This is an oddly hopeful book. Hopeful because it offers compelling evidence that life on earth will outlive human tampering with the ecosystem, yet odd because it also demonstrates that the world won’t miss us much. In fact, it’s pretty clear that, on balance, the world would be better off without us.
“Balance” is the key here, something that we as a species know little about. Even though we are well aware that we’re destroying our own habitat, and have been for at least 60 years, we can’t seem to stop ourselves. But author Alan Weisman isn’t a scold and doesn’t do a lot of overt finger wagging, which is one of the reasons to buy this book. Rather, he offers absorbing examples of the many ways in which life bounces back after eco-tragedies like Chernobyl and, going back farther in time, various ice ages, volcano eruptions and asteroid pummelings.
One of my favorite examples is Weisman’s description of the DMZ between the two Koreas, which has been a no-man’s land since the late 50s when a stalemate was reached between the two sides. Rare cranes are staging a comeback in this zone, as are various types of flora and fauna that would probably be extinct by now were it not for this narrow strip of land where people don’t go. And this resurgence has taken place in spite of rampant pollution and periodic explosions from abandoned land mines. There is even a conservation group that has grown up in South Korea to advocate for the cranes and, by association, preservation of the DMZ. There’s one upside to the continuing standoff at the 38th parallel.
Lately, I have been interested in emerging viruses and the resurgence of diseases that humans believed we conquered (at least in the US) such as TB and cholera. Weisman presents some interesting linkages between alterations in the environment (think greenhouse gases) and the rise of microbes that are resistant to long-standing medical treatments.
But it is his discussion of unanticipated benefits of some human errors that is most astounding. Take, for instance, the island of Cyprus, which has been split between warring Greeks and Turks for the past 30 years or so. One group abandoned a resort city on one side of the island because the peace agreement assigned that area to the other ethnic group. As the buildings and infrastructure have slowly crumbled, plant life has flourished and a range of animal species have moved in, making the place somewhat akin to a nature preserve. And this has occurred despite the fact that much of the infrastructure releases poison gases and foul debris as it inexorably deteriorates.
All of this is to say that, given enough time and absent human interference, Mother Earth will quite likely heal herself, and perhaps a new “top dog” species will evolve to replace us. I can’t help feeling that this is good news, especially if evolution makes our descendents a little smarter than we seem to be.
The World Without Us is available at amazon.com