Looking for answers

Tens of thousands of people came to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ website over the last week, looking for answers on what a new Trump administration means for the health and safety of our planet.

As Bulletin editor John Mecklin writes, Donald Trump’s positions on serious questions have often ricocheted from side to side: “Questions about his positions on major global threats—including nuclear weapons and climate change, a scientific reality that he has called a hoax—abound, because those positions shifted shape through time, and according to the audience being addressed and the state of the presidential campaign."

As it always does, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board will meet to discuss the year’s events as they relate to the time on the Doomsday Clock, as well as what a new president may mean for the issues that the Bulletin covers.

In the meantime, read on for information you may find helpful.

THE EXPERTS, AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Commentary edited by John Mecklin
An open letter to President-elect Trump about nuclear weapons and nuclear winter, by Alan Robock
A great Trump foreign policy, by Lawrence J. Korb
A renewed mobilization to reduce the danger from nuclear weapons, by Frank von Hippel

Trump said he'd tear up the Iran nuclear deal. Now what?
Ariane Tabatabai

A short presidency, perhaps
Hugh Gusterson

Super emitters: The low-hanging fruit
Dawn Stover

Climate change chain reactions, bad and good
Dawn Stover

Hands across the lab: Will the US and Iran cooperate on science?
Ariane Tabatabai

Preparing the country for nuclear terrorism
Jerome Hauer

What if you don't trust the judgment of the president whose finger is over the nuclear button?
Louis Rene Beres

Can we remain food secure amid climate change?
Laura Kahn
 
It’s time to cut America’s nuclear arsenal
Daryl Kimball and Kingston Reif

The Doomsday Clock

Doomsday Clockwork
Kennette Benedict

More reading:

The Nuclear Roundup
Jodi Lieberman
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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists engages science leaders, policy makers, and the interested public on topics of nuclear weapons and disarmament, the changing energy landscape, climate change, and emerging technologies. We do this through our award-winning journal, iconic Doomsday Clock, public access website, and regular set of convenings. With smart, vigorous prose, multimedia presentations, and information graphics, the Bulletin puts issues and events into context and provides fact-based debates and assessments. For more than 70 years, the Bulletin has bridged the technology divide between scientific research, foreign policy, and public engagement.