Doomsday clock pulled back to 90 seconds [연합뉴스 제공]
“Ninety seconds left until the end of the earth.”
The American Society of Nuclear Scientists has moved the second hand of the ‘Apocalypse Clock’, which symbolizes the remaining time until the end of the earth, by 10 seconds toward midnight, a symbol of destruction.
This reduced the time remaining until the end of the earth to 90 seconds.
The American Society of Nuclear Scientists has maintained the doomsday clock at 100 seconds ago since 2020, but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, concerns over the use of tactical nuclear weapons have raised the level of warning.
The American Society of Nuclear Scientists, founded in 1945 led by Albert Einstein, has set the end of the earth at midnight and has been announcing the Earth’s time since 1947 in consideration of nuclear threats and climate change crises.
The clock, which started at 7 minutes before midnight in 1947, reached 2 minutes before the end in 1953, when the US and the Soviet Union were competing to conduct nuclear tests, and then moved to 17 minutes in 1991, when the Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement was signed between the United States and the United States.
However, since then, the existence of nuclear weapons has not disappeared, and various threats that mankind has not prepared for, such as climate change and Corona 19, continue.
It has been there since moving to 100 seconds before midnight in 2020 for reasons such as Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.
“Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons reminded the world of the dire danger of escalating tensions through events, intentions and misjudgments,” Bronson said. .
The American Society of Nuclear Scientists also feared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened the threat of possible use of chemical and biological weapons.
“The lack of information about Ukrainian chemical and biological weapons plants raises concerns that Russia may consider using such weapons,” Bronson said.
Criticism has also been raised that the impact of the war in Ukraine has led to rising energy prices and the use of coal instead of natural gas as an alternative fuel for power generation, accelerating the climate change crisis.
Sivan Karta, director of the Stockholm Environmental Research Institute, condemned that “carbon dioxide emissions due to the use of fossil fuels rose last year as well as in 2021,” and condemned “the increase in carbon emissions is leading to climate change.”