The Ecological Connection - Part 2: The Crash

Source: Civilization.Wika

Source: Civilization.Wika

How would you stand the test of time in the wake of a worsening climate? Would you venture out to new lands to find more habitable environments to live in? Or would you stay put, bunker down and try to adapt to the world around you? In all essence, I wouldn’t mind travelling to somewhere new, as long as it suited my ideal conditions. Civilizations though do not have that luxury since they are born out of opportunistic environmental conditions and are a stable entity spatially, which forces it to adapt to its unique circumstances (Linden 2006). 

Examples of basic Ecological Feedback Systems
Source (e-education)

This sounds very similar to what I mentioned in my last blog regarding ‘social complexity’. Actually, this is one of the easiest ways for civilizations to mitigate the effects of deteriorating climatic and environmental conditions (Linden 2006). By increasing complexity you have more trophic levels, by having more trophic levels you have more interconnected systems and by having more interconnecting systems you have more negative feedbacks to regulate your ideal living conditions (Butzer 1984).


Though there is a point whereby these systems will become less efficient to cope with the extreme conditions, pushing society closer and closer to an ‘Instability threshold’. Often the point of decay begins when complexity reaches an ‘Angle of Repose’ (Brunk 2002). For those who are not aware of this concept it is best described as a pile of sand, slowly you add more sand to the pile, increasing its height and slope; eventually there will come a point where the slope cannot  support the height and it collapses (Brunk 2002). In society, as this point is reached the permutations throughout the complex systems build up and up until finally *crash* it collapses (Brunk2002). 

 A diagram showing the concept of
'Instability Threshold' to usher in change
Source (Arctic Council)

These great big civilization, with all their technology and social ingenuity, developed because there way of life was being threatened by external factors, which results in a much steeper social order which places pressures on the whole system. This in turn causes the system to drift closer to the angle of repose and one that is reached, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches that threshold. A little bit ironic, isn’t it? 

So what happens to the society when it crashes? It does end well. Political power is lost, there is no order or bond keeping people together, leading to a shift in low population, low complex societies with very little socio-economic power or structure (Coombs and Barber 2005). More accurately they revert back to a nomadic stochastic way of life, which is more stable and more malleable to climatic conditions. This is the concept of Adaptive Systems and bring us full circle. So would you rather stay put and adapt, build up something great but easily undone by the forces of nature? Or would you like to be simple and track climate for a duller more flexible life.

How would you stand to test the time?