2012 CORONAL MASS EJECTION: THE HAND OF GOD by J.E. Ante
In December 2012, Earth will face its greatest peril from our local sun. At this time of all-embracing alignments, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) or solar mass ejections from the sun will be aimed directly at the Earth, and the shielding effect of the planets will carry these CMEs straight towards Earth.
Leading up to this time, massive solar flares alone will impact the Earth. Solar flares are by far the largest explosions in our solar system, equivalent to millions of 100-megaton bombs. Typical solar flares release 10 to the 27th ergs per second. Large solar flares can release 10 to the 32nd ergs per second with this activity. However, CMEs are far larger and more massive than any solar flare could ever be. While a solar flare produces high-energy particles near the sun, a CME generates a shockwave that continuously sends out these particles. CMEs are much more massive and thus more likely to impact the Earth, but they take 3 to 5 days to reach the Earth.
In 2012, initial massive solar flares will likely severely damage satellites and completely blind Earth from observing the sun with high satellite images. Therefore, ground-based systems will probably be our only early warning of any solar flares and coronal mass ejections during the crisis at the solar peak. This could be a significant disadvantage.
It is the CMEs that I like to call the Hand of God because they are so massive and far-reaching. But also for another reason. CMEs might provide the force this world needs to end most of its negative activities all at once. Most pollution will stop overnight as humans lose access to electricity and the means to produce large amounts of gasoline. We will all need to become organic gardeners for food, which will also be produced locally instead of relying on distant bags of transported goods. Factory farming and exploitation will end as grains for animals are needed to feed humans to prevent starvation in third-world countries.
People will be forced to become self-sufficient and community-focused. Few people will be able to commute long distances to work. The fiber optic internet will become the primary means of communication. Cell phones will vanish overnight, along with all TV and radio. The world will revert to 1900s living standards for a few years as we adapt, but we will never again become so hostile and contagious to our environment when we emerge from this.
Global warming will be significantly slowed, and time to relocate cities from coastal regions will extend to decades as global warming slows. We will all necessarily become vegetarians and eat far healthier than before when meat was abundant in the western world.
Most livestock will be slaughtered for food when the grains to feed them run short. Thus, a major source of methane pollution will end overnight. Ocean fish populations will recover as fewer fishermen have the fuel to fish and overfish the oceans for several years.
Energy consumption by coal plants, nuclear plants, gas, and oil will end overnight, and the air will once again be clean and free of pollution. People and children will get less lung cancer, asthma, and COPD.
Families and extended families and groups will be the norm as people come together to pool their resources and talents in learning how to survive in this new environment.
Most internal combustion cars will cease as a mode of transportation, at least for many years. We will live in great centralized cities where everyone walks to work, rides bikes, or uses electric cars. We will grow most foods locally within the cities or surrounding areas. So, the 50% of land used for streets and highways in major cities will end and become parks, bike paths, and growing areas for food, and man will ban internal combustion engines from cities.
Long-haul trucking will be cut in half overnight, and railroads will be used extensively for transporting large loads of goods. Bio-diesel and LP gas fuels will be widely used in all trucking.
Passive solar panels will be the major cheap heating source for mankind in all climates. Energy conservation will be forced upon all of us to the most extreme degree as electricity will be lost for many months or years to come.
People will have time to read books, meditate, garden, and home-school their children. The internet and neighborhood schools will become the only education children ever know. And so the best teachers record their lectures and distribute them free to children to learn on the internet.
In 2012, the CME "Hand of God" will give mankind a second chance and it will give Mother Nature or Gaia a break from mankind's careless past abuses of Earth.
All of this is speculation, of course. But mankind might be able to prepare now to mitigate much of the damage from these CMEs in 2012. All hardware in space will likely be lost, but ground electronics might be protected by enclosing them securely in aluminum sheeting or other metals to shield them. Individuals might wrap electronics in aluminum foil or use aluminum space blankets to prevent damage. But again, all this is speculation, and little research is focused on this possible damage to Earth in 2012 by flares and CMEs.
Our scientists and governments need to take steps now to prevent widespread damage to electronic and electrical infrastructures in 2012 or before when the 24th solar maximum begins. Most of these electrical substations upon which we depend for electricity take many years to produce. If all of them are knocked out by the sun’s CME, it might take 20 years or more to replace them all. An ounce of prevention might save the Earth from years of 19th-century living if electrical stations are severely damaged by CMEs. -- J.E. Ante