Mass Extinctions, another 12 21 2012 End of the World Prophecy

I recently came across a story on the msnbc website which says that theoretically one cataclysmic event is not enough to cause mass extinctions on the planet.  The article says that a major "one-two punch" is most likely needed to to extinguish life on Earth.  There are two classifications of events and they are"pulse" and "press".  Pulse being for example a asteroid strike and press being an extended (100 thousand year or more) large volcanic eruption for example.  If this is the case then it sounds like we would need to have the Yellowstone volcano blow and an asteroid strike in short succession.

The likelihood of this happening is very slim and the "press" events they speak of are drawn out for a very long time.  This would cause the the flora and fauna to be weakened to the point that when a "pulse" event occurs, life on the planet will not able to cope with the disruption.

Again this is only theory, but something to consider.  They even explain:

"I'm not saying it's impossible to have an extinction with just a 'press' or a 'pulse' event," Arens admitted. The study states only that it's more likely when the two combine."

I know you can see the connection here to the 2012 predictions  of comet strikes, super volcanoes, magnetic pole reversals and other doomsday theories.  The one section of the article which disturbed me the most though, was the last paragraph, in which the author stated:

"Humanity is creating exactly that (press and pulse event) scenario today, she said. Over the last 6,000 years, subsistence farming began changing the climate and clearing wilderness slowly enough to constitute 'press'-type stresses on the environment. But people began burning fossil fuels in earnest during the Industrial Revolution, and carbon concentrations have skyrocketed while growing population numbers have led to widespread habitat loss around the globe.

Arens argued this constitutes a 'pulse' event, and the sixth great mass extinction may already be underway."

There may be wild card events like asteroid strikes, super volcanoes or Alien visitations, but we have no need to worry about that because they are beyond our control.  Once again we get distracted by the doomsday spectaculars and fail to see that the fate of the planet is in our hands.  We have to make the right choices now, to have a future and save our home.  I know that we can do this if all of us work towards a common goal of transforming our planet into the type of home everyone would be proud of.   Maybe we would even feel inclined to show the alien guests (also prophesied to arrive in 2012) around our pretty little planet.

All joking aside, each individual needs to take a good hard look at his or her impact on the planet and start to make changes there.  This has been said before by a lot more sophisticated people than me, but it is true.  By each of us taking action  locally, global changes will occur.  I, you, we, need to be the change we want to see in the world!

If you would like to read the full article referred to above, go to msnbc