Paradise for Sale: A Parable of Nature

by Carl N. McDaniel and John M. Gowdy

Book Overview

The grim history of Nauru Island, a small speck in the Pacific Ocean halfway between Hawaii and Australia, represents a larger story of environmental degradation and economic dysfunction. For more than 2,000 years traditional Nauruans, isolated from the rest of the world, lived in social and ecological stability. But in 1900 the discovery of phosphate, an absolute requirement for agriculture, catapulted Nauru into the world market. Colonial imperialists...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520222296
• ISBN13: 9780520222298
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

This is an IMPORTANT book

This is a book on the scale of "Silent Spring". Listen and heed it's message; this earth, our home, is in trouble. "Paradise for Sale" shows us, with fascinating and disturbing examples and in graphic detail, what can happen to the earth if we don't start changing our way of life. The good news is that it can be done but it has to start NOW! Read this book, it's important.

The World Writ Small

The story of Nauru may well be the story of the modern world writ small and fast! In `Paradise for Sale' Carl McDaniel and John Gowdy trace the history of Nauru, a tiny south-Pacific island, to explore how and why so-called `modern' humans come invariably to live beyond the means of nature and seem blinded to the warning signals of ecological collapse.Nauru is a nearly circular islet virtually on the equator with a diameter of only six to seven kilometers. Prior to its `discovery' in 1798, the island's human population was only about a thousand totally self-reliant Micronesians. "In the absence of trade or other contact with the outside would, the people of Nauru developed a self-contained, durable society" (p. 14). They lived harmoniously within the bounds of nature, sustained comfortably by plentiful fish, coconuts, pandanus fruit, and a variety of other natural and cultivated crops.In 20th Century terms, the island's greatest boon (and most fatal curse) has been its rich deposits of phosphate. Phosphate is a vital constituent of fertilizer and once Nauru's bounty was recognized in 1900, the island's fate was sealed. Industrialization was imposed from without. In just a century of mining, mainly to the benefit of one colonial authority after another, Nauru's once verdant interior, or `topside', today lies devastated. Over 80% of the island is a desert wasteland. As they watched their homeland and ecosystem being systematically dissipated across the globe, the native people of Nauru were quickly transformed from proud self-sufficiency to hopeless dependence on the global economy. Today, 10,000 inhabitants of the island's narrow coastal strip live almost entirely on imported goods - even their water must now be brought in from distant `elsewheres'. While for the time being Nauruans remain economically afloat on the bare leavings of their colonial legacy, their phosphate wealth is running out and the island is deeply in ecological and fiscal debt. There is no return to paradise, so where do Nauruans go from here?That's the question McDaniels and Gowdy are really posing to us all. In microcosm, Nauru's modern history is the history of the industrial world. In country after country, industrial humans, thoroughly alienated from nature, have destroyed much of their own natural bounties, exceeded their domestic carrying capacities, and come to rely on commerce to sustain themselves. In ecological terms, many modern states `occupy' through trade and exploitation of the global commons, an area several times larger than their home territories. Their economies stay afloat on high-end manufacturing and the `knowledge' industries, but the biophysical basis of life is eroding away at an accelerating pace. This pattern is clearly neither sustainable nor extendible to all countries, yet we rush madly to cast the three-quarters of the yet-to-be-developed world from the same mold. Read this book for a thumbnail sketch of this

Paradise is the world, and it has already beed sold.

Nauru's "surrogate globe" status is more than applicable when analysed in conjunction with the forces of conventional economic globalisation. Furthermore, "Limits to Growth" did not predict living in caves in the near future, actually. "Paradise for Sale" certainly discusses proper causes and effects, and accordingly predicts not living in caves, but not living at all. Despite grimness, which is somewhat alleviated at the end of the book, McDaniel and Gowdy raise points about our market and consumption practices that must be constantly put before a complacent reading public. It is no longer a question of "are we destroying the planet and therefore ourselves?" but rather a question of "when will the planet die, and will I be there to experience the pain?" "Paradise for Sale" does not have an uplifting message. It is not the new bible falsely promising salvation and bliss at the end of the age. The book shows proof of global catastrophe and gives no hope to the apathetic. Through the example of Nauru and other islands, the authors give a choice to the populace. (1) to follow the path of globalisation and conventional economics to its proper end (i.e. Death and destruction and complete and utter misery) or (2) immediately start upon a conscious and active journey toward sustainability that will, in time, result in a livable and pleasant world. The example of the island of Tikopia has potential for application to the globe as a whole. The island was destroyed through one of the common forms of Polynesian settlement patterns, but its people gradually and consciously rebuilt the ecosystem and instituted sustainable habitation patterns. Tikopia encouragingly went from a prime example of destruction to an equally prime example of ingenious sustainability. Thus, McDaniel and Gowdy show two futures for the world, namely those numbered above. In recommendation, I have a bit of advice. Pay no attention to the negative reviews posted here. They are invariably written by people who need to solve a bit of their own inner turmoil before they interact with the rest of humanity. "Paradise for Sale" I recommend wholeheartedly, for all groups. It should be translated into as many languages as possible. It is the latest addition to the growing arsenal of positive and true environmental literature. After Paradise, I recommend that you also read John Gowdy's selection of anthropological essays which he compiled in the highly informative "Limited Wants, Unlimited Means(1997)."

A book to read, study and recommend to others

I recommend we all read and even study Paradise for Sale. The authors link the global market economy to the exploitation of the earth's natural resources including biological ecosystems, and raise the question of the planet's sustainability for human habitation. This picture is viewed through a lens on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru and its history from paradise to compromised present and future. The "shadows" of Nauru are evidenced across the planet. Hope is spotlighted. Underlying the fragility of and hope for human life on this planet is the examination of the stories or mythologies that support both the destruction and hope. This book is full of stories and clear examples and quite readable.

Read this book. Tell your friends to read this book.

The world is in the middle of a human-caused mass extinction of species. We are gobbling up the planet like there's no tomorrow, and that will be the case unless we stop now and totally re-evaluate our way of life. What can we do to avoid the inevitable global crisis that will follow the destruction of our natural resources? McDaniel and Gowdy draw upon the effects of limited resources on humans in isolated ecosystems in the Pacific islands to paint a bleek picture of the future of our global ecosystem. We do not dare ignore the message. If you care about the world of your children and grandchildren, read this book, and pass it on. Why have a few others slammed this book? Look at the reviews that rate this book as a one-star and read their prose. It is an emotional rejection. They are quaking in their boots. The book is threatening to them. In fact, the truth about the environment is very threatening to sectors of the economy that depend on waste and consumption -- tourism, mining, logging. Backs against the wall, their defense is "you are just as bad as we are," or "you are not qualified," or "you are crazy extremists." This is an argument of the type Kill-the-Messenger. No attempt has been made to refute the message however. Sorry. Nobody likes bad news, but it is folly to ignore it.