Feature Articles | Energy & Sustainability Cover Image: July 2007 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

An Earth Without People [Preview]

A new way to examine humanity's impact on the environment is to consider how the world would fare if all the people disappeared


Back to Nature BACK TO NATURE: If all human beings vanished, Manhattan would eventually revert to a forested island. Many skyscrapers would topple within decades, undermined by waterlogged foundations; stone buildings such as St. Patrick's Cathedral (at right in artist's rendering) would survive longer. Weeds and colonizing trees would take root in the cracked pavement, while raptors nested in the ruins and foxes roamed the streets. Image: KENN BROWN

TIMELINE: The Fall of New York City

VIDEO: The Earth Without Humans


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  1. 1. watermodem 01:41 AM 11/15/07

    The wrong animal was chosen as man's successor. It should be the raccoon. Think about it.

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  2. 2. Thinker 02:53 PM 12/30/07

    What is new about this idea? Every sussessful species has that has existed,died and reappeared in another more evolved form. The purpose of form is to take advantage of the environment,breed and survive.
    What does all this mean? I think it is a lesson in what we call life. Life evolves to live ,regardless of form. Form is the media of transport for life. For example ,humans could have looked like lizards if that was the only sussessful medium available. Life and intelligence are synominous. What form all this comes in is not as important as the option to evolve towards our goals: spreading of life and intellectual development as to what life is about,what life is capable of ,and where we are programmed to be. Our job as humans is to promagate life here and move on speading life and intelligence in our solar system and beyond.
    Our roots may be much older than we think, perhaps billions of years old to God's first temper tantrum-the big bang.

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  3. 3. zeegod in reply to Thinker 04:07 PM 12/28/09

    Change your name from thinker to a spammer. the Earth without humans will be a heaven. It is not about the Temper of one what you quoted. Lames like you are equal to the same who hail and there is nothing you can go speading on cuz you are a slave your beliefs and you will die in the dark like and along with your species and in ignorance. Since you have been eating and justifying, you and like you all will be doomed.
    -ZEEGOD

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