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[[folder:Comedy]]
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
[[/folder]]
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''RolePlay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', during the course of Team Earthbound, Nova, and other's adventures in PMD-B, a post-apocalyptic version of the Alternate Timeline where humans were rendered virtually extinct by being turned into Pokémon, they find that many of the old cities have gotten a new coating of green. Azalea for instance was completely swallowed by Ilex Forest.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* In ''RolePlay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', during the course of Team Earthbound, Nova, and other's adventures in PMD-B, a post-apocalyptic version of the Alternate Timeline where humans were rendered virtually extinct by being turned into Pokémon, they find that many of the old cities have gotten a new coating of green. Azalea for instance was completely swallowed by Ilex Forest.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
to:
* In ''RolePlay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', during the course of Team Earthbound, Nova, and other's adventures in PMD-B, a post-apocalyptic version of the Alternate Timeline where humans were rendered virtually extinct by being turned into Pokémon, they find that many of the old cities have gotten a new coating of green. Azalea for instance was completely swallowed by Ilex Forest.
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[[folder:Film -
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
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--> ''A pleasant patina pulls apart a holy copper shrine''
--> ''Like gently creeping mossy claws, scarring all divine''
--> ''All the things you think you value, including the gift of life''
--> ''Will slowly, gently fall apart, until the world is right.''
--> ''Like gently creeping mossy claws, scarring all divine''
--> ''All the things you think you value, including the gift of life''
--> ''Will slowly, gently fall apart, until the world is right.''
to:
--> ''Like
Like gently creeping mossy claws, scarring all
--> ''All
All the things you think you value, including the gift of
--> ''Will
Will slowly, gently fall apart, until the world is right.''
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[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
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*
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----
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* A small-scale example happens in ''Film/AvengersEndgame. When Scott is walking through the suburbs of San Francisco, houses and sections of sidewalk are shown being covered with overgrowth from house plants and trees because there was nobody there to maintain it.
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* A small-scale example happens in ''Film/AvengersEndgame.''Film/AvengersEndgame''. When Scott is walking through the suburbs of San Francisco, houses and sections of sidewalk are shown being covered with overgrowth from house plants and trees because there was nobody there to maintain it.
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* A small-scale example happens in ''Film/AvengersEndgame. When Scott is walking through the suburbs of San Francisco, houses and sections of sidewalk are shown being covered with overgrowth from house plants and trees because there was nobody there to maintain it.
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Compare to NewEden, where society can benefit and start anew after nature has erased what they created countless ages ago. Contrast RagnarokProofing, where society builds something that ''will'' withstand the test of time. A GreenThumb may deliberately invoke this trope with their powers.
to:
Compare to NewEden, where society can benefit and start anew after nature has erased what they created countless ages ago. Contrast RagnarokProofing, where society builds something that ''will'' withstand the test of time. Could overlap with GaiasVengeance. A GreenThumb may deliberately invoke this trope with their powers.
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* In the BeachEpisode of ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'', the kids wander off from the beach and discover an old city long abandoned. The streets are covered in overgrown vegetation, and when they inspect an old mansion, they find a tree growing through the middle of an old piano.
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* In ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'', absolutely nothing remains of the buildings of the Krell in the surface of the planet (underground being another story), now reclaimed by desert and forest after it was razed clean in a single night [[spoiler:courtesy of their monsters of the Id]].
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Since the bulk of the story is about a handful of explorers checking out what has become of areas that were abandonned during a ninety year old ZombieApocalypse, plenty of old human structures taken over by plants and animals show up.
[[/folder]]
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Since the bulk of the story is about a handful of explorers checking out what has become of areas that were abandonned during a ninety year old ZombieApocalypse, plenty of old human structures taken over by plants and animals show up.
[[/folder]]
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** In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' it's shown to be happening to the newer park as well.
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* Las Vegas has been reclaimed by the desert (except for a few buildings such as the ''Circus Circus'' Casino) in the handful of years following WorldWarIII in ''Film/DamnationAlley''.
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* "The Last Bastion" animated short for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' shows that Bastion himself started off like this. After the Omnic war, he was shut down in the middle of a forest, and was soon overtaken by lichen and moss until a bird landed in front of his sensor and woke him up. One of his game skins features the moss and dirt clumps still on his body.
to:
* "The Last Bastion" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8yh83jlXg animated short short]] for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' shows that Bastion himself started off like this. After the Omnic war, he was shut down in the middle of a forest, and was soon overtaken by lichen and moss until a bird landed in front of his sensor and woke him up. One of his game skins features the moss and dirt clumps still on his body.
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Removing Sinkholes and fridge links.
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* The epilogue scene of ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'' has Stanley (the titular Troll) doing this to ''the whole of New York'' with his GreenThumb powers. [[InferredHolocaust This]] [[FridgeHorror is meant]] [[EsotericHappyEnding to be seen]] as a ''good'' thing.
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* The epilogue scene of ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'' has Stanley (the titular Troll) doing this to ''the whole of New York'' with his GreenThumb powers. [[InferredHolocaust This]] [[FridgeHorror This is meant]] [[EsotericHappyEnding to be seen]] seen as a ''good'' a ''[[EsotericHappyEnding good]]'' thing.
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* The epilogue scene of ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'' has Stanley (the titular Troll) doing this to ''the whole of New York'' with his GreenThumb powers. [[InferredHolocaust This]] [[FridgeHorror is meant]] [[EsotericHappyEnding to be seen]] as a ''good'' thing.
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* ''Series/{{Aftermath}}'': The pilot episode theorizes what would happen after humanity suddenly vanishes. Most human structures take only a century or two to decay. The only thing indicated to last many millions of years is the moon lander left behind on the airless rock.
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* The European Dead Zone in ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' is named as such because a shard of the Traveler fell nearby and causes strange phenomena on top of the centuries of war that has driven humanity away from the area. The entire area is a mix of decays vehicles, salt mines, dilapidated buildings, and other structures that have been overtaken by grass, moss, and other greenery.
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* The European Dead Zone in ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' is named as such because a shard of the Traveler fell nearby and causes strange phenomena on top of the centuries of war that has driven humanity away from the area. The entire area is a mix of decays decayed vehicles, salt mines, dilapidated buildings, and other structures that have been overtaken by grass, moss, and other greenery.
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* The ending of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'' sees the western half of North America suddenly covered with pine trees thanks to Bigfoot magic. The actual ramifications of a forest just instantly sprouting up would be apocalyptic if it wasn't all PlayedForLaughs.
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[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
[[/folder]]
* This is the point of Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "The Planet is Fine" bit.
[[/folder]]
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* Viridi from ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' weaponizes this trope with her Reset Bombs -- massive seeds that can regrow an entire forest in minutes. After one is dropped on a human settlement, all that's left are a few chunks of buildings being held up by giant vines and roots.
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* ''Beautiful Decline'' by Music/AbneyPark is all about the Earth's inevitable return to its natural state post-humanity's extinction.
--> ''A pleasant patina pulls apart a holy copper shrine''
--> ''Like gently creeping mossy claws, scarring all divine''
--> ''All the things you think you value, including the gift of life''
--> ''Will slowly, gently fall apart, until the world is right.''
--> ''A pleasant patina pulls apart a holy copper shrine''
--> ''Like gently creeping mossy claws, scarring all divine''
--> ''All the things you think you value, including the gift of life''
--> ''Will slowly, gently fall apart, until the world is right.''
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Added DiffLines:
* The European Dead Zone in ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' is named as such because a shard of the Traveler fell nearby and causes strange phenomena on top of the centuries of war that has driven humanity away from the area. The entire area is a mix of decays vehicles, salt mines, dilapidated buildings, and other structures that have been overtaken by grass, moss, and other greenery.
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[[folder:Music]]
* In the Music/TalkingHeads song "(Nothing But) Flowers," a man longs for the shopping malls, fast-food restaurants, cars and other accoutrements of civilization that disappeared when vegetation gradually overtook them and returned humanity to a NewEden state.
[[/folder]]
* In the Music/TalkingHeads song "(Nothing But) Flowers," a man longs for the shopping malls, fast-food restaurants, cars and other accoutrements of civilization that disappeared when vegetation gradually overtook them and returned humanity to a NewEden state.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''RolePlay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', during the course of Team Earthbound, Nova, and other's adventures in PMD-B, a post-apocalyptic version of the Alternate Timeline where humans were rendered virtually extinct by being turned into Pokémon, they find that many of the old cities have gotten a new coating of green. Azalea for instance was completely swallowed by Ilex Forest.
[[/folder]]
* In ''RolePlay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'', during the course of Team Earthbound, Nova, and other's adventures in PMD-B, a post-apocalyptic version of the Alternate Timeline where humans were rendered virtually extinct by being turned into Pokémon, they find that many of the old cities have gotten a new coating of green. Azalea for instance was completely swallowed by Ilex Forest.
[[/folder]]
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For a long minute, Luke just stood there, gazing at the spot where the house had been, a freshly renewed sense of loss struggling against the embarrassing realization that he’d been a fool. Growing up on Tattooine, where an abandoned structure could last for half a century or more, it had somehow never occurred to him to consider what would happen to that same structure after five years in a swamp.
to:
For a long minute, Luke just stood there, gazing at the spot where the house had been, a freshly renewed sense of loss struggling against the embarrassing realization that he’d been a fool. Growing up on Tattooine, Tatooine, where an abandoned structure could last for half a century or more, it had somehow never occurred to him to consider what would happen to that same structure after five years in a swamp.
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* In ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Heir to the Empire]]'', Luke returns to Yoda’s home on Dagobah five years after the events of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' in search of anything that might help him train Leia, only to find this trope in effect.
-->But at last they arrived...to find the house effectively gone.\\
For a long minute, Luke just stood there, gazing at the spot where the house had been, a freshly renewed sense of loss struggling against the embarrassing realization that he’d been a fool. Growing up on Tattooine, where an abandoned structure could last for half a century or more, it had somehow never occurred to him to consider what would happen to that same structure after five years in a swamp.
-->But at last they arrived...to find the house effectively gone.\\
For a long minute, Luke just stood there, gazing at the spot where the house had been, a freshly renewed sense of loss struggling against the embarrassing realization that he’d been a fool. Growing up on Tattooine, where an abandoned structure could last for half a century or more, it had somehow never occurred to him to consider what would happen to that same structure after five years in a swamp.
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* Mowgli from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' decides that a human village that is home to a MilesGloriosus needs to be eradicated. Mowgli's strategy: "Let the jungle in." He starts a rumor that the tastiest greens are found in the village's crop fields. Herbivores come to graze, wrecking the crops; then predators come to hunt the herbivores, endangering the populace, until the place is too "wild" to live in. It doesn't take many years in that climate for the surrounding jungle to reclaim that now-abandoned village.
to:
* Mowgli from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' decides that a human village that is home to a MilesGloriosus needs to be eradicated. Mowgli's strategy: "Let the jungle in." He starts a rumor that the tastiest greens are found in the village's crop fields. Herbivores come to graze, wrecking the crops; then predators come to hunt the herbivores, endangering the populace, until populace. Finally, as the place is too "wild" to live in. It doesn't take many years in that climate for villagers finally flee, Hathi the surrounding Elephant and his sons demolish the huts. Then the jungle reduces the village to reclaim that now-abandoned village.muddy heaps in a month, and by the end of the rains it is gone.
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* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX5, the space colony Eurasia crashes into Earth, leading to lots of casualties. Fast forward to ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', where it is revealed that, due to Eurasia's environmental conditioning system still being active, the ground zero has turned into a very lush green place, dubbed as Area Zero. The plot for said game revolves around protecting this area from your enemies.
to:
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX5, ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', the space colony Eurasia crashes into Earth, leading to lots of casualties. Fast forward to ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', where it is revealed that, due to Eurasia's environmental conditioning system still being active, the ground zero has turned into a very lush green place, dubbed as Area Zero. The plot for said game revolves around protecting this area from your enemies.
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* ''Film/JurassicWorld'' shows that this has happened to the buildings from the original park.
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->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\\
''If mankind perished utterly;''\\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''
''If mankind perished utterly;''\\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''
to:
->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\\
''Iftree\\
If mankind perishedutterly;''\\
''Andutterly;\\
And Spring herself, when she woke atdawn,''\\
''Woulddawn,\\
Would scarcely know that we were gone."''
''If
If mankind perished
''And
And Spring herself, when she woke at
''Would
Would scarcely know that we were gone."''
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!!Examples:
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''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\\
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''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\\"''
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* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfMonsters'': A scene has the exploration team encountering the ruins of several buildings that, thanks to Godzilla's HostileTerraforming, had become giant hedges and this allowed them to keep their shape even after several thousand years.
to:
* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfMonsters'': ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'': A scene has the exploration team encountering the ruins of several buildings that, thanks to Godzilla's HostileTerraforming, had become giant hedges and this allowed them to keep their shape even after several thousand years.
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->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\
''If mankind perished utterly;''\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\
''If mankind perished utterly;''\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\
to:
->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\
tree''\\
''If mankind perishedutterly;''\
utterly;''\\
''And Spring herself, when she woke atdawn,''\
dawn,''\\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\"''\\
''If mankind perished
''And Spring herself, when she woke at
''Would scarcely know that we were gone.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reclaimedbynature.png]]
->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\
''If mankind perished utterly;''\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\
-->-- "[[https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains There Will Come Soft Rains]]", Sara Teasdale[[note]]the poem was later referenced in ''Literature/ThereWillComeSoftRains''[[/note]]
For our entire history, humans have been taking advantage of our environment and manipulating it to suit our needs. We've built massive cities all over our planet, beating back the forces of nature at every turn. What happens when we're not there to maintain our dominance? Nature returns, often with devastating consequences for the abandoned remnants of whatever we left behind.
This trope comes into play when man or whatever sentient dominant species was around in the first place, has abandoned a location (be it a house, a city, or even a planet) and the natural ravages of plants, weather, animals, and time itself conspire to ruin whatever that society built and return it as close as possible to what it would be if people had never been there at all.
Compare to NewEden, where society can benefit and start anew after nature has erased what they created countless ages ago. Contrast RagnarokProofing, where society builds something that ''will'' withstand the test of time. A GreenThumb may deliberately invoke this trope with their powers.
----
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'':
** The people of Laputa abandoned their floating castles and continents a long time ago, so the magic technology the characters find upon visiting the titular castle in the sky is overrun with nature.
** Even the civilization on land looks like it's recovering from something terrible, such as the grass around Pazu's hometown being riddled with craters.
* In ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', a vision of a possible future Tokyo shows the city abandoned and the buildings overgrown with vegetation.
* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfMonsters'': A scene has the exploration team encountering the ruins of several buildings that, thanks to Godzilla's HostileTerraforming, had become giant hedges and this allowed them to keep their shape even after several thousand years.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'', Manhattan becomes overrun by plant life as a result of the Green Lama rebuilding Shangra-La there. A similar thing happens after he and the other Superpowers invade Washington, with large trees sprouting around the White House and the Pentagon.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the team's Malibu house becomes buried in rose vines after Klara loses control of her powers in an accident involving a drone crash. What's left of the house ends up being destroyed shortly afterwards when the military invades the house to try and salvage the drone.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* Once TheVillain that threatened to clearcut ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' has been defeated, both he and his hijacked machine, the Leveler, get shrouded in flora. With the help of magic fairies, plants galore sprout around, into and through the GiantMecha, breaking it with expanding stalks and tendrils. The whole conversion takes mere minutes.
* Though once entirely mechanized, ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'' has become overgrown with bizarre flora that covers its entire surface. Only [=B.E.N.'s=] home lends any clue that advanced science ever existed there. A hatchway in the floor reveals "miles and miles of machinery that run through the entire course of the inside of this planet," all in working condition despite centuries of disuse.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/IAmLegend'' showcases a New York City that is heavily reclaimed by wildlife and flora.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'' shows the city of Las Vegas has been reclaimed by the desert after the ZombieApocalypse picked it clean.
* ''Film/AfterEarth'' takes place on Earth 1000 years after Humanity had to evacuate due to environmental mismanagement. It has since turned into a DeathWorld where nature is doing just fine on its own.
* During ''Film/LogansRun'' from the domed city, Logan 5 and Jennifer 7 wander into a landscape shaped like Washington, D.C., but heavily overgrown with ferns, ivy and kudzu. Only the Capitol dome pokes above the greenery. There, Logan and Jenny encounter a dotty old man living in the Senate chamber, which is rife with moss and lichens.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'', Polgara revisits the site of the former city of Vo Wacune and laments that the trees have overrun the site "so soon"- the trees in question being full-grown redwoods.
* Mowgli from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' decides that a human village that is home to a MilesGloriosus needs to be eradicated. Mowgli's strategy: "Let the jungle in." He starts a rumor that the tastiest greens are found in the village's crop fields. Herbivores come to graze, wrecking the crops; then predators come to hunt the herbivores, endangering the populace, until the place is too "wild" to live in. It doesn't take many years in that climate for the surrounding jungle to reclaim that now-abandoned village.
* "Literature/TheWumpWorld": The peaceful, grass-eating wumps are driven underground when an alien race called the Pollutians arrives and begins building all over the planet. Eventually, they smog it up so much they have to leave... But it turns out they haven't completely destroyed the greenery, and in time it begins to grow back over the cities.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' is all about theorizing about the effects of nature on all of mankind's greatest creations if everyone in the world were suddenly no longer there to protect them.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Arsenal Of Freedom" (S 1 E 21) has the ''Enterprise'' visit the very green planet Minos to investigate the disappearance of the starship ''Drake''. Scans indicate no life forms anywhere on Minos, but an away team finds signs of an advanced civilization there, all long overgrown by native flora. The planetary defense system, still running in demonstration mode, is the only active thing on that world that isn't vegetation.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': This is a fairly common trick for Green magic, due to its focus on nature and growths. Numerous Green spells and instants are themed around natural growth reclaiming article structures and artifacts and nature's eventual ability to wear down and overtake anything built within it. Notable examples include the often-reprinted card [[https://scryfall.com/card/m19/190/naturalize Naturalize]], which can destroy any artifact or enchantment in play and symbolizes the byproducts of civilization being reabsorbed into the natural environment, or [[https://scryfall.com/card/kld/150/creeping-mold Creeping Mold]], based on the idea of natural growth overtaking artificial structures.
-->'''Garruk Wildspeaker:''' When your cities and trinkets crumble, only nature will remain.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty]]'''s Overgrown multiplayer map is in the throes of this process.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout76'', Vault 94 is seemingly inaccessible because the inhabitants left after only 1 year after the bombs fell. After 25 years, sturdy looking trees have grown over the vault door.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX5, the space colony Eurasia crashes into Earth, leading to lots of casualties. Fast forward to ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', where it is revealed that, due to Eurasia's environmental conditioning system still being active, the ground zero has turned into a very lush green place, dubbed as Area Zero. The plot for said game revolves around protecting this area from your enemies.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' takes this trope and runs with it for the purpose of SceneryPorn. The premise of the series is that more than 99% of humanity has been killed off by a deadly fungus, so there aren't enough survivors to simply maintain any upkeep. One example comes when Joel and Elly are exploring through a ruined building and they come across a giraffe who escaped from the zoo. The Giraffe is just casually eating leaves from a nearby tree growing in the building, and allows Elly to come up and touch its face.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' Battle Royal saw the area known as Dusty Depot destroyed by a meteor at the end of season 3, which then became Dusty Divot at the start of season 4. At the start of season 5, a fully grown forest has reclaimed the impact crater.
* The setting of ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' has quite a bit of it, along with a bit of RagnarokProofing for a select few bunkers. Although the natural environment is still contrasted with the eerily organic looking machines who now dominate the Earth.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Calamity Ganon's nigh-apocalyptic attack on Hyrule 100 years prior to the game happened while Hyrule already in a state of decay. In the present, Link finds towers, shrines, weapons, and other ruins abandoned, overrun by monsters or animals, and taken over by nature, with civilization surviving in little pockets.
* "The Last Bastion" animated short for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' shows that Bastion himself started off like this. After the Omnic war, he was shut down in the middle of a forest, and was soon overtaken by lichen and moss until a bird landed in front of his sensor and woke him up. One of his game skins features the moss and dirt clumps still on his body.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ends with Red XIII's puppies looking over what appears to be Midgar choked by grass or vines.
* Pretty much all outdoors locations in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' are former urban areas being slowly reclaimed by nature, some overgrown by plants, some simply covered by the desert sands in the thousands of years since humanity's extinction.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is commonly referred to as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession Ecological succession]]. Although it's more quickly evident in abandoned farms and other places that already have soil (secondary succession), it can happen on concrete and asphalt too (primary succession) through the same processes that allow life to colonize bare rock. Numerous abandoned structures can attest to this.
* The evacuation zones for UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} and Fukushima have been reclaimed by nature. In Chernobyl's case, scientific studies of various flora and fauna have shown that they adapted to the radiation (various birds have increased levels of antioxidants to counter the free radicals), and are thriving just fine.
[[/folder]]
->"''Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree''\
''If mankind perished utterly;''\
''And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,''\
''Would scarcely know that we were gone."''\
-->-- "[[https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains There Will Come Soft Rains]]", Sara Teasdale[[note]]the poem was later referenced in ''Literature/ThereWillComeSoftRains''[[/note]]
For our entire history, humans have been taking advantage of our environment and manipulating it to suit our needs. We've built massive cities all over our planet, beating back the forces of nature at every turn. What happens when we're not there to maintain our dominance? Nature returns, often with devastating consequences for the abandoned remnants of whatever we left behind.
This trope comes into play when man or whatever sentient dominant species was around in the first place, has abandoned a location (be it a house, a city, or even a planet) and the natural ravages of plants, weather, animals, and time itself conspire to ruin whatever that society built and return it as close as possible to what it would be if people had never been there at all.
Compare to NewEden, where society can benefit and start anew after nature has erased what they created countless ages ago. Contrast RagnarokProofing, where society builds something that ''will'' withstand the test of time. A GreenThumb may deliberately invoke this trope with their powers.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'':
** The people of Laputa abandoned their floating castles and continents a long time ago, so the magic technology the characters find upon visiting the titular castle in the sky is overrun with nature.
** Even the civilization on land looks like it's recovering from something terrible, such as the grass around Pazu's hometown being riddled with craters.
* In ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', a vision of a possible future Tokyo shows the city abandoned and the buildings overgrown with vegetation.
* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfMonsters'': A scene has the exploration team encountering the ruins of several buildings that, thanks to Godzilla's HostileTerraforming, had become giant hedges and this allowed them to keep their shape even after several thousand years.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'', Manhattan becomes overrun by plant life as a result of the Green Lama rebuilding Shangra-La there. A similar thing happens after he and the other Superpowers invade Washington, with large trees sprouting around the White House and the Pentagon.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the team's Malibu house becomes buried in rose vines after Klara loses control of her powers in an accident involving a drone crash. What's left of the house ends up being destroyed shortly afterwards when the military invades the house to try and salvage the drone.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* Once TheVillain that threatened to clearcut ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' has been defeated, both he and his hijacked machine, the Leveler, get shrouded in flora. With the help of magic fairies, plants galore sprout around, into and through the GiantMecha, breaking it with expanding stalks and tendrils. The whole conversion takes mere minutes.
* Though once entirely mechanized, ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'' has become overgrown with bizarre flora that covers its entire surface. Only [=B.E.N.'s=] home lends any clue that advanced science ever existed there. A hatchway in the floor reveals "miles and miles of machinery that run through the entire course of the inside of this planet," all in working condition despite centuries of disuse.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/IAmLegend'' showcases a New York City that is heavily reclaimed by wildlife and flora.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'' shows the city of Las Vegas has been reclaimed by the desert after the ZombieApocalypse picked it clean.
* ''Film/AfterEarth'' takes place on Earth 1000 years after Humanity had to evacuate due to environmental mismanagement. It has since turned into a DeathWorld where nature is doing just fine on its own.
* During ''Film/LogansRun'' from the domed city, Logan 5 and Jennifer 7 wander into a landscape shaped like Washington, D.C., but heavily overgrown with ferns, ivy and kudzu. Only the Capitol dome pokes above the greenery. There, Logan and Jenny encounter a dotty old man living in the Senate chamber, which is rife with moss and lichens.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'', Polgara revisits the site of the former city of Vo Wacune and laments that the trees have overrun the site "so soon"- the trees in question being full-grown redwoods.
* Mowgli from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' decides that a human village that is home to a MilesGloriosus needs to be eradicated. Mowgli's strategy: "Let the jungle in." He starts a rumor that the tastiest greens are found in the village's crop fields. Herbivores come to graze, wrecking the crops; then predators come to hunt the herbivores, endangering the populace, until the place is too "wild" to live in. It doesn't take many years in that climate for the surrounding jungle to reclaim that now-abandoned village.
* "Literature/TheWumpWorld": The peaceful, grass-eating wumps are driven underground when an alien race called the Pollutians arrives and begins building all over the planet. Eventually, they smog it up so much they have to leave... But it turns out they haven't completely destroyed the greenery, and in time it begins to grow back over the cities.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' is all about theorizing about the effects of nature on all of mankind's greatest creations if everyone in the world were suddenly no longer there to protect them.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Arsenal Of Freedom" (S 1 E 21) has the ''Enterprise'' visit the very green planet Minos to investigate the disappearance of the starship ''Drake''. Scans indicate no life forms anywhere on Minos, but an away team finds signs of an advanced civilization there, all long overgrown by native flora. The planetary defense system, still running in demonstration mode, is the only active thing on that world that isn't vegetation.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': This is a fairly common trick for Green magic, due to its focus on nature and growths. Numerous Green spells and instants are themed around natural growth reclaiming article structures and artifacts and nature's eventual ability to wear down and overtake anything built within it. Notable examples include the often-reprinted card [[https://scryfall.com/card/m19/190/naturalize Naturalize]], which can destroy any artifact or enchantment in play and symbolizes the byproducts of civilization being reabsorbed into the natural environment, or [[https://scryfall.com/card/kld/150/creeping-mold Creeping Mold]], based on the idea of natural growth overtaking artificial structures.
-->'''Garruk Wildspeaker:''' When your cities and trinkets crumble, only nature will remain.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty]]'''s Overgrown multiplayer map is in the throes of this process.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout76'', Vault 94 is seemingly inaccessible because the inhabitants left after only 1 year after the bombs fell. After 25 years, sturdy looking trees have grown over the vault door.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX5, the space colony Eurasia crashes into Earth, leading to lots of casualties. Fast forward to ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', where it is revealed that, due to Eurasia's environmental conditioning system still being active, the ground zero has turned into a very lush green place, dubbed as Area Zero. The plot for said game revolves around protecting this area from your enemies.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' takes this trope and runs with it for the purpose of SceneryPorn. The premise of the series is that more than 99% of humanity has been killed off by a deadly fungus, so there aren't enough survivors to simply maintain any upkeep. One example comes when Joel and Elly are exploring through a ruined building and they come across a giraffe who escaped from the zoo. The Giraffe is just casually eating leaves from a nearby tree growing in the building, and allows Elly to come up and touch its face.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' Battle Royal saw the area known as Dusty Depot destroyed by a meteor at the end of season 3, which then became Dusty Divot at the start of season 4. At the start of season 5, a fully grown forest has reclaimed the impact crater.
* The setting of ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' has quite a bit of it, along with a bit of RagnarokProofing for a select few bunkers. Although the natural environment is still contrasted with the eerily organic looking machines who now dominate the Earth.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Calamity Ganon's nigh-apocalyptic attack on Hyrule 100 years prior to the game happened while Hyrule already in a state of decay. In the present, Link finds towers, shrines, weapons, and other ruins abandoned, overrun by monsters or animals, and taken over by nature, with civilization surviving in little pockets.
* "The Last Bastion" animated short for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' shows that Bastion himself started off like this. After the Omnic war, he was shut down in the middle of a forest, and was soon overtaken by lichen and moss until a bird landed in front of his sensor and woke him up. One of his game skins features the moss and dirt clumps still on his body.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ends with Red XIII's puppies looking over what appears to be Midgar choked by grass or vines.
* Pretty much all outdoors locations in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' are former urban areas being slowly reclaimed by nature, some overgrown by plants, some simply covered by the desert sands in the thousands of years since humanity's extinction.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is commonly referred to as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession Ecological succession]]. Although it's more quickly evident in abandoned farms and other places that already have soil (secondary succession), it can happen on concrete and asphalt too (primary succession) through the same processes that allow life to colonize bare rock. Numerous abandoned structures can attest to this.
* The evacuation zones for UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} and Fukushima have been reclaimed by nature. In Chernobyl's case, scientific studies of various flora and fauna have shown that they adapted to the radiation (various birds have increased levels of antioxidants to counter the free radicals), and are thriving just fine.
[[/folder]]
