The Earth is Renewed

The most startling phenomenon of what happened on February 9, 2009 was that survivors didn't seem to even be aware of what had happened. It was like their 'new' idyllic lifestyle had always existed. Farmers quietly plowed their fields without aid of noisy, air-polluting tractors. Rustic villages painted pastoral scenes of peace and tranquility without the congestion of smoke or noise from gas-powered vehicles. Fields and meadows grew wild where Interstate overpasses had once carried tens of thousands of automobiles each day on ruthless ribbons of asphalt and concrete. Flowers were everywhere; trees greened areas where monumental man-made monoliths used to stand as vanguards of some corporate mogul's wealth and power.
In Asian cities, rickshaws and small horse-drawn carriages replaced the burgeon of taxis and private cars that had - just seconds before - crowded narrow 'streets' and passageways.
London's famous black cabs no longer peppered the streets of England's most eloquent metropolis. Trucks and trains seemed not to exist - anywhere. Airplanes and airports had all disappeared. In the United States, complex highway systems, busy interchanges, dangerous intersections and pothole-stricken roads were all gone. Factories around the world no longer poisoned the land, the water or the air - because those buildings were no longer.
Government buildings - and the bloated bureaucracies they housed - no longer created impressions of power or dominance.
The occasional monument or landmark still stood to dedicate a memory of goodness or humanity. But statues of war heroes had been obliterated. Otherwise, the entire globe had been transformed into the natural beauty of forests, waterfalls, brooks, grasslands, flowers, lakes, fields, meadows, and the richest farm soil one could imagine. The oceans teemed with life: whales and dolphins burst joyfully from the waters in celebration of their planetery rebirth. Ponds and streams were filled with fish, tadpoles, frogs and algae. Fauna and flora grabbed at the geographical stratum; coral reefs, which had just seconds ago been breathing their last breaths of life, now flourished with new vigor and vibrant color.
Penguins and polar bears - at opposite ends of the Earth - slam-dunked themselves into the newly-restored coolness of the waters and happily skated on refreshed bergs of precious ice.
In less time than it took to blink one's eye, the Earth had been renewed.

How?

Why?