What if humans became extinct?

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html

I have been thinking about buying this book, and I just thought I'd share this interesting little chart with everyone. It details a prediction of how the world would change if humans were to suddenly vanish, leaving behind everything we've created.

You can read an article by the same guy here: http://discovermagazine.com/2005/feb/earth-without-people/ which I guess is kind of a brief version of the book. Interesting stuff :)

[Morgan Evanar]

He got that bit about nuke reactors dead wrong. There would be no melt-down. Control rods would automatically drop and the reaction would stop.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

Pretty sure I also saw a special on the Discovery Channel about this scenario. It was pretty interesting as they went through the timeline with all the CG and such. Was kinda fun to see what they thought some of the larger metropolitan cities would look like once plant-life started taking over again.

[Dasquian Belargic]

He got that bit about nuke reactors dead wrong. There would be no melt-down. Control rods would automatically drop and the reaction would stop.

I figured there would be some parts of it that weren't exactly right, but it's a pretty intriguing thought experiment nonetheless I think.

[Crusader]

"You Blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"

[Tear]

Pretty sure I also saw a special on the Discovery Channel about this scenario. It was pretty interesting as they went through the timeline with all the CG and such. Was kinda fun to see what they thought some of the larger metropolitan cities would look like once plant-life started taking over again.

I saw that same show. It was a decent "what if" scenario. I found it funny that one of the lasting objects would be the stainless steel sinks most houses have.:lol

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I dislike my stainless steel sink. Impossible to keep looking clean!

I want a nice farmhouse style sink, not in steel... *dream*

[Dasquian Belargic]

The idea of forests littered with cookware and cutlery is strangely amusing to imagine.

What got me thinking about all this, by the way, was discussing part of a trip I took when I was in Turkish-Cyprus and got to see the ghost city of Varosha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varosha_(Famagusta)), which has been free of any human presence since 1974.

[Droo]

I had no idea there was such a place! :eek

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/000985.html
^ That article is pretty interesting, has a couple of close up pictures. It's so strange though, the idea that basically nothing has changed there since everyone evacuated. Like, according to that article, "there is a car dealership somewhere in the city that still has 1974 models in the showroom." Weird o_O