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Letter Re: The History of Societal Collapse and Implications for The American Redoubt
Mr. Rawles,
I recently watched a speech given by Jared Diamond, author of the books Guns, Germs and Steel
and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, among others. It was very interesting and prompted me to write this post (which I first posted over at Guerrillamerica.com.)
I’m watching Jared Diamond speak about why societies collapse. As you may know, Diamond wrote the book Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, among others (and they’re all great). Here are five factors that Jared says affect the collapse of societies. I’ll take notes and relate these effects to the American Redoubt region. Think of these as thinking points as opposed to talking points.
Human Impacts on the Environment
There are massive human impacts on the environment in parts of the American Redoubt, although much of the Redoubt states are a majority of Federally-owned lands. Because Redoubt states are so richly endowed with natural resources (hydrocarbons, metals, minerals, and lumber); there’s going to be an equal amount of focus on getting those substances out of the ground. That can create pollution and a degradation of the environment, which Jared says causes societies to collapse. There will have to be a happy-medium solution to resource extraction and protection of the environment because we’re economically dependent on these resources in order to function. Will the American Redoubt be held hostage by international oil cartels (along with the rest of America) or will we make strides to become energy independent? My bet is on the latter.
Diamond cites a few different examples of how the environment ultimately did-in societies; from the collapse of the Mayan civilization to the Norse in Greenland. For the Norse, overgrazing and deforestation contributed to the entire Norse population in Greenland dying off.
There are environmental factors that are “too subtle” to realize until it’s too late; as in the case of the Norse. One of the subtle factors we might include is the population growth over the next decade. If we do see a financial collapse, followed by a domino effect of other collapses, we’ll likely see an influx of patriots to the American Redoubt. The slower the process of collapse – if Americans do have time to get out of Dodge in an orderly fashion – the faster we’ll see immigration into the Redoubt.
We should consider how we’ll harvest and extract natural resources in order to support the populace and the defense of the region. In any number of scenarios, the American Redoubt states would likely have to provide for their own defense; export resources for cash; and manage an influx of immigrants. That can induce stress on resource production, especially if demand outpaces available supply. Could our treatment of the environment to make life better in the short term actually end up harming us in the long term?
I’m by no means an “environmentalist” but we have a long term interest in being good stewards of the environment. That’s not just for the environment but also for us.
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