What Would Happen if Everyone Suddenly Disappeared?

Saturday - June 24 2023, 23:07 UTC - 1 year ago

If everyone suddenly disappeared, the world would be incredibly silent and much of the technology we rely on would cease to work. The landscape would dramatically change, as plants, flowers and animals from before humans took over the world flourished and took over. Bugs and critters would be everywhere.

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone suddenly disappeared? What would happen to all our stuff? What would happen to our houses, our schools, our neighborhoods, our cities? Who would feed the dog? Who would cut the grass? Although it’s a common theme in movies, TV shows and books, the end of humanity is still a strange thing to think about. But as an associate professor of urban design – that is, someone who helps towns and cities plan what their communities will look like – it’s sometimes my job to think about prospects like this .

So much silence If humans just disappeared from the world, and you could come back to Earth to see what had happened one year later, the first thing you’d notice wouldn’t be with your eyes. It would be with your ears. The world would be quiet. And you would realize how much noise people make. Our buildings are noisy. Our cars are noisy. Our sky is noisy. All of that noise would stop. You’d notice the weather .

After a year without people, the sky would be bluer, the air clearer. The wind and the rain would scrub clean the surface of the Earth; all the smog and dust that humans make would be gone. Home sweet home Imagine that first year, when your house would sit unbothered by anyone. Go inside your house – and hope you’re not thirsty, because no water would be in your faucets. Water systems require constant pumping .

If no one’s at the public water supply to manage the machines that pump water, then there’s no water. But the water that was in the pipes when everyone disappeared would still be there when the first winter came – so on the first cold snap, the frigid air would freeze the water in the pipes and burst them. There would be no electricity. Power plants would stop working because no one would monitor them and maintain a supply of fuel .

So your house would be dark, with no lights, TV, phones or computers. Your house would be dusty. Actually, there’s dust in the air all the time, but we don’t notice it because our air conditioning systems and heaters blow air around. And as you move through the rooms in your house, you keep dust on the move too. But once all that stops, the air inside your house would be still and the dust would settle all over .

The grass in your yard would grow – and grow and grow until it got so long and floppy it would stop growing. New weeds would appear, and they would be everywhere. Lots of plants that you’ve never seen before would take root in your yard. Every time a tree drops a seed, a little sapling might grow. No one would be there to pull it out or cut it down. You’d notice a lot more bugs buzzing around. Remember, people tend to do everything they can to get rid of bugs .

They spray the air and the ground with bug spray. They remove bug habitat. They put screens on the windows. And if that doesn’t work, they swat them. Without people doing all these things, the bugs would come back. They would have free rein of the world again. On the street where you live In your neighborhood, critters would wander around, looking and wondering. First the little ones: mice, groundhogs, raccoons, skunks, foxes and beavers .

That last one is a big deal, because beavers like to build dams and when they do, they can completely change their environment.