Global map showing COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, 20 July 2021. The map shows the huge difference in vaccination rates between some wealthy nations and the rest of the world. Graphic: Max Roser / Our World In Data
Global map showing COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, 20 July 2021. The map shows the huge disparity in vaccination rates between some wealthy nations and the rest of the world. Graphic: Max Roser / Our World In Data

31 December 2021 (Desdemona Despair) – For Des, 2021 was the second year of studying pandemic numbers daily and obsessively. In the U.S., the go-to site was Covid Act Now, which presents the latest data at the county level. Tracking the changing numbers every day was like watching the weather report, but with mass death instead of rain. Des also kept an eye on 91-DIVOC, which compares data between various nations.

By November 2021, more than five million people had been killed in the pandemic globally. Despite the ongoing mass mortality, the world economy sprang back after it was idled in 2020. This recovery meant that carbon emissions returned to the pre-pandemic trajectory, with no lasting reduction due to “building back better”. The use of thermal coal for power generation spiked due to the sudden increase in consumer demand, so it could be said that humans are “building back worse”.

Changes in regional carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, 2019-2021. Data: CDIAC / GCP / BP / USGS. Graph: Global Carbon Project
Changes in regional carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, 2019-2021. Data: CDIAC / GCP / BP / USGS. Graph: Global Carbon Project

Wealth gap widened

The pandemic in 2021 had dire effects on global wealth distribution, as the divide between rich and poor widened sharply. Nations became richer, but governments became poorer: over the past 40 years, the share of wealth held by public actors is near zero or negative in rich countries, meaning most of the world’s wealth is in private hands, a trend that has been amplified by the pandemic, as governments borrowed the equivalent of 10-20 percent of GDP from the private sector.

Global GDP percentage growth rate, 2018-2020 and forecast to 2023. Graphic: World Bank Global Economic Prospects
Global GDP percentage growth rate, 2018-2020 and forecast to 2023. Graphic: World Bank Global Economic Prospects

The World Bank reported: “As is the case with access to vaccines, there is an emerging gap in the economic recovery between high-income and low- and middle-income economies. … While the global economy is set to expand 5.6 percent in 2021—its strongest post-recession pace in 80 years, the recovery will be uneven. Low-income economies are forecast to expand by only 2.9 percent in 2021, the slowest growth in the past 20 years, other than 2020, partly due to the slow pace of vaccination.”

Share of wealth owned by the global top 0.01 percent and billionaires, 1995-2021. The wealth of the richest individuals on Earth has grown at 6 to 9 percent per year since 1995, whereas average wealth has grown at 3.2 percent per year. Since 1995, the share of global wealth possessed by billionaires has risen from 1 percent to more than 3 percent. 2020 marked the steepest increase in global billionaires’ share of wealth on record. Data: World Inequality Report 2022. Graphic: World Inequality Lab
Share of wealth owned by the global top 0.01 percent and billionaires, 1995-2021. The wealth of the richest individuals on Earth has grown at 6 to 9 percent per year since 1995, whereas average wealth has grown at 3.2 percent per year. Since 1995, the share of global wealth possessed by billionaires has risen from 1 percent to more than 3 percent. 2020 marked the steepest increase in global billionaires’ share of wealth on record. Data: World Inequality Report 2022. Graphic: World Inequality Lab

The coronavirus pandemic has been good for the world’s billionaires, with the already-impressive trend in wealth capture – which rose from 1 percent to more than 3 percent since 1995 – accelerating to 3.5 percent in 2020, the steepest increase on record in the wealth share captured by billionaires. Ten of the richest men in the world enjoyed an increase in their wealth of more than $400 billion since the pandemic began.

America’s billionaires grew $2.1 trillion richer during the pandemic, with their wealth increasing by 70 percent, from around $3 trillion at the start of the pandemic to more than $5 trillion in October 2021. The top one percent of U.S. earners now hold more wealth than the entire middle class. Meanwhile, 94 million U.S. citizens filed for unemployment in 2021.

Health declined

In the U.S., life expectancy continued its exceptional decline, which is unique among all the developed countries. Life expectancy for Black Americans saw the steepest drop in one year since the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression. The abrupt fall is “basically catastrophic,” said Mark Hayward, a University of Texas sociology professor who studies changes in U.S. mortality.

Rising inequality, a pandemic stretching into the foreseeable future, declining life expectancy, crazy weather caused by climate instability – it’s no surprise that “deaths of despair” in the U.S. from drug overdoses reached a record high in 2021, with no peak in sight.

Map showing the percent change in reported 12 month-ending count of U.S. drug overdose deaths by jurisdiction, April 2020 - April 2021. Graphic: National Center for Health Statistics / CDC
Map showing the percent change in reported 12 month-ending count of U.S. drug overdose deaths by jurisdiction, April 2020 – April 2021. Graphic: National Center for Health Statistics / CDC

The Sackler family may be out of the opioid business, but the underworld has stepped in to fill the demand: the vast majority of U.S. overdose deaths are now caused by synthetic opioids, fueled by widespread use of fentanyl, a fast-acting drug that is immensely more powerful than morphine.

The Invisible Hand of the market works its magic again.

WWF: Looming mass extinction could be biggest since the dinosaurs – “One million species could go extinct within the next decade, which would be the largest mass extinction event since the end of the dinosaur age”

Banner from the WWF web site on 29 December 2021 showing more than 40,000 species are threatened with extinction, comprising 28 percent of all assessed species. Graphic: WWF

Alaska sets December temperature record at 67°F (19°C) – “In late December, I would not have thought such a thing possible”

Alaska temperature record of 67°F (19°C) on 26 December 2021. The Kodiak Tide Gauge station recorded 67°F, a new statewide temperature record for December. The Kodiak Airport recorded 65°F, which broke their monthly record by 9°F. Graphic: NWS Alaska Region

Arctic heat record is like Mediterranean, says WMO – “The record is clearly indicative of warming across Siberia”

Map showing global land and ocean surface temperature anomaly for June 2020. On 14 December 2021, WMO announced verification of the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic, 38C (100F). The high temperatures across Siberia led to massive sea ice loss and played a major role in 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record, the WMO said. Averaged as a whole, the global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2020 was 0.92°C (1.66°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F), tying with 2015 as the third highest June temperature departure from average in the 141-year record. June 2020 marked the 44th consecutive June and the 426th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average. Nine of the 10 warmest Junes have occurred since 2010; the seven warmest Junes have occurred in the last seven years (2014–2020). Graphic: NCEI

COVID-19 case rates spike to record levels across the U.S. in December 2021

COVID-19 daily cases per 100,000 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 24 December 2021. Graphic: Covid Act Now

Researchers uncover the surprising cause of the Little Ice Age – “We may be underestimating future ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet”

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) sea surface temperature (SST) fingerprint. Multimodel mean correlation map between the low-frequency AMOC at 26°N and SST (12). Stars numbered 1 to 16 denote location of sites referred in the figures. The reconstructed AMV at South Sawtooth Lake (1), August temperature in Vøring Plateau off Norway (2), Eastern Fram Strait IRD (3), Atlantic water influence based on C. neoteresis in Western Fram Strait (4), East Greenland Strait N. labradorica (5), North Icelandic shelf temperature based on δ18O from bivalve shells (6), IRD in Denmark Strait (7), the RAPiD-35-COM δ18O T. quinqueloba (8), percentage of Atlantic species in Disko Bugt (9), the RAPID-21-COM sortable silt in the ISOW (10), Gulf of Maine reconstructed SST from bivalve shells (11), titanium (%) in the Cariaco Basin (12), Quelccaya ice record δ18O (13), Huagapo speleothem δ18O (14), and Lake Bosumtwi lake level inferred from δ18O (15). The James Ross Island ice core record with annually resolved δD is shown (16). Graphic: Lapointe and Bradley, 2021 / Science Advances

Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial water resource, could disappear in 25 years – “A low-to-no-snow future has massive implications for where and when water is stored in the western U.S.”

Satellite view of changes to the Sierra Nevada snowpack, 2006-2021. Photo: NASA

World Bank’s 2021 Year in Review in 11 Charts: The Inequality Pandemic

Debt as percentage of GDP in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), 1970-2020. COVID-19 pushed debt in developing economies to the highest level in more than 50 years. By the end of 2020, private debt in EMDEs reached a record 142 percent of GDP. Graphic: World Bank

NOAA’s 2021 Arctic Report Card: Rapid and pronounced warming continues to drive the evolution of the Arctic environment

(a) Linear sea surface temperature (SST) trend (°C yr-1) for August of each year from 1982 to 2021. The trend is only shown for values that are statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence interval; the region is shaded gray otherwise. White shading is the August 2021 mean sea ice extent, and the yellow line indicates the median ice edge for Aug 1982-2010, (b, c) Area-averaged SST anomalies (°C) for August of each year (1982-2021) relative to the 1982-2010 August mean for (b) Baffin Bay and (c) Chukchi Sea regions shown by blue boxes in (a). The dotted lines show the linear SST anomaly trends over the period shown and trends in °C yr-1 (with 95 percent confidence intervals) are shown on the plots. Mean August SST warming trends from 1982 to 2021 persist over much of the Arctic Ocean, with statistically significant (at the 95 percent confidence interval) linear warming trends of up to +0.1°C yr-1 (a). Overall, Baffin Bay SSTs are becoming warmer in August with a linear warming trend over 1982-2021 of 0.05 ± 0.01°C yr-1 (b). Similarly, Chukchi Sea August mean SSTs are warming, with a linear trend of 0.06 ± 0.03°C yr-1 (c). Mean August SSTs for the entire Arctic (the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas north of 67° N) exhibit a linear warming trend of 0.03 ± 0.01°C yr-1. Graphic: Timmermans and Labe / NOAA

“Prepare for lack of electricity” in 2022 says Foxconn founder

Newcastle Coal Futures, 5 December 2008 - 23 December 2021. In December 2021, Newcastle Coal Futures rose to $169 per metric ton, the highest price since the $222 peak on 29 October 2021, pressured by a surge in China’s thermal coal futures as supply is expected to tighten. In 2021, the Chinese government has intensified a crackdown on illegal mining in the country's top coal producing region Shanxi after a round of inspections at the region's miners and found at least 14 coal mines producing beyond their authorized capacity. Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, released a plan to raise annual thermal coal prices for 2022 to CNY 700 per ton from 2017's CNY 535 per ton, well above an informal ceiling of CNY 600. Earlier in 2021, China introduced power curbs especially for energy-intensive businesses and restrictions on coal imports, aiming to reach its climate targets but such curbs led to a serious power crunch. Graphic: Trading Economics

WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2021: Another year, another record – “CO2 in the atmosphere breached the milestone of 400 parts per million in 2015. And just five years later, it exceeded 413 ppm.”

Globally averaged atmospheric CO2 mole fraction (left) and growth rate (right), 1984-2020. In 2020, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important greenhouse gas, reached 413.2 parts per million in 2020 and is 149 percent of the pre-industrial level. Graphic: WMO

State of the Climate in 2021: Past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record – “Extreme events are the new norm”

Map showing the near-surface air temperature differences from the 1981-2010 average for January to September 2021. Data are from the ERA5 reanalysis product. Graphic: C3S / ECMWF

Global wealth inequalities are close to early 20th century levels, at the peak of Western imperialism – “The share of income presently captured by the poorest half of the world’s people is about half what it was in 1820”

Average annual global wealth growth rate, 1995-2021. Graph: World Inequality Lab

Global carbon emissions rebound to pre-pandemic levels after unprecedented drop in 2020 – “The fast recovery in CO2 emissions, following last year’s sharp drop, should come as no surprise”

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, 1959-2021. Global CO2 emissions bounced back after COVID-19 restrictions and reached pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Graph: Global Carbon Project

Missouri health department found mask mandates work, but Republican governor didn’t make findings public – “It’s devastating to see what the Missouri governor did”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson answers media's questions on Tuesday, 13 July 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri. Parson, a Republican, is digging in on his belief that mask mandates don't work despite a health department analysis showing reduced COVID-19 infections and deaths in cities that require face coverings. The Republican governor on Thursday, 2 December 2021, ripped into a report on the analysis by The Missouri Independent. Photo: Shelly Yang / The Kansas City Star / AP

October 2021 was Earth’s fourth-warmest October on record and warmest on record over Northern Hemisphere land areas

Map showing blended land and sea surface temperature anomalies in October 2021, relative to the 1981-2010 base period. The unusually warm temperatures across much of the Northern Hemisphere land resulted in the warmest October on record for the Northern Hemisphere land, surpassing the previous record set in 2019 by 0.11°C (0.20°F). The 10 warmest Octobers for the Northern Hemisphere have occurred since 2003. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

Amazon deforestation soars to 15-year high – “This is not surprising. The result of pulling apart Brazil’s environmental policy is deforestation.”

Aerial view of deforestation in Labrea in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in September 2021. Photo: Victor Moriyama / Amazônia em Chama / Greenpace Disclosure

Energy efficiency gains are too slow for a sustainable climate path

Primary energy intensity improvement, 2011-2021 and projected to 2020-2030. The 2021 estimate is based on World Energy Outlook 2021. The Net Zero Emissions Scenario is the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, 2020-2030 intensity improvements, ten-year average. Graphic: IEA

U.S. overdose deaths reached record high as pandemic spread – Drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans in yearlong period ending April 2021 – “These are numbers we have never seen before”

Map showing the percent change in reported 12 month-ending count of U.S. drug overdose deaths by jurisdiction, April 2020 - April 2021. Graphic: National Center for Health Statistics / CDC

“Huge climate bomb”: U.S. auctions off oil and gas drilling leases in Gulf of Mexico after climate talks – “Coming in the aftermath of the climate summit, this is just mind boggling”

Map showing the area of the Gulf of Mexico covered by the U.S. oil and gas lease sale on 17 November 2021. Source: US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Graphic: The Guardian

After COP26: The long road to phasing down coal – “It is hard to shut down coal facilities because few countries have sufficient spare capacity in their electricity systems to be able to do so”

Projected coal demand in the Stated Policies Scenario in the World Energy Outlooks 2021, 2020, and 2016. The International Energy Agency’s flagship outlook in October 2021 projected that under nations’ existing policies, global demand doesn’t begin falling again for several years. Then it declines but in 2050 is still at 70 percent of today’s levels. The IEA’s roadmap for reaching net-zero global emissions by 2050 requires a 55 percent decline by 2030. Graphic: IEA

U.S. Covid deaths get even redder – Gap in Covid death toll between Republican and Democratic America grew faster in October 2021 than at any previous time during the pandemic

Cumulative U.S. Covid deaths by county and political alignment, 1 January 2021 - 3 November 2021. The gap in Covid’s death toll between Republican and Democratic America grew faster in October 2021 than at any previous point during the pandemic. In October 2021, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened. Data: New York Times database / Edison Research. Graphic: The New York Times

Honest Government Ad: Net Zero by 2050 (feat. Greta) – “If you take all our promises and add them together, that puts us on track for ‘Still Very Much Fucked by 2050’”

Gap between promised CO2 emissions reductions and the required level to reach the 1.5C Paris target. Photo: The Juice Media

CPJ’s Global Impunity Index 2021: Killers of journalists still get away with murder – No one held to account in 81 percent of journalist murders during the last 10 years

Map showing the 12 worst countries in the Global Impunity Index 2021. CPJ’s Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. Editor’s note: This map reflects that CPJ holds Russian authorities responsible for press freedom violations in Ukraine’s Crimea. Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea led to de facto control of its media sphere, with Russian authorities jailing independent journalists, closing down media outlets and forcing critical journalists to flee. Graphic: CPJ

Honest Government Ad: COP26 Climate Summit – “Fuck you: we’ll keep digging, burning and exporting fossil fuels, let you to do the hard work, and then take all the credit”

Total Annual CO2-e emissions in Australia during the Labor and Liberal governments. Photo: The Juice Media

COP26 aims to banish coal. Asia is building hundreds of power plants to burn it – “You can have the cake of coal and an icing of solar”

Aerial view of JERA's Hekinan thermal coal power station in Hekinan, central Japan on 18 October 2021. Picture taken October 18, 2021. Photo: Yuka Obayashi / REUTERS

Top one percent of U.S. earners now hold more wealth than all the middle class

Percentage of wealth held by top 1 percent and middle 60 percent of U.S. earners, 1989-2020. After years of declines, America’s middle class now holds a smaller share of U.S. wealth than the top one percent. Data: Federal Reserve. Graphic: Bloomberg

2020 set records for negative emotions, continuing world’s decade-long downward trajectory – Stress index jumped five percent after record highs in 2019

Map showing Gallup’s World Negative Experience Index in 2020. Iraq continued to lead the world in negative experiences. Graphic: Gallup

Global COVID-19 deaths hit 5 million as Delta variant sweeps the world – U.S. deaths top 700,000 as anti-vaccine disinformation lures thousands to the grave – “If we had been more effective in our vaccination, we could have prevented 90 percent of the deaths since mid-June”

People cremate the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium ground in New Delhi, India, 24 April 2021. Photo: Danish Siddiqui / REUTERS

It’s nearly October 2021, and the temperature hit 100°F (37.7°C) in North Dakota – “A temp of 100F one week after the autumn equinox is an absolute insanity”

Map showing the temperature difference from normal across North America on 28 September 2021, as simulated by the European weather model. Hazen, North Dakota was among numerous locations that endured record-breaking heat in the northern Plains on Tuesday. Bismarck rose to 98 degrees, while Dickinson, N.D., about 60 miles southwest of Hazen, also hit 100. In South Dakota, Rapid City and Aberdeen both soared to 94, setting records for 28 September 2021. Average high temperatures in interior North Dakota in late September are in the 60s, meaning the actual readings deviated about 30 degrees from the norm. Graphic: WeatherBell / The Washington Post

Great Wall of Lights: China’s sea power on Darwin’s doorstep – “It really is like the Wild West. Nobody is responsible for enforcement out there.”

Satellite view of the Chinese fishing fleet crossing the Pacific ocean to the coast of Peru, June - September 2021. Data: NASA. Video: AP News

Record number of environmental activists murdered in 2020 – “Fighting the climate crisis carries an unbearably heavy burden for some, who risk their lives to save the forests, rivers, and biospheres”

South African environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase was assassinated by four gunmen in her own home on 22 October 2020. “Mama” Ntshangase was a leading member of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, which is taking legal action against the proposed expansion of an open-cast coal mine operated by Tendele Coal near Somkhele, situated near Hluhluwe–Imfolozi park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa. Photo: Rob Symons / All Rise

Honest Government Ad: Carbon Capture and Storage – “CCS is a complex mining process whereby fossil fuel companies inject donations into the arseholes of politicians to delay climate action”

Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) capacity, 2010-2020. Twenty years ago, the fossil fuel industry told you that by today, CCS would capture 5,000 million tons of CO2 per year. Today, the world can barely capture 10. Which is so far off target you can’t even see it on this graph. And when you remember that our global emissions are 36 BILLION tonnes each year, even if it had met its target, it would contribute approximately FUCK ALL. Data: IEA. Graphic: The Juice Media

Gulf Stream could be veering toward irreversible decline, a new analysis warns – Atlantic current “approaching a critical threshold beyond which the circulation system could collapse”

Map showing trends of early-warning indicators of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) collapse. a, Linear trends of the corrected restoring rate λ estimated from the HadISST dataset assuming autocorrelated noise. b, Same as (a) but for the EN4 salinity dataset. c, Linear trends of the variance estimated from the HadISST dataset. d, Same as (c) but for the EN4 salinity dataset. e, Linear trends of the AC1 estimated from the HadISST dataset. f, Same as (e) but for the EN4 salinity dataset. Note the high positive values in the northern Atlantic and the subpolar gyre region in particular for λ and AC1, but also in the southern Atlantic ocean where a salinity pileup has recently been associated with an AMOC slowdown. Graphic: Boers, 2021 / Nature Climate Change

California mega-drought reduces Lake Oroville reservoir to historically low level – Hydroelectric plant shuts down – “We’re in uncharted territory”

Aerial view of Lake Oroville, seen through a thick haze of smoke from California wildfires, on 20 August 2021. Lake Oroville has a surface area of 15,000 acres but is facing the worst crisis in its 52-year history. Photo: Action News Now

Sunny-day flooding is about to become more than a nuisance – “What’s scary about this paper is the idea of the inflection point. Can we adapt fast enough to keep pace?”

Projections of annual counts of high-tide flooding (HTF) days for the NOAA Intermediate Sea Level Rise (SLR) scenario. The NOAA minor flooding threshold is used for Honolulu, San Diego and St. Petersburg. The NOAA moderate flooding threshold is used for Boston to highlight a threshold that is not yet routinely exceeded, which is not the case for the Boston minor threshold. The 50th percentile from the ensemble of projections (blue line) and the 10th–90th percentile range (blue shading, with the 90th percentile highlighted in orange) show increasing numbers of HTF days per year. The year of inflection (YOI, open black circle) for each projection corresponds to abrupt increases in the frequency of HTF days, which are highlighted by comparing the projected increases (Δ) over two adjacent ten-year periods (dashed and solid black lines). Graphic: Thompson, et al., 2021 / Nature Climate Change

Regulators refuse to step in as U.S. workers languish in extreme heat

A water bottle is placed at a small vigil for Sebastian Francisco Perez as the community gathers to remember him at Ernst Nursery and Farm in Saint Paul, Oregon on Saturday, 3 July 2021. Mr. Perez was found unresponsive in a field around 3:30 p.m. on 26 June 2021, during the record heatwave, according to the St. Paul Fire District. OSHA has opened investigations into Ernst Nursery and Farms and Brother Farm Labor Contractor, who provided workers to the nursery. Photo: Brian Hayes / Statesman Journal / Imagn

Graph of the Day: U.S. Covid vaccination rates and risk levels by county, 4 August 2021

Map of the U.S. showing the Covid risk levels and vaccination percentages, per county, 4 August 2021. The counties with the lowest vaccination rates hanve the highest infection rates. The highest Covid risk levels are in Louisiana and Florida. Graphic: Covid Act Now

Florida breaks record for COVID-19 hospitalizations, a day after reporting most new cases – Dr. Fauci says more “pain and suffering” ahead as Delta variant burns through unvaccinated population

Daily hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Florida, 1 August 2021. On Sunday, Florida broke a previous record for the most COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S., just one day after the state registered its highest single-day COVID-19 case number. Graphic: Covid Act Now

World scientists’ warning of a climate emergency 2021 – Humans face untold suffering from “the consequences of unrelenting business as usual”

Time series of climate-related responses to anthropogenic drivers, 1990-2020. Out of the 31 tracked planetary vital signs, 18 were at new all-time record lows or highs in 2020. Data obtained before and after the publication of Ripple and colleagues (2020) are shown in gray and red respectively. For variables with relatively high variability, local regression trend lines are shown in black. The variables were measured at various frequencies (e.g., annual, monthly, weekly). The labels on the x-axis correspond to midpoints of years. Sources and additional details about each variable are provided in the supplemental material. Graphic: Ripple, et al., 2021 / BioScience

Climate change continued across the UK in 2020 – 2020 was the first year that rainfall, temperature, and sunshine values all were in the top ten in the same year

Map showing rainfall anomalies (percentage) for seasons of 2020 in the UK. This was the fifth wettest year for UK in a series from 1862, and the wettest year since 2000. It was a particularly wet year across parts of north-west England and south-west Scotland which received more than 125% of average fairly widely, and some locations recorded more than 135% of average. Winter refers to the period December 2019 to February 2020. Note that winter 2021 (December 2020 to February 2021) will appear in State of the UK Climate 2021. Graphic: Met Office

Florida hits Covid daily case record as Gov. DeSantis downplays outbreak

COVID-19 daily confirmed new cases in Florida, January 2020 - July 2021 (7-day moving average). Florida exceeded its previous peak in daily cases on 26 July 2021, as Gov. DeSantis downplayed the severity of the outbreak and told healthcare professionals that he will oppose any mask mandate for students. Graphic: Johns Hopkins University

U.S. life expectancy in 2020 saw “basically catastrophic” decline, biggest drop since World War Two – “In 2021, we can’t get back to pre-pandemic life expectancy”

U.S. life expectancy, 1900-2020. Data: NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality. U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years. Graphic: AP

Skies turn hazy from Pittsburgh to Washington to Boston, as smoke from fires in Canada pour into the U.S. Northeast

Black carbon mass density over North America from GEOS-5, 21 July 2021. Smoke from wildfires in the U.S. West poured into the eastern U.S. on 20-21 July 2021. In New York City, levels of fine particulate pollution rose above 170 on the air quality index, a level considered harmful even for healthy people. Data: GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC. Graphic: Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory

Next 2021 heatwave to cover huge swath of U.S., bringing high temperatures to millions

Forecast NWS NDFD Max temperatures (F) and departure from climatology (fill) in the United States, 25 July 2021 - 28 July 2021. Graphic: NOAA / NWS

Map shows striking vaccination divide between rich countries and the rest of the world – “We are making conscious choices right now not to protect those in need”

Global map showing COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people, 20 July 2021. The map shows the huge difference in vaccination rates between some wealthy nations and the rest of the world. Graphic: Max Roser / Our World In Data

Florida governor DeSantis downplays increase in COVID-19 cases after selling “Don’t Fauci My Florida” merch

Daily new Covid cases per 100,000 people in Florida, 20 July 2021. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday downplayed the recent spike in coronavirus cases in his state, and criticized public health officials who continue to push unvaccinated Americans to get Covid-19 shots. Graphic: Covid Act Now

Desperate search for survivors as western Europe reels from a “catastrophe of historic proportion” – Flood deaths rise to 188 in Europe, more than 1000 missing – “It’s terrifying” says Angela Merkel

Aerial view of Erftstadt-Blessem, Germany before and after the record flood on 14 July 2021. Photo: Google Earth / @BezRegKoeln / BBC News

Minimum wage workers can’t afford rent anywhere in America – “In no state, metropolitan area, or county can a full-time minimum-wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom rental home”

Affordable rents in the U.S. in 2021 and wage earners grouped by earnings. Even under the best of circumstances, rent is unaffordable for most low-wage workers. Graphic: NLIHC

Taking Stock 2021: U.S. will miss Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets – Cheap natural gas threatens renewable energy transition

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions under current policy with energy market and economic uncertainty, 2005-2021 and projected to 2030. Under current trends, the U.S. will miss both of its Paris Agreement reduction targets in 2025 and 2030. Graphic: Rhodium Group

Drug overdose deaths in U.S. hit highest number ever recorded in 2020 – “This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, and the largest increase since at least 1999”

Map showing percent change in reported 12 month-ending count of U.S. drug overdose deaths, by jurisdiction, December 2019 to December 2020. Graphic: CDC

UN: World hunger continued its six-year rise in 2020 – Up to 160 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019 – “The world is at a critical juncture”

Number of undernourished people and prevalence of undernourishment globally, 2005-2020. The number of undernourished people in the world has been on the rise since 2015 and is back to levels seen during the global financial crisis in 2008–2009. Graphic: FAO

Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis – “This place is unrecognizable”

An aerial view of boaters waiting in line to use the Lake Mead’s only open boat launch ramp, at Hemenway Harbor. Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Third heatwave in 2021 building across Western U.S. – “Confidence is very high for a dangerous heatwave to persist through Monday and maybe into Tuesday”

Map showing Excessive Heat Warnings beginning 9 July 2021 for the entire Sacramento Valley, northern San Joaquin Valley, the foothills, and mountains up to ~ 6,000 ft. The hottest days are Saturday and Sunday, with many Valley communities approaching or exceeding 110°F, locally 115°F. Graphic: NWS Sacramento / Twitter

China’s greenhouse gas emissions exceeded the developed world for the first time in 2019

Total greenhouse gas emissions from China and OECD nations, 1990-2019. In 2019, China’s GHG emissions passed the 14 gigaton threshold for the first time, reaching 14,093 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MMt CO2e). This represents a more than tripling of 1990 levels, and a 25 percent increase over the past decade. As a result, China’s share of the 2019 global emissions total of 52 gigatons rose to 27 percent. Data: Rhodium Group / UNFCCC. Graphic: Rhodium Group

Western North American extreme heat in 2021 virtually impossible without human-caused climate change

Anomalies of 2021 highest daily maximum temperature (TXx) in Western North America, assuming the rest of the summer is cooler than the June 2021 heatwave. Note that some stations do not have data up to the peak of the heatwave yet and hence underestimate the event. The black box indicates the study region. Data: GHCN-D downloaded on 4 July 2021. Graphic: Philip, et al., 2021 / World Weather Attribution

Summer swelter trend: U.S. West gets hotter days, East hot nights – “Hotter summers for the broader region are here to stay”

Map showing the 30-year summer temperature increases for the continental United States, 1991-2020. Data: Provided by Atmospheric and Environmental Research/Verisk in July 2021. “The ridiculous temperatures in the Pacific Northwest may on one hand be considered a black swan (ultra-rare) event, but on the other hand are totally consistent with multi-decadal trends,” says meteorologist Judah Cohen. Graphic: Judah Cohen / Atmospheric and Environmental Research / Verisk / AP

Ground temperatures reached an astounding 145 degrees during the Pacific Northwest heatwave in early summer 2021

Map showing ground temperatures in the Pacific Northwest during the record-breaking heatwave in June 2021. Ground temperatures reached as high as 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees Celsius) in Wenatchee, Washington. Graphic: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3

Wildfire forces evacuation for British Columbia town that hit a record 121 degrees – “The whole town is on fire”

Wildfires consume the town of Lytton, British Columbia, on 30 June 2021. Photo: Jack Zimmerman / The Guardian

More than 230 dead in British Columbia as heatwave shatters records – “Dubai would be cooler than what we’re seeing now”

Surface temperature in the US Pacific Northwest and Canadian West, 29 June 2021. Graphic: Meteo365.com

Pacific Northwest bakes under once-in-a-millennium heat dome – Heatwave has intensity never recorded by modern humans – “There is no analog in our past for what we are likely to see this week”

Heat dome strength of 4 sigma over the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canadian West, 28 June 2021. The sigma is the standard deviation of a normal distribution of expected values. In this case the heat dome sigma max is 4.4, which mean that it's outside of 99.99 percent of expected values or a 1/10,000+ chance per year. Statistically speaking, there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of experiencing this value. So, if you could possibly live in that spot for 10,000 years, you'd likely only experience this kind of heat dome once, if ever. Graphic: By Jeff Berardelli / ECMWF

Illegal drug trade back to business as usual in 2020 and 2021 – Cocaine production hits record high – Number of people using illegal drugs increased by 22 percent in 2010-2019 decade

Global quantities of cocaine seized, by region, 1998–2019. Quantities of cocaine seized reached record levels in 2019. In 2019, the global quantity of cocaine seized increased by 9.6 percent compared with the preceding year to reach 1,436 tons (of varying purities), a record high. The 90 percent increase in the quantities of cocaine seized between 2009 and 2019 is likely a reflection of a combination of factors, including an increase in cocaine manufacture (50 per cent between 2009 and 2019) and a subsequent increase in cocaine trafficking, as well as an increase in the efficiency of law enforcement, which may have contributed to an increase in the overall interception rate. Graphic: UNODC

U.S. honey bee colonies hit by second-highest annual loss on record in 2021

Seasonal honey bee colony loss rates in the United States, 2008-2021. Annual loss estimates (from one 1 April to the next 1 April) combine winter (1 October – 1 April) and summer (1 April – 1 October) losses. The loss rate was calculated as the total number of colonies lost divided by the number of colonies “at risk” during the season. Colonies at risk were composed of viable colonies and new colonies made or acquired, while excluding colonies sold or parted with. Graphic: Bee Informed Partnership

Hunger, drought, disease: UN climate report reveals dire health threats – “The basis for our health is sustained by three pillars: the food we eat, access to water, and shelter. These pillars are totally vulnerable and about to collapse.”

Risk levels for climate-sensitive health outcomes based on different greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation scenarios. Graphic: IPCC WG 2 Sixth Assessment Report / AFP

The American West is drying out – Lake Mead, largest reservoir in U.S., drops to lowest level on record since it was filled in the 1930s

Satellite view of Lake Mead in 2000 and 2020. The United States' largest reservoir is draining rapidly. Plagued by extreme, climate change-fueled drought and increasing demand for water, Lake Mead on 16 June 2021 registered its lowest level on record since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s. Photo: LANDSAT / Copernicus / Google Earth

Heat stress in U.S. may double by century’s end

Potential heat stress risk in 2060-2099 due to combined climate and population projections. Periods of extremely high heat are projected to double across the lower 48 states by 2100 if the world continues to emit high levels of greenhouse gases. The heat stress will be felt most strongly in areas with growing populations. The Pacific Northwest, central California, and the Great Lakes region could experience as much as a threefold increase compared to the past 40 years. Graphic: Mukherjee, et al., 2021 / Earth’s Future

U.S. excess deaths rose a staggering 23 percent in 2020 – “They said they were opening early to rescue the economy. The tragedy is that not only cost more lives but actually hurt their economy by extending the length of the pandemic.”

Covid data from U.S. states plotted from 8 regions, as defined by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. Surge patterns were independently examined for each of the 8 regions; epidemic patterns were similar and could be merged as shown, except a bimodal pattern in the Great Lakes region was distinctive and plotted separately. Negative excess deaths were plotted as zero. Between 1 March 2020, and 2 January 2021, the US experienced 2,801,439 deaths, 22.9% more than expected, representing 522,368 excess deaths. The excess death rate was higher among non-Hispanic Black (208.4 deaths per 100 000) than non-Hispanic White or Hispanic populations (157.0 and 139.8 deaths per 100 000, respectively); these groups accounted for 16.9%, 61.1%, and 16.7% of excess deaths, respectively. The US experienced 4 surge patterns: in New England and the Northeast, excess deaths surged in the spring; in the Southeast and Southwest, in the summer and early winter; in the Plains, Rocky Mountains, and far West, primarily in early winter; and in the Great Lakes, bimodally, in the spring and early winter. Graphic: Woolf, et al., 2021 / JAMA

Earth Overshoot Day creeps back to July 29 in 2021 – “With almost half a year remaining, we will already have used up our quota of the Earth’s biological resources for 2021 by July 29th”

Graph showing Earth Overshoot Day, 1970-2021. Each year, Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year. Humanity currently uses 74% more than what the planet’s ecosystems can regenerate—or “1.7 Earths.” From Earth Overshoot Day until the end of the year, humanity operates on ecological deficit spending. This spending is currently some of the largest since the world entered into ecological overshoot in the early 1970s, according to the National Footprint & Biocapacity Accounts (NFA) based on UN datasets. Graphic: Global Footprint Network

Coronavirus barely slows rising carbon dioxide – Atmospheric CO2 peaks near 420 parts per million in 2021

Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory, 1958-2021. This graph depicts the upward trajectory of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as measured at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory by NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The annual fluctuation is known as the Keeling Curve. Graphic: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

Global food prices rise at rapid pace in May 2021 – Food Price Index hits highest value since September 2011, only 7.6 percent below its all-time peak

FAO Food Price Index, May 2020-May 2021. The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 127.1 points in May 2021, 5.8 points (4.8 percent) higher than in April and as much as 36.1 points (39.7 percent) above the same period last year. The May increase represented the biggest month-on-month gain since October 2010. It also marked the twelfth consecutive monthly rise in the value of the FFPI to its highest value since September 2011, bringing the Index only 7.6 percent below its peak value of 137.6 points registered in February 2011. The sharp increase in May reflected a surge in prices for oils, sugar and cereals along with firmer meat and dairy prices. Graphic: UN FAO

Another record high for NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index in 2020 – CO2 increase continues accelerating – No slowdown from Covid pandemic seen

Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), 1750-2020. For 2020, the AGGI was a record high 1.47, representing an increase in total direct radiative forcing of 47 percent since 1990. This increase in CO2 is accelerating — while it averaged about 1.6 ppm per year in the 1980s and 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s, the growth rate increased to 2.4 ppm per year during the last decade (2009-2020). Pre-1978 changes in the CO2-equivalent abundance and AGGI based on the ongoing measurements of all greenhouse gases reported here, measurements of CO2 going back to the 1950s from C.D. Keeling [Keeling et al., 1958], and atmospheric changes derived from air trapped in ice and snow above glaciers [Machida et al., 1995, Battle et al., 1996, Etheridge, et al., 1996; Butler, et al., 1999]. Equivalent CO2 atmospheric amounts (in ppm) are derived with the relationship between CO2 concentrations and radiative forcing from all long-lived greenhouse gases. Graphic: Butler and Montzka, 2021 / NOAA

Covid: Serious failures in WHO and global response, report finds – “It is due to a myriad of failures, gaps, and delays in preparedness and response”

Cumulative COVID-19 cases by country on 30 January 2020 and 11 March 2020. Graphic: The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

NOAA’s “new normal” climate report is anything but normal – “We’re really seeing the fingerprints of climate change in the new normals”

U.S. annual temperatures compared with 20th-century averages, 1901-2020. Each map shows the 30-year average temperatures compared with the 1901-2000 average. Data: NCEI. Graphic: CBS News

India sets pandemic record with more than 400,000 new cases in one day – Covid mortality underreporting widespread – “We believe the true number of deaths is two to five times what is being reported”

Aerial view of funeral pyres for coronavirus victims at a makeshift cremation ground in New Delhi on 1 May 2021. Video: The Washington Post

Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history

Emergency room admissions for carbon monoxide poisoning and hypothermia in Texas during Winter Storm Uri, 1 Jan 2021 to 2 February 2021. More than 1,400 people sought emergency care for carbon monoxide poisoning and at least 1,175 for hypothermia and cold exposure from 13 February 2021 to 20 February 2021. Data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Data compiled by NBC News, ProPublica, and The Texas Tribune. Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News

Least vaccinated U.S. counties have something in common: Trump voters – “It’s terrifying to think that this may never end. So much hinges on these vaccinations”

Map showing Federal government estimates of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in the U.S., estimated percentage of adults who may be hesitant to get the vaccine by county. Data: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Graphic: The New York Times

Changes to giant ocean eddies could have “devastating effects” globally – Scientists find “a global-scale reorganization of the ocean’s energy over the past three decades”

Abstract in video format for the paper titled: "Global changes in oceanic mesoscale currents over the satellite altimetry record", Martinez Moreno, J., Hogg, A. McC., England, M. H., Constantinou, N. C., Kiss, A. E., and Morrison, A. K. (2021) Global changes in oceanic mesoscale currents over the satellite altimetry record, 22 Apr 2021. Video: Martinez Moreno, et al., 2021 / Nature Climate Change

India health system cracks under strain of exponential surge in coronavirus cases – Oxygen supply disruption kills 22 patients – “A tsunami has indeed hit us now”

Covid-19 cases in India during the first and second waves, June-Sep 2020 and Feb-Apr 2021. Data: India Ministry of Health and Welfare. The rise in case numbers has been exponential in the second wave. On 18 June 2020, India recorded 11,000 cases and in the next 60 days, it added 35,000 new cases on average every day. On 10 February 2021, at the start of the second wave, India confirmed 11,000 cases - and in the next 50 days, the daily average was around 22,000 cases. But in the following 10 days, cases rose sharply with the daily average reaching 89,800. Graphic: BBC News

Exploration of ocean currents beneath the “Doomsday Glacier” by an autonomous underwater vehicle – Net melting of 75 cubic km of ice per year means “the glacier is not stable over time”

Deep water underneath the Thwaites ice shelf front is lighter than water outside the ice shelf. (A) Map of trough T3 showing the AUV path color coded by latitude. Shaded region indicates the ice shelf front, and black contours are depth contours. (B) Conservative temperature θ (in degrees Celsius) versus absolute salinity SA (in grams per kilogram) for the AUV data points shown in (A), colors as in (A). Contours show potential density (9) relative to 900 m, and blue arrow indicates isopycnal mixing, i.e., water that has the same density but different temperatures and salinities. Green circles in (A) and (B) show the dense saline deep water found in trough T3 discussed in the main text. (C) Absolute salinity SA (in grams per kilogram) as a function of depth for the AUV data in trough T3 and the CTD data (colors indicate station as in Fig. 3). (D) Potential density (in kilograms per cubic meter) as a function of depth for the AUV data in trough T3 and the CTD data (colors indicate station as in Figs. 3 and 4). Red and blue arrows indicate the two deep water masses discussed in the main text from Pine Island Bay and Thwaites Trough. Dissolved oxygen versus θ and SA is shown in fig. S6. Graphic: Wåhlin, et al., 2021 / Science Advances

Despite pandemic shutdowns, carbon dioxide and methane surged in 2020 – Carbon dioxide levels now higher than any time in past 3.6 million years – Largest annual methane increase ever recorded

Global monthly mean atmospheric CO2, 1980-2020. These graphs shows the mean global atmospheric burden of carbon dioxide as analyzed from measurements collected by the NOAA Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. Graphic: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

India sees “alarming rate of growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths” – 47,913 new cases reported in a single day in Maharashtra, “which is more than double its earlier peak”

COVID-19 daily cases per 100,000 population in India, 4 April 2021. On 3 April 2021, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed 93,249 new cases, the highest single-day tally since mid-September 2020. The country’s daily case counts have been rising exponentially since early March 2021. Graphic: 91-DIVOC

How Russia, China, and Iran shaped and manipulated coronavirus vaccine narratives

Top 10 accounts by tweets, likes, and retweets in tweets mentioning “vaccines” or “vaccinations” between 9 November 2020 and 9 February 2021. The fact that the Russian Embassy in Mexico received the fifth most likes and retweets is remarkable given that the embassy only posted 46 tweets mentioning vaccines during the studied period. On a per-tweet basis, the embassy’s vaccine-related tweets received the most engagement of any monitored account—roughly 795 likes and 374 retweets per post—far more than state media accounts with 100 times more followers. Likely buoyed by its vaccine messaging, the @embrusiamexico account saw the third largest percent gain in followers (70 percent) among monitored Russian accounts during the studied period. Data: Hamilton 2.0. Graphic: ASD

Majority of global Bitcoin energy consumption powered by non-renewable energy – Only 39 percent comes from renewables

Annualized global Bitcoin electricity consumption in TWh, 2016-2021. Graphic: Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index / University of Cambridge

A collapse foretold: How Brazil’s Covid-19 outbreak overwhelmed hospitals – “We have never seen a failure of the health system of this magnitude”

Covid-19 daily cases per 100,000 population in Brazil, 27 March 2021. On 24 March 2021, Brazil recorded 300,000 Covid-19 deaths, with roughly 125 Brazilians succumbing to the disease every hour. More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are at their peak, and highly contagious variants of the coronavirus are sweeping the nation, enabled by political dysfunction, widespread complacency and conspiracy theories. The country, whose leader, President Jair Bolsonaro, has played down the threat of the virus, is now reporting more new cases and deaths per day than any other country in the world. Graphic: 91-DIVOC

U.S. sinks to new low in ranking of world’s democracies, slipping 11 points in a decade, below Argentina and Mongolia – “These longer-term challenges aren’t going to be addressed with quick fixes. A change of president is not gonna make them go away”

Between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. fell eleven points in Freedom House’s annual report on political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World. Considered from a global perspective, the erosion of US democracy is remarkable, especially for a country that has long aspired to serve as a beacon of freedom for the world. A decade ago, the United States received a score of 94 out of 100, which put it in the company of other established democracies, like France and Germany. Today, whereas those former peers remain at 90 or above, the U.S. has fallen to a score of 83, leaving it in a cohort with newer democracies like Romania, Croatia, and Panama. Graphic: Freedom House

After steep drop in early 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions have rebounded strongly – “The rebound in global carbon emissions is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide”

Monthly evolution of global CO2 emissions in 2020, relative to 2019. After hitting a low in April 2020, global emissions rebounded strongly and rose above 2019 levels in December. Global CO2 emissions were 2 percent, or 60 million tonnes, higher in December 2020 than they were in the same month a year earlier. Major economies led the resurgence as a pick-up in economic activity pushed energy demand higher and significant policies measures to boost clean energy were lacking. Many economies are now seeing emissions climbing above pre-crisis levels. Graphic: IEA

White supremacist propaganda in U.S. hits all-time high in 2020 – “White supremacists appear to be more emboldened than ever”

Map of the U.S. showing incidents of hate, extremism, antisemitism, and terrorism in 2020. Graphic: ADL

Graph of the Day: 10,000 years of carbon dioxide

10,000 years of carbon dioxide. Due in large part to the burning of fossil fuels, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have now risen by about 50 percent% above the preindustrial level. At recent rates of growth, we would reach double the preindustrial by around the year 2075. Graphic: Dr. Robert Rohde

Gulf Stream System at its weakest in more than a millennium – “This could bring us dangerously close to the tipping point at which the flow becomes unstable”

Millennium-scale evolution of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), 400 - 2020. SST-based AMOC reconstructions (light and dark blue) compared to various proxy reconstructions, including land and sea surface temperature reconstructions, sortable silt data, δ18O in benthic foraminifera, δ15N of deep-sea gorgonian corals, and relative abundance of Turborotalita quinqueloba. Since at least 400 AD relatively stable, the AMOC began to decline during the 19th Century which is evident in all proxy records. Around 1950 a phase of particularly rapid decline started that is found in several, largely independent proxies. A short-lived recovery is evident in the 1990s before a return to decline from the mid-2000s. Together these data consistently show that the modern AMOC slowdown is unprecedented in over a thousand years. Graphic: Levke Caesar

World Happiness Report 2021: Reasons for Asia-Pacific success in suppressing COVID-19 – Death rate in Asia-Pacific nations 42 times lower than North Atlantic nations

Global map showing large-scale protests against COVID-19 control measures, defined as those that lead to arrests, in January 2021. Nations in green imposed large-scale lockdowns in 2021. Graphic: Al Jazeera / World Happiness Report

Asian Americans see shooting as a culmination of a year of racism – Anti-Asian attacks rise along with online vitriol – “I’ve never been this afraid to be Asian in America”

An Asian-American man who did not want to be identified pauses at a makeshift memorial on 17 March 2021 in front of Gold Spa, one of three spas in Georgia where Robert Aaron Long is accused of opened fire, killing eight people. Six of the victims were Asian-American women. Photo: Chris Aluka Berry / The Washington Post

Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150 percent in 2020, mostly in N.Y. and L.A. – “What Trump did is that he weaponized it”

Anti‐Asian hate crime incidents reported to police in select U.S. cities, 2019‐2020. Graphic: CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism

Western Monarch butterfly population closer to extinction – No Endangered Species Act protection in sight – “In only a few decades, a migration of millions has been reduced to less than two thousand butterflies”

Western Monarch butterfly abundance at 149 overwintering sites in California, 2017-2021. These critically low numbers follow two years with fewer than 30,000 butterflies—the previous record lows, indicating that the western monarch butterfly migration is nearing collapse. Sites were visited during both the Thanksgiving and New Year’s Counts during the 2020–2021 count season. Graphic: Xerces Society

U.S. debt to break World War 2 record by 2031 – “Even if economic conditions were more favorable than CBO currently projects, debt in 2051 will probably be much higher than it is today”

Total U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP, 1900-2021 and projected to 2051. In CBO’s projections, federal debt held by the public reaches 107 percent of GDP (surpassing its historical high) in 2031 and continues to climb. Federal debt held by the public is projected to equal 202 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2051, and the deficit is projected to equal 13 percent of GDP. Graphic: CBO

Brazil’s Covid crisis is a warning to the whole world, scientists say – “The acceleration of the epidemic is leading to the collapse of public and private hospital systems”

Workers in decontamination suits spray down the deck around the “Christ the Redeemer” statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Dado Galdieri / The New York Times

Texas power grid failure during Winter Storm Uri mostly due to limited gas availability for gas-fired power plants

Texas power grid load shedding in the early morning of 15 February 2021, 0123-0203. Up to an additional ∼24,000 MW net generation was unavailable due to extreme weather. Loss of generation was 52,277 MW (approximately 48.6 percent) at the highest point. Peak load shed was 20,000 MW. Most of the loss was caused by limited gas availability for gas-fired power plants. Graphic: ERCOT

Eastern Monarch butterfly population declined by 26 percent in 2020 – Degradation of temperate forests in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve was four times higher than in 2019

Forest degradation in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve core area, 2002-2020. The presence of the Monarch butterfly in the Mexican hibernation forests decreased by 26 percent last December, occupying 2.10 hectares (ha) compared to the 2.83 hectares reported during the same month in 2019. Meanwhile, the core forest area in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) where the lepidopteran establishes the main hibernation colonies recorded, between March 2019 and March 2020, 20.26 ha of degradation, four times more than in 2018-2019 when 5 ha were degraded. Graphic: WWF

WEF Global Risks Report 2021: Risk landscape dominated by pandemic and climate change – “Ignoring risks doesn’t make them go away”

Results from the WEF Global Risks Perception Survey 2020. The Global Risks Network chart shows how respondents rank the most concerning risks globally and their drivers. Data: World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2020 / The Global Risks Report 2021. Graphic: WEF

2020 report: U.S. citizens pay more for health care than any other OECD nation – But they have decreasing life expectancy, highest suicide rate, most chronic health conditions, and highest obesity rate

Life expectancy at birth for eleven OECD nations, 1980–2018. The U.S. is unique among wealthy nations for having a declining life expectancy. Graphic: The Commonwealth Fund

U.S. sea-level report cards: 2020 again trends toward acceleration – Water levels at 26 of 32 stations rose at higher rate than in 2019

Observed sea-level rise in Rockport, Texas, 1969-2020 and projected to 2050. Rockport has the second-highest annual rise rate (7.1 mm/year in 2020), and the highest projected sea-level rise for 2050 at 0.82 meters (2.69 ft) above mean sea level in 1992. Graphic: VIMS

U.S. life expectancy drops by a full year due to COVID-19 and fentanyl overdose deaths – Toll on minority communities is significantly more deadly – “We haven’t seen a decline of this magnitude in decades”

U.S. life expectancy at birth by sex, 2000-2020. In the first half of 2020, life expectancy at birth for the total U.S. population was 77.8 years, declining by 1.0 year from 78.8 in 2019 (6). Life expectancy at birth for males was 75.1 years in the first half of 2020, representing a decline of 1.2 years from 76.3 years in 2019. For females, life expectancy declined to 80.5 years, decreasing 0.9 year from 81.4 years in 2019. The difference in life expectancy between the sexes was 5.4 years in the first half of 2020, increasing from 5.1 in 2019. Between 2000 and 2010, the difference in life expectancy between the sexes narrowed from 5.2 years to its lowest level of 4.8 years and then gradually increasing to 5.1 years in 2019. Graphic: NCHS

How one Texas storm exposed an energy grid unprepared for climate change

Map showing record cold temperatures across the United States on 16 February 2021 caused by winter Storm Uri, compared with the average temperatures over the 1979-2000 period. Temperatures were far colder than average and caused widespread power failures across Texas and other states. Data: National Weather Service / Global Forecast System / ClimateReanalyzer.org / Climate Change Institute / University of Maine. Graphic: The New York Times

EIA energy report explores impact of COVID-19 on U.S. energy mix through 2050 – Return to 2019 levels of U.S. energy consumption to take years – Energy-related CO2 emissions fall before leveling off or rising

Projected energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, 2020-2050. Graphic: EIA

England and Wales recorded most deaths last year for a century – “Without all our efforts, 2020 could have been much worse”

Annual deaths in England and Wales, 1900-2020. Deaths have been rising recently as life expectancy improvements have stalled, but the jump in 2020 to over 600k is clear. Only one previous year has topped 600k: 1918, the year of the “Spanish” flu. Graphic: Nick Stripe / ONS

Atmospheric carbon dioxide to pass iconic threshold in 2021 – “Emissions have now returned almost to pre-pandemic levels … The human-caused build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere is accelerating”

The central estimate of the CO2 rise forecast for 2020-2021 in the context of the frequency distribution of the observed annual rise for each year in the Mauna Loa record. The horizontal red bar shows the forecast uncertainty range of ± 0.55 ppm. Graphic: Met Office

2020 tied 2016 for hottest year ever recorded – “The extraordinary climate events of 2020 show us we have no time to lose”

Average annual global temperature (deg C) relative to 1850-1900. 2020 tied with 2016 as the hottest year on record. Data: ERA5 / Copernicus Climate Change Service. Graphic: The Guardian

Lake Washington sockeye salmon hit record low – “In a generation, we have gone from times of plenty to these fish being on the brink of extinction”

Return rates for Cedar River Sockeye salmon, 2014-2020. In 2020, the number of returning salmon declined to a record low. Data: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Graphic: Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times