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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Damian Carrington Environment editor

EXPLAINED: We need dramatic social and technological changes is societal collapse inevitable - The Real Truth

Easter Island moai.
Can we learn from Rapa Nui? Photograph: Image Source/Getty Images

For someone who has examined 361 studies and 73 books on societal collapses, Danilo Brozović’s conclusion on what must happen to avoid today’s world imploding is both disarmingly simple and a daunting challenge: “We need dramatic social and technological changes.”

The collapse of past civilisations, from the mighty Mayan empire to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), has long fascinated people and for obvious reasons – how stable is our own society? Does ever-growing complexity in societies or human hubris inevitably lead to oblivion? In the face of the climate crisis, rampant destruction of the natural world, rising geopolitical tensions and more, the question is more urgent than ever.

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