'The World Without Us': Fragile dams and resilient plastics

For a primer on current environmental concerns -- alongside lessons in sociocultural, architectural, and political history around the world -- pick up Alan Weisman's book, "The World Without Us."

I read this book after watching "Your house without you," a short animation that shows just how long a typical U.S. home would last if humans suddenly disappeared. That times 100 is what "The World Without Us" looks at, examining what seemingly-indestructible edifices will quickly disintegrate without our presence -- and what material legacies will remain of human life long after we disappear as a species.

What will remain: A lot of plastic. "The World Without Us," in fact, features an interview with Capt. Charles Moore, whose discovery of the "Pacific Garbage Patch" -- a huge area in the ocean covered with plastic debris -- prompted the current Junk raft trip, which departed Long Beach for Hawaii on June 1.

Frighteningly, every bit of plastic we've ever created -- save the small amount that's been incinerated -- still remains, according to the chapter titled "Polymers are forever." Even more frightening is the fact that plastics, instead of biodegrading, are simply breaking into smaller and smaller bits -- and getting ingested by smaller and smaller organisms. And because plastics act as sponges for toxic substances such as DDT and PCBs, the potential for bio-accumulation of these poisons as they work their way up the food chain really gets scary.

Not all of "The World Without Us" is so doom and gloom. In fact, because the book covers so much ground -- from the history of the Hagia Sophia to today's virtual water trade in Kenyan flowers -- "The World Without Us" sometimes reads as a compendium of bits of sociocultural histories you've always wanted to learn more about but never got around to exploring on your own. Do you know why wild African animals have survived alongside humans while so many U.S. species went extinct when European settlers arrived? Are you familiar with VHEMT -- The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement? Reading "The World Without You" will educate you about the things you never even knew you were curious about -- and perhaps make you a better Jeopardy player in the process.

Even as it points out some man-made ecological disasters, "The World Without You" doesn't get preachy or push a strong environmental agenda. More than anything, "The World Without You" gives us a glimpse of both the fragility and resilience of life on Earth -- a nature that humans have proved quite adept at destroying, but also a nature that will long outlast the human species. In the end, the book paints a history and future of the Earth that's not so human-centric, and correspondingly, encourages a more humble perspective of our role on this planet. What you end up doing with that perspective is entirely up to you.