What would the Earth be like without people?

Originally posted by Mechanic 32
It's not really people per se, that are destroying this planet. But industrial and technological "advancements", from the beginning of the 20th century until the present day, created by people that are causing harm.

Actually, it's the other way around.

Let's go back to the 1700's or 1500's. You plant crops with the slash-and-burn technique and you don't have sewers so you throw your urine and feces out in the field where it contaminates local water supplies. There's no power plants, so you cut and burn your own fuel. Everyone has smoky chimneys... in the cities this actually leads to killer smogs (as happened several times in London before the 20th century.)

Imagine a land with 300 million horses for us to ride. What do you do with the poop? Without factory-raised chickens, you have a yard full of the things and so do all your neighbors, eating the grass and tearing up the environment... and a quarter inch of chicken manure isn't that good for grass.

You have to have animals for cloth (fur, wool, etc) or lots of acerage for plants. Without fertilizer, you need to plough up a lot more land just for enough cotton for clothing.

No x-rays, so children die of very preventable diseases because medirecal diagnosis needs sophisticated tools. People suffer from crippling diseases like arthritis (which can't be repaired) and live in agony for years from otherwise cureable things.

The pollution in less developed countries is MUCH more severe than in developed countries.

If I could live in a world devoid of modern technology, I'd be a happy camper.

I don't think you would. It's romantic, but the reality isn't an endless camping trip. And it's awfully hard on the environment.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Who cares? The planet is meaningless without people on it. It didn't have people for billions of years on it, and it might as well've never existed. Why should we care what the world would be like without man?

Well said. Earth means something to man because we live on it.

[edit on 18-12-2006 by MegaSkeptic]

[edit on 18-12-2006 by MegaSkeptic]

the mental exercise, hypothetical of humans being out of the nature loop
is mildly interesting...

you mentioned

by PhloydPhan
...the consequences of genetically engineered plants growing unchecked in the wild...

this has the 'Urban Legend' feel to it.
does the author mean things like hybrid roses? exotic types of Lilly?
or the 'GM'seeds developed by the mega int'l seed corps, in developing & refining their single season planting seeds [StarBright corn? et al]

so that farmers cannot grow cash crops like corn,wheat, etc.
with any of their Heritage Seeds, but must return to the seed provider to purchase that years specialized seed, or face bankruptcy as a farmer with no cash crop harvest.



but another question that the absence of human's raises is....
would nature allow, or cause a 'punctuated evolution' scenario?
where another branch of ?monkeys,apes? would very quickly jump
to the head of the class & become Natures' new "king-of-the-hill"
left vacant by humanities disappearance