Good morning everyone,
I just opened my email, and I got the latest National Geographic newsletter that I subscribe to, and found a very interesting article titled "Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change."
The article briefly goes through many different theories and factors about the collapse of the Mayan Empire, but says "'Our recent research shows that another factor may have been climate change,' [Tom Server] said during a meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, earlier this month." The researchers are using satellite imagery and are from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The article suggests that the Mayan Empire collapse is, directly and indirectly, because of the lack of sustainability in their everyday practices. They practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, which "Sever and his colleagues say such methods couldn't have sustained a population that reached 60,000 at its peak." Researchers think that they also exploited seasonal wetlands. "The data suggest that the combination of slash-and-burn agriculture and conversion of the wetlands induced local drought and turned up the thermostat."
Impressively, and on a good note, the researchers are also taking their data to the people, and have had a few regional successes including: "In one instance the Guatemalan congress was inspired to create the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Central America's largest protected area, after viewing satellite imagery and seeing striking differences between their forests and those that had been clear-cut to the north."
The article also discusses how even though there are some success stories from the use of their program, that it isn't enough. "Despite these local efforts in environmental stewardship, however, Latin American countries are facing a heavy burden from worldwide climate change." Local residents are reporting lower harvesting rates, and the growing lack of rain.
We should all take a minute and read this article...we could learn something from the collapse of the Mayan Empire. If the lack of sustainability has caused climate change in the past, even if minor and regional, and lead to the downfall of one of the most famous/infamous cultures in the world...it makes me wonder about ours...
What are your thoughts OT blog?
Friday, March 7, 2008
Is there something we can learn from the Mayan Empire?
Labels:
climate change,
Mayan Empire,
satellite,
sustainability
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2 comments:
Interesting story! I think it's one we should learn from, as it's a little foreboding!
I'm taking a class on the Mayans in the fall. Maybe I'll learn about this. I'll bring it up at least...
I read a similar article last year from National Geographic...and Jared Diamond also talks about this subject in his book "Collapse". In the past, certain somewhat isolated civilizations have been wiped out, but other human civilizations existed so humanity was not completely wiped out. What worries me today is that human civilization is less isolated and more globalized. Instead of causing local climate changes, we are causing global climate change. Instead of depleting resources in some regions of the world, we are using up resources all over the world. The Mayans made some mistakes, but people in Africa, Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world lived through it. Today, if we allow our global economy to disrupt the global climate, deplete the world's clean water, and destroy the world's forests, I'm not sure who will be able to live through it...
I don't want to be completely morbid, so I want to point out that we have a lot of resources at our fingertips to address these issues. We have studied past civilizations and so we can learn from their mistakes. We can also look at civilizations that struggled but prevailed, so we can get some ideas about how to address some of the problems we are facing. And one great thing about our globalized world is that we can communicate with people all across the world, so it is definitely possible to unite to address the global issues we face. But it's no minor challenge.
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