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The Graphic Truth: Has climate change hurt or helped farmers?

The Graphic Truth: Has climate change hurt or helped farmers?
Ari Winkleman

Over the past half century, climate change has had an immense impact on the farmers who produce the food we eat. A new study by Cornell University shows that global warming has knocked 21 percent off of global agriculture productivity growth since 1965, equivalent to seven years of normal growth if humans had not polluted the planet. But not all countries have been affected in the same way. Farmers in warmer parts of the world have been hit hard as conditions grow more arid, but sub-polar regions in Canada or Siberia are now actually better for agriculture because they are not as cold as they used to be. Here we take a look at how climate has affected farming productivity growth around the world.

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Graphic Truth: Costa Rica’s severe murder rate
Eileen Zhang
Costa Rica was once known as one of the most tranquil and stable countries in Latin America. A dollarized, tourism-oriented democracy so peaceful and picturesque that it didn’t even have an army. That idyll has been blown apart in recent years as murder rates – particularly among young men – have shot up to new highs. The culprit? Drug cartels. [...]
​Ukraine's energy generating capacity since Russia's full scale invasion in 2022.

Ukraine's energy generating capacity since Russia's full scale invasion in 2022.

Eileen Zhang
On Thursday, Ukraine’s energy minister said that the power grid suffered its most difficult day since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Since October of last year, Russian strikes have taken out 8.5 GW of Ukraine’s energy generating capacity. The attacks have left much of the Ukrainian public without heat, as temperatures drop to -20 degrees [...]
Graphic Truth: the latest Cuban exodus to US shores
Eileen Zhang
Cubans have long sought refuge in the United States – there are roughly 2.4 million people of Cuban descent living in the US – but the level of emigration has spiked in recent years. The reason for this is economic: the COVID-19 pandemic decimated one of the Communist-led island’s last-remaining reliable industries, the tourism sector, pushing its [...]
Graphic Truth: Denmark’s losses in Afghanistan
Eileen Zhang
The US and Denmark may be on opposite sides of a potential military standoff now, but that wasn’t the case in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. Copenhagen supported Washington’s Operation Enduring Freedom, launched in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, deploying troops in large numbers. As the Graphic Truth shows, Denmark lost almost as many soldiers on a [...]