United States – Page 9 – Desdemona Despair

Number of fentanyl overdose deaths in King County, 2013-2023. The number of people dying in King County from fentanyl has grown exponentially in the past few years, surpassing 1,000 deaths in 2023 alone. Data: Public Health – Seattle and King County. Graphic: Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times

December 30, 2023

King County’s 2023 fentanyl deaths top 1,050, surpassing record – “Drugs have gotten much more lethal, they’ve gotten to be much more available, and we know that they’re much less expensive – and they’re also much more synthetic than ever”

By Sara Jean Green and Lauren Girgis 29 December 2023 (The Seattle Times) – King County has seen over 1,000 fatal fentanyl overdoses in 2023, surpassing a record set last year by an astounding 47%. Over 1,050 of the county’s nearly 1,300 fatal overdoses this year involved fentanyl, sounding yet another alarm about the potency of the […]

Gun-related mass murders and fatalities in the U.S., 2019-2023. The pace of mass murder shootings continued to accelerate in the U.S. in 2023, hitting new records for both the number of attacks and the number of people killed. The year ended with a grim toll of 40 mass murder shootings, which left 207 people dead. Data: gunviolencearchive.org. Graphic: The Messenger

December 30, 2023

Mass shooting deaths in U.S. hit record in 2023: More than 200 people killed in 40 mass murders – “People are just getting numb to it”

By Safia Samee Ali 25 December 2023 (The Messenger) – The pace of mass murder shootings continued to accelerate in the U.S. in 2023, hitting a new record for both the number of attacks and the number of people killed. The year ended with a grim toll of 40 mass murder shootings — which left […]

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2021 and trend since 2000, including inventory-based Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) CO2 in GtCO2e (top) and Per capita GHG emissions in 2021 and trend since 2000, including inventory-based LULUCF CO2 in tCO2e/capita (bottom). Graphic: UNEP

December 29, 2023

Petrostates planning huge expansion of fossil fuels, says UN report – “These plans throw humanity’s future into question. Governments must stop saying one thing and doing another.”

By Damian Carrington 8 November 2023 (The Guardian) – The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Experts called the plans “insanity” which “throw humanity’s future into question”. The energy plans of the petrostates contradicted their climate policies and pledges, the report said. […]

A map of the world plotted with some of the most significant climate events that occurred during November 2023. Graphic: NOAA/NCEI

December 29, 2023

NOAA reports 2023 hottest year on record, so far – “We will look back at 2023 and think of it as: remember that year that wasn’t so bad?”

By Lauren Sommer 28 December 2023 (NPR) – As 2023 draws to a close, it’s going out on top. “It’s looking virtually certain at this point that 2023 will be the hottest year on record,” says Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit that analyzes climate trends. Though temperature records from December have […]

Tukpahlearik Creek in northwestern Alaska’s Brooks Range runs bright orange where permafrost is thawing. Photo: Taylor Roades / Scientific American

December 28, 2023

Why are Alaska’s rivers turning orange? “It was a famous, pristine river ecosystem, and it feels like it’s completely collapsing now”

By Alec Luhn 24 December 2023 (Scientific American) – It was a cloudy July afternoon in Alaska’s Kobuk Valley National Park, part of the biggest stretch of protected wilderness in the U.S. We were 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the nearest village and 400 kilometers from the road system. Nature doesn’t get any more unspoiled. […]

Trends in the prevalence of severe obesity among U.S. children aged 2 to 4 years enrolled in WIC from 2010 to 2020 by (A) sex, (B) age, (C) race and ethnicity, and (D) household income. Graphic: Zhao, et al., 2023 / Pediatrics

December 26, 2023

New study bolsters evidence that severe obesity is increasing in young kids in the U.S. – “We are thinking it’s going to get worse”

By Mike Stobbe 17 December 2023 NEW YORK (AP) – A new study adds to evidence that severe obesity is becoming more common in young U.S. children. There was some hope that children in a government food program might be bucking a trend in obesity rates — earlier research found rates were dropping a little about a […]

Estimates of individuals experiencing homelessness in the U.S. by sheltered status, 2007-2023. Graphic: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

December 26, 2023

Homelessness in U.S. rose to record level in 2023, government says – “Without a significant policy response, this problem will continue to get worse”

By Jason DeParle 15 December 2023 (The New York Times) – Homelessness surged this year to the highest level on record, the federal government reported on Friday. An annual head count, conducted in January, found the homeless population had increased by more than 70,000 people, or 12 percent. That is the largest one-year jump since the Department […]

Screenshot of the Human Climate Horizons platform, showing projected sea level rise (cm) in the 2040-2059 time horizon under the intermediate carbon emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5). Australis, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and and the Pacific islands of Oceania are shown. The global average sea level rise is projected to be more than 18 cm. Graphic: UNDP

December 25, 2023

Climate change’s impact on coastal flooding to increase by five times over this century – “The effects of rising sea levels will put at risk decades of human development progress in densely populated coastal zones which are home to one in seven people in the world”

28 November 2023 (UNDP) – According to new data on the Human Climate Horizons platform, a collaboration between the Climate Impact Lab and UNDP, increased coastal flooding this century will put over 70 million people in the path of expanding floodplains. Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, and Small Island Developing […]

Storm track of Hurricane Idalia before it made landfall in Florida. The warm sea surface temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico fueled the storm, allowing it to strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane from a Category 1 just hours before making landfall on 30 August 2023. Graphic: The New York Times

December 25, 2023

2023 hurricane season marked by storms that “really rapidly intensified”

By William B. Davis and Judson Jones 2 December 2023 (The New York Times) – The 2023 hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific came to an end this week, with both basins experiencing an above average number of storms, fueled by extremely warm ocean temperatures. The two basins had a combined 37 storms, […]

U.S. landfill tonnages by waste type, 1960-2018. In 2018, about 146.1 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were landfilled. Food was the largest component at about 24 percent. Plastics accounted for more than 18 percent, paper and paperboard made up about 12 percent, and rubber, leather and textiles comprised over 11 percent. Other materials accounted for less than 10 percent each. Graphic: EPA

December 25, 2023

I’m appalled by what I learned about recycling. But we can fix it.

By Oliver Franklin-Wallis 29 November 2023 (The New York Times) – It happened again the other night: Washing up after dinner, I went to throw out a packet of just-eaten instant tortellini and was flummoxed. It was plastic, sure. But what kind? There was no resin code or recycling symbol on the package. Nothing on […]