If all bugs died today, in fifty years, the world will end. If all humans died today, in fifty years, the world will flourish. Puts your life in perspective, amirite?

Actually, I'm pretty sure we'd have a lot of issues. Because of our influence, we've messed up the balance of creatures, so the animal world would be unbalanced.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

lol, I'm picturing a bunch of cows just standing around like 'wtf do we do now.... mooooooooooooooooooo...'

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You just put that image into my head.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If all humans died today, there would be a huge nuclear apocalypse and THEN the world would flourish.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It wouldn't be a nuclear apocalypse, just a lot of toxic waste/radiation around powerplant sites. It would be like a million Chernobles, but only in places where there are nuclear power plants.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Wouldn't nuclear plants stop working without maintenance? Toxic waste would stay within a powerplant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No toxic waste needs to be constantly kept at extremely low temperatures for it to be contained, and those cooling systems would fail pretty quickly without human oversight.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I think "flourish" is too strong a word for that little of time. There would still be issues by then. 50 years is nothing in terms of the Earth and life/extinction. But I do see your point.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I think your claim is silly because you have no reliable sources to back it up. :|

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And I'd like to add that this claim can't be based on "common sense". How do you KNOW what chain reactions each animal causes? Have you studied this in a scientific setting? I doubt it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well, take bees for example. We know from observations that their population is declining. Declining population--> less pollination --->less plants grow ----> less food --->more animals die.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But there isn't anyone here proving it would cause the world to end.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well, maybe not in fifty years, and maybe won't cause all the life on earth to die, but there will certainly be some consequence.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I definitely agree that it would result in consequences. I just can't take the post seriously until I get information from a reliable source.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Fair enough.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's because we're at the top of the food chain. Nothing eats only humans, like many things eat only bugs.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's just the price of being at the top of the food chain. The higher up you go, the less important your presence is to mainaining the system. When you're at the bottom, everything above you depends on your species' survival. It's like a pyramid, if you take of the top piece, nothing much happens but if you take off one of the bottom pieces, everything it was supporting goes with it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Humans are just one species. Insects, or bugs, consist of many. If one type of bug died out, it would not be a disaster. Just like if humans were gone.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I think your post DOES have proof. There are tons of articles about food webs and such. Seriously, it takes basic knowledge of biology to understand this...I've read an article where whole forests have been destroyed because of gypsy moths. There's more to it than the moths, but this is all I feel like fitting in right now.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If all bugs died, we would survive. We would still have cows, which eat grass, to eat. We would still have plants to eat.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But a lot of plants would die because bugs play a major role in pollination.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's because we're at the top of the food chain, and those near the top don't really benefit anyone else. i mean, if all the apes died, not much would happen

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I believe the source you're looking for is Jonas Salk, a medical researcher and virologist that died in the 90s. http://earthsouldiers.wordpress.com/eco-quotes/ Pre-dates the OP's comment, moreso when you consider that Salk died in 95. ... You're welcome.

by Anonymous 11 years ago