Culture and the Environment on Easter Island and Tikopia Essay examples

In his book Human Natures Genes, Culture and the Human Prospect , Paul Ehrlich argues that the cultural practices of a attached hostelry develop largely as a result of the large-scale environmental factors of the area in which the ordering lives. He gives the striking example that every religions that developed in deserts are monotheistic, whereas those that began in rainforests are polytheistic (Ehrlich, pp 9 of handout, 2000). Ehrlich argues that the size and geography of a region, its climate, the availability of resources - the macroevolutionary forces - will have an great effects on the husbandrys that develop there.Ehrlich continues by pointing out that cultures do not only develop as simple, predictable reflections of their environments. The influences do not only run low in one direction cultural beliefs and practices may lead to large-scale environmental changes made by a society. The culture of a given society may influence how and to what extent that society interac ts with its environment. The rate at which cultures acquire new technologies has historically been highly variable on the one hand, a culture may deliberately restrict the use of a given technology or simply may not have the cultural demand for an useable technology (1) . On the other hand, many cultures seem to have desires and appetites that far exceed a sustainable method of utilizing their environment. All too often, the practices of a society over-strain its existing resources in ways that leave those resources irretrievably damaged.A telling example of the complex interactions between a culture and its surroundings is the relative fates of dickens Pacific islands Easter Island and Tikopia. Although it would be impossible to pin-point a simple cause-an... ...because they had received early notice and were able to protect themselves in caves. However, their water supply was affected, cloggy their fruit supply. These storms have historically hit the island with terrible freque ncy. In one instance in the 1950s, 200 islanders were killed by a famine in the viewing by a storm. (ABC News Online, January 4, 2003)Literature CitedEhrlich, Paul. Human Natures Genes, Culture, and the Human Prospect. Island Press, 2000.Firth, Raymond. History and Traditions of Tikopia. New Zealand Avery Press Limited. 1961.Kirch, Patrick Vinton and Yen, D.E. Tikopia The Prehistory and Ecology of a Polynesian Outlier. Hawaii Bishop Museum Press. 1982Ponting, Clive. A Green History of the World. New York St. Martins Press. 1991.Ross, Marc Howard. The Management of Conflict. New Haven Yale University Press. 1993.