technogenic disaster – Page 62

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa speaks to delegates at the Bonn annual UN Climate Change Conference, 6 June 2022. Photo: Kiara Worth / ENB

June 6, 2022

Climate talks start in Bonn as Ukraine war overshadows threat of global warming – “There is this disconnect between the scientific evidence of global crisis in the making, versus the lack of action”

6 June 2022 (AFP) – Negotiators from almost 200 countries will meet in Bonn Monday for climate talks tasked with reigniting momentum on tackling global warming, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overshadows the threat from rising emissions. The conference will set the stage for a fresh round of major United Nations talks later this year […]

Map showing spatial extent of heavy labor losses due to humid heat. Per capita heavy labor lost (a)–(c) and population-weighted heavy labor lost (d)–(f) for the Lancet Countdown method ('LCHCC', (a), (d)) and the laboratory exposure response to heat ('Laboratory', (b), (e)). Panels on right show the zonal median (c) and zonal sums (f) of heavy labor losses. Maps in the top row show mean h person−1 yr−1 lost due to background heat and humidity combined with internal heat generation in individuals conducting heavy labor. Maps in the bottom row display 'population-weighted' labor loss, which is defined as the product of the mean per-capita hours lost overlaid and the ILO heavy labor sector proportion of the working-age population (ages 15+) for 163 countries for which the data are available. Shading around zonal median (top right) and zonal sum (bottom right) lines outlines the range of zonal values for individual years. Graphic: Parsons, et al., 2022 / Environmental Research Letters

May 30, 2022

India’s savage heat exacts heaviest toll on outdoor workers – Humid heat causes 650 billion hours of annual lost labor globally, up at least 9 percent over four decades – “This is not just exhaustion or discomfort. It is actually killing people.”

By Anjana Pasricha 23 May 2022 NEW DELHI (VOA News) – Pradeep Kumar can earn nearly eight dollars a day selling the traditional Indian drink with cumin and lemon that he makes at his cart in a popular market in New Delhi — supposed to cool the body, the beverage has been much in demand […]

Pierce County drug poisoning deaths, January 2018–April 2021. Many of Pierce county's recent drug poisoning deaths included more than one drug. In 2019, Pierce County drug poisoning deaths were flattening along with state and were trending downward. However, drug poisoning deaths have risen dramatically in 2020 and 2021 despite increased harm reduction efforts, relaxed drug charges and relaxed Medications for Opioid Use disorder (MOUD) prescribing practices. Pierce County’s heroin deaths outpaced the State (comparison not shown). The number of heroin-involved deaths may be higher, since the body might metabolize heroin before labs detect it. Whites and males had the most poisoning deaths. Groups experiencing structural racism and inequitable health outcomes had the highest rates of poisoning deaths. These groups include American Indian/Alaska Natives, Hispanic/Latinx, and Black/African Americans. Deaths involving illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, continued to surge into 2021. Locally, illicit drug makers and distributors add fentanyl to counterfeit prescription pills, tar heroin, and powders like methamphetamine without users’ knowledge. As a result, fentanyl is cheaper, easier to obtain, gets users hooked more quickly and keeps them coming back for larger doses. Both Pierce County and the State have experienced dramatic increases in poisoning deaths involving methamphetamine and other stimulants in 2020 and 2021, to which Naloxone (an emergency opioid blocker) doesn’t respond. Graphic: TPCHD

May 29, 2022

“Deaths Of Despair” on the rise in Pierce County, WA – “COVID-19 has been hard on everyone”

By Charles Woodman27 May 2022 TACOMA, WA (Patch) – The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is reminding everyone: help is available if you need it. In an update Friday, the health department reported that deaths from suicide, alcohol or drug misuse had climbed from 351 in 2019 to 423 in 2020, and these “deaths of despair” […]

Aerial view of a salmon farm operated by New Zealand King Salmon. Photo: New Zealand King Salmon

May 29, 2022

Major New Zealand salmon producer shuts farms as warming waters cause mass die-offs – “We thought we had more time”

By Tess McClure 26 May 2022 AUCKLAND (The Guardian) – New Zealand’s biggest king salmon farmer says it is shutting some of its farms after warming seas prompted mass die-offs of fish, warning that it is a “canary in the coalmine” for climate change. New Zealand is the world’s largest producer of king, or “chinook” […]

Rescued elephant calves at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary dust bathe to cool down during the heatwave in May 2022. Photo: Reteti Elephant Sanctuary / The Sunday Times

May 29, 2022

Elephants are attacking humans as climate change pushes them to the brink – Elephant calves orphaned by drought fill Kenya sanctuaries

By Robyn White 27 May 2022 (Newsweek) – Elephants are known for being gentle giants. But climate change is beginning to take its toll, with attacks on humans increasing as global temperatures rise. In India, 500 people are thought to be killed by elephants every year, mainly in crop-raiding incidents. In 2021, India Today reported that 3,310 […]

Projected forest position in Siberia and tundra area at year 3000 CE for different climate mitigation scenarios and under potential cooling back to 20th-century temperatures after peak temperatures have been reached. The area of tundra changes over time and can only partly recover when temperatures cool and forests recede (plots next of the maps show years 2000–3000 CE). Only tundra areas above the treeline (Walker et al., 2005) are considered. Map projection: Albers Equal Area. Graphic: Kruse and Herzschuh, 2022 / eLife

May 29, 2022

Siberia tundra could virtually disappear by mid-millennium – Larch forests could spread northward at a rate of 30 km per decade – “At this point, it’s a matter of life and death for the Siberian tundra”

25 May 2022 (AWI) – Due to global warming, temperatures in the Arctic are climbing rapidly. As a result, the treeline for Siberian larch forests is steadily advancing to the north, gradually supplanting the broad expanses of tundra which are home to a unique mix of flora and fauna. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute […]

Veldarin Jackson, Sr., center, talks about receiving the call that his mother, Janice Reed, had died as his wife Adjoa Jackson, left, becomes emotional, Tuesday, 24 May 2022, in Chicago. Reed was one of the three senior victims who died in a Rogers Park building where residents complained of heat. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office has yet to determine the causes of death for the three women on 14 May 2022. Photo: Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune / AP

May 29, 2022

Deaths of 3 Chicago women in early 2022 heat wave raise questions, fears – “Hotter and more dangerous heat waves are coming earlier, in May, and we are getting older, and more people are living alone. It’s a formula for disaster.”

By Don Babwin 28 May 2022 CHICAGO (AP) – Temperatures barely climbed into the 90s and only for a couple of days. But the discovery of the bodies of three women inside a Chicago senior housing facility this month left the city looking for answers to questions that were supposed to be addressed after a […]

Climate activists Elizabeth Wathuti of Kenya, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda and Helena Gualinga of Ecuador attend the climate protest alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, 26 May 2022. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum took place in Davos from May 22 until May 26, 2022. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Photo

May 29, 2022

At Davos, climate activists say major issues ignored – “Many people here are disconnected from the reality. They are in a bubble. They are in their own world.”

By Peter Prengaman 26 May 2022 DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) – At a small plaza in Davos, a picturesque Swiss town in the middle of the Alps, about 50 climate activists gathered on Thursday to bring attention to issues they said were largely ignored during this week’s World Economic Forum meeting. They said more attention needed […]

At this pavement stall, a worker rests as temperatures in May 2022 crossed 45 degrees Celsius. Photo: Anjana Pasricha / VOA

May 29, 2022

India faces wider coal shortages, worsening power-outage risks – Projected annual coal shortage nearly three times earlier projection

By Sudarshan Varadhan 27 May 2022 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is expected to face a wider coal shortage during the quarter ending September 2022 over expectations of higher power demand, an internal power ministry presentation seen by Reuters showed, worsening risks of widespread power outages. The energy-hungry nation expects local coal supply to fall […]

Elena Mendoza, 18, grieves in front of a cross honoring her cousin, Amerie Jo Garza, one of the victims killed in the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, 26 May 2022. Photo: Jae C. Hong / AP Photo

May 27, 2022

Gun violence now Number 1 cause of death for U.S. children – “The fact that this is the leading cause of death among kids is obscene”

By Mary Kekatos 25 May 2022 (ABC News) – The mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday has put the spotlight back on recent data showing that firearm injuries are the No. 1 cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States. A total of 19 children, mainly third and fourth […]

Desdemona Despair

Category: technogenic disaster

Climate talks start in Bonn as Ukraine war overshadows threat of global warming – “There is this disconnect between the scientific evidence of global crisis in the making, versus the lack of action”

India’s savage heat exacts heaviest toll on outdoor workers – Humid heat causes 650 billion hours of annual lost labor globally, up at least 9 percent over four decades – “This is not just exhaustion or discomfort. It is actually killing people.”

“Deaths Of Despair” on the rise in Pierce County, WA – “COVID-19 has been hard on everyone”

Major New Zealand salmon producer shuts farms as warming waters cause mass die-offs – “We thought we had more time”

Elephants are attacking humans as climate change pushes them to the brink – Elephant calves orphaned by drought fill Kenya sanctuaries

Siberia tundra could virtually disappear by mid-millennium – Larch forests could spread northward at a rate of 30 km per decade – “At this point, it’s a matter of life and death for the Siberian tundra”

Deaths of 3 Chicago women in early 2022 heat wave raise questions, fears – “Hotter and more dangerous heat waves are coming earlier, in May, and we are getting older, and more people are living alone. It’s a formula for disaster.”

At Davos, climate activists say major issues ignored – “Many people here are disconnected from the reality. They are in a bubble. They are in their own world.”

India faces wider coal shortages, worsening power-outage risks – Projected annual coal shortage nearly three times earlier projection

Gun violence now Number 1 cause of death for U.S. children – “The fact that this is the leading cause of death among kids is obscene”