The World Without Us

and maneating lions, 77

Mombasa, 77

sloths, 62

fossils, 54

Giant ground sloth (Megatherium americanum), 62

Shasta ground sloth, 57–58

Smith, Jennifer, 258

Smithsonian Institution, 68

soil

Dioxins, 156

heavy metals, 29, 31, 158–59, 159, 221

PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), 156, 165, 267

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), 125–26, 156, 159, 267

pH levels, 153, 155

POPs (persistent organic pollutants), 159, 165

toxins in, 157–59

See also

fertilizer

South America

biological interchange, 180–81

and bird extinctions, 199

Clovis people in, 60

marsupial mammals, 180

Meso-Americans, European diseases and, 61

rubber plantations, 2

slash-and-burn, 12, 167–68

Zapara Indians, 1–3

Southeast Asia

rubber plantations, 2

See also

Asia

Sozen, Mete, 102–5

space

asteroids, 230, 231

Big Bang theory, 270

constellation Hercules, 253

Frank Drake’s radio greeting, 253

electromagnetic radio waves, 252–54

as expanding bubble, 275

exploration, 16

I Love Lucy broadcasts, 253–54

Pioneer spacecrafts, 249, 252

transhumanists and, 243–44

Voyager spacecrafts, 248–51, 254

Spanish-American War, 174

Spinney, Laura, 165–66

stainless steel

deterioration of, 18

Stalin, Josef, 10

Statue of Liberty (NYC), 37, 246–47

Sterling Chemical, 135

accident at, 136

Stevenson, Dennis, 31

Styrofoam, 118, 131

subways, 24–26

and earthquakes, 105

flooding in, 25–26, 35–36

Istanbul, 105

Montreal, 105

Moscow, 105

New York City, 25–26, 35–36, 105

San Francisco Bay Area, 105

Suez Canal, 174, 175

Sunim, Hyon Gak, 189

Takada, Hideshige, 124–25, 125

Tamar River, 112

Temple, Stanley, 197–98

Teraina (Washington), 259, 260

Tesla, Nikola, 252, 254

Texas

Brazos de Dios River, 142, 143

Galveston, 135, 143–44

Houston, 132, 133–34, 134–35, 141–44

petrochemical industry, 132–33, 135–36, 136, 138–40

Ship Channel, 134, 135, 140–41, 142, 143

Texas City, 135–36, 136–38

Valero Energy Corporation and, 136

See also

Gulf of Mexico

Texas City Prairie Preserve, 140–41

Texas Gulf coast

discovery of oil, 135

salt dome storage caverns, 133

Texas Petrochemical, 132–33

Thompson, Richard, 112–14, 115–16, 117–18, 123, 125

Thoreau, Henry, 148

Thorson, Robert, 146

Three Mile Island Plant (PA), 212–13

Tikal (Mayan site), 223

Titan, 269

toxins

chemical fertilizer, 74

DDT, 74, 129, 159, 196

Dieldrin, 74

Dioxins, 156

EDCs (endocrine-disrupting chemicals), 124

heavy metals, 29, 31, 158, 159, 221

insecticides, 74