GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005 11
Easter Island
A Case Study in Non-sustainability
David K. Foot
University of Toronto, Canada
Easter Island is a lonely island on Earth, much like Earth is isolated in the universe.
Environmental practices on Easter Island can, therefore, provide useful lessons for
environmental stewardship on planet Earth. Despite the isolation, the population of
Easter Island thrived, much as it has on Earth. The islanders developed a sophisticated
culture that left a legacy of giant stone statues. Yet modern explorers in the
18th century found the statues smashed and a people apparently headed toward civil
war. What went wrong? While numerous explanations have been proposed, the most
plausible is the non-sustainable use of a crucial renewable resource. Wood was
obtained from a slow-growing, subtropical palm and was the pervasive eco-resource
supporting the islanders’ food (nuts, birds, boats for fish), economy (cooking, heating,
housing materials) and culture (moving statues). Documented deforestation,
attributable to overuse, resulted in the rapid collapse of the society. This historical
example of non-sustainable environmental behaviour by a sophisticated society has
many advantages as a case study for the current teaching of relevant lessons in sus-
tainability.
● Sustainability
● Easter Island
● Lost civilisation
● Population
collapse
● Environmental
disaster
● Interdisciplinary
● Interconnected-
ness
● Societal ruin
David K. Foot is Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto in
Canada. Since his doctorate in economics from Harvard University, Professor
Foot’s research and teaching interests have increasingly focused on
economic–demographic interactions, particularly the economic and policy
implications of population ageing. He is author of the Canadian best-selling
books under the Boom, Bust and Echo title. Professor Foot is a recipient of the
national 3M Award for Teaching Excellence and is a two-time winner of the
undergraduate teaching award at the University of Toronto. He is a muchsought-after
speaker to businesses, associations and governments on the
implications of demographic change, both nationally and globally.
! foot@chass.utoronto.ca
* The author acknowledges with thanks the comments of Dr Georgia Lee of the Easter Island Foundation
on an earlier draft of this paper.
*
© 2006 G reenleafPublishing http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com
he world is a lonely planet in the universe. while it depends on the
Sun’s gravitational force for its position and light/heat energy, its inhabitants rely
entirely on its own earthly resources for their survival. These inhabitants, both
human and non-human, are isolated. To date there has been no confirmed emigration
from Earth and no visitations of species from elsewhere in the universe to
planet Earth.
Easter Island is a lonely island on Earth. While it is subject to earthly weather and
ocean patterns, it is remotely located in the South Pacific Ocean 3,200 km west of the
nearest continent of South America. The first human inhabitants arrived from Polynesia
about AD 400 and were isolated from other humans for over a millennium. They
had to depend entirely on their own island resources for their survival.
Their legacy of giant stone statues, known as moai, suggests that, in spite of their isolation,
the island population thrived and developed over this period much as it has on
planet Earth. However, by the time that the modern explorers discovered Easter Island
in the 18th century, something had gone terribly wrong with the society and its development.
Most of the moai were smashed and toppled, and the people were headed
towards civil war.
What went wrong on Easter Island? Recent research suggests that the demise of an
advanced culture on the island can be attributed to the disappearance of one crucial
resource on the island: wood (Flenley 1993). Wood is a renewable resource, but like all
renewable resources it takes time for the resource to renew. Population growth and
human decisions can result in insufficient time for effective renewal to take place. In
this case, environmental collapse can precipitate economic and social collapse. This is
what happened on Easter Island (Flenley 1993, 2001).
The recently documented history of Easter Island provides students today with a simple,
easy-to-understand historical case study of an isolated society growing and developing
but not practising sustainability through ignorance, neglect, self-interest or
simply bad luck.1 A careful review of this case study provides important lessons for the
isolated inhabitants of planet Earth today. It also points to the ominous consequences
of not practising sustainable behaviour for both individuals and society.
Geography, anthropology and history
Easter Island, also known by the indigenous name of Rapa Nui, is one of the most isolated
places on Earth that is inhabited. A triangular-shaped island anchored at its corners
by extinct volcanoes, Easter Island covers only about 117 km2 (64 square miles) of
area. Its maximum length is 24 km (15 miles) and maximum width 12 km (7.5 miles).
It is located in the South Pacific Ocean 3,200 km (2,200 miles) west of Chile, the South
American country to which it belongs. It is 2,000 km (1,250 miles) from the nearest
inhabited land of Pitcairn Island, which has a population of under 50 people. The nearest
inhabited islands further to the west are the Mangarévas which are 2,500 km (1,550
miles) away and the Marquesas which are 3,200 km (2,200 miles) away.
The island’s latitude of 27° south (just south of the Tropic of Capricorn) provides a
mild climate while its volcanic origins provided a reasonably fertile soil. The pollen
record obtained from core samples from the volcano cauldrons using carbon dating
methods shows that the island originally supported a great palm forest (Flenley 1993).
Surrounded by an abundant ocean and supporting two extinct volcanic craters that condavid
k. foot
12 GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005
1 Alternative theories about the possible reasons for this behaviour will be examined briefly later in
the paper.
T
tained natural lakes for fresh water, Easter Island appeared to have many attractive features
for human habitation. There was, however, no sheltered anchorage for boats.
It is now widely accepted that the first inhabitants were a small group of seafaring
Polynesians accidentally blown off course or deliberately in search of a new settlement,
perhaps seeking a new kingdom or escaping warfare or overpopulation elsewhere (Bahn
and Flenley 1992).2 Archaeological evidence suggests that they arrived with a full
panoply of colonisation goods. Popular perceptions are that the original settlement came
in two large double canoes with up to 40 people, along with their sweet potatoes, chickens
and other food items. This concept fits nicely with an orthodox opinion of continued
Polynesian exploration and settlement across the vast Pacific Ocean that began out
of South-East Asia about 1,000 BC or even earlier (Ponting 1993). After Tonga and
Samoa, they then settled the Marquesas around AD 300 or earlier and then moved southeast
to Easter Island and north to Hawaii in the 5th century and on to the Society Islands
about AD 600 and New Zealand about AD 800 (Ponting 1993).
The basic social unit was the Polynesian extended family, which jointly owned and
cultivated its land. Closely related households formed clans each of which developed its
own centre for family and ceremonial activities. These settlements were scattered across
the island in small clusters of huts around a ceremonial centre with crops grown in the
surrounding fields.
As the population grew the settlements proliferated. Each was characterised by a large
stone platform known as an ahu situated at the centre of the settlement near the coast
(Bahn and Flenley 1992). Similar to those found elsewhere in Polynesia, these ahu were
used for burials and ancestor worship. On these ahu, the Easter Islanders added statues
quarried in volcanic stone from sites on the island. The main Rano Raraku quarry site
contained basalt stone used for the statues and the second Puna Pau quarry site, about
8 km (5 miles) away, contained red stone used for topknots that were placed on top of
the heads of the statues. White coral collected from the ocean was used for the eyes of
the statues. Early statues were quite small, but as the society developed the statues were
made larger. The largest statues on site were over 61⁄2 m (20 feet) high and weighed over
80 tons.
By the 16th century hundreds of ahu had been constructed and over 600 of the huge
statues erected. The population peaked in mid-century at around 10,000 (±3,000) people
and then suddenly collapsed. Many partially completed statues and topknots were
left in and around the quarry sites. Several statues still in situ in the Rano Raraku quarry
measure up to 22 (65 feet) and weigh up to 270 tons.
Probably the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by various
so-called lost or vanished civilisations, such as the Maya, Khmer and Anasazi peoples.
Easter Island is no different. The first European to visit Easter Island was the Dutch
admiral Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday (5 April) 1722, which is why the island was
given its European name (Bahn and Flenley 1992). Roggeveen found an island denuded
of trees and inhabited by a society of about 3,000 people living primarily on agricultural
produce. A Spanish expedition in 1770 reported a primitive society that lived in squalid
reed huts or caves engaged in warfare and resorting to cannibalism in a desperate
attempt to supplement the meagre food supplies available on the island (Ponting 1993).
Subsequent visits by better-known captains such as Englishman James Cook in 1774
and Frenchman J.F. La Pérouse in 1786 confirmed previous reports (although the
French considered the population ‘happy’). They provided even lower population estiGMI
48 Winter 2004/2005 13
easter island: a case study in non-sustainability
2 Bahn and Flenley (1992) provide a history of Easter Island. See also Fischer 1993 for additional infor-
mation.
mates3 and noted that a number of the statues had been toppled and the platforms dam-
aged.
The ‘mystery’ of Easter Island that emerged from these visits and lasted well into the
second half of the 20th century was how a late stone age culture represented by the physically
small, squalid and apparently barbarous population observed by the Europeans
could have been responsible for creating, moving and erecting the massive statues that
clearly represented the past glory of the culture. Was this an example of another lost
civilisation?
The ‘mystery’ explained
The Europeans reported that the islanders believed that the statues had walked to the
platforms under the influence of a spiritual power. The first and perhaps most wellknown
modern theory was advanced by Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl (1950,
1958) who argued that the island was first settled by native South Americans from whom
they inherited a tradition of monumental sculpture and stone work (similar to the magnificent
Inca achievements). He attempted to demonstrate the feasibility of his theory
by designing a reed raft (named the Kon Tiki) according to the specifications of early vessels
and sailing it from South America to Easter Island. His raft drifted to the north and
landed on one of the Tuamotu islands. Heyerdahl accounted for the decline of the population
by the subsequent displacement of the South American culture by a less
advanced Polynesian culture that resulted in a series of civil wars between the so-called
‘long ears’ and the ‘short ears’, which destroyed the complex society and reduced the
population on the island.
Other more exotic theories have also been proposed to account for the mystery. An
earlier Atlantis-type theory was proposed by John Macmillan Brown (1924) who argued
that Easter Island is a remnant of a great continent (sometimes called Mu) that housed
an advanced civilisation, which sank beneath the ocean. A more recent and even more
exotic theory was proposed by Swiss writer Eric von Daniken (1970) who suggested that
the Easter Island statues are part of the evidence (along with such unexplained phenomena
as the giant Nazca Lines of Ica, Peru) of visitations by an extraterrestrial civilisation
to planet Earth.
The accumulation of archaeological evidence, particularly over the last quarter of the
20th century, has resulted in an alternative explanation focusing on environmental collapse.
Some authors postulate that planetary environmental changes may have precipitated
the decline of Easter Island society (Hunter-Anderson 1998), while others argue
that the islanders themselves were responsible for the environmental disaster that befell
them (Bahn and Flenley 1992; Flenley 1993, 2001; Mieth et al. 2002; Diamond 2004).4
These could be mutually reinforcing explanations.
david k. foot
14 GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005
3 The population continued to decline. In 1862 the Peruvians raided the island and enslaved many
Rapanui who were sold as household servants or agricultural workers on mainland Chile. Subsequent
epidemics (especially smallpox and tuberculosis) and missionary-induced emigration resulted
in further population decline until only about 100 people remained by the mid-1870s. Sheep ranching
began around 1870 and Chile officially annexed the island in 1888. Between 1888 and 1952 the
island was used as a sheep ranch, which further denuded the landscape. The population gradually
increased over this period. About 3,000 people live on Easter Island today.
4 Forest fires emanating from lightning strikes are another possible explanation for the destruction of
the forest, but evidence of widespread fire has not been uncovered. Mieth et al. (2002) report localised
burning for agricultural purposes on the Poike Peninsula dated to the 14th century. Also there is the
possibility that volcanic activity resulting in earthquakes or tidal waves (tsunamis) knocked down the
statues, but this would not explain the population and environmental collapse.
The easiest explanation for a population and hence societal crash is that a climate
change acted as the trigger if not the bullet for an environmental disaster. Hunter-Anderson
(1998) argues that deforestation on Easter Island was the result of long-term climate
change that started well before colonisation. This theory supports Orliac and
Orliac’s (1998) observation that Polynesians were well aware of their environmental
dependence and enriched ecosystems rather than impoverished them. MacIntyre
(1999) also cautions that the possibility that climate variability contributed to the collapse
of Rapa Nui should not be overlooked.5 He notes that relatively small decadal climatic
fluctuations may mean that a marginally supportable population in one decade
may become far too many a decade later.6
MacIntyre (1999) introduces a simple population growth model incorporating a carrying
capacity that he calls the maximum supportable population (MSP). If this MSP were
constant, the model would predict slower population growth with larger populations
until a sustainable population was achieved after which no further growth would occur
(or births would equal deaths). To explain the population crash on Easter Island, MacIntyre
reduces the MSP starting from around AD 1350 to 1400. This decrease in the MSP
can reflect the impact of global climate change or the effects of deforestation, or both.
Once carrying capacity drops below the actual population society is in trouble. Note that
in this approach population does not ‘overshoot’ the MSP, which is the usual explanation
of environmental collapse (Meadows et al. 1992; Brander and Taylor 1998); rather,
it is the MSP that drops below the population.
The more popular theory is consistent with this approach but attributes the decline
in the MSP to deforestation perpetuated by the islanders themselves. Bahn and Flenley
(1992) refer to this behaviour as cultural suicide whereby the islanders exploited their
crucial forest eco-base so heavily that they did not give it time to renew and thus
destroyed it. Subsequent soil erosion together with intentional fires to clear the land for
more intensive agricultural use also contributed to further eco-base degradation (Mieth
et al. 2002). The ensuing resource and food scarcity precipitated civil war, societal breakdown
(including perhaps cannibalism) and a 70% reduction of the population over a
relatively short period of time (roughly between 1550 and 1650). Other authors (Ponting
1993; Bush 1997) have adopted and popularised this theory.
As previously noted, the pollen analysis shows that, prior to colonisation, the island
supported a great subtropical palm forest (Flenley 1993). The Easter Island palm, now
absent from the island, was related to the still-surviving Chilean wine palm which can
grow 25 m (75 feet) tall and 2 m (6 feet) in diameter. The tall branchless trunks of this
palm provided ideal wood for constructing large canoes and for transporting and erecting
large statues. It might also have been a valuable food source since its Chilean relative
produces edible nuts and sap from which the Chileans make sugar, syrup, honey
and wines.
The trees also provided a haven and nesting place for birds, which supplemented the
islanders’ food and contributed to the propagation of the palms through their droppings.
The islanders also used the wood and palm leaves for housing and for cooking and heating.
Finally, the forests were cleared to make land available for agricultural uses including
the cultivation of sweet potatoes, taro and other food crops. Therefore, wood was a
crucial and pervasive eco-resource supporting the islanders’ food (fish, birds, nuts),
economy (housing, cooking, heating) and culture (statues). The collapse of this resource
GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005 15
easter island: a case study in non-sustainability
5 A variant on this theme is a prolonged drought as the cause of the environmental disaster, but as
Flenley (1993) notes it seems unlikely that the forest should survive for 35,000 years, including the
major climatic fluctuations of the last ice age and the postglacial climatic peak, only to succumb to
drought once people arrived on the island.
6 However, after an extensive review of climatic information, MacIntyre (2001) concludes that the position
of Rapa Nui appears to isolate it from major sources of interannual climate variability.
attributable to deforestation to satisfy the myriad of societal needs including agriculture
resulted in the collapse of the society (Flenley 1993).
These findings are supported by core samples from the islanders’ garbage dumps.
Nearly one-third of the discarded food bones from the growth period (AD 900–1300)
come from porpoises. The common dolphin, which is the Easter Island porpoise, weighs
up to 75 kg (165 lbs) and generally lives out to sea. It could not have been hunted from
the shore but must have been caught well offshore using seaworthy craft built from the
large palm trees. Porpoise bones disappear completely from the dumps by around AD
1500, which suggests that the islanders had lost the ability to catch large fish by that
time (Diamond 1997).
In addition to porpoise and an occasional seal, early islanders feasted on abundant
sea and land birds that used the palms and other vegetation for food and nesting. Bird
stew might have been seasoned with Polynesian rat meat, animals brought by the original
settlers either deliberately or inadvertently.7 Unlike the rest of Polynesia, rat bones
outnumber fish (as distinct from porpoise) bones at Easter Island archaeological sites
(Diamond 1997).
Recent pollen and garbage dump analysis together paint a picture of an island8 that
prospered and then perished due to the non-sustainable use of the society’s crucial ecoresource,
wood. Deforestation was well under way by AD 800, only four centuries after
human settlement. Charcoal from wood fires becomes more abundant over time (indicating
growing numbers of people), while the pollen of palms and other trees and woody
shrubs decreases and then disappears. The pollen of grasses that replaced the forest
simultaneously becomes more abundant. Sometime after AD 1400 the palm tree
becomes extinct on the island, not only because of human use but also because the birds
that dispersed its seeds died out and the now ubiquitous rats prevented its regeneration
by eating the seeds.9 The 15th century marked the end of Easter Island’s palm forest
(Bahn and Flenley 1992).
The destruction of the birds followed that of the forest. Every species of native land
bird (owls, herons, parrots) became extinct. Colonies of more than half the seabird
species were eliminated. In place of native birds, the islanders turned to domesticated
chickens for food. Later on, human bones appear in the garbage dumps. Cannibalism
is part of the oral history of the islanders, but there is a lack of verifiable evidence (such
as slash marks on the bones) for cannibalism. By this time fires for cooking and heating
were fuelled by grass, sedge and sugarcane scraps and increasingly took place in the
underground volcanic caves where the islanders sheltered.
After a millennium of growth and prosperity (AD 400 to 1400), Easter Island reached
a peak in population and culture in the early 1500s. While their statues were getting
larger, their trees were getting smaller and ultimately disappeared. Without wood (and
rope) to transport statues their culture suffered. Without wood to build canoes their porpoise
and fish catches declined. Without trees the birds disappeared and the resulting
soil erosion reduced their crop yields. Chicken production and perhaps cannibalism
only replaced part of the lost food. People were starving.
Local anarchy replaced social stability and a warrior class took over from the hereditary
chiefs and cultural leaders in the 1600s and 1700s (Bahn and Flenley 1992). Spears
and daggers appeared and people moved into caves for protection from both the elements
and their enemies. By the mid-1700s rival clans were toppling and smashing each
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16 GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005
7 Flenley (1993) notes that the mouse-sized Polynesian rat was regularly introduced by Polynesian voyagers
wherever they settled as a source of protein food.
8 This elaboration closely follows Diamond 1997 and is consistent with Bahn and Flenley 1992 and
Flenley 1993.
9 Mieth et al. (2002) provide additional evidence of rat-chewed palm nuts.
other’s statues.10 By 1864 the last statue had been demolished. This was the society
observed and reported on by the early European visitors.
The non-sustainable use and ultimate disappearance of one crucial renewable
resource, wood, ultimately led to the demise of the population and society. This is a
familiar story of growing populations facing shrinking resources, especially renewable
resources such as fresh water and arable land. Homer-Dixon (1994, 1999) documents
recent examples where renewable resource scarcity has resulted in starvation and civil
war.
Reasons for the demise
Why did this disaster happen? One explanation is ignorance. Even though they were
isolated, the islanders had developed technology that surpassed most other societies of
their era.11 Certainly, they were not technically ignorant. The numerous ahu with their
elaborately carved statues throughout the island are evidence of an advanced culture.
Clearly they were not culturally ignorant. However, if people are not aware of their
impact on their environment, then environmental degradation can result especially in
growing populations. Polynesian peoples have a long history of being environmentally
aware (Orliac and Orliac 1998), so this seems an unlikely explanation on Easter Island.
Since the island is not large and each clan apparently had its own land, islanders were
probably aware of the diminishing number and size of trees on the island even over
their relatively short lifetimes. Also, it is very likely that there would have been a transferable
oral tradition that would have indicated increasing difficulties in harvesting wood
for its many uses by each succeeding generation.
A second explanation is neglect by individuals, by leaders or by society. When change
is gradual and is measured in lifetimes or generations, it is easy to be neglectful. By the
time that the change becomes rapid it is often too late for corrective action. On Easter
Island the trees gradually became fewer, smaller and, as society adapted, maybe less
important. The last palm disappeared around the mid-1400s, yet the real crisis did not
appear until a century later by which time it was too late to do anything about the loss
of the forest.
Economists frequently focus on the roles played by incentives and self-interest in
human decisions. Unlike most Polynesian palms, the palm that was indigenous to
Easter Island was a very slow-growing tree. The Jubaea palm normally requires 40–60
years before it reaches the fruit-growing stage and it can take even longer. Brander and
Taylor (1998) estimate that the typical lifespan for islanders that survived infancy was
around 30 years, so the length of time to tree maturity would have exceeded the lifetimes
of virtually all islanders. Consequently, a programme of replanting and caring for
seedlings would never have been of direct benefit to the cultivators. It would only benefit
their children or grandchildren. Under these conditions the incentives for forest
preservation, especially in a growing population, were not adequate. Moreover, even if
recognised as a problem, these ‘incentives’ were determined by technical considerations
(tree and human life expectancy) that would have been very difficult if not impossible
to change.
Brander and Taylor (1998) apply a Ricardo-Malthus model of renewable resource use
to Easter Island and demonstrate that overshooting and collapse is much more likely
GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005 17
easter island: a case study in non-sustainability
10 See footnote 4 for a possible alternative explanation.
11 Debate continues to this day on how the massive statues were transported and erected, and it is still
not known how the heavy stone topknots were placed on the statues’ heads (van Tilburg 1995).
for slower-growing tree species than for the more usual faster-growing species. Moreover,
they go on to point out that Easter Island did not present a favourable environment
for efficient institutional adaptation. While environmentally aware, the islanders probably
did not understand the biology of the forest–soil complex or the incentive effects
of alternative institutional arrangements, such as population control or forest preservation.
By the time that disaster was imminent and the population might have been
mobilised into action, institutional change would have been too late. Because of their
isolation, the planting of a faster-growing species was not an available option. In short,
the islanders were confronted by extremely unfavourable technical incentives (palm
maturity that outstripped human longevity and limited technical knowledge) and a limited
number of feasible options. The pursuit of self or clan interest in this environment,
particularly in response to the needs of a growing population, was understandable but
led to their downfall.
Finally, both Orliac and Orliac (1998) and MacIntyre (1999) raise the possibility that
Easter Island’s population collapse could simply be attributable to bad luck. The possibility
that climate played a significant role cannot be overlooked, although MacIntyre’s
(2001) extensive review concludes that climate variability was not a likely cause.12
Nonetheless, a prolonged period of climatic conditions that negatively influenced palm
growth or maturity could have been sufficient to tip a marginally supportable population
into an excessive population and start the downward spiral even without population
growth. Hunter-Anderson (1998) notes that deforestation had been occurring even
before human habitation began. Even if not decisive, climate change could have been a
contributing factor in Easter Island’s demise, reinforcing the effects of deforestation by
the islanders.
Conclusions
The lessons of Easter Island emerging from recent archaeological evidence are only too
clear for the world today. A lonely island with no emigration valve for its growing population
and no ability to import knowledge or alternative technology from elsewhere,
could not adapt to an environmental disaster that destroyed its economy and society.
Non-sustainable harvesting of the crucial renewable resource, a slow-maturing palm
that provided wood for canoes and food provisions (porpoises, fish, nuts, birds), as well
as housing, cooking, heating and cultural activities (statue moving and erection),
resulted in the collapse of a growing, wealthy and culturally advanced society, to become
warfaring cave dwellers over a relatively short period of human history. The non-sustainable
harvesting practices also contributed to soil erosion resulting in lower crop
yields and the loss of other food sources (crops, rats), which could not be made up for
using alternative domesticated foods (chickens, grass and, perhaps, humans).
Earth is a lonely planet with no emigration valve for its growing population and no
ability to import knowledge or alternative technology from other parts of the universe.
Its inhabitants too must survive on the once abundant resources within its realm. Fortunately,
research that contributes to increasing knowledge and shared understanding
of global environmental problems can lead to adaptation and solution of recognised
problems. However, Earthlings must be careful not to be caught in the Easter Island
trap of overshooting the maximum sustainable population or engaging in self-interested,
non-sustainable behaviour that reduces the maximum sustainable capacity below
the existing population. The recently documented history of Easter Island clearly
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18 GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005
12 See also footnotes 3 and 4 for other examples of ‘bad luck’.
demonstrates that, under these conditions, collapse of population, economy and society
is inevitable.
Postscript
Easter Island has many advantages as a case study for teaching lessons in sustainability
analysis:
1. It is now a documented historical example that clearly demonstrates the consequences
of non-sustainable environmental practices. It does not present what might
happen but rather presents what did happen
2. It is simple. It focuses on the non-sustainable use of a single resource (wood). Since
wood is a renewable resource, the case study can avoid discussion of alternative substitutes
associated with the sustainable use of non-renewable resources
3. The analysis can be easily extended to demonstrate environmental interconnectedness.
Examining the implications of deforestation for alternative food supplies (porpoises,
birds) and for soil erosion (and crop yields) quickly incorporates the richness
of most environment analysis into this case study
4. It is an interdisciplinary case study. It integrates the natural and social sciences. Students
with varied backgrounds can all contribute to the analysis. Anthropology,
archaeology, biology, business, demography, economics, forestry, geology, history,
mathematics, ornithology, political science, soil science, zoology and other disciplines
can all be advantageously captured in this case study
5. Although not a business case study per se, it incorporates many of the concepts familiar
to business analysis, such as incentives, constraints, diminishing returns, property
rights, information availability, cultural values and institutional structures,
within a sustainability framework. It can also form the basis for sophisticated modelling
and dynamic analysis, and an introduction to non-linear chaotic systems
6. It highlights the necessity for a comprehensive approach to developing a sustainability
strategy. The case study demonstrates that high (technical and cultural) expertise
is no guarantee of success with respect to sustainability. The existence of
inappropriate incentives and unfavourable external forces (maturity cycles for trees
and humans, and perhaps climate) played a decisive role in the outcome
7. It is likely that the islanders were all of a similar culture, so resource depletion and
societal collapse cannot be attributed to multi-ethnic conflict, again simplifying the
analysis
8. The isolation analogy with spaceship Earth is easy to grasp and the conclusions are
unambiguous and easy to communicate. Non-sustainable environmental practices
ultimately lead to economic and social collapse
9. It provides a framework for case studies of resource-dependent corporations, communities
and countries that practise non-sustainable resource use, especially with
respect to renewable resources
The sustainability lessons introduced and taught in this uncomplicated case study
are numerous and pervasive. They clearly show the problem that a growing, reasonably
well-informed, mono-ethnic, technically and culturally advanced society dependent on
a single resource faces in ensuring that unregulated decisions that benefit individual
GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005 19
easter island: a case study in non-sustainability
members do not lead to collective ruin. This situation is what the world potentially faces
today with climate change and other environmental sustainability challenges.
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20 GMI 48 Winter 2004/2005