So You Think The World Is Ending?

So You Think The World Is Ending? 

Thank you Pixabay.com

I figured this would be a good welcome back post from my hiatus during busy season. It seems after every joyous holiday season the world goes from crazy to crazier. We all believe at some point in time that the world is ending and to be honest, who can blame you? Just about every year, demi-decade or decade something terrible is happening in the world like a super plague, a war, an election, or our favorite celebrities are dying tragically (mine was Robin Williams and David Bowie :-( boo!). Well hopefully this post can put you a little at ease as I'd like to tell you it isn't "that bad" in my opinion and we should worry a little BUT not as much as we do!

This is the small print: Most of this post is a reflection of my views based off articles that I've read, listened to, or viewed in fears for the obvious so I can relate. All information provided is subjective and is not intended to be taken for 100% fact despite my reviewing of notable sources. You either agree with some part of this, all of this, or none of this. That is up to you. I'll also be throwing in a dash of seriousness and pinches of sarcasm and humor.

Lets start with the demons that fuel the doom humanity (Here comes the fluff! Click here to skip to easy mode!)

Photo by Dan Sealey on Unsplash

I really mean this with the most amount of sarcasm that humanity is doomed by several "demons". In reality everyone fears the following and although possible, the likelihood of anything horrendously happening at a blink of an eye are pretty low.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Global Warming

This is a bit more realistic than the rest and it effects us all. Sadly a lot that attributes to global warming is the misunderstanding of the title itself and just ignorance of how, why, and what is happening...that and humans being humans :-p . On the upside, the world's atmosphere won't collapse instantly and we still have time! Here's some reasons why this won't affect us or at least not super quick.

Reason 1: Education. We teach it in school and although a little late, now with the help of social media and the news word is getting out about it.

Reason 2: Science and technology. We're coming out with new and crazy exciting things. For starters electric vehicles help with the emissions that cause global warming to get worse. Alternative power like wind turbines, solar power, and water power are cool but even more interesting is algae power!!! It's still in development but so far has little to no negative bi-products and its renewable. The best part, some major power companies are accepting and funding some of these new technologies.

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

The Plague

Yup, that's right! Illness, viruses, disease, cancer OH MY! Ailments plague our world everyday. Up at the top of the list illness is a very real threat but has been manageable so far. The likelihood of it wiping out humanity is pretty slim. Although the CDC reports illness being an uphill battle here's why you should let it keep you down in the dumps and not to fear the zombie uprising. 

Reason 1: With modern day medicine and innovations we are keeping up (sadly not ahead of) illnesses. Vaccines, medications, research, doctors, and new breakthroughs keep the sick at bay.

Reason 2: The planet now has WHO (World Health Organization), the CDC (center of disease control), and I'm sure other institutes alike. This is the military task force of illness who jump right in and start up that cure.

Reason 3: We'r more hygienic now. Although it may not seem like it, but most of the planet is more hygienic or becoming more hygienic. In the "olde days" humanity use to throw buckets of feces out the window, sneeze and cough without covering up, wash up and do your business in drinking water sources, or not take showers ...for days... maybe even weeks. I suppose being nose blind like that wouldn't allow anyone to smell the plague coming.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Nuclear Warfare

Lets start with the easiest one we all fear. We all think that at a push of a button the planet will go up in an irradiated ball of flames. We glow incandescent green with the idea. In the back of our mind we don't trust or we trust too much that our world leaders will push this magic red button. In reality it isn't that easy and humans want to avoid such a man-made catastrophe. Here's some reasons why it is not likely this would happen.

Reason 1: For starters nukes won't drop for the most obvious reason: politics. The very instigator who's either promoting the launch or declaring it as "defense" will not drop the bomb because they generally want future votes and good relationships with allied, if not all, countries. Nobody is really "for" nuclear war due to the amount of life lost and the first guy to push that button will get unpopular and even hated real fast.

Additionally there is a lot of checks and balances required. Punch codes, delegation, keys, bureaucracy, etc. that really would take quite a while to go through I'd imagine.

Reason 2: Obviously the loss of life. A nuke can wipe out 60,000 or more people with just one bomb. This doesn't account for lives ruined, cancer, and the injured.

Reason 3: Bombs in general are expensive but nuclear bombs...WOWZA! They are a huge investment and a negative one at that. Each bomb is about $200 million or more and it isn't just limited to that. Technology and development to house, hold, carry, fly, and launch this device is in the billions.

Reason 4: I feel this one could be the most convincing. A single launch can affect the person, people, and country dropping the bomb. A bomb will damage soil, water, air, and just overall environment which can travel far; VERY FAR. With several it can have global impacts and shock the planet's system. I don't think anyone really wants to that level of permanent damage to their own people or planet.

Image by b0red from Pixabay 
(nice mustache!)

The Apocalypse 

Well this is a big one almost everyone believes, especially if your religious. The doom of the planet. The destruction of the planet by means of natural or supernatural forces. To be honest I'm not 100% familiar with other religions and can't attest that this belief is shared by anyone other than Christians or Catholics but I do have to say it is one of the more popular ideas (30% or more of the world follows Christianity). Here's a few reasons why this would be an unlikelihood.

Reason 1: Not everyone is Christian and not everyone believes in a religion. So would the apocalypse effect everyone or just the followers who believe in it? A subjective thought for one side or the other I suppose.

Reason 2: Sadly, the very mention of the "end of days" can be abused to scare people into joining the religion whichever it may be. History shows most religions use scare tactics as an evangelizing tool. Food for thought. 🤷‍♂️

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Space (Aliens too)

This can be a real threat to be honest however unlikely as that's what this post is all about! Some of us fear giant asteroids, comets, and/or aliens will rein terror on us from above; here's why they won't.

Reason 1: The sun won't engulf, swallow, burn us up, or die; at least any time soon. It takes an estimated 10 billion years for anything like this to happen. Depending on the size or the health of the sun can even take trillions of years. So, we've got time!

Reason 2: Our atmosphere burns up everything that enters it. If it doesn't burn up the entire foreign object, it'll burn up most of it to small and harmless bits.

Reason 3: A giant asteroid probably won't hit us. The closest comet to earth was quite a bit over 2 million miles away and the closest asteroid to date is about 9 thousand miles away. Of course we do get little meteors entering our atmosphere but they generally don't cause much damage if any.

Reason 4: We may not be alone. Here's a few things to think about when it comes to aliens. First off, why would they want to come in, meeting new mostly intelligent life, just to wipe us out? Our resources? Eehhhh maybe? Another thing to think of is what if the life on another planet is as smart as we are? That means they're only scratching the surface of space and exploration. It can take a very long time before they reach us or we reach them.

What fuels the fire and why?

Photo by Tomáš Malík from Pexels

Photo by Elijah O'Donnell on Unsplash

The news: 

Lets start with the obvious; the news. Now it isn't entirely their fault. The news is out there to A. inform and B. get ratings. Our problem as humans is we love to be informed and we eat up as much bad news as possible which translate to profit (ratings). It entertains us and the fear controls us. They know this and sadly capitalize on it, yet we still watch, listen, and read it? As most journalism now-a-days is yellow journalism (entertainment), is what they're broadcasting really true? Lets say mostly ...and try to take it with a grain of salt. 

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Social Media: 

So again and for obvious reasons; the news starts the fire and social media spreads it like a virus. It converts a bag of burning poo to a wildfire not only in a little forest, but jumping "highway dividers" to the rest of the world.

Another thing is friends and family talk about these terrifying things as well. A lot of "what ifs". Comforting your in the same boat but sharing it just spreads the flame.

Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

Politics: 

A bit subjective and I don't like to talk politics but my views on political leaders are not 100% based on the U.S.A and not 100% positive. Most politicians who want to go to war are make threats are empty and all talk. Realistically they don't want to damage self-image and start a fight with a country but they do tend to get in little sissy-la-la slappy fights, measure who has a "bigger stick", and say a lot of hurtful things. This builds a barrage of negativity but not to worry, no one really wants to drop the bomb.

Photo by Wendy van Zyl from Pexels

Religion:

The very thing that's suppose to give us hope can knock us down. Building tensions of world affairs result in evangelical "I told you so and the end is nigh". Think of this as a business tool to bring people in. It doesn't help and you should probably find a new congregation.

What can we do to help the situation

Photo by Diana Parkhouse on Unsplash

You're telling yourself "what can I possibly do? I'm only one person!". Well, a lot actually. Here's some easy to follow suggestions:

1. First of all, think positive and think clearly. Think of this personal threat or fear as a state of emergency. If you panic, it'll create more panic.  
2. Is what's happening true? It might be, but HIGHLY probable to be exaggerated. Often reports are there to scare you to keep you glued in and to make buko bucks off you. If your unsure about the validity of the situation do some research. I bet you that you'll find yourself at ease.
3. Contrary to my second suggestion (LOL) if it bothers you that much don't allow yourself to get consumed by it. You have better things to do with your time and energy and sometimes delving too deep can feed your fears rather than alleviate them.
4. For the Religious: Pray, or trust that your got will resolve the world epidemic, pandemic, or threat. If you have faith, in general, then you have little to worry about. If your not religious, just hope that humans will do the right thing.
5. Politics: Trust that your leader does his job right and looks for logical solutions. If your leader isn't one of these individuals....VOTE VOTE VOTE. If you feel your vote doesn't count, at least you can say you tried. 
6. For the environmentalist: Lots of websites, government buildings, and utilities services promote and educate how to reduce your carbon footprint and be environmentally savvy. If you don't feel like looking through these sources, put a post for me to give you the ridiculously easy version. In short, recycle, reuse, reduce, turn off lights, and look into fun ways to reuse your grocery bags. ;-)
7. For the health conscious: Wear a mask, make others wear a mask, load up on them vitamin Cs, and exercise.

Easy mode! (You've made it!) (To Top)

What we're afraid of and why we shouldn't worry

1. Global warming: A real threat but new tech and education will hopefully thwart it!
2. The Plague (not literally): New illnesses come out every day and yes, a threat. Not to fear as every country is starting to have modern day medicine and develop new medications constantly. We also have WHO and the CDC helping with this uphill battle. Compared to our past we are, hopefully, way more hygienic and should be mindful to be more hygienic reducing the spread of illness.
3. Nukes: Very little threat...realistically. Reasons why the bombs won't fly: 1. Politics: dropping the bomb has a bad taste with citizens and neighbors. 2. Loss of life doesn't seat well with anyone or country in the world. 3. Too expensive...WAY too expensive of an investment to just burn up. 4. Fallout can affect the bombee and their country. So 1 drop, affects us all. 5. Bad for the environment.
4. The apocalypse: Reason why not to fear this...pretty unlikely, not everyone believes in a religion, and the teachings can be abused to attract followers.
5. Space: Statistically odds are slim this will be our doom. It CAN happen, but a minuscule changes. Reasons why this won't likely happen: 1. Sun is going to take a whole lot more time for it to swallow us up. 2. Our atmosphere burns up everything or most of everything that comes close. 3. Comets or asteroids fly by us at thousands of miles away...that's "close" in scientific terms. 4. Aliens may want our resources, but I'm sure they're visit is mostly for science and meet and greets. Besides, it can take a super long time before we meed them and they meet us.

What keeps us scared

1. The news - Yellow journalism. Fear is entertaining
2. Social media - Who spreads the word better than a bunch of people who are either excited or afraid for the impending doom. With social media everyone has something to say.
3. Politics - The measure of who has the biggest stick is always frightening. Debates, stories of conflict between countries, and unreasonable policies can keep us afraid. People don't realize that many of what happens politically needs to go through many people, checks and balances, and voters to get approved. Things don't just happen.
4. Religion - The source that is set out to give us hope can also knock us down. Sadly religion can piggy back off world affairs to keep and bring in its followers by adding to and/or confirming to the negative happenings in the world.

What can we do?

1. Stay positive and think clearly.
2. Is what's happening true. Likely an exaggeration but you should do some research.
3. If research or the things that keep us scared make it worse, stop! Just limit your intake and watch some cat videos ;-)
4. For the religious, pray and trust that your god will sort it all out. If your not religious, just hope that humans will do the right thing.
5. Politics: trust that your leader will set things right. Don't trust your leader then VOTE! You can at least pat yourself on the back for trying to make a difference.
6. For the Environmentalist: Recycle, turn off lights, etc.
7. The health conscious: wear a mask, make others wear one, vitamin C, and exercise.

In closing, some entertainment.

I would like to provide one of my favorite songs from one of my most favorite satirists. May I introduce Tom Lehrer in his whimsical song:  "We Will All Go Together When We Go"