Nuclear Weapons, Warfare, Climate Threats: Doomsday Clock Stays at 90 Seconds to Midnight
The annual Doomsday Clock report by atomic scientists has once again set the clock at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has been to the end of the world since its inception in 1947. This reflects the possibility of nuclear escalation due to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the multiple impacts of the climate crisis on human survival after the Earth set a record high temperature last year.
Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, told Reuters: “Conflict hotspots around the world pose a nuclear escalation threat. The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war and the Israel-Gaza war that broke out on October 7 last year further illustrate the horror of modern warfare. Even if there is no nuclear escalation, nuclear-armed countries have not abolished nuclear weapons but upgraded their arsenals.”
Bronson also mentioned that climate change has brought death and destruction, and that humans’ unwillingness to give up fossil fuels has led to record-breaking temperatures, causing severe climate disasters such as floods and fires, threatening the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. Disruptive technologies such as AI and biology research are also developing faster than protective measures.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by scientists who participated in the development of the world’s first nuclear weapons under the Manhattan Project, including Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. The Doomsday Clock was launched in 1947 and symbolizes the world’s vulnerability to disasters. The clock was initially set at seven minutes to midnight. After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the clock was 17 minutes away from midnight, the farthest point from destruction ever.
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