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00:00Imagine our planet without its people.
00:09Imagine that every single human being has simply disappeared.
00:14This isn't the story of how that might happen.
00:17It's the story of what happens to the world we leave behind.
00:23In the time of humans, we were all car crazy.
00:26But now, all roads lead to nowhere.
00:34The city of Detroit breaks down.
00:38And the world faces a new kind of oil boom.
00:44Bizarre creatures stake their claim on the highways of Texas,
00:48where there's no one to remember the Alamo,
00:50but plenty of things to destroy it.
00:52And this once great American metropolis
00:57is already on a collision course with disaster.
01:02Welcome to Earth.
01:05Population Zero.
01:07It's one hour after people.
01:26All over the world, oil refineries and chemical plants
01:29are still pumping out the lifeblood
01:31once used to power cars and keep aircraft aloft.
01:34Thick plumes of steam continue to billow out
01:39from the dense cluster of refineries
01:41situated along the Houston Shipping Channel.
01:47In the time of humans,
01:49one-fifth of America's oil production passed through here,
01:52feeding an insatiable demand for fuel.
01:55Every day, the United States consume 20 million barrels of oil.
02:08Everything seems to be running smoothly.
02:10But suddenly, alarm bells ring.
02:17Without people, the oil refineries are in trouble.
02:21There's a problem in the reactor,
02:22a tall column that helps break oil down to petroleum.
02:26Each refinery depends on storage tanks,
02:29some holding as many as 20 million gallons of oil
02:32to feed the reactor continually.
02:34Just an hour after people,
02:40one of the feeder tanks has run dry.
02:44When the tank goes empty,
02:46the conditions inside that reactor
02:48just go chaotic
02:49because it expects to have continuous flow.
02:53In order for these reactors to work,
02:55you have to heat the oil to hundreds of degrees
02:57or maybe a thousand degrees.
02:59Without a fresh supply of incoming oil,
03:02the reactor turns the entire refinery
03:04into a ticking time bomb.
03:09In a life without people,
03:11there's nobody to react to that.
03:12And so the temperatures could escalate up to thousands,
03:16tens of thousands of degrees.
03:20But the reactor isn't entirely empty.
03:23Deadly gasoline vapors
03:24designed to burn only inside of a car engine linger.
03:29Runaway temperatures rupture the reactor,
03:31creating sparks and causing fumes to explode.
03:37Fire rushes through pipes
03:39that connect to a holding tank
03:40filled with already refined gasoline.
03:43It ignites.
03:46More sparks and heat ignite another tank.
03:51And then another.
03:53Within seconds,
03:57the entire refinery is on fire.
04:00In 2005,
04:0215 workers died
04:03and another 170 were injured
04:05at an oil refinery in Texas City
04:07when unmonitored gasoline fumes
04:09found an igniting spark.
04:12In a life after people,
04:14there will be nothing
04:15and no one
04:16to prevent these refinery explosions.
04:19You can have a fire in one refinery
04:21and another one
04:22half a mile away
04:23and then those could lead
04:24to other fires in those refineries.
04:26So they happen one at a time,
04:28but once they start happening,
04:29it just increases exponentially.
04:32The fuel that once propelled humans
04:37around the world
04:38now fuels
04:39a seemingly endless inferno.
04:47Three days after people.
04:52A once domesticated pet
04:54in central Texas
04:55is in trouble.
04:58She's called a Lacey.
05:02And she's no ordinary pet.
05:05Part sighthound,
05:07part shepherd
05:08and part wolf,
05:09a Lacey is a born problem solver.
05:13Gifted with a sharp nose,
05:15she can scent any food
05:16that may be left behind.
05:19With a slim, athletic body,
05:21a Lacey has no trouble
05:22leaping onto the kitchen worktop.
05:27She's finding the last scraps
05:29of food in the house.
05:30With her options dwindling
05:34and stomach growling,
05:36her basic instincts
05:37start to kick in.
05:39The first thing on the menu
05:41is going to be house cats
05:43because they're going to be plentiful
05:44and they're not real smart.
05:47You know,
05:47so they're going to hang around.
05:49And I've never owned a good Lacey dog
05:51wouldn't kill a house cat.
05:53So it's going to be
05:54pretty easy pickings.
05:54While neighborhood cats
05:59provide the meat,
06:01the Lacey looks for water
06:02wherever she can find it.
06:05An outdoor dripping tap
06:07throws her a lifeline.
06:11But once the tap
06:12stops dripping
06:13in central Texas,
06:14the Lacey faces a decision.
06:17Lacey dogs were bred
06:19to work in the high heat.
06:20But they do have to have water.
06:23I think their first
06:23objective would be
06:25to find a good water source.
06:28Without food or water,
06:30her former owner's home
06:31is useless to the Lacey.
06:33The Lacey dog is a high drive
06:39working dog.
06:41And they're not content
06:42being a house dog.
06:45They were bred to round up
06:46range hogs and wild cattle.
06:49Her boundless energy
06:51serves her well
06:52in central Texas
06:53where the annual rainfall
06:54is 35 inches
06:55so water won't be a problem.
06:58For food,
07:00the Lacey has work to do.
07:03Four days after people.
07:14Detroit is silent.
07:17In the birthplace
07:18of the motor car,
07:19there are no longer
07:20any on the road.
07:24Nor are there any lorries
07:26to shuttle cargo
07:27over the Ambassador Bridge
07:28into Canada.
07:33The Renaissance Center,
07:34the tallest building
07:35in the state,
07:36stands empty.
07:39Four miles east of the center
07:41on the banks
07:42of the Detroit River
07:43at the city's
07:44waterworks plant,
07:46some machines
07:46are still humming.
07:50Even though power plants
07:51are beginning to fail
07:52across the country.
07:53Once you have main power failure,
07:59we would switch over
08:02to generator power.
08:04The diesel fuel
08:05powering the generators
08:06will last for two more days
08:08and so it's business
08:09as usual
08:10at the waterworks,
08:11even without people.
08:13The electronic boards
08:19at system control
08:20continue to keep track
08:21of the half a billion gallons
08:22of water
08:23filling the city's pipes.
08:28But in a life after people,
08:30catastrophe looms.
08:32There's no one around
08:33to turn on a tap.
08:35We're pumping water
08:38into a system
08:39that's not being used.
08:40So eventually,
08:41you're going to max out
08:42the capacity of the pipes.
08:46Beneath the city center,
08:47four-foot diameter pipes
08:48dating back
08:49to the 19th century
08:51are the weakest links
08:52in the system.
08:56In their lifetime,
08:58they've witnessed
08:58the birth of the Model T,
09:00the rise of the big three
09:01motor car producers
09:02and the collapse
09:04of manufacturing.
09:06But these pipes
09:07are finished.
09:09Things are going to be
09:11completely full
09:11and start to burst.
09:16Compounding the disaster,
09:18much of the city
09:19is built on clay.
09:21The clay is impervious
09:22to the flow of water.
09:23So to the extent
09:24that there's water
09:25saturating the clay,
09:26the tendency is
09:27for the water to go up.
09:29The pressure continues building,
09:31pushing up.
09:32sidewalk and street
09:34until the sidewalk
09:36and the street buckle.
09:40Ten-foot-high fountains
09:42turn Detroit streets
09:43into thoroughfares for water.
09:53One week into a life
09:54after people.
09:57As the oil refineries
09:58continue to burn in Texas,
10:00the 100,000 longhorn steer
10:04living throughout the state
10:05on open ranches
10:06or hemmed-in barns
10:08are facing a crisis.
10:13The 800-kilo beasts
10:14rely on weekly hay rations.
10:17Without people
10:18to replenish food stocks
10:19and with barbed wire
10:20and fencing
10:21keeping them in,
10:22it looks like the end
10:23of the road
10:24for the longhorn.
10:25But these lumbering beasts
10:29aren't feeling anxious.
10:31If they wanted to,
10:32this guy's big enough
10:33to knock down
10:34anything in here,
10:35but he's so well-trained
10:36and so bossy
10:37that he doesn't have
10:39any need.
10:39Plus, he's already given
10:40everything he needs
10:41to survive
10:41and he knows it.
10:42He's content.
10:43Longhorns descend
10:45from Spanish cattle,
10:47a tough breed
10:47brought to the New World
10:48on board Columbus's ships.
10:50It's in their blood
10:51to eat whatever's available.
10:54All cattle are herbivores,
10:55so they eat grass.
10:57The longhorn cattle,
10:58more than other breeds
10:59of cattle,
11:00will also eat brush
11:01and browse
11:02and leaves.
11:02They'll eat anything
11:03they need to survive.
11:06They also have a pair
11:07of not-so-secret weapons.
11:09That's what they have
11:10these horns for,
11:11to protect themselves
11:12against the cowls
11:13and the wolves
11:14and the bears.
11:16There's not many animals
11:17that will want to go up
11:18and tangle with a set
11:19of horns like this.
11:23Although individual
11:24longhorns have managed
11:25to survive these first few days
11:27without humans,
11:28their survival as a species
11:30is still in doubt.
11:34In a life after people,
11:36the changes are swift
11:37throughout Texas.
11:39As oil fires continue
11:41their march of destruction,
11:43San Antonio faces imminent death
11:45while local wildlife thrives
11:47in unexpected places.
11:59It's two months after people.
12:03Supplies of oil and petrol
12:05haven't run out yet.
12:09An apocalyptic firestorm
12:11still burns along Houston's
12:13shipping channel.
12:15In the time of humans,
12:17this area processed
12:18most of the one million barrels
12:19of crude oil produced
12:20in Texas every day,
12:22more than any other state
12:24in the country.
12:24200 miles west is the city
12:32of San Antonio
12:32with its iconic landmark,
12:35the Alamo.
12:39Nearby, the San Antonio River
12:41streams peacefully
12:42through the abandoned river walk.
12:47In the time of humans,
12:49this was the most popular
12:50gathering spot in the city.
12:51Now, once-packed office towers
12:57and hotels look down
12:59over empty barges
13:00waiting for tourists
13:01who will never show.
13:06San Antonio River
13:07is essentially what created
13:09the city of San Antonio.
13:11The river has attracted people
13:13for centuries.
13:15Native Americans who lived here
13:16named their settlement
13:17refreshing waters.
13:19But in a life after people,
13:22this tide is about to turn.
13:26Right now, it's highly engineered.
13:28Man has influenced it.
13:29We have straightened it.
13:30We have put in flood control structures.
13:34Now, all that stands
13:35between the river
13:36and the destruction of the city
13:37is a steady rain,
13:39something that's all too common
13:41in this part of the country.
13:44The Midwest United States
13:45has Tornado Alley.
13:46We in Texas have Flash Flood Alley.
13:48We're running up I-35
13:50from San Antonio
13:51all the way to Dallas.
13:54In this part of the country,
13:55warm, moist air
13:57drifting inland
13:57from the Gulf Coast
13:58collides with cooler,
14:00drier air
14:01sweeping in from the north,
14:02bringing frequent rainstorms
14:04to central Texas.
14:08As a result,
14:10half of the top 12
14:11world records for rainfall
14:12in 48 hours
14:14originate
14:14in Flash Flood Alley.
14:16The first rain event
14:19that would occur
14:20following Life After People,
14:22basically the downtown area,
14:23the Riverwalk area
14:24that we know and love today,
14:25that would be the first casualty.
14:29The buildings of the Riverwalk
14:31stand level
14:31with the San Antonio River,
14:33some 15 feet below
14:34the surrounding streets.
14:36Where the San Antonio River
14:39bends into the city center
14:40at the entrance
14:41to the Riverwalk,
14:42a three-ton floodgate
14:43stands guard.
14:46Basically what we're looking at here,
14:47you can see the lines
14:48in the wall there,
14:48that's actually the groove
14:50that will actually hold
14:50the gate door
14:51as it comes down.
14:52The gate door is actually
14:53above us right now
14:54in the open position.
14:56In Life After People,
14:57basically,
14:58there would be no one here
14:58to lower this gate
14:59during a rain event.
15:05In 1921,
15:07a burst of rain
15:07inundated the city center
15:09with up to 10 feet of water,
15:11killing 50 people.
15:15Behind me,
15:16the river is only
15:17about five to six inches
15:19at its lowest point
15:20below the sidewalk.
15:21So it wouldn't take
15:22that much rain
15:23to actually raise
15:24the water level
15:24in this area
15:25and begin flooding out
15:26all the restaurants,
15:27all of the hotel space,
15:28all of the business space.
15:32Meanwhile,
15:32above the Riverwalk
15:34at street level,
15:35the Alamo,
15:36the oldest building
15:37in the city,
15:39silently awaits the assault.
15:40Three months after people,
15:54Houston's oil refinery fires
15:56have finally exhausted
15:57their fuel.
15:59And since the world's
16:00oil refineries
16:01now lie in ruins,
16:03the 1.2 trillion barrels
16:04of crude oil
16:05that sit untapped
16:07beneath the Earth's surface
16:08will never propel
16:09any man-made machines
16:10again.
16:16In the scrublands
16:17of Central Texas,
16:18the Lacey that's
16:19staked out on her own
16:20is having no trouble
16:22surviving without
16:23people around.
16:24And she's not alone.
16:26These enterprising canines
16:28have discovered food
16:29to be plentiful
16:29in Central Texas.
16:32The Lacey would most likely
16:34adapt to catching hogs
16:36faster than anything else.
16:38In the time of humans,
16:39two million feral hogs
16:41scoured the Texas countryside.
16:44Without hunters
16:45to keep their numbers
16:46in check, the wild pigs are rampant.
16:50A feral hog, it takes three months,
16:52three weeks, and three days
16:53to have a litter of pigs.
16:55They will double their population
16:57every four months.
16:58They can't have up to 13 pigs
17:00in the litter.
17:02That's a lot of pork on the ground.
17:03The Lacey's herding instincts
17:07have awakened
17:07a primal hunting urge.
17:10All right, let's take
17:11a lab, for instance.
17:12This lab has been raised
17:13for 10 generations
17:14as a house pet.
17:16They have no prey drive.
17:18They have no idea
17:19how to get out there
17:19and catch anything.
17:21You take a Lacey dog,
17:22they've got the prey drive.
17:24They'll get out there
17:24and get it done.
17:25They know what it takes
17:26to bring an animal down.
17:30Lacey's are not large enough
17:31to bring down hogs
17:32that weigh over 90 kilos
17:34on their own.
17:35But in packs, they thrive.
17:39With a seemingly
17:40never-ending supply of food,
17:42the Lacey dog seems
17:43destined for success.
17:51Six months after people,
17:53and another Texas resident
17:54is enjoying the new world
17:56order, the Nine-Banded Armadillo.
18:00Its armor of bony plates
18:02and leathery skin
18:03is designed to protect it
18:04from predators,
18:06except for one.
18:09In the time of humans,
18:11their most dangerous...
18:12In the time of humans,
18:14their most dangerous enemy
18:15was traffic.
18:19Countless cars and lorries
18:21roared down streets and roads.
18:23When it came to getting out
18:24of the way,
18:25their instincts failed them.
18:28With the armadillos,
18:29actually, they have a tendency
18:30to vertically jump.
18:34That tendency to jump,
18:35sometimes as high as three
18:37or four feet,
18:38serves them well
18:39against most predators
18:40by scaring them away.
18:41But when the attacker
18:43is a speeding car,
18:44the encounter is nearly always fatal.
18:50No state in the country
18:51had more of these
18:52death traps for armadillos
18:53than Texas,
18:54with its 80,000 miles of roads.
19:02Now, with no traffic at all,
19:05armadillos own the roads.
19:07When we come to a point
19:10where there's no humans around,
19:11we're going to see
19:12an increased habitat
19:13for the armadillos.
19:17Man's abandoned cities
19:19offer the armadillos
19:20new territories to explore,
19:22and they won't be confined
19:23to Texas.
19:26Even in the time of humans,
19:28they spread deep into Florida,
19:30as far west as Nebraska,
19:32and as far north
19:33as southern Illinois.
19:36Only cold weather
19:37halts their advance.
19:40They thrive here in Texas
19:42because of the climate.
19:43We have very mild winters.
19:46They don't have a lot of hair
19:47to actually insulate them
19:48to keep them warm,
19:49so it's important for them
19:50to be in temperatures
19:51where it's above freezing.
19:54As long as the weather
19:56stays warm
19:56and there's no traffic,
19:58armadillos will do very well
20:00in a life after people.
20:02A quarter of a century
20:12after people,
20:13the extreme Detroit climate
20:15is taking its toll
20:16on the city's skyline.
20:19It's tough being a building
20:21in Detroit
20:21because of the extremes
20:23of weather here.
20:24Very, very hot summers,
20:26very cold winters.
20:28There's freezing,
20:29there's thawing,
20:30there's wind.
20:32There's rain,
20:34there's ice.
20:36You're right by the river
20:37and as a result
20:38you get quite a bit of moisture
20:39in the air as well.
20:41And it's very open space,
20:42so you do get
20:43very, very high winds.
20:45In the time of humans,
20:49the Renaissance Center
20:50stood as a monument
20:51to the industry
20:52that delivered Detroit
20:53into a golden age.
20:56In the city
20:57where Henry Ford's
20:58modern assembly line
20:59made the family car affordable,
21:01his grandson commissioned
21:02the construction
21:03of the Renaissance Center.
21:04two decades later,
21:10the entire complex,
21:11including the 73-story
21:13central tower,
21:14the tallest building
21:15in Michigan,
21:15was purchased
21:16by General Motors,
21:18once the largest car manufacturer
21:20in the world.
21:20The Renaissance Center
21:26is a classic example
21:28of late 1960s,
21:301970s design.
21:32It's basically steel framed
21:34and the outer skin
21:36is almost entirely glass.
21:39The frames
21:40that hold the windows in,
21:43the steel frame
21:44that holds the building up,
21:46and the glass
21:47all expand and contract
21:49and vibrate
21:50in different ways.
21:52And the result is
21:53is where they meet
21:53gets worn a little bit.
21:5725 years without people
21:59has turned the Renaissance Center's
22:01atrium into a forest.
22:04Although the decorative palms
22:06have died,
22:07native trees
22:08like shagbark hickories
22:09and giant oaks
22:10have moved in.
22:12As long as the structure
22:14provides some shelter,
22:16you're going to get plant
22:18and animal life
22:18inside there.
22:20So you'd have feral dogs,
22:22wolves, wolverines
22:23would start coming in,
22:25and you have this
22:25ecosystem there.
22:2825 years of neglect
22:29have already wrecked
22:30some parts of the Motor City.
22:32So what will Detroit
22:35look like 40 years
22:37after people?
22:39We know,
22:40because it's already happened.
22:4240 years after people.
22:58Detroit is a wreck.
23:01It's a future
23:01that has already come to pass
23:03in some areas of the city.
23:04where a population exodus
23:08has decimated
23:09once-bustling factories
23:11and crowded city blocks.
23:20From 1900 to 1930,
23:22the burgeoning motor industry
23:24powered a growth spurt
23:25in Detroit.
23:27The city's population
23:29skyrocketed
23:30more than five-fold
23:31to more than
23:32a million and a half
23:33inhabitants.
23:34Abandoned for 40 years,
23:41Detroit's Packard plant,
23:42five stories
23:43and 47 buildings,
23:45is a sad reminder
23:46of a once-thriving car industry
23:48that pumped life
23:49into the city.
23:57The Packard name
23:58was once synonymous
23:59with luxury,
24:00churning out everything
24:01from convertibles
24:02to limousines.
24:04But the public
24:07stopped buying
24:07its designs.
24:10Burdened with a crushing debt,
24:12Packard closed its doors.
24:15And this is what nature
24:17achieves in 40 years
24:19without people.
24:21In that 40 years
24:23since the people have left,
24:25plants and animals
24:26have colonized the area.
24:28even the roof
24:30is slowly turning
24:31into a forest.
24:37Notice the trees
24:38right along the wall.
24:40Well, how did they get there?
24:42Basically,
24:44windblown seeds
24:45wedge themselves
24:46into the crack
24:47that almost inevitably exists
24:49where pavement meets a wall.
24:51These are goldenrod.
24:54Goldenrod is a pioneer plant.
24:57It's very old
24:59from very, very ancient times.
25:01And it will grow
25:02in almost anything
25:03as many gardeners know.
25:10Without windows,
25:12the inside
25:13is beginning to look
25:14like the outside.
25:16We're up on the fifth floor now
25:18of this old building.
25:20What you're seeing here
25:22is the original hardwood floor.
25:24And you notice
25:25that it's bowed upward.
25:27The wood has been soaking
25:28all through the winter.
25:29And as a result,
25:31the wood has expanded.
25:33Underneath the wood,
25:34there's actually quite a bit
25:35of what you would call dirt.
25:38You can see it here.
25:40You can see it here.
25:43You see it here.
25:45Basically,
25:46what's happening is
25:47dirt is blowing in
25:48from outside.
25:49In another 30 or 40 years,
25:51most of this wood
25:52will be gone.
25:53What you're going to see
25:54is basically
25:55a giant flower bed.
25:59Where workers
26:00once assembled
26:01Packard engines,
26:02saplings now take root.
26:05Moss has begun
26:06to colonize the floorboards.
26:13Meanwhile,
26:14the harsh climate
26:15is eating away
26:16at the building's foundations.
26:18The entryway wall itself,
26:21over time,
26:22mainly due to freezing
26:23and thawing,
26:24has warped away
26:26and come out
26:27this way a little bit.
26:28As it did that,
26:29it actually cracked
26:31this guard.
26:33This guard
26:34is actually a bell
26:36of very thick cast iron.
26:37Now,
26:40on the other side
26:41of the entrance,
26:42we see the logical
26:44conclusion of that
26:45and you get some idea
26:46of the thickness.
26:47Can you imagine,
26:48basically,
26:49that a little bit of water
26:51and a little bit of ice
26:52getting in here
26:53can actually pull this apart
26:56and cause these kinds
26:57of cracks?
26:58What's happened here
26:59is the bell
27:00is pretty much
27:01totally worn away
27:02because it's cracked out.
27:09The seasons
27:10haven't been any kinder either
27:11to homes once cared for
27:13by people.
27:14As competition
27:17from foreign car manufacturers
27:18intensified,
27:20a million residents
27:21moved out of the urban centre
27:22between 1950
27:23and 1980.
27:27Left behind
27:27are huge areas
27:28of abandoned neighbourhoods.
27:31Of the 137 square miles
27:33that make up the city,
27:3560 are completely empty
27:36of people.
27:38What are left
27:39are just ugly reminders
27:40of a former elegance.
27:43This building
27:44here
27:44has been abandoned
27:45for about 40 years.
27:48The harsh climate
27:49of Detroit
27:50accelerated the deterioration
27:52of this building.
27:54In this case,
27:55the freezing
27:56and thawing
27:56during the winter
27:57and the fairly heavy rainfall
27:59during the year
28:00were what finally
28:02destroyed this building.
28:10This brick-and-mortar structure
28:12is decaying
28:13from the top down.
28:16Weather,
28:17especially water
28:18through the roof,
28:19has pretty much destroyed it.
28:21What we're looking at
28:22is actually a building
28:24with very solid brick walls.
28:28Water seeps
28:30into the brick,
28:31expanding and contracting
28:32as it freezes and thaws,
28:34prying it away
28:35from the facade.
28:35In another 75 years,
28:40the entire building
28:41will crumble
28:41into an unrecognizable heap.
28:44A century after that,
28:46nothing will remain.
28:49Brick-and-mortar
28:50is basically clay
28:51and limestone,
28:52very much like
28:53the surrounding soil.
28:55You would have to be
28:56an expert
28:56to know there was
28:57ever a house there.
28:58In this harsh climate,
29:06it doesn't take long
29:07for a building
29:08to crumble.
29:10This school
29:11has only been abandoned
29:12for two years.
29:15As the population
29:16continues to decline
29:17in Detroit,
29:18there are fewer children
29:19to teach,
29:19so schools
29:20continue to close.
29:21This is one summer
29:25and two winters
29:26in Detroit
29:26have done this
29:27kind of damage.
29:29The paint is meant
29:30to be an interior paint.
29:32It's not meant
29:33to withstand
29:34a lot of water,
29:35and it's not meant
29:36to withstand
29:36a lot of temperature changes.
29:39Now, the ceiling
29:40is plaster.
29:41The reason it collapsed
29:43is, for the most part,
29:45water coming in
29:46in the classroom above.
29:48Now, over the next few years,
29:50the rest of the ceiling
29:51will collapse,
29:52and one thing
29:53that would happen
29:54is the plaster dust itself
29:56catches dirt,
29:58catches seeds.
30:00It's not a nutrient itself
30:02that would nurture
30:02plant life,
30:03but it could be
30:04the beginning.
30:1250 years after people.
30:17Detroit,
30:18the city once ruled
30:20by car manufacturers,
30:22crumbles.
30:27A place that once
30:28produced 15 million
30:29new cars every year
30:31now sees those same cars
30:33abandoned and decaying
30:35on its streets.
30:42None of them
30:43have inflated tires anymore,
30:44but the rubber and synthetics
30:46will last for hundreds of years.
30:53Within another 25 years,
30:55the tough Detroit climate
30:56will reduce this car
30:57to a skeleton.
31:011,500 miles away in San Antonio,
31:07repeated rains have spawned cycles
31:09of flooding along the river walk.
31:13Waterlogged foundations
31:14leave the buildings
31:15tilting at odd angles
31:16as silt and sand
31:19inundate the area.
31:20I call it death by inches.
31:25It happens slowly,
31:26it happens insidiously.
31:29The river itself,
31:31although not flowing very fast,
31:33would flood over and over again,
31:35bringing a lot of silt,
31:37a lot of sand
31:38to basically cover part of that area.
31:41The buildings sink into it and settle,
31:44but they sink unevenly.
31:49Eventually,
31:50the lean is too much
31:51for one of the buildings.
32:01Meanwhile,
32:02the Alamo facade
32:03stares back untouched
32:05from its elevated perch
32:06on the city's street level.
32:10But an enemy
32:11is attacking the compound
32:13from within.
32:14In the time of humans,
32:18live oaks
32:19already dominated
32:20the Alamo's courtyard.
32:24We have many oak trees,
32:27and those oak trees
32:28tend to grow very large.
32:30The limbs will extend outward,
32:32and the weight of the limbs
32:34causes them to reach down
32:36to the earth
32:37where they support themselves.
32:40Without people
32:41to redirect the massive limbs,
32:43the trees will begin
32:44to demolish the Alamo walls.
32:54The limb behind me
32:56is one of those
32:57that's been held up
32:58by an iron post
33:00to keep it off of the ground.
33:03Without people
33:04to constantly cut the limbs back,
33:07that limb would continue to grow,
33:09and at some point
33:10it would crush the wall.
33:15Those oak trees
33:16would drop acorns as well,
33:18and wildlife
33:19would come over here,
33:21and they would bring seeds.
33:25Over 200 years
33:27after the Alamo
33:27fell to the invading
33:28Mexican army,
33:29an army of trees
33:31conquers it again.
33:34The Alamo
33:35doesn't stand a chance.
33:46150 years after people.
33:50When it opened
33:50as a gateway to Ontario
33:52in 1929,
33:53Detroit's
33:541,850-foot-long
33:56Ambassador Bridge
33:57was the longest
33:58suspension bridge
33:59in the world.
34:03In the time of humans,
34:04this was the busiest
34:05border crossing
34:06between the US and Canada,
34:08carrying 25%
34:09of the goods,
34:10the majority in car parts,
34:11traded between the two countries.
34:13But as the vertical
34:19suspension cables
34:20give way,
34:22nothing will ever
34:23cross this bridge again.
34:27Those vertical
34:28suspension cables
34:29are exposed
34:30to the wind,
34:31exposed to the weather,
34:33and they vibrate
34:34quite a bit
34:35in the wind.
34:36So they're a major
34:37wear area
34:38and a major
34:39maintenance problem
34:40for any keeper
34:41of any suspension bridge.
34:43But in a life
34:48after people,
34:49there is no one
34:50to repair the frays
34:51in the vertical cables.
34:54The weak spots
34:55are basically
34:56down at the bottom
34:58of the cable,
34:59where the cables
35:00actually tie
35:01into the deck.
35:03The vertical cables
35:05lay over one
35:06of two horizontal
35:06white lines
35:07known as
35:08catenary cables.
35:1037 steel strands,
35:12each about a foot
35:13in diameter,
35:14interweave to form
35:15just one
35:16of the catenary cables.
35:21As multiple cables
35:23break,
35:24it actually changes
35:25the shape
35:26of the white
35:27catenary cable
35:29that holds
35:29the whole thing up
35:30because it's no longer
35:32taking an even
35:33amount of weight
35:34at each interval.
35:35another vertical cable
35:41snaps
35:41and a segment
35:43of the deck
35:43crashes into the river.
35:49A 150-foot gap
35:51now gashes
35:52through the road
35:52to Canada.
35:54Within seconds,
35:55the other sections
35:56fall.
35:57in the century
36:06to come,
36:07the wheels
36:07of progress
36:08continue to roll
36:09backwards
36:10as the seat
36:12of the motor industry
36:13monarchy
36:13disintegrates.
36:14150 years
36:26after people.
36:28In Detroit,
36:29just upstream
36:30from the
36:30Ambassador Bridge,
36:32the central tower
36:34of the Renaissance
36:34Center still stands
36:36taller than
36:36any other building.
36:37broken windows
36:41have left
36:41the structure
36:42unable to retain
36:43any heat
36:44from the sun.
36:47There's a lot
36:48of rubble on them
36:49during the winter.
36:50A fair amount
36:50of ice loading
36:51would build up
36:52because the sun
36:53would not directly
36:55warm the building
36:56because most of the
36:57glass would be gone.
36:59One of the upper floors
37:01finally loses its grip
37:02and the rest
37:05of the central tower
37:06collapses,
37:07bringing down
37:08one of the
37:08adjoining buildings
37:09as it falls.
37:27200 years
37:29after people.
37:33On the skeleton
37:34of the Ambassador Bridge,
37:35the white
37:35horizontal catenary cable
37:37that once held up
37:38the span
37:39is now helping
37:40to topple its remains.
37:45That big cable
37:46is anchored
37:46on either side,
37:48on either shore,
37:50and when the deck
37:52is no longer there,
37:54the tension
37:54will be uneven.
37:57The big vertical towers
37:59would bend toward the land
38:02would bend toward the land side.
38:02The tops would spread apart
38:05and that would put quite a bit
38:07of strain on those towers.
38:12The towers finally yield
38:14and the last vestiges
38:16of a great transportation link
38:18disappear.
38:19in San Antonio,
38:25the river has swallowed the city.
38:29The whole downtown San Antonio area
38:32basically has little hills
38:35and little remnants of buildings.
38:39The Alamo is still standing,
38:42but only barely.
38:43Like the great stone temples
38:46of Cambodia's Angkor Wat,
38:48years of out-of-control tree growth
38:50have the structure
38:51in a death grip.
38:53There is no one
38:54to remember the Alamo,
38:56and more importantly,
38:57no one to repair it.
39:02As the Alamo falls,
39:04another Texas icon
39:06soldiers on.
39:07After breaking out
39:12into the wild,
39:13longhorn cattle are finding
39:14that history
39:15is repeating itself.
39:21In the 1800s,
39:22they escaped from the confines
39:23of their Spanish missionary masters.
39:27These animals evolved
39:28into an animal
39:30that could survive on its own.
39:32They grew very long in leg,
39:34very strong hooves,
39:35so they could travel
39:35long distances for water.
39:37and forage.
39:41In this earlier life
39:43without people,
39:44longhorns acquired
39:45a genetic diversity
39:46that now serves them very well.
39:50We don't need veterinarians
39:52even today with our cattle.
39:53They're extremely disease-resistant.
39:56It's what makes a longhorn
39:57adaptable without humans.
40:01Many dairy and beef cattle
40:02died out quickly
40:03in a life after people
40:04because they struggled
40:06to give birth
40:06without human assistance.
40:09Longhorns don't have that problem.
40:14The cows will hit the ground
40:15and start running immediately.
40:18So as far as an animal
40:19that can survive
40:19without humans today,
40:21the Texas longhorn
40:22definitely can
40:22because they've already
40:23proven they can do it.
40:24two centuries into a life after people,
40:29they number in the tens of millions
40:32just as they did in the 1800s.
40:341,000 years after people
40:46along the banks of the Detroit River
40:49this is what has become
40:51of the Motor City
40:52massive oak trees
40:53looking down on wetlands.
40:55In the city that gave birth
41:00to the history-changing V8 engine
41:02the SUV and pickups
41:04the sound of a roaring engine
41:07is long forgotten.
41:08But there is one place
41:19where an American-made vehicle
41:21can still be found.
41:25Over 200,000 miles away
41:27from Detroit
41:28three moon buggies remain
41:30left behind
41:31by three Apollo missions.
41:33They stand in near-mint condition
41:41because the moon's environment
41:42doesn't attack man's technology
41:44like Earth's does.
41:46It has no water
41:47it has no air
41:48it has no active geology
41:51so anything that is
41:52on the moon's surface
41:53will still be there.
41:56So what is left
41:58from the Apollo missions
41:59that will be perfect.
42:03All that's left
42:05of a civilization
42:06once dominated by vehicles
42:08are these
42:09motionless relics.
42:12This life after people
42:15is quiet
42:17and still.
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