The Doomsday Clock that (arbitrarily) illustrates how close humanity is to an apocalypse remains stuck at three minutes to midnight. The clock was invented as way to point the precarious nature of the Cold War’s Mutually Assured Destruction. With more than enough nuclear weapons in the hands of the two superpowers (US and USSR/CCCP), an Armageddon had never been closer. Now that the Cold War is over, the threat should be diminished, but more than enough weapons remain, too many of them aren’t protected properly, and too many countries have them. The original scope has expanded to reflect the danger from climate change. Improvements in Iran are offset by instabilities elsewhere. Improvements in the Paris Accord are academic so far. The clock is arbitrary, yet it continues to represent the subjective judgment that we have to be careful, vigilant, and not complacent.
(Click on the photo for the link.)
The Doomsday Clock is an important reminder that we have the capacity to wreck things for ourselves – quickly or slowly. We need to change our behaviours, as a species, but I can’t see that happening in a hurry. Or ever.
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Good points
What do you think about the possibility of an environmental crisis?
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The less we use, the lower the level of any crisis. The more we use, the more likely we’ll be in a crisis. Unfortunately, previous articles suggested that the sustainable level was back when there were less than two billion people on the planet.
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Yeah… :(. I started my site with the thought that we might not be able to stop an environmental crisis. If you’d like to check it out, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I started it not too long ago, so there isn’t much (yet), but your opinions would be welcomed 🙂
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