China’s Air Pollution Problems

WSJ with very concerning graphic and article about air pollution spikes in Beijing.

China’s Impact On Global Food Economy

Earth Policy Institute with a nice piece about China’s food needs.

Temperatures Keep Rising

Latest data from US is out and no sign of lowering. Much of increases in Midwest. From Wonkblog.

More on Adoptions

From Charles Blow at NYT, but still no perspective on overall US adoptions.

Recovery – A Global Perspective

From Floyd Norris at NYT, recovery definitely happening, but not certainly in Europe.

US Adoptions

From WSJ. While focus is on Russia potentially banning adoptions to the US, seems to me that the more significant data is about US overseas adoptions being cut by more than half in the past 7 years. Also, the overall number at less than 10,000 seems very small, but it doesn’t count domestic adoptions. I also wonder how these numbers compare to immigration, both legal and illegal. Data story waiting to be told.

Global Happiness Statistics

I’ve always been curious about happiness by country. Differences seem strikingly large. From CNN.

10 Most Happy Countries

Panama (85%)

Paraguay (85%)

El Salvador (84%)

Venezuela (84%)

Trinidad and Tobago (83%)

Thailand (83%)

Guatemala (82%)

Philippines (82%)

Ecuador (81%)

Costa Rica (81%)

10 least happy countries

Singapore (46%)

Armenia (49%)

Iraq (50%)

Georgia (52%)

Yemen (52%)

Serbia (52%)

Belarus (53%)

Lithuania (54%)

Madagascar (54%)

Afghanistan (55%)

Global Terrorism Index

From The Economist. Iraq is surprising to me in how high it is. Empirically, I wonder if it can be reduced. Would also like to see Israel and its neighbors.

World Nuclear Power Situation

Interesting summary of world nuclear power situation from Earth Policy Institute. Surprising to see how much new production capacity is being built.

Challenging Data for Global Temperatures

Data and chart from Economist makes it seem very likely that temperatures are going to increase.