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We only have a few days until the end of the world, so now is the time to make sure you’ve got the right weaponry, food, water, shelter, gas masks, radiation suits, generators, extra fuel, hygiene items, and most importantly, fresh ShadowProtect backup images—this is serious business, you can’t expect to survive the apocalypse if you don’t plan ahead.

According to the official December 21, 2012 site, the governments of many nations around the world are trying to cover up the shocking and awful truth about the impending apocalypse to avoid massive global panic. The truth, according to the site, is that you need to stock pile massive quantities of food, water, ammunition and supplies if you hope to make it into 2013.

This fear-mongering site, which is oddly peppered with loads of advertisements (as you know, currency is more valuable than food and ammunition following any apocalypse), tells of multiple prophecies that warn of the impending apocalypse including: the end of the Mayan calendar,  prophecies of the Hopi Indians, NASA’s warning of solar storms,  St. Malachi’s prophecy that there will be only one more pope, and of course, everybody’s favorite apocalyptic prophecies from The Book of Revelations (and a few more we’ll look at in a bit).

According to the site, starting on December 21, 2012, the earth will see an influx of disasters including (but not limited to), drought, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, global warming, famine, disregard of human life, wars, rumors of war (isn’t there always a “rumor of war?”), more terrorism, increased nuclear threat, and emergence of the antichrist (the video on the site tastelessly displays photos of President Obama and Hillary Clinton when it brings up the antichrist).

Before you start popping potassium iodine pills and putting on your tactical gas masks , I’ll put your fears aside by explaining that this website is clearly designed to increase fear in readers and sell advertising, thereby promoting the entire disaster-panic economy. The sad thing is sensational reports and websites like this can put negative light on those that actually want to make sure people are prepared for genuine threats. It’s not about being prepared for the end of the world; it’s about taking necessary precautions surrounding feasible events.

We’ve summarized here the truth about the December 21, 2012 “apocalypse” according to an i09 interview with Don Yeomans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion lab.

Yeomans explains that the whole 2012 apocalypse issue probably started with end of Mayan calendar. While many assume that since the Mayan calendar stops, it marks the end of the world, people often don’t realize that this is more likely just the end of a cycle, just the way the calendar on your wall merely marks the end of the year. Time doesn’t end when you mark off the last day of your calendar. You just buy a new one or take one from your bank (my bank gave me one with pretty pictures of clouds).

Some also claim that a planet called Niburu (which is four times the size of the earth) is going to get close enough to the earth to cause all sorts of disasters. And it might be invisible. Thousands of astronomers look at the sky each day and have seen nothing approaching the earth—even if the planet was invisible (which is plainly absurd), the effects of something so massive could be seen on neighboring planets and astronomers have reported nothing.

Some even claim that NASA is hiding this information to avoid panic. It’s ridiculous to assume that thousands of astronomers can keep such a giant secret for multiple years, not to mention thousands more amateur astronomers who likely would’ve noticed something.

With regard to solar storms, they do exist. The sun’s activity goes through cycles from minimum to maximum which can cause solar storms when maximums occur.  NASA expects the next solar maximum to take place in May 2013 but it’s expected to be a mild maximum and there is no evidence that solar storms will occur.

Some also think that planetary alignment of the sun, earth, and other planets will cause devastating tidal effects. For one thing, there will be no planetary alignment in December 2012 and even if there was, it wouldn’t cause tidal effects. The only planetary bodies that can affect the Earth’s tides are the moon and sun.

Lastly, others claim that the shifting of Earth’s axes and magnetic poles will cause widespread issues. The Earth’s rotation axis can’t change since the moon keeps it in check, but magnetic fields can and have switched. The last time was 740,000 years ago, but scientist believe it generally shifts around every half million years, though there is no evidence that it will happen in December. Even if a shift began to occur, the magnetic poles take thousands of years to fully reverse and little would be affected but the calibration of our compasses.

Yeomans ends the video saying, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Since the beginning of recorded of time there have been hundreds of thousands of predictions for the end of the world and we are still here.” He’s right, we are, and there is little evidence suggesting anything will occur on December 21, outside of the normal, random natural disasters.

Of course, disasters do happen and they could coincidentally occur on December 21, but it’s likely you won’t need to take any extra precautions for that date specifically. The fact that there’s hype surrounding this event affords us the opportunity to think about disaster recovery on a hypothetical level, what could your business survive, and what can’t it survive? In reality, if there was an apocalyptic event, I’m guessing we’d all be a little more concerned with survival in general than getting our businesses back on track.

Casey Morgan

Casey Morgan is the marketing content specialist at StorageCraft. U of U graduate and lover of words, his experience lies in construction and writing, but his approach to both is the same: start with a firm foundation, build a quality structure, and then throw in some style. If he’s not arguing about comma usage or reading, you'll likely find him and his Labrador hiking, biking, or playing outdoors -- he's even known to strum a few chords by the campfire.

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