December 21, 2012, the Winter Solstice and also the day the world will supposedly come to an end according to interpretations of the Mayan Calendar which ends on that date.
There are several theories about how the world will end. The 2012 Madrigal dinner, which was set in the middle ages, brought to light several ways about how the world will end, although in the show they thought the world was ending then and there. Some of the theories were that the world will run out of air, the world would be destroyed by a meteor, destroyed by fire, the food supply would run out, the gods will destroy the earth and the rise of the undead.

Some of the Madrigal Dinner’s theories aren’t too far off from what the proposed theories are for how the world is going to end on 2012’s Winter Solstice, but these theories are based around the idea that the Mayan Calendar ends on that date and don’t have any evidence to support themselves with.

According to the NASA website’s 2012 FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) and answers to those questions; the Mayan Calendar, like the calendar in your own house, doesn’t end. Our calendars start again on January 1, and the Mayan Calendar starts again after the Winter Solstice.

Zombies are another common theory, but are also outlandish because it is impossible to reanimate dead tissue, restore brain waves, the nervous system and motor function of the entire body.

Also the theory that a meteor will destroy the planet is very unlikely and definitely will not happen anytime near 2012. According to NASA’s Near Earth Object Program, the only asteroid that will come close to the earth around 2012 is Asteroid DA14. This asteroid is actually scheduled to pass the Earth on February 15, 2013.

Several TV shows have spawned from the idea that the world is going to end. Shows like “Doomsday Preppers” are built around the different theories about how the world will end. However more of the reasons featured in those shows lead to a breakdown of society rather than the destruction of the planet and mass extinctions.

There are more realistic and believable theories that could happen, but not in the near or foreseeable future. Yellowstone National Park could turn into a super-volcano and erupt but it is not likely to happen anytime soon.

“Though another caldera forming eruption is theoretically possible, it is not likely to occur in the next thousand or even 10,000 years,” according to the National Park Service website’s Yellowstone volcano FAQs.

The sun is another way that Earth could cease to exist. Near the end of it’s life, it will grow to a size large enough to engulf the planet, but the sun isn’t close enough to the “Red Giant” phase of its life cycle. According to BBC’s article “Future Earth,” in about 7.5 billion years the planet is likely to be engulfed by the sun while it is in that state.

In reality, none of the ways Earth is supposedly going to come to an end don’t have enough evidence to make them valid theories, and the theories that do have evidence aren’t going to come into effect in time for the 2012 Winter Solstice.