THE BIOARCHAEOLOGY OF SOCIETAL COLLAPSE AND REGENERATION IN ANCIENT PERU Danielle ShawnKurin Switzerland: Springer, 2016. 218 pp. ISBN 978-3-319-28402-6 (Hardcover)

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-201
Author(s):  
Kent M. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Societal Collapse

Megadrought and Collapse

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Societal Collapse ◽  
The Face ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Paleoclimate Proxy ◽  
Habitat Tracking

This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing Preparedness for Bioterrorism among Koreans

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5401
Author(s):  
Yujeong Kim ◽  
Eunmi Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
Coping Efficacy ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Personal Impact ◽  
Societal Collapse ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Perceived Seriousness ◽  
Relevant Education

Bioterrorism is destructive enough to cause a societal collapse, and preparation for bioterrorism is imperative. This study aims to identify the factors influencing preparedness for bioterrorism among Koreans. A total of 1,050 subjects were included in the study, which were allocated according to region and age in proportion to population. An online survey was used to examine the following factors: participants’ general characteristics; cognitive factors including perceived probability, perceived seriousness, perceived personal impact, perceived coping efficacy, and perceived resilience; social–contextual factors including perceived governmental preparedness and perceived front-line preparedness; affective responses including affective response to terrorism and anxiety; and bioterrorism preparedness. The factors influencing the level of preparedness for bioterrorism included age, marital status, experience of bioterrorism education, perceived personal impact, perceived coping efficacy, perceived resilience, and perceived front-line preparedness. The factors that most significantly affected the level of preparedness for bioterrorism were perceived coping efficacy and perceived front-line preparedness, with an R2 of 41.4%. Relevant education and public relations programs should be strengthened to help citizens minimize their exposure and known to inform relevant institutions in the event of suspected bioterrorism, and front-line responders should cultivate their ability to respond to bioterrorism quickly and accurately.

The Fire

World on Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 65-82
Author(s):  
Mark Rowlands
Keyword(s):  
Energy Sources ◽  
Complex Society ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Societal Collapse ◽  
Energy Acquisition

Societies need energy in order to sustain themselves and their members. This energy comes in two forms: fuel and food. These are continuous: they are both means of energy acquisition consumed for the same purpose, the maintenance of a complex society. The energy sources that sustain a society—whether fuel or food—must have a sufficiently high aggregate energy returned on energy invested (EROI). The EROI of a source is the energy acquired from a source divided by the energy that the society had to invest in acquiring it. Once the EROI of a society’s energy sources drops below a certain threshold, societal collapse often results: the breakup of that society and the emergence of new, simpler societies. Calculations suggest that maintenance of a society recognizably similar to our own vis-à-vis socioeconomic parameters requires energy sources with EROIs in the 11–14 range. Maintenance of certain markers of liberal democracies may require higher EROIs, in the 20–30 range.

ARCHAEOLOGY: What Drives Societal Collapse?

Science ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 291 (5504) ◽  
pp. 609-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Societal Collapse

Societal collapse imminent

2013 ◽  
pp. 7-7
Author(s):  
Jane Clare Jones ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Societal Collapse

scholarly journals Barriers to Cooperation Aid Ideological Rigidity and Threaten Societal Collapse

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. e1003618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Jusup ◽  
Tadasu Matsuo ◽  
Yoh Iwasa
Keyword(s):  
Societal Collapse
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document