United States – Page 36 – Desdemona Despair

A bumblebee in flight approaches a flower. Photo: Michael Durham / Minden Pictures / Getty Images

October 10, 2021

The American bumblebee has vanished from eight states – Bee population has plummeted by 89 percent over past 20 years – “Endangered species” listing could be imminent

By Elizabeth Gamillo 6 October 2021 (Smithsonian) – The American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus)—once abundant and found lazily floating around in grasslands, open prairies, and some urban areas throughout the United States—now face a rapidly declining population. According to a proposed rule released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species’ population has dropped nearly 90 percent […]

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

October 10, 2021

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

By Alex Tanzi and Mike Dorning 8 October 2021 (Bloomberg) – After years of declines, America’s middle class now holds a smaller share of U.S. wealth than the top 1%. The middle 60% of U.S. households by income — a measure economists often use as a definition of the middle class — saw their combined […]

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

October 2, 2021

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”

By Kavya B and Roshan Abraham 1 October 2021 (Reuters) – Worldwide deaths related to COVID-19 surpassed 5 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with unvaccinated people particularly exposed to the virulent Delta strain. The variant has exposed the wide disparities in vaccination rates between rich and poor nations, and the upshot of […]

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

September 30, 2021

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”

By Jason Samenow 29 September 2021 (The Washington Post) – It’s a week past the autumn equinox, and the first snows have fallen in the Rockies and the mountain peaks of New England. But in Hazen, N.D., the mercury soared to the century mark Tuesday afternoon. According to several climatologists, that 100-degree reading is the highest temperature observed […]

Package of ivermectin paste for deworming horses. One dose treats a horse with a body weight up to 1,250 pounds. In August 2021, poison centers across unvaccinated America saw huge increases in poisoning calls for ivermectin. Photo: Tractor Supply Company / Med-Pharmex

August 26, 2021

Texas sees 550 percent spike in poison calls for horse and cow dewormer, despite FDA warning – “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”

By William Joy 25 August 2021 BURLESON, Texas (WFAA) – Inside 731 Farm Store in Burleson, Matt Meredith has taped up a warning from the FDA about ivermectin. “Not for human consumption. It says it on the bottle,” Meredith said. “It’s for deworming cattle, deworming horses.” Many people have started taking it to treat or […]

Dickson Public Works personnel check the flooding on Old Pond Lane following record rainfall, Saturday, 21 August 2021, in Dickson, Tennessee. Heavy flooding in several Middle Tennessee counties on Saturday prompted water rescues, road closures, and communications disruptions, with several people reported missing. Flash flood warnings were in effect for Dickson, Houston and Montgomery and Stewart counties on Saturday evening. Photo: Josie Norris / The Tennessean / AP

August 22, 2021

At least 22 dead and 50 missing in catastrophic Tennessee flash floods – “Some of them described it as a tidal wave”

By Michael Levenson 21 August 2021 (The New York Times) – At least 22 people were killed and 50 others remained missing on Sunday after catastrophic flash floods swept through Middle Tennessee, the authorities said. Rob Edwards, the chief deputy of the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed the numbers of dead and missing on Sunday […]

Flood gates on Trump’s border wall blown open by monsoon rains near San Bernardino Ranch in Arizona on 16 July 2021. Much of the West is suffering through a deep megadrought, but the monsoon rains that have swept across parts of the Southwest this summer have doused the southern half of Arizona with record-setting rains. Douglas has seen nearly double its average monsoon season rainfall so far, including a blast that came through on Monday and unleashed flooding on the Arizona-Sonora border. The National Weather Service data shows 2.15 inches (5.5 centimeters) of rain fell, which in turn funneled into washes and drove flooding. Photo: Fernando Sobrazo

August 22, 2021

Trump’s border wall torn apart by Arizona monsoon rains – “It’s not often that an ecologist can actually put a time stamp on the day that the evolutionary history of an area was sealed off”

By Brian Kahn 22 August 2021 (Gizmodo) – It turns out ignoring bedrock environmental laws may not have been the best choice for a multibillion-dollar construction project. Photos show former President Donald Trump’s border wall in deep disrepair after summer monsoon rains literally blew floodgates off their hinges. The damage took place near San Bernardino Ranch, a […]

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

August 22, 2021

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

OROVILLE, California, 20 August 2021 (Action News Now) – The reach of the drought emergency has a shocking look at as Lake Oroville drains to dirt. With a surface area of just over 15,000 acres – Lake Oroville provides water and electricity and impacts the local economy as recreation is big on this lake. California’s […]

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

August 16, 2021

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?”

By Jim Morrison 2 August 2021 (WIRED) – During the summer of 2017, the tide rose to historic heights again and again in Honolulu, higher than at any time in the 112 years that records had been kept. Philip Thompson, director of the Sea Level Center at the University of Hawaii, wanted to know why. […]

Smoke and flames from the Dixie fire are seen from Wolf Creek Road west of Greenville, California, 4 August 2021. Photo: InciWeb

August 8, 2021

Dixie Fire grows to second largest in California history – “We need to acknowledge, just straight up, these are climate-induced wildfires”

By Tim Stelloh 8 August 2021 (NBC News) – The Dixie Fire became the second largest wildfire in California history Sunday as thousands of residents remained under evacuation orders and more than 10,000 buildings stood in the blaze’s path. The fire, which began July 14 and leveled much of the historic Sierra Nevada town of Greenville […]