Did you hear that the world ended on December 21?

Yup, it’s true. In case you were living in a cave and missed the apocalypse, it was “predicted” by the Mayan calendar, which ended on December 21, 2112.

The days leading up to the apocalypse reminded me of that scene from Ghostbusters in which Dan Aykroyd is told to “choose the form of the Destructor.” This time around, a lot of people apparently leaned toward a catpocalypse.

Others chose a combination of the more traditional methods of mass extinction (including the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, of course).

I especially loved the witty weather prognostications. This one called for meteors, followed by a chance of Godzilla.

It’s a scientific fact that we could well be done in by meteors, actually. (That’s probably how the dinosaurs bought it. Sorry, Godzilla.) We could also get toasted by a gamma ray burst, devoured by cannibal galaxies, invaded by aliens, pelted by comets, incinerated by supernovae, and obliterated by a host of other astronomical catastrophes.

But while we debate the meaning of some ancient calendar or gaze skyward, fearful of some future fiery death, we’re ignoring the very real and very present danger: climate change. And the true tragedy is that it’s the one apocalypse scenario we may actually be able to prevent.

As the year winds down, please join me in pledging to make at least one small change in your life to help save everyone else’s. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

25 tips from the U.S. government

Ideas from the Nature Conservancy

An action plan from the Union of Concerned Scientists

About the photos: All of the images in this post were obtained via Facebook, and are presented exactly as downloaded. All rights belong to the original authors.