Sustainability Winter 2009 Class 3 Jeff Fletcher

Announcements Tonight Monday (1/12) Big Questions Series 6:00 pm (go before or after mentor session) Good Extra Credit Event

Announcement 2 This Thursday 7PM Thursday, January 15, 2009 Holistic Design: A Philosophical FrameworkHolistic Design: A Philosophical Framework I have 6 tickets—see me, but only if you really plan to go Good extra credit activity

Next Time (Wed. 1/14) Library visit—go directly there on Wednesday (Room 160)

Collapse Chapter Assignments Chapter 3: The Last People Alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands Chapter 4: The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and their Neighbors Chapter 5: The Maya Collapses Chapter 6: The Viking Prelude and Fugues Chapter 7: Norse Greenland’s Flowering Chapter 8: Norse Greenland’s End Chapter 9: Opposite Paths to Success Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwanda’s Genocide Chapter 11: One Island, Two Peoples, Two Histories: Dominican Republic and Haiti Chapter 12: China, Lurching Giant Chapter 13: "Mining" Australia

In class Wed we didn’t finish. Please review the rest of the questions and answers on your own and we will briefly discuss on Monday.

Question What typical course of events do people usually think of in a collapse?

Possible Answers (p. 6) Population growth forced people to adopt intensified means of agricultural production (irrigation, double- cropping, or terracing), and to expand farming onto marginal lands, Unsustainable practices led to environmental damage, Marginal lands had to be abandoned. Consequences: –food shortages, –starvation, – wars over resources, –overthrows of governing elites by disillusioned masses. –Population decrease through starvation, war or disease. –Society lost political, economic, and cultural complexity it had developed at the peak.

Question According to Diamond, in addition to the 5 point framework for understanding collapse, what 4 new environmental problems face us today?

Possible Answers According to Diamond, in addition to the 5 point framework for understanding collapse, what 4 new environmental problems face us today? (p. 7) –Human caused climate change –Buildup of toxic chemicals in the environment –Energy shortages –Full utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity

Question Explain how the following factors not only lower, but increase risk of collapse for modern societies: –Powerful technology –Globalization –Modern medicine

Possible Answers (p. 8) Powerful technology –solve problems –have un-intended destructive effects Globalization –Disaster relief –Collapse anywhere affects here at home –Disease travels quickly Modern medicine –Cures or prevents disease –many people depend on it for their survival

Question Explain the term “comparative method” or “natural experiment” and describe its importance to this book.

Possible Answers (p ) Science depends upon replicable controlled experiments –Is it ethical to experiment on large populations by withholding food or killing them to study the effects? Comparative studies identify factors, then study societies where the factors are naturally present or absent Use statistical methods when the sample sizes are large enough –Depends upon lots of accurate information about many details –often hard to know these details about past societies.

Question Are there Modern Day Collapses?

Possible Answers (p. 22) Are there Modern Day Collapses? –Haiti –Somalia –Rwanda –The Soviet Union –What about today’s headlines Unrest in Pakistan Unrest in Kenya

Question Based on your reading of the Prologue, do you think that Diamond is an objective researcher? Why or why not?

Collapse Ch. 1: Montana You will have ~15 minutes to prepare a 3 minute presentation on a section of Ch. 1 1.Montana's Economic History. pg. 27-mid 35 2.Mining. pg. 35-top 41 3.Forests. pg. 41-top 47 4.Soil. pg Water pg Native & Non-native. pg Differing Visions. pg. 56-lower 63 8.Attitudes towards regulation. pg Stories. pg

Your Brief Presentation A short presentation that identifies the important messages (or key ideas) of that section of Chapter 1. A "Visual" that illustrates the key ideas (poster paper and markers provided). –Be sure each team members name appears on the visual and hand in at the end Answers questions from Jeff, Ross and the Class about your section.