Life After People

Plant Earth has been around for four and a half billion years. What would happen if suddenly there were no people?

The history channel presented a television show called, "Life After People." I would recommend watching this show with the visual effects on what would happen to our skyscrapers, buildings, homes, roads, etc.

The show starts out immediately with no people. They think dogs would run wild. If you have a small dog, as I do, sorry it would not survive. Dogs that we bred with flat noses and short legs probably would not survive well either. It is too hard for them to scavenge for food. The dog that would fare well would be the common dog. My guess, I pictured, was the Labrador Retriever.

Rats would notice people were not around. They would come into our homes and hunt for food. It gives me the creeps thinking about it! Literally! My back is itchy now. Once our food was gone the commentator thought rats would start to eat cardboard and glue. Then the rats would spread out into the wild.

Soon rats would be greatly diminished by predators as they showed a hawk fetching a rat.

Six Months After People

The predators would return as humans have suppressed them. Such as coyotes and bobcats would colonize our once neighborhoods. Soon enough lions and bears would hunt where our backyards were, as stated.

One Year After People

Nature begins to reclaim her territory. I am amazed at how quickly she does this! We would still be able to recognize our cities although wherever there is sunlight plants would grow. You've seen that happen in concrete. Cracks with weeds growing. That is exactly what would happen in our parking lots, streets and sidewalks. It would take over as no humans are there to contain the growth. The main plant that would grow would be clover as it grows at first from air.

Yards would turn into fields. Deer would be munching on our old property. Wildlife would spill into cities. A lot of foliage would be growing up the sides of buildings which would eventually destroy them. The strong "Hoover Dam in Nevada would be taken over by a microorganism no bigger than a thumbnail. "

Lightening would start fires as it hit the buildings covered with the foliage. The foliage would make the buildings torch up easily. Chicago would be burning. San Francisco's large homes would be burning. Rome would be burning again. Structures would be burning to the ground. What a horrible and helpless thought!

The timbers that are burning provide nutrients to the ground. More of Mother Nature to take over.

Five Years After People

Vines cover most of New York skyscrapers. The same in the majestic Moscow buildings. Nature is totally taking over. Central Park in New York has an abundant amount of trees and Central Park looks like a forest. I am sure Donald Trump would be upset as he owns the skating rink! Animals that currently live in Central Park would multiply and grow into the city.

Great monuments covered with foliage.

Washington D.C. is shown as turning into a jungle with lions, rhinoceroses and tigers.

Twenty Years After People

Animals are all over. We know this due to it happening in Texas from Chernobyl. Dusty school rooms left behind, vegetation claims a bridge for a home, rust accumulates on a new park with rides. This town was once home to 50,000 people; now empty. The host says, "Life will continue without man. Our legacy of life will continue."

And how is Manhattan, NY, doing? As soon as the deer get to Manhattan, the wolves will follow. The host states, "Roads are no longer barriers for the grizzly bear, now it is a path." Showing the path grass covered.

Ninety percent of homes in the USA have wood frames. The homes that did not burn are now a feast for termites. The termites can eat one thousand pounds of wood a year. We are not there to take care of our homes with paint and turpentine.

It was explained mortar and rock will last longer than wood, but will eventually fall and crumble.

Stone will last long but salt will destroy it. Salt comes from polluted air, sea salt and good old bird droppings. Great monuments will disintegrate by the salt pushing the stone apart.

Fifty Years After People

Strain will show heavily on man's best made buildings.

Also, bridges last very long. Why? People take great care of them. The part of the bridge that is most likely to break first are the hanger cables. The hanger cables are made of steel- 95 to 98% iron. Moisture on iron changes it back to the mineral. That is what we call the process of corrosion. Tidbit the show shared: Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883. I had no idea it was that old!

Seventy Five Years After People

The 600,000,000 cars people once drove are now nothing but rusted remnants. (Cars in the costal environment would be rusted out in thirty years.) In one hundred years all cars would be nothing but a heap of metal.

Eerie pictures of the cities are being shown. Very frightening!

The Brooklyn Bridge starts to warp and sway. Finally it crumbles into the East River due to the cables being corroded. If one cable snaps the bridge is fine, but if two or three snap, it falls apart.

Why am I more upset about our monuments, bridges, and skyscrapers being destroyed than people vanishing? Maybe it is because I know at some point eventually we all must die, but I thought our history would stand tall and proud.

Even our pictures and movies we've taken of our precious lives would start to bubble from the controlled temperatures we have now to no controlled temperatures. In one week we would see it begin. Mold spores are always around just waiting for the perfect time to make its appearance. Even though we cannot see the mold spores, they are there.

Our CD's and DVD's would take a few decades to a few centuries to be no more.

The show goes into one hundred years-, two hundred years- and five hundred years after people. Cats are all over!

Ten thousand years

Would it be possible that there would be no trace of humanity left?

The longest standing items would be The Great Wall of China, Pyramids of Giza (soon taken over by sand), and Mt. Rushmore would be the last surviving piece. It is thought because it is made of granite. The only enemy Mt. Rushmore has is heavy rain. It is possible Mt. Rushmore could last 100,000 to 200,000 years. I need to tell my grandparents that information as they saw and met the man, Gutzon Borglum, who created Mt. Rushmore while vacationing on their honeymoon!