What Goes Up, Must Come Down

I had the pleasure of reading an excerpt of a Jared Diamond book entitled, "Tale of Two Farms". I found this reading to be the most interesting assignment so far. I've always had an interest in ancient civilizations and Diamond delved into the processes of how these once great society fell from power. Jared Diamond reaches these theories from visiting two separate farms, thousands of miles apart from each other and finds strengths and weaknesses that are eerily similar. Like the saying goes, "what goes up, must come down" and that metaphor can usually be true with any great society. Diamond concludes that. "even the richest, technologically advanced societies today face growing environmental and economic problems that should not be underestimated,"

Its societies that ignore the impact of the environment that will inevitably fall.Many of us don't realize today just how important the little things in nature really are. Processes like deforestation, excessive soil erosion overhunting, overfishing, growth of human population have an astounding effect on the construct of our economy and hinder the longevity of our existence. A quote from a New Guinea hunter I found to be very honorable, "If one day I succeed in shooting a big pigeon in one direction from our village, I wait a week before hunting pigeons again, and then I go out in the opposite direction from the village."

I found Diamonds explanation on page 32 very fascinating when he describes the two categories of people, being: environmentalists and  non-environmentalists (or "pro-business"). Environmentalists being the ones who value the environment and conservation of it before the economy and the non-environmentalists the ones who don't see it as important as valuing economic stability and gaining profits. I believe both parties have important qualities and deserve their merits, but the only way we will be able to survive as people would be to work within an acceptable compromise.


Jared Diamonds excerpt was very eye-opening and an interesting read. Not to imply that I believe the U.S. is on a crash course into oblivion, but if we lived more by the environmentally cautious ways of our ancestors where business and profits don't outweigh the needs of nature, then our demise can be easily avoided.