Part 1, Then and Now

These three chapters of the book depict some of the situations that we can relate to now, in our modern time. We continue to develop new technologies (now at a much faster rate), as well as to devise new methods for food production and collection. As far as settling in inhospitable areas and dominating nature, let’s take a look at Las Vegas: built in the desert, and requiring massive efforts of human engineering to just provide water and electricity to the city. The diverting of water to supply the city of Los Angeles is another good example, we continue to alter and reshape nature around us. Outside of the U.S., another example is Haiti, which offers a sharp contrast when compared to the Dominican Republic half of the Hispaniola island. People in Haiti, out of poverty and having almost no electricity or gas, resorted to cutting trees to provide for energy. The immense deforestation causes major landslides that sweep away entire villages, often killing thousands of people during a storm, like Hurricane Jeanne did in 2004. This factor, accompanied by major socio-economic and political disasters has left Haiti in a very vulnerable position. Dominican Republic could manage a somewhat stable economy and some degree of prosperity, but its immediate neighbor could not, for centuries. My questions at this point are what will happen with Haiti, will it continue as an independent country, going through the necessary reforms and changes; or will it be absorbed and overrun by a more powerful society? How will its people survive? Haiti has been going through what the Indus Valley civilization went through (according to Strayer) in terms of the devastation of their natural resources. I wonder if we will witness a new “civilization” emerging there...

I also found interesting in the reading the excerpt from the Spanish observer upon encountering the Chumash (Strayer, 2009, p.30). When in the book it talks about men adorning themselves with beads (Strayer, 2009, p.30), I immediately thought about us now, in modern times, doing exactly the same: showing off wealth in our diamond and gold jewelry, engagement rings, and so on. Later on, in chapter 3, there is also mention to elaborate clothing and adornments as a sign of status and the showing of wealth, something that we do nowadays by wearing designer clothes and accessories.

Chapter three also talks about the ancient civilizations interacting with each other in positive and negative ways, and through the chapter I could not help but make connections to the “globalized world” that we live in now, where we produce, trade, and exchange ideas and technologies with societies around the world. We now learn more languages, we adapt what has proven to work in other places, we continue to invade societies that don’t work the same way we do, and we try to impose our values on others.

It seems that we have not changed much in those areas all these thousands of years!