Saturday, January 24, 2015

Three minutes to midnight

I've been sharing the story of Starkville, Mississippi. The town board passed a resolution recognizing its LGBT citizens. Later it changed its mind and voted to repeal. The mayor vetoed the repeal. And now, alas, the board has voted to override the veto.



The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist's Science and Security Board created the Doomsday Clock back in 1947 to dramatize how close humanity was to destruction. At the time the threat was nuclear war and for much of the 1950s the clock was set to 3 minutes to midnight. The time has been set back and forth, being set as far back as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet empire. It has again been set to 3 minutes to midnight, not because of nuclear war, but because of climate change.

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