Life after people

[LongIslandPiney]

Did anyone watch it on The History Channel last night?
Pretty much showed what would happen to the planet if humans dissapeared. Within just a few years plants would be growing in streets and wild animals would be roaming New York City.
In 50 years most suburbs would have reverted to their natural state. In a few hundred years there wouldn't be many traces of humans left.
Long Island probably would have been reclaimed by the pine barrens, even here in the concrete jungles of Nassau county. Atlantic City would prob become a coastal wetland.
But I dont want a world without humans, I'm not that crazy.

 

[MarkBNJ]

I think it would take several millenia to erase all traces of cities, interstate highways, concrete bridges, and the like. Concrete rots fairly rapidly, but piles of stuff would still be there, and then there's Mount Rushmore, and plastic water bottles.

Anyway, we've been here for a few million years, and given our inate survival advantages, I doubt we're going anywhere.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

My husband just bought me this book:
http://www.worldwithoutus.com/index2.html

I wish I had time to read it! Perhaps after both ski season and this semester are over.

 

[TrailOtter]

Interesting show. According to the scientists, most evidence of human civilization would be erased after 150 - 200 years. Landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building would be gone. It was kinda eerie to see the city in Russia which has been abandoned since the Chernobyl incident. Even after the city was irradiated, twenty years later, the plants have taken over and animals have returned to places that were once populated with people. They did say the Pyramids and Mt Rushmore would survive which makes me wonder what people who come from other places outside our solar system would think to just see those bits of our civilization....

Dr. Ian Malcom "Life finds a way..."

 

[pinelandpaddler]

150 - 200 years. Landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building would be gone.

Hmm. That don't sound right at all.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Yeah, I disagree with their timelines. I think it's going to take much longer.

They didn't mention that our plastic waste and cigarette butts will be around forever.

Also, the CGI was hokey.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

According to the guy that wrote that book I linked to, it would be more like 500 years. I totally wish I could be around to see the world like that.

 

[jburd641]

According to the guy that wrote that book I linked to, it would be more like 500 years. I totally wish I could be around to see the world like that.

The world sounds much better without us. Sad but true.

 

[tree huggin tracker]

yeah the times are definitely off.. what about stone structures like the many castles of ireland that have been around for centuries?

 

[Ben Ruset]

yeah the times are definitely off.. what about stone structures like the many castles of ireland that have been around for centuries?

They say that human maintenance has kept them intact. I see their point - keeping vines and vegetation from taking root on the structure is important. I just think their timelines for how quick a building is going to be demolished by kudzu is too quick.

I also liked the part about the cats that will learn how to fly to leap from skyscraper to skyscraper.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Okay, that's not exactly how evolution works. They lost me with the cats.

 

[TrailOtter]

I also liked the part about the cats that will learn how to fly to leap from skyscraper to skyscraper.

I thought that was an interesting idea...and the way the skyscrapers would become a whole new form of vertical ecosystem. Then I thought that after the structures fail, whole ecosystems would be wiped out. Even after man is long gone, we can still leave a mark......

 

[MarkBNJ]

I would think it more likely that some other species would experience an advantageous mutation and inhabit that vertical niche, rather than that cats would spontaneously evolve the ability to fly or sail .

 

[Ben Ruset]

How else would you avoid the lions and bears walking through the city?!?

 

[Boyd]

Belco is an interesting example of how the pines regenerate: http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showpost.php?p=37083&postcount=21

Looking at old photos, that area was clearcut at the turn of the century and covered with roads, buildings and railroad sidings. Today it's pretty heavily wooded with only foundations and a few remaining walls standing. Of course those buildings were actually torn down, but there is sort of a post-apocalyptic feeling when you walk around there....

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Okay, that's not exactly how evolution works. They lost me with the cats

Ditto that. I haven't seen THE video yet, but not much that I've heard so far strikes me as very scientific.

 

[jburd641]

They say that human maintenance has kept them intact. I see their point - keeping vines and vegetation from taking root on the structure is important. I just think their timelines for how quick a building is going to be demolished by kudzu is too quick.

I also liked the part about the cats that will learn how to fly to leap from skyscraper to skyscraper.

I had a flying cat once. He would walk on me about 10 minutes before my alarm went off and suddenly, he would be flying!

 

[Sue Gremlin]

How else would you avoid the lions and bears walking through the city?!?

Well, who's to say that the lions and the bears wouldn't gain the ability to fly as well?

The buildings would fall over in what, 500 years? That's a blink of an eye on an evolutionary scale. Not nearly enough time for an adaptation like that.

I am not sure I'd want a flying cat. There's enough hair on the surfaces I can reach.

Have you guys seen I am Legend yet? The scenes in post-apocalyptic NYC were really great. The science of the movie was ludicrous, but the sets were really top notch.

 

[MarkBNJ]

I saw it. For my money the early 70's take on it, with Charleton Heston, was more effective. But you're right about the effects. They really managed to convey the sense that NYC was empty, and had been for a long time.

With respect to some of these questions about buildings. I don't know how long it would take a skyscraper to come down. Once water gets in, I'd say it's a matter of a century or so at most. Question is how long the cladding and seals would last.

Imagine what would be left after it did come down: something similar to what we saw in Manhattan in 2001. I think that pile would be there for a long time, and even after the steel finished rotting away, and the concrete crumbled into gravel, you'd likely have tangled masses of PVC piping, plastic coated electrical cabling, mounds of broken glass, wads of nylon wall and floor coverings, aluminum studs, rubber matting, you name it.

How long for that all to disappear, or be buried under accumulated soils? I think it's a scale of millenia.

 

[bobpbx]

I had a flying cat once. He would walk on me about 10 minutes before my alarm went off and suddenly, he would be flying!

Good one!

I dislike most domestic cats.