Stuck

Before taking off for Florida in December, I watched the documentary 180 Degrees South. This movie showed the story of a man retracing a journey taken in 1968 by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. The climax of the story discussed the devastating construction of dams in Chile that would not only destroy much of Patagonia's natural environment but also put a lot of local farmers and fishermen who had been practicing their work for hundreds of years out of business. International energy companies have contracted out the building of the dams (and on a slight tangent, everyone should read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man), and these "corporations" are doing everything in their power to start construction. The Chilean people are fighting to protect their land and rivers (¡Sin Represas!) but, sadly, with little effect on the governmental decision.

Jeff Johnson is the young man who sets out on this journey. After encountering rough seas, the boat crew has to stop at Easter Island for a few weeks to reconstruct a mast and make major repairs. The documentary talks about the history of Easter Island and the downfall of the civilization that first inhabited the land. Essentially, the original Polynesians began inhabiting the land sometime between 400 and 700 ad, and they began building moai. These massive stone statues (like the one pictured above, which is a replica at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC) were thought to possess the ability to ward off evil and protect the land. With the building of more and more moai began the deforestation of the land. Soon, the trees and topsoil were gone, and plants and animals became extinct. Because of the destruction of the natural resources, the society began to break out into civil war and soon completely collapsed.

In 180 Degrees South, Jeff Johnson was able to directly relate the events that took place on Easter Island to the events that are about to take place in Patagonia.

History tends to repeat itself, and this is the type of circumstance I find this fact most unnerving. When will mankind realize that we cannot "conquer" our planet? We do not own natural resources; we are servants to our land. I understand that every day we are told to "save the planet," but it's at the point where this phrase is no longer a do-gooder notion; it's a must-do action.

We can all make suggestions on how to conserve energy and water and help save our planet. Take shorter showers. Turn off the lights. Etc. All of these small things do help. Not only is being proactive important; we also need to educate ourselves. Know what's going on in the world. Maybe if the people of Easter Island knew that they couldn't live without trees and plants and animals, even with hundreds of statues protecting them, their fate would have been determined differently. Our statues, in the forms of dams, massive buildings, and oil pipes may make life easier for the time being, but they're definitely not going to ward off our evil spirits. At this rate, the destruction of our species is inevitable, and we need to make a mental shift with regards to our environment.