The World Without Us summary

With the passing of each day human civilization does more harm to the planet through the plundering of its resources and the pollution of its atmosphere. What’s more, the effects of these processes will last long after we’ve gone.

In the long term, one of the most enduring legacies of humanity is the extraction and use of heavy metals such as chromium and zinc.

Nuclear power is perhaps the most dangerous invention that humanity has ever developed. While it may be a wonderful source of energy, the uranium that is used in the process is an enormously hazardous material. Even with the stringent safety procedures we have developed to alleviate the risks of using uranium, disasters still happen. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 was an example of this. But the vast majority of the time these procedures ensure that nuclear fuel is safe.

However, if humanity were to suddenly disappear, so would the safety procedures, and before long, the immense, destructive force of nuclear power would be unleashed on the Earth.

No other species has changed the environment so drastically and in so little time as humans.

Over the course of human history, we have changed our surrounding environments to suit our needs. In order to make nature more accommodating we have straightened and dredged rivers for irrigation and transport, and we have cleared woodland and paved the ground to build cities. At the same time we have consumed the natural resources that surround us, quarrying stones and minerals from the ground and chopping down trees for timber.

One of the main changes that humanity has brought to the ecosystem is the domestication of animals. In order to provide us with a steady supply of food and materials like wool and leather, mankind tamed and bred animals such as cattle.

In domesticating nature in this way, our ancestors moved the development of these animals away from evolution through natural selection to artificial selection. Instead of the creatures most suited to their natural environment, we selected the animals most suited to our needs.

Some of the changes that humanity has made to the earth are not reversible. The extinction of species is one example. Once the last male or female individual of a species has died, it will remain forever extinct.

There are many cases of species that have been wiped out by humanity. They include the dodo, the aurochs (the ancestor of domestic cattle) and the passenger pigeon. Some of these were hunted to extinction for their meat, others for their fur, and many species died out because of incursions into their biosphere.

We think that our modern buildings are sturdy and long lasting because they are built from durable materials like steel and concrete. And when we look around us this seems like the case – we are surrounded by buildings that have lasted decades, sometimes even centuries. Yet this sturdiness is entirely dependent on constant maintenance and repair. Without this our buildings are susceptible to attack from the powerful forces of nature.

If there were no humans around to make repairs on buildings, it wouldn’t take long before nature started to damage them.

Of the seven ancient world wonders only the Great Pyramid of Giza still exists. Of the new wonders men have built since, it is more than likely that most will suffer the same fate as the Colossus of Rhodes or the Lighthouse of Alexandria: they will return to dust.

Yet there will be a few monuments that will buck this trend. Monuments that will, like the Great Pyramid, last into the distant future.