"The ice there is melting, and the sea level is growing by two to three mm per year due to global warming," he warns, citing research statistics on the potentially lethal phenomenon of rising sea levels.
Zhao has been to the Arctic 11 times, joining the China Arctic Research Expedition. "When we visited in 2010, the once-solid sea ice there cracked, and the fog blinded our plane to fly," he remembers.
"Doomsday will come some day, but the date will by no means be Dec. 21 as the Mayans predicted," believes Zhao. Human beings should learn to live with nature in a harmonious way, instead of ransacking it for the sake of short-term economic benefits, he nevertheless urges. "Or I'm afraid the Mayan prediction might come true."
Ling Chen sees the prediction as provoking people to think hard on how to live their life to the fullest and what it means to help others.
The sci-fi writer's bold imagination allows her to believe that, even at the end of days, human civilization will never be killed off.
"By that time, humans will have found new ways to exist, such as planet migration based on clone and hibernation technology, digitalizing human thoughts, or transforming human wisdom into a special form of wave," she says.
Bone-chilling cold, but lots of fun!
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