prince
22-10-2006, 03:39 AM
If man were to vanish from the face of the Earth today, his footprint on the planet would linger for the mere blink of an eye in geological terms. Within hours, nature would begin to eradicate its impact. In 50,000 years all that would remain would be archaeological traces. Only radioactive materials and a few man-made chemical contaminants would last longer — an invisible legacy. Homo sapiens has managed just 150,000 years on Earth, and his earliest — debatable — ancestor only six million. By contrast, the dinosaurs populated the planet for 165 million years. Man’s environmental footprint would, according to a report in New Scientist, begin to deteriorate almost immediately, with light pollution the first to go as power stations ceased to provide energy. By tomorrow, street lights and house lights left on by their former occupants would start to go out. Streets and cultivated fields would be the next to go. Within 20 years village streets and rural roads would have vanished under a matting of weeds; fields would be overgrown within months. Urban streets would take a little longer, but even in huge man-made sprawls, such as London and Birmingham, plants would have taken over in about 50 years.
Buildings would decay rapidly. Wooden structures would collapse first, assaulted by bugs and grubs. All such homes would be gone in a century. Glass and steel tower blocks that create city skylines would mostly fall down within 200 years. Brick, stone and concrete structures would last longer. With exceptions — the pyramids are already 3,000 years old — by the next millennium there would be little more left than ruins.
Buildings would decay rapidly. Wooden structures would collapse first, assaulted by bugs and grubs. All such homes would be gone in a century. Glass and steel tower blocks that create city skylines would mostly fall down within 200 years. Brick, stone and concrete structures would last longer. With exceptions — the pyramids are already 3,000 years old — by the next millennium there would be little more left than ruins.