Behind the Doomsday Clock
John Mecklin Explains Why We’re Just 90 Seconds from Midnight
In 1945, just after A-bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists debuted. Two years later, the Bulletin unveiled the Doomsday Clock as a symbol “to convey how close humanity is to destroying itself.” Even as schoolchildren were hiding under their desks as “protection” from mega-destruction, the organization set the clock at seven minutes to midnight.
Expanding its concerns, the Bulletin now “equips the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence.” This January 24, with an active war, climate change, and disruptive technologies at hand, the clock was set just 90 seconds before the witching hour — “the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been,” the organization posted. “The Doomsday Clock is sounding an alarm for the whole of humanity.”
Though the Bulletin is headquartered in Chicago, Santa Barbara editor John Mecklin has been involved with its website, digital magazine, and social media for the past 12 years, and for the last eight as editor in chief. Mecklin was founding editor of the Santa Barbara–based Miller-McCune public interest magazine, and previously edited High Country News and alternative newspapers. We checked in with him to learn if the clock can be stopped in the face of “multiple existential crises.”
