The possible fate of Earth after the demise of its entire human population is explored again in a TV programme 'Life After People' (http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/L/life_after_people/index.html). Given the presumed impacts of anthropogenic (caused by human intervention) factors on global climate and world ecosystems, disappearance of we primates would not be uniformly negative for the planet. The programme apparently has lots of fancy computer-generated images to appear to show how relatively quickly most of the evidence for human presence would disappear (the Pyramids, the Hoover dam, the Mount Rushmore Heads and the Great Wall of China are predicted to be among the last to go). A very high percentage of the animals and plants that have been domesticated (in one sense, 'hitching a ride' on human success) would mostly also be in serious trouble. Some environments (notable the seas) are suggested to really benefit from the removal of human pressures. I presume that amongst the varied reasons for producing this type of programme are entertainment (we like a horror story and it even generates advertising), to scare our species into behaving a little more responsibly (this seems unlikely given the recent demos against fuel charges and potential increase in 'road tax' on high polluting vehicles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7420792.stm) marginally increasing public understanding of the impact of humans on world ecosystems. Naturally, quite a high degree of speculation involved (no matter how convincing the graphics). The actual global outcomes may well depend on a) how much damage is done to the planet before our convenient extinction (extinction being eventually, sooner or later, the likely fate of all species) and b) whether any set of circumstances in the short to medium term would 'take out' our entire species globally with no possibility of a 'come back'. Further, if 'b' proved not to be the case, would we learn? One thing seems self evident, there is plenty of scope for the Earth to 'bounce back' without us.
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