As the violent, tragic, and tumultuous year of 1968 neared its end, something miraculous happened.
A trio of human astronauts “slipped the surly bonds of Earth,” traveled across nearly a quarter of a million miles of empty space and went into orbit around the moon.
From their perch high above the lunar surface, the astronauts witnessed something no human had ever seen before — the rising of the Earth above the horizon of the moon.
In photos and in videos, those space travelers shared their view of our planet — a small blue ball covered mostly by water, surrounded by a breathable, cloud-spotted atmosphere, a haven for life in an otherwise inhospitable solar system.
The lesson, for those who wished to learn it, was the same that the mythical magician Merlin taught a young King Arthur by transforming him into a hawk and having him fly far above the Earth’s surface:
Borders are artificial, man-made creations. The dividing lines that seem so important, that so often inspire war and destruction, that set one part of humanity against another, are but creations of our own device.
Or, as President John Kennedy once framed it: “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK
On Friday, Jan. 28, in an action that drew scant attention due to the flurry of activity that marked President Trump’s first two weeks in office, The Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock has been around since 1947, when it was created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The clock is reset annually to indicate how close humanity is to self-destruction.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by physicists who were concerned about the threat of nuclear weapons. Among its founding members were Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The Doomsday Clock is set each year by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel Laureates.
If you’d like to know more about who these people are and what qualifications they hold, I’d urge you to check out the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website at: https://thebulletin.org/about-us/science-and-security-board/
The Clock’s original setting in 1947 was 7 minutes to midnight. It has since been set backward 8 times and forward 18 times. The farthest time from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, and the nearest is 89 seconds, set just two weeks ago.
A news release from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists explained why the body chose to advance the clock closer to midnight than it has ever been: “Trends that have deeply concerned (us) have continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course.”
And what are the particular areas that arouse so much concern in these respected scientists?
NUCLEAR WAR
“In regard to nuclear risk, the war in Ukraine, now in its third year, looms over the world; the conflict could become nuclear at any moment because of a rash decision or through accident or miscalculation. Conflict in the Middle East threatens to spiral out of control into a wider war without warning,” the annual report reads.
“The countries that possess nuclear weapons are increasing the size and role of their arsenals, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons that can destroy civilization,” the report continues.
“The nuclear arms control process is collapsing, and high-level contacts among nuclear powers are totally inadequate given the danger at hand,” the report concludes.
CLIMATE CHANGE
“The impacts of climate change increased in the last year as myriad indicators, including sea-level rise and global surface temperature, surpassed previous records,” the report notes.
“The global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise. Extreme weather and other climate change-influenced events — floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves, droughts, and wildfire — affected every continent,” the report said.
And, a final damning sentence, “Judging from recent electoral campaigns, climate change is viewed as a low priority in the United States and many other countries.”
Have we already forgotten Hurricane Helene?
BIOLOGICAL THREATS
“In the biological arena, emerging and re-emerging diseases continue to threaten the economy, society, and security of the world,” the report said.
Worried about the price of eggs in the grocery store? Perhaps this should be a bigger worry:
“The off-season appearance and in-season continuance of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), its spread to farm animals and dairy products, and the occurrence of human cases have combined to create the possibility of a devastating human pandemic,” the report points out.
And, if you need another excuse not to sleep at night, consider this:
“Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have increased the risk that terrorists or countries may attain the capability of designing biological weapons for which countermeasures do not exist,” the report said.
UNCHECKED TECHNOLOGY
Finally, the report comments on technology and its increasing use “to spread misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that degrade the communication ecosystem and increasingly blur the line between truth and falsehood.”
The report also makes note of the increased use of AI by military systems around the globe: “Such efforts raise questions about the extent to which machines will be allowed to make military decisions — even decisions that could kill on a vast scale, including those related to the use of nuclear weapons.”
THE REPORT’S CONCLUSION
It’s pretty frank: “Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the collective power to destroy civilization. These three countries have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink, and they can do so if their leaders seriously commence good-faith discussion about the global threats outlined here.”
MY THOUGHTS
Of the problems listed above, and of countless others — global, national, and local — a common denominator is that all are caused or exacerbated by apathy, indifference, and ignorance.
Too few people vote in the United States, and too many who do vote base their decisions on the very sort of misinformation and disinformation mentioned above rather than on serious consideration of issues and of candidates.
Hyper-partisanship, and the viewing of the political process as some sort of gladiatorial blood sport, are not only paralyzing the government but driving good women and men away from seeking elective office.
Christian escapism, the idea that we need not worry about the problems detailed above because the Rapture will occur next week or Jesus will return tomorrow, is a short-sighted and dangerous philosophy.
Doddering old men, whether their last name is Biden or Trump, have no business serving as chief executive of the most powerful nation in the world.
The torch needs to be passed to a younger generation of leaders who have the stamina, the energy, the intelligence, and the adaptability to confront a dangerous and constantly changing world.
And all of us, whether we are 70 or 17, need to grasp anew the reality of the problems we face. The future of our species and of this small blue planet upon which we live depends upon how quickly and how intelligently we respond to those problems.
This Earth is all we have. Nowhere else to go.
Our world is 89 seconds from midnight.
The time to act is now.
