Have you ever wondered what would happen during a nuclear fallout? What if just 100 nuclear weapons were dropped from the sky? If that day ever comes, an estimated 14,535,000 people, about 2% of the world's population, would die from the explosions with no remains to bury or ashes to scatter; nothing remains of them except their "nuclear shadows" imprinted on the ground. Soon after the initial explosions, 10 billion pounds of soot would begin rising into the atmosphere reaching the stratosphere in about 50 days and blanketing the entire planet. If this were to happen, a nuclear winter would strike the Earth. Precipitation would not be able to reach the stratosphere making it impossible for the spot to wash away. The sediment would cause the ozone layer to deteriorate at an alarming rate; so much so that a person would only be able to be outside unprotected for 6 minutes without suffering severe sunburn. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Along with this, the earth's temperature would drop by about 1.25 degrees Celsius. While this doesn't seem very significant, a single volcano erupted in 1816 sending soot into the atmosphere causing the earth's temperature to drop by 0.5 degrees Celsius. However it was nicknamed “the year without winter” as crops died and livestock died along with 200,000 Europeans. If Earth's temperature dropped by 1.25 degrees Celsius, most crops and animals around the world would die, which in turn would cause global production of crops and livestock to cease. If this happened, the earth would only contain enough food to feed the entire population for two months, after which 1 billion people would starve; 13% of the population was simply wiped off the face of the earth. “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper” (TS Eliot, The Hollow Men). Ten years after the launch of nuclear weapons, when most of the population has died from cold, starvation or being killed by each other, winter will slowly begin to lighten. Soot will fall from the sky above and the temperature will begin to rise again; but at that point what would remain of humanity? You might say that the world ended the moment the first atomic bomb hit the earth. You could say that we have all lost hope. Or you could say that our position has not been destroyed. We are not in ruins, but in something longing to be built. Something waiting to start over again. From these ruins of a past civilization we can rise again and create something extraordinary. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The crumbling walls around us are not a representation of our past failures, but a reminder of the lessons we have learned. So let's continue. Not because we want it, but because we need it. One of the revelations of this new era of exploration is that the Earth is limited and lonely, hidden in our little corner of the universe. The earth as we know it is a single organism, and an organism at war with itself is damned.