Collapse

even the richest, technologically most advanced societies today face growing environmental and economic problems that should not be underestimated.

don’t know of any case in which a society’s collapse can be attributed solely to environmental damage: there are always other contributing factors.

because of changes in natural forces that drive climate and that have nothing to do with humans.

A first set of factors involves damage that people inadvertently inflict on their environment, as already discussed.

environmentalists aren’t willing to engage with big businesses, which are among the most powerful forces in the modern world, it won’t be possible to solve the world’s environmental problems.

In fact, climate may become hotter or colder, wetter or drier, or more or less variable between months or between years,

recovery from damage),

Montana’s environmental problems today include almost all of the dozen types of problems that have undermined pre-industrial societies in the past, or that now threaten societies elsewhere in the world as well. Particularly conspicuous in Montana are problems of toxic wastes, forests, soils, water (and sometimes air), climate change, biodiversity l

fragility (susceptibility to damage) or as resilience (potential for