Are We Near the End of the World?

December 21 2012 is less than a week away and some believe it will be the last day on Earth.

There have been false assumptions before this one; some saying the world would end in September of 2011 by natural disasters. Now, in November of 2012 there are the same assumptions as before just a year and a couple months later.

People believe that there are many ways that the world could end.  None, of course, have been proven yet. In the past couple years, natural catastrophes like the Tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina have made more and more people believing that the world is near the end of its lifetime.

Hurricane Katrina, the storm of 2005 that killed almost 2,000 people and injured many more, is what got people the most concerned.

Stan Goodenough, a website columnist and christian column writer said, Hurricane Katrina is the “fist of god” and is “the beginning of the end.”

Some say a giant asteroid or comet will come through the atmosphere and kill off all human species. This also being the cause of the end of the dinosaur era. according to National Geographic “the asteroid killed off the dinosaurs not only from impact but also from the massive amount of debris in the air.” If a giant asteroid can kill off all dinosaurs then it could possibly kill off the billions of humans that make up the world today.

Scientists, on the other hand, say that there is absolutely no scientific evidence or proof that the world will end. They say that the likeliness of a meteor getting through the atmosphere big enough to kill of all humans is nearly zero. They feel the same way about a big enough earthquake or tropical storm that there is nearly no chance of extinction of the human race.

Some scientists also think that all of the rumors are false because the Mayans didn’t take leap years into consideration.

“This is probably the longest running rumor in the history of Earth since the Mayan civilization ended around 750 AD.” said Talawanda High School Science teacher, Stephen Pasquale. “Its unfortunate, though, they forgot to account for leap years, so the world should have already ended.“

As December 21st approaches the big question still remains; is the world really going to end? Only time can answer that question.