The Bloomberg article Here’s How America Uses Its Land by Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby (7/31/2018). The article arrives at the graph copied here and it is worth scrolling through the article to see the graphs along the way with associated facts. More than one-third of U.S. land is used for pasture—by far the …
Read More »What are the recent Mauna Loa CO2 measurements?
The NOAA article Another Climate Milestone on Mauna Loa (6/7/18) provides an overview of CO2 measurement at the Mauna Loa site. In particular, Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory averaged more than 410 parts per million in April and May, the highest monthly averages ever …
Read More »How many people are there and how many can the earth support?
The article in The Conversation 7.5 billion and counting: How many humans can the Earth support? by Andrew D. Hwang (7/9/18) provides some details. The graph here, copied from the article provides population number and future estimates. For real populations, doubling time is not constant. Humans reached 1 billion around 1800, a doubling time …
Read More »What are the prospects for high school grads?
The EPI article Class of 2018 High school edition by Elise Gould, Zane Mokhiber, & Julia Wolfe (6/14/18) provides a thorough review. Figure I from the report, copied here, shows 2000 and 2018 wages for high school grads not enrolled in further schooling by race and gender. In 2018, young workers with a high …
Read More »Which river basins have the most surface area covered by streams and rivers?
Also, why would we want to know this? NASA’s Vital Signs of the Planet feature How wide are the world’s rivers? by Adam Voiland (7/18/18) answers the questions. Most scientists who study rivers rely on measures of discharge, the volume of water transported through a given cross-section of a river. Much …
Read More »What is the poverty rate in OECD countries?
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) defines poverty as an income below half the median household income. The chart here was created using the most recent year of data from the OECD poverty rate page . The U.S. leads the pack with a rate of 17.8%, with Israel right …
Read More »How much does the U.S. spend on defense compared to NATO countries?
Statista has the answer with their post Defense Expenditures Of NATO Countries by Niall McCarthy (7/11/18). They created the infographic copied here. The following infographic shows how much money NATO members spend on defense as well as its estimated share of GDP. While Germany spent over $45 billion on its military equating to 1.2 …
Read More »What happened to Iceberg A68 from Larsen C?
On July 12 2017 Iceberg A68, a slab of ice 5,800 km in area and weighing more than 1 trillion tonnes, calved from Larsen C. (project Midas 7/19/17) A year later, where is A68: As can be seen in the satellite image animation, over the last year A-68 has not …
Read More »What is the story of suicides in the U.S.?
The article in the Conversation, Why is suicide on the rise in the US – but falling in most of Europe? by Steven Stack (6/28/18), tries to get at the story. The first chart (copied here), clearly shows that the suicide rate rose from 199-2015 overall and considerably more for the 45-54 age …
Read More »How hot has it been this week?
The Washington Post article, Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week by Jason Samenow (7/5/18), provides a nice overview of the record setting heat during this past week (map posted here copied from the article). In North America: Montreal recorded its highest temperature in recorded …
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