From Polar Bears to a Picture Book: Imagining Earth After Humans

22 hours ago

3 min read

What If There Were No Humans On Earth? began as part of a project for my MA course. For many years, I had wanted to create a picture book, suitable for children aged 6–12 or teenagers. It was an ambition I had carried with me since my bachelor's degree.

The idea began to take shape when I came across a series of photographs by Dmitry Kokh, documenting polar bears living in an abandoned meteorological station in the Arctic Circle. I was immediately moved by the story behind the photographs. A place once built and occupied by humans had been abandoned, and the polar bears had gradually made it their own.

Around the same time, during the first unit of my MA, I had a conversation with my bookbinding tutor, Joseph. We talked about the future of the Earth and what might happen if humans eventually had to move to Mars. I imagined that, without humans, the Earth might recover and become stronger. Joseph offered another perspective: even if humans moved to Mars, they might still treat Earth as a source of resources, extracting materials and sending them to Mars.

That conversation sat with me for weeks. Then I saw Kokh’s photographs; these two ideas suddenly seemed connected. I began to wonder: What would happen to the Earth if humans left? And what would happen to the animals we could not take with us?

This became the starting point for my picture book — What If There Were No Humans On Earth?

In my imagined future, the Earth is approaching destruction. Humans build huge spaceships and move to Mars, but they cannot take every animal with them. Instead, they select only a few pairs of each species, echoing the story of Noah’s Ark. Many animals are left behind: polar bears, kangaroos, penguins and many others.

With humans gone, the animals begin exploring the spaces we have left behind. They wander into flats, supermarkets and other buildings. They start imitating human behaviour — going shopping for food, trying on clothes, eating at tables and exploring the strange world humans have created.

The idea was also influenced by the pandemic. When people stayed indoors, animals appeared to have more space, and the environment began to change. The documentary The Year Earth Changed particularly inspired me by showing how quickly nature could respond when human activity decreased.

Some people were initially confused by the combination of animals in the story, such as alpacas and giraffes appearing in the same city. At first, I simply drew the animals because I wanted them to look cute and expressive. But I later realised that the story takes place in the distant future, and the animals might escape from the zoo.

My first version ended sadly: on the final page, readers realised the animals had already died — closer to ghosts than survivors. It was striking, but too heavy for young readers. After talking it through with the publisher, Tiny Tree Books, we agreed the ending needed to change — not to soften the idea, but to find a way of telling it a child could actually sit with.

What If There Were No Humans On Earth? began with a photograph of polar bears and has become an exploration of nature, the future of our planet, and what the Earth might look like when humans are no longer at the centre of the story.