In a few days, the U.N. climate change conference, COP26 , is set to begin in Glasgow. One key agenda item is limiting methane emissions — and the problem starts very close to home:
The Washington Post: Russia allows methane leaks at planet’s peril Bloomberg: Turkmenistan’s Dirty Secret Financial Times: Methane leak near COP26 venue underscores emissions challenge We've now had 30 years of international climate conferences . These charts looked back at what's been achieved and what still needs to be done:
The New York Times: Yes, There Has Been Progress on Climate. No, It’s Not Nearly Enough Bloomberg: How to Stop 30 Years of Failing to Cut Emissions Quartz: The only country pulling its weight on climate change is The Gambia Quarks: Ist das noch Wetter oder schon Klimawandel? And even as the world tries to limit carbon emissions, some industries are still digging themselves in deeper:
Bloomberg: The Chinese Companies Polluting the World More Than Entire Nations Bloomberg: The World Is Nowhere Near to Kicking Its Dirtiest Habit , October 20 CNN: West Virginia's reliance on coal is getting more expensive, and Joe Manchin's constituents are footing the bill Speaking of West Virginia... The U.S. Senate is still struggling to pass its budget bill . Major programs are almost certain to be cut and reduced:
The New York Times: The Democrats Have a Lot of Cutting to Do The New York Times: The World ‘Has Found a Way to Do This’: The U.S. Lags on Paid Leave And there were charts on the White House and the Supreme Court as well:
FiveThirtyEight: Biden Has Lost Support Across All Groups Of Americans — But Especially Independents And Hispanics Los Angeles Times: What’s on Kamala Harris’ calendar? FiveThirtyEight: The Supreme Court’s Conservative Revolution Is Already Happening In elections , we saw Republicans losing trust in democracy, final results of the California recall, a demographic breakdown of voting behavior in Berlin — and a historical look at the alternative:
The Economist: Republicans’ trust in democracy has plunged since 2016 The San Francisco Chronicle: The final Newsom recall results are in at last. They show California is getting even more polarized Tagesspiegel: Berlins politische Landschaften: So unterschiedlich wählen arme, alte und religiöse Kieze The Economist: As Sudan’s government wobbles, coups are making a comeback There are three topics you can always count on in a Data Vis Dispatch; we've covered climate and politics, which means it's time for COVID . Everyone is trying predict how the second pandemic winter will compare to the first :
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos. The New York Times: What Previous Covid-19 Waves Tell Us About the Virus Now Financial Times: From Baltic to Balkans, Covid crisis engulfs central and eastern Europe Financial Times: Covid calculus shifts as NHS faces ‘extremely challenging’ winter There's no end in sight for the pandemic's social and economic disruptions :
NBC News: School enrollment plummeted in 2020, data shows The Economist: What’s plaguing the American economy? According to the Fed, it’s shortages But the good news, as always, remains — vaccines work, more people are getting them every day, and good policy choices can make it happen faster:
New Statesman: How Covid-19 vaccines have dramatically reduced deaths Duc-Quang Nguyen: "L'estimation du temps nécessaire pour atteindre les objectifs vaccinaux du CF (et espérer une levée des mesures sanitaires)," October 20 (Tweet The Economist: The impact of vaccine mandates is modest, but potentially crucial This week brought data on race and segregation:
Bloomberg: Is Your Company Diverse? See How Top Employers Stack Up The Washington Post: To stop a scrapyard, some protesters in a Latino community risked everything The Tributary: Explore Florida’s diversity — and segregation — with The Tributary’s newest tool As well as charts of everything from television genres to border arrests to endangered bumblebees :
Jon Ollington: "In 2009-10 the median goal kick length in #laliga was 58 metres. Pep's team were 20 metres shorter than 2nd place Real Madrid and almost half the league average. Today, the median goal kick length across Europe is around 40 metres. Playing out from the back is a new phenomenon," October 19 (Tweet FlowingData: Television Genres Over Time The Economist: America is the big winner of China’s crypto crackdown , October 22 The Washington Post: Border arrests have soared to all-time high, new CBP data shows The San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Transportation Project Road Map , October 20 The Wall Street Journal: The Bumblebee’s Plight: Why It Is Disappearing in the U.S. An unexpected theme of the week was ships and the sea — past and present:
El País: Los vikingos ya estaban en América hace ahora justo 1.000 años , October 20 Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos. CNN: Visualizing California's stunning shipping gridlock Le Monde: Au large de la Libye, les pêcheurs italiens pris dans les filets de la lutte contre les migrants And actually, we covered the other elements — fire, air, and earth — as well:
The New York Times: See How the Dixie Fire Created Its Own Weather Reuters: The skies over the South China Sea John Saeki/Agence France-Presse: "China hounds Taiwan with "greyzone" war plane incursions," October 22 (Tweet NBC News: Where America's pumpkins come from 
