Pirate's Cove

This one deserves the “oh, snap”. Or “LOL”. Perhaps “snort, chuckle”

(PBS)  Scientists moved the hands on the Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight on Thursday. The clock now stands at three minutes to apocalypse.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) created the clock in 1947, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S., as a way of bringing awareness to nuclear proliferation. Midnight signifies what the BAS sees as a global catastrophe.

The move yesterday was a response to the impending dangers of climate change and nuclear weapons.

“In 2015, unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity,” a statement released by the BAS on Monday said.

There’s no doubt that nuclear weapons pose a threat. That said, no nuclear weapons have been used other than for tests since the U.S. dropped two weapons on Japan in 1945, effectively ending war in the Pacific part of WWII. Interestingly, the name “Iran” appears nowhere within the statement, nor does the term “Islamic terrorism” appear, in terms of Islamists gaining nuclear, biological, nor chemical weapons. Nor does the article even mention Islamic extremism at all, in terms of terrorism.

Despite some modestly positive developments in the climate change arena in the past year, reflecting continued advancement of renewable energy technologies, current efforts are entirely insufficient to prevent a catastrophic warming of Earth. Absent a dramatic course correction, the countries of the world will have emitted enough carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by the end of this century to profoundly transform Earth’s climate, harming millions upon millions of people and threatening many key ecological systems on which civilization relies. (snip)

The science is clear: Insufficient action to slash worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases can produce global climatic catastrophe. Even a so-called “limited” nuclear weapons exchange will produce massive casualties and severe effects on the global environment. We implore the political leaders of the world to take coordinated, quick action to drastically reduce global emissions of heat-trapping gases, especially carbon dioxide, and shrink nuclear weapons arsenals.

We’re dooooooooooomed!!!!!!!! Chuckle.

In November 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Synthesis Report encapsulating the key findings of its just-completed multivolume assessment of climate change. The IPCC reported that global warming is unequivocal and unprecedented and already responsible for widespread damage. It warned that warming—if unchecked by urgent and concerted global efforts to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions—would reach 3 to 8 degrees Celsius (about 5.5 to 14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

Yet, essentially, there has been barely any increase in global temperatures overall this century, what is termed “statistically insignificant”. The latest freakout about 2014 being the hottest year ever!!!!!!! conveniently ignores that it supposedly beat out 2005 by 0.02C. Two hundredths of a degree. For this we’re supposed to engage our governments and get them to pass heavy restrictions on our lives and economies?

BTW, here’s something interesting

Although the United States and Russia have reduced their arsenal sizes from Cold War heights, the pace of reduction has slowed dramatically in recent years. According to Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, “in terms of warhead numbers, the Obama administration so far has cut the least warheads from the stockpile” of any post-Cold War administration.

So, for all Obama’s talk about reducing our stockpile, he failed to follow through. Interesting.

BTW, yes, nuclear proliferation is a concern. However, the genie is out of the bottle. And, if the article refuses to mention Iran and Islamists, it is worthless.