There are a number of things that people think do not change. We believe that the sun is always going to be more or less the same colour, that the temperature of the Earth will, within some limits, always be the same and that the sun will shine in a regular fashion.

We cannot believe that there will ever come a time when the sun will stop shinning because we know that disaster will follow such an occurrence. In fact, we fear that such a thing would happen and are grateful that it will not happen as far as we know. But, in fact, there have been a number of occasions when it would change rather drastically.

In 539 AD or 540 AD, there was a gigantic volcanic eruption which helped trigger one of the world’s worst periods of global cooling for more than 2 000 years. Further, somewhere around the 1800s (specifically, in 1815, the world as we knew it was almost devoid of the sun). In 1883, the eruption of Krakatoa, in Indonesia, led to the Earth more or less having no daylight. This lasted from May 20, 1883, and peaked on August 27, 1883.

These various eruptions are all some distance away, but not as far as one would think. The eruption of Krakatoa is merely 139 years ago, which hardly makes any difference if you are a 138-year-old, for example, but still it is well within 100 to 150 years, which we might regard as being a potential feature of a race which is more developed than we are. Something we should be more concerned about is that the time of the most recent eruption is slightly overdue. Another thing to worry about or, if not worry about, is to consider that the result of a Krakatoa-type event is going to be a great deal more widespread than the event was in 1883.

We can consider that the 1883 event leads to destruction and disruption. Certainly, large groups of people will refer to it for a number of years as the year of great disturbance throughout the Earth. A Krakatoa-like event occurring more recently will be far more widespread and have a far greater result in people’s perception of what has actually occurred, compared with any other event. One can hardly think of what will be said and thought through the generations when faced with massively widespread events of modern days that are no longer predictable or understandable.

Possibly the way forward is to hope that it doesn’t happen; after all, the Krakatoa event did happen many years ago, and we can just hope that it doesn’t happen in our lifetime. But, in point of fact, there is no assurance that this will not happen; there is every assurance that another Krakatoa will happen and, if not Krakatoa, Mount Tambora or another large volcano. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that none of these events will occur and there is nothing to suggest that they will occur on this planet.

Very fortunately, it is quite possible that the world will, by some means, know of the events that are going to happen in advance. They will warn people of the coming events. Personally, if all this goes into a different planetary condition, a number of months, a number of people are going to panic. I will be one of them. If you want to join me, feel free; you will not be alone.