Flip through the cable channels for long enough, and you\u2019ll inevitably find the apocalypse. On Discovery or National Geographic or History you\u2019ll find shows like MegaDisasters, Doomsday Preppers, or The Last Days on Earth chronicling, in an hour of programming, dozens of ways the world might end: a gamma ray burst from a nearby star peeling away the Earth\u2019s ozone layer like an onion; a mega-volcano erupting and plunging our planet into a new ice age; the magnetic poles reversing. Turn to a news channel, and the headlines appear equally apocalyptic, declaring that the \u201cUN Warns of Rapid Decay in Environment\u201d or that \u201cHumanity\u2019s Very Survival\u201d is at risk. On another station, you\u2019ll find people arguing that the true apocalyptic threat to our way of life is not the impending collapse of ecosystems and biodiversity but the collapse of the dollar as the world\u2019s global currency. Change the channel again, and you\u2019ll see still others insisting that malarial mosquitoes, drunk on West Nile virus, are the looming specter of apocalypse darkening our nation\u2019s horizon.<\/p>\n