ABSTRACT
Environmental problems have long been a favorite, almost determinate, cause of societal collapse. Environmental challenges can be divided into two major natural types: climate change destabilizing a society's adaptation and productivity, or the anthropogenic damage caused by a large population's excessive demands on the environment's productive capacity. The environments of the Roman Empire and the Classic Maya are completely different, especially in climate. In both cases of the Roman Empire and the Classic Maya, various factors worked together to end their Great Traditions. One interesting similarity is that perhaps the greatest anthropogenic damage to their environments had occurred earlier in their histories, as agriculture deforested the land and caused the descendants to intensify their production to adapt to a changed environment. Another similarity is that, detrimentally, soil conservation measures, such as terracing, were not maintained by the Romans and not used in enough areas for the Classic Maya.
