Three minutes to doomsday—this is how close the Earth is towards total destruction, at least symbolically.
The alarm was announced on Tuesday in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nontechnical academic journal tackling global security and public policy which maintains the so-called "Doomsday Clock."
The "Doomsday Clock" is a symbolic representation of how close human beings are to destroying the planet. This year, the clock's hands were retained at three minutes before midnight.
Members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists explained that the unchanged doomsday outlook is not at all good news. In contrast, the group said it signifies that world leaders did not do anything over the past year to keep human race away from destroying our planet.
"Three minutes (to midnight) is too close. Far too close," the Bulletin said in a statement, as quoted by CNN.
It added that steps taken towards preventing a nuclear war or a global destruction due to climate change last year were insufficient.
"We, the members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, want to be clear about our decision not to move the hands of the Doomsday Clock in 2016: That decision is not good news, but an expression of dismay that world leaders continue to fail to focus their efforts and the world's attention on reducing the extreme danger posed by nuclear weapons and climate change," the Bulletin stated.
This is despite the fact that nations entered into a climate deal in Paris, and the major world powers sealed a nuclear deal with Iran last year.
Lawrence M. Krauss of the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors described the Paris climate agreement as "only a tentative success."
"Promising though it may be, the Paris climate agreement came toward the end of Earth's warmest year on record, with the increase in global temperature over pre-industrial levels surpassing one degree Celsius," the Bulletin's statement said.
Krauss said that to be able to move away from the apocalypse, nations should spend less on nuclear weapons and address the threat posed by North Korea to global security.
