- checking login information
Loading...5 Signs the World is Really Ending
The end of the world is just around the corner — on the 21st of December — marking the end of the 5,125-year “Long Count” Mayan calendar. Panicking Russians and Chinese have been buying up candles (because the world’s end means we’ll be in the dark) while Americans are apparently snatching up survival shelters.
Pedro Celestino Yac Noj, a Mayan sage, is far more relaxed about the matter. According to the Telegraph, he has marked the end of the old calendar by burning seeds and fruit at a ceremony and Cuba, noting that “The 21st is for giving thanks and gratitude and the 22nd welcomes the new cycle, a new dawn.”
Be that as it may, we are prone to a fascination with the apocalypse and the end of times. Five recent developments that show the real end of the world is, for better or for worse, nigh.
1. Chicago Experiences Spring in December
In early December of this year, it was time for shorts and sleeveless shirts in Chicago, the “windy city,” with the temperature at 72 degrees in some areas. The normal temperature is a far less toasty 39 degrees.
2. One By One and Two By Two, Species Are Going Extinct
Biblical lore holds that Noah took two of each kind of animal onto the ark to save them from the great deluge upon the earth. The reality is that humans are responsible for killing off the creatures we share this earth with.
In the last 500 years, we’ve decimated 869 species. 16,928 species of animals and plants are currently at risk as their habitats are destroyed, as they are hunted, as invasive species enter their ecosystems bringing disease and competition for food. All told, one in eight birds, one in four mammals, one in five invertebrates, one in three amphibians and fully half of all turtles face extinction.
3. The World Is On Track Not To End In Ice
Poet Robert Frost wrote that the world would end in “fire or ice.” But climate change seems to be working in favor of the former, as snow cover and sea ice in the Arctic shrink and the tundra, no longer a land of ice and snow, grows green with vegetation.
4. Not Only Chocolate and Coffee But Pasta Could Disappear
Climate change could wipe out the foods that some, no doubt, subsist on (i.e., those who consider chocolate its own food group and coffee a food). As noted on Grist, rising temperatures, storms and drought — extreme weather in general — all mean bad news for future wheat crops around the world, in the U.S., the Canadian Midwest, northern China, India, Russia and Australia. Wheat production in some regions, such as North Dakota, is already being affected.
If you are intolerant to gluten, you already know that living wheatless is not impossible and not a sacrifice but reason to be creative about cooking and eating habits. Wheatophiles may soon have to acquire a taste for lentil or quinoa pasta.
5. The Blind Shall See, The Paralyzed Walk Again
While we humans seem to be doing all we can destroy the earth and so many of its inhabitants and habitats, in other ways we’re turning apocalyptic prophecies on their head. Scientists have been developing ways for those unable to walk to just that and to help the blind (mice) see.
Really, if we can do all that, we’ve the know-how and the ability to save at least some of those species before the end is upon us. You’d think!
Related Care2 Coverage
Global Warming Causing Nasty Weather? Go Inside And Turn On The Air Conditioning
Read more: apocalypse, arctic, chicago, chocolate, climate change, coffee, drought, extinct-species, extreme weather, global warming, ice, pasta, technology, wheat
Photo from Thinkstock
have you shared this story yet?
some of the best people we know are doing it
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
ty
I think the answer of Miss Utah was as good as you can expect it for a spontaneous answer. But I guess…
“In the interest of the safety of the students, faculty and parents at Holy Trinity School, we simply…
meet our writers
419 comments
+ add your ownI really hate it when people of science, mislead people and give out false scientific facts.
"Chicago Experiences Spring in December"
BALONEY. Chicago may have experienced warm weather- but Spring comes on March 21st- not a day sooner,... or later... whether Jesus or a groundhog see their shadow.
Spring, is an astronomical event, and the only way for it to come, "early" or "late", would be to change the orbit of the earth around the sun.
Now? Things may be changing- but stop trying to scare the crap out of everyone and have them believe the Earth has spun off its axis!!!! SHAME ON YOU!
I wish more people would actually realise how important taking action is. They claim they have no time. Have fun when there is nothing left. Ugh.
uh oh..
noted
AFTERMATH
Eve of Destruction
Hmmmm reflecting time...
How very uplifting... : ~ [
Sense we live in a world of sin and there be very few if any Christians , Armageddon could have occurred and go completely UN-noticed .Sense religion seems to be a republican superstitious myth and fairytale designed to divide and conquer as well as us superstition to enhance the corporate bottom line, educated people should to even embrace this line of thinking. Science makes more sense than superstition.
interesting thoughts
Why did people think that the end of a Calender cycle was the end of the world???????? very stupid.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment