Collapse:how societies choose to fail or succeed

Collapse:how societies choose to fail or succeed
Written by: Jared Diamond
Columbia University 25th aprile NYC

Today i went to a lecture at Columbia University of the distingueshed professor Diamond about his last essay "Collapse".The ampitheatre or the micro sound or the speed of Diamond didn't make easy to follow this brillant lecture.I am french native speaker so...it's hard to follow and get all the concepts but to sum up Diamond put that the end of a civilization has eight factors :
1/Deforestation and habitat destruction
2/Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
3/Water management problems
4/Overhunting
5/Overfishing
6/Effects of introduced species on native species
7/Human population growth
8/Increased per-capita impact of people
Further he says four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future societies:
1/Human-caused climate change
2/Buildup of toxic chemicals in the environment
3/Energy shortages
4/Full human utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity
Diamond also states that we can learn lessons from past cultures for the first time in history.He doesn't see surpopulation as a major threat.Realist he talked about the Easter islands society ending because all the trees were used.He critizised the lack of equallity in education,health care in America...seeing more social problems in the future as a major factor of "collapse".The riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King issue was the exemple which illustrade the social tensions in LA where Diamond lives.He finished to look at several causes to explain that often civilizations collapsed from the inside-the Roman Empire.