The end is nigh?

Dum dum dum duuuum dum dum, duuuum dum dum...(to the Star Wars theme)

Last week, scientists judged climate change to be such a threat to the future of humanity that they moved the hands of the 'Doomsday Clock' two minutes closer to midnight. The clock is an assessment of how close we are to the edge of the abyss of catastrophe (i.e., midnight) and is managed by a group of scientists called the 'Bulletin of Atomic Scientists'. The name is reflection upon its Cold War origins when nuclear annihilation was deemed to be the main security threat that could lead to worldwide chaos and threaten the survival of mankind.

The addition of climate change is a significant one; the hands of the clock, which now stand at 11.55pm, has mainly been adjusted in response to nuclear-related incidents, such as arms treaties, tests and proliferation fears. The character and scale of climate change is such that the keepers of the Doomsday Clock said that "the world has not faced such perilous choices" since the atomic bombs, and for an organisation that has really only focused on nuclear catastrophe to recognize climate change as a comparable threat to humanity is another sign of just how big a hole humanity could be in over the next century or so if we don't get our act together.