Environmental/Societal Issue

Doomsday Clock Will Move Closer to Midnight




News Article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2007/2007-01-12-05.asp
Reference: http://climatecrisis.org/
Reference: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=329


On January 17 2007, the Doomsday Clock moved within 5 minutes to midnight. Today, our world is threatened by nuclear power, global climate change and escalating terrorism. Looking at the state of the world now, it seems that doomsday prevails… And it is coming in the near future.

Firstly, nuclear power is a looming threat as countries like Pakistan and Israel continue their pursuit of nuclear technology, ignoring the lessons provided by Chernobyl, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Secondly, global climate change presages an eventual Ice Age, where the whole world will be wiped out. Thirdly, terrorism forebodes the end of the world, as terrorists slog and wreck their brains hard to end the continuity of the human race, even before our first 2 problems occur.

Seated comfortably at home every night, we watch the daily news on television. Yet, the point here is that we do not see death coming our way. The human race is like a frog which has jumped into a pot of boiling water, yet not having the senses to jump out of it again. This is a matter of mankind’s survival, and it relates to every single homo sapien on Earth. If we still do not escape the pot, we are headed towards extinction…

However, the human beings’ modern way of thinking is not responding to these many calls of danger. Has it been a long time since you last left your computer running on electricity, burning off global energy while you went for a cup of tea? Has it been a long time since you last switched on the air-con even though you did not need it? These are the negligence of mankind, as a result of technological advances and material comfort. Perhaps this is not entirely our fault, it may not be what we want to do, it may not be what you and I would like to do, but something that is fated to happen in our lifetime.

Well, at the end of the day, different people might have different opinions towards doomsday. Some of us may choose to save our descendents, and start pushing against terrorism, nuclear power, and to save the Earth. Some of us might point to history, and say that since the Doomsday Clock has moved within 2 minutes of midnight and survived till now, then there isn’t a problem here at all. Some of us may choose to accept the fact that the end of the world is near, and live life happily till the end, in hope of a day after tomorrow. For me, I believe that we might not be in the position to save the world, and we might not be fully aware of the exact situations of our survival, yet we can do a lot to save the world despite our boundaries, especially against global climatic changes. To end off, I sincerely hope that mankind will be able to tackle these threats together in the near future, and live together like real global citizens.

(For more information about global climatic changes, I would strongly advise you to visit http://climatecrisis.org/ )