# This is the way the world ends (but not with zombies, disease, war, or weather) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079 "2016-06-11T02:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079/21 "2016-06-11T21:01:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I heard about a story that was about a disease that killed all the grass in the world. Keep in mind that wheat, rice, corn, and many other grains are forms of grass. John Christopher’s “No Blade of Grass”. Great book, so-so movie. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079/22 "2016-06-12T15:54:54Z")
There’s a fascinating YA book called _Life As We Knew It_ where the meteor doesn’t hit Earth; it hits the moon. The moon is knocked out of orbit and moves much closer to the Earth. The story centers on a girl in New England but there is discussion about what that new orbit does to the climate and tides. The whole world doesn’t fall completely apart, but it makes it very hard to live in for awhile. It’s a trilogy, but I haven’t read the second and third books. ---
**Author:** ![ch51](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ch51/32/3111_2.png) [@ch51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ch51)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079/23 "2016-06-12T17:04:00Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Frank Herbert’s White Plague was an interesting take on a major world change, tho not outright apocalypse. This is the first one that came to mind for me. Not so much dystopian as “how we got there”. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079/24 "2016-06-12T17:22:45Z")
Both the novel _Pontypool Changes Everything_ and the movie _Pontypool_ feature an original take on a ‘zombie apocalypse’-type scenario: It’s a virus, but a memetic virus, transferred via certain speech patterns that then take root in the listener’s mind, causing them to go mad and try to kill themselves and others. The comic _Y: The Last Man_ features a scenario in which men suddenly go extinct. Similar to that in theme is the novel _Yin_; however, the latter is far inferior in execution, and mostly posits that everything would break down without men to repair stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079/25 "2016-06-12T18:17:46Z")
In the movie, [“Real Men”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093828/reference), Jim Belushi and John Ritter fight their way to a meet-up with aliens, who will provide them with the “good package”, allowing them to reverse the death of all the ocean’s plankton, thus preventing the end of all life on the planet within three years. They’re fighting against another group of gov’t agents who want to get the “big gun” from the aliens instead - as they’re a little short-sighted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-but-not-with-zombies-disease-war-or-weather/757079.md?page=1)