Desdemona Despair – Page 40 – Blogging the End of the World™

Aerial view of cars immersed in floodwaters on 11 January 2023 in Planada, California. The Central Valley town of Planada was devastated by widespread flooding after a severe atmospheric river event moved through the area earlier in the week. The San Francisco Bay Area and much of California continued to be drenched by powerful atmospheric river events that brought high winds and flooding rains. The storms toppled trees, flooded roads, and cut power to tens of thousands. Storms lined up over the Pacific Ocean and brought more rain and wind through the end of the week. Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

February 28, 2023

“A town of Hispanics left in the dark”: Rural California town of Planada flooded, now forgotten – “We are traumatized and scared. What is the county going to do to take care of its rural communities?”

By Jessica Garrison 14 February 2023 PLANADA, California (Los Angeles Times) – Once the levee broke, the water rose so quickly that in the few minutes it took Erica Lopez Bedolla to decide to evacuate and gather her children and a few necessities, it had surged from her ankles to her knees. What followed that […]

Percentage of U.S. high school students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, 2011–2021. Graphic: CDC / Youth Risk Behavior Survey

February 27, 2023

Teen girls in U.S. report highest levels of sadness and sexual violence in a decade, CDC Says – “It’s just devastating to think about the young women in our lives that we know”

By Madison Muller 13 February 2023 (Bloomberg) – Almost three in five U.S. teen girls reported feeling sad or hopeless in 2021, the highest level seen in a decade and nearly twice the rate among teenage boys. Rates of reported sexual violence and suicide risk rose among teen girls during the same year, according to […]

Domestic extremist-related killing incidents in the U.S. by decade. The recent surge of extremist-related mass killings is immediately obvious. From the 1970s through the 2000s, extremist mass killing incidents consistently occurred at a relatively low level—from two to seven incidents a decade (although, it should be noted that, because of the difficulty in determining which left-wing extremist bomb attacks in the 1970s and 1980s were intended to cause mass casualties—many were actually aimed at property and warnings were telephoned to targets beforehand—it is possible that the number of such incidents may be undercounted here). Graphic: ADL

February 27, 2023

U.S. mass killings linked to extremism spiked over last decade – “It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an age of extremist mass killings”

By Lindsay Whitehurst 23 February 2023 WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of U.S. mass killings linked to extremism over the past decade was at least three times higher than the total from any other 10-year period since the 1970s, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League. The report, provided to The Associated Press ahead of […]

Total household debt in the United States, 2004-2022. Total household debt rose by $394 billion, or 2.4 percent, to $16.90 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Credit card balances increased by $61 billion to reach $986 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of $927 billion; mortgage balances rose to $11.92 trillion, auto loan balances to $1.55 trillion, and student loan balances to $1.60 trillion. The share of current debt transitioning into delinquency increased for nearly all debt types. Graphic: FBNY Consumer Credit Panel / Equifax

February 27, 2023

U.S. household debt hit record $16.9 trillion in Q4 2022, as consumers loaded up their credit cards – “It’s triple trouble for credit card borrowers”

By Alicia Wallace 17 February 2023 Minneapolis (CNN) – Americans continued to add to their debt at the end of last year — and grew their credit card balances at record rates, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth […]

(a) Annual snow-zone fire detections subset by snow seasonality in California, 2001–2021. (b) Snow seasonality classifications for California. (c) All fire detections (2001–2021), colored by snow seasonality classification: blue (seasonal), red (ephemeral), and gray (non-snow zone). Fire detections in seasonal (blue) and ephemeral (red) snow zones during (d) 2001–2019 and (e) 2020–2021, noting fires named in the text. Graphic: Hatchett, et al., 2023 / Geophysical Research Letters

February 27, 2023

California’s snowpack is melting faster than ever before, leaving less available water – “The threats to the state’s water supply are imminent”

By Hayley Smith 14 February 2023 (Los Angeles Times) – For decades, Californians have depended on the reliable appearance of spring and summer snowmelt to provide nearly a third of the state’s supply of water. But as the state gets drier, and as wildfires climb to ever-higher elevations, that precious snow is melting faster and […]

EIU Democracy Index 2022, global map by regime type. The average global index score stagnated in 2022. Despite expectations of a rebound after the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, the score was almost unchanged, at 5.29 (on a 0-10 scale), compared with 5.28 in 2021. The positive effect of the restoration of individual freedoms was cancelled out by negative developments globally. The scores of more than half of the countries measured by the index either stagnated or declined. Western Europe was a positive outlier, being the only region whose score returned to pre-pandemic levels. Graphic: EIU

February 3, 2023

EIU Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine – “Overall the story is one of stagnation. This is a dismal result given that in 2022 the world started to move on from the pandemic-related suppression of individual liberties that persisted through 2020 and 2021”

1 February 2023 (EIU) – The Democracy Index, which began in 2006, provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. This covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states (microstates are excluded). The Democracy Index is based on five […]

Avoidable deaths per 100,000 population (standardized rates) in OECD nations, 2000-2020. Avoidable deaths per 100,000 population in the U.S. are higher than the OECD average. Graphic: The Commonwealth Fund

January 31, 2023

U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating spending, worsening outcomes – “Americans are more likely to die younger, and from avoidable causes, than residents of peer countries”

By Munira Z. Gunja, Evan D. Gumas, and Reginald D. Williams II 31 January 2023 (The Commonwealth Fund) – In the previous edition of U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, we reported that people in the United States experience the worst health outcomes overall of any high-income nation.1 Americans are more likely to die younger, and […]

Map showing natural catastrophe loss events in 2022. Natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$270 billion worldwide. Data: Munich Re, NatCatSERVICE, 2023. Graphic: Munich Re

January 31, 2023

Munich Re: Climate change and La Niña driving losses – “Climate change is taking an increasing toll. The natural disaster figures for 2022 are dominated by events that, according to the latest research findings, are more intense or are occurring more frequently.”

10 January 2023 (Munich Re) – With overall losses of around US$ 270bn (previous year US$ 320bn) and insured losses of roughly US$ 120bn (previous year US$ 120bn), 2022 joins the recent run of years with high losses. Overall losses were close to the average for the last five years, while insured losses were significantly […]

A sign that reads in Portuguese “Justice for Dom and Bruno” and with images of the British journalist Dom Phillips, on the left, and the indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira is displayed on the Arcos da Lapa aqueduct during a protest by environmental groups in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 26 June 2022. Brazilian police said Monday, 23 January 2023, they planned to indict Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, a Colombian fish trader, as the mastermind of the murders. Photo: Bruna Prado / AP Photo

January 30, 2023

Brazil police: Businessman ordered killings of men in Amazon

By Fabiano Maisonnave 23 January 2023 SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazilian police said Monday they planned to indict a Colombian fish trader as the mastermind of last year’s slayings of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips. Ruben Dario da Silva Villar provided the ammunition to kill the pair, made phone calls to […]

Carbon credits claimed by Verra rainforest carbon credits vs. real emissions reductions. At least 90 percent of claimed credits do not represent real emissions reductions. Graphic: The Guardian

January 30, 2023

More than 90 percent of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows – “It’s disappointing and scary”

By Patrick Greenfield 18 January 2023 (The Guardian) – The forest carbon offsets approved by the world’s leading certifier and used by Disney, Shell, Gucci and other big corporations are largely worthless and could make global heating worse, according to a new investigation. The research into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing $2bn (£1.6bn) […]