Humanity is a recipe for disaster.

Well, I don't read, or for that matter watch, much news. But it's hard to get around major tragedies. 9/11, Indonesia Tsunami, Katrina, and Minneapolis. Who would have thought an Interstate could collapse, and kill hundreds. Well not without a major Earthquake anyway.

Having moved to California in 1997 the first words out of everyone's mouth, and everyone being my midwestern relatives, were "aren't you afraid of earthquakes?" Well living just outside of San Francisco makes you think a little more about that. The correct answer is no.

I am not typically one that worries, and if I was to worry about the unpredictable I might then also have to worry about floods, mudslides, brush fires, tsunamis, terrorism, tornadoes, hurricanes, hail, wind, global warming and the general fury of god.

WELL, I recently saw Inconvenient Truth, and I must say that global warming does indeed concern me, but not yet to the point of worry. Anyway if you watch a few post-apocalypse movies you might get an idea of how this world will look in another 50 years as we continue on our path to ruin.

Waterworld = melted polar ice caps
The Day After Tomorrrow = all manner of environmental destruction
The Road Warrior (Mad Max trilogy) = the planet as a desert
Blade Runner = darkness and rain
Escape From New York = crime
Highlander II (the movie in general sucks) = destroyed atmosphere
The Terminator (trilogy) = replaced by our own technology
Matrix Trilogy = destroy atmosphere AND replaced by technology
12 Monkeys, 28 Days Later or The Omega Man = viral destruction
Children of Men = complete sterilization followed by mass chaos

Or maybe a little more mellow like Demolition Man, Planet of the Apes or the Postman.

Anyway there are signs that the Earth is changing, and more signs pointing at humanity as the root cause. Global Warming could cause all manner of environmental consequences including larger and more destructive fires, drought, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes. And it appears that the warming trend is allowing for reappearance and more rapid spread of communicable diseases like avian flu, sars, even things that don't directly affect humans like mad cow.

According to the World Health Organization,
a pandemic can start when three conditions have been met:
the emergence of a disease new to the population.
the agent infects humans, causing serious illness.
the agent spreads easily and sustainably among humans.

Some older, mostly erradicated diseases responsible for the death of milions:
Typhoid fever
smallpox
Cholera , kills in days
Influenza MANY different strains, highly mutatable
smallpox, Measles , whooping cough
and my personal favorite,
bubonic plague aka Black Death thought to have killed 25-50% of the known world's population between 541-700 and AGAIN 800 years later in the 1300's.
Hmm, we are coming up on another 800 years. imagine the death toll today... BILLIONS.

Imagine if a deadly virus like HIV was to mutate into an communicable virus.
Some other modern potential threats include ebola, SARS, and avian flu. It isn't too far of a stretch that modern governments are "developing" these for warfare purposes. And then to stretch that into a "leak" into the general populace, whether on purpose or not. Which is why there is so much concern about global terrorism with biological weapons.

Historically nature caused these pandemics, today they are just as likely to be designed as evolved.

So if we can't be prepared for major natural disasters like Katrina, how can we possibly prepare for widespread disease, and the panic that ensues. Humanity is a recipe for disaster. Mass distruction is inevitable.

The up side is that whatever comes next will surely help with population control. Something that is entirely necessary when we are stripping the world quickly of all remaining natural resources.