2012: The end or the beginning?

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AH yes, we have finally stepped into a new year. It is 2012 – a year that some believe will be the end of us all, tying in with the idea that the Mayan calendar ended yesterday.

The fact is the ancient Mayans never specifically said that the world would end in 2012. It’s just that their calendar happened to end at that point. Period.

After all, other doomsayers have time and time again predicted the end of the world and here we are, still standing, still alive and kicking.

Remember Harold Camping adamantly claiming that we should have all met our maker last year – what happened to him anyway?

Others have interpreted that this year could mark the beginning of the end – that some sort of significant global catastrophe could take place in the form of natural disasters, because mankind has not been kind to mother earth.

The effects of global warming and climate change have been hot (no pun intended) issues for researchers and environmentalists. So, here you have the advocates of the earth’s health sounding warning bells about disasters that could take place because of mankind fs abuse towards the planet.

Then, there are the other researchers who gaze beyond the atmosphere, who are worried about planetary collisions, black holes and even an increase in the universe’s solar flare activity, which could potentially fry us all to a crisp.

On the other hand, a more positive breed of scientists, researchers and inventors are still intent on improving lives, making things easier, and coming up with alternative products that would not take a toll on our earth’s resources.

This year may see the beginning of sugary sweet tires running on our vehicles. Two of the world’s leading tire makers have already partnered with biotechnology companies to produce bio-based rubbers from sugar.

Inventors of the hydrogen car are currently on the Hydrogen Road Tour, promoting cars that run on the gas, as an alternative to fuel (which the world will eventually run low on).

Scientists around the world are also carrying out improvements on DNA research in hopes of soon identifying cures for all diseases. The Eye would really like to hear of a cure for cancer and the common cold in 2012.

Then there are overly-creative people who have actually put on paper, some really offbeat proposals and predictions for inventions.

The Eye is sure that everyone would welcome an exercise machine that allows you to exercise while you sleep.

Since many of us are so caught up with work and are very bad at committing to exercise time, a device to help us exercise (muscle toning and cardio included), while not compromising on the quality of our sleep would be the coolest thing ever to be invented, besides the Internet.

Or how about a car that we could drive on all sorts of terrain and underwater? Wouldn’t that make travel much easier between continents?

Here fs one invention the Eye would really like to see happen in 2012 – a backpack that carries you instead of you carrying it (this justifies the need for that sleep-exercise contraption even more)!

So, 2012 – is this really the beginning of the end? Or is the beginning of better things to come? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, the best that we can do to make it the beginning of better things to come is to remember to be grateful for the little things in life, respect the planet that we call our home and make an effort to treat it a little better.

Happy New Year!