The End is near!

On this, our "last day on Earth", I will be the first to admit that I do have fears about the future and "the end".  No fears about Armageddon on a specific date, but still very real fears. 

My overall fear of the future is not that four horsemen will usher in the apocalypse.  It is not that humanity will incur the wrath of some external, higher consciousness.  Rather, it is that the whole world will be hot, humid, crowded, dirty, and loud.

I am terrified of overpopulation, a warming climate, and lack of sanitation from the overcrowding of humans (we are filthy, filthy creatures).  I am terrified that every wealthy corner of the world will look like Hong Kong or Tokyo, and that every other single square inch will look like an overcrowded slum or refugee camp.  No reprieve from human activity or melodrama.  No escape for rich or poor alike. 

The most important things for me in life are being by myself on a mountaintop, enjoying some peace and quiet, and having at least one season out of the year when every single electrolyte my body can muster is not being siphoned off by the river of sweat racing down my back.  I love nothing more than going for a walk in the woods by myself after a snowstorm, when it is so cold everything seems still and it is so quite all I can hear is the snow crunching under my feet.  To me, missing obligations and spending time alone as a result of winter weather is not something I brace for; it is something I wait for.

My fear is not that the world will end, but that the things which may my life on Earth worth living will end: peace, quiet, solitary moments, and a break from the heat.  In my own admittedly primate brain, infringements upon these basic things constitute an existential threat.  While I realize that most people find heat or "warmth" to be comfortable, and that most would prefer the so-called comforts of a city or suburb, I do not, and further, I do not consent to living under either such conditions.  Still, the population grows and the temperature rises.

Both to assuage my own fears and to calm people who believe a true end-of-the-world is actually imminent (which, to be clear, I do not) I like to remind myself and others that we all, as humans, have been fascinated with the end of the world since the beginning of time.  Whether as prophets, followers, or skeptics, we have all thought about it, even since before the existence of now-dominant religions.  This piece from the BBC's news magazine does an admirable job of putting the whole issue in historical perspective.  Reading it will leave you with one great consolation: regardless of era, almost everyone has believed they were living in end times.  They all were wrong.