The World Without Us perspective. Chauncey Mabe of the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel" calls the book "one of the most satisfying environmental books of recent memory, one devoid of self-righteousness, alarmism or tiresome doomsaying". Tom Spears of the CanWest News Service concludes "it's more a portrait of ourselves, taken through an odd lens" and "[s]ometimes an obituary is the best biography". The book is categorized as non-fiction science but some commentators emphasize it may be better described as speculative fiction. "The World Without Us" is grounded in environmental and science journalism. Like other environmental books, it discusses the impact that the human race has had
Benwood mine disaster committee of eight Marshall County, West Virginia residents known as the Benwood Mine Disaster Memorial Committee was formed in August 2011. Fundraising for the memorial began in 2012. Construction took place between 2013 - 2014. The memorial was formally dedicated on September 27, 2014. A smaller memorial for the five (5) victims of the May 18, 1942 Hitchman Coal & Coke Mine Disaster (this coal mine was also located in Benwood) is also on site and was dedicated on the same day. Since the dedication, a donor stone listing major donors, several bollards lining the driveway turnaround and two benches