Thread by @FLIxrisk

FLI proudly announces the winners of the 2022 Future of Life Award.

They are @John_Birks, Paul Crutzen, Jeannie Peterson, @AlanRobock, Carl Sagan, Georgiy Stenchikov, Brian Toon and Richard Turco.

Find out more about the winners here: futureoflife.org/future-of-life…

Hear their story👇

All eight of these heroes win the Future of Life Award for their roles in discovering and popularising nuclear winter.

We hope that drawing attention to this work will help to refocus attention on nuclear weapons, as governments meet to at the #NPTRevCon this month. (2/6)

Nuclear winter is the severe and prolonged global climatic cooling likely to result from a nuclear war. Masses of soot & smoke, lofted into the stratosphere by firestorms, would envelop the planet, blocking the sun.

Blocked sunlight = agricultural failure = global famine. (3/6)

Decades after the reduction of nuclear arsenals at the end of the Cold War, Nuclear Winter has unfortunately faded from public consciousness. But by remembering the work of the pioneers of this field, we can better inform future decisions and hold our leaders accountable. (4/6)

After all, it was the bilateral scientific acceptance of nuclear winter - brought about by this year's winners - which helped persuade both Gorbachev and Reagan to reduce their nuclear arsenals in the first place.

Nuclear winter changed the world.

It can do so again. (5/6)

We invite you to celebrate the heroes of The Story of Nuclear Winter.

And we urge you to share this story, and in so doing help to give it a happy ending.

A nuclear winter would impact all of us.

So let's make sure this is a story mainly of something which DIDN'T happen. (6/6)