Whitley Strieber, bestselling author of Communion and The Secret School, joins Art Bell for a sweeping discussion of two existential threats converging on humanity: asteroid impacts and the accelerating collapse of Antarctic ice. Strieber details how near-Earth objects have gone from a non-threat in 1992 to a weekly concern, citing the 1996 passage of asteroid JA-1, an object large enough to end civilization, discovered only four days before it narrowly missed Earth.
The conversation shifts to the Larson Ice Shelf, which leading glaciologists predict will completely disintegrate within two years. Strieber explains how the resulting freshwater dilution of the Antarctic Ocean could alter the Gulf Stream and transform northern Europe's climate into something resembling Greenland within decades. He connects this to a mysterious catastrophic event 12,000 years ago that flash-froze mammoths with food still in their mouths, suggesting Earth may be approaching a similar inflection point.
Art and Whitley engage in a memorable thought experiment about how humanity would behave given advance warning of a planet-killing asteroid, from credit card companies to Las Vegas casinos. The discussion weaves together ancient prophecy, the Fatima letter, population pressures, and the possibility that the zodiac itself may be a calendar warning of cyclical catastrophe.
