"Ool" wrote ...
The Polynesians became a scourge on Easter Island, and elsewhere,
because they didn't control their populations. On Johnston(?) Island
they died out completely.

In the case of Easter Island I'd say they got to the edge because
their imagination went overboard and the cult they developed destroyed
them. If you fell all the trees on the island in order to move giant
slabs of rock your problem isn't overpopulation but collective insani-
ty.

But not an 'insanity' unique to them. There's many a fishing nation that will
happily continue overfishing now because they need the business _now_ and
5 years later is somebody else's problem.

The motive ('moving giant slaps of rock') is different - but the short-
sightedness is the same.