While most climate scientists agree that it wasn't exactly good news when United States president Donald Trump formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, thereby rapidly accelerating the risk of a deadly nuclear arms race, many noted that Trump's nuclear policy offered them a dark but very real hope that global warming might not bring an end to human life on earth.
"Honestly, Trump's nuclear policy constitutes the first credible argument I've heard that climate change won't result in the extinction of the human species," said climate expert Dr. Richard Bailey. "A nuclear war could well end up doing it first."
Camille Armstrong, an environmental science professor at University of California, Berkeley, agreed. "If we continue down this path, we won't have to worry about global warming at all. And I know it sounds awful, but I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie. This could be a much more exciting way to go."
And Kevin Johnson of climate action group Extinction Revolt confessed that the announcement of Trump's withdrawal from the landmark nuclear arms treaty made him feel justified in taking the first weekend he's had off from activism in years. "No point running myself into the ground trying to raise awareness about sea level rise when it's looking like we might well be blown up long before we're underwater. There's a bright side to everything, I guess."
