Life After People

What would happen?

If every human being on earth

Disappeared?

[music]

At some point in the future,

This could be the fate

Of our planet.

This isn't the story

Of how we might vanish.

It is the story of what happens

To the world we leave behind.

The disappearance of humans

May seem like science fiction,

But eventually,

There will come a day like this;

A day when people

No longer walk the earth.

it's no great stretch

To imagine humans disappearing

From the face of the earth.

Every generation has its tales

Of Armageddon or apocalypse.

We're the first generation

That could,

By deliberate actions,

Cause its own doom.

What will life be like?

After people?

We're tantalized by our myths

About our own destruction,

But also tantalized

By the notion,

"hey, maybe it's the turn

Of someone else."

What will they do?

If we're gone?

What will the earth do?

When I'm gone?

It's the most natural question

In the world.

[alarm buzzing]

Time has run out for man.

Our hold on the planet is over.

Welcome to earth,

Population zero.

Within hours after we're gone,

Lights start going out

Around the world.

More than 70 percent of power

In the United States

Is generated by the burning

Of fossil fuels.

the plant will only continue

To produce electricity

As long as the fuel

Takes to be consumed.

If there's no one around

To provide the new fuel

Into the generating plant,

Then it'll be quite quick

Before the lights

Start going out in cities

All over the world.

Nuclear power plants

Are unlikely to melt down.

The average reactor

Holds enough fuel

To keep running for two years.

But without humans

Consuming the power

Generated by the plant,

The reactors will automatically

Shut down into a safe mode

In as little as two days.

even wind generation

Can't last forever.

The turbines require bearings

And lubrication

Of those bearings

In order to keep operating.

If there's no one around

To maintain the turbines,

The electricity

Doesn't get produced.

as generating plants go down,

Outages on the power grid

Contribute to a cascade

Of failure worldwide.

After a few weeks,

The planet is plunged

Into a deep darkness.

It has not experienced

Since humans first huddled

Around campfires.

Perhaps, the last glow

Of artificial lights on earth

Will be seen

In the American southwest.

Here, the mighty hover dam

Hydropower plant

Takes little notice

Of the absence of humans.

Its source of fuel

Is virtually limitless.

at hover dam,

Our fuel supply

Is actually the water

In the reservoir in Lake Mead

Behind hover dam,

So as long as there's water

In the reservoir,

This power plant

Can keep running.

There's water in the reservoir

Keeps supplying the water

To the hydro turbine generators.

These generators

Are operating automatically

And that would continue

As long as all of the systems

Are functioning normally.

If I and my staff

Were to leave tonight

And not come back to hover dam,

Say just in the condition

Of the plant is in right now,

This would continue operating

Without us here.

That would still be true

After about a week,

Several weeks, several months,

Maybe even a couple of years,

Everything would still be

Running normally.

In a life after people,

It is possible that hover dam

Would be one

Of the last power plants

Still running.

as the power goes out

Around the world,

Other systems

Are quickly beginning to fail.

beneath all the major cities,

There's a complex network

Of underground tunnels,

And these are there

For drainage purposes

Or for cabling purposes,

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