Collapse Question Notes

Question 1:
Megan, Isabel, Luca

• (Collapse, 2) 
• We agree that the main differences are the farms' statuses.
• Huls = Thriving family owned enterprise
• Gardar = Abandon over 500 years ago

Question 2:
Gabriella, Jackson, Will

• Jared Diamonds Definition is on page 3, paragraph 1, line 3.
• Our Definition: Collapse is de-evolution (evolution in reverse), lack of materials and funds for a long period of time over time, and drastic population decrease.

Question 3:
Leksi, Vivian, Siena

• (Collapse, 6)
• Ecocide can be done consciously or subconsciously/inadvertently
• There are 8 ways societies commit ecocide:
1. Destruction of habitat
•  mining
• deforestation
• suburban sprawl
2. Soil Problems
• erosion
• destruction of top soil (loss of nutrients)
3.  Water management problems
• pollution of water
• over use/not conserving
4. Over-hunting
5. Over-fishing
6. Effects of introduced species on native species
• invasive species
• increased competition for resources
7. Human population growth
8. Increase per-capita impact of people
• people increasing the amount of stuff the consume
• too many people for their resources
• If any of the 8 factors mentioned above happen at a large scale in a society, people will be forced to compete for resources. This may lead people to fighting wars and furthering the decline of their society.

Question 4: 
Ian, Madeline, Kirsa

• It helps to acquire knowledge, thus, increasing our understanding. It helps prevent problems in the future. We learn from our mistakes. This allows us to more easily identify what is at risk now. Because odds are, the problem has occurred before. 
• Example: Somalia.
• (Collapse, 8)

Question 5:
Megan, Isabel, Luca

• (Collapse, 8)
• They weren't as knowledgeable as we are now.
• We were able to gain knowledge from their past mistakes
• We are more careful about how we use things.
• We've learned from other people's mistakes so we don't make the same ones.

Question 6:
Gabriella, Jackson, Will

• Present day is at a high risk of collapse because:
• lack of funds
• population growth leads to resource depletion.
• modern medicine - people rely on it to live.
• modern everything! People can't live without their modern conveniences.
• modern technology causes "unintended destructiveness."
• things happen faster, like cutting down a whole forest, because of modern technology. It happens before we even think of the consequences.
• Globalization makes us more susceptible to collapse because it's like the domino effect.
• See pg. 8 in Collapse for further knowledge.

Question 7: 
 Leksi, Vivian, Siena

• Opinions on noble Indian hypothesis:
• 1st opinion:
• indigenous people are the extreme of eco-friendly. They never hurt the Earth.
• 2nd opinion:
• indigenous people in the past caused their own decline.
• Jared Diamond's opinion:
• indigenous people are just like us; they make mistakes and sometimes ignore impending doom.
• They killed species because they were able to.
• It is difficult for everyone to manage resources
• Many indigenous people are very conscious. For example, the New Guinea hunter (Collapse, 9).
• They aren't perfect and they aren't completely exempt from blame.

Question 8: 
Ian, Madeline, Kirsa

• It involves looking at things through one's own interests. Since our personal interests are variable, this type of science is more inconsistent. In other words, the outcome of this method depends on whom is doing the observing.
• Definition: "to compare natural situations with respect to a variable of interest."
• This method is less reliable: There are multiple variables changing at the same time.