As time moves on, there seems to be a constant influx of worries about climate change, nuclear warfare, nuclear weapons getting into terrorists hands, environmental disaster, planetary pollution, overpopulation, killer diseases and collision with a comet or asteroid.
There are also our own issues, that concern our everyday living.
Are we running out of time, and which do you consider to be the most worrying possibilities, and not only the ones mentioned above, for maintaining our living as we recognise it, on this planet ?
.....and if anyone wants to be light hearted about it, then that is their input, and we have to respect their point of view.
climate change - it won't happen overnight, more over hundreds of years so i think we're safe with this one
nuclear warfare - highly likely in this day and age, but i believe the sensible armies will try to avoid this
nuclear weapons getting into terrorists hands - also likely. it just takes one small slip of security in an already not greatly secure country.
environmental disaster - not really likely to destroy the whole world, but could cause a major loss of life.
planetary pollution - like the first, will take a LOOOOOONG time, and i believe we'll sort the pollution bit out before it becomes too much
overpopulation - unlikely, i read that all the people in the world could fit into the UK, there'd be not much personal space but it's possible. once places like siberia and the deserts become habitable one way or another then the population issue will be sorted, for at least 10,000 years i reckon.
killer diseases - possible, given that we have no new antibiotics and the ones we do have diseases are starting to become immune. to them. possible, but unlikely.
collision with a comet or asteroid - it will happen, but i don't think it will be tomorrow, give it tens of thousands of years and perhaps yeh it'll happen. it's probably happened before, and it'll certainly happen again.
Ask me next week when the Open has finished, then ask me again the week after, but the then I'll be too busty watching telly to bother, the only news I want to hear is that the Scots have said YES and the EU has collapsed into the sewer it belongs and Labour has bought it's own handcart and gone to hell in it.
I don't think we are running out of time - but it seems that a lot of people in power are running out of common sense, if indeed they ever had it, which might amount to the same thing.
I seem to remember reading something about the rich cocktail of plastics we use in our lives being responsible for falling fertility levels, due to oestrogen-mimicking chemicals. The human race might go into a natural decline in some areas due to this, thereby easing the global population problem. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria might have an impact, too. Finding a cure for cancer and malaria would be epic achievements, but if people start keeling over with infections which up to now have been treatable, that could cancel out some of the benefits, numbers-wise. Conflicts over natural resources - not just oil/gas, but fertile land and water - might increase. The human race is very resilient and resourceful, but not always blessed with a sense of perspective and tolerance, sadly.
Given the Evolutionary view of millions of years of chance random occurences then i am amazed we have got this far today.
We generally only get 70 80 years anyway so chances are we are more likely to die which is indeed "running out of time"
One of the central beliefs of the Christian faith is the return of Christ (similar belief in other faiths)
Think it was during the 70s there was much doomsday speculation. An old preacher said if Christ is coming back then there has to be a world for him to come back too---unfortunately the Book of Revelation gives a depressing state of the world when that time is supposed to happen. Start panicking when things start happening around the Dome in Israel!
Snowshoes, looking at your link Worldometer, I found another page and this is just as scary. What is quite poignant is the difference in numbers between the overweight and obese, compared to the undernourished.
Not too sure when the clock resets itself in all cases but the births/deaths did so at midnight and I assume the others would too.
Of course this is an American Site collecting all the data, so we can't see all data for money spent on obesity in this country etc. ...and there's only 14,375 days left until then end of oil!
This was an article written earlier this year with reference to April/May. There are the same unprecedented numbers of fish,birds,sea mammals etc world wide being washed up along beaches, found dead in rivers, and lakes. The figures are staggering right up to December 2014. There are many happenings related from the whole world for the past 3 years. Some are explained due to avian flu in birds, some due to severe weather conditions, but others are not. There is a list and in this month of December there is one or more incidents recorded every single day apart from 3rd,10th,13th,and 23rd. It is much the same for every month during the whole of 2014. Are we ultimately killing our natural world off ?
Millions of fish are suddenly dying all over the planet. In fact, there have been dozens of mass fish death events reported in the past month alone. So why is this happening? Why are fish dying in unprecedented numbers all over the world? When more than six tons of fish died in Marina Del Ray over the weekend, it made headlines all over the United States. But the truth is that what just happened off the southern California coast is just the tip of the iceberg.(cont. in above link)
...the good book also said the seas and rivers would turn blood red and everything living in the sea died.
Another case of that in Tonga this week. Theory is that it's the algae blooms due to rising sea temperatures. Other places change their theory and some don't have one. Never the less, the fish are dying and it's blmed for killing the manatees.Quite a natural event in certain parts of the world from time to time but the increase of places, geographically,has become a rather unusual happening for most. Scary.....
Blood rain in Kerala India; Some say it's due to an a microorganism which shows signs of life but doesn't have any DNA. Others say it's due to Uranium. Others say it remains a mystery.
Blood red rivers ; China, River Yangtze some say it was a factory throwing out their old red garments and pollution !
Israel, River Jordan , thousands of dead fish and a smell of sulphur
Egypt,Beirut,Sydney and many more.
Plenty of explanations, but nobody seem to have the right answer ! Why not ? I thought we had the answers for everything now, and if due to an algae why is it happening now ? Have we depleted the seas of the creatures that look after them for us.
I believe the first disaster suddenly affecting a significant proportion of the world's population will be seismic/volcanic.
I can't see how we are not going to have more wars, very few countries have not got major economic problems which will lead to more and more aggressive behaviour. We have enough problems going on but we are playing silly games with Russia who are the masters of not being seen to back down.
The medical profession need shooting for the extremely slow progress they are making, globalisation causes increased problems with disease and we are nearly wide open still despite all the technological advances in DNA study - but does it pay Governments to increase immortality - there would be a global financial disaster.
Climate change, we should be spending money on adaptation to climate change not pursuing the false beliefs that it is man made.
Earth collision will happen, no way of predicting when, equally likely next week as in a thousand years time.
Most of these issues can be mitigated by interplanetary colonization - but we are dragging our feet on that one as well.
The Red Sea got its name because of the same phenomenon, hardly a modern day calling card for the end of Earth.
I don't think the earth is about to end Dusty but the Red Sea was the name given in English. Originally, the Hebrew name was Yam Suph meaning Sea of Reeds.
The Red Sea got its name because of the same phenomenon, hardly a modern day calling card for the end of Earth.
Red Sea meant the South sea and the Black sea is the North sea, its still up for discussion whether the White sea is the West sea and the Yellow sea is the Central sea. These correspond to the Chinese Astrological directions. But yes, historically the Red sea has had red blooms.
My point being The Red Sea got the name a long time ago and many things that are occurring have done so before.The Dead sea would not be called the dead sea when it was alive. My apologies Granny, for implying something not said. Wars, plagues, disasters, etc. all roads lead to ---.DD The N.S.E.W Chinese thing I don't go along with,it seems a bit "Time Team"to me.
cont. The Red Sea , I read as having a different type of straw- like bloom which made the water red, rather than the algae that is forming in the other rivers etc. The point in the issues raised is the fact that our world is changing extremely rapidly. The algae found in the Yangtze for example, has been around for some time but not as prolific or as wide spread as it now is. The fish in the seas have something causing the deaths on such huge numbers and so frequently. The Euphrates river and the Nile is drying up, the Dead Sea is drying up at an alarming rate, there are 3000 sink holes along it's banks. species of animals becoming extinct which effects the balance of nature. The earth is changing and the global warming effect is taking it's course plus the species that came last, according to your Aboriginal belief ,is destroying everything which we were given in the natural world. . The 'worldomoeters' info links on the previous page paint a scary picture and is a perfect example of what we are having to face as humanity.
No, I'm sure these things won't lead to the end of the Earth, but could lead to the end of life as we have known it as we are already in that transition period, like it or lump it.
I tend to agree with DD on the fact that there will be more than one massive earthquake and the result will be levelling in more ways than one. How can the earth become hotter and hotter . 6000 degrees Celsius which is 1000 degrees hotter than 20 years ago, hotter than the sun and only 4000 miles to the centre. !
Watch out for the 3 Blood Moons this year--- very significant in the Judaistic prophetic calendar. Something to do with them falling on feast days and precipitating a significant event in the world. End of the year will show if its just another misguided doomsday scaremongering.
I'm no great fan of end of the world prophesies but the super-volcano under Yellowstone does worry me. (Except that I don't think I'll be around much longer).
I think a super-volcano is the likeliest cause of a global natural disaster, although poor access to clean water and resulting disease is up there too, certainly in less developed areas.
Watch out for the 3 Blood Moons this year--- very significant in the Judaistic prophetic calendar. Something to do with them falling on feast days and precipitating a significant event in the world. End of the year will show if its just another misguided doomsday scaremongering.
Fish, just found that the Jewish Calendar is different to our Gregorian calendar. Our year 2015 their year says 5775. At one time they only counted years when they had favourable Kings or rulers, so the accurate current year is somewhere between 5985 and 5999..... apparently. Work that one out !
Greenwood, I could agree with that too. How did Rome fall ? According to the guide we had, the viaducts that distributed the water to the city were destroyed, thus causing the population of Rome to disperse.
They couldn't survive without water and neither could we. All back to the natural world again ! We are so dependent on it all, aren't we ?
The medical profession need shooting for the extremely slow progress they are making, globalisation causes increased problems with disease and we are nearly wide open still despite all the technological advances in DNA study
In the great scheme of things, four and a half years is nothing. Blame globalisation if anything at all, and the vast amounts of money being poured into a few extra large pockets. Another great scheme produced by the few for the many , and those who consider it their prerogative to own the world. Can't wait for the final battle for the 'supreme champion' !
I totally blame globalisation (and inherently capitalism). We are naturally tribal for a reason and that is because it is a survival method against communicable diseases. Many animals have fatal communicable diseases but their species survive because they aren't globalised but we are even interfering in that process.
I was reading yesterday that 670 dolphins were found washed up on the French coast last month. Last year in the first three months 1,100 washed up on the French coast , dead, badly mutilated and many with their fins cut off. This seems to be a regular happening but the numbers are increasing year on year and threatening their survival, at least in this part of the world .
Due to mans behaviour and the fishing vessels being unselective, the fishing nets catch them, and the dolphins, being mammals need to get to the surface for air. In the panic they struggle and cause themselves injury.
By the time we've finished , every species on earth will be threatened and the current levels of fishing will drive the dolphins to extinction anyway.
Only a few weeks ago the worst case of multitudes of locusts were stripping the crops in Africa and beyond. I;m not sure if that has passed now, but they were very wide spread globally.
** Just checked on the locust situation and a second wave has just been reported in Kenya, which is said to be 20 times worse than the last.
Today is reported that a deadly olive tree disease across Europe could cost $billions. Spread by insects and particularly threatening the plantations of Spain and Greece at this moment. The same insect can also affect cherry, almond and plumb.
When conditions are right, nature will rise up.
Apparently new cases of Ebola have also been registered.
One thing I've been thinking about are the earth worms. Once upon a time they would be in every spade of soil we dug. I haven't seen any that I can recall over the last couple of years. They used to be big fat juicy ones.. where have they gone ?
There's a lot of things going on in the World, Chile is in its 10th year of severe drought, fourteen African countries are in severe drought with South Sudan and Ethiopia being worse effected which has brought on famine as well.
Over 50% of England is in drought, including us which may explain you earth worm problem. We had plenty of worms under a lawn we dug up a couple we of weeks ago where the grass had kept the soil a bit damper.
but the Red Sea was the name given in English. 