They say we have just five minutes left — before midnight.

In case you’re wondering, midnight represents the end of everything. In a word: Doomsday.

Who are “they”?

In this instance, they are the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Established more than 66 years ago (1945) by scientists at the University of Chicago, the original members had helped develop the atomic bomb. Two years later, they conceived the concept idea of using a visual of a clock to symbolize their opinion of how close the world was to nuclear Armageddon. 

They dubbed their symbolic timepiece The Doomsday Clock. When initially introduced in 1947, they set the clock hands at seven minutes to midnight.

In the beginning, the board’s setting of the clock hands was based solely on their concern about nuclear weapons. But, over the years, the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists expanded the basis for its Doomsday Clock, setting it to a broader set of concerns. 

For example, in more recent years, they have chosen to include their view of the effects of Climate Change. As a result, last week the current members of the board decided to change the “clock’s hand from six minutes to midnight to five minutes because … of little progress toward reducing … nuclear weapons … and global carbon emissions.”

Obviously, they view their assessment of selected issues as endangering the Earth. We can glean a bit of specifics from this media report:

In deliberating their assessment about “how to update the clock’s time,” the current board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists focused on “the current state of nuclear arsenals around the globe, disastrous events such as the Fukushima Nuclear Plant meltdown (in Japan), and bio-security issues such as the creation of an airborne H5N1 flu strain.”

Clearly each of the noted issues can be, indeed are, legitimate concerns.

Yet, equally clear is the need for the same select scientists to focus their attention on ameliorating, that is, reducing, those risks that they personally can do something about. 

For example, let’s take one their stated concerns:  Safety at Nuclear Plants.

They could, and I dare say ought to, focus their personal and group scientific effort on a project that would develop enhanced safety designs for nuclear power plants. That would make a difference for all of us. 

It would also reset the Doomsday Clock to perhaps 12 minutes to midnight.

What do you think?

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications. Contact him at: RichOlivastro@gmail.com or by phone at 1-877-RichSpeaks.