Graph of the Day – Page 31 – Desdemona Despair

The area of forest fires recorded in 2022 for 11 European countries and the Mediterranean basin, compared with the average from 2006 to 2021. Data are current to 21 July 2022. Data: European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). Graphic: Le Monde

July 21, 2022

Wildfires in Europe have never been as large as in the summer of 2022 – In France and Spain, summer fires are nearly six times larger than average

By Pierre Breteau 21 July 2022 (Le Monde) – From Gironde to Brittany, France is burning as drought and exceptional heat rage. The entire European Union (EU) is also suffering from extreme weather conditions. And most of the EU 27 Member States have already suffered from fires that have destroyed areas of forest that are far greater […]

Aerial view of a structure burning during a wildfire in Palo Pinto County, Texas on Monday, 18 July 2022. The 110-degree heat wave caused a record 24 wildfires in Texas this week. Two Texas wildfires consumed at least 21 homes amid the record heat wave. Photo: KDFW FOX 4 / AP

July 21, 2022

U.S. Central states, Texas break power use records again in heat wave – Texas Gov. Abbott’s inaction leads to huge electricity bills

20 July 2022 (Reuters) – Power use in Texas and other central states hit all-time highs Tuesday and could break that record again in Texas on Wednesday as homes and businesses crank up air conditioners to escape a brutal heat wave blanketing most of the country. Electric grid operators across the country said they have […]

A wildfire burns near a wind turbine at night outside Tabara, Zamora, during the second heatwave of the year in Spain, 18 July 2022. Photo: Isabel Infantes / REUTERS

July 19, 2022

UK shatters record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles – Major incident declared in London as fires burn – Dozens of temperature records fall in France as fires rage in southwest

By Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless 19 July 2022 LONDON (AP) – Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe — and the national weather forecaster predicted it would get hotter still in a country ill prepared for such extremes. The typically temperate nation […]

Three-wheelers queue to buy petrol due to fuel shortage, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 5 July 2022. Dinuka Liyanawatte / REUTERS

July 8, 2022

World Bank calls for sovereign debt changes ahead of looming crises – “There are more Sri Lankas on the way”

By Marc Jones 28 June 2022 LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) – A senior official at the World Bank has ramped up its calls for changes in sovereign debt laws so governments have more control when crises strike and they have to restructure their debt. World Bank economists estimate that low- and middle-income economies owe a […]

The Turner family children were rescued from the second story of their Shanes Park home in north-west Sydney on 5 July 2022, after the fourth flood in less than 18 months. Photo: Dean Sewell / The Sydney Morning Herald

July 8, 2022

How an atmospheric river hit Sydney – “We’re seeing these events which we call one-in-1000 year events or one-in-100 year events now becoming one-in-one year events”

By Ben Cubby, Laura Chung, and Nigel Gladstone 8 July 2022 (The Sydney Morning Herald) – Every disaster movie starts with a scientist being ignored, so the saying goes. In the Hollywood version, the lone researcher stares at a screen, eyes widening as the ominous data comes through, and leaps for a phone to try […]

Prevalence of undernourishment (left axis) and number of undernourished people (right axis), 2005-2021. World hunger rose further in 2021, following a sharp upturn in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The persistence of the pandemic and its enduring consequences, which exacerbated existing inequalities, have contributed to further setbacks in 2021 toward achievement of the Zero Hunger target by 2030. Between 702 and 828 million people in the world faced hunger in 2021. Considering the middle of the projected range (768 million), hunger affected 46 million more people in 2021 compared to 2020, and a total of 150 million more people since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Graphic: FAO

July 6, 2022

UN report: World hunger rose again in 2021, with 2.3 billion people severely or moderately hungry – “This year’s report should dispel any lingering doubts that the world is moving backward in its efforts to end hunger”

By Edith M. Lederer 6 July 2022 UNITED NATIONS (AP) – World hunger rose in 2021, with around 2.3 billion people facing moderate or severe difficulty obtaining enough to eat — and that was before the Ukraine war, which has sparked increases in the cost of grain, fertilizer and energy, according to a U.N. report […]

Gallup Worldwide Negative Experience Index, 2006-2021. Globally, unhappiness has been rising for a decade. In 2021, negative emotions — the aggregate of the stress, sadness, anger, worry, and physical pain that people feel every day — reached a new record in the history of Gallup’s tracking. As 2021 served up a steady diet of uncertainty, the world became a slightly sadder, more worried, and more stressed-out place than it was the year before, which helped push Gallup’s Negative Experience Index to yet another new high of 33 in 2021. Graphic: Gallup

June 29, 2022

Gallup Global Emotions Report 2022: World unhappier, more stressed out than ever – “2 billion people are so unhappy with where they live, they wouldn’t recommend it to anyone they know”

By Julie Ray 28 June 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Gallup) – Emotionally, the second year of the pandemic was an even tougher year for the world than the first one, according to Gallup’s latest annual global update on the negative and positive experiences that people are having each day. As 2021 served up a steady diet of uncertainty, […]

Change in primary energy by fuel, 2007-2021. Primary energy in 2021 grew by its largest amount in history, with emerging economies accounting for most of the increase. Primary energy grew by 31 exajoules (EJ) in 2021, the largest increase in history and more than reversing the sharp decline seen in 2020. Primary energy in 2021 was 8 EJ above 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy in 2021 was driven by emerging economies, which increased by 13 EJ, with China expanding by 10 EJ. Taking 2020 and 2021 together, primary energy consumption in emerging economies increased by 15 EJ, largely reflecting growth in China (13 EJ). In contrast, energy demand in developed economies in 2021 was 7 EJ below 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy between 2019 and 2021 was entirely driven by renewable energy sources. The level of fossil fuel energy consumption was unchanged between 2019 and 2021, with lower oil demand (-8 EJ) offset by higher natural gas (5 EJ) and coal (3 EJ) consumption. Graphic: BP

June 28, 2022

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022: Carbon emissions rebound after pandemic dip – Coal prices surge – “The world remains on an unsustainable path”

By Spencer Dale 28 June 2022 (BP) – The challenges and uncertainties facing the global energy system are at their greatest for almost 50 years, at the time of the last great energy shocks of the 1970s. Most immediate is the impact of the terrible events taking place in Ukraine, with its tragic toll on […]

The bones of other animals surround an emaciated cow in Ethiopia’s Somali Region. Carcasses are a daily reminder of the devastation caused by the 2021-22 drought. Photo: Michael Tewelde / WFP

June 27, 2022

Horn of Africa braces for “explosion of child deaths” as hunger crisis deepens – Three million livestock have died since mid-2021 from drought and disease

7 June 2022 (UNICEF) – An “explosion of child deaths” is likely and imminent in the Horn of Africa unless the international community takes immediate action to prevent a new hunger disaster, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday. To illustrate continuing deep concern about emergency levels of malnutrition in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa, […]

Map showing the March-to-May (Gu) 2022 rainfall as percent of average in the Horn of Africa. The March/April to June 2022 Gu season rainfall was below average across the country, worsening the existing drought conditions in Somalia. The seasonal rains, which started in mid to late April appear to be ending early by late May/early June 2022. The rains were characterized by heavy storms lasting a few hours and were concentrated within a short period. Heavy downpours led to high runoff and limited replenishment of pasture and water resources. The poor spatial and temporal distribution could not sustain crop growth nor replenish the water sources adequately. This map compares the 2022 Gu seasonal rainfall with the long-term average for the same season. Northern parts of Somalia recorded 30 percent to 60 percent of the average rainfall while central and southern regions received 45 percent to 75 percent of average. This is also consistent with observed rainfall data from rain-gauge stations. Data: CHC / CHIRPS. Graphic: FAO

June 26, 2022

Somalia faces grim humanitarian catastrophe – “When we lost our livestock, we lost our minds”

By Mariel Müller 17 June 2022 SOMALIA (DW) – In January 2022, Hirsiyow Mohamed and her three children left her drought-stricken village of Drumo in Somalia. But after 15 days of walking through the hot desert with almost no water and food, she arrived with only one child at the newly built camp for displaced people near […]