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Analysis Of Collapse By Jared Diamond

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Even though they might not be the main reason, it is clear that social problems play an important role in environmental troubles. One environmental problem that we continue to see again and again is famine. Famine is an important issue because it can lead to malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increase in mortality. In the article Collapse, written by Jared Diamond, he discusses how societies seem to be failing. One of the main reasons why societies are failing is because individuals or groups fail to solve their problems such as population growth, poverty, and resource degradation. Looking back to week nine of Professor Cliggett’s lecture, we talked about issues that come about because of population growth. Some of the main issues included lack of food and lack of resources. We talked about a man named Thomas R. Malthus who stated, “Human population grows exponentially, but agriculture increases linearly.”(Cliggett 2014a) He believed that if we …show more content…

One concept that Diamond brings up in his article and we saw in lecture during week eight is the term “Tragedy of Commons.” This term was proposed by Garret Hardin and projected that “individuals using a common pool resource would degrade it as they tried to maximize their utility (unless government imposed regulations).”(Cliggett 2014b) This is saying that when people are going to make decisions, they are only thinking about helping themselves. This causes some people to get more, while others get less, causing a line between the rich and the poor. The poor that are left with very little then lack basic needs and can become malnourished. Another term that is related to this process of decision-making was brought up in Diamonds article called “crowd psychology.” It refers to how the thought processes and behavior patterns of the individual often vary from those of a larger group. Individuals in groups tend to follow what everyone else is

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“Population, Sustainability, and Malthus: Crash Course World History”, John Green examines one of the theories about the downfall of humanity, proposed by Thomas Malthus. Malthus wrote an essay on the Principles of Population to explain why at the time, population growth was steadily slow. John Green goes ahead to talk about how Malthus compared the poor to rabbits. Expressing that the same powers that constrained the population of rabbits would do likewise to poor people. Forces such as: predators, weather, epidemics and starvation.

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In 1960, a man named Paul Ehrlich shared his fears of overpopulation in the world through his book called, “The Population Bomb”. He made many predictions about what kind of disasters we would face if drastic measures were not taken. Zero Population Growth became a political movement that wanted to limit births and give rewards to couples without children. However, humanity has managed to survive even with the current population growth. Paul Ehrlich believes that even though his predictions didn’t happen, it doesn’t mean he was wrong.

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In the Collapse Series, by Summer Lane, Cassidy Hart is fighting a mysterious and evil world organization that has taken over the United States known as Omega. During the first eight books, she sees the destruction Omega has caused and begins to form an effective resistance that eventually secures many regions of California. None of this however, would have been possible without the help of Chris Young, who Cassidy finds on the first day of Omega’s invasion. Their relationship quickly becomes romantic and they eventually become engaged by the end of the eighth book. When Cassidy believes Chris has died in the ninth book there is a dramatic shift in her persona that carries into the final book of the series.

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THis is supported by the idea of “social darwinism” which essentially stated that the weak would not succeed in nature and this was a good thing because it caused evolution and this was applicable to the economy as well. This is significant, because this justification was cited by many others, including the government in laws regarding regulation of labor. The main point of the 2nd passage is that the divide between classes is growing wider--as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The theory called conspicuous consumption states the wealthy spend money on frivolous things only to display their wealth, which is in contrast to those barely able to sustain their families paycheck to paycheck. THis would create not only economic disparity, but social animosity between the rich and poor.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

If I were parole commissioner, I would grant Dixon Jr.parole because I do not believe he is a psychopath for several reasons. First of all, at the time of the crime, Dixon Jr was the lookout while his accomplice Walker robbed and shot the victim dead. He was an accessory to murder, not the one responsible for the murder. While in prison, Dixon Jr. took courses and seminars to improve his life unveiling his motivation to steer away from that criminal lifestyle. He admitted that his efforts to change his life was due to his disappointment for hurting people which ruined his life.

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Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population was an influential essay that proposed a systematic theoretical approach to population. Malthus had collected empirical data and proposed that human population growth increases at an exponential rate. Whereas, the production of food increases at an arithmetic rate. This means that in the long run arithmetic food growth coupled with an exponential growth of human population would lead to a future where humans have little to no resources to survive on. To avoid this Malthusian catastrophe, Malthus argued for controls on population through preventative and positive checks.

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From the Maya civilization ''archaeologists believe that the cities had grown so large,there were not enough farmers left to supply them with food.'' We have a bigger population to feed so we need more farms and farmers.

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They can also feel pressured by group members. Both of these factors can lead to making the wrong decision in certain situations. For example, “I think it’s important we decided not to help him. Everyone, like myself, was probably on the verge of fetching a rope, or asking where we could find a ladder, but then we looked around at each other and it was decided. I don't remember if we told ourselves a reason why we couldn’t help him, but we had decided then.”

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" This is caused by problems that have affected the world for decades, if not centuries. The article focuses on the possible impact that inequality and the overuse of resources might have on our future. Although the article is biased, coming from Europe, a typically

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I did my report on Jared Diamond 's book called Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The whole focus is all about taking a look at many different societies that have collapsed from specific environmental problems. Diamond 's main thesis is identifying how some civilizations crashed or succeeded in the history of the world. In his book, he identifies five set of factors that would lead to an environmental collapse such as "environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, environmental problems, and friendly trade partners—may or may not prove significant for a particular society" (Diamond 21). He then lists eight more categories that can be causes of some failing societies.

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In his “An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1798), it is illustrated that land space is becoming scarce and there is a dramatic decrease in the limited resources which could potentially damage the living standards. As Malthus prioritised long-term stability over short-term expediency, the issues of dwindling resources would become an issue for economic growth and ultimately the deficit from the ageing population requirements. Malthus argues that a rapid expansion of population would exceed the resources available in terms of food supplies/production in which will affect the living standards of society. (Victorianweb, 1996) “Unlike population, land does not breed.” (Heilbroner R, 1953)

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With jobs being hard to get, gas prices rising, and food getting more expensive, all it takes is one hiccup to end up below the poverty line. Even in a cultural context, people compete to have things they don’t need. The best clothes, jewelry, entertainment, and other goods can lead people to live beyond their means. This image shows only part of the concept, because it focuses on one group of people in the perpetual competition for limited resources. It isn’t able to show those who benefit from being in a difficult situation, or those who know about it and do nothing.

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Psychologist Irving Janis explained some alarmingly bad decisions made by governments and businesses coined the term "groupthink”, which he called "fiascoes.” He was particularly drawn to situations where group pressure seemed to result in a fundamental failure to think. Therefore, Janis further analyzed that it is a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members ' striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. According to Janis, groupthink is referred as the psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses disagreement and prevents the appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups.

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To keep feeding the people as the population grows, man had to vastly change the environment. Since the population in growing, more people need food, so farmers would have to expand their production. They could do this be expanding their existing farms or make more farms. Farmers also need more seeds to plant more crops. This was not an issue in the Paleolithic Age, because there was no food surplus and everyone was practically a meal from starvation.

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Social Problems in Societies Social problems are issues which are considered to affect majority if not all members of a society either directly or indirectly. Whenever people come to live together in a social setting, conflict arises from their differences in opinions regarding political issues, religion, ethnic issues, cultural practices and other health and hygiene issues. In such a situation, we can say a society inevitably develops social problems. The various social issues present today vary from society to society, and as such, we cannot say that all societies face similar social issues.

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