On Monday, January 28th 2008, the History Channel premiered a show called Life After People.

It was very interesting.

The first segment of the show, titled Trash, provided some excellent food for thought regarding what we'll leave behind. One of the items mentioned is an abomination called "the Pacific Gyre" or "Garbage Patch" -- an area of plastic and man-made trash floating in the north Pacific, currently twice the size of Texas.

Below are two videos: the first is a YouTube segment of the first part of the History Channel special that addresses "Trash" after all the humans have gone. The second video is specifically about the Garbage Patch.

Watch them both, then think about what alternatives we have to address the following issues:

1. Re-use, recycling and minimization of non-biodegradable resources, including possibilities of re-engineering some items and re-purposing others in ways that could mitigate the negative impact.
   
2. Cleaning up our current mess: how?
   
3. Living and working smarter: how can we better utilize our technology and our understanding of science and nature to live, grow and mature as a species?
   

There are options. Some involve rethinking, some involve changing habits and some involve altering expectations. One resource I've mentioned before is this one -- what have you got in mind?

WARNING: Some images may upset people, particularly in the second video.

You've been warned. :)

__________________________________

Life After People -- Trash

__________________________________

The Garbage Patch
(An article from the Seattle Times from 2006 for those who'd like to read more.)

Global Climate Change is simply one piece of a much larger puzzle. It's a big piece, and one with a major impact, but our ongoing habits and disregard for how we continue to "develop" and clean up after ourselves threatens us at least equally, if not more, as our wastes become more deadly and our apathy results in the whole planet turning into our own special toxic toilet bowl.