Dan Harlow

Let’s say all of a sudden there were no humans left on the planet. What would the world be like? Would the Earth even miss us?

Author Alan Weisman decided to really think about a world with no humans and he wrote a fascinating book about the subject. Titled The World Without Us, the book is basically a grand thought experiment on a global scale and it reveals a wealth of interesting ideas about what could happen if we all died off tomorrow.

From Chapter 9

Newspapers, again belying a common assumption, don’t biodegrade when buried away from air and water. “That’s why we have 3,000-year-old papyrus scrolls from Egypt. We pull perfectly readable newspapers out of landfills from the 1930s. They’ll be down there for 10,000 years.”

In most way The World Without Us is a warning to each of us as to how tenuous a hold we have over the environment. We may think we are masters of our castle but in reality we are slave and prisoner to the whims of a planet that can get by just fine without us. However the book is not a total downer, in fact it’s meant to be educational and in a world that seems to be recognizing productiveness in the face of climate change and other global issues, Mr. Weisman’s book is quite possible the handbook all good citizens of Earth should carry to remind us why we care in the first place.

Below are paintings done by artist Kenn Brown which illustrates what would happen to Manhattan between 2 days and the next ice age if all civilization was to disappear right this moment.

Without humans to man the pumping equipment, subways would begin to flood after only 2 days.

After 2-4 years pipes would burs, buildings would moan and creek as their inner structures expanded and contracted and cockroaches which can’t survive in colder climates would die off.

Gas mains would explode after 5 years and fires would destroy most of the city.

After 300 years bridges would begin to fall, dams would fail or overflow and cities built in low laying areas along the coast would simply washout to sea.

500 years on forests would grow if the climate was right and much of the landscape would look like it did before development. Of course underneath the new landscape would be a foundation of old dishwashers, stainless steel cookware and a myriad of other forms of trash.

In 15,000 years the next ice age would be starting (that is if global warming has not already done permanent harm to the planet) and Manhattan would be eaten away by glaciers.

After 10 million years bronze sculptures would still be recognizable and CO2 levels would be back down to pre-human levels.

So what will happen to the Earth if we do decide to stick around, settle our differences of religion and culture, clean up the environment and learn to live in peace? The following animation will answer that question.

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