Monday, January 04, 2010

"Life Without People" series on History Channel

I've been watching the "Life Without People" series on the History Channel. The series is the outgrowth of an original two-hour program that attempts to describe how the modern built trappings of our modern society would fare if people were removed entirely from the picture. Each program shows for selected places and themes what would happen on day one, day two, after one week, after a year, twenty years, 100 years, etc. The end result is always the same - buildings and bridges collapsing, vegetation taking over, and eventually all traces of our existence being buried from view by vegetation and erosion.

Very sobering, and collectively a very good illustration/lessen on how necessary the built nature of our current way of living requires the daily intervention of humans to keep it all "a float." A tremendous amount of energy, and attention, goes into keeping our built world from falling apart.

A commend the series to readers. Even watching just a couple of episodes will get the message across, as they do get repetitive after that.

From Dubuque in the new year and decade,
Kevin Anderson