Longtime environment writer Jeff Alexander just launched a nifty feature to track the Asian carp crisis.
It’s modeled after the Doomsday Clock that scientists created in the 1940s to track how the world inched toward nuclear holocaust.
The Asian Carp Doomsday Clock features hands made of images of bighead and silver carp – two of the species biologists and others fear could devastate the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Jeff does a nice round up of a week’s worth of bad news along the carp Maginot Line to justify setting the hands at a mere five minutes before midnight.
When the original Doomsday Clock was launched in 1947, it was set at seven minutes to midnight. The closest it came to midnight was 11:58 p.m. in 1953 when the U.S. and Soviet Union both tested thermonuclear devices. The farthest it’s been set from midnight is 11:43 p.m. in 1991. That’s when the two countries signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It’s now at 11:55 p.m.
Check out Jeff’s carp clock on his new blog, All Things Great Lakes. You can weigh in there if you think his prediction is right on, too dire or too generous. Or maybe give your suggestions on how to turn back time.