Self-Control Series

SELF CONTROL

Human beings have become so clever. We, in this age of advanced technology, have learnt to control many things. We control the sun to heat our houses; we control mighty rivers to produce electricity for our cities; we control the space through satellites to transmit communication; we have learnt to control deadly diseases through wonder drugs. We have learnt to control the universe, but have failed to control ourselves.

On the negative angle, through the same technology, we have also produced enough nuclear weapons to kill everybody on planet earth. We live in this city called Nairobi. It has a military base, a major University and an International Airport. I can assure you, there is a missile that's aimed at your city right now.

Today, there are an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 nuclear warheads in the world. About 95% of these arsenals are in the hands of the United States and Russia. The rest is shared by eight other nuclear weapon states. All these countries namely United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea and now Iran. These 10 countries tend to conflict with each other. Just to name a few; the United States and North Korea are in conflict, NATO and Russia are in conflict, India and Pakistan are in an old conflict. We are just one misunderstanding, or one fanatic politician away from a nuclear conflict.

Talking about Russia and the United States; each have over 4000 strategic nuclear weapons. That's enough to attack each city or major town with more than 100,000 people in each country of the world with, not one, but 10 atomic bombs. Besides, these powers no longer require planes to carry the bomb. They now have intercontinental ballistic missiles.

We're all familiar with the image of Hiroshima wiped flat by the atomic bomb. This was one small weapon. An attack today on a large city would involve a nuclear bomb that is 10 to 50 times more powerful than the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

To understand what that would look like, let me use the model of a single 20-mile megaton explosion.

• Within a 1,000th of a second of the detonation of this bomb. A fireball would form covering a 7km diameter. Within that 7km diameter, the temperatures would rise to 11 million Degrees Celsius, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. Everything within that 7km diameter would be vaporized. The buildings, the trees, the people, the upper level of the Earth itself would disappear.

• Beyond the 7km diameter in all directions, the explosion would generate winds in excess of 1,000km/hr to a distance of 10km in every direction. The heat within that 17km radius would be so intense, and all would be gone.

• And to a further 26km in every direction, beyond and outside the original 17km radius i.e a diameter of 86km, the heat would still be so great that everything flammable would burn; cloth, paper, gasoline heating oil, plastic, it would all ignite. Within this entire area, the temperatures would rise to over 400oC; all the oxygen would be consumed, and every living thing would die. In the case of Nairobi city, we're talking about the entire Kiambu, Naivasha, parts of Muranga, Machakos and Kajiado counties; over 15 million people, all animals, all plants, all dead.

• But it would not stop there. The fires started by these weapons would put 150 million tons of soot or smoke into the upper atmosphere. And the smoke would be spreading. It would take about two weeks for the smoke to cover the entire Earth and it would rise to altitudes of between 30km and 80km above the surface. Now, here is the problem; at those high altitudes, it never rains. So, the smoke would stay there for years. The smoke would partially block the sun resulting into very cold temperatures. We would be in a nuclear winter. Under these conditions ecosystems would collapse.

• Given the smoke would partially block the sun, there would be no photosynthesis. Because of lack of photosynthesis, no crop would grow. The world would lose the yields of corn, wheat and rice for years afterwards because of the bad weather. Grass would disappear; both animals and human beings on planet earth would all die of starvation.

No one would be safe. Not those in countries with no nuclear weapons, not those in countries that didn't participate on the war. And not those on the other side of the planet from where the explosions occurred. No one would be safe. That is why, before Putin attacked Ukraine, he reminds America that he has the nuclear weapons. He does this to keep off America and NATO from the war because he knows no one is safe.

The sad fact is this; nuclear weapons are not a force of nature. They're not an act of God. We built them with our own hands. Saints, unless we exercise self-control, we will self-destruct.