The Easter Island, often dubbed as the most isolated islet in the World, roughly covers about 64 square miles in the South Pacific Ocean. Declared in 1995 as a world heritage site, the Island’s main claim to fame are the centuries-old 900 towering stone figures, the Moai, built by the ingenious – now nearly extinct civilization of the Easter Island, the Rapa Nui.
Every year thousands of tourists fly in from all over World to witness the majestic Moai, intrigued and fascinated a puzzling question flashes through their minds: What exactly happened to the creators of such wonders?
I now begin the story of the Rapa Nui; a story that might perhaps offer us some pause for thought.
The Rapa Nui was once a thriving civilization. Innovative agriculturists: they employed ingenious techniques to cultivate crops in an area where rainfall was sparse and winds were fierce. Expert boat-makers and engineers: they fashioned canoes that prevailed the harsh waters of the Pacific and built structures that even today amaze the world. They were talented navigators, skilled craftsmen and had their own system of government. In short, they formed one of the most brilliant civilizations of the Pacific.
Brilliant and thriving until this happened…
Nature had bestowed the Rapa Nui with a priceless gift. The Easter Island was home to the now extinct plant species: Paschalococcus – the highest palm trees in the world. These palm trees were an integral part of the Rapa Nui economy. They provided them with the lumber needed for building canoes on which the natives went fishing and were also a source of food. The trees held together the land they tilled for farming. Moreover, the forests were the habitat to thousands of species of fauna which maintained the intricate balance that supported and helped life flourish on the Island. All was well until the Rapa Nui started disrupting the very balance of nature on which their existence depended. They fell into the vice of resource exploitation and overpopulation. Massive deforestation of palm forests led to large-scale soil erosion. Soil erosion took its toll on the farmlands and agriculture suffered. No more forests meant that the Rapa Nui could not build the boats on which they went fishing. In this resource depleted, desperate and frustrated society, the inevitable soon happened. Social discord set in. Tribal wars, revolts, famines and disease destroyed the civilization. The Rapa Nui could not survive the cataclysm.
Let’s now have our moment of pause…
Drawing parallels with the Rapa Nui now, are we? Ha!
The story of the Rapa Nui has particular relevance to us today. The times have changed, the stage is bigger, and the palms of Paschalococcus have been replaced by coal, gas, mineral oil and water. What has remained exactly same, sadly, is the model on which we operate. We continue to act like plunderers. Our insatiable desire for growth has clouded our better judgment. So heavily dependent on resources, especially those nonrenewable, our present model is inherently non-sustainable. Our Burj Khalifa of dreams has the weakest of foundations. The way we try to proper growth resembles a bottomless oven that continues to demand more and more fuel. We know that the end of cheap oil is imminent, yet we choose to ignore it. We know that the fossil reserves are dwindling, yet our obsession with coal-fired power plants continues. The Earth stands at the brink of a water crisis because of the way we have “revolutionized” our agriculture sector; increasingly dependent on oil and more-than-required amounts of water it now takes 100 litres of water to produce one kilogram of potatoes, 4,000 for one kilo of rice and 13,000 for one kilo of beef; not to forget the oil devoured in the transportation process. Alas, despite all this plundering, 795 million people still go to sleep with their stomachs empty. Half of the world’s food is wasted.
Take a moment and think about where we’re going. Our lust for unattainable growth has brought about what Paul Hawken calls “The Death of Birth.” We are destroying the Earth’s species’; species, which have preserved the ecological balance of Earth for God knows how long. 1 mammal in 4, 1 bird in 8, 1 amphibian in 3 and 1 plant in 5 are endangered with extinction. 3 quarters of the World’s fishing grounds are exhausted. Most large fish have been fished out to extinction. We are destroying the cycle of life that was given to us. Let’s stop and ask ourselves: how long will façade continue? The Earth cannot keep up.
Like all good stories, the story of the Rapa Nui provides us with a brilliant moral. The sombre and solemn Moai sculptures remind us what happened to our ancestors who modeled their lives in violation of the absolute, unchanging laws of nature. The Rapa Nui did not react in time. We, however, still can. Though hanging by a string, our fates are still in our own hands.
