I don't know, but presumably soil erosion, without the trees to bind the soil it would wash right off the island. They grow like weeds wherever you are because of what's already there.
K. -----Original Message----- From: joe thumber [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 6:28 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: There is No Tomorrow, by Bill Moyers Keith Nagel quoted: > It became >impossible to support 7,000 people on this diminishing resource >base and numbers fell rapidly. > >After 1600 Easter Island society went into decline and regressed >to ever more primitive conditions. Without trees, > With fewer people, and no more statue-hauling, why didn't the trees grow back? They grow like weeds around here. >and so without >canoes, the islanders were trapped in their remote home, unable >to escape the consequences of their self-inflicted, >environmental collapse. >
