The recent hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, along with global warming amplify Jared Diamond's thesis in "The Last Americans" that humans are responsible for the downfall of civilizations. Throughout history, many civilizations have collapsed due to numerous reasons such as incompetent leaders and environmental negligence. Many people view the United States' current environmental crisis with apathy. These people feel that the environmental collapse of ancient societies such as the Mayans is only pertinent to the present …showed first 75 words of 545 total…

…showed last 75 words of 545 total…believes that a "society's demise may be only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth, and power." The United States is the world's greatest superpower with a great amount of wealth and power and is now being hit with a dramatic series of unfortunate events. Are these economic hardships and environmental forces signaling the collapse of one of the greatest civilizations of mankind? Are we, as Diamond suggests, The Last Americans?