Taking examples from his researchon the extinction of pastcivilizations, award-winning authorJared Diamond painted asomber picture for the audienceon the first of three nights of CelebrityForum series on Feb. 22.

Diamond, a professor of geologyfrom the University of California,Los Angeles, was the sixthof seven speakers invited to theFlint Center of Performing Artsfor the monthly series.

Citing his most recent book”Collapse: How Societies Chooseto Fail or Succeed,” Diamondexplained how the deforestationof Easter Island lead to the extinctionof Polynesian tribes thatsettled there.

Diamond also only touched oncultures including the Anasazi Indiansand Norwegian Vikings.

Whimsically reciting responsesfrom his students to the question”What was said as the lasttree was cut down,” Diamond paralleledcurrent responses to environmentalissues. “I’m sure thereis another tree over that hill,” hesaid. “It’s my tree. I should befree to do what I want with it.”As for globalization’s effecton the increased consumption ofnatural resources, Diamond laidout a bleak view of the future ofmodern civilization.

“Globalization threatens aglobal collapse,” said Diamond,citing increasing population andmodernization of former thirdworld regions including rapidlydwindling oil reserves and an increasein global warming.

But Diamond said the expansionof worldwide and instantinformation may be useful in respondingto modern environmentalchallenges.

“We’re the first society inhistory to learn from the globalpast,” said Diamond.Diamond is the author of sixbooks, including the Pulitzerprize-winning “Guns, Germs, andSteel,” which examined the effectof modernization of early-moderncivilizations on simpler cultures.The Celebrity Forum series isa monthly speaker series sponsoredby the Foothill-De AnzaCollege district.

Since its creation in 1968, theseries brings noted individuals inthe fields of science, politics andacademia to speak at the FlintCenter.

Wesley Clark is slated to appearon April 4-7, 2007.For more information visitthe Celebrity Forum Web site athttp://www.celebrityforum.net.