2023 hurricane season marked by storms that “really rapidly intensified”

Storm track of Hurricane Idalia before it made landfall in Florida. The warm sea surface temperatures of the Gulf of Mexico fueled the storm, allowing it to strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane from a Category 1 just hours before making landfall on 30 August 2023. Graphic: The New York Times

December 25, 2023

2023 hurricane season marked by storms that “really rapidly intensified”

By William B. Davis and Judson Jones 2 December 2023 (The New York Times) – The 2023 hurricane seasons in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific came to an end this week, with both basins experiencing an above average number of storms, fueled by extremely warm ocean temperatures. The two basins had a combined 37 storms, […]

U.S. landfill tonnages by waste type, 1960-2018. In 2018, about 146.1 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were landfilled. Food was the largest component at about 24 percent. Plastics accounted for more than 18 percent, paper and paperboard made up about 12 percent, and rubber, leather and textiles comprised over 11 percent. Other materials accounted for less than 10 percent each. Graphic: EPA

December 25, 2023

I’m appalled by what I learned about recycling. But we can fix it.

By Oliver Franklin-Wallis 29 November 2023 (The New York Times) – It happened again the other night: Washing up after dinner, I went to throw out a packet of just-eaten instant tortellini and was flummoxed. It was plastic, sure. But what kind? There was no resin code or recycling symbol on the package. Nothing on […]

Map showing surface air temperatures in the UK and Europe on 24 December 2023. Some temperatures in the UK were the hottest since 1997, with 15.3°C (59.5°F) recorded near Heathrow Airport. Graphic: BBC

December 25, 2023

Christmas Eve in UK hottest since 1997 after 15.3°C (59.5°F) recorded near Heathrow

By Sam Hancock 24 December 2023 (BBC News) – Sunday has been declared the warmest Christmas Eve in the UK since 1997. Temperatures hit 15.3C in Heathrow, west London, and Cippenham in Slough, the Met Office said. There had been speculation it could be the warmest 24 December ever but that record remains consigned to […]

Life expectancy at birth, by sex: United States, 2000-2022. Data: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data file. Graphic: NVSS / CDC

December 4, 2023

U.S. life expectancy creeps up as Covid deaths fall – “We’re halfway back to what we lost. But we certainly have a very long ways to go before we get to where life expectancy should be.”

By Emily Anthes and Benjamin Mueller 29 November 2023 (The New York Times) – Life expectancy in the United States has begun to climb again as the threat of Covid-19 has receded, increasing by more than a year from 2021 to 2022, according to data released on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The […]

Screenshot from “Honest Government Ad: COP31 🇦🇺 & the Pacific”, by The Juice Media, showing the rapid, record-breaking decline of Antarctic sea ice in 2023. Photo: The Juice Media

December 3, 2023

Video: Honest Government Ad: COP31 🇦🇺 and the Pacific – “Let this major fossil-fuel exporter that’s cockblocked climate action for decades co-host a crucial summit with the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world while ignoring their pleas to stop harming them”

1 August 2023 (The Juice Media) – Hello. Bonjour. Ciao stronzi. Namaste. Ham maadarachod hain. I’m from the Australien Government with a message to the world. As cities bake, fires rage, reefs die, jet streams weaken, and 6-Ligma events cause climate scientists to shit their dacks, many are wondering if we’ve finally broken our favourite […]

Survey results showing number of working-age people in the U.S. who said they had “serious difficulty” with three different tasks, 2009-2023. Three-month rolling average. Includes people ages 18 to 64. Data: Current Population Survey via IPUMS. Graphic: The New York Times

December 3, 2023

Can’t think, can’t remember: More Americans say they’re in a cognitive fog – “I cry when I try to think, now. My brain short-circuits.”

By Francesca Paris 13 November 2023 (The New York Times) – There are more Americans who say they have serious cognitive problems — with remembering, concentrating or making decisions — than at any time in the last 15 years, data from the Census Bureau shows. The increase started with the pandemic: The number of working-age […]

A woman presses her face against a photo on a memorial poster during an event to raise awareness and funds for Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center in Los Angeles in October 2023. Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

December 2, 2023

Suicides in U.S. hit historic high in 2022, driven by increase among older adults – “We don’t know why the rate has been going up”

By Emily Alpert Reyes 29 November 2023 (Los Angeles Times) – Rising rates of suicide among older adults drove the number of such deaths to a historic high in the United States last year, even as suicide declined among youth, according to a report released Wednesday by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More […]

Change in percentage of U.S. kindergartners exempt from one or more vaccinations, by jurisdiction, 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years. From the 2019–20 to the 2021–22 school year, national coverage with state-required vaccines among kindergartners declined from 95 percent to approximately 93 percent, ranging from 92.7 percent for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 93.1 percent for polio. During the 2022–23 school year, coverage remained near 93 percent for all reported vaccines, ranging from 92.7 percent for DTaP to 93.1 percent for measles, mumps, and rubella and polio. The exemption rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0 percent. Exemptions increased in 41 states, exceeding 5 percent in 10 states. Exemptions >5 percent limit the level of achievable vaccination coverage, which increases the risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination before school entry or during provisional enrollment periods could reduce exemptions resulting from barriers to vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Graphic: Seither, et al., 2023 / CDC

November 11, 2023

School vaccination exemptions in U.S. now highest on record among kindergartners, CDC reports

By Sara Moniuszko 9 November 2023 (CBS News) – A record number of American kindergarten students started school last year with an exemption from one of the key vaccines health authorities require, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the report published Thursday, the CDC examined immunization program data to […]

Global mean surface temperature anomaly, 1970-2023. The average global temperature in 2023 was 1.32°C above that during the pre-industrial baseline period of 1850 to 1900, surpassing the previous record of 1.29°C that was set from October 2015 to September 2016. Data: Climate Central. Graphic: Nature

November 10, 2023

Earth had its hottest year on record in 2023 – “This is the hottest temperature that our planet has experienced in something like 125,000 years”

By Carissa Wong 10 November 2023 (Nature) – The past 12 months were the hottest on record. Some 7.3 billion people worldwide were exposed, for at least 10 days, to temperatures that were heavily influenced by global warming, with one-quarter of people facing dangerous levels of extreme heat over the past 12 months, according to a report […]

Map of ensemble mean trends in ocean temperature and ice-shelf basal melting in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) for the Paris 2°C scenario. Temperature is averaged over the depth range 200–700 m. Trends are calculated at each point using annually averaged fields from 2006–2100. White regions indicate no significant trend. The Amundsen Sea region visualized here (latitude–longitude projection) is outlined in red in the inset map of Antarctica (polar stereographic projection). The black dashed line shows the 1,750 m depth contour of the continental shelf break and the blue dashed line outlines the continental shelf region used for analysis. Labels denote ice shelves (G, Getz; D, Dotson; Cr, Crosson; T, Thwaites; P, Pine Island; Co, Cosgrove; A, Abbot). Graphic: Naughten, et al., 2023 / Nature

November 10, 2023

The climate contradiction that will sink us – “We already have a refugee crisis; I shudder to think what would happen if everyone living within two meters of sea level would be displaced.”

By Zoë Schlanger 10 November 2023 (The Atlantic) – You’d be forgiven for thinking that the fight against climate change is finally going well. The clean-energy revolution is well under way and exceeding expectations. Solar is set to become the cheapest form of energy in most places by 2030, and the remarkable efficiency of heat pumps is driving their own uptake […]

Desdemona Despair

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