Sustainability & the Purdue Student Farm

Question 1

Reocurring themes

Answer 1

the fuel of choice
preserving the land base
trusting to a stable climate
what were they thinking 
sudden and severe

Question 2

Theme #1

preserving your fuel of choice

Answer 2

primitive tools
-fire
primitive agriculture 
-wood
animal power, wind, water, colonialism
-coal
-oil, nautral gas, nuclear

Question 3

Theme #2

preserving your land base

Answer 3

rapanui - deforestation leading to complete system breakdown
hisatsinom - deforestation, soil depletion/erosion - climate change
maya - broadscale resource depletion, including deforestation, soil erosion, infighting, climate change
romans - deforestation, failure of local agriculture, overexpansion
british - depletion of coal resources, overexpansion, two world wars

Question 4

Theme #3

trusting to a stable climate

Answer 4

hisatsinom, maya - possible impacts of prolonged drought

Question 5

Theme #4

what were they thinking

Answer 5

can a society be unaware that it is depleting an essential resource?
is the society is unaware, it it possible that it may find itself failing to respond nonetheless?

Question 6

Theme #5

sudden and severe

Answer 6

yeah

Question 7

sustainability

Answer 7

yeah