In 1980 when Mt. Saint Helen's blew its top, the eruption created large lahars, that is a volcanic mud flow, that swept away houses and destroyed a lumber mill. We were lucky though, because the valleys that were washed away were sparsely populated. Mt. Saint Helen's big brother Mount Rainier poses a much larger threat. A similar sized eruption or even an eruption of a slightly smaller scale could be a thousand times more deadly for two key reasons. First there is so much more snow and ice on Rainier. Rainier has a giant glacial base and is a much larger mountain. So with so much more rock and snow to work with the lahars could be so much bigger. The other reason is that many more people live in the path of the possible lahars than lived in the path of the lahars that Saint Helen's produced. There is a town of over 4,500 hundred people that would almost certainly be wiped out if Rainier experienced a large lahar. Even worse than that, the good sized city of Tacoma could have large swaths wiped out by this threat. There are millions of others who would be effected by a large scale eruption of this volcano. If Rainier goes off, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 30,000 people could lose their lives.
But there are volcanoes that pose much greater threats than Rainier with effects far more deadly than mere lahars. In 1783 the Icelandic volcano Loki erupted. It wasn't a very explosive eruption, and at first would have not seemed very deadly, but looks can be deceiving, and in this case they were. Massive amounts of poison gases were released and anyone who had asthma or other breathing problems was at risk. The poison cloud spread 600 miles away and killed more than 30,000 susceptible Britons who at the time had no idea what was causing this fog of death. Today we know it was indeed a volcano. We find evidence that these kinds of eruptions have a long history in Iceland and this eruption wasn't even the largest one. These kinds of eruptions can last for months and sometimes even years. Now we would see even higher fatalities due to the our much higher population and the large number of old people who have breathing problems today. If an eruption of a similar scale were to happen today we could see from 60,000 to 100,000 deaths. Certainly Loki provides the highest threat that volcanos provide to human life, right? Wrong.
Volcanic Islands provide a far greater danger than simple poison gas. You might be wondering what real danger a volcanic island could pose. After all, it is isolated by geography right? If only life were that simple. Alas, it isn't. Large chunks can collapse and fall into the oceans creating mega tsunamis, waves the likes of which we have not seen in recorded history. There are volcanic islands off the coast of Africa that could partially collapse and send a wave from 1000, to 1500 feet tall hitting the east coast of North America wiping out major coastal cities like Boston, New York, and Miami. The death toll could be as high as 30,000 to 50,000 million people. Certainly, that is as high as any volcanic death toll could get right? Oh, how I wish that were the case.
Deep underneath one of the USA's most popular tourist destinations lies one of the largest and most ominous volcanoes in world history. If you have ever visited Yellowstone Park you might say, "I don't remember seeing any volcano." It is so big that it can't be contained by a single mountain. The fact is, you drove through the middle of the volcano and didn't even realize it. The caldera is so big you could put the entire city of Los Angeles inside it. On average it erupts every 640,000 years and it could erupt again at any time. If it erupts again on the same scale as its largest eruption, the results would be beyond cataclysmic. First, everything with in 100 miles would be completely gone, wiped out, no longer exist. This includes parts of Idaho, Utah, Montana and huge portion of Wyoming. Life would stand still in most of the remaining western United States. Travel would be impossible, and major cities like Salt Lake City and Denver would be buried in ash. Buildings would collapse, emergency services would be crippled, and anarchy would rule as violence and disease killed people by the thousands, but the real evil would not have even started to rear its ugly head as of yet. What we will not be able to see are the tiny particles of fine ash and the dangerous gasses that would be hurtled into the stratosphere and eventually surround the entire earth, suffocating it like a blanket of death. It would block out the much of the sun's light and just as importantly, its heat. The world would be thrust into a volcanic winter like we haven't seen for 75,000 years. As our growing seasons disappeared, we would see an increase of wars and violence. Soon civilization would collapse and chaos would reign. If this were to happen we could see between 2-4 billion deaths. Yes, that is billion with a 'B.'
So as we can see the danger is massive, and it needs to be addressed. I am about propose something that may appear both radical and impossible. Although it is certainly radical it is not impossible, and it is necessary. I propose that we ban volcanoes. You might be wondering what that means or how we can possibly pull off such a feat. Well, up until a couple of years ago this feat would have been impossible, but now it is within reach and should be pursued.
Researchers at Spock Industries think they have something that could change the world. The are experimenting with a new product called Spiratectic foam. It is a strange and fantastic substance that is hard to explain, but essentially is similar to a cement that is as cold as dry ice. If you put enough of this substance into a volcanic vent you would solidify the lava, making any volcano treated in this fashion extinct, thus ending the threat of volcanoes forever.
Some might say, would you create more problems than you solve? Yes, it is possible that if the earth had no way to relieve the intense pressure that builds up inside it, that the entire planet could rip itself into pieces, but the scientists from the Pacific Institute of Seismology and Volcanology in Coos bay, Oregon think they may have an answer. They think they could build eight artificial vents strategically placed around the world. They could monitor the pressures and stresses of the earth and release the pressure through these eight vents in such away as to alleviate the stress in a harmless way that will hurt no one. This would reduce the chance of the Earth breaking up into pieces to less than 1% of 1%. I think we all can agree that that is an acceptable risk when weighed against the billions of lives that this will save.
There is another important side benefit to this plan. If we relieve the pressure as described earlier we should also be able to decrease Earthquakes by approximately 91%. That will save thousands of more lives as well. Although some may say that the 900 billion dollar project is too expensive, I say it is worth it in lives saved alone. Further, the amount of money we will save by not having to rebuild countless cities more than makes up for any expense that we will have to cover.
So what we need to do is band together. Let our voices be heard on social media. We must ban volcanoes. The risk is just too great, and the solution is at hand. Let's band together. We must all petition the leaders of our government both on the national and local levels. If we work hard enough we can do this. let's get the #banvolcanoes out there. Let's make this an actual thing. I know we can do this, and we must do this.
Let me know about any ideas you have than can further this cause. We must do something or billions will someday die. Earth day is coming soon so let's do something that will really benefit the Earth.