Reflection on The World Without Us by Alen Weisman

               The World Without Us discusses a hypothetical future in which all humans either die or disappear from Earth, asking questions about what would happen to our fellow plants and animals, monuments, and buildings. It uses science to tell us which things will biodegrade and how long it will take, versus other things, like bronze and vulcanized rubber tires, that will remain forever. I learned some random things. For example, while some assert that humans may have arrived from Polynesia by boat to the Americas, it must be that either that did not happen (with Homo Sapiens arriving by foot) or at some point they forgot their boating skills, because it took humans 5,000 years after arriving in the Americas to settle the Caribbean. I also learned that humans settled the Americas before Cyprus. Also, vulcanization is a process that ties long polymer chains together with sulfur atoms, turning them into one giant molecule. This means that anything made of vulcanized rubber, like tires, is actually one giant molecule. Therefore, tires in landfills develop donut-shaped bubbles, and with humans gone will slowly work their way to the tops of landfills, fill with water, and breed mosquitoes (unless they are burnt or physically shredded). Also, Mount Rushmore’s granite is so tough that, eroding only one inch every 10,000 years, it will be around for the next 7.2 million years, barring some kind of earthquake or asteroid collision. So that’s what I got out of this book.