Summary Of The Article 'Easter Island' By Jared Diamond

Firstly, Easter Island and the Lorax relate back to the concept of the “Tragedy of the Commons.” By that in each the inhabitants use up their resource til

On September 8, 2000, the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) made a formal apology for the their participation in ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of the Indigenous Nations of the Western Territories of the Unites States.2 From forced relocation to obscure lands and forced assimilation into the white man’s view of the world, the BIA previously set out to ‘destroy all things Indian’.3 Through the colonization of Turtle Island (North America), the American Federal policy set out to eliminate in part or as a whole, the Indigenous populations.4 The attitudes of the colonists were intentionally detrimental and the process is naturally exterminatory.5 The process of colonization was often exemplified by violent confrontations, deliberate massacres, and in some cases, total annihilations of a people.6 The culture of conquest was developed and practiced by Europeans well before they landed on Turtle Island as the practice was developed, and perfected well before the fifteenth century.7 Taking land and imposing values and ways of life on the social landscape created a conflictual relationship with the Indigenous peoples and forced a new way of life that ultimately destroyed those that previously existed there.8 Modern Europe

Colonisation has impacted profoundly on indigenous communities worldwide and this essays examines and details some of those impacts.

Many people are under a false impression that early Native Americans are the original environmentalists. This is an impression that many people share. The Abenaki tribes that resided in Maine from 3700 BP were not by our traditional definition, environmentalists. In fact they were far from ecologically sound. This paper is meant not to criticize the Native Americans of the age, but to clarify their roles in the environment. To better understand this subject some background is needed.

The Taíno natives were able to fully utilize the island’s resources unlike the earlier inhabitants, “amerindians”, due to their modified cultivation processes, “cultivation was started by setting fire to the area of forest that was to be cleared. Then the soil was heaped into mounds on top of which stalks were planted” (Picó 13-14). This process allowed for a growth in population sizes where some settlements may have even reached near five-hundred people from what was once only about twenty-five people that could be fed daily through hunting, fishing and gathering fruits during the time before the Taíno phase (Picó 14).

There have been many instances throughout history in which indigenous people have unwillingly suffered the consequences of foreigners’ interaction with their culture. In the case of the Huaorani two foreign groups, the oil companies and the missionaries, invaded their land and gravely affected the life they led in the Ecuadorian amazon. In the book Savages Joe Kane gives a firsthand account at how the Huaorani fight to preserve their land and traditional way of life.

The Hawaiians were further depicted as "thieves" like the rest of the "people in Polynesia," and plagued with the barbaric accusation of committing infanticide. These so called "facts" were enough for the Euro-American forces to send out missionaries to regulate the Hawaiian people and take over their land and all their practices. (Stannard, 381- 417)

An inverse counter argument could be implanted to the effects of over fishing in the New Foundland area. One could argue that limiting affects of fishing created a healthy way avoid reaching carrying capacities of multiple populations within the vicinity. This could be one point of view however nature is in equilibrium when at its natural population, and the fishing practices of European Nations forced the fish populations to dangerously below ecological equilibrium (Richter 2001). Notably the Europeans did not share the same sense of environmental awareness as the Native Americans.

First off, the foreigners stole the Hawaiians land and crops including pineapple, bananas, onions, yams, and pumpkins (Puamana). In this act, the Hawaiians lost their lands because of the crookedness and dishonesty of the foreigners. For example, the foreigners said the land was used to grow sugarcane, but it was actually turned into a cattle run (Puamana). Before, the Hawaiians had plenty of land to grow crops on and they had nice, fertile land to live on, but the Mahele caused them to lose all their property and their land to become dry and hard because of the cattle. Now, the Hawaiians have barely any land to produce goods for trading so they cannot obtain materials they need for survival.

Warming oceans might trigger an eruption of methane now frozen beneath the sea floor, leading to global warming on a catastrophic scale.

     The people of Easter Island came over to their new land, and recognized that it was ideal for them to settle. The land was lush; the sea was providing a bounty of fresh fish, and other seafood. The earth was dark brown, and very rich. Everything was just the way it needed to be to support a growing community of people.

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.

Leonard A. Crippa’s article, “The Inspiring Rapa Nui Nation’s Efforts to Rebuild Its Government and Regain Control of Its Territory,” examines the relationship between the autonomy-seeking Rapa Nui people and Chile, which governs the nation. Like many of the different regional groups that we have studied, the Rapa Nui are dependent upon their environment for shelter and food. While the resources of Rapa Nui are not directly threatened by the commodity trade, tourism and uncontrolled immigration threaten the livelihood of the people living on the Rapa Nui islands.

Geologically, Easter Island is one of the youngest inhabited territories on the earth. Its inhabitants, the Rapu Nui, have endured epidemics or disease, famines, slave raids, civil war, cannibalism, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. Easter Island is famous for its statues, the Moai. Easter Island is a Chilean territory located in the south eastern Pacific Ocean. It has a population of six thousand and has an area of 163.6 km2 .Easter Island is famous for its 200 stone statues. The Moai as they’re known were made by the local people from basalt stone picks and hard volcano ash. They were made to show remembrance to their gods and ancestors. I will be exploring what caused the downfall of Easter island.

In 1986 a Compact of Free Association was drafted and signed between Palau and the United States, and in 1994 began its enforcement, granting de jure and de facto independence to the small nation. This compact has many economic and military provisions, aiming to make Palau self-governing and self-sufficient and also allowing Palau to make use of American aid and military protection (Compact of Free Association 1986). There are two other nations that are signed to similar compacts, including the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. This makes the Micronesian nations very young, breaking from being American territories only recently. There are no political parties in Palau and all representatives are independents (The