Social climate change

Look, what’s the point of imagining the world without us? We won&Rsquo;t be around to see it anyway, right?

Technically true, but Alan Weisman&Rsquo;s book, The World Without Us, offers an opportunity to gauge humanity’s impact on our environment by examining what the planet would look like if we just “beamed up,” got Raptured, were taken away by aliens who knew how to “serve” humans or all got a killer virus. (Short form: Dogs would be toast, but cats would survive.) Weisman, who was very funny on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, will be at American River College on Saturday. His descriptions of how what we’ve built would fall apart, and how quickly, are fascinating in that slow-down-to-gawk-at-a-car-wreck kind of way. If his lecture is anything like the book, prepare to learn humility.

Sa 4/26, 2-4 p.m. $10-$15. ARC Theatre, 4700 College Oak Drive; (916) 484-8647.