It is claimed that global warming is the chief threat to human civilisation. I do not agree with this statement because people can find technological solutions to this problem, whereas the threat from nuclear weapons cannot be so easily solved and, therefore, poses a graver threat.
Some would argue that the increase in the planet’s average temperature will lead to catastrophe on a global scale, but the technology already exists to stem this threat. Solar power, combined with the use of electric vehicles, will remove the need for fossil-fuelled power stations and transportation. The result will be a massive reduction in the release of greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, which is the principal cause of global warming. For example, Tesla Motors manufactures excellent cars that produce zero CO2, and its sister company, Solar City, allows people to produce their own electricity using innovative photovoltaic roof tiles and Power Wall battery packs.
A much larger threat is the risk of thermo-nuclear war. It would only take one blunder or the breakout of a major war between nuclear states to wipe out every living thing on earth. This would be caused by the explosions themselves and the ensuing nuclear winter, which would wipe out all plant life and poison the air and oceans. For instance, the United States of America alone has enough nuclear warheads to wipe out every man, woman and child on earth, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s demonstrated how close it is possible to come to global nuclear war.
In conclusion, climate change is not the gravest peril the earth faces because we have the technological capability to solve it, and the threat from nuclear arms is much greater.