What Lessons Can We Learn From The Rapa Nui?

The earth is our home; we grow up learning to cherish what it

provides for us and work to take care of what we have. A group of
inhabitants of Easter Island, the Rapa Nui, were not capable of this.
The Rapa Nui started off well on Easter Island, but quickly over
populated and ran out of resources, ending their civilization. A theory
provided for the downfall of the Rapa Nui would be over exploitation of
Easter Island. The island was said to have a large forest, including the
worlds largest palm trees, fertile soil, an abundance of food, and lots
of building materials, everything they need to survive, but the Rapa
Nui took advantage of what they were given. In the end, the land
turned against them and they turned against each other. The
civilization known as Rapa Nui slowly became extinct and Easter Island
was left deserted and used. As a society, we can learn many lessons
from their errors and hopefully we will never suffer the fate of Easter
Island.
One of the main issues that began the downfall of Easter Island
was deforestation of the island. They cut down all the trees, and used
them for almost everything, including firewood for cooking, building
houses, building canoes and harpoons to spear fish from the ocean.
They created a transport system out of wooden sleds. They used logs
used as levers and rope made of tree fibers to transport the stone
statues called Moai, which they created. The problem with cutting
down all the trees was that they never replanted them to keep the
forests growing, so they started to run out of resources. Since there
were no more trees, there was no more wood. They couldnt create
canoes to go fishing for food, and they started to have a food shortage
because they had limited access. They used to eat porpoises but could

not get out into the sea to access them because the canoes they had
were small and worn down. This forced them to fish offshore and use
up all the shellfish surrounding the island. Many of the birds and
animals that lived in the forest also disappeared which meant less food
for the inhabitants of Easter Island. They also had no way to cook any
of their food since they ran out of wood, so they had to start using their
remaining resources like grass and sugarcane scraps to fuel fires. The
Rapa Nui ate porpoises, seabirds, land birds, rats, and occasionally
chickens. All of these animals became overexploited over time, and
eventually the Rapa Nui had to live off the only source of meat they
had left which was humans. The Rapa Nui civilization became extinct
over time, the only thing that remains today are the Moai. The Rapa
Nui never learned how to keep their island happy and healthy,
flourishing with resources. This is something the world has learned how
to do over the years, which is why our civilization is so successful. It
has definitely taken work to get to where we are today, where our
society is healthy and happy but we finally figured it out. We are still
working though to keep our earth even healthier and we will never be
able to stop working. The Rapa Nui has taught us that we need to
manage our resources and give back to the earth. We need to take
care of it as its taking care of us. Although the story of the Rapa Nui is
very sad, we can learn a lot from their situation, and how to shape our
lives to avoid something like that at all costs.
The story of the Rapa Nui is very similar to a childrens book
called The Lorax. The Lorax tells a story of a man, the Once-ler, who
lives in a beautiful land with an abundance of Truffula trees, but begins
to cut them all down and uses them to make clothing. The Lorax is a
character that speaks for the trees, and he tries to warn the Once-ler
that he shouldnt be destroying the land because of how it affects
everyone. He explains that there are animals whose source of food are

the Truffula trees and they are getting sick and dying of famine. The
once beautiful land filled with colorful trees, turns into factories and air
covered in smog, which also affects everyone in the land. All of the
animals in the land are forced to leave so they can survive but the
Once-ler doesnt care at all. He continues to build his company and
create more clothes, until one day he gets to the last Truffula tree.
Once the last one is cut down, his company stops. Without more trees
he cant make any more clothes so he has to give up. The Once-ler
ruined the land and the only one left is he. The Lorax tried to warn him
to take care of the land, and he had failed to listen. The Lorax left him
with a word, UNLESS, before he left to find safer land, and the Once-ler
spends his lonely days trying to figure out what it means. One day he
realizes what it is, unless someone cares a lot, the situation wont get
any better. The Once-ler is left with one Truffula tree seed, and he gives
it to a little boy who he was telling the story to in a flashback, and tells
him to plant it and create a whole forest. He tells the boy that The
Lorax, and the animals can come back now. In a way, the Rapa Nui
went through the same situation. They ran out of all their resources
and ending up dying out, because nobody realized how important it
was to keep the land nourished. In The Lorax, the Once-ler was too
caught up in creating a huge business that he didnt realize how
important it was to take care of the land either, and he destroyed it all,
forcing all the animals to leave. There are many lessons we can learn
from the Rapa Nui. One is that what you take from the earth, you also
have to give back, because the land cant resupply itself. Without
someone caring for the earth, the home we live in, it will just slowly
deteriorate just like Easter Island did. In terms of forestry there are
huge replanting efforts that take place to counteract the loss of the
forest, which is a resource to us and home to animals we may eat. The
Rapa Nui never thought to replant any of the trees, but instead just cut
them all down. Neither did the Once-ler. Our civilization would never be

able to survive if we didnt continuously stock our resources and care

for them. The Rapa Nui have also taught us that we need to manage
our resources and ration what we have so we can make sure we never
run out. Here in Canada we have quotas on fishing, forestry, and land
settlement. Government keeps people from abusing the land in ways
that it may not be able to recover. Rapa Nui did not do this. From
watching the Rapa Nui we learned exactly what not do. Canada has
learned how to use our resources in such a way where well never run
out, and well never harm the earth. The Rapa Nui is a civilization that
has created a huge impact on the way we live today.
The Rapa Nui peoples were a civilization that made many
mistakes. These mistakes eventually killed off their entire population,
and they never had a chance to learn a better way to live. Our society
today is way more advanced and we have learned how to adapt and
survive. We know how to take care of the world we live in. The earth is
our home and unlike the Rapa Nui, we have learned to cherish what it
gives us. The Rapa Nui can teach us many lessons including how we
need to give back to the earth to keep it nourished and healthy. We
should hope we never have to see a world low on resources, and at the
rate we are living now, we probably never will.

Works Cited
Diamond, Jared. "Easter's End." Discover Magazine. 1 Aug. 1995. Web.
16 Mar. 2015.
Tyson, Peter. "The Fate of Easter Island." PBS. PBS, 20 Apr. 2004. Web.
16 Mar. 2015.