United States – Page 35 – Desdemona Despair

U.S. life expectancy at birth by sex, 2000-2020. In the first half of 2020, life expectancy at birth for the total U.S. population was 77.8 years, declining by 1.0 year from 78.8 in 2019 (6). Life expectancy at birth for males was 75.1 years in the first half of 2020, representing a decline of 1.2 years from 76.3 years in 2019. For females, life expectancy declined to 80.5 years, decreasing 0.9 year from 81.4 years in 2019. The difference in life expectancy between the sexes was 5.4 years in the first half of 2020, increasing from 5.1 in 2019. Between 2000 and 2010, the difference in life expectancy between the sexes narrowed from 5.2 years to its lowest level of 4.8 years and then gradually increasing to 5.1 years in 2019. Graphic: NCHS

February 20, 2021

U.S. life expectancy drops by a full year due to COVID-19 and fentanyl overdose deaths – Toll on minority communities is significantly more deadly – “We haven’t seen a decline of this magnitude in decades”

By Sabrina Tavernise and Abby Goodnough 18 February 2021 (The New York Times) – Life expectancy in the United States fell by a full year in the first six months of 2020, the federal government reported on Thursday, the largest drop since World War II and a grim measure of the deadly consequences of the coronavirus […]

Map showing record cold temperatures across the United States on 16 February 2021 caused by winter Storm Uri, compared with the average temperatures over the 1979-2000 period. Temperatures were far colder than average and caused widespread power failures across Texas and other states. Data: National Weather Service / Global Forecast System / ClimateReanalyzer.org / Climate Change Institute / University of Maine. Graphic: The New York Times

February 17, 2021

How one Texas storm exposed an energy grid unprepared for climate change

By Josh Lederman 17 February 2021 WASHINGTON (NBC News) – A devastating winter storm that has plunged Texas into an electricity crisis offers warning signs for the U.S. as the Biden administration seeks to prepare for a future in which extreme weather is a greater risk and America is almost entirely powered by renewable energy. Generating energy is one challenge. But […]

Projected energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, 2020-2050. Graphic: EIA

February 15, 2021

EIA energy report explores impact of COVID-19 on U.S. energy mix through 2050 – Return to 2019 levels of U.S. energy consumption to take years – Energy-related CO2 emissions fall before leveling off or rising

By Ari Kahan 3 February 2021 (EIA) – The United States will likely take years to return to 2019 levels of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions following the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy and global energy sector, according to projections in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2021 (AEO2021). […]

Video clip showing a cloudburst and flooding, shown in Aon’s “Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report”. Video: Aon

January 30, 2021

2020 was costliest year on record for severe convective storms – U.S. hit by record-breaking 12 named storm landfalls – China saw most widespread Yangtze River floods since 1998

CHICAGO, 25 January 2021 (Aon) – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, today launches its global Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report. The report evaluates the impact of global natural disaster events to identify trends, manage volatility and enhance resilience. The report reveals […]

Infographic showing costs of natural disasters in 2020. Global losses from natural disasters in 2020 came to US$210 billion. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic was hyperactive, with a record-setting 30 storms, 13 of which reached hurricane status. Graphic: Munich Re

January 10, 2021

Global natural disaster figures for 2020 – “The hurricane season in the North Atlantic was hyperactive”

7 January 2021 (Munich Re) – Global losses from natural disasters in 2020 came to US$ 210bn, of which some US$ 82bn was insured. Both overall losses and insured losses were significantly higher than in the previous year (2019: US$ 166bn and US$ 57bn respectively). The US share of losses was rather high: Natural disasters in the […]

Trump insurrectionists attack police inside the Capitol Building, 6 January 2021. Video: Jon Farina / CNN

January 9, 2021

How the attack on the U.S. Capitol happened, from planning to siege to arrests – “The lack of security at the Capitol was not an accident”

By Cam Wolf 8 January 2021 (GQ) – Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol is already one of the most unforgettable events in American history. The Capitol building was last breached when British forces invaded during the War of 1812. 209 years later, a mob of insurrectionists attacked the building at the behest of none […]

Caribou and geese at Teshekpuk Lake in North Slope Borough, Alaska in 2019. The Trump administration, in its final days, decided to open millions more acres of land in the Alaskan Arctic to oil and gas drilling, including the wetlands around Teshekpuk Lake, which are a crucial breeding area for migratory birds and calving grounds for roaming caribou. Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post

January 9, 2021

Trump administration opens millions more acres of Alaska to drilling – “A last-minute and irresponsible effort to open an enormous amount of land in a sensitive area”

By Dino Grandoni 5 January 2021 (The Washington Post) – The Trump administration, in its final days, decided to open millions more acres of land in the Alaskan Arctic to oil and gas drilling. The decision from the Bureau of Land Management on Monday, finalized just two weeks before President Trump is set to leave office, will […]

Trump refers to a map, modified using a Sharpie, while talking to reporters following a briefing from officials about Hurricane Dorian in the Oval Office at the White House on 4 September 2019. Trump has dismissed scientific evidence and fact numerous times, including 2019 when he displayed a map inaccurately modified to show Hurricane Dorian’s likely path. Photo: Erin Schaff / The New York Times

January 4, 2021

How Trump tried, but largely failed, to derail America’s top climate report – “Thank God they didn’t know how to run a government”

By Christopher Flavelle 1 January 2021 (The New York Times) – The National Climate Assessment, America’s premier contribution to climate knowledge, stands out for many reasons: Hundreds of scientists across the federal government and academia join forces to compile the best insights available on climate change. The results, released just twice a decade or so, […]

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger listens during a briefing of the coronavirus task force at the White House on 31 January 2020. Photo: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post

December 30, 2020

We should embrace the Cassandras when the next disaster comes

By Megan McArdle 29 December 2020 (The Washington Post) – Any popular novel set around 1929 will generally have a character who pulls their money out of the market after overhearing an elevator operator bragging about his stock market winnings. Like all the best fantasies, this contains just enough truth to be plausible: Some sharp […]

U.S. COVID-19 mortality per 100,000 population, 11 April 2020 - 25 December 2020. Data: Johns Hopkins University. Graphic: James P. Galasyn

December 25, 2020

U.S. Covid mortality rate exceeds 100 per 100k population – “The current exponential increase in COVID-19 is reaching a calamitous scale”

25 December 2020 (Desdemona Despair) – The per-capita death rate from Covid-19 in the United States exceeded 100 for the first time today, according to mortality data from John Hopkins University. The milestone comes on the heels of this week’s announcement from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) stating that […]