An Earth Without People
A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point.
The editor of Scientific American, Steve Mirsky, interviewed Alan Weisman to find out why he wrote the book "The World Without Us" and what lessons can be drawn from his research. Weisman describes how the concrete jungle of New York City would convert to a real forest. The first thing that would happen once humans disappeared is the power would go off and following that, pumps would turn off. The subways would start to flood and within 48 hours, all of New York City would flood. There are many things that need maintaining by humans such as street that would start to begin cratering. The streets would revert to the surface rivers that we used to have in Manhattan before we built everything. Building would start to topple and create clearings. In these clearings, seeds from plants would blow in the cracks of the pavements. The seeds would establish themselves and the city would start to develop its own little ecosystem with a less acidic environment for various species. Many things need human maintenance but eventually the things that humans maintain will establish themselves with the new environment and would have a good outcome.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to this article stating your own thoughts on the topic using specific citations form the article to support your views.
My thoughts on the topic of an Earth without humans are good. After the removal of humans, the Earth would become very healthy. It would become similar to a large forest across the continent filled with animals that used to be extinct that wouldn't be anymore. I believe that the Earth doesn't have to have the removal of humans for it to become a healthier planet. Us as humans need to make many changes in order for us to revert this planet into a healthier and better place to live on. I think that if humans were to no longer on the Earth it would be a good think for the environment and animals because humans effect them in many ways. Once buildings collapse and everything falls, things would go back to the way they were before we started building everything, when everything was beautiful in a natural way.
- Without street cleaners and road crews, our grand boulevards and superhighways would start to crack and buckle in a matter of months
- Many houses and office buildings would collapse over the following decades
- One of the first things that would happen is that the power would go off
- A lot of our power comes out of nuclear of coal-fired plants that have automatic fail-safe switches to make sure they don't go out of control if no humans are monitoring the systems
- Pumps stop working and subways start to fill with water
- Might have sewers over flowing
- Sewer would become clogged with leaf litter
- Streets would begin cratering
- Some of the streets would revert to the surface rivers
- Building would start to topple and fall, taking others down with them as they went, creating a clearing
- Into those clearings would blow seeds from plants, and those seeds would establish themselves in the cracks in the pavement
- Less acidic environment for various species
- Develop its own little ecosystem
- Forests would become reestablished across the continent
- Large herbivores would evolve to take advantage of all the nutrients locked up in woody species. Larger predators would evolve accordingly
The editor of Scientific American, Steve Mirsky, interviewed Alan Weisman to find out why he wrote the book "The World Without Us" and what lessons can be drawn from his research. Weisman describes how the concrete jungle of New York City would convert to a real forest. The first thing that would happen once humans disappeared is the power would go off and following that, pumps would turn off. The subways would start to flood and within 48 hours, all of New York City would flood. There are many things that need maintaining by humans such as street that would start to begin cratering. The streets would revert to the surface rivers that we used to have in Manhattan before we built everything. Building would start to topple and create clearings. In these clearings, seeds from plants would blow in the cracks of the pavements. The seeds would establish themselves and the city would start to develop its own little ecosystem with a less acidic environment for various species. Many things need human maintenance but eventually the things that humans maintain will establish themselves with the new environment and would have a good outcome.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to this article stating your own thoughts on the topic using specific citations form the article to support your views.
My thoughts on the topic of an Earth without humans are good. After the removal of humans, the Earth would become very healthy. It would become similar to a large forest across the continent filled with animals that used to be extinct that wouldn't be anymore. I believe that the Earth doesn't have to have the removal of humans for it to become a healthier planet. Us as humans need to make many changes in order for us to revert this planet into a healthier and better place to live on. I think that if humans were to no longer on the Earth it would be a good think for the environment and animals because humans effect them in many ways. Once buildings collapse and everything falls, things would go back to the way they were before we started building everything, when everything was beautiful in a natural way.