What Would Happen to the Earth if All Humans Disappeared
The thought of us humans suddenly vanishing from the face of the planet is an eerie one. Be it our confidence or our arrogance, we have come to think of ourselves as the masters of the planet. So, the thought of us disappearing can be a tough pill to swallow.
We forget that we are but one species on the planet and that if we never existed, the Earth would be just fine. In fact, it would be more than fine, it would be perfect. It would be devoid of all the scars that we humans have inflicted on it.
In this article, I want to take you on a thought experiment journey. Let’s say, all the humans of the planet disappeared in an instant. Not because of some natural calamity or an apocalyptic event, but just vanished. What would happen next? Let’s dive in.
Moments Later
The initial moments would be like that of a fast paced action movie where so much stuff happens at the same time. At any given time, there are billions of airplanes, cars, buses, subways, all going from one place to another. Without humans to operate them, they would crash into just about everything. There would be planes falling out of the skies, cars crashing into one another, buses being toppled. Total chaos!
Hours Later
Within a few hours after our disappearance, lights will begin shutting down throughout the planet. With no one to run the power plants, they will just stop generating power and hence there would be power cuts throughout the globe, plunging one half of the world into darkness with the other half to follow.
1-2 Days Later
The condition of billions of domesticated animals will be dire with no one to feed them. Many of them will die and the rest will break out in search of food. But these domesticated animals are not suited for the life in the wild and would get attacked and killed by predators.
The ones that will be left, will have no choice but to hunt in packs. Nature’s correction at its best.
Also, most subways in the world will get flooded with water as the pumps used to keep the water out, will be shut down due to lack of power.
10 Days Later
The animal kingdom will suffer drastic changes. Human establishments will be colonised by raccoons, squirrels and coyotes. Rats and mice will thrive in supermarkets where food is plenty. But the intervention of predators like cats would regulate their population.
Massive fires will break out everywhere and without firefighters to extinguish them, a lot of structures will be burnt down. In same cases, entire cities might get burnt down.
1 Month Later
The cooling water at almost all nuclear power plants will begin to evaporate without any human supervision. This will lead to a lot of explosions at the plants, causing radiation to be emitted in vast quantities. Millions of animals will die due to this.
But the planet will recover quickly and get back to normal. Also, the air would be much cleaner because all those harmful toxins and gases we had been releasing into the atmosphere would have stopped. Thus would begin the healing process of the Earth.
3 Months Later
Cities will be overrun by weeds and vines and plantation everywhere filling every nook and cranny imaginable. It will begin the process of converting concrete forests into real ones. Mother nature would be taking back what belongs to her.
Also, during the first winter after humans, animals will look for buildings to shield themselves from the cold. The winter will kill off many more that are unsuited to live in lower temperatures.
1 Year Later
The satellites that are constantly revolving around the Earth will begin falling one by one. This will create a spectacular light show for the animals looking at the sky.
More vegetation will cover the cities worldwide.
Rains will have washed away the radioactive particles from the surface of the Earth, making it a cleaner place. Also, the excess carbon-dioxide in the air would be removed by the newer plants and trees.
Many species of animals that we hunt today would begin blooming.
3 Years Later
Roads begin to deteriorate as a result of no maintenance and natural conditions. They will be moss covered and would develop lots of cracks. Also, anything made of metal like cars and bridges will start corroding.
Steel buildings in the desert would last longer though as there is very less moisture out there.
25 Years Later
75% of the cities will be covered in vegetation. Nature’s work will be almost complete.
30 Years Later
The last of the higher satellites will fall to the Earth.
Also roofs of houses begin collapsing, as buildings get more and more deteriorated.
60 Years Later
Even sea life will be positively affected due to lack of humans. As there will be no overfishing, or even fishing for that matter, sea life will be thriving well.
The last traces of human domestication of animals will vanish, as either they will have adapted after a few generations or killed off.
300 Years Later
The last remaining metal structures like Eiffel Tower will collapse. The last building and bridges will collapse too.
10,000 Years Later
Evidences of a human civilisation will still exist even after 10,000 years. Stone structures like Mount Rushmore can last upto hundreds of thousands of years. The Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China will be around too.
Also, plastic and glass take millions of years to get recycled naturally. Therefore all the pieces of rubber from tires, plastic from electronics and glass from building will be there for a very long time but in 100 million years, these will be gone as well.
So, basically the Earth would be a much better place without us humans. This should be an eye opening realisation for everyone. We should really improve our ways and start caring for the planet. It’s the only one we got. The planet can do without us but we can’t do without it.
...and then the aliens will come to terraform the Earth for their convenience...
They might as well ;)
Only 300 years for Eiffel Tower? Source?
Hmm i find it alarming that our buildings will fall apart in only 300 years.. that'll be a lot of reinforcing to do! Not too sure about this.. Newer building with optimised building materials, maybe..
Yeah, I was surprised too! But given the harsh natural conditions, who knows exactly how long it will take!
excellent post, I love nature I try to act as a contribution in what I can in caring for the environment, this post his wish to have the desired impact and some people become aware of this serious problem. Bright after my friend @ sauravrungta, congratulations
If we all took care of the environment more :)
thanks for reading! :D
Thanks for upvoting my photos. We sure can take bettrr care of our earth.
Upvoted.
thanks for reading :)
I like it! Thank you for your post! As one of the future scenarios.
thanks for reading :)
There was a brilliant documentary series on this about 10 years ago. It was called "Life After People" on the History Channel - you might still be able to watch it online.
Yeah, I came across it while writing this post. I hear it's awesome! :)
You should definitely watch it because they have computer simulations of everything - it might look a bit date now I suppose.
So, basically the Earth would be a much better place without us humans.
If you really believed that you'd have committed suicide.
You're wrong about the satellites in high orbit falling to earth
(as well as about almost everything else)
Study a little celestial mechanics why don't you?
Many of those satellites, like the ones in Geo-synch and the Lagrange points...will stay there until someone moves them.
Well, I do believe that the Earth would be a much better place without us. And yes, I am alive and I plan to be. Just take a look at the long list of ways we have been screwing with the planet for centuries and you will realise that it is us who is at fault.
About the satellites, it was mentioned in documentaries and other videos as well that they would fall after a certain amount of time. But you may be right about them. Need to do more research on that.
It's not all bad. Some areas thrive with human intervention, depending on what it entails.
Of course, in this case it was correction because of manmade problems, but the vitality was brought back much faster than nature ever would have. It's possible that nature would never get it this productive.
This is pretty cool too, out in the middle of the Sonora Desert. Nature didn't do that alone.
See, we'd be missed.
Yes, in certain areas we have been helpful. But if you compare it to the long list of bad things, the net result is bad.
Then let's be helpful!! :D
what happened to you to make you hate yourself so much?
I don't hate myself :) I hate the way we take Mother Nature for granted :)
we, who? i appreciate every breath of wind, every beam of light, every beat of my heart and pulse. people must learn to appreciate these things, otherwise, why should they? help them. don't curse them, or you are no more than they. human extinction is not something to be desired. i know. i've spent years trying to design it. As it turns out, it is not even difficult. we, though, have our place in this universe. ipso facto, we are here. i, for one, will resist, by any and all means possible, in simple self defense, anyone who thinks that it will be better when we are gone.
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