No sooner had I established a firm foothold in The World Without Us by Alan Weisman than the History Channel debuted Life After People, a miniseries predicated on the same question: What would happened to the planet if we humans disappeared yesterday? After reading (most of) TWWU and watching this miniseries, two points really stand out:
- Nothing we build really lasts. Particularly when you start talking in terms of a few centuries or say, a dozen human lifetimes. Eventually the 7 wonders of the ancient world will be those of the lost, with the modern one supplanting their ancient status.
- Nature is a mutha! Yeah I said it. Barely 25 years after we're gone grass will retake the streets, lightning and fire will burn down our cities, subways will flood, and all sorts of animals will re-emerge from the areas to which they are confined today. So much for the dominance of man.
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