Let me tell you a story.
Easter Island -Rapa Nui- was a home to a culture that rose to greatness amid abundant resources, attained extraordinary levels of achievement, and then died suddenly and alone, terrified, in the empty vastness of the Pacific. The inhabitants had destroyed their own world.
European first saw Easter Island in 1722. The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen encountered the small volcanic speck on Easter morning while on a scouting voyage. The island, dotted with withered grasses and scorched vegetation, was populated by a few hundred skittish, hungry, ill-clad Polynesians who lived in caves. During his one-day visit, Roggeveen was amazed to see more than 200 massive stone statues standing on platforms along the coast. At least 700 more statues were later found partially completed, lying in the quarries as if they had just been abandoned by workers. Roggeveen immediately recognized a problem: "We could not comprehend how it was possible that these people, who are devoid of thick heavy timber for making machines, as well as strong ropes, nevertheless had been able to erect such images." The islanders has no wheels, no powerful animals, and no resources to accomplished this artistic technical, and organizational feat. And there were too few of them -600 to 700 men and about 30 women.
When Capt. james Cook visited in 1774, the islanders paddled to his ships in canoes "put together with manifold small planks...cleverly stiched together with very fine twisted threads." Cook noted the natives "lacked the knowledge and materials for making tight the seams of the canoes, they are accordingly very leaky, for which reason they are compelled to spend half the time in bailing." The canoes held only one or two people each, and they were less than 3 meters (10 feet) long. Only three or four canoes were seen on the entire island, and Cook estimated the human population at less than 200. By the time of Cook's visit, nearly all the statues had been overthrown, tipped into pits dug for them, often onto a spike placed to shatter their faces upon impact.
Archesological research on Easter island has revealed a chilling story. Only 165 square kilometers (64 square miles) in extent, Easter Island is one of the most isolated places on Earth, the easternmost outpost of Polynesia. Voyagers from the Marquesas first reached Easter Island about A.D. 350, possibly after being blown off course by storms. The place was a miniature paradise. In its fertile volcanic soils grew dense forest of palms, daisies, grasses, hauhau trees and toromino shrubs. Large oceangoing canoes could be built from the long, straight, buoyant Easter Island palms and strengthened with rope made from the hauhau trees. Toromino firewood cooked the fish and dolphins caught by the newly arrived fishermen, and forest tracts were cleared to plant crops of taro, bananas, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes. The human population thrived.
By the year 1400 the population had blossomed to between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Gathering, cultivating and distributing the rich bounty for so many inhabitants require complex political control. As number grew, however, stresses began to be felt: the overuse and erosion of agricultural land caused crop yields to decline, and the nearby ocean was stripped of benthic organisms, so the fishermen had to sail greater distances in larger canoes. As resources became inadequate to support the growing population, those in power appealed to the gods. They redirect community resources to carve worshipful images of unprecedented size and power. The people cut down more large trees for ropes and rolling logs to place the heads on huge carved platforms.
By this time, the island's seabirds had been consumed, and no new birds came to nest. The rats that has hitchiked to the island on the first canoes were raised for food. Palm seeds were prized as a delicacy. All available land was under cultivation. As fesorces continues to shrink, wars broke out over dwindilng food aand space. By about 1550 no one couldd venture offshore to harpoon dolphins or fishes because the palms needed to constuct seagoing canoes had all been cut down. The trees used to provide rope lashing were extinct, their wood burned to cook what food remained. The once-lush forest was gone. Soon the only remaining ready source of animal protein were being utilized: The people began to hunt and eat each other.
Central authority was lost, and gangs arose. As tribal wars raxged, the remaining grasses were burned to destroy hiding places. The rapidly shrinking population retreated into caves from which raids were launched against enemy forces. The vanquished were consumed, their statues tipped into pits and destroyed. Around 1700 the human population crashed to less than a tenth of its peak numbers. No statues stood upright when Cook arrived.
Even if the survivors had wanted to leave the island, they could not have done so. No suitable canoes existed; none could be made. What might the people have been thinking when they chopped down the last palm? Generations later, their successors died, wondering what the huge stone statues had been looking for.
As you read this chapter, you may be struck by similarities between Easter Island and Earth. Here we will survey the pollutants, the mismanagement of living resorces, and the global changes that are currently stressing the planet's environment. It's a depressing list, but at the end you'll find a glimmer of hope. After all, the Easter Islanders had no books and no histories of other doomed societies. We might be able to learn from their mistakes.
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