What would happen to earth if humans suddenly dissapeared?

[100%]

The World Without Us

Hover over each time period to see what happens. Link (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html)


http://neatorama.cachefly.net/onelargeprawn/worldwithoutus.png


Alan Weisman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Weisman) theorizes what would happen to the planet if humans suddenly dissapeared.

[bigboab]

Sunderland Supporters would be left to wander the World alone.:whistling

[Smith]

Cool.

[Hairbautt]

They're makin' a movie with something similar.

I am Legend, I think it is. 'Cept there's only one man left and everyone else...turn vampire.

[Skiz]

They're makin' a movie with something similar.

I am Legend, I think it is. 'Cept there's only one man left and everyone else...turn vampire.

Will he break his glasses and be unable to read all teh books like the last fellow? :dabs:

[Something Else]

Earth would be fine and we'd be forgotten shortly.....

[Snee]

The World Without Us

Hover over each time period to see what happens. Link (http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html)


http://neatorama.cachefly.net/onelargeprawn/worldwithoutus.png


Alan Weisman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Weisman) theorizes what would happen to the planet if humans suddenly dissapeared.
His mode of conjencture seems a tad sensationalist. And I don't think it's at all possible to make the kind of predictions he's doing. There are far too many variables.

I'm wondering stuff like: Where will we be when it happens? Will we all have been vaporised, or are we all rotting were we left off?

If we, billions of people, are still around there is a hell of a lot of stuff that's to be recycled into nature, which could affect all sorts of things

And lets say a bunch of powerplants go Chernobyl, so you get lots and lots of fallout. First it's gonna wipe out quite a lot of stuff, but give it a few decades and the local flora is going to be growing faster than before, tying up a bit of carbon.

And what about domestic animals? Will they still be around?

If they die, that's going to be more meat lying around, rotting and releasing stuff. If they survive, and get a chance to procreate without restrictions, that's going to do something to the ecology. Pigs have some pretty brutal emissions, from what I understand.

Heck, maybe all of us rotting, and hordes of pigs feeding on our corpses could mean enough emissions to hold enough heat to melt the polar caps enough to change the gulf stream, promping a premature ice age, like.

[Defy]

Very interesting theory, definitely something that makes you go "hmm". However, I thought our sun was supposed to implode in approximately 4.2 billion years? Or so I heard so many years ago in science class. :P

I don't believe the cockroaches would ever become extinct though. Way too hard to get rid of the lil' buggers.

[Snee]

Very interesting theory, definitely something that makes you go "hmm". However, I thought our sun was supposed to implode in approximately 4.2 billion years? Or so I heard so many years ago in science class. :P
Another guess is ~five billion years, which is what that site goes by. However, the fusion reaction in the sun isn't anything anyone has been able to observe from up close and inside (obviously), and it's not possible to replicate on that scale (obviously, again).

It's been calculated that the sun has enough fuel (hydrogen, mostly) to keep going, sort of, for that long, but it's possible that the sun doesn't have to run out of fuel before it starts swelling up, or that the reaction changes when it hits a certain point.


When it goes, it'll swell up to a gas cloud and envelop everything up to and including Mars, if I remember it right. Then it'll eventually shrink into a dwarf star, and I'm not sure, but I think the earth is going to drift off, leaving the sun's orbit. Unless it stays within the sun.



Anyways, the mention of that's the bit that sounded most scientific on that site, other bits sounds more like a bunch of pop-science theories he's cobbled together.

Maybe it would make more sense if I read his book, though. Although I still think there may be too many variables to make some of the statements made on there seem like the most likely things to happen.

[100%]

[QUOTE=Snee
His mode of conjencture seems a tad sensationalist. And I don't think it's at all possible to make the kind of predictions he's doing. There are far too many variables.

Indeed, non the less an interesting question to ask, but is it worth months of research while you could be out "living"?

I'm wondering stuff like: Where will we be when it happens? Will we all have been vaporised, or are we all rotting were we left off?

Indeed and whytf did none of the animals die? My guess is we lost hope*

If we, billions of people, are still around there is a hell of a lot of stuff that's to be recycled into nature, which could affect all sorts of things

which he mentions, eg "microbes would develope which eat plastic...

And lets say a bunch of powerplants go Chernobyl, so you get lots and lots of fallout. First it's gonna wipe out quite a lot of stuff, but give it a few decades and the local flora is going to be growing faster than before, tying up a bit of carbon.

And what about domestic animals? Will they still be around?

"Small predators would diminish due to competition to an extremly feral human legacy - housecats"

If they die, that's going to be more meat lying around, rotting and releasing stuff. If they survive, and get a chance to procreate without restrictions, that's going to do something to the ecology. Pigs have some pretty brutal emissions, from what I understand.

Heck, maybe all of us rotting, and hordes of pigs feeding on our corpses could mean enough emissions to hold enough heat to melt the polar caps enough to change the gulf stream, promping a premature ice age, like.

Good point
None the less it is great advice for post apocalyptic scenario designers in whatever field.

[Snee]

If we, billions of people, are still around there is a hell of a lot of stuff that's to be recycled into nature, which could affect all sorts of things

which he mentions, eg "microbes would develope which eat plastic...
Yeah, but what about our bodies, like?

If our bodies are still around? How many tonnes of dead flesh would (what is it now? six billion?) people be.

Hell of a lot of meat. And in some countries people are so full of preservatives and stuff on account of all the stuff in the food they eat, we shouldn't even bury them.

Lots of methane and stuff released if we are left to rot, too :dabs:


And what about domestic animals? Will they still be around?

"Small predators would diminish due to competition to an extremly feral human legacy - housecats"
The cats can take care of themselves, they are still wild at heart, it's the farm animals, all the pigs, and poultry, and cattle and so on, I'm wondering about.

[brotherdoobie]

Yeah, but what about our bodies, like?

If our bodies are still around? How many tonnes of dead flesh would (what is it now? six billion?) people be.

Hell of a lot of meat. And in some countries people are so full of preservatives and stuff on account of all the stuff in the food they eat, we shouldn't even bury them.

Lots of methane and stuff released if we are left to rot, too :dabs:


And what about domestic animals? Will they still be around?

"Small predators would diminish due to competition to an extremly feral human legacy - housecats"The cats can take care of themselves, they are still wild at heart, it's the farm animals, all the pigs, and poultry, and cattle and so on, I'm wondering about.

Obviously the cat's will be fine. I believe that's the point he was making.


I shudder thinking about those vicious little beast roaming the planet unchecked.



-bd :fear: