governance – Page 36 – Desdemona Despair

Change in primary energy by fuel, 2007-2021. Primary energy in 2021 grew by its largest amount in history, with emerging economies accounting for most of the increase. Primary energy grew by 31 exajoules (EJ) in 2021, the largest increase in history and more than reversing the sharp decline seen in 2020. Primary energy in 2021 was 8 EJ above 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy in 2021 was driven by emerging economies, which increased by 13 EJ, with China expanding by 10 EJ. Taking 2020 and 2021 together, primary energy consumption in emerging economies increased by 15 EJ, largely reflecting growth in China (13 EJ). In contrast, energy demand in developed economies in 2021 was 7 EJ below 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy between 2019 and 2021 was entirely driven by renewable energy sources. The level of fossil fuel energy consumption was unchanged between 2019 and 2021, with lower oil demand (-8 EJ) offset by higher natural gas (5 EJ) and coal (3 EJ) consumption. Graphic: BP

June 28, 2022

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022: Carbon emissions rebound after pandemic dip – Coal prices surge – “The world remains on an unsustainable path”

By Spencer Dale 28 June 2022 (BP) – The challenges and uncertainties facing the global energy system are at their greatest for almost 50 years, at the time of the last great energy shocks of the 1970s. Most immediate is the impact of the terrible events taking place in Ukraine, with its tragic toll on […]

Poster demanding justice for Dom Phillips, a British journalist, and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on indigenous people, who were murdered while doing investigative work in a remote region of the Amazon rainforest in early June 2022. Graphic: Cris Vector

June 27, 2022

Assassinated British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira laid to rest in Brazil – Indigenous group Univaja demands probe into murders – “They tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest and its inhabitants”

By Tom Phillips and Andrew Downie 26 June 2022 Niterói (The Guardian) – The British journalist Dom Phillips has been laid to rest in Brazil, exactly three weeks after he was gunned down while journeying through the Amazon with the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira. Pereira and Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, disappeared while travelling on […]

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel rescue flood-affected people in Korora village, west of Gauhati, India, Friday, 17 June 2022. Photo: Anupam Nath / AP

June 26, 2022

More than 9.5 million people stranded after deadly floods hit India and Bangladesh – “The flooding is the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region”

By Swati Gupta and Rhea Mogul 22 June 2022 NEW DELHI (CNN) – Millions of people across India and Bangladesh have been affected by raging floods and landslides that left more than 100 people dead and entire communities devastated. The South Asian nations, home to more than 1.3 billion people, have been particularly badly hit by the […]

Vehicles queue for diesel and petrol as they wait for a fuel tanker since the previous day amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 23 June 2022. Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte / REUTERS

June 26, 2022

Sri Lanka almost out of fuel, with no fresh supplies in sight – Troops open fire to quell rioting at fuel station – “Our economy has faced a complete collapse,” prime minister says

25 June 2022 (The Guardian) – Sri Lanka has increased the price of fuel by up to 22 percent after the energy minister warned it had virtually run out of petrol and diesel after several expected shipments were delayed. Kanchana Wijesekera apologised to motorists as he said on Saturday that oil cargoes that were due […]

Map showing the March-to-May (Gu) 2022 rainfall as percent of average in the Horn of Africa. The March/April to June 2022 Gu season rainfall was below average across the country, worsening the existing drought conditions in Somalia. The seasonal rains, which started in mid to late April appear to be ending early by late May/early June 2022. The rains were characterized by heavy storms lasting a few hours and were concentrated within a short period. Heavy downpours led to high runoff and limited replenishment of pasture and water resources. The poor spatial and temporal distribution could not sustain crop growth nor replenish the water sources adequately. This map compares the 2022 Gu seasonal rainfall with the long-term average for the same season. Northern parts of Somalia recorded 30 percent to 60 percent of the average rainfall while central and southern regions received 45 percent to 75 percent of average. This is also consistent with observed rainfall data from rain-gauge stations. Data: CHC / CHIRPS. Graphic: FAO

June 26, 2022

Somalia faces grim humanitarian catastrophe – “When we lost our livestock, we lost our minds”

By Mariel Müller 17 June 2022 SOMALIA (DW) – In January 2022, Hirsiyow Mohamed and her three children left her drought-stricken village of Drumo in Somalia. But after 15 days of walking through the hot desert with almost no water and food, she arrived with only one child at the newly built camp for displaced people near […]

Pipes at the landfall facilities of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, 8 March 2022. Photo: Hannibal Hanschke / REUTERS

June 26, 2022

Europe may shift back to coal as Russia turns down gas flows – “If we don’t do it, then we run the risk that the storage facilities will not be full enough at the end of the year toward the winter season. And then we are blackmailable on a political level.”

By Vera Eckert and Francesca Landini 20 June 2022 FRANKFURT/MILAN (Reuters) – Europe’s biggest Russian gas buyers raced to find alternative fuel supplies on Monday and could burn more coal to cope with reduced gas flows from Russia that threaten an energy crisis in winter if stores are not refilled. Germany, Italy, Austria and the […]

A satellite image shows fields peppered with artillery craters near Slovyansk, Ukraine, on 6 June 2022. From a dramatic loss of export revenue to mine-riddled fields and exploding machinery, Russia’s invasion has taken a massive toll on Ukraine’s agriculture sector. Photo: Maxar Technologies

June 26, 2022

UN chief warns of “unprecedented hunger crisis” from global food shortage – “No country will be immune to the social and economic repercussions of such a catastrophe”

BERLIN, 24 June 2022 (AP) – The head of the United Nations warned Friday that the world faces “catastrophe” because of the growing shortage of food around the globe. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war in Ukraine has added to the disruptions caused by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and inequality to produce an “unprecedented global […]

Distance women must travel to receive abortion services after anti-abortion trigger laws go into effect, 24 June 2022. At the start of June 2022, nearly all women in America lived within a few hours’ drive of an abortion clinic. But with Roe v. Wade overturned, and the constitutional right to an abortion ended, clinics are quickly closing in huge swaths of the country. a quarter of U.S. women of reproductive age could have to travel more than 200 miles to obtain a legal abortion. Under the farthest-reaching scenarios, that number could rise to nearly half. Graphic: The New York Times

June 25, 2022

Digital surveillance in a nation of criminalized healthcare – Here’s a list of online healthcare resources as access to abortion in U.S. plummets

25 June 2022 (Desdemona Despair) – In the new era of criminalized health care, law enforcement agencies that are investigating abortion-related cases can use an American’s location data, messages, and search histories as evidence against them. Anybody who comes in contact with a pregnant woman in the U.S. potentially faces prosecution if an abortion-related case […]

Gail Zawacki at the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City, 23 September 2011. She carries a sign that reads, “Industrial civilization is murdering our Earth”. Photo: Gail Zawacki

June 18, 2022

The Diva of Doom: Remembering the late, great Gail Zawacki – “In the end, what matters more than time?”

By James Galasyn 18 June 2022 (Desdemona Despair) – I was greatly saddened this week to read an email from climate activist Richard Pauli informing me that Gail Zawacki, the “Diva of Doom”, passed away on 9 June 2022. The community of environmental activists has lost one of its most eloquent and entertaining voices. She […]

Life expectancies across congressional districts in the United States, 2010-2015. Graphic: Takai, et al., 2022 / Social Science and Medicine

June 16, 2022

Graph of the Day: Life expectancy by U.S. congressional district, 2010–2015

25 March 2022 (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) – Researchers at the Harvard Geographic Insights Lab have launched the first-ever dashboard that tracks life expectancy on the U.S. congressional district level. The dashboard was released in conjunction with a 12 March 2022 paper in the journal Social Science & Medicine. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health co-authors of […]