Desdemona Despair – Page 36 – Blogging the End of the World™

U. S. Black population excess age-adjusted mortality and years of potential life lost rates, 1999-2020. To assess trends over time, the relationship between each metric and study year was graphically assessed, and time was modeled as a linear spline with knots that reflected the observed inflection points from 1999 to 2019. For excess mortality rates, these inflection points were from 2007 to 2011 for males and 2015 for females. For excess rates of years of potential life lost, the knots were 2007 and 2011 for males and 2012 for females. Rates that fall above the dotted line indicate rates higher than the White population and those that fall below, rates lower than the White population. Autoregressive integrated moving average models using a 1-year correlation were implemented to account for the serial correlation of annual rates. The 2019-2020 change was estimated using a z test. Graphic: Caraballo, et al., 2023 / JAMA

May 21, 2023

Black Americans experienced 1.6 million excess deaths compared to White population over 22-year period, study finds – “It led us back to a situation where we were no better than we were 20 years ago”

By Sara Moniuszko and Danya Bacchus 16 May 2023 (CBS News) – Despite years of efforts to reduce health disparities, a new study is calling attention to the drastic differences in mortality that continue to take a toll among Black Americans. Researchers found the Black population in the United States experienced more than 1.63 million excess […]

Lifetime and current depression rates in the United States, 2015-2023. The percentage of U.S. adults who reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime reached 29.0 percent in 2023, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015. The percentage of Americans who had or were being treated for depression also increased, to 17.8 percent, up about seven points over the same period. Both rates were the highest recorded by Gallup since it began measuring depression using the current form of data collection in 2015. Graphic: Gallup

May 17, 2023

U.S. depression rates reach new highs in 2023

By Dan Witters 17 May 2023 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Gallup) – The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached 29.0%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015. The percentage of Americans who currently have or are being treated for depression has also increased, […]

These two images show shrinking water reservoirs in the Catalonia region of Spain on 21 Mar 2021 and 12 Apr 2023. Photo: Allison Nussbaum / NASA

May 9, 2023

Spain records hottest and driest April on record – “This is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years”

MADRID, 8 May 2023 (AP) – Drought-stricken Spain says last month was the hottest and driest April since records began in 1961. The State Meteorological Agency, known by the Spanish acronym AEMET, said Monday the average daily temperature in April was 14.9 degrees Celsius (58.8 Fahrenheit), that is 3 degrees Celsius above the average. AEMET […]

Map showing surface temperatures in Southeast Asia on 6 May 2023. Laos and Vietnam both experienced record-breaking temperatures. Graphic: MetDesk

May 9, 2023

Extreme heat smashes records in Asia in “one of the most brutal heat events the world has ever witnessed” – Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam all experience temperature spikes, in some places topping 43°C (110°F)

By Matthew Cappucci 8 May 2023 (The Washington Post) – A historic heat wave is bringing largely unprecedented temperatures to Southeast Asia, delivering a dangerous heat stress that could pose grave threats to vulnerable populations and smashing all-time records. Both Vietnam and Laos have recorded their hottest temperatures ever observed, in some places topping 110 […]

A smoke column rises from wildfire EWF031 near Lodgepole, Alberta, Canada 4 May 2023. Photo: Alberta Wildfire / REUTERS

May 9, 2023

Thousands forced to evacuate as wildfires ravage western Canada

By Nia Williams 5 May 2023 (Reuters) – A week of record hot weather in western Canada has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes, as wildfires rage in parts of Alberta and rapid snow melt triggers flooding across interior British Columbia. By Friday, more than 13,000 people were under evacuation orders in Alberta, […]

State of press freedom worldwide 2013-2023. Changes in 180 countries and territories evaluated by RSF since 2013. In 2023, the situation was “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism was “bad” in seven out of ten countries, and satisfactory in only three out of ten. Graphic: RSF

May 9, 2023

2023 World Press Freedom Index – Journalism threatened by fake content industry – The environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of ten countries, satisfactory in only three out of ten

3 May 2023 (RSF) – According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index – which evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) – the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In […]

Trucks transport bauxite on a red-dirt mining road in the Boké region of Guinea. Photo: Chloe Sharrock / MYOP / The Washington Post

May 9, 2023

On frontier of new “gold rush” quest for coveted EV metals yields misery – “I am frustrated. But even more than that, I have lost hope.”

By Rachel Chason and Chloe Sharrock 27 April 2023 KAGBANI, Guinea (The Washington Post) – One of the poorest countries on Earth has become a crucial player in the world’s green-energy transition. Guinea, a West African nation of more than 13 million people, is home to the world’s biggest reserves of bauxite — a reddish-brown […]

National trends for social connection in the United States, 2003-2020. Social networks are getting smaller, and levels of social participation are declining distinct from whether individuals report that they are lonely. For example, objective measures of social exposure obtained from 2003-2020 find that social isolation, measured by the average time spent alone, increased from 2003 (285-minutes/day, 142.5-hours/month) to 2019 (309-minutes/day, 154.5-hours/month) and continued to increase in 2020 (333-minutes/day, 166.5-hours/month). This represents an increase of 24 hours per month spent alone. At the same time, social participation across several types of relationships has steadily declined. For instance, the amount of time respondents engaged with friends socially in-person decreased from 2003 (60-minutes/day, 30-hours/month) to 2020 (20-minutes/day, 10-hours/month). This represents a decrease of 20 hours per month spent engaging with friends. This decline is starkest for young people ages 15 to 24. For this age group, time spent in-person with friends has reduced by nearly 70 percent over almost two decades, from roughly 150 minutes per day in 2003 to 40 minutes per day in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends in declining social participation. The number of close friendships has also declined over several decades. Among people not reporting loneliness or social isolation, nearly 90% have three or more confidants. Yet, almost half of Americans (49 percent) in 2021 reported having three or fewer close friends — only about a quarter (27 percent) reported the same in 1990. Social connection continued to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, with one study finding a 16 percent decrease in network size from June 2019 to June 2020 among participants. Graphic: Office of the U.S. Surgeon General

May 6, 2023

U.S. Surgeon General calls for action regarding the ongoing “epidemic of loneliness and isolation”

By Emma Egan 2 May 2023 (ABC News) – The U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on Tuesday calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in the United States. The report cites recent research showing that approximately half of U.S. adults experienced loneliness daily, even before the onset […]

Lake Tulare in California on 1 February 2023 and 30 April 2023, as seen from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite, and the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on the Landsat 9 satellite. In the spring of 2023, the long-dried basin of Lake Tulare rapidly refilled in the wake of intense rainfall and snowmelt. Photo: NASA

May 6, 2023

Tulare Lake flooding due to snowpack melt seen from space – “The state has both too much water and not enough”

By Jess Thomson 5 May 2023 (Newsweek) – The long-dried basin of Lake Tulare in California has rapidly refilled in the wake of intense rainfall and snowmelt. The speed and scale of the southern San Joaquin Valley lake’s return can be seen in images taken from space by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA‘s Landsat […]

Map of the Horn of Africa showing drought classifications based on Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI; US Drought Monitor, 2023), reflecting the magnitudes of precipitation deficit from Jan 2021-Dec 2022 relative to the 1980-2010 climatology in the CPC dataset (left) and drought classifications based on Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), reflecting the magnitudes of precipitation deficit from Jan 2021-Dec 2022 relative to the 1980-2010 climatology in the CPC dataset (right). The bold black outline highlights the study region. Graphic: World Weather Attribution

April 30, 2023

Climate change made East Africa’s drought 100 times more likely, study says – “This vital study shows that climate change is not just something our children need to worry about – it’s already here”

By Raymond Zhong 27 April 2023 (The New York Times) – Two and a half years of meager rain have shriveled crops, killed livestock and brought the Horn of Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions, to famine’s brink. Millions of people have faced food and water shortages. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, seeking relief. […]