Cumulative change in U.S. jobs since before the pandemic, 6 December 2020. Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Graphic: Ella Koeze / The New York Times

U.S. job market slowed further in November 2020 – “We’re going to have a few of the toughest months of this pandemic, and there will be a lot of scars left to heal”

6 December 2020 (The New York Times) – The American economic recovery continues to slow, stranding millions who have yet to find a new job after being thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic. The latest evidence came Friday when the Labor Department reported that employers added 245,000 jobs in November, the fifth month in a […]

Average daily CO2 emissions from 5 February to 6 May 2020 (red area) and average of the previous years during the same period (grey area) for three European cities. The dark grey horizontal bars cover periods of official lockdown, while the light grey bars indicate periods of partial lockdown or general restrictions (for example, school closures, reductions in personal contact, mobility constraints). Data: Integrated Carbon Observation System, 2020. Graphic: WMO

Carbon dioxide levels continue at record levels, despite COVID-19 lockdown – “The COVID-19 pandemic is not a solution for climate change”

GENEVA, 23 November 2020 (WMO) – The industrial slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not curbed record levels of greenhouse gases which are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures, and driving more extreme weather, ice melt, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The lockdown has cut emissions […]

Aerial view of mass graves in Manaus, Brazil, 22 April 2020. Photo: Sandro Pereira / Fotoarena / Folhapress

U.N. warns 2021 shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe – “The worst humanitarian crisis year since the beginning of the United Nations 75 years ago”

By Michelle Nichols 4 December 2020 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Next year is shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe and rich countries must not trample poor countries in a “stampede for vaccines” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, top U.N. officials told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Friday. World Food Programme (WFP) chief David […]

Wildfires light up a hillside behind the Bidwell Bar Bridge on 9 September 2020, as the Bear Fire burns in Oroville, California, in this photo taken with a slow shutter speed. Photo: Noah Berger / AP Photo

Photo gallery: In 2020, AP photographers captured a world in distress

By Jerry Schwartz 1 December 2020 (AP) – Behold, a world in distress: A 64-year-old woman weeps, hugging her husband as he lay dying in the COVID-19 unit of a California hospital. A crowded refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, engulfed in flames, disgorges a string of migrants fleeing this hell on Earth. Rain-swept protesters, enraged […]

New deaths from COVID-19 per day, normalized by population, for Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. Data: Johns Hopkins University CSSE. Graphic: 91-Divoc

Graph of the Day: Covid-19 daily deaths in Sweden, compared with neighboring countries

29 November 2020 (Desdemona Despair) – Much has been made of Sweden’s tacit “herd immunity” policy, and people have argued both for and against its effectiveness. Now the data are in, and we can safely make a judgment about it, and the similar policies used in various other countries, like the UK, the US, and […]

U.S. adult obesity rate by state, 2019. Graphic: Trust for America’s Health

U.S. adult obesity rate tops 40 percent, highest ever recorded – Obesity is single highest risk factor in COVID-19 mortality – “That’s extremely alarming in terms of its medical implications”

18 September 2020 (NBC News) – A new report reveals the adult obesity rate in the United States now stands at more than 42 percent, the highest it’s ever been.   Twelve states have an obesity rate of more than 35 percent.  “That’s extremely alarming in terms of its medical implications,” says John Auerbach, president […]

An aerial view shows buildings and roads submerged by floodwaters near the Nile River in South Khartoum, Sudan, 8 September 2020. Photo: Reuters

Africa’s record flooding stretches resources already struggling with COVID-19 and conflict – “Sudan is experiencing the worst flooding in 100 years”

By John Sparks 12 September 2020 (Sky News) – Record rainfall across parts of Africa is stretching the resources of government officials and aid workers already struggling with COVID-19 outbreaks, regional conflicts, and other health-related emergencies. In Sudan, a three-month state of emergency has been declared after weeks of heavy rain caused the White and […]

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Wednesday, 26 August 2020, at 2:40 p.m. EDT., and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Laura over the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Laura strengthened Wednesday into “an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane," The National Hurricane Center said. Laura is expected to strike Wednesday night into Thursday morning along the Louisiana-Texas border. Photo: NOAA / AP

Category 4 Hurricane Laura up to 145 mph, threatens “unsurvivable” 20-foot storm surge – “Some areas, when they wake up Thursday morning, they’re not going to believe what happened”

By Joe Mario Pedersen and Richard Tribou 26 August 2020 (Orlando Sentinel) – Hurricane Laura kept growing into a massive Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds as it’s set to slam into the Gulf Coast on Wednesday night with “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding,” according to the National Hurricane Center. The […]

Honest Government Ad: A message from the White House

30 July 2020 (The Juice Media) – Hello, I’m from the U.S. government, with an update on our pandemic response. In the space of a few months, our “Don’t worry, bro, it’s just the flu” policy has gotten a shit-ton of you killed. Some say this tragedy was inevitable, but actually, if we’d simply responded […]

Number of global undernourished, 2010-2020 and projected to 2030 under three Covid scenarios. Graphic: UNFAO

UN report sends “sobering message” of deeply entrenched hunger globally – Number of undernourished people in the world continued to increase in 2019

13 July 2020 (UN News) – In much of the world, “hunger remains deeply entrenched and is rising”, the UN chief said on Monday, launching this year’s major UN food security update, highlighting that over the past five years, tens of millions of people have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished. As countries “continue […]

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