Doomsday Clock Experts Say There Is Hope Thanks To Steps Made By Biden

Every year, we watch with baited breath as the new time for the Doomsday Clock is unveiled - after being moved either closer to midnight, further away, or remaining at the same spot.

The nearer the hand creeps to midnight, the nearer we supposedly are to the apocalypse, or 'Doomsday', serving as a stark metaphor to how close we are to destroying our planet.

The clock was set up in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organisation founded by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists.

It currently sits at its closest ever time to midnight, having been moved to 100 seconds to the apocalypse in 2020 and going unchanged in 2021.

But despite the hands on the clock painting such a damning picture of humanity, experts at the Bulletin believe there is hope - not least thanks to steps already taken by US President Joe Biden, who replaced Donald Trump in January.

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Lorene Yue, spokesperson for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, told LADbible: "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sees bright spots and opportunities for turning back the Doomsday Clock.

"There's a commitment by the Biden administration to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change and an offer to extend the New START arms control agreement with Russia for five years."

Yue also explained that we must remember the clock has been set back several times before, meaning we 'absolutely' can move it further away in the future.

She continued: "The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Doomsday Clock has been set back seven times since 1947.

"In 1991, we moved the Doomsday Clock back to 17 minutes to midnight at the end of the Cold War.

"The Doomsday Clock is meant to serve as a stark reminder that we should be taking actions to move it back."

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As for the impact of Covid-19, Yue said the pandemic is 'not an existential threat that will obliterate civilisation'.

However, she added: "It does serve as a historic wake-up call of how unprepared countries are in properly handling global emergencies.

"The Covid-19 pandemic also brought a harsh spotlight on how a disregard for science, through the spread of false and misleading information, undermines the ability of responsible national and global leaders to protect the security of their citizens."

Ultimately, what people need to remember is that the Doomsday Clock was set up to serve as as warning, rather than a set prophecy, meaning there are ways to alter the time by making drastic changes in the areas it represents.

Yue said: "The Bulletin's Doomsday Clock is a metaphor to warn the public about how close we are to destroying our own world with dangerous technologies of our own design.

"If nuclear weapons exist and can be used, the risk that we could destroy civilization also exists.

"And if Earth's climate continues to change, we are at risk of suffering the potential consequences."

Topics: joe biden, World News, News, US News

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman