h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We have alot to learn from Nauru in many ways. As an example of exploitation having a drastic effect on the local population it would be hard to find a better parable. Nauru was simply a dot on the map inhabited by typical "nesians" of the South Seas (Micro or Poly or other nesian type I'm not sure)and birds needing somewhere to land (and crap) amongst the vastness of the Pacific. A dot that is until industrial nations discovered the huge mound of guano which centuries of bird-relief had built and struck a deal with the islanders to extract these minerals. This created enormous wealth for the islanders, making the Nauruans the richest nation per head of population on Earth for a brief period. Unfortunately there is little to do on Nauru except eat and so, having lived on "boom and bust " starvation rations for generations the Nauruans spent their windfall on food and cars, a bad combination unless obesity is your aim. It was certainly the result, making the Nauruans the most obese nation on earth. Even more unfortunately, obesity and the Nauruans genetic make up is yet another bad mix and Nauru now has the highest rate of Non-Insulin Dependant Diabetes on earth. This is possibly due to the presence of a so-called "thrifty-gene" which evolved over centuries or millennia of feast followed by starvation, forcing their biology to develop an efficient storage mechanism for chemical energy ie fat production and metabolism of glucose. Anyway, the end result is a crisis of health. Coupled with environmemtal disaster and a collapsing economy, Nauru has done rather badly out of the deal. S**t from s**t, one may say.