society with hierarchies consisting of many chiefs. Alongside the ruling of the chiefs, the newborn Hawaiians followed a strict belief system known as Kapu akua otherwise known as the “law of the gods”. The Kapu was a strict set of rules and restraints that dictated all

Diamond stated that when the Polynesian ancestors arrived the island was covered with heavily forested and fertile land, however by the 1400's the forest were destroyed and cause the people to revert to cannibalism once the animals died off and the people couldn't construct ocean-going canoes. Diamond concluded that the Easter Island declined because of environmental destruction and social concerns being more

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.

San Nicolas Islands is 60 miles off the Southern California Coast.It has treasure trove and artifacts known for Native American woman who lived their alone in the nineteenth century. Archaeologist and Native Americans leaders been trying to move the artifacts from San Nicolas Island to a former house,that is located in China Lake,California. The reasons artifacts should not be moved is because they are very delicate, they found stone blades,harpoon points, bonefish hooks and many more implements.

Easter Island was once a haven for its inhabitants. It provided them with all of their needs, food, shelter, tools, and even the ability to create great works of art. They abused this Eden, and turned it into a disaster, with almost no natural resources. This could very well happen to us, because our earth is the same Eden that Easter Island once was.

Since 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical paradise for millions of tourists. People all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawai'i's lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawai'i tourists know. This is the Hawai’i they visit. However, this Hawai'i is a state of mind, a corporate-produced image existing on the surface. More precisely, it is an aftermath of relentless colonization of the islands' native inhabitants by the United States. These native Hawaiians experience a completely different Hawai'i from the paradise tourists enjoy. No one makes this as clear as

On Easter Day in 1722, Jacob Roggeveen would become the first European to discover what is now known as Easter Island . Before the Dutch explorer first set foot on the island, around the fourth century the first inhabitants arrived . As time goes on, the island ecology decreases rapidly because the population drastically increased. This situation connects to the broad topic of humans and the environment because humans tend to overuse their resources, whether it be plants or animals, to the point where they are unable to recover or to the point of extinction. Mass extinction brought on by the overconsumption of the animals and plants by the Polynesian people who inhabited Easter Island caused the collapse of the society and the land unable to

In 400 AD to 900 AD, the Polynesians decided to migrate to a little island south of the pacific ocean to start their civilisation. Since they are surrounded by water, that meant that the Polynesians had only a few limited resource until they can find a way to start their civilisationsomewhere else. Within time, the Polynesians started using their resources in a rapid amount of time, which can soon lead to deforestation, loss of food production, limited to slim amount of resources, etc. Tragedy of the commons lab relates so much to Easter Island because they bothhave to deal with survival of the fittest. In the lab, we didn't have a limit on how much you canfish but everyone had to have enough to survive.

In the article Early Americans Helped Colonize Easter Island, the author discusses a theory that shows South American’s helped Colonize Easter Island before the Europeans. Easter island is located on the eastern side of Polynesia, and it is very remote. To begin, Easter Island was colonized by Asia, and migration began around 5500 years ago; however, Thor Heyerdahl thought otherwise. He theorized that the first colonizers of Easter Island came from Boliva, and he tested this theory through the Kon- Tiki Expedition. During this expedition, he successfully sailed a balsa wooden raft from Peru to Polynesia. Therefore proving that migration from Boliva to Easter Island was possible. Another scientist, Erik Thorsby discovered genetic evidence that

Duluc is a mini island in the French Polynesian region. Its main town, Bua, is named after the monstrous volcano on the island. Their native tongue is Dordor, with a greeting of ‘dorella’. The name Duluc means ‘big fly’ in their native tongue because of the plane crash that happened back in the 1970’s. The island is around 10km2 with a volcano on the very edge of the island. The natives believe that their Gods are angry when the volcano erupts. They have owned the land for thousands of years, before the French discovered it. In the 1970’s, the island was accidently discovered when a French air force plane flew through the ashes from the volcano and sent an SOS message.

The tragedy of commons is a term originally used by Garrett Hardin, and occurs when

The small, isolated Rapa Nui Island—or, Easter Island—began its history of human-habitation with difficulty. Settlers were 3,000 kilometers away from other settlements, native plants and animals were limited, and its geographic location make the island subject to El Nino’s varying conditions (Hunt and Lipo 2007). Despite obstacles unique to Rapa Nui, as compared to its Polynesian neighbors, the people of Rapa Nui were successful before collapse, surviving as “one of the world’s most remote human outposts” (Hunt and Lipo 2012). The cause of collapse is, however (and, of course), a subject of debate over whether natural or anthropogenic factors led to the Rapa Nui’s downfall, and a lack of evidence has stopped anthropologists from reaching a more conclusive agreement. A union of the two overarching factors have been suggested, however combination of climatic and anthropogenic “causes have been merely hypothesized but not investigated” (Louwagie 290). Evidence is present and convincing on both sides, with layered explanations accounting for the rapid decline of a complex, highly functioning society. While researchers such as Jared Diamond and Donald Hughes seek to showcase Rapa Nui as a cautionary tale against the dangers of ecocide, and thus paralleling the modern world, there is an equal pushback to frame the Rapa Nui population as a capable, adaptive, and resilient people who were dealt a bad hand. This paper will explore the debate of Rapa Nui’s human-shortsightedness

The year is now 1200 CE. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies an island known as Rapa Nui or Easter Island. Civilians gather in the Rano Raraku quarry, known for supplying rock for the ancestral statues – called “Moai.” These statues could be seen the same as our twenty first century technology, both are extraordinary accomplishments. These statues range in size from “15 to 20 feet tall but the largest of them is 70 feet tall.” The fact that the Easters Islanders could