85 Seconds to midnight: A warning we can’t ignore

On 27 January 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 85 seconds to midnight, representing the closest we have ever been to global catastrophe.

The Clock isn’t a prophecy. It’s a warning: a yearly snapshot of how close humanity is to

disaster, driven by our own choices. This year’s warning is blunt. The Bulletin describes a world in which major powers are becoming more “aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic”, while the cooperation needed to reduce existential risks is breaking down.

In its announcement, it also called for urgent action to limit nuclear arsenals, create international guidelines for AI, and form multilateral agreements to address global biological threats, alongside confronting the continuing climate crisis.

A key theme is the collapse of guardrails. As CND have highlighted, the shift comes as New

START (the last remaining treaty limiting US and Russian deployed strategic nuclear

weapons) nears expiry, with experts describing an extension as “low hanging fruit.”

At the same time, the Bulletin warns of growing “arms race instability”: nuclear-armed

states modernising, rhetoric hardening, and talk of nuclear weapons’ “utility” becoming

more casual, even as destabilising new frontiers (including AI-enabled warfare) develop

faster than international rules.

For Conscience, the link to our mission is direct. The clock ticks forward in a world where

public money is poured into preparing for war, and where nuclear deterrence is treated as

normal statecraft, despite the catastrophic humanitarian risk it creates.

Our message is that another choice is possible: a world where taxes nurture peace, not

war, where we collectively fund the work that prevents conflict rather than the machinery

that escalates it.

That is why we campaign for the legal right to conscientious objection to military taxation,

and for practical mechanisms that would allow people to redirect the portion of their taxes

that would otherwise support military spending.

This isn’t about opting out of responsibility; it is about taking responsibility for what our

money makes possible, and shifting priorities towards peacebuilding, humanitarian efforts,

and climate resilience.

As the Bulletin’s President, Alexandra Bell, said “change is both necessary and possible,” but

only if people “demand swift action from their leaders.” At 85 seconds to midnight, the task

is to turn anxiety into action: get informed, talk with others, and press elected representatives to back policies that reduce nuclear risk and invest in peace. Together we

can give peace a budget.