The Doomsday Clock: What is it and why it sped up

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has officially sped up the world's Doomsday Clock, citing world leaders' failure to deal with threats of nuclear war. Here's a brief history of what the clock symbolizes and how it started.
The world is now just two minutes away from an “apocalypse” – at least, that’s what the Doomsday Clock is saying.
The metaphorical clock skipped 30 seconds ahead in 2018 due to “reckless language” from world leaders, North Korea’s advancing nuclear weapons program, tensions between the U.S. and Russia, devastating natural disasters, among other reasons.
“To call the world nuclear situation dire is to understate the danger — and its immediacy,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit that educates the public on global security and public policy issues plaguing the world, announced in an online statement.
It’s the closest the clock has been to doomsday in 65 years, at the height of the Cold War, according to the Bulletin.
Fox News asked Rachel Bronson, the president and CEO of the Bulletin, to explain what the Doomsday Clock is, and why it has been creeping closer to midnight during the past decade.

What is the Doomsday Clock?

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol that was created at the beginning of the Cold War in 1947 to represent the threat of nuclear weapons, which, the Bulletin says have the potential to destroy civilization as we know it.
The Bulletin recently started to factor in climate change, harmful chemical or biological agents and emerging technologies when determining how much the clock has moved.
“We really track existential threats that are man-made,” Bronson told Fox News. “But the factors that have really moved the clock have always been nuclear from the beginning.”

Who determines how much the clock moves each year?

The Bulletin’s Science and Security Board (SASB), a group comprised of about 13 international experts in fields that focus on the climate, nuclear weapons and technology, meets every year around November to discuss the state of the world.
“We begin reviewing where were we last year – what we were concerned about then,” Bronson explained. “Then we come to a consensus of where we think the time is and what the key issues are.”

Do politics come into play?

Sure. The Bulletin follows politics and public policies throughout the year, but officials say the outcome shouldn't be interpreted as a political statement.
“We’ve moved it backward and forward pretty equally in Republican and Democratic administrations,” Bronson said. “That’s a criticism or a charge that’s been unfounded.”
Doomsday Clock
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the clock 30 seconds closer to midnight in 2018.  (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

Why is the clock 30 seconds closer to midnight this year?

"We were worried about the world’s nuclear rhetoric language, comments based on fake news and recklessness around issues that are so important," Bronson said. "Moving the clock 30 seconds conveyed the message they were trying to send: this doesn’t bode well."
President Trump was called out several times in the Bulletin's statement, specifically for his comments on North Korea.
"President Donald Trump should refrain from provocative rhetoric regarding North Korea, recognizing the impossibility of predicting North Korean reactions," the Bulletin advised.
The panel at the Bulletin also said 2017’s environmental disasters contributed to the moving of the clock – specifically the devastating wildfires in the U.S., powerful hurricanes, extreme heat waves and record-breaking shrinking Arctic ice caps.
"Climate change is a real and serious threat to humanity," the group wrote. "Citizens should insist that their governments acknowledge it and act accordingly."

Have you noticed any patterns in recent years?

The clock has been trending closer to midnight over the last 10 years.
It first started inching closer to doom in the early 2000's to signal U.S.-Russia relations were deteriorating, Bronson explained.
From 2015 to 2018, the clock has dropped from 3 minutes to 2 minutes. With two 30-second increments being registered respecively within the past two years.

How do you determine how much to move the clock?

There isn’t a specific formula SASB follows when determining how much to increase or decrease time.
“It’s really a judgment,” Bronson said. “They’re not back there calculating anything, though they do that frequently in their every day jobs.”

Why does the Doomsday Clock exist?

The Doomsday Clock was created to spark conversation and give the public an idea of where the world is.
"It gets people more engaged and pressures the public to ask world leaders important questions," Bronson said. "There’s more awareness now; that's for sure."
The Bulletin also provides recommendations to improve the planet, which they hope leaders and citizens will consider.
"It is urgent that, collectively, we put in the work necessary to produce a 2019 Clock statement that rewinds the Doomsday Clock," the Bulletin said in a statement. "The time is now."