Jed, I think that Diamond's idea is old, although I do not know what else recent book you did refer.
However, Alain refers to Hunt & Lipo rat theory, where rats ate the seeds of the native forests. The theory was explained in their 2011 book, The Statues that Walked: http://www.thestatuesthatwalked.com/ But this is not what caused the collapse of Rapa Nui civilisation, but ultimately it was Jared's own favourite i.e. measles and smallpox (curiously the Finnish word for smallpox is translated as "bigpox") did the final devastation of the population. As Hunt & Lipo theory is based on widest yet archeological research I did find it sound and believable, and old collapse hypothesis is thoroughly refuted. E.g. if I recall correctly that Jared assumed violence in the islands due to hunger, diminishing resources and over population, but there is no archeological evidence to support overpopulation or violence. Also the moving of statues was not very large feat, because statues did indeed walk to the shores and they were definitely not dragged like Jared assumed (iirc)! There were roads constructed for walking purpose and always when the moving project failed and statue fell, those fallen statues were lying on their belly, if it was downhill and on their back if it was an up hill. Also the centre of gravity was as such that it supported optimally the walking. The larger the statue, the lower the centre of gravity, although sometimes statues were finished when they were at target location, to smoothen the excess belly. I do not think that there was deep religious reasons behind making statues, but they were made just because they could do it and there were plenty of excess food available to do such deeds. However I agree that forests are the key in environmentalism. The destruction of forests was not good thing for the Rapa nui. If we would just get rid of agricultural subsidies and protectionism, this would immediacy free the area sized of Brazil that is currently consumed by agricultural overproduction. Almost 50 % of US corn production goes for bioethanol production and just less than 5 percent is for human consumption. Also as there is no protectionism it would be good idea to buy food from ultra fertile regions such as Sudan and Ethiopia that are currently starving, because westerners do not want to invest for the irrigation systems and buy the cheap food what they could grown there. I would estimate that those two countries alone could import food for one or two billion people globally. And as there is no forests, the food production there would be environmentally sound, unlike in Europe where lust and temperate forests are mostly cleared because of the agriculture. There is also additional benefits that the regrowing of forests that is sized of Brazil would probably soak most of the excess greenhouse gases and store it to living biomass. And most importantly, forests has the key role of controlling and moderating the local climate as they increase greatly the local water cycle and slows down the rate how long it will take that water is flown back to the ocean. Currently observed desertification is not due to climate change, but because e.g. Spain is almost completely cleared from forest. And also some Amazon regions are threatened to collapse, because there is cleared so much of the forests that water cycle is disturbed. ―Jouni On Oct 10, 2012, at 12:31 AM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Alain Sepeda <alain.sep...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I've heard that the story of overcutting trees causing and ecologic is a >> legend. > > Not according to J. Diamond and other recent books. They cut all the trees to > erect the statues. When a wooden British sailing ship arrived decades later, > they came aboard and they were thrilled to see wood again. They reportedly > stroked the wood in tears. It was one of the spooky moments in human history. > We will feel the same way if we manage to flood the coasts and destroy North > American agriculture with global warming -- as we may well do. We will pay a > tremendous price for a trivial benefit. To say a few pennies per kilowatt > hour we would destroy our food supplies and turn the whole nation into a > stinking desert! > > - Jed >
