on the heels of a year plagued by a pandemic, tied for the top spot as the hottest on record and pushed to the limits of science denial and misinformation, scientists caution the world is poised at a decisive moment.

act now, before it’s too late, they warn.

in late january, the bulletin of the atomic scientists announced the 2021 time for its historic doomsday clock, which counts down to a “midnight” apocalypse. beginning last year, the clock displayed the time in seconds, rather than in minutes.

when the bulletin unveiled this year’s clock time at a news conference on zoom, the hands remained at 100 seconds to midnight, just as they were at the start of 2020. this is the closest the hands have ever been to this symbolic armageddon.

“the doomsday clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to push the hands of the clock away from midnight,” said rachel bronson, president and ceo of the bulletin, at wednesday’s virtual news conference.

scientists founded the bulletin in chicago after the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki in japan in 1945 to highlight the threat of nuclear weapons. the doomsday clock, which began two years later, is a warning — but it also presents an opportunity to change. the world is at a moment in history where the “danger is high, and the margin for error is low,” bronson said.

the bulletin has warned in recent years of the threats of climate change and online misinformation, encouraging citizens to insist on facts in the face of lies from world leaders.

but “in 2020, online lying literally killed,” according to the bulletin’s 2021 statement. covid-19 has killed more than 2 million people as a mass of — sometimes contradictory — online content created what the world health organization called an infodemic.

“the pandemic serves as a historic wake-up call, a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage complex and dangerous challenges like those of nuclear weapons and climate change, which currently pose existential threats to humanity,” bronson said at the conference. those two risks are the key influencers of the hands of the doomsday clock. 

so, after a year of worldwide strife, as climate change fueled massive fires, a pandemic ravaged world populations and nuclear war persisted as a real threat, why hasn’t the clock moved closer to midnight? turns out, there were a couple of important bright spots in 2020.

for one, renewable energy has proven to be resilient through the pandemic.

“once installed, renewable sources have nearly no operating source costs,” said susan solomon, professor of environmental studies at the massachusetts institute of technology and member of the bulletin science and security board, during the news conference. “and that shows how useful they can be in turbulent times like this.”

further, reports show that renewable energy sources may soon outpace coal use in the united states.

in the realm of nuclear weapons, the u.s. and russia intend to pursue a five-year extension of the new strategic arms reduction treaty, which caps each country’s deployed nuclear weapons at 1,550 each. and there are indications that president joe biden might commit to not using nuclear weapons first.

“as vice president, biden said there was no scenario in which the first use of nuclear weapons by the united states would make sense,” said steve fetter, professor of public policy at the university of maryland and also a member of the science and security board, at the news conference. “and his campaign stated that the sole purpose of the u.s. nuclear arsenal should be to deter nuclear attack. we hope president biden will take this important step.”

the doomsday clock is a tradition that goes back nearly 75 years. the bulletin of the atomic scientists first printed the doomsday clock on its magazine cover in 1947. then, it was seven minutes to midnight. in 2007, the bulletin included climate change in its calculations for the first time. since 2010, the hands of the clock have been inching closer to doomsday.

“i hope that we do more than just look at the clock and issue a few media reports and get on with our day,” said asha george, executive director of the bipartisan commission on biodefense and member of the bulletin science and security board, at the news conference. “i hope that we take this information and we act to bring those hands back farther and farther to make the world a safer place.”

at the virtual conference, former california gov. and bulletin executive chair jerry brown urged individuals to keep the pressure on world leaders and representatives in government.

“it’s time to eliminate nuclear weapons, not build more of them,” brown said. “likewise, with climate change: the u.s., china and the other big countries must get serious about cutting lethal carbon emissions — now, not tomorrow. it’s 100 seconds to midnight. wake up.”

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

asia pulp & paper, or app, a pulp and paper manufacturing company based in indonesia, has created a set of water-based packaging products that are both compostable and recyclable to better serve a wider variety of people and resources.

the company has partnered with villa chicken, a fast food chain based in peru, and has succeeded in maintaining the quality of the food in delivery while still holding onto its sustainable assets. if this product continues to succeed, it may change how restaurants package food moving forward.

it is essential restaurant stakeholders continue to invest in sustainable alternatives to reverse the environmental damage exacerbated by the plastic industry.

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs. 

these thoughts were expressed by three journalists at the event, “conversations in science communication: news, journalism and a global pandemic”, hosted by the george washington university school of media and public affairs. panelists were laura helmuth, the editor-in-chief of scientific american, mark johnson, a science reporter for the milwaukee journal sentinel, and nancy lapid, editor at reuters health medical news.

smpa director silvio waisbord delivered opening remarks to 100 attendees on webex and lisa palmer, the national geographic visiting professor of science communication, moderated the discussion.  

covid-19 has infected 7,168,077 individuals since january 21 and caused 205,372 deaths, according to the cdc covid-19 data tracker. the virus upended the entire world, causing everyone to demand answers from the scientific community. 

johnson spoke on the difficulties of reporting accurate science because research papers are being published so quickly.

“i kind of made a decision early on that i felt it was more important to tell people what the scientists were doing than to take too much of a paternalistic approach and say nothing is a story until it’s been peer-reviewed,” he said.  

as information spreads rapidly, it is more difficult for journalists to speak to their audiences. 

“it’s scary – it’s really hard to communicate with people when they are scared and confused, and that means we’re using all of our skills and experimenting in real-time to figure out how to get messages across in a way that people can hear and comprehend,” helmuth said.

helmuth acknowledged the coronavirus “landed in a massive moment of misinformation and disinformation,” adding that elaborate conspiracy theories have been released even from the president of the united states. 

the misinformation became so dangerous that the magazine endorsed a political candidate for the first time. 

“we felt it was our responsibility to use our platform to urge people to vote for joe biden,” helmuth said.

she claims that the trump administration is harming science and especially public health. 

lapid said that reuters, the news organization where she works, declared a news emergency during covid-19 and rearranged their reporting staff to involve the medical health news team more broadly. 

“reuters quickly realized the general news team needed help from my team who know the difference between dna and rna,” lapid said. 

event attendee heidi estrada, a junior at gwu majoring in international affairs, was surprised to hear about the struggles journalists faced. 

“i feel like journalists were often battling two different battles… the simple battle of understanding the science and the virus itself, and then fighting another battle of fighting the misinformation that was spread online,” she said. 

reflecting upon these times, each panelist shared a key takeaway learned from covering the pandemic. 

helmuth said it’s important to call out racism and lies and to not “give climate science skeptics a platform,” she said. johnson shared that this profession is “endlessly humbling” and you will always be learning something new. lapid encouraged students to develop sources and gain an understanding of basic science to support themselves.

the complete event is archived on gwu school of media and public affairs’s youtube channel. 

bats have always been shrouded in our own fearful projections. in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, this comes to a head. but it is important to remember their place on our planet: vital supporters of our ecosystems and overall well-being.

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hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

hosted by frank sesno, healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.