By Reuters via
NBC News
Atomic scientists on Tuesday placed their Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before, citing Russia's nuclear weapons actions, its invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and worsening climate change as factors. that drive the risk of a global catastrophe.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, like last year, set the clock at just 90 seconds to midnight, the theoretical point of an apocalypse.
Scientists set the hands of the clock based on the “existential” risks for the Earth and its inhabitants: the nuclear threat, climate change and disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight.Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
“Conflict hotspots around the world threaten nuclear escalation, climate change is already causing death and destruction, and disruptive technologies like AI and biological research are advancing faster than their safeguards,” Rachel Bronson told Reuters. president and CEO of the newsletter.
He added that keeping the clock unchanged from the previous year “is not an indication that the world is stable.”
A symbolic indicator of how the world is
The Chicago-based nonprofit created the clock in 1947 to warn the public of how close humanity is to destroying the world.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which will mark its second anniversary next month, has raised tensions with the West to their most dangerous levels since the Cold War.
“An end to Russia's war in Ukraine appears distant, and the use of nuclear weapons in that conflict remains a serious possibility.
“Over the last year, Russia has sent numerous worrying signals in that regard,” Bronson said.
Bronson cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend his country's participation in the New START treaty with the United States in February 2023, which seeks to limit the strategic nuclear arsenals of both nations.
Between the two of them, they possess almost 90% of the world's nuclear warheads,
enough to destroy the planet several times over.
Bronson also referred to Putin's announcement in March 2023 of the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and Russia's withdrawal from nuclear weapons treaties.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since the Gaza-based Palestinian group launched attacks in the south of its territory in October 2023 that, according to Israeli authorities, killed about 1,200 people.
In response, Israel's military strikes have killed more than 25,000 in the enclave, according to Gaza health authorities.
“As a state with nuclear potential, Israel's actions are clearly relevant to the Doomsday Clock.
Of particular concern is that the conflict will spread to the region, creating a larger conventional war and attracting more nuclear or semi-nuclear powers,” Bronson said.
When the clock was created, the greatest danger came from nuclear weapons.
Climate change was considered a risk factor for the first time in 2007.
“In 2023, the world entered uncharted territory as it experienced the hottest year on record and global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise,” Bronson explained.
“Both global and North Atlantic sea surface temperatures broke records and Antarctic ice
reached its lowest daily extent
since the arrival of satellite data,” he said.
According to Bronson, last year was also a record for clean energy, with $1.7 trillion in new investments.
However, this was offset by those made in fossil fuels of almost 1 trillion.
“This illustrates that, although promising, current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to avoid the dangerous human and economic impacts of climate change, which
disproportionately affect the world's poorest people
,” Bronson added.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by scientists such as Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
It changes the hands of the clock annually, based on advice from experts in nuclear technology and climate science.
The watch was first introduced during the Cold War tensions following World War II.