The World Without Us
I have not yet had time to read the whole book but chapter headings such as "Unbuilding Our Home", "Polymers Are Forever", and "The Fate of Ancient and Modern Wonders of the World" promise a great read with a provocative conversation on the state of our world and how we tend to it. Reading through a few pages I was reminded of Buffalo's Tifft (Farm) Nature Preserve. This lush natural preserve in the heart of the city was a major industrial port less than 100 years ago. It eventually lost value to our society and ceased to be tended to. In an imperceptible amount of time, geologically speaking, almost every visible trace of human activity has been wiped away by the earth's churning forces. Just a small reminder of just how tiny and unimportant we may be in this universe of ours.
The World Without Us is available at Talking Leaves
951 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo - (716) 884-9524
3158 Main St, Buffalo - (716) 837-8554
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ktl2277
The History channel had a 2 hour documentary titled I beleive "After People" it ran a clock from 1 day to 1 million years after people ceased to exist It sounds a lot like an adaptation of the book mentioned in this post. It was facinating to step foreward 1day, week, yeay then 10 years 20 years ect.. At the 20 year after people portion the filmmakers visited a still diserted city in Ukraine that had been diserted since chernobel it was facinating how fast the earth reclaims the landscape.
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Biniszkiewicz
every creature ever born imagines their moment in time to be the only important one.
They're all important.
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sbrof
yeah I think I saw that same documentary. I think it ends with the engulfing of our planet by our dying sun. Makes one wonder how humanity can survive not for just another 1,000 but 100,000,000 years. Can we ever overcome our issues that keep us here or will be realize that without cooperation we won't only despoil our current planet but be left with nothing to get ourselves off of this rock when the time comes and simply poof out of existence.
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Architorture
i read this book cover to cover the day it came out- pretty good and easy read...
although ultimately it doesn't give one any feeling that something could or should be done about the whole thing it just really helps put the world into perspective.
the fact that many of the most banal things in our lives (plasic goods) are probably going to be one of the things that will last the longest even to the extent that in some far off time there may be a little geological layer made up of old pepsi bottles...
if its a topic that interests you- i would also recommend the books by jared diamond "collapse" foremost in that it studies how societies actually did fail and disappear over the past several thousand years...many of which happened very quickly and leave evidence to this day of that fact.
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Brette
As long as BRO articles & all our comments are preserved for all time does the rest really matter?!
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Keith
I read the book and watched the History Channel show. I liked the History Channel show better because it was strictly chronological whereas the book tended to highlight some special cases like the Korean DMZ which I found to be distracting. I also think the author had the chance to get into scientific/engineering details because a book is a good vehicle for that, but he chose to keep it light. This probably increased the size of the audience, but it made it less interesting to me.
I love the fact that the car, US flag etc. that Nasa left on the moon will outlive everything we have built on Earth. Let's head for the stars!
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sbrof
as the moon slowly pulls away from the earth (1cm / year) perhaps if we don't head for the stars the only remnants of humanity will be that car and flag..
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stephenjames716
I saw the documentary as well and thought it was very interesting, I will check out the book next time I'm out and about...thanks.
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RisingDamp666
There are already glimpses of this world. Urban explorer sites are popping up showcasing the physical result of abandonment and decay. Check out Opacity or Fallout's site to gain cooly gloomy and darkly beautiful access to places like Byberry and Danvers State Mental Hospital. Especially cool are old power plants and mills that have rusted to oblivion.
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carl
funny you posted this in a city which is loosing over 100 people a week.
just drive though the east side!.....
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STEEL
Is that really true Carl? Boy, I will need to get over there and see for myself. Thanks for the heads up!
Speaking of shrinking a city. The Tift Farm has to go down as rare far sighted and enlightened thinking on the part of WNY leaders. That place is a real gem and a major community asset.
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sbrof
or drive through Tonawanda (town & city), Cheektowaga, Lackawanna, North Tonawanda, Kenmore and West Seneca + others... they all lost population in the last 10 years as well.. This isn't just a Buffalo problem anymore.
Population Decline
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carl
well, in erie county.....interchangeable.
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2007/03/19/daily30.html?surround=lfn
2005-2006 the population decreased by 6,825, that evens out to about 133 people a week.
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tudorguy
I agree with Keith - I read the book and saw the documentary and preferred the docu. because of some of the extraneous stuff. However, the book does go into much more detail with the eventual decay of houses, etc. Made me want to check all my window seals...
Kindly, neither the book nor documentary mention the remains after our untimely demise, it's as if we've all just vanished.
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