Recombinant Records

St Matthew Island

9th February 2011, Filed under Cartoons

St Matthew Island cartoon

What happens when you introduce 29 reindeer to an isolated island of untouched natural resources?

Above link is single 1.1 MB PNG file.

Other viewing options:
8 separate comic book pages (lightbox popup within browser window)
St Matthew Island. A remote outcrop of the Bering Sea 300km from mainland Alaska.September 1943: The U.S. Coast Guard establishes a LORAN (long-range radio navigation) system on St Matthew Island, staffed by 19 men stationed on the island.August 1944: the Coast Guard releases 29 reindeer onto the island as a backup food source in case of supply disruptions.With the end of World War II the station was decommissioned and the men left the island.The reindeer were left behind.The reindeer found themselves on an island rich in their favourite food, lichen.With abundant resources and no natural predators on the island, the reindeer bred prolifically.Summer 1957: Humans return to St Matthew Island, In just 13 years, the reindeer population had jumped from 29 to 1,350 individuals.The reindeer appear in excellent health, fat from their nutritious diet of lichen.Summer 1963: Researchers return to St Matthew Island to observe the reindeer population (shot of 2x helicopter over island)In six years, the reindeer population has soared from 1,350 individuals to 6,000.The population's huge appetite has eliminated the island's lichen, with the population now subsisting on sedge grass.With increased competition for food from the dense herd, the animals' body weight has dropped since the last visit.Summer 1966: Researchers return to St Matthew Island.They find the island littered with reindeer skeletons.From a population peak of 6,000, only 42 reindeer remain: 41 females and one infertile male.Within mere months of the last visit to the island, the population had crashed by more than 99% during a winter of extreme weather conditions. (large graph of population rise and fall)Without a way to reproduce, the population of reindeer died off completely by the 1980s.The island's untapped natural resources became the reindeer's source of prosperity, and also the seeds of their demise.The island was only so big, the resources only so many.Unable to escape the island, the reindeer had pushed the resources of their home to the limit.How big is our island? 8 x A4 page PDF file (5 MB)

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63 Comments on "St Matthew Island"

  1. Tweets that mention St Matthew Island « Recombinant Records -- Topsy.com on Wed, 9th Feb 2011 6:58 pm 

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stuart McMillen, hve_comics. hve_comics said: St Matthew Island: http://bit.ly/esFSSg [...]

  2. Mattia on Thu, 10th Feb 2011 3:31 am 

    Your works are very brilliant and inspiring. Thank you :)

  3. Kat on Thu, 10th Feb 2011 7:14 am 

    Another great piece, love your style!

  4. Pete on Thu, 10th Feb 2011 8:10 am 

    That was beautiful, so poetic and true. I love your work. I wish it was more often, but quality takes time! Keep up the good work!

  5. Olivia on Thu, 10th Feb 2011 9:19 am 

    What a beautiful piece! The history of the various islands in the Bering Sea is fascinating.

    The cover could use a nod to Hergé, no?

  6. AJ on Thu, 10th Feb 2011 3:23 pm 

    That was indeed an awesome parable. Unlike these dumb wild cows who bred like rabbits because they didn’t know any better, man is supposed to have a brain. He is supposed to be able to contemplate the consequences of his actions and to be able to take evasive action if things aren’t going well. With the way things are going, I’m really not sure if we might not be just another herd of dumb wild cows.

  7. ¿Cómo de grande es tu isla? on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 12:56 am 

    [...] ¿Cómo de grande es tu isla? http://www.recombinantrecords.net/2011/02/09/st-matthew-island/  por kurioso hace 6 segundos [...]

  8. Com de gran es la teua illa? // la tafanera on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 1:13 am 

    [...] Com de gran es la teua illa?  http://www.recombinantrecords.net/2011/02/09/st-matthew-island/  per tsumy fa 17 segons [...]

  9. Burton on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 3:37 am 

    Were you inspired by the cover from this TinTin comic?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/14/TintinBlackIsland.jpg/250px-TintinBlackIsland.jpg

  10. patrick on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 5:38 am 

    In Collapse by Jared Diamond, exhaustion of natural resources is one of the ways societies fail. Spot on parable.

  11. Dusan Vlahovic on Fri, 11th Feb 2011 12:53 pm 

    Great work. Love your bold style and the subject you choose was very interesting. Congrats for a terrific comic.

  12. John Platt on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 4:44 am 

    Wow. Excellent, excellent work. A story that deserved telling.

  13. Alessandro on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 5:46 am 

    [...] St Matthew Island: a story about reindeer and sustainability http://www.google.com/buzz/alessandro.macilenti/UZTsvPm6BtC/St-Matthew-Island-a-story-about-reindeer-and [...]

  14. TheProphetNabob on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 8:43 am 

    Dayum.
    Those stupid beasts acted like yeasts! I’m glad we’re not a dumb mammal living on a rock.

  15. Cómo de grande es tu Isla? on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 8:55 am 

    [...] Photo] Tweet Ver aleatorio – [...]

  16. lowclife.org on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 4:57 pm 

    great work, man!!!

  17. ??????????? « ???? on Sat, 12th Feb 2011 5:34 pm 

    [...] ?????? Stuart McMillen? [...]

  18. Sebastián on Sun, 13th Feb 2011 12:46 am 

    It was an incredible idea!
    What a shock to realize how much we are doing ( In a bad way) in our island.
    Thnks for drawing!

  19. Adorable reindeer die to teach you a lesson about sustainability [comic] — My Blog on Sun, 13th Feb 2011 1:24 pm 

    [...] McMillen’s comic “St. Matthew Island” is a parable about population control, resource scarcity, sustainability, and biodiversity, [...]

  20. Tweets that mention St Matthew Island « Recombinant Records -- Topsy.com on Sun, 13th Feb 2011 5:42 pm 

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Su Yin Khoo, d_bobolee_chronicles. d_bobolee_chronicles said: How big is your island? "St Matthew Island: http://bit.ly/f6Ucxk " [...]

  21. links for 2011-02-14 | The 'K' is not silent on Tue, 15th Feb 2011 4:03 pm 

    [...] St Matthew Island (tags: cartoon environment history population) [...]

  22. Felinux on Wed, 16th Feb 2011 8:31 am 

    Very good parable!!

  23. Nuno Oliveira on Wed, 16th Feb 2011 8:35 am 

    One of the most eloquent arguments for sustainability that I’ve ever seen.

  24. Tim Tufuga on Wed, 16th Feb 2011 11:31 am 

    Yeah, gidday Stuart,

    It was a pleasure meeting you last night at Avid Readers and in the bus.

    Thank you for allowing me to view your world.

    An illustrative political narratives may best describe your genre.

    I like the website, very professionally presented.

    as you can see I have subscribed and so I will undoiuntedly be keeping tabs by peering into the window of your mind!

    Cheers mate

    Tim

  25. Diet Fads on Wed, 16th Feb 2011 9:01 pm 

    Great story. Amazingly, the infertile male was able to live longer than their mates. Something to think about..

  26. Tatyana Dmitrieva on Fri, 18th Feb 2011 12:21 am 

    Wow, good work)) thank you!

  27. Dave Couch on Sat, 19th Feb 2011 2:53 am 

    Interesting and informative presentation and excellent for the upcoming generation to see and fathom the consequences of!

  28. The 2011 EdWeek Sessions | Webinar on Thu, 24th Feb 2011 5:54 am 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  29. The 2011 DuPage Valley Sessions | Keynote on Thu, 24th Feb 2011 5:56 am 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  30. Schrmin on Thu, 24th Feb 2011 9:48 am 

    A reindeer version of Easter Island (read “Easter’s End” by Jared Diamond).

  31. NED on Sun, 27th Feb 2011 5:11 am 

    Again, superficial and sketchy scientific analysis combined with weak-minded and emotional readers to push a political message.

    http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/what-wiped-out-st-matthew-islands-reindeer

    Direct feedback from Dr. Klein, the scientist who initially recorded the reindeer populations.

    First of all, Dr. Klein believes the reindeer holocaust between his second and third visit happened directly as a consequence of an “extreme weather event” of 63-64. It has nothing to do with lichen but the fact that the reindeer were trapped on an island during the coldest winter in recorded history in the northern Bering Sea.

    During the winter, the animals typically dig through snow in winter to get at plantlife to feed but the snowpacks were too high that winter for the reindeer to access any vegetation through the 140 inches of snow that fell that season. Minus 40 degrees weather for a week straight in February froze hundreds of reindeer solid.

    Most importantly, Dr. Klein estimates NO pregnant reindeer survived according to bones of fetal reindeer inside their mothers bodies.

    Good cartoons but seriously, get over yourselves. As THINKING homo sapiens you should actually INFORM yourselves instead of moralizing and emotionally drawing out the conclusion that suits YOUR purposes without regard for the facts.

    You are sheep, easily guided into any political conclusion because you yourselves lack conviction and a critical and dispassionate approach to judge for yourselves.

    This isn’t a story about overpopulation or sustainability. It has to do with the dangers that isolated populations face (which is an important evolutionary consideration… questions of fitness versus luck etc). Since the sustainability thing is out McMillian will likely next frame this as a question of the doom of man at the hands of the harsh winters of global warming.

  32. Nuno Oliveira on Sun, 27th Feb 2011 5:17 am 

    @NED

    So what you’re saying is that the physical resources we depend on are infinite?

    I don’t think this is a political issue but one of simple pragmatism, or do political views feed your family or heat your house?

  33. Linuxette.org » St Matthew, 1944-1966 on Sun, 27th Feb 2011 9:03 am 

    [...] [...]

  34. Birce Hendriks on Tue, 1st Mar 2011 8:39 am 

    Hope everybody reads this very slowly so they keep it in they’re heart. And maybe help planet Jurth

  35. Keynote | The 2011 California Charter Conference Sessions on Fri, 4th Mar 2011 4:04 am 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  36. Comic picks of the day: « Ninjabortion on Wed, 9th Mar 2011 3:27 pm 

    [...] http://www.recombinantrecords.net/2011/02/09/st-matthew-island/ [...]

  37. The 2011 CA Charter Sessions | Keynote on Thu, 10th Mar 2011 5:17 am 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  38. Joaquin on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 8:26 am 

    equating humans who have a mind and can produce more and more food (see green revolution) with reindeer is silly at best and grotesque at worst. This seems like the latest incarnation of the “Club of Rome”….

  39. Nuno Oliveira on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 8:33 am 

    We can produce more and more food because we are more and more dependent on resources from the extractive industries, like phosphorus and oil, that need to be cheap so that the industrial agriculture can be cost effective, otherwise it is cheaper to grow potatoes in your yard.

    Extractive= Non Renewable

    Phosphorus is estimated to last 30 more years, oil production has already peaked vs rate of demand.

    But I understand your reaction, I also felt cheated and angry when I realized our “lichen” wans’t that cornucopian.

  40. Crabmonkey on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 8:42 am 

    When’s the last time reindeer invented, discovered, improved, or even planted a single damn thing on this planet? It’s weird – it sounds like it can’t be true – it’s counterintuitive – it doesn’t jive with religious/pious/green mumbo jumbo – it sounds like weird sci-fi – but, humans are net producers. They cure sh*t with their minds, and *invent* resources. Reindeer don’t. Maybe someday, but not yet.

  41. Nuno Oliveira on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 8:49 am 

    @crabmonkey

    So you’re saying humans do not live in a physical world and depend on no resources, with the undeniable brilliance of their minds forever keeping them in permanent abundance?

    As a sci-fi fan I’m intrigued, please go on.

  42. Crabmonkey on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 9:09 am 

    @Nuno
    Of course we live in a material world. But the human mind is the instrument that *converts* whatever materials are at hand into resources. Discounting (or even worse ignoring) the state of the human mind and arts would lead to the view that cavemen had more resources and were wealthier than we are because they were standing on top of so many untouched oil fields, for example. Or gold mines. Or trees to make homes out of. But they weren’t wealthier – they had fewer resources – because they had not discovered or invented them. Luckily, cavemen had inventive and perceptive minds (unlike reindeer), and slowly made those discoveries and *invented* resources. As a science-fiction fan, you might appreciate the idea that we are still cavemen standing on huge fields of resources we have yet to even realize are there, and the only limit to their extent is in our heads, not under our feet.

  43. Ray woods on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 11:42 am 

    Beautifully told story. I suggest a visit to Rapa Nui, before it’s too late.

  44. Jon on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 12:47 pm 

    Was the NED blogging above Ned Rozell, the writer of the article cited? Because, quoting Ned Rozell’s article:

    “We counted 6,000 of them,” Klein said in a 2003 interview. “They were really hammering the lichens.”

    “The scene, with its 47 reindeer per square mile, foreshadowed a crash ahead.”

    A more human example is Easter Island, a short history of which can be found in “Easter’s End,” by Jared Diamond. Nothing wrong with paying attention to cautionary tales, and we should absolutely keep in mind that our own resources are not unlimited.

  45. St. Matthew’s Island » rhinocrisy.org on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 2:44 pm 

    [...] reposting a link to this excellent comic from BoingBoing, so that it can get a wider [...]

  46. web-crap » Post Topic » Red Nosed Apocalypse on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 9:21 pm 

    [...] Interessanter Comic über eine Insel auf der Rentiere ausgesetzt wurden, die sich vorerst prächtig vermehrten … [...]

  47. St Matthew Island by @stuart_mcmillen » xuv's posterpress on Fri, 11th Mar 2011 11:43 pm 

    [...] St Matthew Island via Boingboing.net. [...]

  48. vegan tom on Sat, 12th Mar 2011 3:09 am 

    Important parable this! Keep up the fight for a better world, never give up.

  49. The 2011 CA Charter Sessions | Breakout on Sat, 12th Mar 2011 6:04 am 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  50. John Griogair Bell’s Blog » links for 2011-03-11 on Sat, 12th Mar 2011 8:01 am 

    [...] St Matthew Island « Recombinant Records "What happens when you introduce 29 reindeer to an isolated island of untouched natural resources?" (tags: environment sustainability webcomic) Share and Enjoy: [...]

  51. Kan vi lära oss något av historien om ett gäng renar på en öde ö? | THE GREEN WEEKLY on Tue, 15th Mar 2011 5:46 am 

    [...] St MATTHEWS ISLAND by Stuart McMillen [...]

  52. The 2011 Calgary Sessions | Interesting into Challenging on Sun, 20th Mar 2011 10:23 am 

    [...] linkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  53. La isla de St Matthew, ¿nuestra historia? | IdentidadGeek on Wed, 23rd Mar 2011 4:39 am 

    [...] invito además a que se den una vuelta por el sitio de Recombination Records, hay varias cosas que vale la pena [...]

  54. Aire Acondicionado (en Español) « Skitergia on Mon, 28th Mar 2011 7:53 pm 

    [...] el joven dibujante australiano que descubrí gracias a @irreductible y su post sobre “St. Matthew Island” que ya os dejé por aqui traducida hace unos [...]

  55. Das Ende der Evolution ist nicht schlimm – 7 Thesen on Thu, 28th Apr 2011 12:25 am 

    [...] genug. Es gibt kein Endziel am Horizont und selbst der Fortbestand des Lebens ist Zufall (z.B. St. Mathews Island). Die Evolution hat insbesondere nichts übrig für Moral, Intelligenz oder andere menschliche [...]

  56. The 2011 MathScience Sessions | Keynote on Fri, 24th Jun 2011 3:10 pm 

    [...] LinkSt. Matthew Island [...]

  57. Fred Magyar on Mon, 25th Jul 2011 9:49 pm 

    To Ned, Joaquin, Crabmonkey and all others who ‘BELIEVE’ that humans are special and have an exemption from the the basic laws of thermodynamics, guess what you are FRACTALLY WRONG!!

    Maybe these two links will help you better understand our place in the grander scheme of things…

    Ernest Cline Dance Monkeys, Dance !
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRt20KFaOM

    Galactic-scale energy: Part 1
    http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8155

  58. Sobre la población mundial y la tragedia de los comunes « on Mon, 22nd Aug 2011 5:09 am 

    [...] St. Matthew. La historia contada con dibujos (altamente recomendada su lectura) está disponible en http://www.recombinantrecords.net/2011/02/09/st-matthew-island/ y un estudio detallado del caso en http://dieoff.org/page80.htm). Para no extendernos y que nos [...]

  59. freeman on Sat, 10th Sep 2011 3:15 pm 

    NED, fyi human population keep on growing every seconds. Resources dont. Yes, the quantity of resources we DISCOVERED may be increased by day but the total resources here on earth keep on decreasing and we human being cant stop this. The only option we have is to control human resource distribution and human population to make this process move slower. The end still will come and nothing can stop it.

  60. Antranik on Mon, 12th Sep 2011 6:30 am 

    I wonder why that one male that was left was infertile. I wonder if it has to do with inbreeding. If 6000 reindeer were created from 29… there should be a good amount of inbreeding, yes?

  61. Floss The Teeth You Want To Keep: How To Do A TEDx Talk on Fri, 14th Oct 2011 1:17 pm 

    [...] he do static images instead. Stuart’s a brilliant artist in his own right. His comics St Matthew Island, Challenged and Amusing Ourselves To Death have had over 5 million views. I was thrilled he [...]

  62. Historia de los 29 renos | Predicciones 2012 on Fri, 6th Jan 2012 2:02 pm 

    [...] o ya sabemos lo que nos espera.Pueden encontrar la historia de los 29 renos en formato cómic acá , algo de información en Wikipedia y en un documento de la Universidad de Alaska. Si te ha [...]

  63. How Big is Your Island? Why we must Stop Big Oil Now | Occupy Vancouver Voice on Wed, 22nd Feb 2012 8:37 am 

    [...] a recent on-line comic, Stewart McMillan relates the story of remote St. Matthew Island, where the U.S. Coast Guard abandoned a handful of reindeer in the 1940s. The reindeer reproduced [...]





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