The Life (and Death) Of Our Earth

We are "expecting" a wipe-out of humanity in 2012. Scientists predict that if we don't take care of our Earth, we should expect a collapse to take place by 2030. Humans are gradually contributing tremendously to our Earth's demise.

I am really not much of a science person, and I don't really understand it too well, but lately I have been really interested in the origins of our planet and species. So I set out all over the internet to figure out how our civilization evolved, going all the way back to the VERY beginning... This is very, very interesting.

It is said that life on Earth has existed for about 2.5 billion years. Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years from a bunch of rocks flying around in the atmosphere that stuck together and formed the Earth's core and crust. The early atmosphere of light that surrounded the planet caused Earth to consist of nothing but volcanoes and molten lava. The Earth was just a giant pool of molten rock and lava. Within 150 million years of the Earth's formation, crust formed and cooled, forming the oceans.

There were 5-6 major mass extinctions that occured on this Earth... The theory is that the seperation of our now 7 continents, formerly Pangea, had a major impact on the extinctions through sea-level changes and climate alterations.

1. MASS EXTINCTION OF THE FIRST SEA CREATURES

After a sustainable atmosphere had been formed, the first signs of life began in the ocean. First it started with plants and reefs in the seas, which led to the production of the organisms that eventually evolved into living creatures and expanded and evolved into LIFE ON EARTH. The FIRST mass extinction was 445 MILLION years ago when 57% of all life was wiped out due to a drop in sea level.

2. MASS EXTINCTION OF SEA CREATURES AND AIR-BREATHING REPTILES

After the 57% of life was wiped out and began to multiply again, some sea creatures made their way to land, evolving into air-breathing reptiles, which eventually led to mammals.  The SECOND mass extinction, which wiped out 50% of all life, occured 370 Million years ago. The extinction is believed to have been due to drops in sea level and climate change.

3. MASS EXTINCTION OF NEARLY ALL LIFE ON EARTH

The THIRD extinction, which was the BIGGEST mass extinction in history, wiped out 83% of life on our planet and took place 250 Million years ago.This was the closest life has ever come to enduring a complete demise. 70% of all land and 96% of all sea creatures went extinct. This extinction is known to be caused by climate change (the formation of our continents, formerly one big continent known as Pangea), which caused climate extremes. The extinction also appears to be associated with a meteor impact.

3. DEADLY CLIMATE WIPED OUT LIFE OVER TIME

Another mass extinction followed 200 million years ago, wiping out 48% of existence. It was assumed that this extinction could have possibly taken place over a period of millions of years, due to millions of cubic kilometers of lava spewing all over the Earth's surface over a duration of centuries. Over the time of this deadly climate roller coaster, on 52% of life survived.

4. EXTINCTION OF DINOSAURS

The next extinction, which is the most RECENT and most commonly known extinction, took place 65 million years ago, which was the demise of all but a small line of dinosaurs, which actually evolved into today's birds. It was the end of the great 'age of reptiles.' 50% of all life was extinguished. The theory behind this extinction is that a large asteroid hit. The extinction was also due to rise in oxygen levels, extreme climate changes, sea-level changes and volcanism, due to the seperating of Pangea.

5. CLOSE CALL TO THE END OF HUMANITY

The most recent mass extinction took place only 73,000 years ago and almost wiped out humanity due to volcanism, causing major global disrutptions deadly to our ecosystem. This extinction left Earth with ONLY 10,000 people on the entire Earth! 10,000 people on Earth... That's about .05% of JUST Florida's population alone.

WHEN IS THE NEXT MASSIVE EXTINCTION- IS THE END OF HUMANITY NEAR?

Humans have been on this earth for 40,000 years. It is said that humans have an unbelievable impact in the deterioration of our ecosystem: Pollution and Overxploitation of animals (causing extinction of some species). The next extinction would be the first recorded extinction due to living organisms.

Staggaering statistics suggest that 50% of the Earth's species will disappear within the next century, and humans are using almost half the energy that is accessible to sustain life on Earth. This number is rapidly growing as our population expands dramatically. We currently have about 6 billion people in the world, and are predicting to reach 10 billion within the next 100 years. We are endangering our own existence by over-using our resources which are disappearing due to the over-usage.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE ON THIS, YOU CAN FIND THE EARTH'S TIMELINE BY CLICKING THIS LINK: http://dsc.discovery.com/earth/wide-angle/mass-extinctions-timeline.html