Ep 2. Outbreak

Life After People: The Series is a documentary-style television show that explores what would happen to the world if humans suddenly disappeared. In season 1, episode 2 titled "Outbreak," the show examines how diseases and epidemics would impact the world if human beings were no longer around to control or mitigate their spread.

The episode begins by posing a thought-provoking question: what would happen to the animals living in the world's zoos if humans vanished? Without caretakers to feed and care for them, many animals would perish within just a few days. But some, particularly those that are adept at foraging for food or breaking out of their enclosures, would stand a chance at surviving.

Moving on, the show explores how diseases would spread without human intervention. For example, in a world with no human waste treatment facilities, diseases like cholera and dysentery would spread rapidly through contaminated water sources. Diseases that require human hosts, such as the flu, would also pose a threat to some animals and potentially lead to outbreaks in wildlife populations.

The episode then explores what would happen to the world's plant life without humans to tend to it. Would invasive species take over, or would native plants and trees rise up and reclaim urban areas? To answer these questions, the show visits abandoned cities and towns to see how vegetation has taken over in the absence of human maintenance.

Later, the show examines how some animals would cope with the disappearance of humans. For example, rats, which rely heavily on human waste and refuse for food, would have to turn to other sources of sustenance, potentially leading to new behavior patterns and feeding strategies.

The episode also looks at how some technologies would fare in a world without humans. For example, with no one to maintain or operate them, power plants and other technical systems would eventually shut down, potentially leading to environmental disasters like explosions or oil spills.

Finally, the episode explores how the natural world would react to the absence of humans. Animals and plants that were once confined to certain areas due to human intervention would be free to roam and colonize new areas. For example, without human presence, large predators like wolves and bears could potentially reestablish themselves in areas where they were once hunted to extinction.

Throughout the episode, experts in various fields provide insights and commentary on how life on Earth would be impacted by the absence of humans. Overall, "Outbreak" offers a fascinating look at a world without humans and how natural systems would respond in our absence.