There is no doubt that there has been an unstoppable growth of the human population in our world today. According to the Ecology Global Network, there are approximately 360,000 births per day; which totals to over 131.4 million births per year. The impacts of the global population growth do not just stop in the world’s economic and livelihood aspect. Instead, the most significant impacts of the rapidly increasing human population are on the environment. There is a growing demand on food production from the diminishing amount of land and water resources, air, water, and land pollution, and the global warming. Studies say that the continuous increase of the world’s population can result to earth’s much larger problems that can bring events harming humankind and the creatures that live on it.

What if mankind were wiped off existence? Will these growing problems be wiped off, too? In our today’s generation, ideas about the human apocalypse and the human extinction are also growing, especially in the movie and entertainment industry. Hundreds of science fiction movies depicting the end of the world and the end of human race were also increasingly released each year. Almost all of these sci-fi movies show everything that humans built will soon be gone and ruined over time. Some also suggests that just like the dinosaurs, humans will be extinct, because of some natural or man-made phenomenon such as nuclear radiation breakout, meteors falling down on earth, or maybe a particle accelerator explosion (but not the one that made the Flash and the “metahumans” possible).

Do you ever wonder what will happen if humans just disappear from the face of the earth? In reality, even experts came up with a theory on what will really happen on earth if the human race ever goes extinct, regardless of what phenomena it will be. They said that the earth will reset and restore some of its natural features; however, the reset will only happen after thousands of years and after the negative effects of the human extinction were already diminished or gone. Here is the list of the possible things that will happen once humans were wiped off existence.

15. Let There Be No Light!

Once the humankind went extinct, areas of the world will go dark. This effect will happen within just merely hours after the human extinction. Without the human skills and actions, power plants will fail to convert fossil fuels into energy that will provide light. Also, since nobody left on earth will be using power, the power plant’s system is designed to automatically stop emitting power, whenever there is a sudden drop in power consumption.

There will still be areas that will remain to have light due to the solar, hydroelectric, and windmill powered power plants. But still, without manpower, this will only last for days, months, or even a year for some. Eventually, after all of the energies that these plants will emit were used up, the world will be completely dark.

14. A Great Street Flood and Water Pollution

Our cities’ best streets, avenues, and boulevards will become temporary rivers of flood. After few days, the tunnels and subway systems will start to flood because the pumps that are keeping these stations dry are ran by humans and electricity. Once the tunnels and subways were filled, the flood will go up and fill the streets. Eventually, the flood will trickle down to other bodies of water.

It’s not just the streets, but also the rivers and other bodies of water will be flooded. How can that possibly happen? Sewage treatment plants also need power and electricity and without the essential resources, sewage can go up the sewers and flow to the bodies of water. This is a toxic wastewater that can pollute the oceans and rivers, and it can also poison the animals.

13. The Animals Will Starve

Our little pooches and felines will begin to starve just a few hours and days after the human extinction. Who will take care of them? These domesticated pets that were not taught how to hunt and find preys will soon die of starvation, and so are the zoo animals that were kept fed regularly by their zookeepers.

On the brighter side, pests such as cockroaches and other creatures that depend on human activity will also die that can lead to their species’ extinction.

12. The Birth of Predators

While some animals starve, other animals will become wild and embrace their preying and hunting instincts. Caged animals will be able to escape their enclosures and will go on a killing spree. Because of starvation, these animals will run amok and become violent and uncontrollable. Predators will start preying on small and weaker animals, while our domestic pets will learn how to hunt and pick off smaller creatures in order to survive and thrive.

11. Air Pollution, Mass Explosions and Global Radiation

All of the dangerous chemicals that were maintained by humans will be released in gas form. The experts called this certain phenomenon as “mini chemical nuclear winter”, wherein chemicals, in the form of gasses, will invade the earth’s atmosphere and contaminate the air that the living creatures at this time breathe.

Aside from the chemicals, there are natural gasses that were also maintained by mankind, and failure to contain dangerous substances present in these natural gasses will cause mass explosions. The world will eventually suffer and burn for days or even months without human help. There will be carnage of the other species that were left on earth after the human extinction.

The most important power plants are the nuclear plants. Although these stopped operating and providing power, there will be a massive nuclear explosion after months. As the emergency generators fail and run out, the cooling pools that control nuclear substances will evaporate. After the nuclear explosions, dangerous radiation will remain for thousands of years.

10. The Fall of Satellites

Years after the human extinction, the artificial satellites that were sent by humankind into orbit will begin to fall. These satellites that are orbiting the earth will soon run out of fuel and fall down. Unlike the “planned” re-entry of satellites today, there will be no human that will be able to plan the final destination of these satellites into a remote area where its debris will not cause any casualties when this happens after the human extinction.

Although the smaller satellites will more likely burn up upon the re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere due to the heat from the friction, the bigger satellites don’t just totally burn up. Today, space operators have a place to store these large satellites and this place is called the “Spacecraft Cemetery”. After the human extinction, the falling satellites will no longer fall on the Spacecraft Cemetery. The debris will just keep falling everywhere on earth that can even harm the animals that are still alive.

Meanwhile, the satellites that were sent way up high at over 22,000 miles above the earth are predicted to stay there and wander at the outer space. However, due to the gravitational pull of the earth, these satellites will not wander very far and will stay near the earth’s atmosphere, polluting and populating the area.

9. Vegetation Reversal

First, the animals, and then, the vegetation will go wild, too. Mankind tried to crossbreed different plant species over time to produce perfect harvests – our today’s delicious fruits and vegetables. Who would think that these are not these fruits’ and vegetables’ natural appearances? Studies say that without the mankind’s cultivation, these vegetations will go wild in a way that these will go back to their natural forms. The vegetations will become unrecognizable over just a span of one or two decades.

8. Home, Sweet Home Is Gone

Mankind’s homes will start to fall apart over 20 or 30 years after the human extinction. Houses need ongoing maintenance and repair. Without power sources and maintenance, house structures will be weakened over time and begin deteriorating until nothing will be left. Similar today, vacant and abandoned houses have larger tendencies of crumbling down and rotting than the occupied houses.

7. Vegetation and Sand to Cover The Face of The Earth

Famous cities and urbanized areas will soon be covered by the thriving vegetation in 25 years after human extinction. There will no person left to control the growth of plants, grasses, and mosses. The nearby forests will reclaim their previous territories, where our today’s cities are lying, and no one will stop the thriving of the trees and other vegetation.

While some areas will be mostly green, some areas will be covered with sand. Beautiful cities such as the iconic Las Vegas and Dubai will soon be covered with sand, leaving no skyscraper to be visible. The once lively and populated cities will soon be taken over by reptiles and vultures.

6. Animal Kingdom Will Move Up

After the human extinction, animals will dominate the world. That is possible if after the world devastating phenomenon took place, there are still animals left. The survivors of the animal kingdom will be able to creep, fly, and swim on earth and repopulate the earth, thus, giving birth to more animal species. Without human violence and selfish gains, animals that went endangered will soon be thriving in world dominance.

5. A Reset: The Great Flood

Remember the story of Noah’s ark? The great flood will also happen after the human extinction, except that there will be mankind who will board the ark. After hundreds of years, manmade structures, dams specifically, will soon crumble and collapse due to the water pressure. The waters will sink the coastal and delta cities and flow towards the other bodies of water, causing the great flood-like phenomena that will change the world’s geography.

4. Corrosion and Ruins

After the major reset, at about three hundred years after the human extinction, the skyscrapers and metal structures will soon corrode. The iconic Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, and even the steel bridges will break apart and fall down the ground. Some of mankind’s greatest creative masterpieces will also be wiped off. But, stone structures will remain on earth for tens of thousands of years. The Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid of Giza will be ruined in time, but will still stand firm on the ground to serve as a mark of human existence. The world will just be a place of ruins and remnants of yesterday’s human race.

3. Clean and Breathable Atmosphere

The contamination of the earth’s atmosphere finally ended. Hundreds of thousands of years later after the nuclear and chemical breakout, there will be a cleaner air, free from pollution and harmful substances. Finally, earth’s atmosphere is clean and more breathable for every creature left on it. Visibility all over the world will also be clearer. At this time, Mother Earth may be thinking of human disappearance as the solution for the unending air pollution that humans cause today.

2. Plastic, The Lone Survivor

Experts say that only visible memorabilia that humankind will leave the earth is plastic. Hundreds of millions of years later after the human extinction, plastic particles will still be present on earth due to its resistance to break down, corrosion, and rust, regardless of any weather. Plastic has different decomposing properties. Unlike organic materials, plastic don’t decompose through bacteria, but it can decompose through sunlight or fire. However, even though the plastic were burned, there will still be plastic particles that will be left. Micro-particles will still remain on earth, and should there be new species walking on earth, they can find plastic on human fossils.

1. Electromagnetic Radiation

Although the atmosphere will be cleared from the contamination and the dangerous substances that are breathable, electromagnetic radiation will remain around the earth. While plastic can be destroyed, electromagnetic signals will remain on earth forever. How amazing is that? Fragments and remnants of telephone, television, radio, and internet signals we make today will still be pinging around in space even after the human extinction.

Again, should there be new species walking on earth or any extra-terrestrial creatures that will visit our planet, there are still clues left behind for them to discover that humankind existed hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago.