Life After People Page #4

It induces stresses

On the glass.

It cracks and plummets

To the sidewalk below.

after a few of the windows

Fall out of a building

Like this,

Then the wind pressure effect

Changes dramatically.

As well as external pressure

Coming on to the building,

You also get suction.

And that aggravates the problem

So more of the panels

Are likely to fall out.

through these gaping holes,

The building fills

With windswept debris.

A summer storm rolls in.

On top of the structure,

The copper-lightning deterrent

System that once protected

Thousands of office workers

Is now corroded and useless.

A lightning bolt turns the tower

Into a raging inferno.

The gutted building makes

The perfect home

For a surprising survivor.

Although pigeons once relied

On the handouts of humans,

They have done just fine

In 25 years without us.

pigeons are survivors.

They can live in the wild;

They do live in the wild still.

And in a period

Where there were no people

But there still were edifices

And artifacts, our buildings,

They would do very well

Because they would adopt these

As kind of

Artificial cliff faces,

Which is what they really are?

Adapted to.

like the pigeon,

The disappearance of humans

Forced a change in the habits

Of the lowly cockroach.

think of the poor cockroach

After they gorge

Upon our surplus

When we're gone,

They'll mourn us.

They'll be sorry.

but the morning won't last

For long.

While cockroaches thrived

On our scraps,

They can also eat bookbinding's,

And cardboard,

And any rotting organic matter

Including dead leaves and roots.

While food isn't a problem,

Roaches also need warmth;

The kind that humans

Had always supplied

Through artificial heat.

Cockroaches started

As a tropical species

And some experts say

They couldn't survive the winter

In colder cities.

But it's hard to bet

Against a creature that has seen

The dinosaurs come and go.

cockroaches are

Extremely adaptable.

They've been around

For 300 million years.

If I have to bet,

I'd put my money on them

Being able to survive

In one form or another.

the first winter

After humans did witness

The die-off of some cockroaches,

But many more moved underground

To find warmth until

Milder temperatures returned.

In an abandoned downtown

Devoid of insecticides,

Overrun by vegetation

And with a rising water table,

This former pest is now enjoying

A golden age.

Cockroaches were only a nuisance

To humans,

But wolves were a terror.

So man hunted them mercilessly.

When the first European settlers

Arrived in what is now

The United States,

It's believed nearly half

A million wolves roamed

The country side.

By the 20th century,

These predators

Were nearly extinct

In the lower 48 states.

Now, with no humans left

To battle them,

Wolf populations multiply

By as much six times each year.

Within 25 years

Of our disappearance,

There could easily be half

A million of them roaming

The united states again.

This amazing comeback

Has been seen

On a small scale before.

In 1995, biologists released

A few dozen wolves

Within the boundaries

Of yellow stone national park;

A place

Where they would be protected

From persecution by humans.

Within a decade,

A few dozen had multiplied

Into 1,500

And the wolves

Quickly spread out

From their release point

To occupy territory

Throughout the states

Of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

it would be fast

If you can start

With just a few dozen wolves

And in the course of one decade,

Have a population of 1,500

And you could have

A geographic expansion

Where they filled up a big chunk

Of a three-state area.

And these are

Big western states.

Yeah, when the conditions

Are right,

They can re-colonize

Pretty rapidly.

Could we see them in Manhattan?

Or Chicago?

As soon as the deer get there,

The wolves will be right

Behind them.

animals haven't

Just been hunted by humans;

They've also been hemmed in.

There are roughly three million

Miles of paved road

In the united states alone.

And it's no coincidence

That many of them cut

Right through the paths

Animals use to get from place

To place.

the things that make

A landscape good

For animal movement

Also make it easy to engineer

A road in that location.

So, we've cut off pretty much

All major migrations

In North America.

asphalt and automobiles

Wreaked particular havoc

On the grizzly bear.

Their habitat

Was so carved up by roads

That they're confined

To isolated pockets,

Cutting them off

From food sources

And potential mates.

In a life after humans,

Roads are no longer barriers

For the grizzly.

Instead they are pathways;

Trails that lead them back

Into the heart

Of their former range.

forty years after people.

While cities of steel

And concrete

Are still standing tall,

The suburbs are under attack.

Roughly 90 percent of all homes

In the United States

Have wood frames.

While some have burned,

Others are now being devoured.

Without paint and preservatives,

The lumber of homes

Is defenseless against termites.

Termites feast on cellulose,

The basic building block

Of wood.

And their appetites

Are relentless.

Some colonies can eat

As much as 1,000 pounds of wood

Per year.

In this destructive advance,

The termites

Aren't working alone.

the process we know

As rotting will occur

When the wood gets exposed

To the elements.

And this rotting, actually,

Is a more complicated process.

It's a process by which microbes

Attack the wood

And release carbon dioxide

And methane to the atmosphere.

If humans were to leave,

It'd be a matter of decades

Before most structures

That had significant

Wood components

Would start to decay.

faced with

A two pronged attack

From termites and rot,

The beams that hold up the roof

Give way.

And the boundary

Between inside and out,

That had once been so important

To the humans

Who called this building home?

Is forever erased.

other substances

Like this mortar and rock

Are going to last longer

Than several decades,

But they'll still crumble

After natural, chemical,

And physical weathering

Processes,

And eventually these walls

Will fall down as well,

And there'll be no remnants.

now, nature will act quickly

To swallow up these ruins.

This crumbling house

In Baltimore's druid hill park

Was once home to the caretaker?

Of the city zoo.

it looks like this building

Has been abandoned

For more than a hundred years.

But in reality,

People have been living here

Up till 40 years ago.

It's amazing how quickly

The vegetation has reclaimed

The area.

The vines have started to climb

Up the walls.

The trees are growing

Into the structure,

And they're both physically

Pulling the structure apart,

And chemically dissolving it.

structures built entirely

Of stone or masonry

Will far outlive

Anything made of wood.

Exactly how fast

They will crumble depends

On their environment.

the coast of Maine, really,

Isn't very kind to buildings.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes