What if humanity suddenly vanished from the
Earth? Would our bustling cities, once full of life,
become sprawling, metropolitan ghost towns? Would our highways, the crowded thoroughfares
of a busy civilization, lay desolate and bare? If humanity suddenly disappeared, how would
the Earth change in our absence? What would become of our planet a hundred,
a thousand, or even ten thousand years in the future? Humans have dominated the Earth for over 7,000
years. Since the rise of agricultural civilizations,
our species has colonized every continent on Earth. We’ve adapted to extreme environments, constructed
elaborate settlements, and harvested innumerable resources. With a population of 7.8 billion and counting,
humanity has evolved from simple primates into a global force. We’ve shaped the Earth’s topography. We’ve cut down forests and manipulated the
Earth’s ecosystems, disrupting food chains, eradicating species, and in many ways toppling
the laws of nature. In fact, the rise of humanity, thousands of
years ago, started the first geological epoch dictated not by the evolution of the natural
world… but by a single, globally dominant species. What if, in the blink of an eye, humanity
ceased to exist? Imagine a mass extinction event annihilated
every human being on the planet—all 7.8 billion of us. If humanity suddenly disappeared, what would
happen next? After the sudden extinction of our species,
the world becomes unnervingly quiet. Without planes, trains, and automobiles—the
noisy workhorses of humanity—the Earth breathes a sigh of relief; but it doesn’t take long
for the remnants of humankind to wreak havoc on the world. Without human oversight, 443 nuclear reactors
across 30 countries climb to dangerous temperatures. Most nuclear power plants in the world today
are designed to decrease power in the absence of human management, thereby reducing the
risk of nuclear meltdowns, like the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It’s unlikely any of our reactors will explode,
but each power plant will irradiate the atmosphere for thousands of years—damaging ecosystems,
eradicating wildlife, and gradually poisoning our planet. Like nuclear reactors, precautionary systems
prevent our factories, wellheads, and drilling rigs from bursting into flames; but those
systems may fail, sparking industrial fires, releasing pillars of black smoke, and further
polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. At first, the ocean bears some of the burden. For decades, the ocean has diminished global
CO2 emissions, absorbing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Between 1994 and 2007, the ocean absorbed
around 31% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, but even the ocean has its limits. Eventually, an overabundance of carbon dioxide
will acidify the ocean, killing marine life and crippling vital ecosystems. As the ocean slowly acidifies and industrial
plants poison the Earth, every drizzle and thunderstorm inundates our largest cities
with torrents of natural run-off. Subway networks, no longer drained by underground
pumps, fill with millions of gallons of rainwater. Violent floods rush through subway tunnels,
sweeping away train cars and erupting from stations and stairwells in the once crowded
streets of London, Manhattan, and Beijing. Within decades of our extinction, human infrastructure
crumbles. Cities fall to their knees as water erodes
support structures hidden underground. Overpasses and bridges collapse into piles
of rubble. High-rises and homes sink into the ground. Around the world, our urban spaces give way…
and Mother Nature reclaims the Earth. Tropical rainforests, like the Amazon and
the Congo, gradually bury the remnants of humanity under a dense layer of green. Tropical vegetation creeps into every window
and doorway, and diverse wildlife, like birds, monkeys, and rodents, fill the void humanity
left behind. In frozen deserts and snowy taigas, buildings
and roadways break down under the wind and extreme cold of successive winters. In regions with heavy snowfall, like Canada,
Scandinavia, and Northern Asia, entire towns disappear into the icy tundra, entombing human
structures in mountains of white snow. As nature slowly reclaims human settlements,
new ecosystems develop in our absence. A changing hierarchy of animals survive, and
even flourish, in the relics of humanity. Wild dogs and cats, no longer sheltered by
humans, become apex predators in urban and suburban spaces. Other city-dwellers, like raccoons, mice,
and bats, thrive in abandoned buildings, where they feed on humanity’s trash and organic
waste. But few animals boom in our absence like the
world’s insects. Without humans, insect species feed freely
on farmlands, no longer threatened by pesticides. The insect population, which has steadily
declined over the last few decades, surges to new heights, launching an ecological domino
effect. Rising populations of insect species attract
hungry insectivores, like birds and reptiles, who entice larger carnivores and apex predators. Many insect species are also prolific pollinators,
stimulating the reproduction of angiosperms or flowering plants. The disappearance of humanity, and the absence
of artificial toxins, may rejuvenate entire ecosystems, stimulating a burst of biodiversity
around the world. Pesticides may fade, but not every toxic remnant
of humanity disappears. Mounds of non-biodegradable waste, which humans
abandoned in dumps and landfills, will remain piled high for a thousand years at least. High levels of greenhouse gases, like methane
and CO2, will persist for several millennia, long after humans have disappeared. Global warming, the product of heavy deforestation
and the burning of fossil fuels, continues to radicalize the Earth’s climate, melting
the polar ice caps and raising temperatures around the world. Once our buildings decay and our infrastructure
crumbles, will garbage and chemical pollution be the only remnants of our species? Think about the cradles of civilization, like
the Sumerians or the Ancient Egyptians. Their stone wonders stood tall a few thousand
years ago, but only a small amount of physical evidence remains. If our species vanished tomorrow, no one would
maintain or preserve the relics we leave behind. They would be destroyed by Mother Nature and
overrun with wildlife. Eventually, human achievement might disappear
into the analogues of history—a history no other species learns or remembers. Millions of years in the future, long after
humanity’s sudden extinction, it’s possible another highly intelligent species evolves
on Earth. This species might research the planet’s
history. They may uncover a handful of human relics,
but the great majority of our legacy would be lost forever. Despite thousands of years of global dominance,
we may not be remembered as scientists, artists, or visionaries. If humans suddenly disappeared, we may only
be remembered as a species that poisoned the Earth.
