The World Without Us
My sister Kathy sent me a book last week and I finished the 10th and final CD today. Forget global warming y’all. The problems we actually cause are a whole lot bigger and much, much more difficult to reverse.
In the book the author, Alan Weisman, starts with the question; If, for whatever reason, a virulent virus or the Rapture, every human being disappeared from the earth. With the earth depopulated, how long would it be before all trace of humankind vanished?
Rather than me trying to describe the book I’m borrowing this write up about the book:
Given the burgeoning human population and the phenomenal reach of our technologies, humankind has literally become a force of nature. We are inadvertently changing the climate; altering, polluting, and eradicating ecosystems; and driving evolution as other organisms struggle to adapt to a new human-made world. So what would happen if humankind suddenly vanished? Journalist Weisman, author of Echo in My Blood (1999), traveled the world to consult with experts and visit key sites, and his findings are arresting to say the least. He learned that without constant vigilance, New York's subways would immediately flood, and Houston's complex "petroscape" would spectacularly self-destruct. Weisman visits an abandoned resort on the coast of Cyprus and marvels over nature's ready reclamation. Marine biologists share sobering information about the staggering amount of plastic particles in ocean waters as well as vast floating islands of trash. Weisman is a thoroughly engaging and clarion writer fueled by curiosity and determined to cast light rather than spread despair. His superbly well researched and skillfully crafted stop-you-in-your-tracks report stresses the underappreciated fact that humankind's actions create a ripple effect across the web of life. As for the question of what would endure in our absence, Weisman lists a "redesigned atmosphere," astronomical amounts of plastic and automobile tires, nuclear waste and other inorganic poisons, and, eerily, the radio waves that will carry our television broadcasts through the universe for all time. Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Now we are back to me – Weisman is not preachy or overly judgmental. Instead he has done an excellent job of investigative reporting with a blend of the sciences, history, and plausible speculation.
The Green Movement should grab onto this book to further their cause. It is as eye-opening as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The only problem is that to reverse our impact on the earth means changing the way all of mankind lives. It is not just the rich nations causing the problems. We humans don’t fit into the natural cycles of the planet. Instead we have terribly disrupted them.
The author covers all the bases. Included in his discussions are pieces of religious and meditative thinking. I came away from the book wondering why we are the virus that makes Earth sick.
Bottom line is a quote from the book. “No matter what, life will go on and it will be interesting.” The life it is talking about, however, is not human life. Like any other population that overextends the available resources something will happen to control the population.
The good news is that without us the roaches and rats won’t survive for long.
My sister Kathy sent me a book last week and I finished the 10th and final CD today. Forget global warming y’all. The problems we actually cause are a whole lot bigger and much, much more difficult to reverse.In the book the author, Alan Weisman, starts with the question; If, for whatever reason, a virulent virus or the Rapture, every human being disappeared from the earth. With the earth depopulated, how long would it be before all trace of humankind vanished?
Rather than me trying to describe the book I’m borrowing this write up about the book:
Given the burgeoning human population and the phenomenal reach of our technologies, humankind has literally become a force of nature. We are inadvertently changing the climate; altering, polluting, and eradicating ecosystems; and driving evolution as other organisms struggle to adapt to a new human-made world. So what would happen if humankind suddenly vanished? Journalist Weisman, author of Echo in My Blood (1999), traveled the world to consult with experts and visit key sites, and his findings are arresting to say the least. He learned that without constant vigilance, New York's subways would immediately flood, and Houston's complex "petroscape" would spectacularly self-destruct. Weisman visits an abandoned resort on the coast of Cyprus and marvels over nature's ready reclamation. Marine biologists share sobering information about the staggering amount of plastic particles in ocean waters as well as vast floating islands of trash. Weisman is a thoroughly engaging and clarion writer fueled by curiosity and determined to cast light rather than spread despair. His superbly well researched and skillfully crafted stop-you-in-your-tracks report stresses the underappreciated fact that humankind's actions create a ripple effect across the web of life. As for the question of what would endure in our absence, Weisman lists a "redesigned atmosphere," astronomical amounts of plastic and automobile tires, nuclear waste and other inorganic poisons, and, eerily, the radio waves that will carry our television broadcasts through the universe for all time. Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Now we are back to me – Weisman is not preachy or overly judgmental. Instead he has done an excellent job of investigative reporting with a blend of the sciences, history, and plausible speculation.
The Green Movement should grab onto this book to further their cause. It is as eye-opening as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The only problem is that to reverse our impact on the earth means changing the way all of mankind lives. It is not just the rich nations causing the problems. We humans don’t fit into the natural cycles of the planet. Instead we have terribly disrupted them.
The author covers all the bases. Included in his discussions are pieces of religious and meditative thinking. I came away from the book wondering why we are the virus that makes Earth sick.
Bottom line is a quote from the book. “No matter what, life will go on and it will be interesting.” The life it is talking about, however, is not human life. Like any other population that overextends the available resources something will happen to control the population.
The good news is that without us the roaches and rats won’t survive for long.
1 comment:
Hey Bro,
I see you found the book as interesting as I found it. I knew you would. Pass it on to someone else who is like minded.
This is a book I find myself talking to people about, and now I find it having the same affect on you. If we humans keep this up we will soon have to find another planet to live on. Love SIS
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