'World catastrophe looms' in 2024 as Doomsday Clock moves closer to midnight
ALBANIA-CLIMATE-HEATWAVE-FIRE
A ‘clock’ run by scientists to indicate how close humanity is to catastrophe has edged ever closer to midnight – the closest it’s ever been, despite living through 1947 after the Manhattan Project led to the rapid development of nuclear bombs.
Those behind the Doomsday Clock say several factors have contributed to this decision – including geopolitical tensions like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the global man-made climate crisis, and weapons of mass destruction, reports the Mirror.
When the clock – run by Chicago-based non-profit organisation the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists – hits midnight, it will indicate the point at which Earth has become uninhabitable.
However, CEO Rachel Bronson points out that: “We never really want to get there and we won’t know it when we do”.
The Science and Security Board confirmed the world had entered “a time of unprecedented danger”. It also said a significant individual risk is the “exceedingly” dangerous nuclear situation arising from Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
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If the clock is to be believed then it is likely we will see many more dangerous events stemming from man-made climate change.
Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as powerful storms, hurricanes, extreme cold snaps and heatwaves – and is caused predominantly by the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of nature.
Hurricane Otis in Mexico, for example, caused close to a hundred deaths and possibly $17 billion of economic damage, in October, while unusually powerful rainfall burst dams and essentially flattened huge swathes of the Libyan city of Derna, causing about 11,000 deaths.
Extreme weather will also impact food production – there have been plenty of recent reports on critical olive oil shortages in Spain – where the UK buys from – thanks to a lack of rainfall.
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The clock’s original position when it was founded in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight, and during the height of the Cold War in 1953, it rose to just two minutes to midnight.
The hands jumped up and down during the rest of the crisis, and the clock was at its furthest from midnight in 1991 as the Cold War came to a close with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
At this stage, the clock was 17 minutes (or 1,020 seconds) to midnight. Now, it is 90 seconds to midnight.