SciAm Video: The Earth Without Humans

What would happen if all humans on Earth suddenly disappeared? What would that say about our current impact on the planet? These are the question Alan Weisman asked, and answered, in his new book The World without Us.

In the July 2007 issue of Scientific American, Steve Mirsky interviewed Weissman, and the result is a fascinating "what if" scenario that reveals just how quickly things would unravel without our constant attention.

Check out the video, below, that explains what would happen to New York in the absence of humans. If you'd like to explore the subject in depth, there's also an interactive timeline complete with audio commentary from Weisman.

Visit www.sciam.com and www.worldwithoutus.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• world
• without
• us
• alan
• weisman
• book
• earth
• scientific
• american
• sciam
• environment
• plastic
• animals
• evolution
• science

[ShadowRockerMan]

the world would be better peaceful and its just heaven without humans we are the demons of earth destroyers of life and creator of war

[KrazyNomadQc]

I am thinking about writing a book titled "The World without Scientific American".

[malcolmmorin]

So, If you people say humans are destroying Earth, You're also saying little babies, Little kids are destroying it too? You guys are bastards....

[gpgpgp13322]

@KrazyNomadQc well its a year later did you write that book? :)

[wcrolas990]

I'm a Dodo humans must extinct they hunted us and other birds/mammals etc

[stlouisx50]

It's sick to see people say they are not ruining the earth. I suggest you wake up and research what lazy , greedy, humans have done to the earth already.

You don't have to take my word for it.

[omnivorous65]

@ShadowRockerMan I was not aware that the world and life was ever peaceful. I suggest you spend some time observing ants or contemplate a wasp injecting an egg into a larva to be devoured alive. The world has seen cataclysms and mass extinctions that dwarfs anything we human do. And there is something inheritently horrifyng about mindless, uncontemplated suffering, which you get when you remove humans. We are a product of the same forces that shape life in all its forms.

[islandinthesea]

Oh for heaven's sake, you know, why do you even bother having a go at human beings? We're not that bad, ok? Humanity is living on Earth, get used to it! Instead of rejecting the very thing that you are.

[jimmyboyG485]

@TheTudiscoKid

We're saying the same thing, only via different ways. And I was making the point that the guy who kicked all this off has no idea what the hell he's talking about.

[jimmyboyG485]

@TheTudiscoKid

No, nature is about competition. Winners stay alive, losers die out. A balance forms, not because different species work together, but because they are 'balanced' in competition. Of course, as evolution doesn't stop the balance keeps getting changed as losers who can't adapt go extinct and new, better species evolve to take their niche in the ecosystem.

Species do not work 'to benefit the Earth', they work because this is how they stay alive. Competition. Selection.

[Eagle1Division2]

@ShadowRockerMan Yes, but Man has also done a lot of good. Don't forget you're a human, too, and who the heck will appreciate the world if we aren't around?

Animals live moment to moment, they never pause to think about things. They can't.

We can. We're unique and precious in the universe because of that, the fact we're psychologically deep: We're sapient, "homo sapien"; "the one sapient species", "the thinking species".

Earth is ours, it's our responsibility but it's ours, we're not it's.

[Eagle1Division2]

@Fatso1000100 It's kinda neat to get an appreciation for all the guys that run the infrastructure we depend on to live our comfortable, luxurious everyday lives. As a modern industrialized nation, we, the people who live in it, have never really had to fight to survive. We live in luxury, and this brings to attention all the things that make it possible.

i.e., people working the pumps in the subways, road work, structural maintenance, grocery stores, weeding structures, cleaners, etc.