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The World Without Us

Alan Weisman

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Sep 30, 2018 Jeff Koeppen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, 2018-read, non-fiction, nature

I've had The World Without Us on my TBR list ever since I saw the pilot to the History Channel's Life After People TV series. I wish I would've read it earlier as I found it to be a fascinating and in-depth thought experiment albeit disheartening, with an undercurrent of gloom and doom, but with a sliver of hopefulness peaking through the clouds. This is a book I wish everyone would read as it addresses what is happening to this life-sustaining spaceship we are traveling through our solar system I've had The World Without Us on my TBR list ever since I saw the pilot to the History Channel's Life After People TV series. I wish I would've read it earlier as I found it to be a fascinating and in-depth thought experiment albeit disheartening, with an undercurrent of gloom and doom, but with a sliver of hopefulness peaking through the clouds. This is a book I wish everyone would read as it addresses what is happening to this life-sustaining spaceship we are traveling through our solar system on.

The premise of the book is this: what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared? I was expecting a book about what would happen to human-made structures such as dams, skyscrapers, dams, our houses, bridges, etc. But the scope of the book is much broader than this. The author addresses the fate of aforementioned things as well as a good number of others that would be (mostly favorably) affected by the lack of homo sapiens such as wild animals around the world, the seas, the atmosphere, and the overall climate. In most of his examples he describes what nature / places were like prior to homo sapiens, how our changes are affecting them now, and what would happen if we went away. Surprise: prior to homo sapiens (and pre-humans) many now-extinct plants and animals, especially megafauna, flourished. Rule of thumb: where humans go, mass extinction follows. If humans went away the plants and animals which survived us would come back with a vengeance - nature will reclaim its planet.

A fascinating example of what an area was like before and after humans is Manhattan, which was part marshy bog, part hilly, and full of brooks and streams before it was leveled, filled in, and developed in to what it is today. After humans, the pumps which keep the underbelly of the city dry will eventually fail and the lower infrastructure will flood and gradually corrode and erode, and over time destabilize the large buildings' bases. While pavement cracks and the forest moves back in to reclaim its territory, the storm winds will eventually topple the weakened skyscrapers. It will revert to back to a woody, wildlife-filled space within a concrete jungle. Also particularly interesting is what would befall nuclear plants (big problems if they aren't shut down), petrochemical plants (same story), and all the unused CFCs contained it air conditioners, refrigerators, and vehicles which will gradually leak in the the atmosphere.

You might think that the earth would return to an unspoiled paradise but unfortunately Homo sapiens have done so much damage to the planet that this is impossible. For some things, like plastics and nuclear power, it is too late to turn back. The section in the book about plastics is depressing. Plastic waste is now found everywhere. The oceans are full of it, and it isn't just floating on the surface. Tiny plastic micro-beads are found in the bellies of fish and turtles, and stuck in jellyfish. This insane proliferation of plastic waste has taken place in less than fifty years, and plastic production has escalated. Even if humans disappeared today, plastics will be a planetary issue for hundreds and hundreds of years. Nuclear waste will be an issue for thousands of years.

In the acknowledgements one gets the sense of the amount of research and travel the author did for this book. He traveled to all continents except Antarctica and Australia, visiting pristine forests, African jungles, the arctic tundra, petrochemical plants, major cities, etc. He even got special clearance from the North and South Koreans to visit the DMZ, which is a 5 km wide path along the border which humans have abandoned and nature reclaimed since the war ended. Additionally, he lists an impressive number of experts consulted for this book. The book also contains a lengthy bibliography and extensive index.

I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone interested in earth science or the hypothetical fate of the planet if humans were wiped out. With our without us, the earth will only survive another five billion or so years as it will be swallowed up by our sun when it becomes a red giant. After that, all that will be left of humanity will be our radio and TV transmissions and any spacecraft which escaped the sun's gravity. Until then, we need to get our act together and start treating our oasis in space much better. ...more

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Jul 12, 2017 Gofita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, current-events, environment, 2017-read

Fascinating and yet horrifying thought experiment about our world without humans. The author lays out all the damage and how that damage could be repaired if we suddenly disappeared. It's a sobering read but a beautiful one. Nature finds a way. That could be in our extinction or we could choose to work with nature for the betterment of all. I'm not optimistic at this point in time. ...more

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