Today, I'm going to present to you an unusual topic.
Imagine all the people suddenly disappeared from planet Earth. The reason is irrelevant, just imagine the result. Now, I'm going to tell you what going to happen after we are gone.
Several Hours
Several hours after humanity disappears, lights all around the world will start to shut down since most power stations work on fossil fuel. Without people, there won't be anybody to charge them so they will stop.
48 Hours
48 Hours after registering a sudden drop in energy consumption nuclear power plants will switch to backup/safety mode. Wind mills will keep working till the lubricant runs out. Solar panels will also eventually become useless due to dust deposits. Nearly every region except the ones supplied by hydro electric power stations will have their power cut off. On the West of the United States the generators of Hoover Dam are activated by the water flow from the Lake Mead. Thus it can be left unattended for several months or maybe even years.
2-3 Days
2-3 Days after we vanish from the planet, most metros in the world are going to be flooded because the pumps that protect them from the underground waters won't work without people.
10 Days
Pets locked at home will start dying of starvation and dehydration. Billions of chickens and millions of cows, as well as other farm animals, will be dead. Those who manage to make their way out will enter a ruthless fight for survival. In the brutal world of real wild life, there won't be a niche for decorative cat and dog breeds and they will be the first to die out.
A few weeks later, there won't be any small dog breed left anymore.
One Month
About a month after we disappear, all cooling water on nuclear power stations will have evaporated. This will lead to a series of explosions much stronger than the Fukushima disaster. Millions of animals will die of cancer but overall, the planet will recover from the radioactive contamination rather fast and easily.
One Year
One year after people disappear, strange stars will start falling from the sky. During our space history, we took dozens of thousands of objects to the Earth's orbit. All the satellites will fall after many years.
25 Years
After 25 years, three-quarters or all squares and sidewalks will be covered with vegetation. Where there are plants, there are herbivorous animals and where there is prey there is always a predator. The surviving dogs will cross with the wolves that come to the former cities.
Without us, the air will become much cleaner. In some cities, the visibility range will become several times longer. Cities like Dubai and Las Vegas will be buried in the sand. The desert will take what belongs to it. So will all of Nature.
300 Years
After 300 years, metal constructions such as the Eifel Tower or steel bridges will start to break, since for all these years there won't be anybody to paint or protect from corrosion. Steel rods in concrete will bloat up to almost three times their initial thickness and the last tall buildings will go down.
Vast swamps which formerly occupied America will reappear. Hundreds of birds and animal species will return to their unfairly taken home. Large marine animals will also be very glad not to see us. In the absence of humans, whales will thrive and reproduce to the maximum of the ocean's capacity to feed them.
This is how modern cities would look like after 500 years without people.
10,000 Years
After 10,000 years the only reminiscence people were here someday will be the remains of a few stone constructions among which the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China, Mount Rushmore National Memorial will be there almost intact for hundreds of thousands of years.
50 Million Years
In 50 Million years plastic bottles and pieces of broken glass will be the last traces of our civilization.
In another 50 Million years they will be gone as well.
Save the planet, save yourself
As you can see, our planet is quite sturdy and can get rid of all of our trash if after 300 million years or later there will be a new rational species they might not even notice there was a civilization before.
So, our planet can perfectly do without us. But we can't without her. Save the planet, save yourself.