Earths' Deadliest Threats

From ancient times, the "end of days" has been spoken of. Present faiths' believe in some sort of Armageddon. The ancient Mayan civilization even predicted on their calender the end of the world being in the year 2012. Prophets and Oracles from different points in time and different points of origin have also come close to the same conclusions.

We live in the information age, and you can see or read something on any one of these points of views. Television and the Internet along with other forms of media provide our information in real time. Sometimes, it feels as if this information is basically pushed right in front of you. If you overlay all the religious views with Hollywood's prospective. Then add in the Prophets and Oracles, the Mayans and other predictions or programs that lead to a 2012, you end up with the same time frame. Even trying not to feed into anything, and make myself crazy-It still made me wonder. Is it all a coincidence?

Any which way you look at it, science has proven that 99.9% of the creature that once lived on earth are now extinct. In some way, that cycle is what made the "world as we know it". It is a part of life's cycle, but we don't need anything coming before it's time. The following is some of earths deadliest threats from man, natural disaster or outer space.

Threats From Outside Our Atmosphere

When NASA found high levels of radio action in outer space, they realized it was a radioactive light from the death of a star. The death of a star is the first threat from outer space and can bring about to threatening results. The first is the Gamma Ray Burst, which are the most energetic object ever measured (excluding the Big Bang). These Gamma Ray Bursts last between a milla-second and a second long. Although that is a small amount of time, the burst outs forth more energy than the entire earth. In the space outside our galaxy, these bursts are at a safe distance and occur on average one per day. If one was to occur inside our galaxy, we would be in trouble.

Whether it took place in our night or day sky, the light would be the brightest thing in the sky-appearing as a second sun. The earths' atmosphere and the ozone layer would burn right off. Nothing to shield the planet from all the radiation. Sitting in your basement would give you a "sunburn". If you were outside, you would go blind instantly and being to burn. This amount of radiation would basically be decomposing the basic molecules of life itself. Animals couldn't survive, and in one months time, all life would die. (Well except the microbes, which we'll get to later.)

The second result in the death of a star is the notorious black-hole. The cosmic vacuum, the epitome of darkness which devourers all. It consumes everything in its path and converts it into more black-hole. It is said that if a nuclear missile was shot into a black-hole, it would just be swallowed. These "holes" in space were discovered in the 1970's, and tens of thousands have been found in space. Upon death of the star in this case, gravity would be pushing in on the star trying to make it smaller. The nuclear energy would weaken and the gravity would simply overpower. The star then collapse into the size of an atom. The velocity of this movement pulls everything around it. Not even light can escape. If a black-hole were to form inside our galaxy, the world would lose. The time span could be from twenty to one hundred years. The technology would be able to monitor and give information. However, it wouldn't matter. There would be no escape. Tidal waves would begin, soaring miles high washing onto the continents. in the final years gravity's effects would increase greatly; temperatures would go to the extremes, orbits would go out of place. You would be able to hear the "sucking" sound as everything around was being pulled into the black-hole. All would be stretched until the point of breaking into thousands of pieces.

The second threat form outspace is the asteroids. They are chunks of rock believed to be the leftover particles form the Big Bang. They vary in size from a grain of sand to the size of Texas. Certain scientist fear this the most from outer space threats. Our moon is a prime example of how violent space is, especially with these "canon balls" flying around. On earth we have some asteroid scars as well. Do to our life promoting atmosphere, they have been weathered. The Yucatan peninsula is one of the largest examples.

Astronomers scan for asteroids everyday. Over one hundred thousand have been found and named. They are tracking them to study the movements and pathways. It has been discovered that on Friday the 13th, April 2029 an asteroid will come into our "territory" and fly close enough to dip under our communication satellite. The name of this particular asteroid is, Apophis. While it is a close call, the asteroid misses us. However, coming that close will involve it in an orbit. It is possible to change some of the other orbits in our solar system by a gravital pull. Seven years later, to the day: Friday the 13th, April 2036, Apophis will return and may strike. Upon an impact, tsunamis' with 100 foot waves crash onto the land. This would be the worst catastrophe on earth. Scientists are studying ways to protect the earth against such an "attack". Unfortunately, we can't blow it up (like on TV) because that would put us up against a basic shower of asteroids. The best plan so far, (being contemplated by scientific masterminds) would be to use gravity as out tool. Use a spacecraft to knock the asteroid off coarse. This is still in theory, they still need a blueprint.

A scary thought, (like all that isn't scary enough) what would become of society if we knew death was approaching. The year, month, week, day and hour of impact. What would the preliminary time periods be like? What would be keeping life together until? Upon impact, the asteroid would be at a hypersonic speed. Taking approximately ten seconds from entering the atmosphere until impact. The impact zone would be a thousand miles in diameter and the heat would burn everything immediately. Once it strikes, it will keep digging into the earths' crust for one minute. Solid rock would be spurting out and earthquakes and tidal waves would begin. Clouds of rock would fill the air, only taking an hour before the other side of the world felts the effects. They would see what appeared at first to be thousands of shooting stars, finally turning all into a rosy glow. The planet would just combust into flames. The aftermath would leave a world in a darkness, a blackout from the ash in the atmosphere, and this would last for months. The sulfuric ash would have turned the oceans to the equivalent of battery acid. Finally, years later the planet would begin to "live" again. As usual, only the microbes would have survived.

Natural or Earthly Threats

The first is the Super Volcano, our problem form beneath. "Calderas" which is a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following an eruption, leading to a Super Eruption. These Calderas generate the biggest eruptions, about one thousand times the strength of Mt. St. Helens. If one of these were to erupt, humanity would be pushed to its limits. There have been forty of these Super Volcano's found, but scientists are not sure how many there actually are. One has been found under Yellowstone National Park.

Scientists haven't been able to see the actual super-volcano erupt, yet they have been able to study them to some degree. With the remains, scientists have found that one erupts every six hundred years. The last was six hundred and thirty years ago. That is all the information to determine; no on knows what the warning signs would be. The effects would be to biblical proportions though, reducing the human population by ninety percent. Immediately following eruption, four to eight feet of ash would fall to the floor. The sun would be blocked out due to the ash in out atmosphere, killing plants, light, and inevitably cutting off oxygen.

If Yellowstone were to erupt, there would be several eruptions around the Calderos. Once all pressure began to release, the ground would cave in connecting all volcanic outposts forming one very large Super-Volcano. You would only be able to safely view from outer space. A radius of one hundred miles would be in danger of lava and the spreading clouds of toxic ash. Evacuation would be nearly impossible. The four to eight feet deep ash would weight more than snow, yet be light enough to clog the engines of any rescue vehicles. If you were outside, the sulfuric ash would combine with the liquids in you lungs forming a cement. The weight of the ash would also collapse roofs and leave the immediate area basically paralyzed.

This would spread throughout the world, causing a sulfuric fog. The earth would plummet into an ice age, crops would die and be unable to grow causing starvation to spread. A year later, any people who had banded together and figured out how to eat would survive. At that point where would civilization be?
The second earthly threat is th above mentioned microbe. They have been here for billions of years, having the longest period of survival. They can withstand mostly anything thrown there way and yet they are killers. They cause pandemics, plagues and outbreaks. Whether by Mother Nature or the half nature half man made hybrid these viruses/biological warfare-they are deadly. Our modern day microbes are still ancient species that can kill in hours. Even though they are highly dangerous as is, today's technology brings them to an amazing strength. Couture killers.

Today the bird flu and/or H5NI-avian flu may continue to grow into the greatest devastation yet seen. In 1918, the influenza had forty million casualties. Technology turns the already deadly microbe basically into an intelligent thinker. This type of genetic engineering came to the surface during (again) the Cold War with smallpox. Unfortunately you can find recipes for these handcrafted disasters. With travel at it's highest point in comparison to ancient or past times, making the spread of an infectious disease worldwide in a matter of weeks. It makes me think of the horror movies "28 days/weeks later", a very scary thought!

Man Vs. Man

These last two threats are by man and man alone. First is our long time fear of the Nuclear powered bombs/missiles. The literary "man vs. man" in Nuclear war. Nuclear bombs grasped the power of the sun; while that is an amazing discovery, the power it contains is absolutely dangerous. The designer of this weapon, created something that could kill all humans, at one time. In the 1950's between Soviet and American forces, twenty thousand nuclear bombs were produced. Today there are eighty thousand, "Hiroshima" bombs, and these two forces still hold nuclear missiles, aimed and ready for deployment within fifteen minutes. There is enough of to kill eight million people, which is more than what occupies the earth now. How scary is that? If a nuclear war were to break out, the clouds would block out the sun and cause a nuclear winter leaving us with poisoned surroundings.

The last on the list is certainly not least. In fact, I saved this for last because of its importance. Our Global Warming / Climate Change situation. In different areas people have noticed changes. Maybe you have noticed changes. Animals moving to different locations, changes in plant growth or the less amounts of snow, more rain. The increase in temperature every year, 2006 being the hottest year on record. The number of category 4 & 5 hurricanes almost doubling in number, or the increase in forest fires. "Global Warming" is really a climate change. Different temperature from the normal, hot or cold.

It's a sad thought that the subject has been denied at times and had been debated strongly through politics. Al Gore has made huge strides to inform the people, but more has to be done. By all. Carbon Dioxide, or CO2 in our atmosphere has benefits; photosynthesis and absorbing the suns' rays keeping our planet at a livable temperature. When there is too much CO2, the temperature begins to rise. This is a natural occurrence that has been for hundreds of thousands of years, but in the 1800-1900's man started to produce and incorporate additional amounts of CO2 (unaware of the effects) from the industrial revolution.

The increase in temperature will continue for the next decades to come. Seals, penguins and polar bears are losing their habitat. A report showed that it would take one to three thousand years for the ice caps to completely melt, while a more recent report in the last twelve months showed it would complete within centuries. If left unchecked, certain predictions have been made stating that certain parts of the world (due to melting and sea levels rising) would be lost underwater. North Americas' Florida and Manhattan will be lose significant land. Europe's' Netherlands and Belgium. China will lose two hundred and fifty million people, and almost all of Bangladesh. The refugees would reach a couple million, overpopulating the new areas. The west gets seventy-five percent of its fresh water from snow pack. Our natural fresh water supply will continue to lower and continue to combine with the salt water at an increased speed.
To summarize, this article is not to scare you, but to inform. This is not to make you crazy inside. Just prepare yourself with food, water and supplies-why not? This is a small task that could mean the world. The CO2 emissions is in our control. This is a beautiful place we have here; the "planet of Eden" in our solar system. It is our responsibility to protect and serve this planet to the best of our ability, and be grateful.

People are often times very offended when someone they love is disrespected, the same ethics should apply to our home. I hope this article makes you want to find out more on this particular topic. Knowledge IS power and the power is in our hands.