DOOMSDAY CLOCK: THE COMPASS OF EXISTENTIAL THREATS

DOOMSDAY CLOCK: THE COMPASS OF EXISTENTIAL THREATS

C (2018)                           CHIBU NDUBUISI                20/06/2018 WEEK 25

Peace be upon you.

Doomsday clock is a graphic that appeared on the first cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist (1947) and has ever since served as the globally recognized compass showing about our planets health and safety direction.

In 2017 the clock moved two and half minutes to midnight occasioned by the continuous nuclear test by North Korea and the grandstanding of President Donald Trump. However in 2018 the leaders of both countries met in Singapore and promised to existing de-nuclearization treaties. 

Another factor negatively impacting on our planet is Climate Change occasioned by human activities.

Peace of the planet is never a Zero-Sum game. It requires multiple actors and multiple players. It requires making space for others without any grandstanding nor having “We against them” mentality. It requires asking the right question of how we can tackle the existential threats posed by nuclear weapon and climate change.

The threats posed by these two factors are too big to ignore. The atomic bomb survivors of Japan are a clear example of why humanity is supposed to work towards averting such occurrences. The crisis occasioned by the impact of climatic change is too big to ignore as we have seen communities wiped out and turned to refugees as a result of rising sea levels.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (2016) is a step in the right direction. The Conference of Parties(COP) on Climate Change should not relent is seeing that all countries that pledged towards reduction of greenhouse emission keeps to their agreements.

The 2018 Global Peace Index reports that global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27% over the last year, and that it is the fourth successive year of deterioration. Battles deaths have risen steadily over the last decade increasing by 264%. 

When all these are aggregated, we are forced to ask, Qvo vadis humanity?

Working towards encouraging education for peace as Japan is doing is a step in the right direction.

The Doomsday clock is a compass for peace, directing us to “Make Peace Happen” by providing an alternative on how to move humanity away from annihilation.

Peace be with you.