Tag Archives: winter solstice

DOOMSDAY 2012 – NATURAL DISASTERS COULD WIPE OUT YOUR ZOMBIE WORRIES

Floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. These are just a few of the natural disasters that may befall our planet between now and December 21st, 2012. As we speak, the summer solstice is upon us, but it’s the winter solstice that we should be worrying about.

Flooding. There are several different scenarios in which massive floods may overcome our planet. One is oceanic rise. If the oceans rise, the coastal areas of the world will recede, and millions of people living in these areas will either die or have to move further inland. Global warming is currently being blamed for the Greenland ice sheets and polar cap melt off that has been going on for years. I think the majority of people are skeptical of this diagnosis, or just don’t know what to think, as scientists seem to fall on both sides of this debate. What no one can dispute is that this is happening.


If solar flare/sunspot activity on 12/21/2012 should be great enough to gain entrance to our atmosphere on this day, it could accelerate the ice melt and the oceans will rise. If the temperature of the earth’s surface rises just a few degrees, this would also happen. How quickly, obviously no one knows. One thing rapid or even gradual ice melts will do is disrupt the thermohaline circulation of water in the Atlantic Ocean, an ocean-based system of heat delivery sometimes referred to as the North Atlantic thermal conveyor belt.

The northeastern States, eastern Canada and, primarily, Europe enjoy warmer climates than they otherwise would because of the thermohaline circulation. This vast ocean conveyor sweeps warm, salty water from tropical latitudes north along the surface. After shedding heat to the atmosphere, the chilled brine becomes denser and sinks. Thousands of feet beneath the surface it flows back toward the equator, completing the loop.

But as the climate warms disproportionately at the poles, the gears of the system begin to wobble. Freshwater runoff from Greenland’s ice cap and from melting glaciers across the Arctic, combined with increased precipitation, will form a thick, buoyant cap over the North Atlantic. Already, this gigantic vortex may be sputtering. The surface of the North Atlantic is becoming noticeably less salty, and thus less driven to sink.

Thermohaline circulation shut down as recently as 8200 years ago, and some scientists contend that the Little Ice Age of 1300 to 1850 was due to a hiccup in the system. The chance of another collapse is hotly debated, in scientific circles, and may throw us into another Little Ice Age again.

Earthquakes are a distinct possibility, and tectonic shift may occur. Tectonic shift and rise can be a direct result of earthquakes, as well as the weight and motion of melting water, among other things. It may well force the earth’s mantle to rise up and reform our planet.
Volcanic eruptions are a potentially catastrophic event that could be in store for us. The caldera at Yellowstone National Park, the World’s largest volcano, is said by scientists to be overdue for an eruption. This volcano is sometimes referred to as a Super volcano. There are over 3000 recorded earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park each year, and any sort of cataclysmic event on a worldwide scale may be the spark that forces the caldera to erupt. That eruption, along with any others that may happen on that fateful day, 12/20/2012, would put enough volcanic ash into the atmosphere, as to blot out the sun for years, perhaps even decades. And then there are all the different types of gasses that will also be in the air, and oxygen purity levels will drop dramatically. Without Photosynthesis, a process whereby plants  capture the suns energy to split off water’s hydrogen from oxygen. Hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide to form glucose and release oxygen. If the sun is blotted out and plants can’t grow and capture carbon dioxide, while releasing oxygen, we may lose our ability to breath, among other things. This will also have a devastating effect on the global food chain. In my opinion, this will be the start of a fatal global downward spiral, from which there will be no return.

Last but not least. Again, in my opinion, the most probable occurrence will be an eruption of the volcano at Cumbre Vieja. Cumbre Vieja is an active volcanic ridge on the volcanic ocean island of Isla de La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. History has recorded volcanic eruptions of the Cumbre Vieja in 1470, 1585, 1646, 1677,m 1712, 1949, and 1971.
During the 1949 eruption, three vents—Duraznero, San Juan and Hoyo Negro—opened and expelled massive amounts of lava. Also during the eruption two earthquakes happened centered near Jedey. Following the earthquakes a fracture appeared, approximately two miles long, about 1/10 of the exposed length of the Cumbre Vieja. Parts of the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja ridge moved about 1 mile sideways and 2 miles downwards towards the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists have hypothesized that an eruption or even an earthquake would send the western flank of the island sliding into the Atlantic Ocean, creating a Mega Tsunami of biblical proportions. Computer models indicate the resulting gravitational landslide will enter the Atlantic Ocean and create the so called Mega Tsunami, with the initial wave estimated at some 200 feet in height, and a peak to peak height of 1 mile. Estimated speed of the wave is 600 mph. It will reach the African coast in 1 hour, southern england in about 3 to 4 hours, and the eastern seaboard of the United States in about 6 hours. The initial wave will have subsided into a succession of smaller ones each about 100 to 200 feet in height, and may swell to 400 to 600 feet high at a distance of 1 to 2 miles apart, while retaining the original speed. Computer models indicate differing inland inundation measurements, between 15 to 30 miles or more according to the volume of water.
This would greatly damage or destroy cities along the entire North American eastern seaboard, and tens of millions would be killed from Maine to Florida, and everything In between.

So there you have it. Not a pretty picture is it.

Summer solstice, 2012: Six months to doomsday?

WASHINGTON — When the summer solstice arrives Wednesday, it will mark six months until the winter solstice on Dec. 21, when, according to some people’s reading of the Mayan Long Count calendar, the world will be destroyed.

Scientists and archeologists have debunked the doomsday theory, but it remains alive and well in popular culture.

“People who are not specialists in the Maya calendar have taken a few quotes and a few misunderstandings by scholars, and they’ve picked it up and run with it,” says Simon Martin, co-curator of a “Maya 2012: Lords of Time” museum exhibit in Philadelphia. “So it becomes somewhat unrecognizable.”

In 2009, the movie “2012”destroyed the world in the best special-effects fashion. The cable channel Spike TV has announced a new reality show called “Last Family on Earth,” in which one of the prizes is a spot in an underground bunker provided by Vivos, a company that sells space in such shelters. Vivos, for its part, maintains a countdown clock on its Website.

Striking a more positive note, the online stock trading firm Ameritrade suggests, “Say the sun rises on December 22, and you still need to retire. Ameritrade consultants can help you build a plan that suits your life.”

The end of days has been scheduled often during human history. The Bible’s Book of Revelation predicts it. Many Europeans expected the end of the world would come in the year 1000. More recently, American evangelist Harold Camping predicted doomsday would arrive May 21, 2011, then he switched the date to Oct. 21. Now he’s reconsidering.

The source of the current fear apparently is the end of the cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar, one of the Mayans’ many calendars. The Mayan culture in Middle America thrived for six centuries before collapsing around 900 A.D., according to recent scholarship, because of a series of droughts and possibly warfare. The Mayans were sophisticated calendar makers and time keepers; in Guatemala recently, a Mayan mural with calendar calculations etched on the walls was discovered.

Kate Quinn, director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, or the Penn Museum, where the “Lords of Time” exhibit was displayed, says that the previous end date on the Mayan Long Count calendar occurred 5,125 years ago and was regarded as a significant event.

“They really thought of it as the turning over of dates, as the rebirth, the reawakening — the time to really reflect and start anew and just refresh,” Quinn said. “They really believed in that in the same way that we do with our New Year’s resolutions, but this was a bigger one for them. A much larger time frame. A very big party.”

Martin, co-curator of the exhibit, says that because of different correlations of dates, there is some dispute over when the Mayan Long Count calendar actually will end this time. He said you might want to wait until Dec. 25 to be in the clear.

In September 2011, Archeology Magazine published an article exploring various doomsday theories, from black holes to magnetic fields. Even the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is getting into the act, with its “Ask an Astrobiologist” feature including a question-and-answer column on “Nibiru and Doomsday 2012.” (Nibiru is a planet that the ancient Sumerians forecast would hit and destroy Earth.) E.C. Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles wrote an article for Sky and Telescope magazine going through various theories, “The Great 2012 Doomsday Scare.”

“In various spiritual and religious beliefs we find evidence of the end. It comes back as a kind of classic theme in the culture that we’re imagining it’s about to end,” says author Ben Winters, whose new mystery, “The Last Policeman,” is based on the premise of Earth’s destruction from an asteroid.

The doomsday theories provide “a reason to not be engaged in the world as it is,” he said. “To be thinking about some imagined future, some brutal future. It’s a kind of a fantasy, it’s a kind of escapism.”

Quinn said, however, that when the museum polled visitors to the Maya 2012 exhibit, most people were unaware of the details behind the Mayan Long calendar and the end of days.

“You ask, how do you think the world’s going to end, and they say, ‘Well, it’s something with the sun, aren’t we going to crash into something?’or, ‘It’s going to be a flood,’ and they didn’t really know,” Quinn said. “So there seemed to be a lot of theories out there, and a lot of opportunities out there for us to help the public to be directed to what we know to be true.”

Martin said that doomsday scenarios seem to be a North American phenomenon dating to the 1970s.

“It is something that recurs in societies that are looking for answers beyond what science seems to offer,” Martin said. “I think that people aren’t always happy with what science tells them.”

One positive benefit of the possible end of days, however, could be a boom for tourism in Honduras and other areas where Mayan civilization thrived.

“The hotels are selling out; the restaurants are going to be booked,” Quinn said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to bring in tourists altogether because the people who are interested in this idea of apocalyptic thinking, whether they believe the world going to end or not, they understand that the event is going to be here. They want to be there at that time.”

Locals in those areas seem bemused by it all, Quinn said. While preparing for the exhibit, she said, the descendants of the Mayans asked her, “Why do you Americans think the world’s going to end? And what is it with you people? How can you possibly trace it back to us?”

Top 5 places to watch it all go down End of the World 2012

End of the world where to watch 2012

Tourists are seen at the Copan ruins. Doomsday tourists are expected to flock to Copan, an ancient Mayan ruin, before Dec. 21, 2012, which some believe the Mayans predicted to be the end of the world. (Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images)

End of the World 2012: Top 5 places to watch it all go down

Whatever you believe will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, it is an auspicious year to travel to the Mayan heartland.

 PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — It might be the end of the world, and what better place to be than where the doomsday theory all began.

No matter what you believe will or will not happen on Dec. 21, 2012, the day Mesoamerican astronomers pegged as the end of their 5,125-year long count calendar, one thing is certain: 2012 is an auspicious year to travel to the Mayan heartland.

Though there is no evidence that the Maya foretold any specific earthly event or cataclysm, it is an important cycle-ending nevertheless, and an excuse to celebrate and cleanse.

It’s also a reason to explore the Maya region. The most popular dates to travel to Mundo Maya — the common term for the region that includes southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador — are the summer solstice (June 20), the autumnal equinox (Sept. 21), and, of course, the winter solstice, which the Mayans call “13 b’aktun,” or Dec. 21.

There will be raucous celebrations, solemn fire ceremonies and a curious excitement at all minor and major Maya archaeological sites throughout the year. The biggest challenge is deciding where to begin. Here are the top 5 Mayan hotspots to mark whatever it is that might happen on Dec. 21, 2012.

Uxmal, Mexico

The best gateway to this stunning archaeological site is the city of Merida, a colonial jewel and wonderful destination in its own right. One of Merida’s main attractions is access to the Puuc Route, a distinctive chain of Maya archaeological sites that includes Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Labna.

Stay at the wood-creaking Hacienda Uxmal, a stone’s throw from one of the Mayan world’s most detailed, stunning sites. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Queen Elizabeth and the Shah of Iran have all stayed there. This December, Hacienda Uxmal will be the setting for Wilderness Travel’s “World of the Maya: Cycles of Time Symposium and Travel Event,” which will give 80 participants the chance to spend Dec. 21, 2012 with the world’s top Mayan studies scholars.

Riviera Maya, Mexico

Why should the end of the world be a hassle? Flying into Cancun is a breeze from most cities, and there are tens of thousands of beachside rooms from which to watch the calamity, or lack thereof, unfold. Stay in an over-the-top five-diamond, all-inclusive resort like Grand Velas or Hacienda Tres Rios, or choose a more budget-minded place in Playa del Carmen or Akumel. No matter what your thread-count is, you’ll have immediate access to many natural and Maya-related archaeological sites, theme parks and sacred water pits known as “cenotes.”

San Ignacio, Belize

The Cayo District in Western Belize has rivers, ruins and access to vast swaths of forest, including the Peten wilderness of northern Guatemala (and the Guatemalan archaeological sites of Tikal, Yaxha, and Uaxantun).

The whole area revolves around the tranquil town of San Ignacio, where a small, diverse population clings to the hillside and riverbanks. The Mopan and Macal Rivers meet here to form the Belize River, which runs out to the Caribbean. Cayo also boasts the best selection of jungle lodges anywhere in Central America, including many small, off-grid eco-resorts on the upper Macal. Some of these, notably The Lodge at Chaa Creek, are offering special tours and retreats in honor of 2012. There is a large event planned for Dec. 21, 2012 at Xunantunich archaeological site, and special solstice camping permits are being issued at Caracol.

Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala

This long-time escape for budget travelers and Spanish-language students is usually accessed via Antigua, Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage town of 35,000. Use Antigua as your base, then head west (and up) to one of the densest populations of living Maya in the world, where modern-day shamans still keep the calendars alive and are performing purification ceremonies throughout 2012. Here, in the volcanic hills surrounding Lago de Atitlan — the deepest, most scenic lake in all of Central America — scores of lakeside and upcountry communities offer tourism opportunities from primitive homestays to small, luxurious spas and resorts. All will have unique 2012 offerings.

Copan, Honduras

Honduras’ contribution to the Maya world consists of a single grand ancient city near its western border with Guatemala. The precision and detail of Copan’s artists and scribes earned it the nickname: “The Athens of the Maya world.”

More from GlobalPost: Video: New York’s Radio Doomsday

Copan does not tower vertically as Tikal does, to the north. But what it lacks in altitude, it makes up for in rich, important history, a gorgeous, tranquil valley, and an interesting selection of health-related retreat possibilities. Access Copan by flying into San Pedro Sula, Honduras, or drive there from Guatemala City or Antigua. You’ll stay in Copan Ruinas, a cozy little tourist town only a 20-minute walk from the main archaeological site. There are also Maya sweat lodges, spas, yoga retreats, and planned 2012 festivals