The Yellowstone Volcano is About to Erupt …… NOT!

Recently several postings were circulating on the internet regarding an impending eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano. Sheri was contacted on Facebook by concerned friends from as far away as Florida. Indicators cited as predictors of this cataclysm was the recent 4.8 earthquake in the park and a video that showed bison fleeing Yellowstone to avoid the impending devastation.

While the earthquake was stronger than recent quakes, it was one of thousands that occur in Yellowstone area every year.  The University of Utah has an extensive web of seismic monitoring stations throughout the park.  If volcanic activity was building to an eruption, indicators would be noted and reported immediately.

Regarding the fleeing bison herds, the video cited was filmed by Leo Leckie, a sales associate of the nonprofit Yellowstone Assn., an educational partner of Yellowstone National Park. It was taken on March 14, 2014 and shows a herd of bison running into the park from Mammoth Hot Springs after the snows receded, according to Mr. Leckie.

I am not sure why the need to interpret the normal activities of nature as indicators of calamity. There is always fascination with the cataclysmic. Some feel compelled to congregate on a remote hill waiting for Armageddon. Others decry the eating of meat or the use of fossil fuels in the need to reduce global warming. There is recognition in the foretelling a calamity.  The larger the calamity, the more attention and money is available. With the passage of time, one group is left on a hill top and the other is stuck with solar panels, wind turbines, clown cars and soy burgers. The earth continues on its own path. The prophets of doom may proclaim that their calendars were off, but their crusade is too important to abandon.

Those who find the need to obsess over such calamities should attend a showing of the movie “Noah” and leave the rest of us alone. We are too busy living to get sidetracked with delusions!