How Earth would look if all humans disappeared

The July issue of Scientific American asks the question: What would happen to the Earth if all humans suddenly disappeared?

The answer, supplied by Alan Weisman, author of “The World Without Us,” is that most human creations would soon start to crumble. Within two days, Manhattan would be flooded. Within a week, nuclear reactors would begin to melt down as their cooling systems failed. Soon, roads and buildings would begin to crack and crumble and burn. Within 500 years, mature forests would cover New York City. And North America would be a “giant deer habitat.”

The winners of a post-human world would be birds, trees, mosquitoes – and house cats, “who would probably do well dining on small mammals and birds.”

The losers would be those animals most dependent on us – cattle, rats, cockroaches and head lice.

But don’t worry, some remnants of our proud human civilization will long endure: “Certain common plastics would remain intact for hundreds of thousands of years.” Also, broadcasts of our television shows would travel though space for “trillions of years.”

Which means episodes of “Survivor” will survive longer than we will. What a legacy.