[marktwain]

Easter Island was a disaster which had already happened by the time the Europeans showed up. Rats, introduced by early Polyneasian colonists, deforested the Island.

The Europeans rescued the Easter Islanders from an environmental disaster caused by Polynesian rats.

The Easter Islanders were stranded because the rats (with some help by humans) deforested the island, so they were no longer able to build canoes and go to sea.

[nicollo]

Thanks for posting link to that article. Excellent research and, amazingly, self-honesty rarely seen in today's academics when confronted by evidence that contradicts the bias:

I believe that the world faces today an unprecedented global environmental crisis, and I see the usefulness of historical examples of the pitfalls of environmental destruction. So it was with some unease that I concluded that Rapa Nui does not provide such a model. But as a scientist I cannot ignore the problems with the accepted narrative of the island's prehistory. Mistakes or exaggerations in arguments for protecting the environment only lead to oversimplified answers and hurt the cause of environmentalism. We will end up wondering why our simple answers were not enough to make a difference in confronting today's problems.

The guy could have just fooled around with the numbers and posted a picture of a hockey stick instead.