#30 / Ninety Seconds Till Midnight

 

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set its "Doomsday Clock" to 90-seconds to midnight, the closest to "midnight" that it has ever been: 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 24, 2023 –The Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, due largely but not exclusively to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation. The new Clock time was also influenced by continuing threats posed by the climate crisis and the breakdown of global norms and institutions needed to mitigate risks associated with advancing technologies and biological threats such as COVID-19. 

 

A "rogue journalist" I mention from time to time, Caitlin Johnstone, has also made note of this fact. As she puts it, "Hardly Anyone Is Thinking Logically About The Danger of Nuclear War."

I certainly agree with that observation, and it seems to me that hardly anyone is thinking logically about anything! Republican politicians, in control of the House of Representatives, seem to support the idea that the United States government should repudiate its promise to pay off the debts that the nation has incurred, even though everyone knows that the impacts of doing this would be terrible.

And then, in various places around the country (including specifically in Half Moon Bay, just up the coast from my hometown of Santa Cruz), disgruntled persons are increasingly working out their distress by killing multiple people and then sometimes (but not always) killing themselves, too. 

 

Income and wealth inequality persist. And increase. 

 

The "Sixth Extinction" continues (and accelerates). 

 

And global warming is increasing, too, with all the horrible impacts that we have been told will, inevitably, accompany our continued use of hydrocarbon fuels.

 

If it's not the end of the world as we know it, it's getting pretty close! 

Do you think that there is anything we might be able to do about this? 

I am willing to suggest that we do need to give it a try. And this means that each one of us needs to think about the kind of direct actions we can take (which will, almost certainly, require communicating with and working with others, in person, and not by firing off internet memos).

I tend to think in metaphors, and one of my favorite metaphors for dramatic change is the "supersaturated solution." Click that link to learn all about it.

I think we're there!

 

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Image Credit:

https://thebulletin.org/2023/01/press-release-doomsday-clock-set-at-90-seconds-to-midnight/