The Conservation Status Of Turtles And Tortoises, Nearly 60% Of Which Are Threatened. Many Critically

I'm back...

I apologize for my 5 months hiatus. I intend to divert my attention back to Envirographs, to continue using graphs and maps to explore environmental problems, trends and solutions.

From The Guardian:

In the past two decades, 10% of the earth’s wilderness has been lost due to human pressure, a mapping study by the University of Queensland has found... These pristine wild places exist in inhospitable locations: the deserts of Central Australia; the Amazon rainforest in South America; Africa; the Tibetan plateau in central Asia; and the boreal forests of Canada and Russia. They are being encroached on by logging, oil and gas exploration, mining, roads and agriculture.

Percent of electricity produced from renewable sources

While the coal industry is fighting Clean Water Act protections for rivers and streams from mountaintop removal mining (MTR), this 2011 poll of residents in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee found strong support.

Other interesting results:

57% of voters oppose MTR; 20% support

64% of Democrats, 60% of independents and 51% of Republicans oppose MTR

October 2017 was the warmest October on record for all 6 New England states.

“thanks to oil and gas wastewater injected deep into the ground, parts of [Oklahoma] can now also claim the dubious distinction of being among the most likely places in the United States to experience a damaging earthquake in 2016... The [USGS] report suggests that seven million people in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Arkansas face increased risks from human-induced earthquakes in the next year.” - National Geographic

...and lizards, a quarter of which are threatened.

Water stress in the Middle East and North Africa. Of the 16 nations worldwide suffering extreme water stress, all are in this region. Bahrain tops the list of those using far more water than they sustainably receive. In a region prone to conflict and civil unrest, and experiencing rapid population growth, water stress could fuel greater conflict.

The most recent Living Planet Report (May 2012), compiled by the Zoological Society of London, examined more species (2,600) and more populations of those species (9,014) than ever before. Overall, these populations show a decline of about 30% since 1970. Tropical species (light green) show a decline of more than 60%, while in temperate regions (dark green) there has been an average recovery of about 30%. The worst affected species are those in tropical lakes and rivers, whose numbers have fallen by 70% since 1970.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the average global temperature for 2012 made it the 10th warmest year on record since record keeping began in 1880. It also marked the 36th consecutive year with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average annual temperature was 1976.

The map shows 2012 temperatre anomalies, with red indicating higher than average temperatures and blue lower. Looking at the United States,2012 was the warmest year on record.