SET CLOCK TO NUCLEAR TIME CLOCK FREE

SET CLOCK TO NUCLEAR TIME CLOCK FREE

We want to live our lives free from destruction by nuclear weapons and from the growing scarcity of natural resources brought about by a warming planet. Nuclear weapons and climate change may seem to be outside our daily experience and beyond our control, but we all have a stake in avoiding untimely death. At the end of the day, trying to answer the question is like standing around in a burning house arguing about whether it is better to die of smoke inhalation or from a falling timber.įirst, get smart about the problems. And in fact, the international cooperation required to reduce and prohibit nuclear weapons would likely also lead to cooperation to save us from deadly climate disruption. We can’t afford to address one threat without addressing the other. Likewise, if we don’t reduce emissions, some natural resources, like fresh water, could become more scarce, leading to conflicts that might spiral into war and the possible use of nuclear weapons. They are also intertwined: Some advocate for more nuclear power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but increasing the number of nuclear reactors, and the amount of enriched uranium and plutonium required for their operation, would also increase the risk of spreading nuclear weapons. But we need concerted cooperation worldwide to prevent calamity.Įach of these threats has the potential to destroy civilization and render the Earth largely uninhabitable by human beings. Humans invented both nuclear weapons and the fossil-fuel powered machines that contribute to climate change we know how they work, so presumably we can find ways to reduce or eliminate the harm.

Likewise, as long as Earth’s climate continues to change, we are at risk of suffering the potential consequences, in particular disruptions in the environment-such as extended droughts, changes in growing seasons, sea level rise, and fisheries die-offs-that threaten human survival. Preventing nuclear war requires continued diplomacy, more exchanges of information, and open communications that engender trust. Such a calamity has not occurred because national leaders have so far heeded warnings, and because at critical times in the past 73 years, they have set up communication channels with adversaries, negotiated treaties to control the weapons, taken steps to radically reduce arsenals, and engaged erstwhile enemies in cooperative projects. Then we come to a judgment that sums up what could happen if leaders and citizens don’t take action to treat the conditions.Īs long as nuclear weapons exist and can be used, the risk that we could destroy civilization also exists. We consider as many symptoms, measurements, and circumstances as we can. We look at data, as physicians look at lab tests and x-rays, and also take harder-to-quantify factors into account, as physicians do when talking with patients and family members.

The Bulletin is a bit like a doctor making a diagnosis. The board also takes account of leaders’ and citizens’ efforts to reduce dangers, and efforts by institutions-whether of governments, markets, or civil society organizations-to follow through on negotiated agreements. Our Science and Security Board tracks numbers and statistics-looking, for example, at the number and kinds of nuclear weapons in the world, the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the degree of acidity in our oceans, and the rate of sea level rise. Rather, we study events that have already occurred and existing trends. The Doomsday Clock is not a forecasting tool, and we are not predicting the future.

Set clock to nuclear time clock