Call me pessimistic but I do believe that something is going to happen in 2012 and I do believe it will significantly alter the evolution of humanity. This could be in the form of an ELE but is probably something else. I hope for disclosure and public first contact because I believe we're ready for it, and that it is absolutely necessary for our race to finally wake the hell up.
That said, we all have to accept that Earth is dying. It is common fact that one day, she'll either explode or implode. Long before that though, we're going to have to move on into the stars. Humanity is growing too quickly and I highly doubt that our natural resources are going to sustain us as a race much longer. We need to explore the galaxy and find new stars to call home.
{On a side note, I intend to hijack the first Starship we build if it has some sort of star-drive, hyper-drive, jump-drive, warp-drive, or any variation thereof. I'll either succeed or die trying. I've already got a 30-person assault team [friends can be useful he-he]. By the way, attached is a pretty cool 3D picture of what a star-ship may look like.}