Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical measure of proximity to global collapse, ticked ten seconds closer to midnight on Tuesday (24 January). According to the annual assessment by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists the world is closer to catastrophe than ever thanks to the combined effects of nuclear escalation and the ecological emergency. “An alarm for the whole of humanity,” was how Mary Robinson, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the announcement.
Whatever you think of the clock’s utility as a device for raising awareness, the grim underlying realities must be faced sooner or later. Yet instead of acknowledging the existential crisis posed by climate change, some Conservative politicians in the UK continue to play down the threat of continued reliance on fossil fuels. In doing so they are helping feed a vast narrative in which climate action is framed as elitist and out of touch.
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