Global Warming, Climate Change, Earth Changes...

When societies around the world are coping with the results of financial shenanigans and rising unemployment, there are even weightier matters confronting future generations. The economic crisis and the problematic job markets will eventually be sorted out, but do we also need to urgently deal with issues of climate change?

There is a lot of noise about all this, but very little true understanding is reaching the public. While we are focused on immediate concerns, we might be ignoring a looming future catastrophe. It is important to transcend our obsession with short-term gains (that's what forced the world economy into a tail-spin, after all) and carefully consider long-term consequences.

Recently there have been extensive revisions in the assessment of climate change issues by many scientific organizations. Greenhouse gasses are increasing dramatically due to huge industrial growth in China and India. Plus, with the thawing of the poles, rising sea levels are eminent (possibly 55 inches by the end of the century) and this puts the highly populated coastal areas in danger.

Our dynamic planet has been experiencing weather's ups and downs and highs and lows for billions of years. What makes us think the climate is changing more drastically now, and what could be causing it?

Considering known cycles of the past, some say we are overdue for another ice age. Our current "Interglacial" period (the warm times between major "Glacial" periods) has lasted for 10,500 years, though previous Interglacials have been "only" 10,000 years long.

Also, research suggests that the earth's magnetic field has been diminishing lately, and this could be a sign that a magnetic shift is eminent. The North and South poles might actually flip, causing catastrophic upheavals that could rearrange continents and severely shake up all forms of life. We know that such things have happened in the past, and they are sure to happen again -- but when?

We depend on the planet's magnetic field to protect the surface from deadly solar radiation. If it is currently becoming weaker, that won't help us much if the sun starts blasting us with extreme killer flares. Records indicate that our old reliable sun has recently been behaving in radical, unexpected ways, and it could fry the entire planet at any moment! (But probably not, so relax...)

Observations indicate that ALL of the planets in our solar system are heating up, and climate change is not just a local condition, it is a far reaching cosmic development. There are those who speculate about a buildup of hyper-dimensional electromagnetic forces that will influence not just our own planet's weather, but the future evolution of our entire solar neighborhood.

There is also a growing movement of doomsayers who insist that the world will endure some sort of significant transformational event on December 21, 2012, as suggested by the famed end of the Mayan Calendar and the puzzling prophecies of Nostradamus, as well as other metaphysical sources.

Yikes, it looks like fun times are ahead for Planet Earth! But before we get too stressed out, let's settle down and confine ourselves to reliable, factual information. With the current emphasis on non-ideological scientific inquiry, we are getting a flood of new studies that must be seriously considered. It's not looking good. Clearly, we need to deal with this matter now... along with all the other problems that can no longer be ignored.