Life After People

Story by Broadside Staff Writer Laura Hampton

What would happen if tomorrow the entire human race was to simply vanish into thin air? How would the planet respond? What would happen to the animals? What would happen to all of our most beloved and revered buildings and monuments?
This is the eerie set of possibilities examined by the two-hour History Channel Special, Life After People.

The special explored just exactly what life on earth would be like if the 6.6 billion people inhabiting the planet earth were to disappear off the face of the earth. As most people would guess, nature would begin to retake the planet, but Life After People actually breaks down the process into the days, months and years following the human race’s disappearance.

According to the special, life would begin to change almost immediately after we vanish.

One to four days after people
Lights would begin to go out. Seventy percent of all power in the United States is generated by the burning of fossil fuel, and with no one around to replenish the fuel, power plants would shut down very quickly.

Nuclear power plants begin to shut down and go into a safe mode within two days.

Hoover Dam continues running and generating power, because its fuel supply is the water in Lake Mead. As long as the turbines continue turning, and the water intake pipes from the lake are clear, the power will continue to be generated, possibly for years after humans vanish.

Subway tunnels begin to flood within the first 36 hours of power loss because without power, the sump pumps that keep them clear of water are no longer operational.

Five days after people
Domestic animals like cats and dogs survive off of melt water from freezers. Because humans are no longer caring for them, there will be a massive die-off of dogs that are unable to escape their suburban confines.

Dogs that do escape resort to scavenging for food. However dogs bred with shorter legs and flat faces will have the worst survival rates of all dogs.

Rats and house mice that were dependent on our food supply and waste will survive for a while off of food in grocery stores and houses. When that food source is exhausted, they will survive by resorting to natural scavenging.

Six months after people
Urban and suburban areas begin to go wild. Animals begin to reclaim areas that were formerly controlled by people. The first predators to return are bobcats and coyotes that follow herds of deer.

One year after people
Towns and cities are still recognizable, but nature and plants are really starting to take over.

Once well-maintained yards overgrow into fields, causing deer and other grazers to be very well fed.

Hoover dam begins to shut down because of a highly invasive type of mussel. The mussels begin to reproduce and form colonies inside of the narrow cooling water intake pipes. The turbines start to overheat and shut down one by one. The Colorado River runs dry until Lake Mead spills over the dam.

Wildfires that would have been kept under control by humans go unchecked, destroying and purging areas in their way. Cities and other areas that are burn provide nutrients for renewing the soil.

Five years after people
Animal populations explode and spread out.

Zoo animals, if they were able to escape their confines will begin to breed and spread out into their surroundings. Just imagine lions and tigers roaming Washington D.C.

100 years after people
Notable steel structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Eiffel Tower in France begin to buckle and collapse due to neglect and corrosion.

Keeping in mind that this timeline is mostly speculation from certain scientists on what could happen if people were to disappear, there are also other things that were oddly not taken into account for this special.

For example, human beings do not simply vanish. What would cause the demise of 6.6 billion people, and what would the consequences of this massive die-off be? The remains of 6.6 billion people do not just simply disappear. How would it happen? Massive devastating plague? A series of natural disasters? The factor of how humans disappear or die-off has a major impact on the way certain things would happen in this timeline.

The thought of our ultimate demise and the reclamation nature would take on the planet Earth is wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Within the period of a mere few hundred years, a simple blink of the eye in the larger scheme of things, nearly all proof of human existence would be mostly erased, and the world renewed to its original natural state. Imagine the problem of global warming eliminated, species once on the verge of extinction due to humans infringing on their habitats making a perfect comeback. So many problems in our world would be fixed, if only we weren’t here.

Life After People is a thought-provoking two hours, well worth turning on the History Channel to watch. It gives its viewers a certain understanding on just how much of an impact we have on the world, and how small we really are in the larger scheme of things.