Andy Allen

1
The World Without US Parts III IV

• Andy Allen
• Amy Williams
• S. Khang

2
The Fate of Ancient and Modern Wonders

• The English Chunnel
• Animals such as reindeer from Norway and wolves
  from Romania could potentially travel the English
  Chunnel into Britain.
• The chunnel is protected by a buried bed of marl
  and has one of the best chances of surviving for
  millions of years without humans.
• It would likely flood, with rising waters
  entering the Coquelles, France entrance, and
  remain intact, but non-functional.

3

• The Great Wall of China
• 4,000 miles long.
• Comprised of rammed earth, stones, fired brick,
  timbers, and glutinous rice used as mortar paste.
• Requires human maintenance.
• Will easily succumb to tree roots and water,
  eroding until only stone remains.

4

• The Panama Canal
• Separates North and South America, eliminating
  the need for ships traveling from the Atlantic to
  the Pacific to travel around South America.
• Like a wound on the earth. Requires extensive
  maintenance to keep from healing.
• Without humans, the dams would fail and the Rio
  Chagres river would reclaim its natural path and
  Lake Gatun would drain, causing the Panama Canal
  to dry up.

5

• Mount Rushmore
• Completed in 1939 by Gutzon Borglum.
• Carved in fine-grained 1.5 billion year old
  Precambrian granite.
• Erodes only 1 inch every 10,000 years.
• At that rate, Mount Rushmore could last for 7.2
  million years.

6
The World Without War

• Wars can destroy ecosystems.
• War can also be beneficial to ecosystems. For
  example, during Nicaraguas Contra War of the
  1980s, shellfish and timber exploitation was
  halted along the Miskito Coast, and the lobster
  and pine species rebounded.
• The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, which marks the
  divide between North and South Korea is a strip 2
  km on each side that has not been inhabited since
  1953. Many species who would otherwise have
  disappeared seek refuge in this area, including
  the Amur leopard, Asiatic black bears, Eurasian
  lynx, Musk deer, etc.
• Without humans, the rest of the world could
  follow this pattern.

7
Wings Without Us

• Food
• In a world without humans the passenger pigeon
  would be the most abundant bird on Earth. They
  flock 300 miles long and they would number in the
  billions. They would eat immense amounts of
  acorn, beechnuts, and berries.
• A way humans have kept the population of
  passenger pigeons is by cutting down forests and
  limiting their food supply. Another way is by
  shooting them with lead pellets.
• In 1850 when most of the heartland forests had
  been cut down passenger pigeons were taken into
  New York and Boston by the box car. When word
  came around that their numbers were dropping it
  drove hunters to slaughter them quicker.
• By the 1900s the fate for the passenger pigeon
  was over. A few were kept at the Cincinnati Zoo,
  but by 1914 the last one died.
• Other great birds to be extinct because of humans
  were Moas that stood 10 feet tall and the Dodo of
  the Indian Oceans Mauritius Island.

8

• Power
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services reported in
  2000 that 77,000 towers had to have aircraft
  warning lights because they are higher than 199
  ft. These blinking aircraft lights attract birds
  and it was estimated that about 200 million birds
  had made collisions with these towers. Many of
  these birds being found dead that hit these
  towers tend to be birds traveling at night.
• Another type of infrastructure that is keeping
  the population of birds down is the wires that
  run through every pole in every town. Birds
  wings are able to brush by an un-insulated
  transformer or bad wiring and it sends a shock
  that most times stops their heart. Other birds
  die simply by flying into the power line poles
  themselves.
• The two big killers to birds are the automobile
  and the window. Centuries ago people were
  traveling by horse and buggy, now their driving
  80 mph getting ready to cream Tweety. Windows are
  not recognizable by any sized or type of bird,
  and a collision with a window can either break
  the birds neck or damage its beak.

9

• The Pampered Predator
• As the human population has grown so has the cat
  population. Between 1970 and 1990 the cat count
  rose from 30 to 60 million.
• Fact about cats They not only kill birds for
  food, but they do so for pleasure as well.
• Simple alley cats are credited to up to 28 kills
  per year. Other cats that live on farms and rural
  areas can triple those of an alley cat. In
  Wisconsin alone around there are 2 million
  free-ranging cats killing up to 219 million birds
  per year. The nationwide count is in the
  billions.

10
Hot Legacy

• If humans suddenly vanished, we would leave
  behind approximately 30,000 nuclear warheads.
• These warheads have almost no chance of exploding
  without us, as they require that the fissionable
  materials be slammed together at a speed and
  precision which does not occur in nature.
• Eventually the bomb housings will erode, exposing
  the insides of the warheads to the elements. The
  plutonium within could be disastrous to animals
  who come in contact with it.
• It would take 250,000 years before the plutonium
  was completely degraded.

11

• In the 1930s, humans began using large amounts of
  CFCs and in 1985, it was discovered that these
  CFCs had created a hole in the ozone layer.
• Today, we use milder forms of CFCs, called HCFCs.
• If humans disappear, the CFCs and HCFCs that are
  found in things such as air conditioners and
  refrigerators will eventually be released into
  the atmosphere as these things erode.
• The result will be slow and chronic, not fatal,
  for remaining species.
• Plants and animals would have to naturally select
  for higher levels of UV tolerance in order to
  survive.

12

• Uranium-238 is created by converting the more
  potent Uranium-235 into a gas compound, then
  separating the different atomic weights by
  spinning it in a centrifuge.
• Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years.
• In the US alone, there is at least a half-million
  tons of it, which is used primarily for
  fashioning bullets.
• It could possibly emit radiation for the entirety
  of the Earths existence.

13

• In the United States alone there are millions of
  tons of nuclear waste.
• The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in
  southeastern New Mexico is the storage area for
  detritus from nuclear weapons and defense
  research. It contains 6.2 million cubic feet of
  waste.
• humans protect it and other waste storage
  facilities from wildfires, but without humans, it
  will most likely catch fire and send clouds of
  radioactive ash across the continent or even
  further.

14

• If everyone on Earth disappear, 441 nuclear power
  plants would overheat and burn or melt.
• This would emit radioactive material into the
  air.
• Radioactive lava would be released and would
  later cool and become cemented.
• It could remain deadly for species that approach
  it for thousands of years.

15

• Typical human activity is more damaging to
  biodiversity than nuclear power plant disasters.
  In places such as Chernobyl, certain species have
  shorter life spans, but multiply at higher rates,
  so their populations are not diminished.
• Over time, animals would develop a tolerance to
  radiation emitted after we are gone and would
  thrive without us.

16
Our Geological Record

• Holes
• In the Northwest territories of Canada, ice ages
  have gouged cavities into the land. These
  cavities contain permafrost.
• This permafrost is melting due to diamond mining
  in these holes. If it continues to melt, it would
  thaw ice that forms around methane deposits, or
  clathrates, and 400 billion tons of methane
  deposits would be released, elevating global
  warming to levels unknown since the Permian
  extinction, 250 million years ago.

17

• Height
• Since the 1970s, humans have been sheering away
  the top third of mountains in Appalachia in order
  to mine coal.
• If humans remain for a few more decades, most of
  the coal would be gone. We would dig it up and
  burn it.
• One plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to
  seal it in stone by injecting it in saline
  aquifers that lie under impermeable depths of
  thousands of feet. These deposits would remain as
  a marker of human existence.

18

• Archaeological Interlude
• The Mayan civilization lasted for at least 1,600
  years, with unrivaled achievements in
  mathematics, literature, architecture, and
  astronomy. They collapsed and vanished within a
  period of 100 years beginning in the 8th century.
• The Mayans lived in equilibrium with the land,
  participating in minimal war and doing little
  damage to the landscape.
• The civilization eventually collapsed under the
  weight of the excess of nobles who demanded
  thrones, excessive riches, and temples, which
  exhausted resources.
• The fate of the Mayans shows just how possible it
  is for humans to become extinct. If something
  throws off the balance between ecology and
  society, civilizations can crumble.

19

• Metamorphosis
• Fossil records show that 252 million years ago,
  the planet was abundant with trees, insects,
  amphibians, and early carnivorous reptiles. Then,
  90 of these species went extinct. This is known
  as the Permian Extinction.
• Mass extinctions are common throughout Earth
  history.
• The current explosion of extinctions might be
  indicative of another mass extinction, which
  might take humans with it.

20
Where Do We Go From Here?

• Would We Be Missed?
• If humans were gone only a third of all birds on
  Earth would notice Steve Hilty
  (ornithologist). The birds he is referring to are
  the ones who dont stray away from places such as
  the Amazon jungles or Australian forests.
• Other animals that would notice would be hunted,
  stressed, and endangered animals but they would
  not mind our disappearance. The most intelligent
  species of animals such as pigs, dolphins, and
  chimpanzees would miss the human existence very
  little.
• Animals that would miss the human existence would
  be domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, and
  other household pets. Humans would also be missed
  by humanus capitis and pediculous humanus humanus
  (head and body lice). There are 200 other
  bacteria that live and feed off dandruff and dead
  skin that would highly miss the human race.

21

• Preserving the Human Body
• Mike Matthews (professor at University of
  Minnesotas Mortuary Science program) states, In
  much of the modern world, we begin with
  embalming. Embalming delays the decomposing
  process and is usually only used for funerals.
• Embalming wasnt common until the Civil War when
  it was used to send fallen soldiers home. The
  soldiers blood (which decomposes at a rapid
  rate) was replaced with anything that had that
  wouldnt decompose. Most times it was a bottle of
  Whiskey or Scotch.
• Arsenic was also used until it was banned in the
  1890s. What archaeologists today are finding is
  that the bodies still decomposed but the arsenic
  was left behind. After arsenic came todays
  formaldehyde, which oxidizes into formic acid
  (same toxin in fire ants and bee stingers).
• Eco-burialists have been protesting formaldehyde
  because of the amount of pollution it is putting
  into our water tables. Eco-burialists also
  challenge the process of being buried in a tomb
  after death and then being put into the ground.
  They believe in from dust back to dust.
• The funeral industry puts a large emphasis on
  preserving the body and sealing it away. Some
  caskets are made to withstand practically
  anything, and even in a flood the caskets would
  float to the top. Although these caskets are
  luxurious and indestructible, the truth is there
  will be little to no remains of the human being
  after it decomposes.

22

• Being Wiped Out All at Once
• Dr. Thomas Ksiazek (chief of the Special
  Pathogens Branch at the US Centers for Disease
  Control) states that it would be highly unlikely
  for a disease to spread that would wipe out all
  humans.
• Dr. Ksiazek gives the Ebola and Marburg viruses
  in Africa as an example. Although these viruses
  killed many villages, missionary groups, and
  healthcare employees the viruses were able to be
  dealt with once the hospital staff began
  thoroughly disinfecting themselves and wearing
  protected gear when dealing with an infected
  patient.
• The one virus we do have to worry about is a
  strain of Ebola Reston. As of now it only kills
  primates but if the virus were to mutate humans
  would have a serious problem on their hands.
  Also, if the AIDS virus became air born it could
  wipe out our species but the chances of that
  happening are highly unlikely.
• Humans have been able to survive through sickness
  and viruses that plagued villages with death
  because people eventually build immunity.

23

• Les Knight Founder of VHEMT
• VHMET Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
• Knight believes that no virus or war could ever
  wipe out the human race. He also makes the
  argument that there is no way that anything else
  in life will be able to keep up with the growth
  of human population (harvest, wars, and
  diseases).
• Knight makes the suggestion that everyone just
  quit procreating. Or that one virus that would
  truly be effective strikes and all human sperm
  lose viability.
• To back up his suggestion he states in 21 years
  there will be no such thing as juvenile
  delinquency, no orphan would go un-adopted,
  abortions would be a thing of the past, and the
  living would be able to live the rest of their
  days in peace.

24

• Transhumanists
• VHEMT not only advocates for the extinction of
  human existence but is also trying to collect a
  group of respectful thinkers and inventors who
  are trying to colonize virtual space by
  developing software that is capable of uploading
  their minds that would output into a body. (You
  never have to die)
• Prominent Transhumanists include Nick Bostrom
  (Oxford philosopher), Ray Kurzweil (inventor),
  and James Hughes (Trinity College bioethicist).

25
Art Without Us

• Bronze sculptures will outlast steel
  constructions.
• Things made from noble metals could likely last
  forever, whereas materials from chemical
  compounds will revert back to the compound.
• The Statue of Liberty is made from copper
  sheeting. If it were to be knocked underwater by
  glacial waters, it would oxidize and turn to
  stone, but would still bear the same shape.
• Some museums etch music recordings onto copper
  with lasers, so music may be one of the
  longest-lasting art-forms after humans are gone.

26

• Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes were
  launched in 1972 and 1973 Pioneer 10 will pass
  the red star Aldebran in 2 million years Pioneer
  11 will not pass any stars for 4 million years.
• Both probes have gold-plated aluminum plaques
  attached to their frame which contain line
  etchings of a human male and female, geographic
  depictions of Earths location in the solar
  system and the suns location in the Milkey Way,
  and a mathematic key indicating wavelengths where
  humans are tuned in, listening.
• The two Voyager Space shuttles launched in 1977.
• They contain an aluminum, gold-anodized box which
  contains a 12 inch, gold-plated copper analog
  disk which carries greetings in various
  languages voices of animals sounds such as
  thunder, a jackhammer, a mothers kiss, and
  crackling fire photos of human interactions,
  DNA, and architecture and many examples of
  music, from Navajo music, to Mozart, to Chuck
  Berry.
• These shuttles could leave a lasting impression
  of human existence on intelligent life-forms who
  may exist outside of Earth.

27

• Television and radio waves could potentially be
  detected by intelligent extraterrestrials.
• In 2005, the signals bearing the sounds and
  images of the first episode of I love Lucy had
  traveled 300 trillion miles from Earth since
  1955. By 2450, they could reach intergalactic
  space.
• These signals would have to compete with other
  sounds, such as those emitted by the Big Bang,
  but its possible that they could be detected by
  intelligent life-forms.

28
The Sea Cradle

• A large threat to ocean life is what Jeremy
  Jackson would call slime. Slime is when
  bacteria in the ocean uses up to much oxygen and
  chokes out the coral which creates more room for
  algae to feed more microbial bacteria.
• Microbes will make it for billions of years after
  the existence of humans because they were here
  way before humans were, but the only structures
  that microbes can form are mats of slime.
• The existence of fish life will flourish after
  the extinction of human beings.
• Jeremy Jackson and a group of scientists went to
  Kingman Reef (a place barely visible off the
  coast of Hawaii). Kingman Reef when they went had
  been barely touched by humans and was flourishing
  with life. The scientists learned that a large
  amount of fish in that area was carnivorous fish
  such as sharks and snappers.

29

• Fish life is not this vibrant in other parts of
  the sea due to human pollution, fishing and shark
  hunting, and other human error. Enric Sala
  states, In a year sharks may attack 15 people
  while humans are taking sharks by the millions.
  Its an unfair fight.
• Sala also believes that if global warming were to
  have an effect and wipe out the ecosystem that
  reefs would be able to sustain themselves again
  within two centuries. It would be patchy. In
  some places, lots of large predators. Others
  would be coated with algae. But in time, sea
  urchins would return. And the fish. And then the
  corals.

30
Coda Our Earth, Our Souls

• It is inevitable that one day the sun will expand
  and absorb all the planets closest to it. Earth
  will be one of these planets, and will one day be
  no more. When this happens the aliens that do
  find our sound waves or shuttles with evidence of
  our existence in them they will have no
  recollection of where we as humans originated
  from.
• In Buddhist and Hinduism beliefs it is said that
  the Earth will be destroyed but will start from
  scratch again. Christians believe that the Earth
  will melt but a new one will take its place where
  the eternal light of God is their sun.
• Theorist James Lovelock proposes that we all go
  back into wildlife and live as animals. The
  payoff of doing this would be that a new natural
  ecosystem would be able to flourish and sustain
  itself. If humans could not keep up with the
  natural way of living they would be swallowed
  into the black hole that they are trying to push
  every other species into.
• If humans can make life better for themselves
  right now, why cant they make life better for
  everyone and everything else as well? This is the
  type of mindset human beings need to push towards
  in order to enjoy what time we do have left on
  this planet.