Posted on 06/20/2007 7:48:19 PM PDT by gridlock
A new way to examine humanity's impact on the environment is to consider how the world would fare if all the people disappeared
Editors’ Introduction
It’s a common fantasy to imagine that you’re the last person left alive on earth. But what if all human beings were suddenly whisked off the planet? That premise is the starting point for The World without Us, a new book by science writer Alan Weisman, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Arizona. In this extended thought experiment, Weisman does not specify exactly what finishes off Homo sapiens; instead he simply assumes the abrupt disappearance of our species and projects the sequence of events that would most likely occur in the years, decades and centuries afterward.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciam.com ...
What happens to the Earth with no people is simply irrelevant. I care as much about surface conditions on the planet Mars. In fact, I care more about the current surface conditions on Mars, because they point to a Solar source for Global Warming. Which means that all the consensus-loving scientists must ignore these conditions.
The purpose of Earth is to support humans. If it is not serving that purpose, it might as well not exist. Any serious consideration otherwise is just fetishistic Earth worship. The Earth is not a god. If it is not supporting humans, I do not care whether it lives or dies.
By saying ‘without people’ you could also say without animal life at all...which would mean without plant life...so you’d probably get what Mars is today.
Really? People have fantasys where all the people they love are dead? Absurd.
Well in 1,000,000 years monkey would evolve to become human again.
Otherwise it will be really really quiet.
So let me get this straight:
“SCIENTIFIC American” (ha!) is now stooping to publish articles about bullcorn “thought experiments” by a professor of biology NO! WAIT! A PROFESSOR OF $%^&*# JOURNALISM!
Heaven help us.
Ridding the planet of human life is definately a liberal fantasy.
This is the next stage of environmentalism. It has gone from the assumption that humans are damaging the Earth to the conclusion that humans are evil. After one reaches that point, one begins to fantasize about how much better it would be if all the humans were gone.
It’s sick stuff, but you would be surprised at how many people think that way.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
To me it’s an interesting but unimportant question. Mental masturbation.
The answer is simple. Little would change in the grand scheme of things. The climate would continue to fluctuate as it’s always done. New species would arise and old species would go extinct. Volcanoes would erupt and the earth would quake.
The belief that we have some enormous effect on the planet is pretty arrogant. I look at the fact that there have been something in the range of 2500 above ground nuclear detonations since the beginning of the atomic age but radiation in the atmosphere has risen by a barely measurable amount.
this is pretty cool actually
TIMELINE: The Fall of New York City
http://sciam.com/media/interactive/2691D716-E7F2-99DF-38F54EF6075AAB4D-timeline
show how long it would take for NYC to turn back to dust
Well, finally, there’d be a place to park near the stadium.
My fantasy is more like I’m the last sexually potent MAN on earth and the government requires my ummm... services for breeding purposes.
Is he really saying that climate would change without humans here? Can't be. This is heresy.
Not an article, just a book review, a paragraph or two.
There is a great fiction book called “The Earth Abides” which is about a large loss of humanity and how a small group bands together.
This author seems to be excited over the fact that man would disappear. Freaking radical environmentalist.
It’s time to lay off more mainstream media journalists.
These people have far too much time on their hands — since those with seniority in the unions no longer have to do anything, and the unsupervised interns can’t ell what is an authentic story.
I respond, not to chastise.
There is only one path to heaven.
His name is Jesus, the Son of God.
That’s what I thought.
If we’re GONE, we won’t really care.
It’s a common fantasy to imagine that you’re the last person left alive on earth.It's not a fantasy of MINE...! Sounds pretty boring and lonely to me. (It's also the plot of Pixar's upcoming movie "Wall-E")
This is what you get:
I saw an article titled, “Should Hillary have run in 2004?”
What if Jimmy Carter wasn’t president?
What if the Wright Brothers hadn’t been born?
If we had to do it over again, should we have invaded Iraq? Iwo Jima? Normandy?
What if the New York Times doesn’t really exist?
What if all the water dried up?
There’s no end to liberal studies.
Yeah, you would be busy with Rosie and Helen Thomas, etc.
Is a waste.
We are put here on earth to use the resources, albeit wisely, not the other way around. If earth no longer can sustain intelligent life, then I guess no one will know and therefore care. Geez, do these idiots think the earth will rise up and rejoice if the evil humans are gone? What quackery.
What if there wasn’t any oxygen?
We’d have to tear out Al Gore’s lungs to get those last drops before there wasn’t anymore.
Would this kinda-sorta fall into the catastrophism category?
These are the kinds of problems/battles that the liberals (Democrats) have to invent so that they can fight fearlessly and win — instead of having to take on real world problems in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
Since the problems are entirely imaginary, the sky is the limit for funding these critical struggles for the fate of mankind — and everyone of them can pontificate expertly.
What if Jimmy Carter wasn’t president?
What if the Wright Brothers hadn’t been born?
If we had to do it over again, should we have invaded Iraq? Iwo Jima? Normandy?
What if the New York Times doesn’t really exist?
What if all the water dried up?
There’s no end to liberal studies.
What if my Aunt had been born with Testicles? She’d have been my uncle!
Makes me think of the old movie, “This Quiet Earth”. :’) Thanks! I’m thinkin’ this is more of a political piece, although I didn’t read it. Sounds like some political axe grinding. :’)
Great book -- I haven't read it in years. Thanks for reminding me of the title.
Just an hour ago on TNT/BBC I was watching a documentary on a cave somewhere in Australia. They were in search of a set of bones from a long extinct predator marsupial cat. It was fascinating. Right at the end of the program they suggested that the introduction of the first aborigine 50 thousand years ago might have been the reason for their extinction. (never mind the ice age) I had to get up and leave the room. It wrecked the whole documentary for me. Humans have ruined everything they have touched!
I think there should be a bounty on these “humans” they are the bane of the planet. Why have these life forms been allowed to exist for so long? If not for them there would be giant tigers with pouches that walk like bears with a kangaroo tail and slashing/grasping thumbs and paws for all other prey-like animals to enjoy! ………….Darn it!
“Without street cleaners and road crews, our grand boulevards and superhighways would start to crack and buckle in a matter of months.”
Kinda like it is now...
“Sometimes you’ll hear the soldiers screaming at one another through loudspeakers or flashing their propaganda back and forth, and in the middle of all this tension you’ll see the flocks of cranes that winter there.”
The guy’s full of it, from a political perspective.
It's a liberal's wet dream. Only a liberal complains about "too many people" and works to reduce population by any means necessary. Abortion, mass starvation, genocide. All courtesy of the Left throughout history. Interesting how this pathetic author points to a hellhole like Africa as some kind of utopia where "animal and nature and man live together". If he were forced to live in Africa he'd be begging to come back to the US in about a week.
Long live the Planet of the Apes!
Enslave all humans!
“Four feet good, two feet bad!”
As a treatise on the unheralded maintenance it takes to keep civilization afloat, there are some items of interest. The author, though, is not from the hard sciences, so he’s vulnerable to inconsistencies like this one...
“So eventually buildings would start to topple and fall. And we’re bound to have some more hurricanes hitting the East Coast as climate change gives us more extreme weather.”
Unless he’s positing that humans have no effect on global warming, which you know he isn’t, he’s overlooked the fact that with humans gone, his climate change should ameliorate. It seems he’s also unaware that NOAA shows a steady decline in frequency and strength of hurricanes striking the US mainland over the last hundred years.
We can all ... IMAGINE
http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com/2004/03/imagine-updated.html
IMAGINE UPDATED, with no apologies to John Lennon, misguided idealist
Imagine there’s No Castro,
Just like there’s no more Saddam,
Imagine all Dictatorships,
Thrown in history’s trash can,
Imagine all the people,
Living Their Lives In Freedom,
Imagine there’s no Commies,
It’s easy if you can,
No Socialized Economies,
From England to Japan,
Imagine all the people,
Living Their Lives In Freedom,
You-hoo You may say I’m a Freeper,
but you know it isnt just me,
I Hope Some Day You’ll Join us,
So the world will soon be Free.
Imagine no reparations,
In a culture with no torts,
Imagine no taxation,
Honesty instead of courts,
Imagine peace through justice,
And virtue that make us free,
You-hoo You may say I’m a Freeper,
but you know it isnt just me,
I Hope Some Day You’ll Join us,
So the world will soon be Free.
Speaking of which ... I am surprised nobody came up with a “Planet of the Apes” reference yet.
Nice! :D
LOL,,,some may show-up yet...;0)
How about and America without traitorous politicians with private agendas?
OK, so nothing would change...
I'm sure they envision themselves alone with various attractive members of the opposite sex.
Their politics are certainly on display - they just can't help themselves, and I would expect nothing less from Scientific (sic) American.
Notice how at the 5,000-year mark of the timeline they snuck in:
"As the casings of nuclear warheads corrode, radioactive plutonium 239 is released into the environment".
So, where, exactly, in New York City, are those nuclear warheads being stored? And by whom? And for what purpose?
What if the Wright Brothers hadn’t been born?
If we had to do it over again, should we have invaded Iraq? Iwo Jima? Normandy?
What if the New York Times doesn’t really exist?
What if all the water dried up?
There’s no end to liberal studies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What if the hokey-pokey is what it's all about?
Are you getting old or has the supermarket started playing great music?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.