"The United States has long thought of itself as the land of infinite plenty, and historically we did have abundant resources. But now we are gradually exhausting our fisheries, our topsoil, our water. On top of that, we're coming to the end of world resources"
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America’s favorite fairy tale is abundance: a continent-sized pantry that restocks itself, no questions asked. Diamond punctures that myth with the calm tone of someone reading an inventory sheet, which is exactly why it lands. He starts by granting the national self-image ("land of infinite plenty") so the turn feels less like scolding and more like an overdue audit. The phrase "long thought of itself" does quiet work: it frames plenty as a belief system, not a fact, and implies that policy has been built on psychology as much as geology.
His list is deliberately unglamorous - fisheries, topsoil, water - the boring substrates of modern life. That’s the subtextual trick. Americans can argue endlessly about oil, GDP, or innovation; it’s harder to spin the slow collapse of soil fertility without sounding absurd. By naming resources that fail gradually, Diamond signals a different kind of crisis: not a single catastrophe but a series of invisible drawdowns, each one easy to ignore until it isn’t.
Then he zooms out: "the end of world resources". The move is rhetorical escalation with a purpose. It denies the usual escape hatch - imports, substitution, frontier optimism - and recasts American consumption as part of a global ledger. Context matters: Diamond’s work is obsessed with societal self-sabotage, how prosperous cultures normalize unsustainable habits until the baseline shifts. The intent isn’t to predict apocalypse on a deadline; it’s to expose the national romance with limitlessness as a dangerous political comfort.
His list is deliberately unglamorous - fisheries, topsoil, water - the boring substrates of modern life. That’s the subtextual trick. Americans can argue endlessly about oil, GDP, or innovation; it’s harder to spin the slow collapse of soil fertility without sounding absurd. By naming resources that fail gradually, Diamond signals a different kind of crisis: not a single catastrophe but a series of invisible drawdowns, each one easy to ignore until it isn’t.
Then he zooms out: "the end of world resources". The move is rhetorical escalation with a purpose. It denies the usual escape hatch - imports, substitution, frontier optimism - and recasts American consumption as part of a global ledger. Context matters: Diamond’s work is obsessed with societal self-sabotage, how prosperous cultures normalize unsustainable habits until the baseline shifts. The intent isn’t to predict apocalypse on a deadline; it’s to expose the national romance with limitlessness as a dangerous political comfort.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nature |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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