Ecocide

Ecocide

How Progress Traps Play a Role in the Future of Our Environment

Victoria Pham
ANT 101-1
Cultural Anthropology
Professor Artford
April 30, 2013

Ecocide 2

Ecocide: How Progress Traps Play a Role in the Future of Our Environment
The Ancient Rapa Nui natives of Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, were considered
one of the most advanced ancient civilizations as reflected through their famous Moai Statues,
yet such ingenuity could not save them from falling into progress traps that contributed to their
rapid population decline through violent clan warfare, deforestation, and degrading health. The
people of this isolated Pacific Island were beyond their time in creating, moving, and placing
these statues of their ancient ancestors throughout the island. Taking advantage of this
advancement, they hindered the natural balance of other important resources, and thereby
destroying their civilization.
All civilizations are dependent on the environment. We do not photosynthesize, we do not
have fur to protect us from harsh weather, and we do not have acute senses that enable us to
perceive danger. We have the mind to create our tools from our environment to survive to hunt,
protect, and defend. Strangely, over the course of many years, decades, centuries, and even

millenniums, we have taken advantage of our resources and destroyed the land that we need to a
state beyond repair.
This destruction of large areas of natural land resulting from deliberate human actions is
called ecocide. A clear example of ecocide today is mountaintop removal. This is the process of
scraping coal off mountaintops where they are then used to burn energy for consumption. With
many former mines drained of coal from years of mining, mountaintop removal has been
introduced as an easier, more efficient, and more expedient way of getting coal. The ecological
impacts of our carbon footprint show this correlation to ecocide and progression of our tools or
technology, which is dependent on limited natural resources such as coal.

Ecocide 3

Progress is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a gradual betterment,

especially the progressive development of humankind. This notion of creating the next big
thing, in terms of human social and cultural impact, imply that humans can take what they know
today and cultivate it into something beneficial for generations to come. The problem with
progress is the underlining limitations as part of its evolution over time. We believe that progress
can in theory be limitless, yet, in reality, there are many factors that can make such a gain into a
lose.
In Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks documentary Surviving Progress, progress traps are
introduced as a novel term coined by the author Ronald Wright as defining human behavior that
seems to provide benefits in the short term, but ultimately lead to disaster because [of its
unsustainability]. Progress traps can be thought of as a tempting advancement that would
counteract progression.
An example Wright gives is the early hunters in the Neolithic Age. These hunters are
those who first hunted a mammoth with a band of men charged with weapons at hand, throwing
stones towards the giant animal until it collapses in defeat. As they begin to understand how they
hunt, and fine-tune their capabilities, they begin to hunt mammoths by chasing, not one, but a
herd of them over a cliff (Wright 39).
While the jump from one to ten with little to no effort seems like such great progress, it is
actually counterintuitive. The fact of the matter is, there is only so many mammoths in a region,
and killing ten mammoths for a band of perhaps ten families is actually quite a lot. There is an
excess in resources which will probably be untouched, and therefore, be wasted. Not only that,

Ecocide 4

but the ability to provide a large amount of food would result in a larger population, which will
require an even bigger amount of game than before.
So was the extra nine or eight mammoths necessary? The idea of killing ten mammoths
instead of one seduces us to believe that this is good progress. In the long term, as population
rises and number of mammoths dwindle, it is the humans who will have to face the music in the
end. The exhausted resources lead to an unsustainable population. The tribe will die off from
starvation if they cannot find substitute game in time. The jeopardy of the people are caused by
only themselves and in this case, their gluttony.
This dependance on technological progression and power to progress in such a way is
nothing new to us in this modern day and age, but we should be more cautious with where we are
going. In understanding how the environment can heavily effect people when misused, we can
take the microcosm of Easter Island, and hopefully learn from them so that we can steer
ourselves from such danger on a macro-scale.
For the civilization of Rapa Nui, a Pacific island that is considered the most isolated
island on Earth, it is the same familiar story. Jacob Roggeveen, one of the Dutch explorers who
founded the site on Easter Day in 1722, almost mistaken it for sand dunes because it was so
treeless and eroded with what looks like big shrubs symmetrically set up (Flenley and Bahn
210). Later they will realize that these shrubs are no more than the famous and eluding Moai
Statues.
While it is noted by Roggeveen, that the island was completely eroded and treeless, the
truth of the matter is that the site was home to probably one of the densest forests found on any
island at the time. Archeologists discovered tree pollen and imprints of what were palm tree

Ecocide 5

roots, which can grow as deep as 12 feet below the surface, all over the site in the soil up until
1650C.E. where there was no trace left.
Before the Dutch discovery, it was the Polynesians who settled there around 1200 C.E.,
coming as a couple families in search of a new home. There is little known about the civilization.
They had a structured society, probably a chiefdom society, with tribes that each had their own
chiefs who were mostly priests. They had their own spoken and written language, and ate mostly
the fish that they hunted off the shore in canoes made of palm trees and the common sea birds,
all cooked on the trees they cut down.
The Polynesians took advantage of the plentiful island because no other man came in
contact before them, and the location and climate made the island a perfectly balanced
ecosystem. The climate suited the vegetation which was eaten by some of the smaller game, of
whom were eaten by the larger game. There was an even number of species that balanced with
the other, and there was no other bigger predator before the Polynesians came.
The abundance in food for the Polynesian may have made it easier to eat more than they
needed, being strong and healthier, and ultimately growing larger in numbers. The population
peaked to about 7,000 people around 1550C.E. and ultimately started crashing in 1700C.E., right
when the Dutch appeared.
So why did these people die off? The answer may lie in the only remnants of the
civilization: the Moai Statues. They had a clear devotion in creating these statues of their ancient
ancestors, and moving them all over the island from 1200C.E. to 1600C.E. These erected statues
of large heads were as tall as 33 feet and as heavy as 82 tons. The strenuous task includes carving
the features of these giant statues usually with small pumice stones, propping the statues upright,

Ecocide 6

and miraculously moving them through steep hills to their final destination. It is recently found
that some were even submerged into the land, where shockingly, these stone heads have bodies
("Walking Moai and Levitated Mass").
The plausible and logical modern theory in how these statues were moved is through the
use of a wooden sleds placed on rollers or long tree trucks used as wheels that glided the statues
around, as Jo Anne Van Tilburg showed us in 1998. To use cut trees for this process would
explain why the forest started shrinking until in 1650C.E. when there was none left. Using the
trees to make large canoes, spears to fish, fire to cook food, and now a large tool to move 80 ton
statues, the people of Rapa Nui took more from the environment than provided, and started
shifting the balance.
It is said that these people knew the consequences, and saw their impending doom when
the last palm tree was struck down intentionally. The deforestation took a toll for them, and
different clans fought with each other, and even toppled over the Moais that they worked so
dearly on, for the curse they now face must have been summoned by their Gods. Archeologists
found rock weapons embedded into skulls which supports that there was warfare and carnage as
an output of the hate, frustration, and despair of the people.
The deforestation crippled the people in so many ways. They could not create any more
canoes to go fish for food, cannot use it for warmth and shelter, and could not take advantage for
the fruits it bears. The island that was once plentiful now became desolate. While some tried to
cope with creating rock gardens from the volcanic rocks to kickstart the soil again, the effort was
too little, too late.

Ecocide 7

Their degrading health was another factor in the population decline, the lack of proper
nutrition made them die off as quickly as when they originally started growing. Their seabirds
were extinct at the time, and many of the smaller game that depended on the palm trees were also
gone, taking the larger game who were dependent on them also. As people became increasingly
more hungry, many relied on humans as their source of energy. Cannibalism became a common
sight on Rapa Nui.
How was it that only 200 years ago the people of Rapa Nui experienced their Golden
Years ? They had hit peak in their population, as well as a record in the number of Moai Statues
that they produced (887 statues). They had no way of seeing this terrible end to their flourishing
society, this progress trap. The question to solve now is why not.
In talking about their health, I can say that it could have been the technological advances
that blinded them of their basic skills and needs. Working so hard in moving these Moai Statues
with the technology that they developed as well as coming to an island that provided for them to
begin with, are progress traps that drew them away from their basic needs in providing their own
food. Basic agricultural practices and skills are what shapes civilizations. The ability to farm has
been an indicator of true progress because it is sustainable and beneficial for everyone.
The actions that these Islanders took is described in a novel by Daniel Quinn called
Ishmael. In organizing just two kinds of people in the world, there are the takers and the leavers
of an environment. Takers simply take from the land, while leavers take only what they need and
leave enough for others. The view that can be pictured for takers is that earth belongs to man, so
it is disposable for mans use, something like the mindset of those from Easter Island. This
mindset is ultimately what caused the deforestation of the island.

Ecocide 8

And as talked about in class, power or greed for power is strong enough to destroy an
entire civilization. Wade Davis talked about how power is the vehicle for ethnocide. The chiefs
of Easter Island, actually were the greediest of the lot who ate more than they really needed
when the decline started happening. It is noted that about 1500C.E., a new, more evenly
dispersed societal structure substituted the chiefdoms. This may have to do with creating change
that would help slow down the die-off process. The violent clan warfares were also situated
around the idea of power. Clans who thought other clans should not live, because they are taking
away what is left of the limited resources, made a powerful decision in grading themselves
superior to others, in the basis of survival of the fittest.
The depletion of food supply, creation of warfare, and destruction of the land can offset
the ecological web of any region. What is worst is that these are all the doings of mankind, as
exemplary from Easter Island. It is worth noting that if the Polynesians took care of their
environment while continuing to use its resources, than there would still be a balance, and a
hope.
Easter Island is a valid example of ecocide because they depleted their natural resources
in falling into progress traps and therefore destroyed their civilization. Their population decline
is a result of the violent clan warfare, degrading health, and importantly, deforestation, all of
which were impacted by man. We can easily conclude that such deceiving human progress might
lead us to our own demise as well, if we forget that we are truly walking down the same path as
those centuries ago.

Ecocide 9

Work Cited
Bloch, Hannah. "Easter Island." National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic, July
2012. Web. 07 May 2013. < http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/easter-island/
bloch-text?source=news_easter_island_story>.
Diamond, Jared. "Easter Island's End." Discover Magazine (1995): n. pag. Web. 7 May 2013.
Flenley, John, and Paul G. Bahn. The Enigmas of Easter Island: Island on the Edge. Oxford:
Oxford UP, 2003. Print.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. "Ecocide." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 07 May
2013. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecocide>.
Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. New York: Bantam/Turner Book, 1995. Print.
Surviving Progress. Dir. Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks. Big Picture Media Corporation, 2011.
Film.
"Walking Moai and Levitated Mass" Easter Island Statue Project Official Website RSS. Ed. Jo
Anne Van Tilburg. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013.
Wright, Ronald. A Short History of Progress. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005. Print.