Collapse

I might have been gone for a while, but the title is not about the state of this blog. Rather, it's about the book I've mentioned in my previous entry.

I first got interested with Jared Diamond's Collapse upon seeing the Mayan ruins on its cover and reading the subtitle "how societies choose to fail or succeed." I figured it would be a good research material for the "epic novel" I have in mind, as well as additional information concerning 2012. Well, I never got those things I was looking for, but I still got quite a learning experience.

For the past few weeks, I underwent a re-education in history, at least those of the sample ancient and contemporary societies as Diamond examines their rise and fall or survival through the interplay of five variables, namely: damage inflicted by the society to its environment, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners and the society's response. Indeed it is a novelty for most people to view history in terms of the environment, for history is more commonly associated with the social sciences like politics and culture (although the book also takes these aspects into consideration). This multi-disciplinary integration, which lends itself to Diamond's majestic big-picture exposition and analysis, is what I, who would like to think of myself as a jack-of-all-trades, personally like about the book.

Now what could make societies collapse? Four of the five variables are considered givens or things of the past and merely determines, at a specific point in time, how brittle or robust a society's environment is. Diamond gives weight to the fifth, society's response, the only variable where people can be in considerable control. It boils down to problem solving, specifically the steps involved: anticipation of a future problem, perception of an existing problem, creation of a solution and the result of that solution. Failures could arise at any of those steps, and the reasons for such failures may be foolish in hindsight, but on second thought are arguably rational or excusable. Who would fault those who take care of their own interest? How would people notice the decreasing amount of resources if it happens slowly over generations, especially if they are not trained to detect these changes? Why would people suddenly discard traditional values that have defined their society and have made them successful throughout all these years? These are hard and troubling questions because they go deep down into our very selves, our identities, our beliefs, our values. One would think that, despite the intellect and advancements, humanity is still limited, finite and, perhaps, ultimately doomed.

I myself would, for instance, insist that technology will be able to solve our problems sooner if not later, but even to that Diamond has a response: time and again technology had solved some problems only to introduce new ones. Should I then despair, especially now that technology is sufficiently advanced to trigger problems more massive in scale?

No, the correct response is to be humbled and to be hopeful. The fact is, we're still alive after all, in spite of catastrophic failures in the past, and current pressing problems. Among the sample societies in the book, there are success stories from various societies employing various means to adapt and preserve themselves. The human intellect, the knowledge collected throughout the millennia, the advancements though short of perfect will, if used properly, be enough for us to survive. That was one reason why Diamond still wrote the book. He still has faith in the human capabilities, flawed and puny they may be, to still deliver us to survival.

-oOo-

Collapse is written by an American for an American audience. However, the few mentions on the Philippines aren't exactly flattering. Most noticeably, Diamond lumps the country, together with Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Madagascar and Haiti as environmental hotspots of the world. Interestingly, he then notes to drive his point, in this same group of countries are also the political hotspots of the world. (Aside from Indonesia, where are the other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries? On their way to First World status, although Diamond points out that being First World, with its wasteful lifestyle and "exported" environmental damage, is not entirely a good thing.)

Another unflattering mention of the country in the book is about short-term lease logging that is damaging the rainforest. We're not talking of illegal loggers here; short-term leases for logging are granted by the government to companies in exchange for taxes and fees. However, the tendency of the logging companies is to acquire as much lumber as they can, and after the lease expires they can actually just run away and renege on their commitment to replant. I remember how, in the year 2004--when Diamond is probably in the thick of writing this book--massive landslides brought about by record amounts of rainfall have wrought destruction at Quezon province, while fallen logs accompanying the mud and flood revealed the culprit. There was this sound and fury regarding a total log ban, which eventually fizzled out. Then the following years saw an increase in the frequency of landslides. Have the loggers already inflicted upon the Philippines the damage they, as Diamond mentioned, already inflicted upon the Malay Peninsula? What could happen next to this poor country of ours?

There was actually one good thing Diamond had mentioned about the Philippines, and it involved sustainable practices, at least on a community level. It was buried somewhere along the footnotes for further readings, though, and can be easily missed. How come we cannot do this in a national level?

-oOo-

I this point I should restrain myself from again proceeding with my usual kilometric ramblings. The temptation is great since, Collapse contains lots of information and realizations that would keep me going. But then, I just might as well re-write the book!