65 pages • 2 hours read
Jared DiamondCollapse
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
List the five major causes of societal collapse, and explain why Diamond believes one of them is vitally important in dealing with today’s environmental crises.
How did Japan become the most forested nation on Earth?
Why is it a bad idea to cut down forests and replace them with farms? Be specific and provide examples.
Beginning around 1350, trade between Greenland and Europe declined. What factors caused the decline? Which of these factors also led to crop failure and starvation, and how?
What are three ways that settlers have damaged the soils of their adopted land, and how they might repair that damage?
Why did the Haitians cut down nearly all their trees while the Dominicans next door did not? What were the consequences?
Why is it generally cheaper to import food into Australia than to grow it there?
How did problems with population, farming, and clan rivalries lead to the Rwandan genocide of 1994?
Why is mining for minerals more damaging to the environment than drilling for oil? Include two types of mining damage in your explanation.
Think of an environmental crisis from the past 50 years that fits the definition of a “Malthusian crisis” and explain why it can be defined as such.
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By Jared Diamond
