Those problems were made worse, according to Diamond, because cultural attitudes kept those in positions of leadership from understanding or resolving the environmental crisis. In his essay "The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization" and the book that followed, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2004), Diamond cites a combination of factors that contributed to the downfall of past societies. We need functioning natural ecosystems, with their native species of earthworms, bees, plants, and microbes, to generate and aerate our soils, pollinate our crops, decompose our wastes, and produce our oxygen."
"We need a healthy environment because we need clean water, clean air, wood, and food from the ocean, plus soil and sunlight to grow crops.
He extends his findings to contemporary areas overwhelmed by pollution and the loss of natural resources as a means for helping understand and overcome problems that may lead to modern-day societal collapses. Jared Diamond (1937–), a professor of geography and of environmental health sciences, explores history in order to understand how some civilizations of the past fell quickly into ruin by failing to perceive and solve their environmental problems. Published in Harper's Magazine, June 2003. Excerpt from "The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization"
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