Diamond Journal

A Tale Of Two Farms

Quotations by Jared Diamond

..”Vividly brought home to me the conclusion that even the richest, technologically most advanced societies today face growing environmental and economic problems that should not be underestimated” (Diamond, p. 17). 

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity

I believe a lot of people living in wealthy developed countries believe that because we live in a place where there are advanced technologies, we do not need to worry about environmental and political problems because technology and money will solve and fix anything that begins to fail. Diamond made a great point that really allowed me to think on a deeper level. He proposed the question, will technology create problems faster than solving all of them. In my opinion, technology could be the world’s best friend or the world’s worst enemy; society does have a choice on the decision in determining which one it will be. The other part of this quote that stands out is the word underestimated. People put a lot of faith in technology and that can create people to underestimate the growing problems that we are facing. Education is key. People need to learn how technology will help us and how it could potentially fail us. This would allow for more people to have the true facts of how even the richest societies could collapse.

“Unsustainable practices led to environmental damage of one or more of the eight types just listed, resulting in agriculturally marginal lands having to be abandoned again” (Diamond, p. 21).

http://wwf.panda.org

This statement made me think about A Land to Remember. In the beginning of the book, no one had to worry about land being destroyed and how to protect the environment because people were protecting it. As time went on and population and wealth increased, unsustainable practices began that led to the start of environmental damage. Since the population was increasing, more land was needed to provide food for people. What is going to happen as the population continues to increase? More and more land is going to be destroyed to suit the needs and wants of societies, which leads to more unsustainable practices causing a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

“If environmentalists aren’t willing to engage with big businesses, which are among the most powerful forces in the modern world, it won’t be possible to solve the world’s environmental problems” (Diamond, p. 34). 

http://www.biztechreport.com/story

I have always thought that big businesses and politics were the bad guys when it came to saving the environment. At first I was unable to believe this statement because my view reflected anger towards big businesses. I feel they are hindering the fight to save the environment. Diamond gave me another point of view that really made sense to me. We need big businesses on the environmentalists’ side for any change to occur. We need there support and even sometimes their guidance to help save the environment. It is the environmentalists’ job to convince the big businesses in power that saving the environment is profitable. If a healthy relationship between environmentalists could occur, we would be living in a much more sustainable environment. If the big businesses showed that the environment is important, it would attract a lot of people because of the power they hold. I do still believe that many big businesses are corrupt and do not care in any way about helping the environment, however there needs to be more effort by environmentalists to establish with big businesses that could help sustain the environment.