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Society Comparison

The human race has constantly played a dangerous game with environmental failure. Easter Island is a prime example of what could happen to our society if we are not careful with our environment. Easter Island is a prime example, because overpopulation and overuse of its resources lead to its downfall. There are examples of successful societies such as Gaviotas. Gaviotas is a village in Columbia that has made strides in the past three decades to become fully sustainable. Easter Island is a remote Polynesian island in the South Pacific Ocean. The Island is also known as Rapa Nui by the locals. “Easter Island is over 2,000 miles from the nearest population center, (Tahiti and Chile), making it one of the most isolated places on Earth.” (Brookman, 2007). The Island is shrouded in mystery Archaeologist can only estimate when the island was settled. They believe it was settled by Polynesians around 400 A.D. (Brookman, 2007). “Popular theory is that the islanders cut down all the trees to use as fuel and building materials, and to move the huge statues from the quarry to their positions around the island.” (Science Learning, 2008). The population of Easter Island peaked at around 10,000 people. The Island is approximately 64 square miles, 10,000 people on that size of Island laid waste to the Islands delicate ecosystem. The inhabitants of the island cut down all the trees to fit their agricultural needs and to move the statues that were carved to the current positions. They paid no attention to the habitats they were destroying and did not understand the consequences of their actions. Their actions resulting in complete deforestation. There isn’t much on how the climate was before, its range now is between 57 – 72 degrees year round. The islanders didn’t understand the methods they were using would hurt them, they thought they were taking the right actions to be successful and thrive. They were unprepared for how quickly the population grew.
“The late period of the island's civilization was characterized by civil wars and general destruction; more statues were toppled, and many mataa, or obsidian spearpoints, have been found dating to that period. Island tradition claims that around 1680, after peacefully coexisting for many years, one of the island's two main ethnic groups, known as the Short-Ears, rebelled against the Long-Ears, burning many of them to death on a pyre constructed along an ancient ditch at Poike, on the island's far northeastern coast.” (History, 2013).
It is speculated that the civil wars broke out because how scarce the resources were. They were also plagued by cannibalism, and illness such as smallpox, and tuberculosis. (Science Learning, 2008).
Gaviotas is a sustainable village in Columbia; this village was founded four decades ago by Paolo Lugari.
“In the early 1970s, facing overwhelming obstacles, a young visionary named Paolo Lugari set out to build a sustainable village on los llanos, the remote plains of Colombia, some 500 kilometers east of the country's capital, Bogotá. Lugari and a diverse and creative team of collaborators worked on the supposition that if it could be done there, it could be done anywhere. (WorldWatch Intitute, 2007).
Paolo Lugari was the visionary for the sustainable village in a very remote location. It would have been impossible for him to complete this project on his own. “An important partner and promoter of the Marandúa reforestation project is Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI), led by Belgian entrepreneur Gunter Pauli, one-time CEO of the ecological home products manufacturer Ecover.” (WorldWatch Intitute, 2007). The village contains two hundred citizens, they work together to think up new innovative ideas of ways to be more ecofriendly. “They built a solar hot water system that produces hot water even on overcast days; a windmill that pumps thousands of gallons of water per day from a depth of more than 120 feet; and a unique “sleeve” water pump that can extract water from much deeper depths than a conventional pump, with far less manual effort.” (Guevara-Stone, 2011). With innovations like these they have been able to successfully remain sustainable. It can be argued that, because the population is small is why it is successfully. I think it’s because of the people working together and making wise decisions when using resources. This society has taken the actions to become sustainable to show the world that is can be done. That is why they chose the harsh, remote location to build the village. Easter Island shows what can happen when a society is overpopulated and no action is taken to protect the resources. The inhabitants of Easter Island didn’t understand how quickly using resources would lead to their downfall. Las Gaviotas is an example of what can happen when people come together and each does their part to protect the environment. It seems it would be more difficult for high populated societies to become sustainable, because everyone wants to do their own thing when it comes to protecting our resources. Part of the population just doesn’t care, and part thinks that they can’t make a difference. If we all choose to contribute we can make a difference.

References
WorldWatch Intitute. (2007, May). Retrieved from http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5020
Science Learning. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/News-Events/Latest-News/News-Archive/2008-News-archive/Easter-Island-The-mystery-of-population-collapse
History. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/easter-island
Brookman, D. Y. (2007). Easter Island Hompage. Retrieved from http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/rapanui.html
Guevara-Stone, L. (2011). Home Power. Building a Sustainable Community, 5. Retrieved from http://www.homepower.com/articles/home-efficiency/design-construction/gaviotas

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