If man disappeared from the planet tomorrow through his own misdoings or because something decided it was time, who would notice? Well our fellow creatures would notice the sudden peace and quiet.
There might be others waiting in the wings to have a go at living here. With us as an example they would probably have a long list of things not to do, but assuming no other advanced species appeared to “take over” and organize a cleanup, Nature herself would have to do all the dirty work.
All buildings and other man made structures would gradually fall into decay due to natural recycling processes. Roads and tracks would disappear first through plant inundations and weathering. There would be a lot of biological decay which animals, insects and microbes would eventually remove.
Hopefully automatic failsafe mechanisms would prevent too much pollution from industry, though nuclear meltdowns would cause long term adverse effects for life, especially in nearby areas.
Wild animals would be having a welcome rest from man’s disturbing influence and many would no doubt increase in number as the natural balance was restored. Animals in captivity or pets that could escape would have a rough time of it at first without man’s company though many could and would survive, reverting to the natural wild state within a few generations.
Although the earth may remain passive during such an event, inbuilt planetary cleanup mechanisms might come into play. A complete shake up might be “desirable” which could mean widespread eradication of species in the shorter term but a more rapid recovery than the status quo would allow.
The Earth is enormously resilient to changing circumstances as the geological record shows. Who knows what these might entail in the latter scenario? One could imagine widespread eruptions and water inundations. All remaining evidence of man’s presence would be quickly erased by this sort of surface turmoil.
Perhaps it’s happened before – the demise of a human species I mean.
How would we know? Ancient history is a topic that quickly descends into the muddy waters of mythology and who knows what handed down traumas induced the tales of the ancients?
I believe I’m becoming a recluse. I don’t like having visitors (with a few exceptions). They tear up my days and I have to keep gluing the pieces back together to make something out of them. Conversations nearly always quickly descend into clichés about society and its boring attempts to give us something which many would call a life, and its continued success in taking away as much as possible of what really matters. You can tell people are worried.
And one has to constantly watch one’s words so as to remain within the acceptable borders of politeness, or if that doesn’t work then one has to have ready an escape clause that gets one off the hook.
I must admit to finding it more and more difficult to bring other more esoteric topics to the foreground of my own attention. Reading books, which might spark new ideas, is just taking up too much computer time. Damn!
Now two identical living room chairs have been taken away for repair because a visitor wearing new boots blackened the front of one of them with something highly chemical they gave off. They both have to be reupholstered because the color of the new material is just that bit different from the old. Manufacturers do that on purpose don’t they?
The living room is doing its best to hide its bare parts with both hands.
So now visitors with boots are controlled at the door and either take them off willingly or have to sit on folded towels. All delivered with smiles of course. Anyway, at least it’s a great conversation piece involving lots of insurance jargon which produces nodding heads and a great deal of honest understanding.
Someone’s working hard below while I’m sitting here wasting your time and feelings of guilt and uncertainty are beginning to cloud my creative abilities, so I think I’ll just stop here and see if there’s something I should be doing somewhere else.
Have a better one.
Hey Jan
lol, maybe I was just generally miserable to start off with tonight, but it’s great reading from you again; I feel better now 🙂
*chuckles a little* Yeah, people are always looking at me strangely for the morbid ideas and theories I come up with on the same topic. Being fatalistic at my age is considered strange. Thankfully, I believe that humankind will work out it’s issues eventually (at least soon enough to avoid immediate annihilation) or else the Judgement Day. That does ensure at least relative cheer regarding the topic. Thank you for an interesting read, my friend.
Hey craving. Thanks for the visit and glad you got a chuckle out of it. Are you wearing boots? 🙂