The Doomsday Clock At 75

The Doomsday Clock is many things all at once: It's a metaphor, it's a logo, it's a brand, and it's one of the most recognizable symbols of the past 100 years. Chicago landscape artist Martyl Langsdorf, who went by her first name professionally, created the Doomsday Clock design for the June 1947 cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by the news organization and nonprofit behind the iconic Doomsday Clock. It sits at the crossroads of science and art, and therefore communicates an immediacy that few other forms can. As designer Michael Bierut says, the Clock is "the most powerful piece of information design of the 20th century." The Doomsday Clock has permeated not only the media landscape but also culture itself. As you'll see in the pages of this book, more than a dozen musicians, including The Who, The Clash, and Smashing Pumpkins, have written songs about it. It's referenced in countless novels (Stephen King, Piers Anthony), comic books (Watchmen, Stormwatch), movies (Dr. Strangelove, The Simpsons Movie, Justice League), and TV shows (Doctor Who, Madame Secretary). Even the shorthand, the way we announce time on the Doomsday Clock--"It is Two Minutes to Midnight" (or whatever the current time might be)--has been adopted into the global vernacular. Throughout the Doomsday Clock's 75 years, the Bulletin has worked to preserve its integrity and its scientific mission to educate and inform the public. This is why, in part, we wanted to explore this powerful symbol and how it has impacted culture, politics, and global policy--and how it's helped shape discussions and strategies around nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. It's a symbol of danger, of hope, of caution, and of our responsibility to one another.

Conceived and published in recognition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist's 75th year of publication, Now, Then, and the Future consists of two distinct collections of distinguished articles that are meant to comment on one another. The opening section of the book focuses on 21st century challenges and asks a diverse cast of respected strategic thinkers and doers of the 21st century-including two Nobel Prize laureates-to look forward a decade or two, and to answer a general question: Where might the Bulletin and its readers most profitably focus their attention as they work to keep the Doomsday Clock from striking midnight? The book's latter portion of consists of republications of noteworthy pieces that appeared in the Bulletin over the last seven-and-a-half decades. This retrospective is not comprehensive could not possibly be, given the trove of famous authors and weighty subjects the magazine has ushered into print and pixels since 1945. Even so, this portion of the book includes major work by authors so acclaimed as to be easily identified by single names: Einstein, Oppenheimer, Gorbachev, Nixon, Kennedy. As is fitting for the prominence of its expert authors, Now, Then, and the Future begins with a foreword by one of the most influential public intellectuals of modern history, Noam Chomsky.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded in 1945, covers nuclear issues, climate change and disruptive technology. Our coverage of these issues is based on a driving belief that humans can successfully manage the technologies they create. The Bulletin is also the nonprofit behind the iconic Doomsday Clock. Notable contributors and figures featured in the Bulletin include Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ruth Adams, Stephen Hawking, Christine Todd Whitman, U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, and multiple Nobel laureates. The Bulletin was founded after World War II by Manhattan Project scientists who "could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work." Our mission is to equip the public, policymakers, and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence.

This open access book emphasizes that procuring goods at the expense of the environment and those who live there is no longer acceptable. Fortunately, there is now an unstoppable force, created by a collective of diverse stakeholders, driving the sustainability agenda. A company's sustainability standards can only truly be as good as those along its entire supply chain. The purpose of this book is to encourage and inspire companies on their journey to transform into responsible and sustainable businesses by addressing the supply chain, which reflects a significant part of a company's expenses and thus the impact procurement can make. The authors, accomplished procurement leaders, and experienced management consultants offer an end-to-end sustainability approach, from defining targets and ambitions to anchoring sustainability within an organization and its decision-making processes.

The Doomsday Watch is both a book and an actual watch that will display the minutes and seconds left before Midnight - the time that the world comes to an abrupt end and which spells the extinction of the human race at the very least. The Doomsday Clock was invented just after World War Two when a group of concerned scientists realized in horror that because we had opened up Pandora's box of the nuclear bomb, we were certainly closer to the end of civilization as we know it. The other troubling problem that they saw even 65 years ago was that the balance of Nature was thrown completely off of kilter and that we were having a huge impact on the weather and climate. Because of these very alarming condistions - the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists initially set the hands of the Doomsday Clock to twenty minutes to midnight. Today, they have been forced to push the hands forward to only three minutes to midnight. Clearly something has to be done on an state of emergency basis. Millions of people are being displaced by terrorists all around the globe. More and more rogue nations are getting the atom bomb. More of and more failed states arise every day powered by insane and crazed people who are willing to destroy the entire planet in order to make money. And the most alarming part of all this is that the political leadership of the world has sold out to these incredibly evil interests. The oceans are almost dead and all life on the planet is threatened. Coal mines dominate the surface of the Earth and the population continues to explode and worse yet - demand more and more of the luxuries of life that cause more and more of the oceans to be destroyed and the rain-forests to be obliterated. It's obvious to most of us that something drastic must be done to rescue us from the inevitable destruction of the world - but how? We don't really have a clue - until now. By getting on the Doomsday Watch and taking all of the actions suggested here - there is a chance that we can save the Earth and save our species from extinction - but it must start with YOU and it must start now. Get on the Doomsday Watch and get your own Watch that will show the progress either forwards or backwards in the time we have left to total disaster. Do it now. Tell everyone you know about the Doomsday Watch and we have a chance. Do nothing - and the human race is doomed. What will you do?

At a time when consulting has increasingly come under scrutiny by governments and communities, Professional Management Consulting: A Guide for New and Emerging Consultants redefines “management consulting” and reinforces what it means to be a professional. With a focus on the importance of ethical practice and continuous personal development for building reputation, this easy‐to‐read book sets a new benchmark for aspiring consultants. Based on sound research and supported by the author’s background in leadership, management consulting practice, research, business strategy, and academia over several decades, Blackman brings together a range of tried and tested theoretical models commonly used by successful consultants. Drawing on his own experiences as a director of the industry’s peak body, the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes, he provides a clear explanation on what a management consultant is and how and why clients use consultants to help them solve complex problems and manage change. With an emphasis on the importance of building and recognising relationships as a basis for problem‐solving and implementing change, this book is an essential contribution to the profession worldwide. This book is a vital resource for new and emerging professional consultants. It is suitable as an introductory text for business/commerce and engineering undergraduate students and a secondary reading for graduate students in engineering and management.