WE NEED TO TAKE IN TO CONSIDER THE TOP 5 SENARIOS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD-
So, you are having a bad day and feel that it can't get much worse. Well you have came to the right place and you were wrong, it can get worse as we are covering the end of the world as we know it scenarios. Stop, before that puts you off and you hit the back button to go back to blissful ignorance, DrWibble does not give you just all doom and gloom, he believes that us humans have been given brains (well, some of us maybe) that have the ability to foresee potential future problems and work out possible course of actions to avoid them. So, unlike the usual end of the world as we know it lists also covered are the ways we are actively trying to avoid armageddon.
Meteor strike1: Extraterrestrial Impact
This scenario is where there is an impact of a large extraterrestrial object with the Earth. A common theory postulates that the extinction of the dinosaurs occurred approximately 65 million years ago when a large asteroid struck the earth. This produced enormous amount of atmospheric dust which blocked out the sunlight and caused a significant lowering of temperatures worldwide much to the detriment of our friendly dinosaurs.
Asteroid Impact
Tracking objects
Telescope
However, don't despair as since December 1995, the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program run by NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory tasked to discover near-Earth objects has been in action. So, some comfort can be taken from that we at least have time to put on a fresh pair of underpants before it hits us.
NASA's goal over the next few years is to discover and track at least 90 percent of all near-Earth objects with diameters larger than one kilometer. Working in coordination with several teams around the world, they routinely search the skies for as-yet undiscovered asteroids and comets. If a near-Earth object with a potentially hazardous orbital path is discovered, additional observations are made to give a better estimation of its orbital path. Due to Newton's theory of gravitation, scientists calculate the orbital motions of all newly discovered objects to see if they present a risk into the future.
If an object were to threaten Earth, it would only be necessary to move the object by one Earth radius, a very small distance in space terms if it was discovered early enough. One idea suggested for smaller asteroids is to anchor a shuttle-type engine onto the moving space rock and gently speed it up or slow it down into a different orbit. Another possible strategy would be to attach solar sails to a potentially hazardous body and allowing the gentle pressure of the solar winds to deflect the threatening asteroid away from Earth. Anyway you have seen the movies, so you get the picture. Any one have the phone number for Bruce Willis, just in case.
NASA Near Earth Tracking
Pandemic Modelling
The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
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A Cruel Wind: Pandemic Flu in America 1918-1920
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Influenza: Molecular Virology
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2: Pandemic
A pandemic taken from the Greek words pan all and demos people, it is a spreading of infectious disease that propagates through populations across a large region.
The World Health Organization (WHO) responsible for directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system states that a pandemic can start when three conditions have been met:
•Emergence of a disease new to a population.
•Agents infect humans, causing serious illness.
•Agents spread easily and sustainability among humans.
An example of a pandemic is the 1918 deadly influenza pandemic. It ended within 18 months but over that time some 50 million were dead; some estimates put the total of those killed worldwide at over twice that number.
Right, so DrWibble you promised me it won't be all doom and gloom, where is all the helpful stuff. So what can you do to help in a pandemic, unless you are a microbiologist and can reverse engineer the virus, create a vaccine, ramp up production and distribute to the general population, the best way to help is limit the spread by some simple actions.
•Social distance. Traveling less, Working from home if possible or avoiding contact with crowds. This means there is less opportunity for the virus to spread.
•Respiratory hygiene. Be aware of the need for respiratory hygiene, make sure you cover the mouth when coughing or sneezing. Disposal of contaminated tissues or other materials carefully, they are now a biohazard for the uninfected.
•Masks. No respiratory mask can provide a perfect barrier but products that meet or exceed the NIOSH N95 standard are recommended by the World Health Organization. WHO recommends that health-care workers wear N95 masks and that patients wear surgical masks. Any mask may be useful as it acts as a remind for the wearer not to touch the face or eyes.
•Hygiene. Frequent hand washing, especially when there has been contact with other people or potentially contaminated surfaces can be very helpful. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers also kill both bacteria and viruses.
In the future, pandemics should become less of a risk with the advancement of science. We are beginning to understand the inner workings of these viruses and able to model the spread through the general population. As they say information is power, once we know detailed information about these nasty viruses. we can work out effective strategies of eliminating them.
Earth in our hands
complex interactions with many variables. Complex modelling is needed 3: Climate Change
Throughout the Earths history there has always been climate change, in this end of the world scenario we take the meaning of climate change as when the environment becomes too hostile to support current human life populations. Political and public debate continues regarding the appropriate response to global warming but it is generally thought to be a result of human behavior rather than due to natural changes in the environment.
The available options are
•Mitigation to reduce further emissions from current industry, developing more efficient technologies to replace the old.
•Adaptation to reduce the damage caused by warming, such as planting more drought resistance cropws
•More speculatively, geoengineering to reverse global warming. Sci-fi time of solar mirrors etc
Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The regular use of renewable energy is becoming increasingly available to try and reduce gas emission from fossil fuels.
4: Nuclear War
Since the creation of the atom bomb in the 1940's, there has been a new threat to mankind, nuclear war. Nuclear warfare strategy is to either fight or avoiding a war. The policy of trying to ward off a potential attack by a nuclear weapon from another country by threatening nuclear retaliation is known as the strategy of nuclear deterrence or mutually assured destruction (M.A.D.)
If there was an exchange of missiles (for example a war between India and Pakistan) it would plunge the planet into temperatures colder than the Little Ice Age (happened between 1600ad-1850ad). This would situation would essentially take effect immediately with an impact on agriculture. Larger amounts of smoke form a big exchange of missiles would produce larger climate change and produce a true nuclear winter, making current agriculture levels impossible for years. In both cases, model simulations show that the effects would last for more than a decade.
So, apart from building a nuclear bunker in your garden with a decades worth of food on hand, the best way DrWibble thinks to avoid this happening is to better understand each countries values and culture, to form links so our economies become so intertwined it is not beneficial to go to war with each other.
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Originally Posted by Eddie Bravo
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