Tragedy of the Commons Easter Island APES Easter

Tragedy of the Commons & Easter Island APES

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) u u u Very remote, Pacific Ocean 2, 250 km from the nearest inhabited island. Named April 5, 1722 on Easter Sunday by Dutch Explorer Jacob Roggeveen

Island background u Originally uninhabited u 160 square kilometers u Originally settled by Polynesian settlers around 500 AD u Estimates say there were no more than 100 people to start out u Island was covered with large palm trees and at least 17 species of trees

Easter Island 400 AD Tropical Paradise colonized

Original Resources on Easter Island u huahua and toromiro trees, woody shrubs, herbs, ferns, grasses, palm tree (82 feet tall and 6 feet wide). Primary producers which represent sources of food (energy), timber, rope, and fuel wood.

Resources on Easter Island Seabirds: albatross, boobies, magnificent frigate birds, tropicbirds, storm petrels, terns, shearwaters, and fulmars,

Resources on Easter Island Aquatic Resources: u Fish u Porpoise u Seal u Shellfish

Resources on Easter Island Land Birds • Barn owls • Herons • Parrots • Rails

WHAT TYPES OF RESOURCES WERE PRESENT? u u PERPETUAL RESOURCE – solar energy is continuously renewed. RENEWABLE – resource that can be replenished fairly rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes. NONRENEWABLE – resource that exists in a fixed amount in various places in the earth’s crust and has the potential for renewable by geological, physical, and chemical processes taking place over hundreds of millions to billions of years. POTENTIALLY RENEWABLE – resource that can be replenished fairly rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes, but if used faster than it is replenished (unsustainably), it can be converted into a nonrenewable resource. [forests, grasslands, wildlife, surface water, groundwater, fresh air, soil]

Island background u Settlers brought livestock and crops u Began to cut down the palm trees to build houses and dug-out canoes, fuel u Needed fish to survive (they ate porpoises by using canoes)

Items brought became invasive Species u Chickens u Rats u Sugar cane

u What happens when civilizations worry less about food? They develop: – Religion – Art – Technology

Statue Construction was between 1200 – 1500 AD

STONE CARVING!

Sculpted in the sides of mountains moved 14 kilometers to the shore first ones: 8 – 10 feet high and used as a way to compete with neighboring clans.

THE MOI (Statues) u 200 completed statues and 700 incomplete statues. u Statues erected stood as high as 33 feet tall and weighed up to 82 tons. u Incomplete abandoned statues stood as high as 65 feet tall and weighed as much as 270 tons.

WHY DID THE RAPA NUI BUILD THE MOI? The MOI faced inward from the sea to attract the Gods to protect the Rapa Nui. Rappa Nui built bigger MOI over time to show power and wealth over other clans.

How did the statues get there? – Palms were harvested for rope and to use as rollers to move the statues – Pollen analysis shows a decrease in plant populations and species diversity – Statue building = deforestation – Population grew, by year 1500, pop. 10, 000 to 20, 000

WHAT WENT WRONG? • 800 AD deforestation was ongoing. PARADISE LOST • 1400 the palm and other trees and shrubs had become extirpated. • Rats scavenged palm nuts and other fruits and seeds and prevented the regeneration of the critical primary producers for food, fuel wood, hemp and timber for canoes. BARREN WASTELAND

u Eventually, all the trees were cut down and only grasses remained, no more statue building (887 statues). u No trees – Soil erosion = bad crop production = no food – no birds nesting = decrease in food, diversity – no replacement boats = no meat (porpoises) – No fuel for cooking, heating – No replacement houses = live in caves

CARRYING CAPACITY EXCEEDED • By 1500 the land sea birds were gone. • Mutualistic relationships were disrupted and this lead to the total disappearance of the forest.

WILDLIFE AND FOOD RESOURCES DISAPPEARED

POTENTIALLY RENEWABLE RESOURCES BECOME NONRENEWABLE • With no roots from vegetation to anchor soils, they eroded into the sea. • This caused streams and springs to dry up. • Crop yields decreased drastically until there was no more arable land.

POPULATION PRESSURE • As population increases exponentially, natural resources decrease exponentially. • Sophisticated political structure fails. • Division of resources no longer shared. • Warfare over resources begins and population begins to decline

DESPARATE MEASURES FOR SURVIVAL • As food resources became unavailable, cannibalism predominated until only 2000 emaciated Rapa Nui were found by Roggeveen in 1722 in the barren wasteland they had created. “Cannibalism” by Salvatore Dali

Consequences… u Starvation u Fighting over food u Cannibalism u Social order collapsed u Massive die-off (down to 111 in 1800 s) Why is all this important?

IS THIS OUR FUTURE? • Population • Depletion of renewable resources • Depletion of nonrenewable resources • Depletion of potentially renewable resources • Poverty • Political Structure • Warfare (economic power = military power) • Cannibalism or Intelligence? • Greed or Sustainability? • Technology (friend or foe? )

‘Tragedy of the Commons’ (1968) - Garrett Hardin : Resources that are open to unregulated exploitation will eventually be depleted; no single person owns it so no one has incentive to take care of it. - Example of a pasture for grazing - A “common” is a resource that is open for everyone

WHAT CAN YOU DO? • Get involved • Write to government representatives • Join Public Interest Groups or NGO’s • March for what you believe in. • Alter your lifestyle just a little • Educate yourself by reading CHANGE COMES SLOWLY BUT SURELY FOR THOSE WHO ARE PERSISTENT!