http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/atom-bomb-bikini-atoll-pod/
While reading Jonathan Schell's The Fate of the Earth I found myself pondering on the subject of absolute extinction. The foundation of this extended level of thinking was based on a quote from Dr. Thomas, "we do not really understand nature at all." Whenever nuclear warfare crosses our mind we think of destroyed cities and a decreased population of human beings struggling to survive in a world after civilized society. Dr. Thomas had me thinking beyond that. The idea of the earth being considered a single organism is new in the scientific field. The earth works in a specific way and sustains itself with an "earth-like" metabolism balancing oxygen and carbon dioxide. In the natural working order of the earth animals play a huge roll by keeping the plant growth in check by harvesting the resources. A hydrogen or atomic bomb would disturb the natural order because it would be instantaneous, not allowing the earth to adjust itself. Animals would go blind and die of sickness, main components of the food chain dead, destroying the rest of the chain. For humans, we would have no food to eat, and we would eventually die from radiation or other causes. Food grown in Bikini Atoll is still harmful to eat, and the hydrogen bomb was detonated fifty years ago. We definitely cannot survive fifty years without food. All of these components led me to the terrifying thought of "True Extinction". This is when all humans are gone and the ability for the earth to maintain itself is destroyed. No human would be alive to have the memory of what was, most of the things that defined us as a race would be destroyed and no one left to explain it's significance. It would be as if we never existed and the story of humanity would end, never to be told.
Schell, Jonathan The Fate of the Earth. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_2781000/2781419.stm
