Weisman’s final sentence in the Prelude provides a provocative launching point into the book: “Is it possible that, instead of heaving a huge biological sigh of relief, the world without us would miss us?”1 Having this idea of nature missing us as or after it takes over again keeps the reader wandering what trick Weisman (or nature!) has up his sleeve as he describes all the serious alterations we have made to the natural ecosystem. It also challenges the widely held assumption that Earth would be better off without us–and so likely happy to see us gone!

There are certainly people out there that believe that the environmental movement (in particular) thinks humanity has been nothing but a scourge on the natural order. While we don’t think that’s necessarily an argument that will do much to advance, well, anything, we do think that Weisman’s “thought experiment” provides a fertile jumping-off point for discussing human interaction with nature. So, we’d like to invite you to discuss the concept of “the world without us” … and enter to win a copy of Weisman’s book.

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