Life After People: History Channel Series

When the History Channel launched it's new series Life After People, I was a little skeptical. I thought to myself, "Who cares what happens to Earth after humans are gone?" Well, it turns out, I care.

I think I find this show interesting simply because of the human factor: we tend to be self-centered. As humans, it's all about us. It doesn't really matter what happens once we're gone, but as humans, we're just so curious that we can't help but explore the possibilities.

I do mean possibilities very seriously. Life After People is a very one-sided view of what happens. It's based on what "experts" think and proof of what has occurred in cities already abandoned.

We already know what happens to structures when we don't take care of them. Just the regular maintenance on a house can be costly and time consuming. It's only common sense that with everyone in the world gone, things will deteriorate rather quickly.

One of the hardest parts for me to deal with is leaving our pets behind. The show explores what will happen to them. Some suffer and die while others return to their wild instincts. It'll be survival of the fittest. As sad as it is, I realize that is is just a fact of life.

What intrigues me the most with this series is that God is left completely out of the picture. I know that not everyone believes in God and I do not expect the series to take on a religious view. It's simply that as a Christian and a believer in the second coming of Christ, I watch this show with that in my mind.

I have read some of the Left Behind books and they tend to follow my beliefs of what the end of human life will be like. But, I digress. I do not want this article to compare Life After People to Left Behind, that's not my intention.

I do enjoy the series and I do recognize that it could very well be just like they say. If you haven't watched Life After People, I encourage you to do so. It is a very thought provoking series.

There are ten episodes in the series as of now. Of course, they could always add more if they wish. The existing episodes pretty much cover all aspects of what could happen without us here.

Episode One: The Bodies Left Behind is probably the most gruesome-sounding of the series, simply because it is dealing with decomposing bodies. It explores what happens to the buried, mummified and even those that had been frozen. So, will the frozen come back to life to find the world empty? I wonder. The show tests our various techniques of preserving bodies and how they will stand the test of time. We have mummies to help us understand how long some methods last, so it's easy to imagine that in the far future, well preserved remains will still be on Earth for aliens to discover.

Episode One does not deal with bodies of people that were just left everywhere. It starts by assuming that all humans have just vanished. Of course, to a Christian, we would call this the Rapture. It does not lead us to believe that suddenly everyone just dies, but that we are simply no longer here. So, don't freak out just by reading the title of this episode.

Episode Two: Outbreak (sounds like a movie, doesn't it?) delves into the plants, animals and other natural occurrences. With no one here to cut back the plants or spray weed and insect control, it won't take long to get overgrown. Think of how big the mosquitoes would be! At least they can't suck our blood anymore! Everything would be free to reproduce and spread naturally. It will also discuss what happens to the animals that were our pets and kept in zoos. They will be greatly affected by our absence.

Episode Three: The Capital Threat focuses on the U.S. Capital and how our national treasures will fall apart and disintegrate. I thought our country was already falling apart - and we're still here! It will also explore Los Angeles and see what might happen to the entertainment capital of the United States. Heaven forbid any plastic surgery goes to waste!

Episode Four: Heavy Metal is not about the heavy metal of the music industry, but instead of the destruction of things made from metals such as skyscrapers, bridges and even gold. This one also hits on the future of breweries and horses without people. I'm wondering why we would even leave our beer and horses behind to begin with!

Episode Five: The Invaders is just kind of a given. It explores further into what the plants and animals will be doing without us around to keep them in check. Gee, we just can't always control it all, can we? I wonder if they'll be partying in the streets?

Episode Six: Bound and Buried discusses our humanly treasures more and what their fate will be. Like what happens to the Statue of Liberty? It also takes us to the Doomsday Vault, which stores seeds and other items in case we ever need them. I didn't know this place even existed until I watched Life After People. I guess it was built in case we all blow each other up and kill off our plants and by some miracle enough people survive to replant and try once again to conquer the world. It's kind of like a modern day Noah's Ark.

Episode Seven: Sin City Meltdown - well, yes, we must know what happens to Las Vegas! At least we know for sure now that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!" Rats will run wild in the streets and feast on our left overs, while out in Atlantic City the ocean does it's best to pound the boardwalk apart.

Episode Eight: Armed and Defenseless deals with our cherished weapons of war. Will they self-destruct? This show takes us to Pearl Harbor - to the already decaying memorial, Denver - where we see what harm snow can do, and a creepy island close to New York City.

Episode Nine: The Road to Nowhere talks about most of the aspects of our transportation. (Even though the title reminds me of our current administration.) What happens to the roads? Uh, well, I know we already have problems with them now. Lots of potholes and structural problems, so I can only imagine what happens when we're gone. This show also talks about what might happen to the unmanned oil refineries. Maybe a big boom? It also touches on the demise of the Alamo and the spread of armadillos. Well, there will be more armadillos because they won't be targets for road kill anymore.

Episode Ten: Waters of Death focuses on how the water cycle goes on without us. We all know how much we force the land and water to change to meet our needs. Well, they simply reclaim what we had taken. Water flows where it should, completely unchecked by humans. The water takes back New Orleans while the rain slowly destroys the Space Needle in Seattle. This episode sounds really ominous, but in reality, it's just nature at work.

Overall, I really do like watching Life After People, but I just wanted to poke some fun at it. It just really makes me realize what a "me" central world we live in. Plus how materialistic we are. Even after we're gone, we still worry about our "stuff"!