How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
By Jared Diamond (Penguin Books, 2005)
This week we began to dig deep within this book. What are your thoughts about what you read and what we discussed in class about the Rwanda Genocide of 1994 and the links to the agricultural and land crisis the country was experiencing?
The Dominican Republic and Haiti?
China the "lurching giant"? and
The literal and non-literal mining of Australia?
These are very emotionally charged, real and difficult topics to discuss. You continue to inspire me with your dedication to the material and your individual abilities to share your ideas about these topics. Keep up the great work and have a wonderful Fall break.
3 comments:
I found it interesting to learn the details of Hispaniola and how they differ within the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was unfortunate to hear how poor Haiti is and the country is inefficient in using their land effectively. As stated in Collapse, forest makes up of only 1% of Haiti compared to 28% forest in Dominican Republic. Since Haiti doesn’t have much forest area, they aren’t able to produce the resources to gather building materials, such as lumber to build structures. There is also limited rainfall in Haiti, and as a result there is limited amounts of hydroelectric power and increase of soil erosion. Since the Dominican Republic has more forestland and more rainfall, they are able to provide much more resources to all that live in this country.
An important concept I understood from studying this information is that there is so much waste going on right here in our country that will ultimately affect everyone. We are able to take action now and hopefully educate everyone on this so that we can reduce the amount of waste in terms of electricity, heat, water and food. These resources are not endless, so we need to be efficient with them so that others can appreciate them as much as we currently are enjoying them. Hearing the facts that Americans consume 40 to 80 tons of products each year. That is equivalent to 80,000 to 160,000 pounds of goods, which is also the weight of 12 elephants. We need to make drastic measures now to cut back on our usage of resources since everyone does not need all of this to enjoy life.
Alyssa Ackerman
I am extremely interested with the growth taking place in China. I never have thought of problems in China as problems at home, but I think it is extremely important for the world to start doing so, and not just with China. Just because we don't see something happening everyday, doesnt mean we should ignore it. Also I think it is important for us to see what is happening abroad (through our media) in order to raise concern enough for people to start working to change things for the better.
The idea of China living like a first world country and the fact that it would/will increase the entire world's use of human resources by more than double, I find frightening, and their push for automobile production seems insane, yet they are on the go, even though water and air pollution are already dangerously high. Clearly most nations desire a "first world" lifestyle, but this seems dangerous on a global scale, yet why should we be granted the pleasures and decide that it would be wrong for China to want the same luxuries? Personally, I find it extremely difficult to even judge this situation, I don't know what to think!
Samantha Orshan
ADP 3
COLLAPSE
In class we discussed Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I found it interesting that there is such a dramatic difference between two countries that share the same island. Diamond mentions that Haiti is one of the most overpopulated countries of the New World, “much more than the Dominican Republic, with barely one third of Hispaniola’s land area but nearly two-thirds of its population and an average population density approaching 1,000/square mile” (p. 330). However, the income in the Dominican Republic is five times higher, although it is not a rich country. Haiti, however, is the poorest country in the western Hemisphere. One issue discussed was the difference in the environment. Hispaniola’s rains come mainly from the east, and as a result the Dominican side is far richer environmentally. Aside from the environment, Haiti did not develop commercial agriculture. When Spain conquered Haiti, they used up their resources without developing infrastructure.
We also discussed what people actually see when they visit these locations. Some of us who have been to Haiti only see tourist attractions such as beautiful beaches, bars, American food, and tourist shops. We don’t see that Haiti is extremely poor and dangerous. The Dominican Republic is another place that is a popular tourist site. When we go to these places, we are led to believe that the Island is paradise when the reality is that economically and agriculturally, it is in horrible condition.
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