Every year the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency) updates their energy flow and consumption diagrams. They are now available for 2017 energy use and the graph here is primary energy consumption by source and sector. For example, petroleum fulfills 37% or our energy use, 72% of petroleum is for transportation, …
Read More »How does the U.S. government spend tax dollars?
Federal government spending is reported on the usgovernmentspending.com website. On the main page you will find this pie chart of fiscal year 2018 (Oct 2017 through Sept 2018). The two biggest categories are health care 22% and pensions including social security 19%, with interest at 6%. For some context you can …
Read More »How does air pollution compare by country?
The State of Global Air 2018 has an interactive air pollution graph to compare countries and regions. Graph and data are both available. For example, the graph here is Average Seasonal Population-Weighted Ozone (ppb) for Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. (in yellow), as well as the global average (in black). We …
Read More »What is the state of food security and nutrition in the world?
Read the FAO report How close are we to #ZeroHunger? The state of food security and nutrition in the world (2017) . The online report has numerous chart that can be downloaded, such as the one here. After steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger appears to be on …
Read More »Where does the U.S. rank on the world press freedom index?
According to the Reporters Without Borders index, the U.S. ranks 45 (out of 180) in 2018, just behind Romania and South Korea. Here is what they have to say about the U.S. US press freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment to the 1787 constitution, has been under increasing attack over …
Read More »How many Billion dollar weather/climate disasters occur in the U.S. each year?
NOAA has your answer on their Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Time Series page. The page includes an interactive version of the graph here that allows you to select disaster types and adjust for CPI. The data is available to download. Determining the cost of disasters is not simple and they …
Read More »Housekeeping
SustainabilityMath has been undergoing some behind the scenes upgrades over the last couple of days and so there wasn’t a post on Thursday. You may have noticed the page was down at times, but everything is back to running smoothly.
Read More »How much are we working?
Our World in Data has your answer with the article, Working Hours. The researchers Michael Huberman and Chris Minns published estimates of weekly work hours going back to the late 19th century. This data – shown in the following visualization – shows that over this time working hours have steeply …
Read More »What are the differences in infant mortality by race?
The NYT has a lengthy article, Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis (4/11/18 by Linda Villarosa) and Kevin Drum follows this up with the handy chart posted here in his post Our Disgraceful Infant Mortality Epidemic. He notes that although infant morality has decreased the difference between Black …
Read More »How much has growing season/allergy season increased in your town?
Climate Central has your answer with their post, Here’s How Frost-Free Season Affects Allergy Season (4/4/18). You will find a drop down menu to produce graphs like this one for Grand Rapids, which has seen as average increase of about 25 frost free days. On the downside, A study sampling 10 locations …
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