List of Maps xiu Prologue: A Tale of Two Farms 1 Two farms « Collapses, past and present » Vanished Edens? Ŷ A five-point framework Ŷ Businesses and the environment Ŷ The comparative method Ŷ Plan of the book Ŷ PartOne: MODERN MONTANA 25 Chapter 1: Under Montana's Big Sky 27 Stan Falkow's story « Montana and me Ŷ Why begin with Montana? Ŷ Montana's economic history Ŷ Mining • Forests Ŷ Soil Ŷ Water «» Native and non-native species Ŷ Differing visions » Attitudes towards regulation • Rick Laible's story Ŷ Chip Pigman's story » Tim Huls's story Ŷ John Cook's story Ŷ Montana, model of the world * PartTwo: PAST SOCIETIES 77 Chapter 2: Twilight at Easter 79 The quarry's mysteries « Easter's geography and history Ŷ People and food * Chiefs, clans, and commoners Ŷ Platforms and statues Ŷ Carving, transporting, erecting Ŷ The vanished forest Ŷ Consequences for society Ŷ Europeans and explanations Ŷ Why was Easter fragile? Ŷ Easter as metaphor • Chapter 3: The Last People Alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands 120 Pitcairn before the Bounty Ŷ Three dissimilar islands » Trade Ŷ The movie's ending * Chapter 4: The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and Their Neighbors 136 Desert farmers • Tree rings * Agricultural strategies * Chaco's problems and packrats • Regional integration Ŷ Chaco's decline and end * Chaco's message Ŷ X Contents Chapter 5: The Maya Collapses 157 Mysteries of lost cities Ŷ The Maya environment Ŷ Maya agriculture Ŷ Maya history Ŷ Copan * Complexities of collapses Ŷ Wars and droughts Ŷ Collapse in the southern lowlands Ŷ The Maya message Ŷ Chapter 6: The Viking Prelude and Fugues 178 Experiments in the Atlantic Ŷ The Viking explosion Ŷ Autocatalysis Ŷ Viking agriculture Ŷ Iron Ŷ Viking chiefs Ŷ Viking religion Ŷ Orkneys, Shetlands, Faeroes Ŷ Iceland's environment Ŷ Iceland's history Ŷ Iceland in context Ŷ Vinland Ŷ Chapter 7: Norse Greenland's Flowering 211 Europe's outpost Ŷ Greenland's climate today Ŷ Climate in the past Ŷ Native plants and animals « Norse settlement Ŷ Farming Ŷ Hunting and fishing Ŷ An integrated economy Ŷ Society Ŷ Trade with Europe * Self-image Ŷ Chapter 8: Norse Greenland's End 248 Introduction to the end Ŷ Deforestation » Soil and turf damage Ŷ The Inuit's predecessors Ŷ Inuit subsistence Ŷ Inuit/Norse relations * The end Ŷ Ultimate causes of the end « Chapter 9: Opposite Paths to Success 277 Bottom up, top down Ŷ New Guinea highlands Ŷ Tikopia Ŷ Tokugawa problems Ŷ Tokugawa solutions Ŷ Why Japan succeeded Ŷ Other successes Ŷ Part Three: MODERN SOCIETIES 309 Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's Genocide 311 A dilemma Ŷ Events in Rwanda * More than ethnic hatred Ŷ Buildup in Kanama Ŷ Explosion in Kanama Ŷ Why it happened Ŷ Chapter 11: One Island, Two Peoples, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti 329 Differences * Histories Ŷ Causes of divergence * Dominican environmental impacts Ŷ Balaguer Ŷ The Dominican environment today Ŷ The future Ŷ Contents xi Chapter 12: China, Lurching Giant 358 China's significance Ŷ Background Ŷ Air, water, soil Ŷ Habitat, species, megaprojects Ŷ Consequences Ŷ Connections Ŷ The future • Chapter 13: "Mining" Australia 378 Australia's significance * Soils Ŷ Water Ŷ Distance Ŷ Early history E Imported values Ŷ Trade and immigration Ŷ Land degradation • Other environmental problems Ŷ Signs of hope and change Ŷ Part Four: PRACTICAL LESSONS 417 Chapter 14: Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? 419 Road map for success Ŷ Failure to anticipate Ŷ Failure to perceive Ŷ Rational bad behavior Ŷ Disastrous values Ŷ Other irrational failures Ŷ Unsuccessful solutions • Signs of hope « Chapter 15: Big Businesses and the Environment: Different Conditions, Different Outcomes 441 Resource extraction « Two oil fields » Oil company motives Ŷ Hardrock mining operations * Mining company motives • Differences among mining companies Ŷ The logging industry « Forest Stewardship Council Ŷ The seafood industry Ŷ Businesses and the public » Chapter 16: The World as a Polder: What Does It All Mean to Us Today? 486 Introduction Ŷ The most serious problems • If we don't solve them ... Ŷ Life in Los Angeles • One-liner objections Ŷ The past and the present Ŷ Reasons for hope Ŷ Acknowledgments 526 Further Readings 529 Index ' 561 Illustration Credits 576