As solid and unshakable as we think our civilization is, its grip on nature is tenuous at best. If any cracks appear in the faces of our buildings or our machines, nature is quick to move in and take over. With this in mind, here are 21 photos of places and things that nature is in the process of reclaiming.
Quite a bit of thought has been given to the idea of what Earth might look like once we’re gone. Indeed, many books and TV shows on the topic have found that nature would take our places fairly quickly. Many cities would be re-colonized within a year or two, and many of our buildings would begin crumbling soon after without human maintenance or energy sources. The Life After People series on the History Channel has a comprehensive timeline of collapses detailing when various famous landmarks of human civilization throughout the world might give way to nature.
The Old Piano Tree, California
Image credits: Crackoala
Trees Winning Against Concrete In Hong Kong
Image credits: Romain JL
Abandoned Inner City Railway In Paris
Image credits: messynessychic.com
Bicycle Eaten by A Tree On Vashon Island, Washington
Image credits: Ethan Welty
Abandoned Shopping Mall Taken Over By Fish In Bangkok
Image credits: Jesse Rockwell
Old Abandoned Mill In Sorrento, Italy
Image credits: Jason Wallace
Abandoned Ferris Wheel
Image credits: Kyle Telechan
Vintage Automobile Graveyard, Belgium
Image credits: Rosanne de Lange
Abandoned Mining Town, Namibia
Image credits: Marsel Van Oosten
Abandoned 160-Year-Old Railway In Paris
Image credits: Pierre Folk
102-Year-Old Abandoned Ship In Sydney, Australia
Image credits: AndyBrii
Tree Roots Overcoming Brick Sidewalk
Image credits: worldbeyondyourown
Image credits: Wei-Feng Xue
Abandoned Mansion Near Kilgarvan, Ireland
Image credits: Sam Abell
Abandoned Train Station In Abkhazia
Image credits: Ilya Varlamov
I.M. Cooling Tower, Belgium
Image credits: brokenview
Abandoned Fishermen’s Town In Kamchatka, Russia
Image credits: englishrussia.com
Angkor, Cambodia
Image credits: Pietro Bevilacqua
Image credits: Brad Grove
Abandoned Hotel Room
Image credits: Matthias Haker
The Radioactive Ghost City Of Pripyat, Ukraine
Image credits: castlemaineindependent.org