Paper Title: Environmental Apocalypse: Ancient Prediction, Approaching Reality

Author: Michael C. Meaney

Email: fredmichael73@aol.com

       "The idea of apocalypse is ancient.  There are various ways that apocalypse is predicted and depicted in literature.  If not written as specifically environmental apocalypse there are always environmental issues and often “natural” disasters involved in the destruction of the world.  I investigate the origin of this idea by referencing Greg Garrard’s chapter on Apocalypse in Ecocriticism which includes the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster.  These core beliefs of apocalypse were seemingly instilled in the essence of humans through religion and often the Christian, Holy Bible.

       We have seen the increasing severity in predictions of fearful outcomes.  Perhaps our knowledge can develop a technology that can correct, at least in part, degrading eco-systems before they become irreversible.  Various texts calculate environmental predictability as our world becomes more global rather than local.  Jonathan Swift and Thomas Malthus were concerned with their areas of the world becoming overpopulated.  J.G. Ballard, Richard Fleischer and Octavia Butler all show a world in crisis, but seen through the lens of the problem areas which they are each specifically addressing.  We see a growing global awareness of environmental issues, along with the inability of world civilization to agree on change.  The global population’s actions leave us with environmental inevitabilities; overpopulation and other crisis points will lead to the scarcity of resources which will lead to social unrest, eventual degradation and final destruction of life as we know it on planet earth."