Post-Apocalytpic World: Brainstorming

a. I'm thinking the world can't end, this planet has an incredible way of surviving through everything. The only way the world could "end" is if it ended for ourselves, the resources applicable to our survival dwindle and our world ends. The rest of the world will undoubtedly survive. The most plausible scenario in my mind is that we kill each other. There won't be a slow decay in our world, the end will be from a Cold War or a World War III. So, in my scenario, the world ended during the Cold War. Most of the planet is still green, most of the wildlife is still around, but the majority of the population has died and every large city has become a smoldering crater. And as Einstein said, World War IV will be faught with sticks and stones, therefore I want post-apocalyptic survivors to have a war with these tools.

b. I think everyone's going to act as they do when settling in a new land. People will do whatever they can to survive, and that includes working together really well, which will cause the wars to be far worse and the rebuilding to be far better. Companionship will be important. People will pretend to enjoy each others'

c.

• Nature's going to be just fine after a nuclear war. I'm being completely serious, grass will grow anywhere and will settle far before people do. Therefore I can't see the world being a brown desolate crater, but I can see it being filled with destroyed buildings and structures.
• I can see important politicians and celebrities surviving in fallout shelters, people like Obama, the congress, Stalin, and not-Harper.
• People will wear decayed jeans and t-shirts, raiding Wal-Marts for clothes. None of this leather-skinned shorts and other ridiculous things that so many post-apocalyptic scenarios portray. People aren't going to start wearing cow-skulls just because the world's been blown up.
• Music will survive. People will create instruments from anything.
• Garbage will become the easiest material used to create art.
• Some nuclear warheads and military institutions will survive.
• Larger, fish that hang out lower in the sea will survive. Possibly breeding other fish that can live closer to the surface, regardless of the level of radiation. These would be some scary looking fish. So I'll just use a jellyfish instead.
• Pearl Harbour will survive, giving me a proper location for all of this to be placed.
• Our old culture will survive, and so will the powerful symbols of our history. This will be represented on the soldiers.
• Tenth and final thing that will survive: Puppies.

d. My symbol of hope will be music's survival. There will be a small group of actually happy people trying to rebuild society around the people who have managed to keep music alive. The politicians, decayed jeans and nuclear warheads should be oppressive and disheartening, with the music being a "chance for survival". Much like my Mario Kart picture I want this done on two layers. I want the top layer to have society as it is with oppression and post-apocalyptic damage, and I want one cut-out corner that sinks inward with the people who hope for a better society.

e. Their art doesn't have much detail, and the landscapes are mostly about rebuilding things. I don't see how they portray the world after an apocalypse. Society looks to be just building new structures, not surviving a nuclear fallout. This could be relabelled "Saskatchewan" or "Sudbury" and have the same, if not better impact.