Doomsday Clock stands at 100 seconds to midnight Space 1/29/2021 Mindy Weisberger © Provided by Space During Operation Upshot-Knothole, the U.S. Army exploded 11 nuclear bombs at a test site in Nevada between March and June in 1953. In the last of those tests code name Climax a 61-kiloton device was detonated on June 4, 1953.
Nuclear weapons, global pandemics, accelerating climate change: Is humanity running out of time? Despite 2020 s general awfulness, humanity paused on the path forward to armageddon at least, according to the Doomsday Clock, a hypothetical timepiece that annually assesses our nearness to utter annihilation.
This year, the Doomsday Clock s hands will not be moving forward, and it continues to show the same time that was set last year: 100 seconds to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), a global organization of science and policy experts, announced at a virtual press event on Weds. (Jan. 27).
This Is Your Covid-19 Wake-Up Call: It Is 100 Seconds to Midnight
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Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board, Robert Rosner and Suzet McKinney, reveal the 2021 setting of the Doomsday Clock: It is still 100 seconds to midnight.
Photo: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists/Thomas Gaulkin
Ineffectual Response to Pandemic Seen As Evidence of Government, Institutions and Public Lack of Readiness to Deal with Threats of Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 27, 2021
– The COVID-19 pandemic will end up killing well over two million people around the globe. The mishandling of this grave global health crisis is a “wake-up call” that governments, institutions, and a misled public remain unprepared to handle the even greater threats posed by nuclear war and climate change. Given this and the lack of progress in 2020 in dealing with nuclear and climate perils, the Doomsday Clock remains as close to midnight as it has ever been – just 100 seconds to midnight.
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The famed Doomsday Clock is staying set at 100 seconds to midnight this year, keeping the metaphor of how close the Earth is to annihilation at its closest time to that point since its creation 74 years ago.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists unveiled this year s setting for the clock at a virtual news conference Wednesday morning.
“It would be a privilege and an honor to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock away from midnight. Although there are important bright spots that we articulate very clearly in our report, bright spots that we hope will continue to extend and evolve and allow us to push it back next year at this time, the current situation does not warrant it,” said Rachel Bronson, the Bulletin’s president and CEO. “The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.”
Watch the 2021 Doomsday Clock Announcement on January 27
The
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will host a live international news conference at 10 a.m. EST/1500 GMT on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, to announce the 2021 time of the Doomsday Clock. The news conference will take place virtually via Zoom. Watch the announcement live on our website or on our Facebook page.
Speakers for the Doomsday Clock announcement on January 27, 2021 include:
Governor Jerry Brown, executive chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; former Governor, State of California
Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor, Hiroshima Prefecture
Dr. Rachel Bronson, president and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Dr. Steve Fetter, Science and Security Board member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; associate provost, dean of the graduate school, and professor of public policy, University of Maryland
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