Book: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
May 16, 2008 by Eugene
Filed under Education and Environmentalism
In his book, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman asks us to “picture a world from which we all suddenly vanished. Tomorrow.” How would nature respond? And would what we left behind last? Would the world without us actually miss us?
When we are gone, nature takes over. Our houses would collapse under the influence of moisture, mold and termites. Our cities would be flooded and turned into marshes, and the jungle would overtake the cities. Our farmlands would turn into forests and more birds would live.
Plastics would remain and last for hundreds of thousands of years before it biodegrades. Carbon dioxide levels would stabilise and the ozone layer would be complete. Heavy metals and chemicals would be diluted or absorbed into the environment.
The world without us would have the capacity to self-heal. And Alan Weisman ends with this thought:
All of us humans have myriad other species to thank. Without them, we couldn’t exist. It’s that simple, and we can’t afford to ignore them, … Without us, Earth will abide and endure; without her, however, we could not even be.
Borrow it from your local library or buy it from our AsiaIsGreen Bookstore.
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