The World After People

[Tom]

This was a History channel show that I watched last night.  It was trying to depict the collapse of man created infra-structure if humans were to dissappear suddenly from the planet.  I had been looking forward to it and found it interesting. It wasn't as interesting as I had hoped, but it seemed to be targeted more at the pre-teen and early teen population. 

It described buldings falling down and dams breaking, but also went into the possible scenarios of wildlife and feral animals as they took the planet back.

If you have children in the early teen or late pre-teens and this show comes back on, it would make good TV for them.  You might even enjoy watchin it with them. Just don't expect it to open new horizons for an aware adult.

  "Life after People"

[SwampDonkey]

I always took an interest in those types of scenarios. But, I always wondered how long the planet took to recover from a catastrophe. Surely millions of years? I would assume if we aren't here we did some real nasty things to the planet. Who knows, but i think the insects will be the higher form of life the next time around. Went from microbes, to fish, to dinosaurs, to mammals, next insects?  ;D

[Tom]

According to thie show, it's all gone or covered up in 2,000 years.   the majority of it didn't last 500.

[Furby]

It will encore at 8pm Eastern tomorrow night.
Here's a link to the website: Link
Dial up users may have to turn the video off.

[metalspinner]

2,000 years seems kind of short to me.   That's not long at all.  Humans can almost remember that long, err... short ago. All the concrete our city's are built with should last longer than that.

[Mrs. Haytrader]

I caught bits and pieces of that show last night, but I found myself more engrossed in the Forum here, catching up past posts, reviewing pics, etc.   :P

[WDH]

Time is inexorable.

[Dana]

2,000 years seems kind of short to me.   That's not long at all.  Humans can almost remember that long, err... short ago. All the concrete our city's are built with should last longer than that.

Metalspinner, the thing I thought was interesting was that they said, cement from the Roman times was stronger and will last longer than modern cement. It had to do with the cement having been made with less water and being compacted.

[RSteiner]

Programs like this are interesting.  They depict a possible scenario either from a computer model or intuition.  The one variable they leave out is that there is a Creator who sustains the earth and has a purpose for it.  Granted man was and is to be a good steward of the earth a responsibility he has to a great dergee failed at.  

The future of this planet is secure in the Creator's hand, there are not unknown situations.  There is a purpose and a plan but for those who want to disavow there is a God who is in control it makes the future look hopeless for the coming generations.  By not accepting reality does not make it untrue any more than trying to create a reality makes it true.

Randy

[Cedarman]

I read a book "Earth Abides" a good many years ago that looked at what happens when 99.9% of humans die from a Pandamic disease.  If covered the  time frame of one individual during his lifetime.  A great novel.

I missed last nights show.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah there was time the cement formulation was even lost. It might actually have been better. A lot of damage to those old ruins are from wars and earth quakes.

[Corley5]

I missed it the first time around but have set for auto tune for this one  ;) ;D  Right after it is a "MonsterQuest" featuring interviews with eyewitnesses from Wi and Mi who've seen a werewolf  ;D ;D 

[OneWithWood]

It is amazing how quickly a forest reclames ground.  Just look to Central and South America where great civilizations built tremendous stone structures that were swollowed in very short order.

[rebocardo]

Randy, I agree.

What I think would be a cool show is if they built a small town, let people live in it, then suddenly moved everyone in one hour, and using time lapse photos let the jungle take over it for 20 years in a tropical setting.

I think eventually the rats and roaches would learn to make tea and porridge and start sleeping in the beds  :D

[Corley5]

It's amazing how fast a northern hardwood forest will retake farm fields.  It's been 30 years since the neighboring farm was pastured and the sugar maple saplings are pretty big now.  It's been almost 20 years since we've had cattle and the regen in open formerly pastured areas is thick and tall now.

[RSteiner]

Back in the 1920's Richard Fisher began a project of modeling the change in the New England forest starting in the 1700's up to the 1930's.  At the Fisher Museum which is part of Harvard University there are 23 dioramas depicting the change in the forest and what drove that change.  I have the book that was published in the 1940's about the dioramas and have visited the museum to see these master pieces of art.  It is well worth the trip and they have much more to see than just the dioramas.

Here is a link to the website;  http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/museum/landscape.html#presettlement

The regeneration observed in New England is very similar to what takes place in other parts of the country.  I shared the book with a person who has studied the forest on the west coast for over thirty years and was told that a similar type regeneration takes place there also. 

I was recently in Florida and watched a crew clear a section of  forest land for development.  As I walked back into the place where they were ripping up the trees a large fox ran out of hiding and a hawk flew from its perch.  I wondered what would become of their habitat once all the trees were ripped out of the ground to make paved roads and house lots.  I did hear that there are sections of land set aside for wildlife which is good but some times on those pieces of land good forest managemaent practices are not allowed.  It is nice to see areas where the habitat is improved for wildlife through good forest management practices.

Randy

[crtreedude]

I have a piece of Mayan pottery found on one of our fincas. (farms) It is probably about 500 years old. That is to remind me 500 years ago everywhere around me was deforested pretty much. Sixty years ago it was pure jungle.

I don't know about up there, but 30 to 50 years is a long time down here for a building. Everything just sort of dissolves into the ground.

[Tom]

We do have a place were civilization was set up and the people removed right away.  They visit it on this show and I've seen whole shows devoted to it.  It's Chernobyl.

The problem with the "greenways" and little areas left in subdivisions is that they are usually wetlands and only that ecosystem is protected.  The "ecologists/environmentalists" don't seem to realize that the uplands is an ecosystem too.  The little spaces set aside aren't big enough for the foxes and hawks.  They will succumb, eventually, to the Urban plight that they have become a nuisance and are tearing up trash cans.

[SwampDonkey]

There is a difference between walking off and letting the elements reclaim the land and having the land heal over from nuclear annihilation or an asteroid taking out several miles and effecting the orbit of the planet resulting in a ripple down effect. I guess the way I viewed this was that if man is gone, it's not because he moved over to the next county. He no longer exists. ;)

[treenail]

Just took a look at the Harvard Forest website link. I live within distant eyesight of another tract of forest that Harvard University owns for research. It is smack in the middle of what is known as the Pisgah State Park, which is the largest state owned park in New Hampshire. The Harvard Tract as it is known around here, has never been logged or settled on, and is considered one of the few remaining in New England. As for the fourteen thousand acres of a complete forest ecosystem around it, at one time or another until the late nineteen sixties, had been farms, small communities, hunting camps etc. throughout. When the land was taken for the park, all of the buildings etc. were removed to create a wilderness park. Except for the old cellar holes, water power dams for the old samilling camps, stone walls etc. One has to look very closely now that it has been forty years. I grew up here, as did my Father, Grandfather, etc. so I know where everything was, but someone not familiar with the terrain, would mostly see mature upland forest. Hard to believe that in my life time there has been such a change.

[RSteiner]

Just took a look at the Harvard Forest website link. I live within distant eyesight of another tract of forest that Harvard University owns for research. It is smack in the middle of what is known as the Pisgah State Park, which is the largest state owned park in New Hampshire. The Harvard Tract as it is known around here, has never been logged or settled on, and is considered one of the few remaining in New England. As for the fourteen thousand acres of a complete forest ecosystem around it, at one time or another until the late nineteen sixties, had been farms, small communities, hunting camps etc. throughout. When the land was taken for the park, all of the buildings etc. were removed to create a wilderness park. Except for the old cellar holes, water power dams for the old samilling camps, stone walls etc. One has to look very closely now that it has been forty years. I grew up here, as did my Father, Grandfather, etc. so I know where everything was, but someone not familiar with the terrain, would mostly see mature upland forest. Hard to believe that in my life time there has been such a change.

treenail

What side of the park can you see?  Pisgah State Park is less than 2 miles up the dirt road I live on and there is just about nothing but woods between my home and the park.  I am on the Winchester side of the park.  We have enjoyed swimming, fishing, and walking through the park for many years, I have been around long enough to remember it before it was a park.

Randy

[SwampDonkey]

I've walked in all kinds of ground that was untouched, not cleared, or farmed. There were roads nearby the land, or I wouldn't have been there because it's deep into the forest. We still have fragments of untouched ground. Old spirally twisty rock maples and birch (white and yellow), big white pines, red spruce and hemlock scattered into it. It's getting scarcer and scarcer though as foreign companies come and go and think nothing but clear cutting is forest management.  :

[Ianab]

A few years back we did a boat trip up the Whanganui river. One of the stops was the Bridge to Nowhere. Basically you park the boat and walk though a bush track for about 40 mins before you come to a big concrete arch road bridge. Just in the middle of nowhere  ???
It's 2 more days walking to the nearest road.

The full story is that in the 1930s the area was opened up for farming, land cleared, houses and roads build. But due to the land being marginal and the depression it was abandoned. This massive concrete bridge (it's about 200ft above the river) is pretty much the only sign that anyone was ever there. There was also an old falling down house surrounded by non-native pine trees, but unless you knew it was there you would never see it.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=34106

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101-must-dos-for-kiwis/Whanganui-National-Park-wanganui.html

Cheers

Ian

[treenail]

Randy, my view of the park is from the south. Schofield Mt. ie. the Old Hinsdale Rd. Because of the elevation, can see quite a bit of it from up there. If you are the Randy Steiner from the old Chesterfield Rd. We have met before. Worked at your next door neighbors, quite a bit twenty years ago. Gazebo, addition, garage, etc.  Used to work with Webb Hays.

Ted

[RSteiner]

Randy, my view of the park is from the south. Schofield Mt. ie. the Old Hinsdale Rd. Because of the elevation, can see quite a bit of it from up there. If you are the Randy Steiner from the old Chesterfield Rd. We have met before. Worked at your next door neighbors, quite a bit twenty years ago. Gazebo, addition, garage, etc.  Used to work with Webb Hays.

Ted

Ted,

I must admit that was me and we are still in the same place.  You do have a nice view from your neck of the woods, but a view in New Hampshire right now has become a huge tax liability.  It is good to meet you again especially at this site.

Randy