I recently picked up a copy of Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us. I’ve been on a bit of a post-apocalyptic, last-person-on-Earth kick lately after reading Cormac McCarthy’s excellent The Road and watching the surprisingly good Will Smith in I am Legend over the holidays. Weisman kicks it up a notch by removing the people from the story altogether. Although there is no nuclear winter or biotechnology-gone-bad theme like the other two works, it is an interesting thought experiment and has a lot of potential for exploring many relevant topics.

After reading the first few chapters, I’ve learned something: nature is fine! Forests will reclaim the millions of acres of subdivisions within only 500 years, save for an occasional ceramic tile or dishwasher part here and there. Should we even care about what we, as people, do to the planet if nature can recover from our impact in only a hiccup of geologic time?

Well, the truth is, we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon (hopefully). It’s quite the opposite considering the planet’s rapid population growth. It is our responsibility to leave the planet is a state that is sustainable and vibrant. We don’t have time to wait 500 years for more hardwood forests to grow, and we certainly don’t have the millions of years needed to make more oil, natural gas, or coal.

I’m still interested in reading the rest of the book, but I hope it explores more than just the ‘nature is powerful’ theme already laid out in the first few chapters. After all, what good is nature’s power if we keep taking it away?

Other links: Nature reviews The World Without Us.