12 times the world almost ended - We're lucky to be alive! | Page 8 of 10

Times the world almost ended : Over the last few million years or more, there have been some very close calls for the planet Earth. Even in what we think of as modern history, the planet has been in greater danger than most people realize. But all the while chaos is just a hop, skip and a jump away, ordinary folks just go on about their lives as if everything is normal. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. And as Agent K from Men in Black pointed out, the only way people go on about their lives is that they do not know about it!

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12. Cold War False Alarm On September 26, 1983, when the Cold War was still very present and tensions were high between the United States and the Soviet Union, a huge mistake almost became an irreversible mistake! Lt. Colonel Stanislav Petrov was in command in a USSR bunker designed to detect an incoming attack. Every night was dull as mud… until it wasn’t. The mission was to act in a matter of seconds to respond to any nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. When out of nowhere, sirens began screaming and indicator lights began flashing, he saw the worst nightmare of every person on earth. During this period, any nuclear attack would set off a chain of events that would only result in the destruction of civilized life on the planet. Instead of launching soviet missiles, he remained calm and thought through the situation. It turns out that the instruments detected clouds and not missiles. Thanks to his calm and rational thinking, the planet is still in tact. Thanks Lt. Colonel Petrov! 11. The Black Plague Plagues have happened from time-to-time through the centuries. Modern-day medicines and quarantine procedures minimize the spread of diseases, but historically this has not been available. Spawning most likely from black rats, during the 14th century, the European continent’s population was cut in half. The black plague took as many as 20 million lives and is seen as one of the nastiest viral pandemic in our planet’s history. While not officially destroying the earth, the destruction of its population is every bit as catastrophic. The plague lasted for five horrific years with panic and fear at every human encounter. The question of if a person would catch what became known as the black death caused doctors to stop seeing patients. Proof that viral outbreaks are a real thing and nothing to laugh at, modern medicine has rendered problems like this as less severe today. But will there be a next evolution of the plague? 10. Cuban Missile Crisis In October of 1962, President John F. Kennedy spent thirteen days panicking after realizing that the Soviet Union had nuclear missiles located on the island nation of Cuba, which was only 90 miles from the United States. The United States threatened to block off Cuba and neutralize the threat, but everyone was terrified that this was the start of a massive nuclear war. Fortunately, an agreement was reached that prevented any further action. The Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles if the United States would refrain from invading Cuba. After the agreement was reached, it seemed the world breathed a collective sigh, but the Cold War raged on over the next few decades keeping tensions high and worries of impending nuclear attack even higher. Nevertheless, the Cuban Missile Crisis remains one of the planet’s historic “close calls.” 9. Destructive Bacteria To Crops Genetic modification as related to food was a rapidly growing trend in the late 20th century. When a soil bacteria called Klesiella Planticola was declared to be perfectly safe for wheat crops, it seemed that this would be a fantastic addition for the purpose of decomposing plant waste. Unfortunately, this bacteria was not safe and if it wasn’t for a study conducted by Oregon State University, it would have destroyed wheat and virtually all other crops as well. What started out as a great idea turned out to be potentially lethal to humanity. What if someone had ignored or attempted to discredit the Oregon State University findings? What if big business interests had gotten in the way and swept this research under the rug? Thankfully, none of that came to pass, but it certainly was another close call as it relates to the production of food on our planet. 8. Computer Chip Malfunction Almost Causes Nuclear War Isn’t it amazing how a 50 cent computer chip can cause such a huge disaster? Well, in 1980, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (commonly known as NORAD) that is exactly what happened. When a screen that always displayed that there were zero incoming missiles suddenly said that there were two, all hell began to break loose. So in 1980, when tensions were insanely high with the Soviet Union, when a screen shows any number of incoming missiles, many things begin happening. The Air Force began freaking out, sirens were going crazy and everyone’s heart rate was very high in the command center of NORAD. Before things got so out of hand that the United States actually fired their own missiles the glitch was discovered and everyone got to breathe a little easier. But as it has already been mentioned, the threat of nuclear war would undoubtedly destroy the planet. 7. The Spanish Flu This global disaster actually killed more people in a single year than in the multiple years of the black plague. The Spanish Flu was responsible for killing between 20 and 40 million people between 1918 and 1919. With mass graves dug to bury the countless people that were otherwise healthy and strong, the spanish flu is credited as the worst biological epidemic in history. Because of the Spanish flu, the lifespan in the United States went down by ten years. Imagine the devastation and destruction this flu would have caused if it continued on the same horrific path. While on one hand, World War I was coming to a close, the Spanish flu very nearly wiped out humanity in a way that the war could not. 6. Shaanxi Earthquake Some natural disasters have been known to destroy a great deal of human life. The Shaanxi Earthquake of 1556, during the Chinese Ming Dynasty impacted 90 countries and killed nearly a million people. If such an earthquake occurred today, there is no way to measure the cost of destruction. In fact, recovery may not even be possible in a restorative manner. When you consider that the Shaanxi earthquake occurred at a time in history where people were still living much more simplistically with less infrastructure, it is amazing to learn that this one event destroyed well over half the population of certain countries. The world went on and the region bounced back, but one has to wonder what would happen if such an event happened just like this today? Could humanity in that region survive and rebuild? 5. Pre-Civilization Mass Extinction When we think about destroying the planet, it’s not always about breaking it into tiny bits like Alderaan in Star Wars . Wiping out all life would definitely count toward what we think of as mass the world ending. But this has actually already happened on our planet, about five times! About 450 million years ago, the earth’s temperatures dramatically dropped, creating what we think of as an ice age. This event wiped out over 80% of all species on the planet! About 250 million years ago, massive levels of volcanic eruption across the planet caused the most damage, killing as much as 97% of all life! The asteroid crashing event we all know about that killed the dinosaurs (or at least most all of them) occurred more recently, about 66 million years ago, give or take. We generally tend to think of many of these events as a planetary temper tantrum. But could it happen again? 4. Mega-Colossal Volcanic Eruption Volcanos are no laughing matter. An eruption of a volcano can do so much more than people realize and that is pretty terrifying. About 70,000 years ago in the Sumatra area of Indonesia, a volcanic eruption caused such massive destruction to that part of the world that it impacted global temperatures and even caused the sun to look dimmer for a few years! While 70,000 years ago is a very long time, this is much more recent than when dinosaurs were roaming around the world. By this time, there was human life and this volcanic event just about wiped it out. Estimates are that this event impacted the human race by decreasing numbers to just a few thousand on the whole planet. This would put us on the endangered species list for sure! So does that mean that our whole ancestry could be traced back to just a few thousand individuals? Strange for sure… but another close call for planet earth. 3. Albuquerque Nuclear Broken Arrow The military refers to a broken arrow as a nuclear device that is accidentally detonated, or even worst… lost! This is indeed a terrifying idea considering the impact these devices have on everything. In May of 1957 though, an accident just about created a huge disaster with potentially earth-shattering consequences. When a nuclear bomb fell out of the jet aircraft transporting it to New Mexico, the bomb landed and even went off! Luckily, the nuclear portion of the weapon had been separated as a “safety precaution” for just such an occasion and the capsule was found not to have gone off with the other explosives. Unfortunately, a cow was killed in the mishap and certainly that pilot had some explaining to do. When you consider that the modern world was watching for the detonation of nuclear devices anywhere and everyone, with their own trigger fingers ready to launch, this could have been wildly disastrous. 2. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant located in Ukraine. In April of 1986, through some bad mechanical engineering mixed with human error, that entire region of Europe was drastically impacted. Chernobyl had four reactors and through an accident at the plant, a tremendous amount of radioactive material was released causing a great amount of contamination to the immediate and surrounding areas. What this has done to humanity in the long run, has changed the way we look at nuclear power. While still utilized, Chernobyl has shown us what a substantial impact any accident can have on the planet. For decades, agriculture has been and will continue to be impacted as a result of radioactive material in the soil. The health of humans and all living things of people in that region is also a serious concern. Indeed the disaster could have been worse and would have had even more of a disastrous impact. Now, the Chernobyl site is nothing more than a quarantined zone providing a constant reminder of a terrible disaster. 1. Smallpox This little guy has been around for over 3,000 years and has managed to ravage multiple populations of people over time. While there is now a vaccine that has rid the world of this very deadly monster, what makes this virus so horrible is that it lasted for so very long and has moved its way to virtually every corner of the globe. But the reason this virus is a potential game changer for the human race is because of modern advances in biological science. Samples of smallpox remain and there are terrifying possibilities for unleashing it in the form of a bio-terrorist weapon. The mere possibility of what that could do is frightening enough to make everyone sweat a bit. Courtesy: Joel Pascagliatti , TheRichest.com CLICK HERE to join our BBM Channel for faster updates