the essentials The end of the world is approaching: The end of the world clock has advanced by ten seconds. According to this preventive tool, which takes into account climatic and geopolitical events, among other things, there are only 90 seconds left to live.
We only have 90 seconds to live. According to the latest doomsday clock update, the end of the world is drawing near. This Tuesday, January 24, the prevention tool has been updated and now shows 23:58 and 30 seconds: the closer the time gets to midnight, the higher the risk of extinction of our species. And since its inception almost 70 years ago Years ago the end of the world was never closer.
The doomsday clock was created in 1947. It was the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists that invented the terrifying clock (“Doomsday clock”, editor’s note). To measure the time left to live for humanity, the white coats are based on several criteria, each more serious than the other: the nuclear, diplomatic, technological and climatic threats that weigh on planet Earth’s shoulders. In more than 70 years, the needle moves back and forth depending on the event.
A “dangerous moment”
The clock has been showing 11:58 p.m. for three years: not heard since the record in 1953, in the middle of the Cold War. That year, the Soviet Union and the United States attempted their first tests of thermonuclear devices. Conversely, in 1991, the time displayed on the Apocalypse Clock reached an all-time low: 11:43 p.m. And for good reason, the USSR disappeared. The clock has been updated 24 times since it was created.
But between the war in Ukraine and the climate catastrophes, these last two years have burned. “We are stuck in a dangerous moment that brings neither stability nor security,” affirmed Sharon Squassoni, one of the editors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists last year. The doomsday clock continues to hover over our heads, reminding us of the work needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet.”