J. R. McNeil’s argument is the most convincing because he has questioned what success is and what failure is. He potentially brings the argument that the society survived the centuries and the society lasted for 450 years can both be counted as success and failure respectively. He writes that the today’s environmental problems are different than of the Easter Island. J.R. McNeill states that “With the emergence of agriculture, which happened several times in several places but for the first time probably around 11,000 years ago, sustainability became a potential problem.