The Anthropocene & Easter Island: Making Connections

3/11/2020

What is the relationship between Diamond’s essay Easter Island and our Ted Talk on the Anthropocene by Will Steffen?

a) What can be concluded, deduced, learned?
b) Will the lesson of Easter Island play out on a grander scale?
c) Are their modern safeguards against this fate?
- As always, please provide opinions supported by evidence. Like your Humans' & Their Societies Essay, these should, for me, be insightful and a pleasure to read.
DUE Sunday 3.15 @ High Noon
- Assessment Grade

59 Comments

Aspyn Park

3/11/2020 02:51:30 pm

One significant detail that both these sources have is the words "Will we follow their lead?" When it comes to past civilizations like the Romans, Mayan, etc. we probably will but if one were to put it into a more optimistic lens then hopefully a lot longer. A) things that can be taken from these is that perhaps we aren't heading down the correct path. Sure it is an extremely progressive path but in return there is a lot of damage as a direct result. B) One day I'm sure there will be a class sometime in the future, most likely this one, that will analyze this issue and be like "This is the earlier stages of this epidemic" instead of shrugging it off because at that point the world would be collapsing in on itself. People don't like believing things that aren't right in front of them so what say the end of the world won't be accounted differently. C) Because I'm mentally incapacitated when it comes to citing evidence I'll probably provide the easiest opinion. I believe there are but they aren't at their most mature state in efficiency yet. Like Mr. Steffen's hip new ideas are a concept being broadcast out there so they finally gain enough traction to then begin implementing safeguards like the "Planetary Boundaries" he mentioned.

Ezekiel Anthony

3/12/2020 08:45:01 pm

The relationship between Diamond’s Easter Island and the Ted Talk clip on Anthropocene is that they are discussing the same thing. Ted is studying the idea that humans have entered a new era created by man. This era has many flaws and it focuses to much on human advances rather than the planet’s well being. It’s called the Anthropocene, which would be a result from us humans, but it’s also seen in the Easter Island reading. The reading talks about how the islanders inhabited that area but used up all its resources as well as destroying its land. They would use what the island provided but the more they took the island became less fruitful. This is the basic idea the Anthropocene proposes. Easter Islands lesson has a possibility of being played out on a grander scale because we have nation leaders doing what the people there did. There are safe guards for this which Ted proposed, such as boundaries protecting the Earth. As he said we could reduce the amount of bad nitrogen we put in the air or find new places to accommodate the population growth. He also states that we put out too much Carbon Dioxide therefore crossing a boundary we shouldn’t. We could also respect the Earths reserves of fresh water and the change of its climate. If not, sooner or later we will doom the Earth and humanity.

Claire Butts

3/13/2020 05:11:34 pm

Will Steffen indicates however the world can slowly come back to be like Easter Island. Easter Island changed into an associate degree island that had an organized society however quickly suffered owing to limitations that they had crossed. The lesson has the flexibility to play out on a grander scale, locating strategies to save lots of you from happening may assist however sooner or later humanity might want to collapse owing to any of their successful issues. folks may decide to decide processes for a lot of meals and water for an outsized world to stay itself on might fantabulous be a quick resolution, folks may before long need additional space to measure. With the population doubling and meals developing at a slower rate than the population, several humans would grow to be starving. In Easter Island’s finish, it shares however the Polynesians couldn’t hunt massive prey to feed the rising world. that they had invaded an associate degree remote island that became domestic to several animals. They settled out what proportion meals that they had had and over up the usage of all of their assets. Their hazard of extant at the island became uncalculated to them, that they'd no out of doors assets showing to United States associate degree eminent death.

John Asuncion

3/14/2020 08:07:13 am

Three main points that can be deduced in both Will Steffen's TEDx Talk and Jared Diamond's "Easter Island's End," are the definite shift into the era of the Anthropocene or "modern" man, the rapid modification of the Earth's geology through scientific advancements, and the negative impact on nature that comes along with humanity's interaction with their environment. While both do not deny the marvelous innovations of man ever since the rise of agriculture, both emphasize the destruction and depletion of the planet's natural resources in pursuit of human development. Diamond uses his essay on Easter Island to provide a resemblance to humanity's inevitable fate; he highlights that with all the current operations society desires for the future of technology, and along with the rising populations, it is likely that it will end in the same way in which Easter Islanders exhausted their resources to their eventual demise. Relating to the essay, Steffen stresses that it is up to us as a global community to think critically and recognize the "planetary boundaries" we have exceeded to minimize destruction on the already negatively altered world. I believe that the occurrence in Easter Island is already unfolding in today's world. Examples of this would be the 2016 reports of coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef, wiping out 29 to 50 percent of the reef, or the large-scale pollution of China's air due to industrialization, causing about 350,000 - 400,000 premature deaths. According to Diamond, our difference to the Easter Islanders is that we have records of past societies, enabling us to hopefully learn from their mistakes. Fortunately, as we head deeper through human progression, we have devised modern solutions to such issues. Brilliant minds have come together and started integrating research onto other sources of energy instead of fossil fuels. Organizations have been created to fight such exploitation of resources through spreading awareness and holding charity events. Some states in the U.S. like California has begun this global effort, passing laws of banning single-use plastics and assigning public areas with proper recycling methods. These efforts however, can only do so much against the much more powerful influence of government, which most are in favor of enterprise rather than saving the planet. It is only a matter of time that the humans that once ruined their environment, would realize this major global threat and act upon it as one community.

Enoch Yaya

3/14/2020 12:28:30 pm

We can deduce that we, as human beings negatively affect the world at a much grander scale, which led us to the Anthropocene age. The lesson of Easter Island will definitely play out on a grander scale, especially in the Anthropocene age. The lesson teaches us about the risks and possibilities, such as food sources disappearing one after another, as we destroy our environment without us knowing; Then realizing it is too late to go back and fix it, just like the polynesians on Easter Island. The lesson of Easter Island teaches us to be more aware and prepared for what is to come in the Anthropocene age, and on what to do to completely prevent our fate. There are modern safeguards that are against Anthropocene, such as starting to think about planetary boundaries. If we let our planet work and fix itself, without human activities bothering it, then we could prevent Anthropocene. Human activities causes abrupt shifts on how the planet functions, which is not healthy for both the planet and all species. Some effects are climate change, ozone depletion, chemical pollution, and so on. If we as humans don’t keep our planetary boundaries, our society will end just like Easter Island.

Alexandra Edmond-Perez

3/14/2020 01:37:02 pm

Anthropocene is how humans affect the earth. Anthropocene is tied to Easter Island because humans are the reason there aren't specific plants. Humans started a domino effect on Easter Island when they started using the resources. This domino effect is what started the slow decline of the resources on the island but increase of the population. Sadly this is going on all over the world not just on Easter Island. It is also in the rest of the world too and it is very bad. Just with the rest of the world it is at a slower rate than Easter Island did. The grander scale might try and correct itself naturally like with a virus or a bacteria to decrease a population. It may play out much worse though because there is war and conflict so it always turns out bad. They try to make modern alternatives like solar systems or wind turbines for energy to replace the fossil fuels. But it isn't a permanent fix. There never will be a permanent fix to it. The Polynesians never thought of the effect that they put on the ecosystem when they started using all of its resources and they didn't have any modern knowledge or technology. Everybody believes that they can “save” the earth but they can't honestly. There is no safety net for us. All we can do is slow it down because we are humans and we do before we think so now we are getting the backlash of what we have done.

Kid

3/14/2020 03:21:29 pm

The relationship between the Easter Island and the ted talk about the Anthropocene is that they both inform us that humans negatively affect the places they inhabit and they also negatively affect the environment that surrounds them because humans don’t know their boundaries when it’s about the environment because humans always think about themselves and how much money they would make if they cut a tree down or polluting the air so their factories can produce their goods to make money. It’s human nature to think that way, we think how it would benefit ourselves first before thinking how it would damage anything else. We can conclude from both the Easter Island writing and the ted talk that humans don’t know when to stop using the resources the Earth has and in the process of using those resources we damage the Earth with it and stopping the growth of the resources we need. For example, in the Eastern Island it was filled with palm trees, porpoises, land birds, sea birds, etc… and the polynesians had all the resources they needed to survive. They cut down the palm tree and built canoes and houses with it, they used the canoes to catch porpoises and eat them since they were pretty big. But then the growth of the palm trees started decreasing because the polynesians used it for most of the things they needed; to build canoes, to transport and erect statues, and to burn them and rats ate the palm tree seeds. And since the polynesians used birds as a source of meat, the birds became extinct and they had no one to pollinate the tree's flowers which led to the extinction of both the birds and the palm trees. The lesson of Easter Island will play out on a grander scale if humans keep on doing what they do because there are factories that pollute the water and air, there are poachers that kill elephants and rhinos, there are governments (America led by Donald Trump) that are willing to cut trees to help with fuel fires which causes air pollution. There are people who believe climate change doesn’t exist. All these problems and more are working against us and even though Easter Island shows us how their civilization turned out by depleting their resources, people don’t seem to understand the bad things that could happen to them. In the ted talk, Will Steffen said between 1750 and 1800 we gained access to fossil fuel and our population started going up because it benefited us in many ways and it made our lives easier but it didn’t make the environment surrounding us any better. By using these fuels we started polluting our environment and we invented new things that made our lives easier but still destroyed the Earth. People never thought about the Earth or how it might be damaged by their invention, all they care about is how it benefits them and their wealth. The polynesians in Easter Island depleted their resources and didn’t see how it affected them until the last tree was standing. That is when they saw how much they messed up, they saw how their food sources were gone and how they couldn’t use their soil for crops because of all the trees they cut down which can cause erosions. Thomas Malthus said we would have more population than food resources but we avoided that but how for how long? Humans think they are clever but they really aren’t. Thomas Malthus is right about his theory and when his theory comes into play that is when humans will realize the mistakes they did and how they can’t go back to fix it. Humans fix the problems they caused but they bring a new problem with it, humans need to learn that now is the time to start fixing the problems they made before it’s too late and like the polynesians we will suffer and it will be a bloodbath. Yes there are safeguards for saving the Earth. There are organizations like Earth justice, Rainforest alliance, Ocean conservancy, etc… who think that saving the Earth is a top priority but I don’t think it’s effective. I personally think that none of the organizations are effective because most of the people in the world don’t try to help the Earth. Most people damage the Earth because it benefits them, our own president thinks it’s ok to chop down trees and sell it. I don’t think people will see the problem they are causing to the Earth until they face the consequences because they are arrogant. They won’t think there is no damage until it inflicts damage on them. The only way we can save the Earth is if everyone in the whole world participates and helps the Earth and stops polluting it but until that happens we are going to be in danger in the future because humans are going to run out of tricks to pull to buy themselves some time before Earth collapses.

Arturo Esquivel

3/14/2020 06:47:35 pm

The relationship between Diamond's essay Easter Island and the Ted Talk on the Anthropocene is that humans on their own drive themselves to the point of extinction due to their ignorance. From deforestation in Easter Island to having high levels of greenhouse gasses in the Ted Talk the results are the same. Neither Diamond's essay or the Ted Talk should be taken lightly but rather as a warning for what is to come if humans keep acting in this destructive manner when treating the environment around us. Yet, there are solutions and while it's not possible to reverse the damage that humans have done to the environment, there is a way to stop it from getting worse. It's just a matter of whether humans are willing to cooperate and work together to make the Earth a better place for the generations to come. Solutions include planting trees and recycling, as well as buying recycled products. Even by encouraging others to conserve you can do your part. If no action is taken by humans to help the environment there is no doubt in my mind that Easter Island will play out on a grander scale.

Quedemah Quijano Keever

3/14/2020 07:15:00 pm

A) What we can deduce from these 2 sources is that humans may just become their own doom-bringers. We may not even notice it, but we exhaust our resources, little by little, until it is all gone and we won’t even notice it.
B) The lesson might play out of a grander scale (all of humanity), but it all depends on how we will move on. Will we change from our previous mistakes, or will we choose to do nothing and bring the end ever so closer? I think (and hope) that we will choose to change from our mistakes and move towards a positive future.
C) There are many modern safeguards, like solar panels, dams, and windmills to reduce the use of temporary resources, like coal, fossil fuels, or releasing dangerous gases into our atmosphere that is irreversible. Countries like China have created laws/boundaries to stop this fate, where families can only create 1 child, as to not overpopulate the world.

Vanity Enriquez

3/14/2020 08:00:33 pm

The relationship between Diamond’s essay and the Ted Talk on Anthropocene is they both talk about how we needed/need to have boundaries with the world. It can be concluded that we need to take care of our earth because it’s delicate. It’s up to us how to take care of the world. An example is animal population declining (extinction). At Eastern Island, the people filled their stomachs with mostly land birds and soon a lot of them disappeared, and they turned to cannibalism. In today time, a quite of few animals are going extinct and nobody is allow to harm, capture or consume them for that reason. We need to learn from Eastern Island’s experience that if we don’t do things wisely, it could cost the population. The Eastern Island people didn’t stop and realize what they were doing until it was too late. We have time and should hurry before it’s too late. The lesson of Eastern Island will probably not play out. The powerful people in the world aren’t willing to notice how big problems are getting. All of the business leaders are blocking all action to make the world better for their own benefit. Each year there is a larger population and that means fewer resources. People have the power in their hands and sometimes we can’t do anything. The Eastern Island people had their power within themselves, but did the wrong things. If we were to continue, there isn’t fate for humanity for any longer. Us humans use nature for so much and it can take a while for nature to remake everything again. We can limit what we do and use though. We just need to be wise.

jimena Wilson

3/14/2020 08:43:50 pm

The easter island and the ted talk on the Anthropocene by Will Steffen are similar.They both talk about how humans are slowly ruining the world or environment.
A- what can be concluded from this is that it can be used as an eye opener to help change our ways and help save the earth . We can see what happened to easter island and in reading it asks many times if we are about to follow easter islands lead.

B-in my opinion i think that the lesson of easter island will not play out. First, not that many people are truly trying to change to help the environment. Then, barely anyone is going back to talk about easter islands history to help us for future references.

jimena wilson

3/14/2020 08:44:17 pm

Edgar Jimenez Huerta (p2)

3/14/2020 09:36:53 pm

A)We can learn that humans themselves will bring an inevitable death to ourselves if we continue to contaminate the environment or eat up our natural resources too quickly. As said in the Ted Talk we entered a new era of humans affecting the environment whereas it usually was about the environment affecting humans. To add on, the article illustrates the idea that humans begin to use their limited resources and eventually get to a time where it will be all depleted, like past generations who lived on Easter Island.

B)This will go on a grader scale if we continue our own selfish and arrogant ways, for example to contaminate our air and waters we use or deplete our natural resources for unnecessary items. This all depends if all of humanity can co exist with one another leaving such harmful wastes, such as pollution, poaching, etc. The future depends on us but if we can't move forward for the better of our planet, we are left with either colonizing on another uninhabited planet or being in the era called the Anthropocene which is because of our own mistakes.

C)In these modern societies of countries we are left with safeguards, such as ways to make clean renewable energy, like dams or solar panels, however they are not as efficient as using coal or fossil fuels but it is essential for the survival of humanity, if not we are basically, "building our own grave." Many countries have taken the lead to help these changes and avoid the era of Anthropocene, such as China avoided over population limiting the amount a family can have, or even major companies such as Tesla creating cars that are self sufficient on electricity rather than gas which cause pollution, even minor changes like recycling or turning down air conditioners when not used could improve our climate thus avoiding the point of no return.

jimena wilson

3/14/2020 11:48:23 pm

Terrance Acfalle

3/15/2020 01:17:50 am

From the Easter Island essay and the Ted talk, the relation is we learn that humans will destroy the environment around them using resources to survive even if they deny it. Also, us humans are the reason for almost all of the current environmental problems. From the Anthropocene Ted Talk we conclude that the environmental changes have been linked to human action for example, the use of fossilized energy. The Easter Island essay deduces humans are not aware of what they are doing to the environment as the effects do not show immediately. The lesson of Easter Island definitely has the chance to play out on a grander scale. Our sources of energy like coal, fuel, and petroleum has been built up over millions of years and we are just burning through it and the toxins of it causes air pollution. So it is just a lose, lose situation. To add, when we run out of those resources we will just turn to another and run other species into extinction just like the people of Easter Island before abandoning it. But if humans did realize and come to an understanding about the effects they have on the environment there could be a turning point where we create something that is safe enough to provide us with the resources we need and not destroy the earth. I do think that this is possible with the remarkable technologies we have already created. But I don’t think humans will be driven enough which is why we continue to use these resources even though we are in danger. This will just make Earth become a cycle of Easter Island.

Estefanny Garcia

3/15/2020 08:09:50 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay, Easter Island and the Ted Talk on the Anthropocene by Will Steffen is that they both talk about how we need to take care of our Earth more. It can be deduced from these two soeces that the Earth is getting worse over the years because of human interaction. If we don’t start taking care of our Earth we might end up like Easter Island, vanishing and destroying the Earth little by little. An example of that is the decrease of plants. At Easter Island since human settlement happened there was a decrease in pollen which then led to the extinction of the palm. In today’s time there has been 400 plants extinct in the past 250 years, all because humans don’t take care of their surroundings. Humans today need to learn that if we don’t do a better job on taking care of the Earth than we will end up like Easter Island, our population will decrease until we become extinct. In our Society today the population is growing faster and faster which means we need more resources. A normal human eats three times a day, with the population growing we start to run out of resources. Cows, pigs, chicken, and many other animals will become extinct then what will we do become cannibalistic like Easter Island. Our society doesn’t worry about running out of food because the government will never let that happen but people need to understand that the government sees themselves as the higher power so if we do run out of plants, food and animals they’ll be the first to get food from somewhere else. Humanity is taking advantage of the Earth’s resources, they need to realize that there is only one Earth and we can’t mess it up.

Robert Joseph Jordan

3/15/2020 08:36:41 am

A). Between the Ted Talk and Easter Island essay, it can be concluded that humanity goes through cycles of growing and developing until meeting an eventual decline and end. Up to this day, humanity has developed from hunting & gathering to farming, using stone tools to metal tools, having unreliable means of medicine to lots of effective medicine, and so forth. Humanity had to start somewhere, and was soon thriving. In the story of Easter Island, its inhabitants were believed to live relatively good lives; they lived similar to how the world is today. They had plenty of resources including animals, wood, food, and so forth; it was enough to survive for the time. The island was also run by a complex government to keep everything stable, and ensure everyone would live a safe life. However, they eventually started declining and disappeared as a result of poor choices. Considering the situation right now, we are in parallels with Easter’s decline. As mentioned in the Ted Talk, Earth oscillates between long cold periods and short warm periods. Farming was invented during a nice warm period, but now we are nearing the end of the warm period, which is a bad thing for human survival. As history tends to repeat itself, we are nearing the end of a cycle which has shown itself many times throughout history.

B). Eventually, the entire world will suffer the same fate that the people of Easter Island did. Although all of humanity is much larger than one civilization, the evidence from Easter Island and the patterns of the earth indicate we are headed towards the same outcome. The size of the society that is going through this issue doesn't matter; it will all happen the same.

C). The only modern safeguard against this fate is the knowledge of it happening in the past. Personally, I don’t think this could prevent this fate, but only slow it down from happening. Knowing how the decline of civilizations occurred can help people avoid it, but eventually the same result will occur. Like the essay on Easter Island stated, the people living there started off well, but eventually died off, presumably from human error.

rebeca esqueda

3/15/2020 10:10:06 am

The relationship between the essay of the eastern island by Jared Diamond and the ted talk of Anthropocene by Will Steffen is they both talk about what’s wrong with the environment and how the past will affect the future. In the Easter Island, essay Diamond explains that in future reference that our world will be wiped out just like Easter island was from their forest. Diamond also explains that other civilizations disappeared like Khmer, the Maya, and the Anasazi. Now what can be learned from this essay is that maybe if we don’t take care of our civilization that we can have the same fate as the civilizations that were before us. The conclusion of this essay is we should take care and cherish what is seems “old” and “less important” because it might be important for economical significances. The ted talk on Anthropocene is about how humans affect the biological atmosphere and its climate and how humans are putting earth into a new era which is called the Anthropocene. In the video, Will Steffen shows a graph that shows the ice core in Antarctica the graphs show three lines and one of the lines shows the temperature changes through time, the second line indicates the greenhouse gases. Steffen continues to explain the graph but then he shows another ice core and explains the different temperatures throughout time. One thing he talks about is how the earth was warmer so carbon dioxide was much higher about ten hundred years ago so humans had a huge impact on geological factors. What can we learn about the Anthropocene is how we changed the environment and how we might just go into a different era in a geological way. The lesson of Easter island will not play on a grander scale because I think we are too far advanced into our society that we won’t let ourselves forget this problem and hopefully figure out a plan. I think there is a modern safeguard to avoid this fate and that is ourselves we need to recognize the problem and try to fix it.

Precious

3/15/2020 10:15:42 am

A. What can be learned is that humans have been destroying the society slowly for a long time and the pace is only speeding up as our population grows.
B. Yes, if humans continue to use up the limited amount of resources that we have at this rate.
C. Yes they’re against this fate because they are organizations that help to save the earth.

Edward Jackson

3/15/2020 10:17:37 am

A. That humans have been destroying the society slowly for a long time and it’s speeding up as the population grows and grows.
B. Yes, if humans continue to use up the limited amount of resources that they have at this rate
C. Safeguards

Melody E.

3/15/2020 11:22:03 am

* a) What can be concluded, deduced, learned?

As both have told, our human society of around the Earth changes as the development of humans start to increase and the biodiversity of the Earth changes into a more fall ahead event (extinction to our civilization and downfall of becoming into ruin). Both Diamond’s essay ‘Easter Island’ and Will Steffens Ted Talk on Anthropocene realizes the change of the environment and the availability of our own resources are limit to Earth itself to which it will in turn reveal a sudden dark event of destruction to our human civilization. Each one displays a civilization going through the same fate of extinction (destruction to our human civilization such as our organized system) under the cost of growth in human population and the unawareness of the drastic changes that will affect ourselves. With the story of the Easter’s history, evidence of climate change, and human development (change of biodiversity), all discusses to learn from the past in order to stay away from the gruesome fate that many early civilizations had experienced in order to prevent ourselves before it’s too late to turn back and change from our grim mistake.

* b) Will the lesson of Easter Island play out on a grander scale?

Yes, as many early civilization has (if not carefully with its’ concerns about their environment) lead towards the same fate of havoc and destruction from within their own human community. As told from Will Steffen’s Ted Talk, we entered into the era of Antropocene, which refers to the changes of our human development affecting the changes of the Earth’s diversity and how that it will effect ourselves into the future if followed through the time period without taking any precautions to our actions that effects Earth’s climate and environment changes. As the Polynesians (the Easter Island people) use up the resources of their own Easter Island home, goes to a sudden downfall of leading them to over production of chickens and the form of cannibalism to replace the loss of their goods that was once grown abundantly by the forest itself in the early times of their arrival. Both shows the leading dark path of civilization that without concerning our actions that has affected our Earth and our society like our early human civilizations on their own land; will altogether result the same dark fate that puts our lives as humans to ultimate chaos and to our once organize society on Earth just as they had once did.

* c) Are their modern safeguards against this fate?

Currently, there are precautions to take when trying to avoid this terrible fate of our human society like finding solutions to our global change environment of pollution, deforestation, and other means of harm to our Earth that we live today as was said by Will Steffen’s Ted Talk. However, both consider that our safeguard is history itself written and analyzed by professionals who share the origins of these early civilizations to reveal the truth of the past and reflect ourselves as humans in the present. It’s only when we take into account of the past mistakes that are written in our ancient pages to bring the world into a safe limit of what we known ‘Planetary Boundaries’ (respect our limits for the planet from Will Steffen).

Melisa Sandoval

3/15/2020 11:24:49 am

a.) The essay “Easter Island” tells a story and shows how the society destroyed its land by overusing their resources and taking advantage of what they have. Similarly, in the “Ted Talk by Will Steffens” he talks about how our society is entering in the anthropocene and how we are changing the world and impacting the resources and species around us.

b.) The lesson of Easter Island will play out on a bigger scale because it is relevant to what will or maybe is happening to our world right now. The Easter island explains the importance of resources and how overusing them will lead to a huge decline and will be a big problem for humans.

c.) We as humans are responsible to make an action against what can happen in the future. In order to prevent something like lack of resources or damaging the earth to happen, Will Steffens explains the 9 parts of the earth’s system that we need to respect. By respecting the 9 parts, it will create a safeguard against the fate that it looks like it’s set out to be.

Austynn Holder

3/15/2020 11:40:30 am

a) It has been concluded that our society today could possibly end up like the Easter Islands with more populations and fewer resources leading to a vanished society. The Easter Islands didn’t notice that their plants and animals were becoming extinct because they were listening to carvers, bureaucrats, and chiefs whose jobs depended on getting rid of resources. Our society is also going through this same problem while we are paying attention to political and business leaders. It has been concluded that Anthropocene means the age in which human activity has a huge impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems. This era is starting after the Holocene which is the 1000 year period of warm climate.

b) The lesson of Easter Island is already playing out on a bigger scale with each society experiencing it. For example, in the packet the write says “Every day newspapers report details of famished countries-Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Zaire-where soldiers have appropriated the wealth of where the central government is yielding to local gangs of thugs”. This shows that this problem that occurred with the Easter Islands is happening everywhere else making this a period of Anthropocene in which our society is negatively impacting our environment. Every year, there are always several animals and plants going extinct because of us and how we are treating this Earth, and it is only getting worse.

c) While there are a couple of people concerned and trying to fix this problem Easter Island experienced, our society as a whole are not trying to solve this problem and finding a way to save our planet. Because we are all looking up to political and business leaders who aren’t noticing or don’t care about our environment, no one is noticing the drastic change in our population increasing and resources decreasing. Because several other countries are already experiencing a great loss of resources, it is shown that we are only continuing to make a bigger gap between the population and resources instead of trying to solve it. We are continuing to live through this era called the Anthropocene.

Erika Maqueda

3/15/2020 11:46:06 am

The connection between the Easter island and the ted talk of the Anthropocene is that they both talk about how humans have a huge impact in the world. In the ted talk, Will talks about how humans were back then and how it wasn’t that difficult for them, they were not doing that much of a chaos. In the Easter island it talks about how the humans society came to an end. In the article the first paragraph it talks about how everything started to get whipped out, the forest, animals and plants were gone. They both explain how much damage we as humans can do if we keep up this pace. That one day we will probably end up in chaos too. So for us not to do that in the near future we have to make our world better and not follow their footsteps. So that we don’t suffer like they suffered.

Jazmine Martin

3/15/2020 11:48:25 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay Easter Island’s End and the Ted Talk on the Anthropence is how humans cause the destruction of themselves and the surrounding environment. Easter Island can be seen as a smaller and sped-up version of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is how man affects Earth’s atmosphere, climate, and geology. Due to its location and climate of Easter Island, it should have been a paradise. However, when discovered by Europeans it was a barren grassland. Polynesians had abundant resources and began to prosper and multiply because of a surplus of food. Polynesians began to cut down trees which resulted in the extreme and complete destruction of their forest. Slowly, food surpluses began to disappear and people starved. We can use Easter Island as an example of what humans are doing to the Earth and what could happen in the future. We can conclude that humans have the power to stop such damage. If humans aren’t careful the lesson of Easter Island could play out on a grander scale. We are extracting resources and not resupplying them at the same rate as we are using them. There are modern safeguards against this fate. For example, The Natural Resources law which controls how people can use resources for economic and social benefit. People have also begun creating solutions to the problems we have created, such as re-plantation of trees and renewable energy usage.

Adrianna Egbert

3/15/2020 11:49:33 am

A.What can be concluded, deduced, learned?
The relationship of Easter Island and the Anthropocene Ted Talk is that we are causing what is happening, on Easter Island they were thriving, they had rich soil and a rather mild climate, which should have made Easter Island a mini paradise. As their populations grew, and they needed more materials, they started cutting more trees/bushes, and using out their natural resources till they had almost nothing. Anthropocene is us as humans being the cause, the cause of the destruction of the Earth. We are making our own Global Warming, as well as the Ozone Layer, and shrinking Biodiversity as we poach and hunt. The relationship between Easter Island and the Anthropocene is that the Anthropocene is Easter Island on a much larger scale. Without fixing the ways our world is working, we will be what Easter Island is to us today, a mystery to the future of what happened.

B. Will the lesson of Easter Island play out on a grander scale?
As I stated earlier, Easter Island is the course that the Anthropocene is set on as Humans continue doing what they are doing without a change for the better. Easter Island’s natural resources were being used up, just like today’s natural resources are being used up without a care. So yes, if Humans don’t change the way they are acting, such as ruining Biodiversity, Global Warming, and the hole in the Ozone layer, we will end up like Easter Island.

C. Are their modern safeguards against this fate?
To set boundaries, see how the environment functions, see how they shift, and how far we are able to push them until they shift too far. The issue is that we don’t know this because we’ve never payed attention to it until now, yes people are worried about the Anthropocene, but that doesn’t mean that we as a species will do anything. We all think it is someone else’s responsibility to solve. The thing is should we stay in the Anthropocene and let the world go on, or start thinking globally instead of worrying about the media.

Brenley Nelson

3/15/2020 11:50:01 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay Easter Island and the Ted Talk on Anthropocene with WIll Steffen is about how humans have evolved, using our natural environments and surroundings to help us. In a bigger picture, they both talk about how us humans are affecting the world, environment, and society harmfully. In the Ted Talk, Will Steffen talks about the Anthropocene, defining our era as human beings and focuses on how humans are affecting the environment. He also talks about a plan to set up boundaries for this planet, but being humans, selfish and greedy, we act like there are no boundaries when it comes to modifying the world we live in. He shows many charts that support the fact that we humans are killing our planet and causing our own Anthropocene. In Diamond’s Essay, he talks about Easter Island and how humans caused the extinction of animal and plant life. Both of these pieces provide evidence that if we don’t change our ways and try to make the planet a better, healthier, and safer place, it could come down to the world ending up like Easter Island, with only shrubs, tiny trees, and small bugs, or even worse… human extinction. There are indeed many safeguards to save the environment and the world around us like electric cars, laws on amount of children, recycling, etc. But, will these “safeguards/laws” save us from saving the planet and help us prevent anymore damage?

Christina Martinez

3/15/2020 11:52:59 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay Easter Island and the Ted Talk is that both tend to express how our world increases in extinction rates that are “100 to 1000 times background level” which means that extinction rates are increasing due to us humans. Both resources also talk about population exploding and causing resource use to also explode as well as economy.
A) What we can conclude is that us as humans are now leaving the Holocene Era (the 1000 plus period of warm climate) and entering the Athropocene Era (a period of time when humans impacted earth and it’s ecosystem). To add , we can learn that sharp changes can be made to our world when we continue to treat our world the way we are and if we continue “exhausting” our resources.
B) Yes,the lesson on Easter island will play out on a grander scale because the reading reveals that humans made their plants and animals go extinct without even realizing. Then, the Easter Island states that “... by well-intention political and business leaders ... all of whom are perfectly correct in not noticing big changes from year to year” This says that some plants and animals may have been extinct because we are listening to leaders who rely on removing our resources.
C) No there aren’t any safeguards against this fate. Our society is dependent on political, social, and business leaders who don’t seem to care enough for our environment, population, and resources. This shows that our society can be destroyed by merely anyone because humans can see how much of world we live in.

veronica rodriguez

3/15/2020 11:53:55 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay Easter Island and the Ted Talk on the Anthropocene by Will Steffen is they both are addressing the progressive issue of negative human environment interaction. In both these topics, they speak of the world slowly becoming destroyed because of the things us humans do, even without taking notice of it. The story about Easter Island tells is of the people that lived there, who used up all their natural resources which led them to cannibalism. They created deforestation, made their animals and plants go extinct, and overall just spiraled into a complete chaos. This tiny island is history we can learn from today. It gives us a glimpse into our own future, on a much grander, worldwide scale. I think we still have the time to learn from past mistakes we made and do something about it before it’s too late. The people of the island probably thought in the beginning that their land could always provide for them, but unfortunately that was untrue. They used up their resources without a second thought on canoes, housing, and huge stone statues. As for us, we are careless in the way we treat our only home, and continue to flood our oceans with plastic, pollute the air with our efficient factories and fast cars, and cutting down forests every day to make room for our own shelter. There really is no modern safeguards against the same fate. It is advised to do such things as recycle and keeping our place tidy, but we need to take bigger more serious steps in order to save ourselves from our unfortunate future. This all relates to the Anthropocene, which is the age of man. Although this has been the best time for man, in relation to how advanced we are, with our technology and culture, we are still trashing our planet, the most it has ever been. It’s very likely that something similar may happen to us, like the people of Easter Island, that because of our careless nature regarding our planet and the lack of resources and preparation, we fall victims of the same fate that may even result in cannibalism.

Omar Perez Torres

3/15/2020 11:54:43 am

In the essay, “Easter Island’s End,” by Jared Diamond, he writes of the terrible atrocities that have taken place on the Eastern Island. Those being the extinction of animals, native plants, and how the polynesian colonists completely destroyed their society to leave it in ruins. In Will Steffen’s Ted Talk, he addresses how the Earth has entered a new epoch or even an era, referred to as the Anthropocene. “Anthro-” referring to humans, this new era revolves around how humans have drastically changed the Earth’s atmosphere and geology. The relationship between these two works is that they both discuss the ways in which humans have negatively affected the Earth. The conclusion we can take away from the essay and video is when people generate more than enough resources for themselves it will lead to their own destruction. The lesson that Jared Diamond portrays definitely plays out on a larger scale. As the population continues to rapidly grow, it seems as if there is no way to possibly bring it down to a manageable number. With that said, our resources will not last very long with the rate of human expansion and our desire to build more and more things. Diamond’s article is just a miniature example of what is to come. Yes, there are modern safeguards to protect us from this fate. Examples we see today would be the encouragement of recycling, national park preservations, and even activists/social media influencers who voice their opinions to the world in hopes that people will get the message. However, in the world we live in, people only care for themselves and we can’t escape the inevitable.

Stephanie Perrone

3/15/2020 11:55:32 am

The relationship between Diamond's "Easter Island" and the Ted Talk on the Anthropocence is humans having the dominant influence and what we do with it. Easter Island is taking about a society that disappeared and how, at any second, ours could be next. The Ted Talk says that the Anthropocence is an era of human dominated experience but also how we ruin the earth when we do become the main living species.
A) It can be concluded that our civilization might meet the same fate as the Easter Island Civilization. We too are running out of resources and poisoning the earth we live on and nobody is doing anything about it. We're aware of the problem but those with the power to change don't care and those who care dont have the power to change anything. Leaders are blinded by power and political schemes that they can't see past their nose. Everyone wants to make the world so amazing now that they can't see it won't last for another 50 years tops. We are destroying everything and then leaving the future generation to clean it up, but now we're pushing the earth to a point where we might not be able to clean it up.
B)The lesson of Easter Island isnt playing out on a grander scale. Sure, many societies around the world are experiencing the same downhill slope that Easter Island slipped on all those years ago, but the question said "the lesson of easter island", a lesson would have to imply that someone was learning from it. We can all see the similarities between modern society and Easter Island's End but nobody is doing anything to stop us from heading down that same path. Hell, we're still in argument about whether or not global warming is real.
C)There are no modern safeguards currently set up in the world. No one is currently doing anything to stop this downhill spiral that we're on. No efforts have been made and personally, I dont think they ever will be made until the very last second and at that point, it will be too late. No one cares unless it's happening, unless its affecting their current life. Just look at the corona virus, no one panicked until it hit the U.S. Even though the whole thing is stupid or over hyped no one started stocking up until the very last second. No one planned ahead, this world dosen't plan for the future. They will stay in their own personal utopias for as long as they can, until the problem is at their front door and there will be no way to stop it.

Monica Degro

3/15/2020 11:57:04 am

a) What is clearly present by the Easter Island and the Anthropocene is that humans are capable of innovating, creating, and becoming much more advanced than we are designed to be. In that process we start to lose our way and our surroundings become damaged and limited. We cause a lot of destruction in nature for our own succession, it repeats through every community and society. Any empire is an example, but the Easter Islanders are the perfect example because they peaked the perfect life however they lost their way, took advantage of all their resources in such a little amount of time, that slowly their island died.

b) It really could make the difference that we need to reverse all the damage we have done. Learning how to control how much we make, use, and how much damage we can allow ourselves to cause is the key to keeping our earth the most healthy it can be as of right now because it is already very hurt. Like the greenhouse gases that are through the roof, those need to be reversed in order to ensure a safe life for future generations.

c) New kinds of power such as solar, hydro, and others are starting to be used more. This is part of the many things that people around the globe are trying to support in order to control the greenhouse gas numbers and amount of pollution we release because we release a lot. Not purposely but ignorantly we do and most people don’t give thought into it. That’s focuses one one major problem we are facing.

Litzy Gonzalez link

3/15/2020 11:59:34 am

a) What can be concluded, deduced, learned?

What can be concluded from both Diamond's essay Easter Island and the Anthropocene Ted Talk by Will Steffen is that the over exploitation of resources and an explosion of the human population will likely lead to our demise. The population of Easter Island used up all of the island's resources, no longer having a surplus in food to eat or wood to fuel their fires. We're experiencing something similar today, in the geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which we are currently living in today.

b) Will the lesson of Easter Island play out on a grander scale?

The lesson of Easter Island is already playing out on a grander scale. Although we haven't reached the point of completely disappearing, we are already pushing the boundaries when it comes to what we do in relation to the state of our planet. Since the industrial revolution, humans have greatly impacted several aspects of life on Earth- and not for the better. This ties into the Anthropocene, and the fact that humans have impacted the climate and environment so much, to the point that we are no longer in the Holocene (the 10,000~ years of stable climate since the last ice age). This all took place because of human activity such as deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions and other forms of man made pollution.

c) Are there* modern safeguards against this fate?

Modern safeguards against this fate would be to radically cut down on our abundant use of resources. Completely switching from non renewable energy sources to renewable sources such as sunlight, wind and tides would be the first step to preventing such a fate. We have to be more concious about the resources we use, and this would have to occur on a global scale. Putting our planet first, before anything else, is key to prevent the further damaging of the very air we breathe and the soil we walk on.

Nisa Marie Romero

3/15/2020 12:16:46 pm

Anthropocene is the geological time with introduced humans, and unlike other eras that had no control over their extinction, humans are pushing their own extinction. The relationship between Diamond’s essay “Easter Island” and Will Steffen’s Ted Talk on Anthropocene is they both talk about humans leading themselves into our own extinction by destroying the environment around them. The fact that we know what is destroying our environment and continue to do these things is what happened to easter island people and we know this but we still continue to do this, is something that can be concluded and that needs to be learned. I do think the lesson of Easter Island will play out because we are doing the exact same thing in a much greater environment as a whole. I don't think we will learn a lesson from the Easter Island example until its too late. I do believe the government do have some type of safety guards up that we don't know about just in case something terrible does happen because of the fact that they already know what is causing and the effects so they most likely have some type of fall backs set up for when we do reach a point where its a life or death situation.

Isabella Berentsen

3/15/2020 12:17:51 pm

The story of Easter Island is an example of what could happen to the earth if the Anthropocene were to continue as it currently is. Humans, in general, don’t have boundaries on how much we consume unless boundaries are forced upon us, and that includes our natural resources. What happened to Easter Island serves as a cautionary tale of what could happen if we as a species continue to eat away at the earth. We can change it fundamentally and right now, we are changing it for the worse. An Easter Island like event can almost certainly play out on a larger scale. According to the WWF, The earth loses 18.7 million acres of forest every year. Another terrifying statistic also from the WWF: 10,000+ species are becoming extinct every year. More are on the endangered species list. Deforestation and animals going extinct were two major problems on Easter Island. The Easter Islanders eventually turned to cannibalism to solve their starvation problem. Luckily we don’t have much of that now, but world hunger is also an issue. Some countries are trying things to stop deforestation and keep biodiversity, but humans have a terrible habit of treating the symptoms not the problem. For now, I think we just have to hope that eventually, we will come to our senses, and in the meantime do what we can to reduce our environmental impact and create new technologies.

Gabriela Davila

3/15/2020 12:18:29 pm

The relationship between Easter Islands end and the ted talk about anthropocene is the fact that the human civilization changes the geologicial feature and climate of the environment we are in. What can be learned is human have always had a way to affect their environment to the point where it can change negatively. The lesson of easter island will be a lesson th8at will play out on a grander scale I believe this because tt's showing our environment has only limited resources to sustain human life. Eastern islands population disappeared due to their running out of resources. There are modern resources to act as a safeguard against this fate. Modern technology has given the opportunity to create dupes for natural resources we tend to use. For example rubber. We use to use rubber from a tree now there is artificial rubber made that reduces the use of the natural resources we have.

Gabriela Davila

3/15/2020 12:19:07 pm

Dillen Holbo

3/15/2020 12:25:54 pm

A) It can be concluded that humans in society dont pay attention to their resources and that the effects of Easter island could repeat in history in places around the world. The people of easter island did not notice their depleting resources because they were more focused on the people who relied on the use of these resources than the actual animals, plants, and materials. This can be seen in modern time as we see that politicians and businesses in control of oil and harmful energy ignore the effects of using fossil fuels and continue to use it at a rapid pace, depleting our resources. There is also famine in many countries around the world such as Venezuela that have resulted in their population declining due to starvation.

B) the story of Easter island will eventually play out on a large scale, possibly the scale of the entire world. People around the world have caused the extinction of numerous species due to over hunting and polluting their habitats. In this perspective, it could be argued that we have already caused the story of easter island to start effecting the entire world.

C) There are no effective modern safeguards. Politicians and large companies have almost complete control over resources in society today. The only safeguards that are put in place are certain policies against poaching, or the illegal hunting of endangered or protected animals. However, this does not guard the environment and its resources from the effects of fossil fuel use and green house gases that the people who make extreme fortune off of the said resources. The cost of these companies polluting the earth and creating a larger hole in the ozone layer will be much greater on society than poaching animals. Eventually, more species will become extinct due to pollution big companies cause than poaching, one of those species being humans.

Sequoia Hall

3/15/2020 12:35:49 pm

There can be many lessons gained from both the article regarding Easter Island and the Ted Talk on the Anthropocene. The Ted Talk connects to Easter Island, going into more detail on it's reasons for collapse. Due to a new age based on consumptions of resources, Easter Island reached the inevitable fate of system failure fairly early.

a.) The main thing that can be taken away from both the essay and the Ted Talk is that there is a limit. There is a limit to what humans can consume and destroy and it should be made clear. Numerous are more than likely aware, however they don't do much with that information, hence the over consumption. The essay demonstrates what our world can be in just a few centuries. Perhaps the fear factor can strike action, if even a little, into our kind.

b.) The lesson of Easter Island is a past lesson of what would happen to our entire world if our consumptions continue on the same rate of usage. It's a warning per say, showing that taking advantage of everything we're able to comes with a cost. Like how Easter Island demonstrates the extinction of wildlife from food, our world has an ongoing, inevitable extinction towards exotic animals for materialistic items… and food. Same can go for plantation, the rate of trees being used and cut down was faster than the rate they grew back, leading to a loss of trees overall, which could also happen in our time.

c.) CO2 usage is over the amount it should be, according to Will Steffen. He gave an amount that would deem appropriate but by present day, we've exceeded the expectations… and not in a good way. Perhaps, there are ways to make our errors not so bad, since reversing can't be exactly done. Maybe we, as a world, discuss a way to switch our power source from fossil fuels to another entirely. However, every country isn't on a friendly status with each other. Perhaps, as soon as electric cars are created, there is a big switch made and the majority of the population uses electric cars. It wouldn't be a quick change, but over time they would only sell electric, therefore people can only buy electric cars.

Manuel

3/15/2020 12:58:32 pm

A) we can learn that change can be good even if it seems impossible to do. Not everyone wants this change and that’s because it could hurt their business.
B)no I believe that people today are and doing things to lessen the pollution even if it’s a small amount it can still beneficial.Everyone knows that pollution is taking a number on the earth but no one wants to lose money if they are the ones causing it.
C) yes there is modern safeguards like the hover dam gives us energy without pollution hydroelectric ,another is solar power getting energy from the suns rays of light many people switch solar energy.

Victoria Gonzales

3/15/2020 01:14:50 pm

The relationship between Diamonds essay Easter Island and the Ted Talk on Anthropocene is that both conclude that the human species can become extinct if they continue to do what they do. What can be learned from both is that things have gone extinct before and they are great examples of how the population would end up like. The ted talk told how land lines were a thing and now there are hardly even around. The Easter Island essay tells how the people of Easter Island went extinct. The Easter Island lesson will play out in a grander scale because the human population might come in a bad situation. Like told in the essay, a lot of civilizations have been extinct before: the Mayans, Dinosaurs, Anasazi, and the Easter Island people. There are modern safeguards to prevent what happened to the Easter Island people to happen to the human population now. Some precautions that are being taken are: making sure species aren’t going extinct, having fresh fruit and vegetables, and having meat. Some people don’t always have the money or resources to get enough fresh water and food. Some people are trying to save the human population in the future, but the way things are going, it seems like the Easter Island incident might happen again in stuff is not taken care of.

Jaqueline Pacheco Cruz

3/15/2020 02:38:14 pm

The relationship between Diamond's essay Easter Island and our Ted Talk on the Anthropocene by Will Steffen is that humans affect the world. What can be concluded, is that humans take over everything,and for granted . What can be deduced is that we should take care of our planet. Can learn the limit/boundaries of the planet. Like for example Easter islanders were cutting the forest more rapidly than the forest was regenerating. They didnt realize what they were doing. Who knows what was going on in their heads when they cut down the last palm tree. The lesson of Easter island will play out on a grander scale, hopefully people will realize the consequences. I do think there are modern safeguards against this fate, just that they aren't well known or talked about a lot.

Jolene Johnson

3/15/2020 02:42:40 pm

The Anthropocene and Easter Island

What can be concluded, deduced, learned?

After listening to the ted talk on Anthropocene and reading Easter Island we learn how our world has evolved and how we are affecting climate change. Will Steffen says, “We are pushing the planet into a new and perhaps, somewhat frightening geological, as well as biological era.” Anthropocene deals with how we as humans are headed into disaster with the way we are affecting our world. Steffen goes into detail about how overtime our civilization may not last. In Easter Island Jared Diamond wrote about Polynesian Colonists that settled on an island which used to be a miniture island, but later led to extinction to the destruction of their land because they ran out of resources. After reading, I was able to conclude that we as a society need to replenish the earth with resources instead of overusing them. So that in the end we don’t face the fate of extinction like the Polynesian Colonists experienced. Jared Diamond wants us to learn how we can use our resources for the better and not destroy them in our modern growing world.

Will the lesson of Easter Island play out on a grander scale?

One of Diamond’s claims was that with no change with our present all of our resources will be exhausted and may become extinct later on in life. For example, Diamond compares poor countries that have limited use of resources to their government that won’t make a change to how we as humans are overusing the resources. In Easter Island, the food was running out and political authorities were forced to be replaced by warrior clans that led to many fights and problems just because humans overused and were not smart with resources. Therefore, Diamond discusses how Easter Island can and already has had an affect on the grander scale. We as humans don’t look for lasting solutions. In most cases, when we see a problem we don’t do anything to help it, but instead we look for new ways to adapt to overpopulation and overuse of solution.

Are there modern safeguards against this fate?

Yes, there are modern safeguards that are trying to prevent this worry from becoming a reality. There are laws that are put into place which prevent people from overusing resources and instead controlling how people use them for economic benefit. That Law is the Natural Resources Law in which it also controls who owns the rights of those resources, and how they can be sold. A Law that could have helped the Easter Island Civilization was the endangered species act. It’s purpose was to prevent extinction of animals and plants. If this act was enforced in Easter Island it could have prevented the overuse of plants and animals. We learn from the Easter Islands ending that if one thing is affected then over time the chain begins to collapse. Just like the extinction of the tree called hauhau which was the fault of humans. It then caused the population of some birds to drop since the tree helped pollinate the huahua's flowers to receive its fruits for food. Then causing humans to rely more on meat killing off more animals dropping their population leading some to extinction since they didn’t have much fruit. If the Easter Island’s had that law people would have stopped overusing resources, such as eating too many animals. Resulting in possibly saving their civilization.

Alyssa Jackson

3/15/2020 03:19:25 pm

Alyssa Jackson
A) From both sources we see that even when a place is perfect for societies to live, the society itself can cause its own downfall. In the Easters society the island was perfect but because they weren't thinking straight they caused problems that led to their downfall. Even today we see all the harmful things we cause on earth and he says we might cause our own downfall.

B) The lesson of Easter island will play out in the grander scale because it could very well happen to us and we need to be prepared. We have to learn and listen from past civilizations of what to do and what not to do, in order to thrive as a population. This story is a warning or caution to us to not follow in their footsteps, we can't make the same mistakes they did.

C) In today's society we have countless organizations that are helping protect the world from pollution, animal extinction and many others. Many organizations call for volunteers to pick up trash, help recycle reusable items or help people in the community. There are events to help feed homeless people, shelters and humanitarian conventions to help people less fortunate. There are also teams to help with environmental issues and to help protect nature.

Karem Sherlyn Alondra Perez Ortiz

3/15/2020 03:49:32 pm

Easter Island and the recent historical-science related topic named the Anthropocene clearly informs us about the possibility of ending ourselves. Easter Island is an island where Polynesians people destroyed their civilization. They used trees, such as the palm and hauhau tree, for wood to burn, and continued to do so when the tree´s population decrease significantly. This was due to the pollen of grasses that overtook the forest, therefore the Polynesians were left without tools, and the environment was affected, so animals became extinct, for example, the native birds, shellfish, and more. Which were use for food. They resorted to cannibalism, and they died because of their egoism. In a simple sentence the statue do status.They wanted status and they dived into such glory and desire to surpass others that they used more and more of the resources, ignoring that status would mean nothing once they are left nothing of resources and die. The Anthropocene is a modern subject that places boundaries so that we can coexist with the world with benefits for both of us. Easter Island is simply connected to the Anthropocene because Easter Island is a dead civilization, the consequences in evidence if we don´t learn about the Anthropocene and do action. Easter Island is a small civilization compared to what we are doing to the world. They ended their civilization by land we are ending our world. This can play out on a grander scale as you have read. People are trying to figure out a way to not end, this depends on their lives too, but not all are doing so, people continue to build their mansions and more. There is a big split on us. There is only hope that people will do something before it is too late like the Polynesians. I believe that was your for question c or I misunderstood and missed something out.

Felemina Amin

3/15/2020 05:11:41 pm

a) The Earth is changing globally since the Industrial Revolution that it started a new epoc called the Anthropocene. Humans are changing Earth’s biology by overusing the resources in Things we overuse are fossil fuels or trees and doing this destroys the environment. In the video Steffens talks how this has been going on for so long that all living things might go extinct. Also how similar things happen in the past with civilizations like ancient Rome.

b) Easter Island’s decline shows us how society might decline if we don’t make changes. The natives of the island didn’t preserve their resources or thought of ways to prevent their society from declining. They overused the trees on the island for ropes and canoes that it caused deforestation. There were also many animals on the island but they never domesticated them and ate all of them. There were no more food surpluses and the islanders starved to death. They also had trouble trying to bring their society back together. All these things contribute to the decline of Easter Island and show us how our society might turn out if we don’t act now.

c) I think a way this could be stopped is if everyone watches the things they're doing. We are overusing our resources like freshwater that might not be available for everybody in the future. We also need to take care of the environment by using less fossil fuels because it’s destroying the atmosphere. But I think this will be harder to do because not many people are willing to do it. Most are selfish and would care less if the Earth is being destroyed.

Anthony Chapman

3/15/2020 05:55:31 pm

A) If we do not act fast or act at all we can end up and so can our Earth just like the Easter islands did years ago. Also the Anthropocene is a new era that we are living in currently that is a human era.
B) Yes if we do not take Control of our actions our whole earth not just the land but the sea will be decreasing in life and our homes will be destroyed because of our own doing and the things we made will be fractions of what they are right now just like the Easter island statues.
C) There are safeguards against this, we are more logical than ever before and have more understanding of science and technology around the world which could help against this crisis. This technology includes solar, purification, using plastic for necessities, etc. With what we have today we can make our Earth last longer and avoid turning into Easter island.

Ivan Mayorga

3/15/2020 11:45:28 pm

The relationship between Diamond’s essay “Easter Island’s End” and Will Steffen’s Ted talk about Anthropocene is that they both relate to the topic that humans are destroying the Earth and are using up their resources. Something that can be concluded from the Ted talk and the Easter Island essay is that humans are ignorantly using up resources without thinking about the repercussions of their actions. Evidence from the Easter Island’s End essay that shows the people of the Easter Island were ignorant with their resources and destroyed their society is “ In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism.” The lesson of Easter Island will play out on a grand scale, as humans still go on to do the same actions as the people of Easter Island. The present people still go on to waste their resources like oil, water and cause problems like pollution, global warming and deforestation. These actions can lead to the extinction of the present people like it caused the extinction of the people of Eastern Island. Yes there are safeguards to this fate but it is up for the present people to find the safeguard. Problems that are created by humans like pollution, deforestation and the lack of water are being solved by us. Humans are creating things such as electrical cars, solar panels and etc. to stop the air from being polluted. For deforestation people are planting trees and plants to attempt to fix deforestation and the polluted air. To fix the lack of water humans are recycling water and creating wells to create clean drinkable water.

Ana Chavez

3/16/2020 12:34:07 am

The relationship between Diamond’s essay “Easter Island'' and our Ted Talk on “The Anthropocene” by Will Stephen is about how humans are a big impact on earth. What we learn in “Easter Island” is that if we continue in the same path as the ones in the past we will eventually make the same mistake as them causing the destruction of mankind itself. For “The Anthropocene” we learn how not taking care of what we have for resources will lead to causing our earth to fail. The lesson of Easter island has played on a grander scale by how humans today have provided new technology and are more advanced than before which brings people to have more knowledge into doing things. Today the modern safeguards ain’t the best but its a way in order to provide a good change for everyone. For example,maintaining a clean earth by recycling will help in leading us in the right path instead of the wrong one that will cause destruction like in Easter Island.

Brenda Luna

3/16/2020 09:58:59 pm

Diamond's essay on Easter Island gives an example of a civilization that went extinct due to people not being able to survive because of lack of resources. While Will Steffen talks about us entering Anthropocene and having planetary boundaries. They both share the idea that the earth will run out of resources if we don't set limits. We can take away the fact that around 1750, we started to access fossilized energy and ever since values of resources are going up: paper consumption, population, damming of rivers and use of water. As the article says "a rising population confronts sheinking resources." And we can use Easter Island as a lesson, see what we have done wrong and change or we can choose to ignore the example and continue to overuse our resources. There are a few boundaries of resources such as a limit of how much water usage and of littering but they are small and don't do much. It is clear that we should respect, what Will Steffen calls, the nine parts of the earths system.

Melissa Een

3/16/2020 11:58:05 pm

As is so eloquently stated in the article, the story of Easter island is chillingly familiar. It is like an allegory of the Anthropocene. Humans, on a much greater scale, have been exhausting our planet's once bountiful and varied plant and animal life. Species diversity is going down as humans breed out those species that we seem insufficient - whether purposefully or through some twisted version of neutral selection. We crowd the atmosphere with greenhouse gases and fill the rivers with toxic chemicals. We are destroying the planet more thoroughly than ever before. The earth has entered a new era in which we, the ones who have been so foolish as to claim the earth as our own, affect the environment in ways no other animal has. There is no question as to whether our date will echo that of the Easter Islanders because it already has. We have been making our bed for thousands of years, and soon we must lie in it. Water levels are rising and ice caps are shrinking. Forests are being destroyed and CO2 levels are rising. Fossil fuels will run out and the earth will grow hotter. We'll probably find a way to survive. Humans are adaptable like that, but a lot of the damage that we have done to our planet is irreversible. We can't put fossil fuels back into the ground or bring diverse species back from extinction. This doesn't mean that there aren't things we can do though. We can plant trees and reduce our use of fossil fuels.
We can find new ways to filter water. We have already started efforts like this. There are people who fight to protect wildlife and restore forests. There are people who work to find new, clean ways to generate energy. There are people who know what could happen to our planet if we do not act quickly, and there are people who teach others what they know.

Antonio Marquez

3/18/2020 10:29:16 pm

A)From these two sources we can learn that humans have been and are still affecting and making changes to our earth. And that these changes aren’t good. From the ted talk you can be open minded to believing the earth is even entering a new period, “ The Anthropocene.” This term means that unlike a meteor strike or a change in tectonic plates, humans are pushing the earth into a new period. Some changes according to Will Steffens being, “ gas emission increasing, loss of tropical forest, increase in amount of domesticated land, and biodiversity extinction rate going up.

B)I believe that the lesson of Easter Island can play out on a bigger scale because it can give the world an idea of what habits of ours need to be changed. The Easter Island article shows us that limiting the use of our resources is very important, unlike what the people on Easter island did. These people destroyed their island, resources, and their environment.

C)In our current world there is a way to prevent this fate from happening but at this rate it will be very difficult. At this point in time humans have been very destructive to the earth and ruined many of our resources that we have. Although there isn’t really a way to fix the problems we’ve created, there is a way to refrain them from getting any worse. Just one solution could be the reduction of the emission of gases. For example, using vehicles, specifically the ones that emit gas less often and only when necessary.

Denisse Garcia

3/21/2020 04:57:57 pm

The relationship between the Easter island and Ted talk on the Anthropocene was on how humans have caused harm to the earth. Easter Island is based on the harm of the plants. It talks about how humans have cut down the trees to build canoes, clearing the land for other plants. They caused extinction on the trees. Along with other species until they had no other choice to eat each other. The Easter Island will play out on a garden scale. Once everything is conquered by humans and used by humans there will be no spaces left for a whole new generation. Humans caused extinction and can cause their own extinction. The Anthropocene by Steffens talks on how pollution is one of the reasons we might get to that stage. Biodiversity also and by the 1950s the industrial revolution began. All factories were built causing pollution. Both are caused by humans which brought distraction to the planet. On the other hand, talking about these topics, I don’t think modern safeguards are against their fate. If the industrial Revolution is based on involvement then safeguards can involve as well. There were no factories back then but humans were able to build it so if they could start it they could find a way to end it as well.

David Avram

3/24/2020 03:33:58 pm

The relationship between Diamond's essay on Easter Island and Steffen's Ted Talk on the Anthropocene is how they both show relation to the Anthropocene, and how man/humans are negatively affecting the Earth and will slowly end up having a fate similar to what harm they do. The Easter Island Essay gives off a message that humans should limit their resource use and preserve life, unlike what occured in Easter Island by people. The people of Easter Island took many of the resources off the Island limiting many things causing extinction in much of the life there. For example, the people there used all the resources (trees, wildlife, etc.) and ended up bringing everything there into extinction causing the society to become cannibalistic. Over time, even if not in the next hundreds of years, the Earth will end up having the same fate as Easter Island. From the massive growing population of up to 7.8 billion people, which keeps on rising because there are more people born than dying. Food will likely deteriorate and although people are helping to try to protect the Earth not everyone is helping. There might be a couple million trying to do good things for the Earth worldwide however there are billions which do nothing. There are modern safeguards against this fate. Recycling for example, allows us to not waste other resources that we can use for the future and causes less pollution. We also are finding new ways to power things such as vehicles without causing gas pollution and wasting oil. Plus, people are protecting rain forests and taking care of these large areas of trees which massive populations of animals.

Jose Bazaldua

3/24/2020 04:11:58 pm

A) It can be concluded that we are in the beginning of a new era, an era that will in thousands of years. This is my opinion and Will Steffens said something similar too, we are a starting a new era and we already killing ourselves, we are making pollution by burning chemicals or destroying the environment to make more for cities, factories, parks, etc.
B) I say that if we don’t do something about it this era could be the last one, if we continue do factories or cities it would make more pollution like some cities like Mexico city that have air contaminated it and that air can cause breath problems or diseases, another problem is if the cities continue to grow, we need to destroy environment to make more room and this could kill a lot species, well this is already happen.
C) We have safeguards to do against all this, some examples are corporations to stop destroying the environment, other ways to get electricity like solar, and machines on factories that don’t made or made less pollution than machines or factories made before.

Hannah Biggs

3/27/2020 10:55:09 am

a) What we can deduce and learn from this is that we are the ones that bring are own demise. Civilizations cannot last forever so we need to set our boundaries now before its too late. We are basically killing ourselves because all we do is consume and use what we want, until it goes extinct and doesn't exist anymore, and we just pollute and destroy our planet in the process. Just like the people on Easter Island, who used up all their resources until they had nothing left.
b) Yes the lesson will play out on a greater scale. Well, its kind of playing out like that right now. Because people are scared they're taking all the resources until there is nothing left. Like face masks sell for way too much on Amazon now. And eventually, whether we like it or not, if we do not set our boundaries we will die off, just like the people on Easter Island.
c)There are safeguards and boundaries we could set against this fate but they could take a while to implement. Its like a trend, if we get some people to do it then maybe eventually most people will be doing it. We could set, like Will said, planetary boundaries to abide by, but it will still be very difficult. One thing we could do is like reducing the bad nitrogen in the air, or using recyclable items, etc. But we as a society are already so far gone, that it might even be too late to get on the right path.

Sherer

3/27/2020 03:06:40 pm

Every post above should be graded and entered into Infinite Campus. If not, email me. sheream@nv.ccsd.net

Mailyn M.

3/30/2020 03:14:17 pm

These two pieces that talk about Easter Island talk about the same things and are similar too each other. They both share similar aspects of the Easter Island and somewhat similar opinions.
a) The things that can be concluded or learned is that we need to set up our own priorities to our own civilizations before they get ruined. We are also in the making of a new era and we are literally ruining it and making it worse for us by killing our everyday needs and creating things such as pollution.
b) The lesson will get bigger as time goes on. As we keep fighting for essentials and specific needs we will eventually die off. For example, such as water we buy so much of it and we even fight for it that eventually we will just run out of it and we will die off like the people from Easter Island.
c) We have boundaries that we could set off before we go off and lead into a fate that we don’t need, but we might even get to the point where we will lead off to that fate.

Mariela

5/7/2020 11:09:39 am

A) What can be concluded from Easter Island is that our society is being destroyed and has been for years by the overuse of resources and population growth. Our civilization can no longer exist if we don’t limit those resources we use for consumption.
B) I believe that the lesson of Easter Island will play out on a grander scale because it is something that the world is facing now and possibly in the future.
C) There are safeguards against this, but we have the technology such as recycling recyclable items as well as dolor power to prevent this fate.

The Anthropocene & Easter Island: Making Connections

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