The earth is around 4,5 billion years old, humans have only been walking
the earth for 300,000 years. Which still seems like a lot. But
if you put it in perspectif of one day, with the earth only being 24 hours, then we only
exist for 40 seconds. Look around you, look what we
have done in those 40 seconds. So, lets for a moment imagine that the human
race would become extinct.
First, if we would disappear from this moment on. And I know it’s a bit unrealistic. But
without the human maintenance,
pumps that redirect rainfall and rising groundwater wont run. This will result into our s
ubways flooding. This will happen within only a few hours. Then, without
human oversight, bugs in oil refineries and nuclear plants
(kerncentrales) would go unnoticed, likely resulting into massive fires, nuclear
explosions and nuclear fallout. Waste that we left behind (mostly plastic) will still
be here thousands years later, still affecting life on earth. While the water is running
underground, it will destroy metals structure holding up the streets, then adventually i
t will all collapse. Next up are the plants. They will grow where
ever they can, with that they will destroy lots of structures within a few 100 years. In
500 years the street will be convert into little grasslands, and forrest. Buildings
have substained lots of damage from erosion and fire and would degrade.
Eventually, the earth will start healing, but this is a longg process. In
500 years the street will be convert into little grasslands, and forest and chemicals
that we had released will fade away. The air is now less toxic for insects, and they
will return. Also plant communities, soils, waterways and oceans will recover from all
those chemicals. This transition, will result in an increase in biodiversity on earth. So
next up are the animals. For thousands of years animals have been hunt down by us
and now that were gone, they will come back in big numbers. There would be big
animals al over the globe. It will take millions of years before the earth could recover
from past extinctions that we had caused. Climate change is still gonna have a big
influence in the earth. Because of all the massive fires, nuclear explosions and
nuclear fallout, lots of carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. The earth will still warm
up. The ocean will absorb lots of the carbon dioxide but there is not enough ocean.
So there will probably come a new marine animal that will help with this problem.
Lastly, is there any point into looking forward and question what would happen to the
earth if we’re gone? The earth will clearly be better off without us. But still with
everything that we have done to this day, is going to effect the earth for millions of
years. People try to avoid stories about the environment, because it makes them feel
bad about the damage that we do. So by looking into the future without humans, you
could focus people’s attention better. As they’re faced with less guilt.
In conclusion, the earth would simple be better of with out us. But lots of scientist are
now thinking of solutions, so that we can stay and the earth can keep shining. So
with my speech I hoped to make you think more about our affect on the earth and
hoping that you would make small improvements in your daily life, because you gotta
start somewhere,
