except for poptarts and twinkies, which last forever

[Guest guest]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2399972.html

200,000 years for all trace of Man to vanish from the Earth

By Lewis Smith

 

Light pollution would be the first to go, followed by fields, buildings and

cities

 

 

IF MAN were to vanish from the face of the Earth today, his footprint on the

planet would linger for the mere blink of an eye in geological terms.

 

 

 

Within hours, nature would begin to eradicate its impact. In 50,000 years all

that would remain would be archaeological traces. Only radioactive materials and

a few man-made chemical contaminants would last longer — an invisible legacy.

 

 

 

 

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances,

there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in

such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest

we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

William O. Douglas