The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists have taken the sobering step of moving their Doomsday Clock from 11:55 up to 11:57 the closest we've been to to global catastrophe since 1987 and the bad old days of Reagan's unrestrained arms race with the Soviet Union. Two reasons were cited by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists "catastrophic warming' and the US and Russia's programs to "modernize" their nuclear weapons arsenals.
The Bulletin
"Unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth.” Despite some modestly positive developments in the climate change arena, current efforts are entirely insufficient to prevent a catastrophic warming of Earth. Meanwhile, the United States and Russia have embarked on massive programs to modernize their nuclear triads—thereby undermining existing nuclear weapons treaties. "The clock ticks now at just three minutes to midnight because international leaders are failing to perform their most important duty—ensuring and preserving the health and vitality of human civilization."
Another unmistakable sign our leaders need to start addressing these threats to our common survival with the urgency and gravity they deserve. A poll at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website shows that 68% of respondents think the clock should be even closer to midnight (shudder).
When Shell executives hire consultants to tell them how to deal with 4 degrees of temperature increase, and the Obama Administration tells Shell to go ahead and drill offshore in the arctic, our political and economic leaders continue to dismiss the long term consequences of their actions.
NTSB Faults Shell's Risk-Taking in Arctic Oil Rig Wreck
