Today, there really isn’t much in the way of cooperation and dialogue in the case of nuclear weapons. So it’s not unheard of for leaders to take substantial action and turn this around. Alas, three years after that, we saw the end of the Cold War. At that point, it really looked as though we could precipitate a nuclear exchange. talked about the Soviet Union like they were an evil empire. In 1984, there was talk of increasing our nuclear weapons, which means the Soviets would need to keep up and produce more. What makes the year 2015 this historic? Are times truly as dire as they were then? and Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another. It’s only been closer to midnight in 1953, when it was two minutes to midnight, after the U.S. and former Soviet Union were head-to-head in a Cold War arms race. The Doomsday Clock hasn’t been this close to midnight since 1984, when the U.S. Hover over the bullets to learn more about why the clock was reset.

It was initially set at 23:53 it was recently reset to 23:57. Red bullets represent years when the clock was moved closer to midnight, and blue bullets represent years when the clock was moved back. The closer the Doomsday Clock is set to midnight (24:00), the closer the world is to possible global catastrophe. View a graphic of the clock's movement throughout the years. These can sometimes turn into long discussions! We’ll keep discussing until we reach a consensus. We go around the room and decide if we should move the clock and, if so, by how much. Everyone on the board talks about what they see as the latest trends and what worries or concerns them. We do devote one meeting to whether we’ll move the clock or not. Our board talks about the state of the world at each of its two annual meetings. We’re trying to tell people that we need to take action because all of the signs suggest we’re heading in the wrong direction.ĭescribe the process of how the Bulletin decides whether, and by how much, to move the Doomsday Clock. There’s nothing we can do about that now, but there are things we can change. That may not be tomorrow, but in the next 50 years we’ll see ocean levels rise 3 feet. The catastrophes may not be imminent, but unless we do things, like stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and tackle climate change head-on, we’ll face global catastrophe. What we’re trying to do with the clock is warn people. Do you earnestly think that a “global catastrophe” is imminent? It could be argued that the Doomsday Clock is a scare tactic used to bring attention to important issues. population is just a small minority of people who may not “get it,” although I think the younger people generally do “get it.” We’re seeing more intense storms because of climate change. The monsoon season has been affected, which is the basis for agriculture production in countries like India and China. Island nations are being swept up and looking for asylum because the sea levels are rising. It’s important to recognize that most people around the world are experiencing climate change.

People often follow what leaders tell them and I think that may be the case here. Scientists have been looking at that for years. They may not agree that humans are causing it, but they agree that it’s happening. Senate that shows that most senators do in fact believe that climate change is upon us. In fact, there’s a trend of Americans caring less about climate change as the years progress. and China formed a joint agreement, but it’s still unclear whether we’ll have cooperative coordination going forward.Ī Gallup Poll taken last year suggests that most Americans don’t consider global warming a national concern. The Climate Change Conference in Peru last December was very contentious.

On the climate change front, we’ve seen lots of good talk, but not enough action. It’s been deteriorating over the past two years, even before the situation in Ukraine. The distressing news now relates to the current relationship between the U.S. and Russia have been dismantling their nuclear weapon supplies. That is the $64 million question, isn’t it? We’ve had numerous agreements regarding nuclear weapons, like the Non-Proliferation Treaty, for many years since the Cold War. How do we attain global support on these matters? The issues of global warming and nuclear weapon proliferation are ones that require cooperation among numerous states. The other is the continuing reliance on nuclear weapons for security, including the modernization of existing weapons. One is the acceleration of climate change without any action from leaders around the world. Why has the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists decided to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock three minutes to midnight?

3 minutes to midnight doomsday clock