DOOMSDAY, DOOMSDAY, DOOMSDAY!

Nature magazine, among the most respected scientific journals around, recently published a report from “22 international scientists, including biologists, geologists, paleontologists, ecologists and theoreticians (who claim) the global ecosystem could soon reach a tipping point as the human population and consumption rates continue to grow.”

That tipping point could cause an “abrupt change in the global ecosystem that may cause ‘a state shift’ in as soon as a few decades.” That global state shift occurs when from 50 to 90 percent of ecosystems are disrupted.

"Humans now dominate Earth, changing it in ways that threaten its ability to sustain us and other species," the report said.

While the researchers could not say what the consequences of a state shift might be, they “think it could trigger severe changes in world's agriculture, forests, water resources and fisheries.” In turn, these conditions might lead to the “widespread social unrest, economic instability and loss of human life.”

The Nature is, of course, being taken seriously by scientists, although probably not by politicians and industrialists; the former primarily concerned with votes and the latter largely concerned only with money.

The Nature did not reference Doomsday/Armageddon/End of Days. However, in the coming years there are some predicted and/or theorized catastrophes of note:

2013 Astrophysicist Piers van der Meer of the Netherlands theorizes the sun will explode. Do not, I repeat, do not hold your breath on this one.

2014 Astrophysicist Khabibullo Abdusamatov from Russia theorizes a new ice age will begin. That somehow flies in the face of the global climate changes.

2014 Bulgarian Clairvoyant Vanga predicts millions will die from chemical warfare that supposedly began in 2011. Again, not holding my breath.

2016 American Climatologist James Hansen theorizes that the glaciers will all melt, flood a great deal of the dry land. Am I glad I live in Denver, it may become beachfront property.

2018 And, of course, what list of predictions and theories would be complete without including everyone’s go-to guy for doom and gloom? That’s right, hysterics have interpreted one Nostradamus’s prediction to indicate there will be a nuclear war. Again, not holding my breath.