The Story of Easter Island
Chapter
6: Lessons from the Past?
A
jewel of an island floating in an endless sea. A seemingly never-ending
supply of raw materials. Technological advances. Population growth. Depletion
of resources. War. Collapse. Sound familiar? The Easter Island story is
a story for our times. We too are on an island floating on an endless sea.
There are differences, of course. It could be said that Easter Island is
tiny and that it was only a matter of time before the resources in such
a closed system were used up. But there are parallels between the islanders'
attitude towards their environment and our own, and this is the most frightening
part of the story.
On an island as small as Easter, it was easy to see the effects of the
deforestation as it was taking place. But the inhabitants continued their
destructive actions. They probably prayed to their gods to replenish the
land so they could continue to rape it, but the gods didn't answer. And
still the trees came down. Whatever one did to alter that ecosystem, the
results were reasonably predictable. One could stand on the summit and
see almost every point on the island. The person who felled the last tree
could see that it was the last tree. Nonetheless, he (or she) still felled
it.* This is the really scary part. As our own forests fall to the bulldozers,
there are many who are valiantly trying to save them. It is obvious, now
that we have satellites showing us the massive deforestation, that there
is a serious problem. And yet our leaders — and even the majority
of individuals — look on, unconcerned. They appear willing to bulldoze
the last trees to build the moai of our time — technology & development.
Will we have the sense to reconcile our lifestyles with the well-being
of our environment, or is the human personality always the same —
as that of the person who felled the last tree?*
The End
Authors Note: Since the events of September 11 and now the military action that the world is involved in the environmental problems of the world don't seem so important now. While I strongly agree that survival of the civilized world should be our priority right now we need to remember that the environment of this planet is what sustains all of us and we ignore it at our own peril. The lessons of Easter Island are just as valid today as they were on September 10. I hope and pray that we will all be able to get back to such mundane things as 'saving the rain forest' very soon. - Cliff Wassmann
*from the
book Easter
Island-Earth Island
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