The world is one minute closer to nuclear doom

In Washington, D.C., the nuclear watchdogs at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reset the hands of the symbolic Doomsday Clock on Tuesday from six minutes before midnight to five minutes before midnight. The Bulletin, which is self-tasked with keeping the public cognizant of the world’s nuclear peril, as well as other global threats such as climate change, reset of the atomic clock in response to what it see as the world’s peril. “It is now five minutes to midnight,” said Allison Macfarlan, a senior scientists at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 as a symbolic barometer of how close the world teeters at its apocalyptic end. Last year, the scientists at the Bulletin eased the clock a minute further from midnight, in response to its sense of increased nuclear cooperation between the world’s traditional nuclear states – the United States, Russia, France, China, and the United Kingdom. But the decision on Tuesday moves the clock to a position it has not held since 2007. “Faced today with the clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation, climate change and the continued challenge to find new and sustainable and safe sources of energy business as usual reigns the norm among world leaders,” said Lawrence Krauss, a co-chairman of the group. The Bulletin cited increasing nuclear tensions on the Asian subcontinent and the refusal of some nations to engage in global action on climate change as key reasons for the latest tick on the clock. The group said the nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant also highlighted the volatility of relying on nuclear power in areas prone to natural disasters. Robert Socolow, a member of the Bulletin’s science and security board, said a common theme emerged in the scientists’ deliberations on whether to move the clock. “The world is in a pickle,” he said. “More people want to live better than they live now on a planet of finite size.” The group added it was heartened by a series of world protest movements, including the Arab spring, the Occupy demonstrations in the United States and protests in Russia, which, they said, demonstrate that many people are demanding a greater say in their world’s future.