[Mars]

No seriously, I just need a plausible explanation for the slow (and incomplete as the population capacity wouldn't allow it) evacuation from Earth to Mars / space stations.

I'm not obsessed with the apocolypse, really.

[Dark RevenantX]

Something realistic/boring then?  OK, how bout this:

Tectonic forces eventually stop, the core eventually slows down, magnetic forces drop because of this, the sun gets hotter slowly but surely, the atmosphere dissipates, etc.  Basically, ecosystems collapse, the temperatures throughout the Earth reach unbelievable extremes, and the situation is guaranteed only to get worse as time goes on.

[Nuke]

id have to say me

[General Battuta]

Someone at the LHC accidentally made a black hole and dropped it into the earth.

It is gradually gaining mass.

[watsisname]

No seriously, I just need a plausible explanation for the slow (and incomplete as the population capacity wouldn't allow it) evacuation from Earth to Mars / space stations.

How about the oceans becoming anoxic (depeleted of oxygen) because of global warming and the currents shutting down?  That'd cause a major ecological disaster and would take place over a very long period of time.

[Colonol Dekker]

Global warming not good enough for ya?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well there are the real ones.  The sun starting to die off.  The Moon finally escaping Earth's Gravity.  Of course those won't happen for quite awhile. 

Here's a good one.  With all the technology people no longer need to leave their homes to interact.  Over the centuries this becomes the norm and eventually shifts the population growth from positive to negative.  Eventually everyone just dies of old age sitting in front of their computer (probably playing FS2_Open 57.3.5 with the HoloVPs) with no one born to replace them. 

[Colonol Dekker]

I saw that on an episode of sea quest once.

[Snail]

How about the oceans becoming anoxic (depeleted of oxygen) because of global warming and the currents shutting down?  That'd cause a major ecological disaster and would take place over a very long period of time.

This seems the most plausible one TBH.

[BloodEagle]

I saw that on an episode of sea quest once.

That was the one with the giant robots, right? 

[Rian]

Grey goo!

[Flipside]

Martians! In Tripods!

Moving very slowly...

[Solatar]

Simple depletion of resources? If you use all (or enough that you can't sustain a population) the natural resources Earth starts to become uninhabitable, making Mars look nice. Combine it with global warming or something.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

I saw that on an episode of sea quest once.

Yea it was on there but that's not the only show.  Can't think of the other ones right now.


Well this would probably be faster then a couple hundred years.  What about a Gamma ray burster at a distance that is far enough not to destroy the solar system but close enough to irradiate the Earth.  The population that wasn't wiped out in the first few weeks would probably dwindle and die out over time due to cancer, sterility, lack of palatable food and water. 

Scary how many things can wipe us out isn't it?

[Bob-san]

One World Dictator. 'Nuf said.

[DarthWang]

Gamma Ray burst would kill everything in the solar system

[Mars]

Slow.


 I think Bob-san might have a point

[Excalibur]

Well there are the real ones.  The sun starting to die off.  The Moon finally escaping Earth's Gravity.  Of course those won't happen for quite awhile. 

Here's a good one.  With all the technology people no longer need to leave their homes to interact.  Over the centuries this becomes the norm and eventually shifts the population growth from positive to negative.  Eventually everyone just dies of old age sitting in front of their computer (probably playing FS2_Open 57.3.5 with the HoloVPs) with no one born to replace them. 

A large asteroid crashes into the moon and sends it slowly back to where it may have come from. The tides increase, the plates move more and "make | -more- | earthquakes". Then the Earth and moon become metaballs, meaning Surge the sea-snake will be able to say "Mithter Dexthter, where are the air breatherrrssss?" i.e. humans will be forced to evacuate or - die - .

[Bob-san]

Slow.


 I think Bob-san might have a point

Perhaps it's not quite the catastrophe that you were initially thinking of, but having an exodus (forced or voluntary) from a Utopian society could be quite the plot device. You don't even have to make up details about this government that some people oppose: but you an do anything with it really. Basically if we're all living in a Utopia, why would anyone want to leave? Well, anyone that enjoys real rights and freedoms would want to. Anyone prosecuted. Possibly include a non-religious clause, in that anyone found practicing a religion are sentenced to death. Raise the stakes, include a rebellion with several factions or the core intelligence of this one world government as a faction, using the government's technology to evacuate hundreds of thousands of themselves. They leave the government slower and stupider, settle somewhere nice like Mars, and make due with whatever they can find.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Total extinction of all kinds of bees, as Einstein said. It's far worse than you could ever imagine.

(please note that I'm serious)

that one has lots of people worrying atm, because of the massive death of beehives over the last few years.