“The fundamental flaw in Jared Diamond’s treatment of Easter Island is that he approaches the problems of its evolution and history with the zeal of an environmental campaigner, and not with the dispassionate detachment of a scientist. He is too much inclined to employ his historical reconstructions as a tool for the environmental agenda and subordinates much of his analysis to moralistic and preconceived intentions. ‘Collapse’ is perhaps the prime upshot of the amalgamation of environmental determinism and cultural pessimism in the social sciences.
“It epitomises a new and burgeoning doctrine expounded largely by
disillusioned left-wingers and former Marxist intellectuals. In place of the old creed of class warfare and socio-economic driving forces that used to explain every single development under the sun, environmental determinism essentially applies the same one-sided rigidity to historical events and societal evolution.”
…according to Benny Peiser in a piece titled ‘From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui’ in Energy & Environment, 16:3&4 (2005), pp. 513-539. Read the complete paper here:
http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis/EE%2016-34_Peiser.pdf .
And Roger Kalla has emailed me with a link to a multimedia exhibition based on Diamond’s book and commented that in a recent issue of Nature (vol :436 p778) under books and arts the exhibition is given a positive review by Philip Campbell who is the editor-in-chief of this respected Journal.
The link to the exhibition:
http://www.nhm.org/exhibitions/collapse
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Jennifer,
if you follow the link to the multimedia exhibition displayed and curated by the Natural History Musemum of LA county there is a section devoted to Australia, the enviromental crash ‘test dummy’ of the developing world.
I find it disconcerting that the picture of Australia presented by Professor Diamond in his book now is being presented to the citizens of South California and the readers of Nature as a fair and reasonable description of the state of the environment in Australia. During his recent promotional visit to Australia Jared Diamond was challenged on the veracity of the data he used to support some of his statements on problems with pesticide run-off from cottonfields and the low productivity of our lands. In response Professor Diamond said that the data he used to build the picture of Australia presented in his book had been checked by a dozen trusted Australian environmental scientists and policy makers. I wonder which authoritative sources of information he consulted before publishing his book?
A classic on the group-think of mass movements is “The True Believer” by Eric Hoffer (1951), a self-educated US longshoreman. If Paul Keating had read this book, I doubt if he would have used that term as a compliment. Perhaps he, and some journalists, thought he had invented it.
Hoffer quotes J.B.S. Haldane as saying that fanaticism is one of only four really important inventions made between 3000 B.C. and 1400 A.D. Although a malady, fanaticism could also be a “miraculous instrument for raising societies and nations from the dead”.
I would be impossible to arouse fanaticism without the use of exaggerations, half-truths, and downright lies. Hitler, Goebbels and Lenin well knew that. George Orwell did too.
One of Hoffer’s insights is that “Propaganda thus serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda.”
I have heard a local ‘environmentalist’ fervently justify eco-porkies as contributions to a greater good. Bjorn Lomborg had some comments on that with regard to a couple of renowned environmental prophets.
I will stay with the belief that truth is beauty, beauty truth. That’s what I like about mathematics. But I mean real mathematics, not the statistical tripe that appears in some books and “refereed journals”.
Jennifier – what kind of peer review process does E&E carry out?
I think Benny is glossing over a few points as well:
1. “Together with abundant and virtually unlimited sources of seafood….” If you have boats to go and fish. Diamond highlighted this as most of the unlimited fish supplies are pelagic and are not close to the shore. No trees – No boats
2. “the cultivation of the islands fertile soil…” I was sure that the soil was not very fertile – so who is right here. Also now the soil might be fertile with modern fertilisers.
I really do not see what Benny has got on Jared. His conclusions are just different. What is he trying to prove? Do we really want to beleive that we can continue to pollute and consume as much as we want for as long as we want and the Earth will just take it?
An interesting link suggesting Jared Diamond believes agriculture is the biggest mistake and that we should all be hunter-gathers …
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron342/diamondmistake.html