King Of Infinite Space

In a nutshell, from 1491 (which I've been reading slowly for a while):

Drought indeed stressed [the Maya system], but the societal disintegration...was due not to surpassing inherent ecological limits but the political failure to find solutions.  In our day the Soviet Union disintegrated after drought caused a series of bad harvests in the 1970s and 1980s, but nobody argues that climate ended Communist rule.  Similarly, one should gran the Maya the dignity of assigning them responsibility for their failures as well as their successes.

Perhaps we should modify our behavior if we want our complex society to continue.  Or we could be fatalistic, throw up our hands and just say, "hey, lots of species and civilizations have died out before!"

ntodd