The Week (March 18)
“In the immediate aftermath of Poland’s Communist collapse, the country was considered one of the most economically dire in Europe — but the status quo has changed in a major way. Poland now has the 20th largest economy in the world.” In 2025, GDP growth of 3.65% and economic output in excess of $1 trillion vaulted the nation over Switzerland and into the top 20.
Tags: $1 trillion, 2025, 20th, 3.65%, Aftermath, Communist collapse, Dire, Economy, Europe, GDP, Growth, Leapfrog, Output, Poland, Switzerland
The Guardian (May 25)
Recent research suggests “that even if carbon emissions are slashed to meet the internationally agreed target of 1.5C, sea level rises will become unmanageable during this century.” The “more ominous” fact, however, is “that even the existing 1.5C goal is moving out of reach.” Globally we are on course for “at least 2.5C of heating,” likely melting “the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets” and triggering “‘really dire’ sea level rise of around 12 metres.” Still, we are not helpless. “People will adapt to sea level rises in the future as they have in the past. This is not to deny or underplay the scale of the threat, but to stress the importance of preparing for changes which are now inevitable, as well as trying as hard as possible to avoid the worst-case scenarios.”
Tags: 1.5C, 12m, 2.5C, Adapt, Carbon emissions, Dire, Greenland, Ice sheets, Inevitable, Ominous, Preparing, Research, Sea level, Threat, Unmanageable, West Antarctic
LA Times (December 2)
“Los Angeles County recorded a dramatic one-day rise in coronavirus cases Tuesday, shattering the single-day record and confirming some of the most dire forecasts about infections spreading ferociously as the holiday season gets underway.”
Tags: Cases, Coronavirus, Dire, Dramatic, Forecasts, Infections, Los Angeles, Record, Shattering, Spreading
CBS News (October 27)
In Japan almost 1,000 “towns and villages face extinction because the country is simply running out of people. Japan’s population peaked several years ago, at 128 million in 2011. And if the dire forecasts come true, Japan will have as few as 59 million people by 2100.” This is not some distant phenomenon. “What’s happening in Japan is a preview of what many Western countries, including the United States, will soon face.”
Tags: Dire, Extinction, Forecasts, Japan, Population, Preview, Towns, Villages
South China Morning Post (October 23)
“If the US and China actually decided to engage in a prolonged cold war, the economic consequences–however dire–would be dwarfed by another consequence: a lack of sufficiently strong action to combat climate change.”
Tags: China, Climate change, Cold war, Dire, Economic consequences, U.S.
