A
Aerilon
Deleted Due to Inactivity
Former MSFC Member
I shall warn those reading in advance, this is quite possibly going to be one of, if not the biggest post I have ever made to start off a thread. Those of you who are likely to get bored, or who don't like reading articles, might as well close down the window now
Anyhow, yesterday, whilst at work, I was reading the Daily Express (a British Newspaper). I usually read The Sun, or The Daily Mirror (two other British Newspapers) though I had gone through them earlier in the day, and as it happened, the Daily Express was the only one left to read. Regardless, after skipping through a few pages, I came across an article titled 'Earth Without Us'.
What would happen to our planet if humanity simply disappeared?
The article focused on what life would be like if Humanity simply disappeared, be it through radiation poising, alien abduction, or we all just 'vanished'. The Newspaper didn't say those things, I am. Just giving you a reason as to why we'd no longer be around to screw up the planet even more than we have done so already.
It was going over how long the Earth would take, before all existence of Humanity was erased. Do note, when I say that humanity simply vanishes, or disappears, everything we've done, all the buildings we've made, and all the items we have created remain. It is just us of which disappear. Everything else from Houses, to Mobile Phones, to Clothes and Computers remain.
Anyway, as I was saying, the article was going through how long it would take for buildings and such to crumble, and disappear. An interesting fact, is that it stated the Older buildings would most likely stay in place for a much longer period, than any of the new buildings we have up today.
The Great Wall of China, Stonehenge, The Pyramids, these would all remain long after our modern homes had crumbled into dust. To think, some of these structures (the Pyramids for example) have already been around for over 2000, 3000 years, and they remain in a reasonable condition (bearing in mind, they get many visitors, and that would help with their degrading).
There is also a Bridge somewhere (I forget where it is, or the name of it) but it is recent(ish) of which would remain for quite some time. This article also went on to discuss other items, such as Nuclear Power Plants and such. Left untouched, these buildings would explode, and fill a lot of our atmosphere with poisonous gases, which could possibly do a lot of damage to nature.
There were two scenarios with this. Either these buildings would just 'Stop Working' or, they'd explode under the pressure. It was stated that it was a 50/50 chance on both. So even with us gone, we could still do much damage to the planet, because of things we have created.
It also mentions about wildlife. The Seas' would fill with Fish, the planes would fill with Animals, it was said somewhere (I think) that the population of African Elephants would increase by 70%+
Other animals like Cows, Pigs, Sheep etc would most likely die out. If you think about it, these animals are looked after by us, at least to a point. Without us, they'd die out, or would be hunted by other animals.
The article also made the point of addressing everything we've done to screw up the planet. Polluted Air, Polluted Ocean, other than some of the items mentioned below, this pollution would correct itself within a few hundred years, and as stated in the article, Mother Nature would be able to do her thing, not having to fight what we throw in her direction.
Furthermore, it stated about smaller items, such as Plastic Bags, and Paper. Plastic Bags and Paper would take a long time to degrade. Plastic Bags especially.
People may think that Paper would get wet, and rot or whatever, but if you think about ancient scripts, and what they've been written on (Paper) some of those have remained in tact for generations, if not centuries or more.
And then you get plastic bags, of which would continue to be blown around the Earth centuries after we are gone. It was theorised, that at the ending of our Star (our Sun), when the Earth is mostly desert, with limited plant life (due to heat) and such, plastic bags would still be there. Milena on, those small (or in some cases, rather big) plastic bags would remain.
And to think, when we use plastic bags, what do we do with them? We throw them away, into a big, which they gets taken to a skip of sorts, and dumped in the Earth. That will stay there for a long, long time. Where you've got other items, such as gone off food, or maybe cardboard or something, which will degrade quick(ish), those plastic bags will remain under the ground for centuries on end.
This article also brought up the fairly unique point, that if Aliens visited our world, would they have known that any civilisation had ever existed? Bearing in mine that most of the structures we have would be rubble, and those still remaining would be overgrown, or buried. Unless Aliens knew exactly where to look, and what to look for, trace of our existence wouldn't be there, thus Earth would be passed off as just another planet.
Does make you wonder, along with thinking of things in a much larger perspective. And to think that none of this is going to change. People know of the dangers, people know how much we screw up the planet, yet nothing is done to prevent (or help) the matter. Would Earth be better off without us?
Just thought I'd share this article, and my views on it. Feel Free to Discuss...
I'm sure Google will provide some results too, if people wish to read into it more. Just Type Earth without Humans or something.
Anyhow, yesterday, whilst at work, I was reading the Daily Express (a British Newspaper). I usually read The Sun, or The Daily Mirror (two other British Newspapers) though I had gone through them earlier in the day, and as it happened, the Daily Express was the only one left to read. Regardless, after skipping through a few pages, I came across an article titled 'Earth Without Us'.
What would happen to our planet if humanity simply disappeared?
The article focused on what life would be like if Humanity simply disappeared, be it through radiation poising, alien abduction, or we all just 'vanished'. The Newspaper didn't say those things, I am. Just giving you a reason as to why we'd no longer be around to screw up the planet even more than we have done so already.
It was going over how long the Earth would take, before all existence of Humanity was erased. Do note, when I say that humanity simply vanishes, or disappears, everything we've done, all the buildings we've made, and all the items we have created remain. It is just us of which disappear. Everything else from Houses, to Mobile Phones, to Clothes and Computers remain.
Anyway, as I was saying, the article was going through how long it would take for buildings and such to crumble, and disappear. An interesting fact, is that it stated the Older buildings would most likely stay in place for a much longer period, than any of the new buildings we have up today.
The Great Wall of China, Stonehenge, The Pyramids, these would all remain long after our modern homes had crumbled into dust. To think, some of these structures (the Pyramids for example) have already been around for over 2000, 3000 years, and they remain in a reasonable condition (bearing in mind, they get many visitors, and that would help with their degrading).
There is also a Bridge somewhere (I forget where it is, or the name of it) but it is recent(ish) of which would remain for quite some time. This article also went on to discuss other items, such as Nuclear Power Plants and such. Left untouched, these buildings would explode, and fill a lot of our atmosphere with poisonous gases, which could possibly do a lot of damage to nature.
There were two scenarios with this. Either these buildings would just 'Stop Working' or, they'd explode under the pressure. It was stated that it was a 50/50 chance on both. So even with us gone, we could still do much damage to the planet, because of things we have created.
It also mentions about wildlife. The Seas' would fill with Fish, the planes would fill with Animals, it was said somewhere (I think) that the population of African Elephants would increase by 70%+
Other animals like Cows, Pigs, Sheep etc would most likely die out. If you think about it, these animals are looked after by us, at least to a point. Without us, they'd die out, or would be hunted by other animals.
The article also made the point of addressing everything we've done to screw up the planet. Polluted Air, Polluted Ocean, other than some of the items mentioned below, this pollution would correct itself within a few hundred years, and as stated in the article, Mother Nature would be able to do her thing, not having to fight what we throw in her direction.
Furthermore, it stated about smaller items, such as Plastic Bags, and Paper. Plastic Bags and Paper would take a long time to degrade. Plastic Bags especially.
People may think that Paper would get wet, and rot or whatever, but if you think about ancient scripts, and what they've been written on (Paper) some of those have remained in tact for generations, if not centuries or more.
And then you get plastic bags, of which would continue to be blown around the Earth centuries after we are gone. It was theorised, that at the ending of our Star (our Sun), when the Earth is mostly desert, with limited plant life (due to heat) and such, plastic bags would still be there. Milena on, those small (or in some cases, rather big) plastic bags would remain.
And to think, when we use plastic bags, what do we do with them? We throw them away, into a big, which they gets taken to a skip of sorts, and dumped in the Earth. That will stay there for a long, long time. Where you've got other items, such as gone off food, or maybe cardboard or something, which will degrade quick(ish), those plastic bags will remain under the ground for centuries on end.
This article also brought up the fairly unique point, that if Aliens visited our world, would they have known that any civilisation had ever existed? Bearing in mine that most of the structures we have would be rubble, and those still remaining would be overgrown, or buried. Unless Aliens knew exactly where to look, and what to look for, trace of our existence wouldn't be there, thus Earth would be passed off as just another planet.
Does make you wonder, along with thinking of things in a much larger perspective. And to think that none of this is going to change. People know of the dangers, people know how much we screw up the planet, yet nothing is done to prevent (or help) the matter. Would Earth be better off without us?
Just thought I'd share this article, and my views on it. Feel Free to Discuss...
I'm sure Google will provide some results too, if people wish to read into it more. Just Type Earth without Humans or something.