- Published: September 10, 2022
- Updated: September 10, 2022
- University / College: University of California, Davis
- Level: Doctor of Philosophy
- Language: English
- Downloads: 31
Industrialism is maladaptive When the factory manual work turned into large industrial machines work, when the machines replaced human labours, both the human society and the environment faced gigantic changes and entered the industrial era When the factory manual work turned into large industrial machines work, when the machines replaced human labours, both the human society and the environment faced gigantic changes and entered the industrial era. Many serious problems started to appear after industrialization when the scale of the world became larger and larger as well as the development speed got higher and higher; therefore, the industrial mode of adaptation has an unstable relationship with the environment. From my perspective, industrialism is maladaptive because industrialization is a defective adaptation towards the environment, which has flaws and caused unstableness of the environment.
Industrial revolution enabled human society to grow into a larger scale with higher speed, which seemed exciting at the start but indeed harmful to the environment and the society itself. Referring to Rapa Nui’s tragedy, a small group of Polynesian settlers arrived at Easter Island. At the beginning, the population grew slowly. Several hundred years later, the population grew larger than before, and an obsession with building Moai led to increased pressure on the environment of the island. The residences didn’t realize the problems was coming and didn’t make changes. In the end, the Easter Island had been deforested, so people started fighting to each other for the resources that are limited on the island. The wars lead to famine, and eventually cultural collapse. (Terry) Industrialization is exactly the same thing as the Polynesian’s obsession of building Moai: overproducing products while some of them are unnecessary that consume a lot of resources from the environment and eventually damage the world we living in; the Easter Island is the small version of our world: limit land, limit resources that can’t be enough when the population is over its carrying capacity. What Terry found in his started to appear after industrialization when the scale of the world became larger and larger as well as the development speed got higher and higher; therefore, the industrial mode of adaptation has an unstable relationship with the environment. From my perspective, industrialism is maladaptive because industrialization is a defective adaptation towards the environment, which has flaws and caused unstableness of the environment.
Industrial revolution enabled human society to grow into a larger scale with higher speed, which seemed exciting at the start but indeed harmful to the environment and the society itself. Referring to Rapa Nui’s tragedy, a small group of Polynesian settlers arrived at Easter Island. At the beginning, the population grew slowly. Several hundred years later, the population grew larger than before, and an obsession with building Moai led to increased pressure on the environment of the island. The residences didn’t realize the problems was coming and didn’t make changes. In the end, the Easter Island had been deforested, so people started fighting to each other for the resources that are limited on the island. The wars lead to famine, and eventually cultural collapse. (Terry) Industrialization is the same as the Polynesian’s obsession of building Moai, overproducing products while some of them are unnecessary that consume a lot of resources from the environment and eventually damage the world we living in; the Easter Island is the small version of our world: limit land, limit resources that can’t be enough when the population is over its carrying capacity.
The scenic area of the great Eastern Island is no more. Back then, thousands of tourist from across the world would take along flight through the South Pacific to see the famous stone statues of Eastern Island annually. These megalithic figures or mod had intrigued visitors since 1722 when the first European arrived. They were interested in knowing how the artifacts were build and what happened to the people who built them. The vast thriving society perished as a result of over-dependence on the scarce natural resources and environmental degradation after the population pressure had built up in Rapa Nui.
In Diamond’s account the two key elements to the fall of the once admired Eastern Island is due to the Polynesians who were so many and more so they had propensity for felling trees. The results of environmental degradation were population crash, starvation, and a descent into cannibalism.
Another point of view puts it differently that the arrival of the first colonists having accompanied themselves with the chickens and rats. These rodents may have been the core cause of environmental degradation. The Rapa Nui flora and fauna are limited. The land has very limited number of rodents apart from the chicken and rats. A number of the birds’ species are totally extinct. The large palm trees which long covered the Island are no longer there.
Catherine Orliac argue that the dramatic change of the use of energy source by the Rapanui could have been the cause of environmental degradation. This is because the people’s main source of fuel changed from burning of the wood from trees, then later started using ferns, grass among other plants.
The concept of industrialism is in a sense, so unfortunate in that it conveys an impression that everything changing at once for each and every one. But this is not factual and can easily be seen when one looks at his/her surrounding today and scrutinize our stumbling as we both hurtle and inch into as the myopic historian would someday put it “ The Post-Industrial Revolution.” It is emphasized that the Industrial Revolution was just anything but revolutionary for the classes considered to be advantaged. Classes that continue to be placid and full of prosperity; and which, further wondered what all the fuss was about with the disenfranchised and laboring classes. The modifications among the advantaged classes’ religious and secular values, family organizations and attitudes to the labor organization had taken to suit them to the demands of capitalism not industrialism parse.
When a critical view of industrialization is put forth, the cons surpasses the pros from divergent perspective. The distinction created from the perspective that Industrial revolution as a comfort provider and as s social transformer should be categorically redefined (Cohen 232). The group of individuals who had their lives least transformed were also the ones who benefited most in terms of material gains and being that they failed to grasp what was troubling the rest or rather do something effective over it was because of moral and material contentment.
From the case analyzed in this paper of the Eastern Island, the question of better off or worse arise so less since the garnered evidence proclaim less of better off but much of worse-categorizing it a case of maladaptation of the industrialism, the Rapa Nui has proved to be a n environmentally morality tale. This is because of the proclaimed boundless humankind’s covetousness. It has genetically inborn selfishness. Though, in an ecosystem full of limitations, selfishness leads to increasing imbalance within the population, that is, population crash and eventually extinction.
The capitalism aspect of the industrialization has been the basis of asking questions with regard to what quantities of purchasing power or services, goods and so on, that a dollar can buy. The assumption that has been derived with respect to this is that private happiness entails the accumulation of such things like the consumer goods, and the derivation of public happiness is the greatest such accumulation by the greatest number of individuals (which is not the case).
The one aspect of industrialism that has surpassed ignoring is the environmental degradation as a result of industrial revolution. The Rapa Nui at one point in life had a huge and thriving society but all this varnished into the blues by degrading their environment. Within a short period of few centuries, the people of Eastern Island had deforested their lands, driving their plants and animals to extinction, while their once complex society get into chaos and cannibalism. A real example of a society that has extremely destroyed itself through exploitation of its natural resources.
Work cited
Cohen, Yehudi A. Man in Adaption. Chicago, Ill: Aldine, n. d.. Print.