By Rayan Badran | Staff Writer
The apocalypse is a concept that has been constantly feared by human civilizations at large and religions for centuries. It describes the end of life as we know it. While different interpretations of a divine apocalypse exist, to some, they remain just stories with no tangible outcome. But what has been felt and witnessed firsthand is that humans may bring about the end of their own planet through their own actions. In 1945, the world changed with the birth of the atomic bomb, which forever redefined political power dynamics and the definition of a strong arsenal for countries all over the world. Since then, an arms race began between the Soviet Union and the United States over who could build a larger nuclear arsenal in a period of silent warfare known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, tensions were high, and fears that a nuclear fallout would destroy the planet were shared by several atomic scientists. A few years earlier, in 1947, as a reaction to the damage of the first atomic bomb, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock. The Doomsday Clock is a concept that initially measured how far away humanity was from destroying itself by using the image of a clock to represent a countdown and midnight to represent the potential apocalypse.
Since then, the clock would be moved every year forward or backward, depending on whether positive or negative progress had occurred in the previous year. For example, after the Cold War passed and the looming threat of nuclear destruction faded, the clock was moved backwards. So, the main criterion used that was adopted to decide the clock’s movement was the threat of nuclear destruction. However, as of 2007, it had become obvious that other aspects of human activities were also equally threatening, if not more of a threat to the planet than nuclear fallout. During the 20th century, climate change became widely discussed as a serious issue resulting from human activities, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) disrupts the global temperature balance and leads to an increase in surface temperature known as global warming. Based on that, the criteria for the clock’s movement were modified in 2007 to include the effects of climate change. As of the end of 2025, the clock currently sits at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been. But what is it that has pushed the arms of the clock to their worst state? The answer is a combination of factors in both the climate and geopolitical sectors. But both have one major cause at their heart: human activity.
According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the year 2025 is currently tied with 2023 as the second-warmest year on record, with warmer-than-average temperatures being recorded. The overall increase in global temperatures is typically compared to the pre-industrial levels, which act as a baseline, as they are prior to the time of the increase in GHGs. The average increase in global temperatures between 2023 and 2025 is 1.5 ℃ above the pre-industrial levels. In Lebanon, research by the Climate Centre at the Red Cross shows that the country has witnessed a mean temperature increase of 0.3 ℃ per decade since the 1970s, which is above the global average increase rate of 0.15 ℃ per decade. This has disrupted the typical weather patterns in Lebanon. For example, an article by L’Orient Today states that 382.1 millimeters of rain were recorded in the 2024-2025 winter season compared to an average of 822 millimeters over 30 years. This diminishes the available water storage for the summer season. Moreover, the 2025 summer season was the hottest recorded as the temperature reached 43 ℃ in the Bekaa Valley and heatwaves were felt more frequently throughout the season in different regions of Lebanon.
These effects have been felt worldwide, albeit to different extents and in different forms. But overall, this is the planet’s reaction to the strain caused by human activity. We have been repeatedly told that the temperature is increasing due to the effect of greenhouse gases and their action in the atmosphere, but what is the physics that governs such a phenomenon? Greenhouse gases are gases with the ability to trap heat. At higher concentrations, greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit outgoing infrared radiation, increasing heat retained near Earth’s surface. This leads to a warming of Earth’s surface, which worsens when the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere increases. The amount of GHGs in the atmosphere is usually measured in equivalence to CO2. These gases have different sources, but they are primarily the result of the combustion of fossil fuels, manufacturing operations, and power generation. In 2025, Climate Trace, which is a website that records annual GHG emissions, recorded 50.31 billion tons of CO2 equivalent. This explains why the Doomsday Clock was placed at 89 seconds to midnight at the beginning of 2025 and illustrates the worsening severity of global warming every year.
In light of this figure, Lebanon is responsible for a minimal amount of global emissions at 22.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent. The two leading sectors that contribute to the emission of GHGs in Lebanon are the power generation and the transportation sectors. However, it is not all doom and gloom. While the full reversal of climate change, meaning a return to pre-industrial temperatures, is impossible according to NASA, we can still limit the degree of severity to which warming occurs, wherein eventually the temperature may stabilize. And the solutions are not some hidden mystery or magic; they have been there for a while but have only now begun taking center-stage.
These methods include a switch to renewable energy sources that contribute to fewer emissions and last longer with regard to the power sector. Ever since the economic crisis of 2019, the electricity grid of Lebanon has been impaired, which motivates the increased reliance on diesel generators. However, diesel generators are major contributors to air pollution and emit GHGs. They are also costly to maintain. Therefore, Lebanon saw a rise in the integration of solar power into its electricity grid, which is a major renewable energy source. According to an article by the Star, 20% of the country’s energy needs are being met with 1,500 MW of installed solar panels. Future plans by the ministry are to increase this figure to 55% in the future. There are also plans to introduce other renewables into the country’s energy grid.
Moreover, in the transportation sector, electric vehicles are now favored, as they are independent of fossil fuels, and public transportation is being promoted as it decreases the number of vehicles that are being operated. In Lebanon, we have seen the early stages of such initiatives. EV imports were $818,000 in 2018, rose to $45.3 million in 2022, and reached $21.6 million in the first half of 2025, according to Lebanon Files. This highlights the growing market of EVs. Despite a troublesome past with public transportation, Lebanon has begun introducing public buses sourced from multiple countries with improved safety to revitalize the public transportation sector. According to Al Arabiya, this initiative is important to protect the environment as traffic would improve if people relied more on public transportation.
The strides taken by the country in mitigating both these major sources are commendable in light of all the other problems it is facing. It provides a small glimmer of hope, given that the Doomsday Clock is ticking and is almost at its worst point. With the recent strides and developments in the energy sector and the shift towards an emissions-free sector, it could come to pass that the temperature increase will stabilize. In the end, the clock serves more as a warning than an actual countdown to some apocalypse. However, it is not a warning that may be taken lightly, for we have begun to witness the drastic effects of human activities on the planet, and those effects seem to be far scarier than any idea of an apocalypse.
References:
Saddi: Lebanon faces unprecedented water shortage – L’Orient Today
Explore map – Climate TRACE | Climate TRACE
https://www.climatecentre.org/wp-content/uploads/RCCC-Country-profiles-Lebanon_2024_final.pdf?
2025 Doomsday Clock Statement – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
https://www.lebanonfiles.com/2025/articles/%
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/faq/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/