India – Page 10 – Desdemona Despair

August 2020 blended land and sea surface temperature percentiles. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

September 16, 2020

August 2020 was the world’s second-warmest August on record – The year 2020 has more than a 99.9 percent chance to rank among the five warmest years on record

By Jeff Masters, Ph.D. 15 September 2020 (Yale Climate Connections) – August 2020 was the second-warmest August since global record keeping began in 1880, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, or NCEI, reported September 14. The month was just 0.04 degrees Celsius behind the record set in August 2016. NASA rated the month as the third-warmest August on […]

World consumption of primary energy in exajoules, 1994-2019. Primary energy consumption rose by 1.3 percent in 2019, less than half its rate in 2018 (2.8 percent). Growth was driven by renewables (3.2 EJ) and natural gas (2.8 EJ), which together contributed three quarters of the increase. All fuels grew at a slower rate than their 10-year averages, apart from nuclear, with coal consumption falling for the fourth time in six years (-0.9 EJ). By region, consumption fell in North America, Europe and CIS, and growth was below average in South and Central America. In the other regions, growth was roughly in line with historical averages. China was the biggest individual driver of primary energy growth, accounting for more than three quarters of net global growth. Oil continues to hold the largest share of the energy mix (33.1 percent). Coal is the second largest fuel but lost share in 2019 to account for 27.0 percent, its lowest level since 2003. The share of both natural gas and renewables rose to record highs of 24.2 percent and 5.0 percent respectively. Renewables has now overtaken nuclear, which makes up only 4.3 percent of the energy mix. The share of hydroelectricity has been stable at around 6 percent for several years. Graphic: BP

June 18, 2020

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020: Carbon emissions increase for another year, coal still the single largest source of power generation

By Bernard Looney 17 June 2020 (BP) – The COVID-19 pandemic may well turn out to be the most tragic and disruptive event that many of us will ever live through. As I write this – in the middle of June – over 400 thousand people globally have lost their lives to the infection. Millions […]

Enhanced infrared image of Tropical Cyclone Amphan nearing landfall in far eastern India at 0200Z (7:30 am EDT) Wednesday, 20 May 2020. Graphic: CIMSS / SSEC / UW-Madison

May 21, 2020

Kolkata devastated as Cyclone Amphan kills scores in India and Bangladesh – “We are facing three crises: the coronavirus, the thousands of migrants who are returning home, and now the cyclone”

By Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shaikh Azizur Rahman 21 May 2020 KOLKATA (The Guardian) – The Indian city of Kolkata has been left devastated by the worst cyclone it has seen in 100 years, which swept through India and Bangladesh on Wednesday and killed at least 84 people. Kolkata, home to almost 15 million people, bore […]

Microwave satellite image of Cyclone Amphan's inner core on 19 May 2020, showing the exposed eyewall on the storm's eastern side. This is indicative of a weaker storm. Graphic: U-Wisconsin / CIMSS

May 19, 2020

Cyclone Amphan, most powerful storm on record in Bay of Bengal, poses extreme storm surge danger for eastern India, Bangladesh – Evacuations slowed by virus

By Andrew Freedman and Joanna Slater 19 May 2020 (The Washington Post) – Category 3 Tropical Cyclone Amphan is barreling northward toward the mouth of the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday and is forecast to make landfall in West Bengal, India, just south of Kolkata, on Wednesday. The storm is prompting officials in the states […]

View of air pollution in Moscow, Russia on 6 August 2010 and 20 April 2020. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova / Niklas Halle'n / AFP / Getty Images

April 26, 2020

Before-and-after photos show dramatic decline in air pollution around the world during coronavirus lockdown

By Sophie Lewis 22 April 2020 (CBS News) – As humans continue to stay indoors under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Earth is slowly healing. Wild animals have taken to roaming the streets, clear waters have returned to the Venice canals and the world is literally shaking less. With billions of people quarantined and businesses closed, travel has all but […]

Global real GDP level projected to 2021. The cumulative output loss is expected to reach $9 trillion. Graphic: IMF

April 15, 2020

IMF: Global economy will suffer worst year since Great Depression – “This is a crisis like no other”

By Paul Wiseman and Martin Crutsinger 14 April 2020 WASHINGTON (AP) – Beaten down by the coronavirus outbreak, the world economy in 2020 will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund says in its latest forecast. The IMF said Tuesday that it expects the global economy to […]

Aerial view of the eastern expressway in Mumbai after Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020 in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Photo: Atul Loke / The New York Times

March 25, 2020

More than 1 billion people in “total lockdown” in India after coronavirus cases spike – “To save India, to save its every citizen, you, your family, every street, every neighborhood is being put under lockdown”

25 March 2020 (BBC News) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The restrictions came into force at midnight local time (18:30 GMT) and will be enforced for 21 days. “There will be a total ban on venturing out of your […]

Nations ranked by happiness, 2017-2019. Graphic: World Happiness Report 2020

March 23, 2020

World Happiness Report 2020: Rapid increase in negative affect over last decade continues, driven by sadness, worry, and anger

20 March 2020 (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) – […] We next examine the global pattern of positive and negative affect in the third and fourth panels of Figure 2.2. Each figure has the same structure for life evaluations as in the first panel. There is no striking trend in the evolution of positive affect, except […]

Residents look on as flames burn through bush in Lake Tabourie, Australia, on 4 January 2020. Photo: Brett Hemmings / Getty Images

February 16, 2020

15 years after the Kyoto Protocol went into force, the climate crisis is worse than ever – “If the U.S. had been in from the start, it would have been a different trajectory altogether”

By Rosie McCall 16 February 2020 (Newsweek) – The Kyoto Protocol went to force a full 15 years ago today—and yet, the climate crisis is more urgent than ever. On Sunday, 15 years will have passed since the Kyoto Protocol was ratified on February 16, 2005, which was eight years after it was negotiated back […]

Fireflies in Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo: Radim Schreiber

February 4, 2020

Fireflies face extinction threats of habitat loss, light pollution, pesticides

By Mike Silver 3 February 2020 MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Massachusetts (Tufts Now) – Habitat loss, pesticide use and, surprisingly, artificial light are the three most serious threats endangering fireflies across the globe, raising the spectre of extinction for certain species and related impacts on biodiversity and ecotourism, according to a Tufts University-led team of biologists associated with […]