Dear Editor,
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by the Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a group that included Albert Einstein, to gauge existential threats to the survival of life on our planet. Initially, it focused on nuclear threats but, starting in 2007, now includes environmental threats as well.
Recently, the Board set the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to that theoretical time that could trigger events leading to the total destruction of all forms of life on Earth. It provides a wake-up call, a warning that we need to take immediate action to prevent such a catastrophe.
The setting on the Doomsday Clock reflects the heightened risks we face, such as the war in Ukraine and Russian President Putin’s repeated allusions to the use of nuclear weapons. It should serve as a reminder that we are just on poor decision, accident, misjudgment or reckless leader away from disaster!
But it’s not just Russia: nuclear armed states, including the United States, continue to invest billions in new and improved nuclear weapons. The U.S. is currently on track to spend over $1 trillion over the next 30 years to replace every weapon in our nuclear arsenal!
I urge each of us to put maximum pressure on our elected representatives to take all necessary steps to reduce the risk of such a catastrophe and thus push the Doomsday Clock back to minutes instead of seconds.
Stephen Hanzely
Poland
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