And Then There Were None...

So I watched an interesting TV show this weekend called "Life After People", a History Channel take on what would happen to the earth if people disappeared or suddenly got wiped out. I've always pondered this idea, because compared to the overall life of the planet we have existed for just a blink of an eye. Even the dinosaurs made it millions of years longer than we have so far, and their remnants are just scattered bones.
It showed how in a few hundred years the planet would easily take back over all of our so called modern marvels and bustling cities. The oceans would flourish again with overwhelming life, recovering from humans treating it like their own personal sewer/fish market. All of our engineering and technology would be no match to weathering, oxidation and corrosion. Famous structures like the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and Empire State Building would make it maybe 100 years before collapsing into rusted rubble. Its amazing how often man has to continually maintain all these structures to keep the elements from taking control.
Even our digital media and film records (DVD's, CD's, hard drives, fixed disks, and all other memory written devices) would make it maybe 200 years before succumbing to humidity, warping and cracking then eventually turning back into dust. It seems that the ancient Egyptians had a better grasp on maintaining their history, buildings, wall paintings/carvings than our present modern societies.

Bottom line is that without constant human intervention to maintain our everyday modern ways of life, planet earth would quickly wrap its motherly arms around itself and bring back a homeostasis of pure...true life. People sure are arrogant to think we are timeless. Great idea for a series History Channel. Check it out: http://www.history.com/content/life_after_people/about-the-show