For example, the first atomic bomb detonation in 1945, known as the Trinity Test, took place in New Mexico and immediately poisoned nearby communities. While the Doomsday Clock forces us to reckon with our actions as a global community to prevent “doomsday,” the reality is that for billions of people around the world, doomsday is not a future threat but a current reality.Įlsewhere, largely Black, Indigenous, and poor communities have survived doomsday for decades as the United States and other nuclear weapons states poison their land, water, and bodies with radiation exposure in their quest for global hegemony. Moreover, fear of Russia’s potential to unleash its nuclear arsenal on Ukraine, especially amongst Ukrainians and Europeans, has increased greatly due to Putin’s repeated not-so-thinly-veiled nuclear threats. Since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world has witnessed yet another country and its citizens torn apart in a senseless war for unchecked power. While the Doomsday Clock forces us to reckon with our actions as a global community to prevent “doomsday,” the reality is that for billions of people around the world, doomsday is not a future threat but a current reality that threatens to devolve further. What exactly does 90 seconds to midnight look like? How do these harms manifest around the world? And ultimately, what can we do to turn back the clock and safeguard our mutual future? With these threats being so numerous and existential, they can be challenging to conceptualize on an individual and community level. And 2022 has only seen a further deterioration of our collective security. Since 2020, simultaneous issues around public health, the climate crisis, authoritarianism, disinformation, and continued nuclear modernization have kept the clock at 100 seconds to midnight. Conversely, when humans make progress in reducing risk, like through arms control agreements, the clock is moved backward. Originally created to raise awareness about the risks of nuclear weapons, the clock now represents humanity’s fragile insecurity with climate change and unrestrained scientific advancements in bioterrorism and artificial intelligence.Īs the risks of man-made disaster increase, the clock moves closer to midnight. Today, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced the new timing of its Doomsday Clock, declaring humanity closer to global destruction than ever before - only 90 seconds from midnight.įounded in 1947 in the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings by the United States, the clock has served as a yearly metaphor for how close humankind is to a worldwide devastation of its own making.
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