October 7-9, 2011 -- UPDATE. 2012 pole shift? Count on it, say government scientists

Although Mayan, Chinese, and Egyptian prognostications about a major global cataclysm occurring on December 21, 2012, have been relegated by many in the corporate media to the realm of science fiction and "junk science," a group of scientists from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy are not so dismissive. In fact, at a conference held at the U.S. Capitol Visitor's Center on October 6, scientists not only proclaimed that the Earth is due for a major magnetic pole shift and solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) next year but stated that the nation's power grid and other critical infrastructures, including nuclear power plants, are woefully unprepared to deal with the effects of the impending global disaster. There is a real fear that the United States could be dealing with "thirty Fukushimas," a reference to the nuclear catastrophe following this year's Japanese quake and tsunami.

At the one-day Conference on Severe Space Weather Threats to the National Electric Grid, sponsored by the Energy & Environmental Security Policy Program at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University (NDU), the intelligence and military contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the Congressional EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) Caucus, and the InfraGard National Members Alliance, scientists and emergency planners called for government action on shoring up the nation's defenses.

In what is called a "solar max," meaning an increase in CMEs that will disrupt the earth's electrical grids, nuclear power plant support systems, and communication systems, government scientists and emergency planners agree that the federal government has done little to plan for such catastrophic events. Solar max, coupled with increased earthquake, volcanic, and severe weather activity, will stretch the already-depleted resources of federal, state, and local governments to the breaking point. Emergency planners stressed that families and individuals must make preparations for their own safety and recovery from the global bedlam that will result from the significant terrestrial and solar changes.

Scientists confirmed that the increase in the frequency and intensity and the more shallow depths of earthquakes over the last decade is linked to the solar max and magnetic pole shift activity. There is still some disagreement among scientists about the effect of solar max and magnetic pole shift on earth's geographical pole stability.

Some countries are already planning for worst-case scenarios. Twenty-three Indian Ocean countries are participating next week in the first ever drill of the Indian Ocean tsunami alert system, dubbed IOWAVE 11. The drill will plan for a 9.2 earthquake off the northwest coast of Sumatra, similar to the quake which struck the same area on December 26, 2004. The countries in the Indian Ocean region will plan for a destructive tsunami that will swamp the coastlines of littoral and island nations and strike the South African coast 12 hours after the quake. The Indian Ocean alert system was funded by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The critical drill comes at a time when pro-Israel members of the U.S. Congress are threatening a cut-off of U.S. financial contributions to UNESCO because of the recent decision by the body's executive committee to recommend the admission of Palestine as a full member state.