Desperate Junk

12-fold:

NY Times: "The cost to ship a container of goods from Asia to the U.S. West Coast inched up to $16,353 as of last Friday, before the latest coronavirus restrictions took effect, from $16,155 a week earlier. Rates have almost tripled from a year ago and have risen 12-fold from two years ago, according to data from Freightos, a freight booking platform." ====

"According to the World Wildlife Fund, wild animal populations have decreased by 68 percent on average over the past 50 years."

-- from the essay "Animal, Vegetable, Capital" by Ingrid Burrington, Lux Magazine, Issue 3, via Harper's, February 2022 pg 17.

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It really sucks that vaccines became part of the culture wars just like everything else. pic.twitter.com/5OICtpOfCB

— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) March 26, 2022

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Widespread Drought in US West

I don't recall ever seeing a drought monitor with such widespread drought in the US west. To be sure I don't check every one, but this looks terrible and portends badly for the coming wildfire season, especially, it seems, in Oregon and California and Montana. And in Oregon and California at least, this is on top of a multi-year drought already in place -- in the West generally, the worst in 1,200 years. (Williams+ Nature Climate Change, March 2022.) 

The Economy!!