“You know,” said Diego, “I’ve been reading about one of the biggest environmental catastrophes of our time, in Chernobyl. That’s in Russia. After twenty five years of being left alone, I mean really alone, from humans anyway, the environment has shown an amazing ability to recover. It’s not back to where humans can go in there safely, at least not yet, but animals seem to do okay. There’s brown bear, moose, wolf, elk, wild boar, badgers and many more big animals, and in great numbers. Some, like the wolves and moose hadn’t been seen there in as much as a hundred years, and yet, they’re making a comeback. Also true for smaller animals like shrews, mice, voles, and the like, not to mention plants. Then there’s the insects, too. Turns out the greatest thing that ever happened to the flora and fauna there is a nuclear accident, if you believe the results of all the studies that are being published. I think that’s because it got rid of people. People, one can easily conclude, are worse for an area than a nuclear disaster.”
I laughed at the irony, then I thought about it, thinking it would not surprise me if this kid was right.
From In the Land of Fire.