Scientists set Doomsday Clock to three minutes to midnight amid fears of global nuclear war

(NaturalNews) The end of the world has not yet arrived -- an obvious statement driven home by the fact that you're currently alive and well and reading this article (for which I and Natural News are eternally grateful).

But we're getting close to that moment. Dangerously close. Two minutes closer, to be precise.

That's according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' "Doomsday Clock," which was reset recently by the magazine's staff in response to what they perceive as worsening socioeconomic, political and military situations around the globe. The clock is a measurement of how close the magazine's editorial staff believe we are to the end of the world.

In recent days, the clock was reset to three minutes to midnight. Before then and since January 2012, the clock's hands had been set at five minutes to midnight (midnight being the hour at which the world actually ends). The minute hand was moved ahead for the first time in three years because of rising nuclear concerns and what has been perceived as worsening climate science data (more on this in a moment).

Closest to doomsday since 1984

"The possibility of global catastrophe is really very high," Kennette Benedict of the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences said, as reported by the website Mashable. "The choice is ours and the clock is ticking."

The website reported further:

The clock is set at the furthe[st] level since 1984, the height of the Cold War, making the current status the second closest the world has been to midnight in the 68 years of the clock. The only time it was moved closer was when the Soviet Union began work on a hydrogen bomb in 1953.

The bulletin is a non-technical online magazine that examines a range of geopolitical and security issues, as well as those related to public policy. In particular, the magazine's editorial focus is on dangers posed by nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, but also on so-called climate change, as well as emerging technologies and diseases. It has been published continuously since 1945, when it was founded by former Manhattan Project physicists who helped develop the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan to end World War II in the Pacific. It was initially called the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago. The magazine's goal is to educate the public about nuclear policy debates while pushing for international control over nuclear weapons.

More "climate change" fiction

As to the issue of climate change itself, NASA recently declared 2014 to be the "warmest on record," but that declaration and the related findings are being debunked.

As reported by The Daily Caller:

Climate scientists and environmentalists sounded the alarm this year after Japanese climatologists reported 2014 was the warmest year on record based on global surface temperature readings.

But satellite temperature data shows that 2014 was not even close to be the warmest on record. In fact, 2014 was only the 6th warmest year on record, according to the Remote Sensing System (RSS) satellite data set that measures the lowest few miles of the Earth's atmosphere.

You can read the full report here.

Sources:

http://mashable.com

http://thebulletin.org

http://dailycaller.com