The extent of change we have made on the planet is made evident by the idea of our vanishing. In his book “The World Without Us”, Alan Weisman describes in great detail how long various items would last, from our bronzes to our nuclear waste to our cats to our plastic. It was the plastic that I found particularly revolting, as the effects are already so evident. His description of the North Pacific Gyre, a plastic waste dump the size of our continent, had me searching the internet for more, and vowing to never buy another plastic bottle or bag. I thought I was pretty good, never buying groceries in plastic, until I looked in my medicine cabinet and was horrified by the assortment of shampoo, cosmetic and other plastic containers. Is it possible to avoid it? I will try to find out! I highly recommend this book to everyone.