Now for the scary bit. Sooner or later each interstadial period finishes and we go back to being in a cold weather time - a stadial period. The Ice Age has worked like this for some two million years. If the freezing conditions were to return it would kill most plants and animals in the zones that it would affect - and that is where you live! Some scientists theorize that the North Atlantic Current could close down because of the current warm period. The Ice Age could come back within a few years (years, not hours as portrayed in The Day After Tomorrow). As an ELE this could be quite effective, depending on how cold it gets and where. Personally, I hate the cold so this would most certainly not be my ELE of choice!
More About Global Cooling
Scientists have been taking samples of ice cores and sediment from the seas for more than a few decades now and what they have discovered has shown that the world' climate can change dramatically over a very short space of time. This short space of time is normally just a few decades and should our own climate change as it has done it the past, the consequences could be extremely serious for humanity and the flora and fauna that surround us.
We are in the age of fossil fuel and the over the last two hundred years we have burned so much fossil fuel that the amount of carbon dioxide has risen drastically in our atmosphere. This could heat the planet up so much that much of our land will become uninhabitable and a great deal of it could be lost by rising oceans as the ice caps melt. As an ELE this is a long and lingering one, so not one for the author!
More about global warming if you want to get really depressed
One thing we should get clear right from the beginning is that the term supervolcano was coined by the BBC in the year 2000. Vulcanologists and geologists would not dream of using such a crass term - except when they make public appearances and want us to understand what they are going on about. They would call it a super eruption, which doesn't quite have the same impact - at least in terms of words!
Yellowstone Park in the USA is an example of a volcano that could cause a super eruption. Every six hundred thousand years or so it has done so and is due to pop pretty soon now (give or take a few tens of thousands of years). If it erupted tomorrow it would be the end of civilization as we know it and would almost certainly cause a new Ice Age. As an ELE it is a slow burn, but one that nonetheless could threaten life on the planet.
See What Would happen if Yellowstone erupted
Not so much when stars collide, but when they collapse. Some of the stars in the galaxy are so huge that when they collapse they send out huge levels of gamma rays. Gamma rays are - as far as we know - the most dangerous form of radiation. Scientists have monitored the activity of gamma rays and they are when the activity increases it is known as a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB).
The Milky Way is a big place, bigger than anyone can comprehend really. However, were a Gamma Ray Burst, by some infinitesimal chance, to be directed at Planet Earth (and it could happen, ladies and gentlemen!) then it would irradiate the entire planet, much like we do to our food in a microwave oven. Some scientists even believe that the mass extinction of the Ordovician era - which took place about four hundred and fifty million years ago - was caused by a GRB. As an ELE it would be thorough, but possibly extremely painful! Choose this only if your center of population is directly above the blast!
Watch the earth destroyed by a GRB
Otherwise known as a bolide impact, these happen every day - however, usually the objects are so small they burn up in our atmosphere. Humanity has done a great deal to litter outer space with man made objects but it is a well known fact that our little blue planet is not moving through empty space on its journey around the sun.
Around sixty five million years ago one of these babies hit the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The dinosaurs were, officially, dust. A great shame, because they had been around for a great deal of time. In fact, in one shape or form they had been around for one hundred and twenty million years at least. By comparison our species has been around the blink of an eye. If one can do for them, it could do for us too! As an ELE this would be spectacular, especially from space. Of course we have all seen films that have the heroes blow up the asteroids one way or another before they can truly kill off the entire species, but do we really have that capability?
See an asteroid hit the Earth
Of all the possible ELEs listed above, many have one thing in common - us! Is it possible that it is humanity that is - if only even metaphorically- the greatest ELE in the history of our planet? A distinct possibility!
Great food for thought and with the ongoing earth changes that I see in the world around me today, I would say at least half are very possible. Great article and videos.
#2 by Lost in Arizona Jul 24, 2008
As if I didn't have enough to get creeped out about...lol. Good article.
#3 by Juliane Elliott Jul 24, 2008
Wow, great article! Your topics are always so interesting and I am very impressed with your pieces.
#4 by Mike Hunt Jul 25, 2008
Watch ReGenesis the Canadian tv series. Probably the scariest science fiction show on tv. They address various issues of REAL potential problems ranging from viral to finding the sexual switch gene.
The final episode brought up the idea of the Last Virus, a virus so effective it destroys all life on Earth.
#5 by B Nelson Jul 26, 2008
My personal opinion is that unless we get our population down to a reasonable level (under 6 Billion...) we are dooming ourselves. The ending wont be fast, but it will be brought about by our own numbers.
#6 by Ruby Hawk Jul 26, 2008
The truth of the matter is probably something beyond our comprehension, and let us hope far in the future. I believe we are waking up to the possibility of harnessing the sun and wind for energy and that will save us for awhile.
#7 by Justin L. Moreaux Jul 27, 2008
This is very creative and knowledgeable. I'm quite impressed by the edification that was involved in reading this. Great work!
#8 by Anne Lyken-Garner Jul 27, 2008
Number 1 please. At least we could have some fun and make some friends on the way out.
