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Asked by paddy1 to Austin, Kirsty, Nicola, Nike, Sarah on 15 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by latishaf6.
Question: haw can the world get destroyed
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Sarah Hart answered on 15 Jun 2012:
This depends on what you mean by ‘destroyed’… a lot of people would say that by using up lots of fossil fuels (petrol, coal, gas), burning of which emits carbon dioxide (which causes ‘global warming’), and not resuing and recycling as much waste as possible, that we are effectively making our planet uninhabitable for ourselves and many other species.
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Austin Elliott answered on 15 Jun 2012:
I grew up in the 60s, 70s and early 80s when the Cold War meant that we all thought the big risk of destroying the world was from nuclear world war. My parents told me that the Cuban Missile Crisis (when I was two years old, and my little brother was just a baby) was the time they had thought the whole world might go up in a nuclear fireball.
It’s quite ironic – and really depressing – that now, when the danger of nuclear war seems to have receded, we’re facing the prospect of humans basically bleeding the planet dry and making it uninhabitable via resource exhaustion, habitat destruction and climate change.
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Kirsty Ross answered on 19 Jun 2012:
To be honest, no matter what we do the planet will be here long after the human race has become extinct. Until the sun blows up into a red giant and incinerates the planet’s surface. But that’s not for another 5 billion years or so, so not anytime soon. I agree with Sarah and Austin that we are doing a lot to damage the earth’s biosphere and probably changing it irrevocably. But I am an optimist and I believe that the earth has survived bigger extinction events than us, and will recover in time. The types of species that are around will change, but life will go on regardless.
Comments
cheesepuffqueen commented on :
so the whole 2012 thing isn’t true? i know it’s not really, but it is still making me nervous!
Austin commented on :
What’s this ‘2012 thing’, then? Hadn’t heard of that. Half way through 2012 it all seems pretty normal so far!!
Kirsty commented on :
The 2012 thing is linked to the Mayan calendar. Unlike most calendars, instead of counting up it is counting down to 21st December 2012. According to the Mayans, we are currently living in the fourth age and 21/12/12 is the end of the fourth and the start of the fifth. There is no evidence that they thought the world was going to end! I don’t think it will and I think the world will still be here on 22/12/12. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a lot of discussion around it thought. It is a modern interpretation that says that Armageddon will happen on that day. A lot of Doomsdays have come and gone over the years and we are still here.
nelsonmandela commented on :
also, in yr10 geography, you may learn about the super volcano. down in yellowstone. this will not ‘destroy’ the world but will cover it in ash, which would kill millions via chest infecions and being unable to breathe.
Kirsty commented on :
It will also wipe out most of north america and block out the sun for years so that most plant life will die. Temperatures would plummet as the sun’s warmth is blocked out. It would be very tough for life to survive, but it has done it before!
Austin commented on :
The most famous recent big volcanic eruption was the island volcano of Krakatoa (near Java) in 1883, which is one of the two or three biggest eruptions in recorded human history (so in the last several thousand years). Krakatoa caused a ‘volcanic winter’ that reduced temperatures worldwide by an average of 1.2 degrees Celsius for the next 5 years.