Life After People

Recently, my now ex boyfriend and, I watched a TV mini series called "Life After People". A new semi-addicting History Channel production that predicts as accurately as possible, what will take place on planet Earth after people disappear (for whatever reason). The point of the show is not to focus on how or why human beings have come to be extinct (which would have actually peaked my curiosity to a greater degree), but to demonstrate the fundamentals of the decomposition of our earth after our passing. The show focused on different famous structures; for example The Sears Tower and the Astrodome, and how they slowly met their demise over increments of 5 to 20 to 1000 years.

Okay, first of all, why is The History Channel airing a television series focusing on events predicted to occur in the future? We found that amusing. And secondly, the show technically shouldn't interest us as humans, unless we're looking at it in a manner of sheer curiosity. Because honestly, if we are kaput, dead, gone and extinct, why on Earth (no pun intended) would we be interested in what is becoming of our abandoned home, Earth? I guess it's really just a matter of being a bit of a geek, enjoying the science behind how things decompose, what they look like as they do and what the final result will be for the planet.

The part of the show that stands out most in my memory is the "time capsule" bit. The entire idea of leaving something behind purposefully, in such a way that it is protected from the elements and therefore decomposition, is intriguing. Obviously it would be left in the hopes that someday, someone would uncover it again. But the question is who. Aliens most likely. Or maybe the animals that were left behind "after people" would eventually evolve into intelligent creatures, maybe the new generation of humans, and unearth the capsule.

There was also a portion of one episode focusing on a grocery store that was left with all it's contents remaining on the shelves. It was fascinating watching all of the assorted foods decay over weeks to high speed time lapse photography. Insects, parasites, maggots and rodents became abundant and flourished until the source of their nourishment was entirely consumed. Then they too became exinct.

Anyway, I found this show to be fairly interesting. Silly, maybe. And extremely overproduced. But interesting nonetheless. I guess it's just the geek in me.