Chapter 17 Discussion

This one was much more the tone I would expect from Sumner, although significantly wordier to make a relatively simple point. He uses a lot of long words to basically say that we can pretend to know patterns and to be an intelligent culture, but until we start caring about our resources and environment then we are likely to lead to our own destruction (or a pretty close call). After muddling through the first four pages, I did enjoy reading about the Rapa Nui civilization. Cutting down trees seems like such an innocent thing to do until you read this type of tale. I am an environmentalist and all that but just replant a tree for every tree you tear down. Without the historical support I would have never believed cutting down trees could have been so destructive. I think it says a lot that a portion of the population was able to survive and rejuvenate itself.
Sumner's ale of Ocracoke hit close to home for me in a very literal way. My family vacationed there frequently while I was growing up, mostly for day trips but nonetheless quite often. They stopped going because it was becoming too “touristy.” Its sad to think of the quaint town I remember no longe existing in its charming manner because people didn't respect the limitations that we ourselves placed on it so it could retain the charm that is s lovable about it. I think Ocracoke would fall under Sumner's description of “a cultural collapse that leads to the fall of local traditions” and not one that has a “severe population collapse” because surely we have the technology to bring Ocracoke into the twenty first century but it would be such a great loss to give up the quaint, idealistic location to technology.
Despite his “doomsday” approach, Sumner reassures us that “we can rebuild our society to respect our environment.” A statement that I, like many of us, believe in; however, I cannot help but be a little fearful that we will have gone too far too fast the correct the problems before it is too late.