| By Physics Today on January 14, 2010 11:18 AM http://blogs.physicstoday.org/politics/2010/01/doomsday-clock-now-at-6-minute.html Citing a more "hopeful state of world affairs" in relation to the twin threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) is moving the minute hand of its Doomsday Clock one minute further away from midnight. It is now 6 minutes to midnight-the symbolic end of civilization. The decision by the BAS Science and Security Board was made in consultation with the Bulletin's board of sponsors, which includes 19 Nobel laureates. In a statement supporting the decision to move the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock, the BAS board said: "For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are cooperating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material. And for the first time ever, industrialized and developing countries alike are pledging to limit climate-changing gas emissions that could render our planet nearly uninhabitable. These unprecedented steps are signs of a growing political will to tackle the two gravest threats to civilization-the terror of nuclear weapons and runaway climate change." "...By shifting the hand back from midnight by only one additional minute, we emphasize how much needs to be accomplished, while at the same time recognizing signs of collaboration among the US, Russia, the European Union, India, China, Brazil, and others on nuclear security and on climate stabilization." Created in 1947 by the BAS, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted only 18 times prior to today, most recently in January 2007 and February 2002 after the events of 11 September 2001. The move of the clock's minute hand brought a number of BAS board members to a press conference organized by the BAS earlier today, which included Arizona State University physicist Lawrence Krauss, the cochair of the BAS Board of Sponsors. "We encourage scientists to fulfill their dual responsibilities of increasing their own, as well as the public's understanding of these issues and to help lead the call to action," said Krauss. "We urge leaders to fulfill the promise of a nuclear weapon-free world and to act now to slow the pace of climate change. Finally, we call on citizens everywhere to raise their voices and compel public action for a safer world now and for future generations. Even though we are encouraged by recent developments, we are mindful of the fact that the Clock is ticking." Jayantha Dhanapala, president of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, said: "In the saga of human history civilizations have been threatened both by natural causes and by man-made folly. Some have survived by making the necessary rational responses to the challenges. Others have gone under leaving only their ruins. Today it is the entire planet that stands imperiled by the danger of nuclear weapons and the real risk of climate change inexorably threatening our ecosystem. Both impending disasters are within our capabilities to remedy. The opportunity must be seized now out of a recognition that these are global dangers that transcend national boundaries." Nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, said: "We may be at a turning point, where major powers realize that nuclear weapons are useless for war-fighting or even for deterrence. Threats to security are more likely to come from economic collapse, groups bent on terrorizing civilians, or from resource scarcity exacerbated by climate change and exploding populations, rather than from conflict between nuclear-armed superpowers. Against these new threats, nuclear weapons are a liability." Paul Guinnessy RECOMMENDED ACTION STEPS The BAS statement outlines the need for action on the following: Developing new nuclear doctrines that disavow the use of existing nuclear weapons, reduce the launch readiness of U.S. and Russian nuclear forces, and remove them from the day-to-day operations of their militaries; Finishing the job of consolidating and securing military and civilian nuclear material in Russia, the United States, and elsewhere and continuing to eliminate the excess; Completing negotiations, signing and ratifying as soon as possible the new U.S.-Russia treaty providing for reductions in deployed nuclear warheads and delivery systems; Upon signing of the treaty, immediately embarking upon new talks to further reduce the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States; Completing the next review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in May 2010 with commitments to weapons reduction and nuclear nonproliferation by both the nuclear haves and have-nots; Implementing multinational management of the civilian nuclear energy fuel cycle with strict standards for safety, security, and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, including eliminating reprocessing for plutonium separation; Strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency's capacity to oversee nuclear materials and technology development and transfer; Adopting and fulfilling climate change agreements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through tax incentives, harmonized domestic regulation and practice; Transforming the coal power sector of the world economy to retire older plants; Vastly increasing public and private investments in alternatives to carbon-emitting energy sources, such as solar and wind, and in technologies for energy storage, and sharing the results worldwide. |