And then finally, the fifth item on my checklist is the political, economic, social and cultural factors in the society that make it more or less likely that the society will perceive and solve its environmental problems. In the case of the Greenland Norse, cultural factors that made it difficult for them to solve their problems were: their commitments to a Christian society investing heavily in cathedrals; their being a competitive-ranked chiefly society; and their scorn for the Inuit, from whom they refused to learn. So that's how the five-part framework is relevant to the collapse and eventual extinction of the Greenland Norse.
I napokon, peta točka na mojoj listi jesu politički, ekonomski, socijalni i kulturološki čimbenici društva koji mu u manjoj ili većoj mjeri omogućavaju da shvati i riješi probleme u okolišu. Kulturološki faktori koji su grenlandskim Nordijcima otežali rješavanje problema bili su njihova predanost kršćanskom društvu koje je mnogo ulagalo u izgradnju katedrala. To je društvo bilo poglavarsko, kompetitivno rangirano, puno prezira prema Inuitima od kojih su odbijali išta naučiti. Dakle, tako shema od pet točaka prikazuje kolaps i konačno izumiranje grenlandskih Nordijaca.