Manhattan, New York is a floodplain, a Venice of waterways and a deserted area with no humans in sight.
It has been 36 hours into a humanless world, and without constant maintenance, sewers cannot hold the water beneath the streets.
That was only one of the images described by Alan Weisman, author of "The World Without Us," who visited West Virginia University Wednesday lecturing as part of the Festival of Ideas.
His visit featured a book signing and questionnaire session.
Weisman is also a journalist who calls his research on the book "scientific reporting," interviewing hundreds of people including engineers, artists, geologists and architects, among others, to find out what would happen if humans suddenly vanished.
"When I realized the utopia ‘Garden of Eden' that the Earth would become, it was like something I sensed we lost and would love to have back again," Weisman said.
He read excerpts from his novel and told the tale of his journey around the world to research what the world would be like.
From the ancient forests of Poland to the Korean demilitarized zone, he saw firsthand ecosystems, still untouched by humans, and how in short time periods a touch can be erased entirely.
Weisman presented the idea of the one child per family rule to the well-attended audience. He said if the law was implemented for all people, within a century the population would be down to 1.8 billion, as it was one century ago. He made clear he was not suggesting it but voicing it.
"It's a topic I've never been presented to in this way," said Lucy Martin, sophomore nursing major. "(It's) usually shooting fear into people, but this was sparking curiosity and imagination. It's interesting to hear it from an unbiased source."
Weisman said during the course of his research he acquired an awe for how powerful life is. Stating facts dating back to the Permian age with the largest mass extinction of more than 90 percent of all life, he quoted the movie Jurassic Park in saying "Life finds a way."
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