This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What’s the relationship between the population and the environment? Is it straightforward or nuanced and complex?
In The World Without Us, science journalist Alan Weisman outlines the ways the human race has left a mark on our planet. He asserts that the Earth’s environment would benefit if the human population declined or even vanished, and he conducts a thought experiment to explore the implications.
Keep reading to learn about the interplay between the population and the environment from the perspective of this thought experiment.
Population and the Environment
Weisman believes that it’s important to understand the connection between the human population and the environment. He discusses many imprints the human race has made as we’ve restructured the natural landscape to suit our own needs. Among these are how we’ve turned vast swaths of forest into farmland, how we’ve crisscrossed the world with cities and infrastructure to support our growing population, and how we’ve dealt (responsibly or otherwise) with the never-ending supply of waste that industrial civilization generates.
Given all the ways in which we’ve reshaped the world and continue to affect it every day, Weisman asks a question that’s normally the purview of science fiction writers: What if the human race vanished all at once but left all our buildings, roads, and power plants intact?
Weisman is clear to point out that this is just a thought experiment—he doesn’t advocate human extinction as a solution to the world’s environmental problems. Though, he does describe the environmental benefits we would see from a voluntary decline in population. Such declines are already taking place in countries where women have access to education, careers, and contraception. In the afterword to the book’s 2022 edition, Weisman remarks on the temporary reprieve the environment experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic—not because of the deaths, but because of the reduction in auto traffic, shipping, and air travel.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The World Without Us summary:
- What would happen to Earth if the human race disappeared
- How the planet would benefit from a human extinction
- What the immediate vs. long-term effects would look like
