3 Ways Man Has The Power To End Or Preserve Life On Earth

We always hear about and watch Hollywood movies showing how a meteor, aliens or a robot army can put an end to life on this planet. But did you know man also has the power to do this himself? We do not have to wait for some third parties to mete out doom upon us, we are sufficiently equipped to do that ourselves, very well thank you. This is why the Doomsday clock exists.

It is a symbolic clock face set to a few minutes to midnight that symbolizes the potential threats to mankind that exist and how close to actualization these are. The closest to midnight the clock has ever come was 3 minutes to midnight (11:57) in 1953 when the US and the Soviet Union tested thermonuclear weapons within a short period of each other.  The clock has, however, come to reflect more threats to life on earth than just nuclear wars, which we will look at here briefly.

Nuclear War

The nations of the world continue to stockpile nuclear weapons at such an alarming rate there are enough nuclear weapons today to wipe out the entire planetary population a few dozen times over. The threat of nuclear war has slowly diminished over the years but as long as there are nuclear weapons lying around and slowly becoming available to extremist groups and countries, what we are seeing is an increasingly tense situation.

The moderate nations want to reduce their stockpiles while the extremist nations want to build them, which places the entire planet on a tightrope balance that could tip in either direction. We can and will destroy this planet at this rate because all it will take is one country (or terrorist) to launch a preemptive nuclear strike and all hell will break loose. With extremist regimes in countries such as North Korea and Iran enriching weapon-grade uranium, it’s hard to imagine a world where nuclear fallout is not a possible eventuality.

Climate Change

Hurricane Sandy, which was what meteorologists termed as a super storm, was the child of climate change and the weather men are warning there could be worse ahead. Climate change and extreme weather patterns have the potential to wipe out entire cities due to their tremendous propensity for destruction. In all the years man has lived on the planet, and with all the technological advancements, man still does not possess the ability to withstand the onslaught of Mother Nature.

Erratic and extreme weather patterns have been in the offing for decades now but there lacks political conviction and will to do anything serious about it. The roots, lying deep within global warming and the buildup of greenhouse graces, go deeper and deeper as times goes by and people across the planet should prepare for possible worse weather patterns if nothing is done. Here we find mankind potentially able to destroy human life off the planet through influencing climate negatively. This may not wipe out mankind all at once, but it is hard to see anyone escaping the full wrath of adverse climate changes.

Biological Warfare

If you thought stockpiling nuclear weapons was crazy, what about stockpiling deadly viruses and other pathogens that have the capacity to wipe out the entire planet if they broke out? These are super bugs that cannot be cured, cannot be stopped and cannot be prevented against. From anthrax to genetically engineered strains of Ebola and dengue fever, the list of diseases that various countries are stockpiling is shocking and horrifying. Because these are not weapons that need complex deliver systems or tactical stations across the planet, they can spread like wildfire as the race of man watches haplessly by.

The risk that these diseases can wipe out the entire population on the planet is so high and real that it is placed even higher than nuclear weapons and climate change combined. Whereas some people may survive a nuclear world war and many people could survive extreme climatic changes, the fact that biological weapons attack the very human body make it the most difficult to evade, survive, or weather. There would be no respite for man if an untreatable virus went viral. This would have the knock on effect of engendering mass hysteria and mayhem, anarchy and a potential nuclear war; all ending in the demise of life as we know it on this planet.

Find more threats to mankind and this planet here (Wikipedia)

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Guest post by Scott Ryan, a firm believer in sustainability and a global citizen who has faith that man will preserve this planet and life indefinitely. Sort of like he hopes Morris Brothers Music will keep jamming.