Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed

Prologue : a tale of two farms

Pt. 1. Modern Montana

Ch. 1. Under Montana's big sky

Pt. 2. Past societies

Ch. 2. Twilight at Easter

Ch. 3. last people alive : Pitcairn and Henderson Islands

Ch. 4. ancient ones : the Anasazi and their neighbors

Ch. 5. Maya collapses

Ch. 6. Viking prelude and fugues

Ch. 7. Norse Greenland's flowering

Ch. 8. Norse Greenland's end

Ch. 9. Opposite paths to success

Pt. 3. Modern societies

Ch. 10. Malthus in Africa : Rwanda's genocide

Ch. 11. One Island, two peoples, two histories : the Dominican Republic and Haiti

Ch. 12. China, lurching giant

Ch. 13. "Mining" Australia

Pt. 4. Practical lessons

Ch. 14. Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?

Ch. 15. Big businesses and the environment : different conditions, different outcomes

Ch. 16. world as a polder : what does it all mean to us today?

A tale of two farms Two farms Collapses, past and present Vanished Edens? A five-point framework Businesses and the environment The comparative method Plan of the book Modern Montana Under Montana's big sky Stan Falkow's story Montana and me Why begin with Montana? Montana's economic history Mining Forests Soil Water Native and non-native species Differing visions Attitudes towards regulation Rick Laible's story Chip Pigman's story Tim Huls's story John Cook's story Montana, model of the world

Past societies Twilight at Easter The quarry's mysteries Easter's geography and history People and food Chiefs, clans, and commoners Platforms and statues Carving, transporting, erecting The vanished forest Consequences for society Europeans and explanations Why was Easter fragile? Easter as metaphor The last people alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands Pitcairn before the Bounty Three dissimilar islands Trade The movie's ending The ancient ones: the Anasazi and their neighbors Desert farmers Tree rings Agricultural strategies Chaco's problems and packrats Regional integration Chaco's decline and end Chaco's message The Maya collapses Mysteries of lost cities The Maya environment Maya agriculture Maya history Copán Complexities of collapses Wars and droughts Collapse in the southern lowlands The Maya message The Viking prelude and fugues Experiments in the Atlantic The Viking explosion Autocatalysis Viking agriculture Iron Viking chiefs Viking religion Orkneys, Shetlands, Faeroes Iceland's environment Iceland's history Iceland in context Vinland Norse Greenland's flowering Europe's outpost Greenland's climate today Climate in the past Native plants and animals Norse settlement Farming Hunting and fishing An integrated economy Society Trade with Europe Self-image Norse Greenland's end Introduction to the end Deforestation Soil and turf damage The Inuit's predecessors Inuit subsistence Inuit/Norse relations The end Ultimate causes of the end Opposite paths to success Bottom up, top down New Guinea highlands Tikopia Tokugawa problems Tokugawa solutions Why Japan succeeded Other successes

Modern societies Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's genocide A dilemma Events in Rwanda More than ethnic hatred Buildup in Kanama Explosion in Kanama Why it happened One island, two peoples, two histories: the Dominican Republic and Haiti Differences Histories Causes of divergence Dominican environmental impacts Balaguer The Dominican environment today The future China, lurching giant China's significance Air, water, soil Habitat, species, megaprojects Consequences Connections The future "Mining" Australia Australia's significance Soils Water Distance Early history Imported values Trade and immigration Land degradation Other environmental problems Signs of hope and change

Practical lessons

Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?

Road map for success

Failure to anticipate

Failure to perceive

Rational bad behavior

Disastrous values

Other irrational failures

Unsuccessful solutions

Signs of hope

Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes

Resource extraction

Two oil fields

Oil company motives

Hardrock mining operations

Mining company motives

Differences among mining companies

The logging industry

Forest Stewardship Council

The seafood industry

Businesses and the public

The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?

The most serious problems

If we don't solve them

Life in Los Angeles

One-liner objections

The past and the present

Reasons for hope.

Prologue : a tale of two farms

Part 1: Modern Montana : Under Montana's big sky

Part 2: Past societies : Twilight at Easter

The last people alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands

The ancient ones: the Anasazi and their neighbors

The Maya collapses

The Viking prelude and fugues

Norse Greenland's flowering

Norse Greenland's end

Opposite paths to success

Part 3: Modern societies : Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's genocide

One island, two peoples, two histories: the Dominican Republic and Haiti

China, lurching giant

"Mining" Australia

Part 4: Practical lessons : Why do some societies make disastrous decisions?

Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes

The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today?

Afterword : Angkor's rise and fall.