Actually this thought has occurred to me as well. It seems so weird that 2012 is just around the corner and things like this is happening. It kinda makes me wanna charge up my credit card, drop out of college and say screw it! I'm gonna die soon anyways. Sadly reality isn't that exciting and I know that it isn't true.

I don't think there's a way to really predict such things. The truth of the matter is that 150+ years ago, being aware of things that were happening in other countries wasn't as easy to do. Modern technology makes us all too aware of the rest of the world. If Haiti or Japan had a massive earthquake 200 years ago, would we have necessarily known about it? Unlikely. There has been unrest in the middle east since the dawn of civilization. Dating back into recorded history as far back as during the times of the Pharaohs.

People thought the apocalypse was near during the two World Wars, because so. much. of the world was at war. I think the feelings that we have now about how bad the world has gotten is not unlike how people thought 60-70 years ago when the first World War was going. And that was WITHOUT CNN and MSNBC and FoxNews and the internet and YouTube showing footage from every which place and angle. Could you imagine what the panic would have been like during WWII with HD cameras capturing the footage as American troops invaded the concentration camps?

I feel the same way about "global warming." We never had the kind of technology that helped us determine what the "core" temperatures were and if they were up or down by a fraction of a degree, so how do we know that the trends that we're seeing in the weather are not a natural pattern that occurs every 100-200 years? We went from dinosaurs to an ice age to the "thawing" of the ice age... how do we know that these things don't just happen naturally? Personally, I think Al Gore needs to focus more on manbearpig and leave the environment alone. That said, I don't think that we should be irresponsible with the earth. We should do what we can to reduce our emissions, we should recycle what we can, and not destroy what natural resources we have left. But I think that's just good stewardship of the place we call home.

I agree with BBW Talks Toys, I think that we are too aware now a days with the news and technology. I know we are effecting the planet somewhat, but I also think that the weather change is just part of a natural pattern.

Here's how I feel about it...

If it IS the "beginning of the end" there's nothing I can do about it; one person, fretting constantly about how and when the world will collapse, will not change much of anything. I'm not a politician, I'm not an environmentalist, I'm not a scientist. My worrying? Totally pointless. If there is nothing I can do on this day to change the situation, I'm not going to worry about it.

So, I live my life as if nothing is going on, and if it does end? Well, at least I know I'll have lived a beautiful life, and I will be so grateful for all the gifts I've been given.

And that is that.

Meh. All I can do is hope for the least suffering possible. Perhaps hope we go out when a MASSIVE asteroid smokes us, obliterating everything. The thought of my kids suffering and being terrified is too stressful to contemplate for any more than an instant. SO, seeing as there is no reason to do so, I don't see the point.

I try not to worry too much about it, but sometimes I do wonder whats in store for us and hope I won't be around to see it.

The earth goes through periods of increased and decreased disasters every couple centuries. We could just be in one of those high influx times at the moment. I try to just live my life and not worry about whats going to happen because it would just bring unneeded stresses about something I couldn't control. It will be interesting to see what the world has in store for us however.

It might be the end of modern times as we know it, but I can't wrap my brain around the concept that it will be the end of all life on Earth or the end of Earth, itself.

The devastation is immense, yes. There have been far greater losses of population in history than this caused by diasters of similar proportions. You do what you can to clean up the mess and then you move on, there's nothing else to do.

There are a lot of minds out there filled with a lot of scientific-fantasy and a hard-on for doomsday scenarios and they'll do anything they can to get people to listen to them.

(Interestingly, enough I saw Total Recall yesterday for the very first time in my life.)