Werewolf Rampant: Sustainable Societies (The actual report)

By Jess B

What is a sustainable society?

I believe that a sustainable society is a society that either existed for centuries with continuous success (economic prosperity, social stability, cultural complexity, etc.) and showing evidence of sustainability for 800 years before their collapse, or sustainability for 300 years up until the present. It is hard to develop a concrete definition for a sustainable society as I have come to the conclusion there is no one society (past or present) that is completely sustainable.

What makes a society sustainable?

There are many factors that contribute to the level of sustainability within a society. These factors range from the societies system of government and its decisions to how the society disposes of its waste and manages it water consumption.

I think that there are four main categories that these factors fall under though, government, economic factors (includes trade), environmental factors and warfare. (neutrality, allies, enemies, etc.)

The four main factors:

This is only the framework at its most basic level; these main factors can be split into tens, possibly hundreds of other factors, all on different levels of complexity.

One thing that may seem to be missing from my framework are the cultural factors (their values, religion, etc.) When I first formed my framework I had a separate category for “Cultural factors”, later on I found that these factors usually influenced the factors from other categories, they were not a driving force of sustainability in themselves. Yet, I have decided that a flexible culture is needed for a society to be sustainable and I will discuss this in depth later.

Government:

Not only are the people who are governing (ruling) a country the ones who make the decisions, they are also the ones who are to be blamed when everything goes wrong. There are many different systems of government as well, and all of them are effective is used in the right situation. Examples:

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was governed by a system of monarchy. At the very, very top where their gods, underneath them was the pharaoh, one man with a funny beard, lots of gold and a face covered in make-up. The pharaoh is basically the Egyptians version of a king, though the people believed that he was more than a man, they believed that he was a god. This gave the pharaoh absolute control over the affairs of his country. This means that they weren’t really a monarchy, they were actually a theocracy. (A form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme ruler) Beneath the pharaoh were his advisors and ministers, these people were mostly priests and were there to do the pharaohs biding.

The Egyptian society was actually immensely successful and, in my opinion, had a very sustainable system of government. (It is said that the Egyptians may have the longest continuous history of any people, spanning some 7,000 years-but this includes pre-history and their collapse)

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was government has changed to suit the needs of its society (it was flexible); at first each city-state was ruled by wealthy men, this was a form of tyranny. Over the years the government changed until it came to the system that we mostly associate with Ancient Greece, democracy. (Democracy literally means ‘government of the people.’

In the Ancient Greek version of democracy only men of Athenian decent were allowed to vote. (No women, children or slaves were allowed to vote) They assembly was held in the Pynx (which was a hill on the west of the Acropolis); this meeting place could hold around 6000 people. Assembly members met about once a week and at each meeting of the assembly certain topics were discussed and voted on. The assembly would also gather in cases of emergency and in cases of trials of law in which the assembly became a jury.

The advantage of having such a government system as this was that everyone was represented and could have their say. (Well every Athenian male at least) This would stop the people from revolting against their government (like the pharaoh but by using a different method)

Britain and the United Kingdom

The Untied Kingdom is governed by a variation of monarchy called a constitutional monarchy. At the head of the government is the queen, the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth the second. This form of government involves a hereditary title of sovereign (the exclusive right to have complete control over an area of governance, people, or oneself) Beneath the queen (and king) is a long list of advisors and cabinets including the Privy Council and Cabinet, the Prime Minister, chancellor and the home secretary.

In this form of government the people do not really have a chance to express their views and there is a higher risk of revolt (and there is history of this occurring)

Out of these three forms of government I believe that democracy is the most effective and agreeable form of government. Although my views are rather biased as this is the present day and we value freedom of speech above many other things.

Environmental:

At its most basic level, this point in the framework looks simple, but it isn’t. There are so many different factors that belong under the ‘Environmental’ heading that it just isn’t funny, here are just a few of them:

~Soil-erosion
~agriculture
~Forests-management, deforestation and measures to prevent it
~Animals/fauna/Biodiversity
~Over hunting and measures to prevent that
~Control of introduced species
~Water usage/conservation-preservation of the societies water sources
~Waste management-how the society dispose/d of/stored its waste materials
~Climate change- the societies response to climate change and how they plan to combat it
~Recycling
~Preservation of non-renewable resources
~Adaptation to environment-if a society adapts to their environment and uses it to their advantage, they are more likely to be successful
~Renewable energy vs. non renewable

Edo Japan

Though the Edo period only accounted for a short part of Japan’s history, it was a very influential period. (Or at least influential on today’s societies) During this time, Edo Japan had the largest population in the world, some 1.25 million people. In this time, the people realized that they only had a very limited supply of resources because they were purposely closed off from the rest of the world (and so had no trade system) and if they didn’t try to conserve it, it would not be sustainable. To fix this problem many specialized collectors and tradesmen evolved and they became a society of “ultimate recyclers.” Among many other things, they used human waste and ash as fertilizer, collected used candle wax to create new candles and collected used umbrella ribs to recycle into new umbrellas.

Today Japan depends on imports from other countries for 78 percent of its energy, 60 percent of its food (caloric value), and 82 percent of its timber consumption. Japan in the Edo Period could serve as one model of a sustainable society. The basis of its sustained economy and cultural development was not mass production and mass consumption for convenience, as we see in modern society, but rather the full utilization of limited resources.

Australian Aboriginals

Though some may argue that they did not practice very sustainable agricultural methods, I beg to differ. Australia’s climate, poor rainfall and poor soil make it one of the harshest places to live in the world. We have modern technology to enable us to survive here but the aboriginals had nothing when they first arrived. For anyone to survive in such a place for any length of time is amazing, but the aborigines have been in Australia for somewhere around 60, 000 years.

The aboriginals were nomadic people, the traveled in tribes across the land to find food and water sources and shelter. They passed the knowledge of bush food and bush medicines down through the generations through their dreamtime stories. They burnt grasses to find animals for food but they were also creating the conditions that some Australian plants need to germinate. They avoided over hunting by leaving animals and plants to reproduce and so ensured that they had an ongoing food supply. It was incredible that they survived for as long as they did and if it had been us in there place I don’t think we would be able to get that far.

Warfare:

There are actually a few ways for societies to be sustainable in this area. One way is to have a huge, well supplied and organized army and to completely destroy your enemies and defend your borders like it’s the end of the world. Another way is to be a neutral country, meaning that you do not participate in wars (don’t take sides, don’t have enemies or allies, etc.) in the hope that people will just leave your country alone. The last way is to have a lot of allies and have them help you when you get in trouble (but it has to be able to work the other way as well)

Ancient Rome

Ancient Roman society spanned from 800 BC-AD 476. (Although there were many changes to their civilization within this time frame) They were the ‘we have a huge, well supplied and organized army to completely destroy your enemies and defend your borders like it’s the end of the world’ type guys.

Their military systems was incredibly complex and they actually invented many things for the purpose of war (bridges, fortified camps, siege machines, roads, systems for mining, walling and civil engineering by military troops (such as putting in aqueducts, draining land, cultivating vineyards, the digging of shipping canals, harbors and the construction of town walls) they even used a census system to organize the people into different classes and to decide on who to recruit and where to put them. The Roman’s were involved in so many wars that it just wasn’t funny. Their civilization was built closely around war and they had a lot of enemies.

A modern society that would fall into the same group as the Roman’s would probably be America. They have a very well organized and supplied military and they have also invented many things for the purpose of war. A large difference though is that America has many allies.

Switzerland

Switzerland is the place that you want to be if you’re the opposite of the Roman’s. They are a self-imposed neutral society and have been since its neutrality was officially established in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna. It is the second oldest neutral society. (the oldest being Sweden)

The major flaw that comes with being a neutral society is that there is nothing actually stopping somebody from attacking you. Who cares if you signed some treaty? Who cares if you say that you’re a neutral country? There is an example of this exact thing happening to Switzerland in the Second World War when German bombs were dropped within its borders even though they were a neutral country.

Some other examples of a neutral society would be Ireland (neutral country since its independence in 1922), Sweden (the oldest neutral country-since a short war with Norway in the Napoleonic wars in 1914), Moldova (since 1994) and the Netherlands. (now a member of NATO)

United Nations

This is one of the largest groups of allies to ever exist. Unlike past agreements between countries to be ‘allies’ of sorts, the UN is an official group which involves the government of every country and it would be pretty hard to stab a country in the back through the UN.

Economic factors:

For a society to be sustainable at the most basic level they need to have food, shelter and water. A lot of societies did not have access to some resource that they needed. (Such as certain types of food like wheat and rice and certain metals like gold and copper) To be able to trade countries had to find one thing that the other country would be willing to trade for. This would usually result in the creation of an economy. (If the country didn’t already have one) Another reason why a society needs an economy is that the workers need something to be working for otherwise they won’t feel very motivated to work.

Ancient Greece

At its economic height, in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, ancient Greece was the most advanced economy in the world. The Mediterranean Sea was by far the most important resource for the Greeks. Without it the Greeks would not have been able to trade with the other surrounding countries. They traded grapes, wine, olives, olive oil, and works of art for things like cotton, fruit, livestock, rice, pottery, and wheat.
An example of the Greeks economic standing is the average daily wage of the Greek worker. Their average wage in, terms of wheat, was about 12 kg. This was more than 3 times the average daily wage of an Egyptian worker during the Roman period, about 3.75 kg.

Modern Day Australia

Although our economy wasn’t always as well off as it is now it is showing huge ‘improvements.’ Australia’s economy is booming thanks to our success in the mining sector, low employment rates and overseas interest in our resources. Some people say that it’s Christmas come early, others disagree. The one thing that I’m pretty sure of is that our economy may seem like its booming but on the inside it isn’t very stable-at all.

The effect of culture upon sustainability

The flexibility of a society’s culture could have a very dramatic effect on the sustainability of their society. An example of an inflexible culture would the Easter Islanders and the deforestation of their island for the sake of their gods. Another one would be the Mayans who sacrificed their forests to build huge pyramid-like structures to honor their gods.

An example of a flexible culture would be the Byzantine Empire. They were once part of the Roman Empire but when the Empire started to crumble they split off and became the Byzantines. They slowly adapted to Greek culture (hellinization) and were able to survive a lot longer than the rest of the Roman Empire.

Conclusion

It is almost certainly impossible for a society to be utterly and totally sustainable because if they turned their back on even one little part of the framework it would come crashing down around their ears. Creating a sustainable society may seem like an easy thing to do when you look at a framework at its most basic level, but as soon as you get into the finer points of it, it gets a lot more complicated.

Though it isn’t all doom and gloom, of course many things have changed today, but perhaps there are some hints to help us create a sustainable future if instead we look to the past.

References:

Books:

Butler, 2001, Nations of the World: Sweden, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, United States
-----, 1999, Facts about Finland, Otava Book Printing Co, Keuruu
-----, 2004, The Book of Rule: How the World is Governed, Dorling Kindersely, China

Websites (prepare for the huge list)….or just look at my delicious:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Society
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/greecerome/Greecegovt1.html http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-government.html
http://www.riverschool.org/students/work/culture.e.gov.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Monarchy
http://bhc.britaus.net/About_the_UK/aboutukdefault.asp?id=71