Chicago After People
New series depicts crumbling Windy City after people disappear
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The dramatic crumbling of the Sears Tower wouldn't take long once people were no longer around to take care of it.
We humans can be an arrogant bunch sometimes. We marvel at our own inventions, monuments and achievements. But the History Channel's latest series, Life After People, proves the planet would get along just fine without us. In fact, it might be better off.
Tonight's episode, airing at 9 p.m., focuses on London, Atlanta and Chicago (click for Chicago images).
The 10-part series is a spin-off of the documentary film by the same name, which was the most watched program ever on the History Channel. The program explores how the planet would evolve if humans suddenly no longer existed. (There is no speculation as to how people would abruptly disappear.) CGI dramatizations depict disintegration of urban structures and plantlife taking over roadways.
Just how did experts determine what would happen to our fair city? Hoosiers, stop reading here.
The show's producers used Gary, Ind., as a case study. According to the Sun-Times, they examined a once-booming, now-abandoned section of Gary as an example of what deterioration could happen to another lakeside city.
In the show, Gary is called "the Pompeii of the Midwest."
Without people to maintain them, the Wrigley Field's ivy would take over the stadium and the Chicago River would likely revert back to its original direction of flow. (Locals should already know that the river currently runs "backwards.")
However, given the number of potholes in our streets, some Chicagoans might argue that our city is already falling apart.
Matt Bartosik, editor of Off the Rocks' next issue, thinks the river isn't the only thing about the city that is backwards.
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