Human-free earth: the nearest future, or a fantasy? A lesson from artists

ABSTRACT

We, the people of planet Earth are heading for extinction. What is more, we deny reality by denying facts. First, we just need to see them and admit their existence. Without doing that, our species cannot survive. This paper presents an artistic vision of Human-Free Earth presented at the exhibition on Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland. The artists, all of them without exception, are showing us how our home will look like very soon. In isolation from the scientific studies presented also at this paper, the works of the artists will seem to be abstract and detached visions of a few people. Yet those visions overlap with current knowledge and so are even more terrifying. Furthermore, a simple analysis was done to prove why people ignore clear signs of environmental changes. Overall, existing papers and reports indicate that restoring nature to the state it was before the industrial revolution is impossible, and without the planetary political will, humankind will share the fate of the species it has already destroyed.

KEYWORDS:

• Human extinction
• scientists
• artists
• ecosystem change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. We know much more; what is presented here is just a drop in the ocean.

2. This applies to both developed and developing countries, as ‘rich’ countries dump waste in ‘poor’ countries [35,36].

3. See [37].

4. In the description of the exhibition, I was helped by information from the Human-Free Earth exhibition’s official guide [38].

5. See [39].

6. Poem Petroleum Troubador Machine by Maureen N. McLane.

7. Poem Immortal by Ruth Ozeki.