Life After Humans

The sun rises slowly over the city skyline. It’s the start of rush hour. There should be cars and people making their way through the bustling streets of New York City, yet the city is quiet. There is not a soul to be found. There is no quiet hum of car engines, there is no human chatter flowing through the streets, there is just quiet. It’s not total silence, not even close, but it’s certainly the most quiet this bustling city has ever been. The only thing to be heard is the soft shifting of plants and the low chatter of birds on the top of the buildings. The city and the world had been quiet like this for nearly a decade now. The descent of humanity was slow and subtle, but the take back of Earth by nature was quick and unforgiving. Humans slowly destroyed themselves with their own hatred and sealed their fates with a smile. It was a slow fall over many years but the decline was quite steady. The wars damaged the environment enough that it felt the need to fight back. The ocean became more unruly, it slowly took over the coast and consumed whole cities, leaving mass wreckage in its wake. The weather became more violent, its own way of trying to warn the humans they were starting to go too far. They didn’t listen, of course. That’s the thing they were best at after all. Ignoring the signs around them was their favourite hobby. They caused their own doom and wiped themselves out. Earth didn't care. Earth took the opportunity to claim it back. Roots began to spread all over Earth. Fungus, and trees, and flowers quickly began taking over the empty land. With no one left to cut them back as they used to, they quickly took over. The roots now run deeper than they have in a very very long time. All life is now connected, in harmony, communicating through the roots that run far beneath the soil they stand on. They have achieved the things humans never could. The remaining living things are all in perfect harmony, working as a unit to live and survive, going back to the way it was before humans overran the world with pollution and filth and metal. The animals help the plants spread and in return the plants feed the animals. They have an understanding that could have never happened with the presence of humans. Life goes on and is born again as if humans were never there to begin with, the only evidence being the things they left behind that now host a plethora of plants and animals. The only good things humans have done for this planet was leaving it and letting nature reset. Maybe somewhere out there, humans remain and they can rebuild. They can rebuild a different life and learn from the mistakes of the past. Make peace with each other and the planet they live on instead of trying to control things and hating it when they can’t. Maybe they have a chance but only time will tell. If they want to live a good life they need to change their ways. The problem the first time around was that too many people got too comfortable staying the way they were even when there were signs they were doing it wrong. Now, Earth is quiet and the only living things who remember humans were the ones who were harmed by them.