Showing posts with label apocalyptic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apocalyptic. Show all posts

Friday, December 21, 2012

Is there More to the Mayan Prophecy than Meets the Eye?

It looks as though we have survived what has been called the Mayan prophecy, however, the absence of brimstone does not mean that the myth is entirely without merit. Doomsday scenarios date back to the dawn of civilization and December 21, 2012 gained notoriety because it is the end date of a 5,125 year long cycle in the Mayan calendar. While the world did not come to a cataclysmic close, we may be on the cusp of serious civilization altering changes.

The most recent apocalyptic prophecy predicted that the end of the Mayan Calendar would herald a cataclysm. While it does signal the end of an era there is no evidence to indicate that it heralds the end of the world.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tornadoes and Floods Underscore the Costs of Global Warming

This article was originally written in the spring of 2011 after an unusual number of killer tornadoes and floods ravaged the US, it reviews the increasing costs of extreme weather in a warming world. Tornadoes along with Hurricane Irene and most recently Hurricane Sandy, make a powerful case for aggressive efforts to address climate change.
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The wave of tornadoes and floods in the spring of 2011 are a small preview of what life will look like in a world ravaged by global warming. The US Global Change Research Program has warned of more extreme weather events in the future as the planet gets warmer.

When it comes to tornadoes, Spring 2011 was one of the deadliest and most destructive seasons in American history. The tornado that hit Joplin on May 22 was one of the deadliest tornadoes ever. The EF-5 wedge tornado, that swept thru Joplin was over a mile wide, it completely destroying about 20% of the town, killing 160 people and causing $2.8 billion in damage. The southern state tornadoes that touched down between April 22 and 28 are likely to surpass 2004’s Hurricane Ivan as the costliest natural disaster in Alabama’s history.