Monday 26 January 2015

Three Minutes to Midnight

For the first time in three years the hands on the Doomsday Clock have shifted. They have been moved closer to midnight - just three minutes away. This was recently announced on the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website.

"In 2015, unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe". Some indictment!

The last time the clock was set this close to midnight was in 1983 when US-Soviet relations were glacial. What I find really worrying is the quantum of the movement decided upon by the Science and Securities Board - two full minutes. That suggests a view of the situational deterioration accelerating. The last change was a one minute move from six to five before midnight in 2012.

No comments:

Post a Comment