The World Without Us - Island view

I just finished reading the book, The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. The basis of the book is What If Humans disappeared off the earth or died off real quickly. Besides the question of how that might happen, you wonder about the details of the book. Ecosystems rebounding from the pressure placed on them by man. And the terrible things that man will leave for, sometimes forever, like contamination from nuclear power plants, waste sites and so on. Weisman didn’t mention the reactors in nuclear powered ships and what might happen to them.

I was mainly thinking about the Hawaiian Islands, my home for the last four decades. What would happen here with no more “homo destructus” running the show? Of course, none of the native species that have gone extinct already would ever come back. But how would those here now fare? Many species of alien plants would grow unchecked since no one would be trying to stem their spread. Miconia, clidemia and so on would explode in numbers. Wild pigs, cats and rats would be the dominant animals with little predator pressure. Most pets wouldn’t be able to survive. Maybe horses and cows could carry on and go wild. Native Hawks and owls might expand their range back to the other islands.

Water levels in the acquifers would build up again, and springs would come back. Irrigation systems would collapse from neglect and the formerly diverted water would once again flow in their original ahupua’a (watershed) streams. Streamlife would come back with the renewed streams.

Pearl Harbor would be contaminated by leaking nuclear power plants on the ships, and subs in the harbor at the time of our leaving. But the rest of Oahu and the other islands wouldn’t have that problem. Oil storage tanks by the harbors would leak after corrosion broke them down. The pollution would dissipate over time and conditions would improve.

Offshore, the much degraded coral reefs and the fish populations would rebound over the years with no fishing pressure or man-made pollution affecting them. Whales would go around the island without disturbance from ship traffic.

Hawaii’s isolation would once again enforce a barrier to most species that might try to disperse there. Evolution of the species existing on the islands would continue in unexpected directions. Too bad we will not be around to study it happening.