Easter Island statues and a lesson in misrepresentation

The Times (Feb 23rd, 2012) has a report by correspondent Tom Whipple on the famous statues of Easter Island and the current excavations taking place there by a team under the guidance of Colin Richards. It seems he is critical of recent environmentalist whoppers that have blamed the islanders for the plight they find themselves in – rather than loot hungry westerners in sailing ships. The term the environmentalists that re-write history use is ecocide (Jared Diamond, Collapse, 2005). This is presented as an example of what humans are doing to our modern world – committing ecocide, just like the Easter Islanders. It is trotted out parrot fashion at environmental and governmental conferences all over the world and amazingly it makes politicians feel satisfied with themselves. It is an important meme of the gospel of CAGW – proof humans are modifying their own nests to their detriment. This semi-religious 'cant' is like a stone wall – resistant to criticism. Richards seeks to show the error of the environmentalist way and has been digging in the quarry to find out what really happened. Lots of statues, or moai, remain in the quarry, and along the road leading to the quarry. He thinks they were not abandoned – the consensus theory (oh no, not another consensus that was adopted with too little investigation of reality) and were meant to be at the quarry – because it was in some way sacred to the people. The moai along the road have in many cases been toppled but their platforms can still be seen and it all looks like a purposeful design. The frequency of moai increases as the road approaches the quarry which lends weight to the theory. In addition, Easter Island's rock strewn and deforested landscape is regarded as worthless as far as farming s concerned but recent research has shown the rocks were carefully laid out and the land was productive – before the advent of the sailing ships.