The five big issues of 2020: let’s keep an eye on the data
What’s happened this year?
2020 was a busy year.
Much of what happened this year has turned our lives upside down and continues to do so.
It is quite hard to sum up the most important events of 2020, but we tried to choose the most remarkable ones, dividing them into different topics: environment, politics, health and society.
ENVIRONMENT
During this summer, California, Oregon and Washington have witnessed serious fires that compromised the lives of many citizens, the environment and the air pollution.
Summer wildfires burned millions of acres, killing people and forcing them to leave their homes.
Scientists explain that these wildfires are the consequence of climate change and this summer were registered the worst fires in 18 years.
In this map, reported by BBC you can see the air quality index in different US areas after the fire explosions.
According to the Global Fire Emissions Database, which goes back to 1997, this year is the highest one for fire carbon emissions in California.
NASA also adds that one of the main problems is the pollution from wildfires containing soot and other particles dangerous to human health, as well as noxious chemicals.
POLITICS
Joe Biden won the US election and became the 46th president of the United States of America.
He won with 306 Electoral College votes against the 232 gained by the former president Donald Trump.
According to this graph, Biden won with 80.043021 votes (the 51,0%) and Trump lost with 73.896.211 votes (the 47,1%).
As we can see in this map, Biden’s victory and, on the other hand, Trump’s loss couldn’t be taken for granted.
There were many so-called swing states that finally determined the official results: Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania were crucial.
For several months, the attention was globally focused on this political event that could deeply change the US international relations as well as the domestic policies.
Tensions and debates predominated the US political scenario not just before and during the elections, but also after Biden’s victory. Trump and Republicans criticized the mail voting system, analyzed by us in this article,and charged the rivals with electoral fraud.
HEALTH
Covid-19 affected about 60 millions of people all over the world until November 30.
As we can see in these graphs, both total cases and deaths all over the world started rising in March, although some areas, such as the USA and Europe, have been affected more than others around the world.
During this summer, the virus spread seemed to be stable and almost under control, but it restarted increasing its diffusion in October, even more than in March.
The virus trend varies depending on the geographical areas, the political and medical pandemic management. Here the Covid cases compared by continent reported by BBC:
It’s clear that Europe and North America have been the most affected by this virus spread. In particular, the US has recorded more than 13.5 million cases and nearly 270,000 deaths from coronavirus, the highest figures in the world, according to BBC.
Hopefully, in Europe total cases are constantly decreasing during this last month, after a hard period mostly for France, Italy and Spain:
SOCIETY
After George Floyd’s death on May 25, brutally murdered by a white police officer, many people decided to protest during this summer in order to defend the Black Lives Matter movements and give dignity to all afro-american people killed by the police.
This graph published by The New York Times shows how many people protested in USA, in June alone:
These protests began in Minneapolis but lately spread to many US areas in a very short time and many other countries in the world decided to support the movement through social networks and peaceful demonstrations.
This graph illustrates the rise of protests especially shortly after May 25.
The Black Lives Matter movement started in 2013 but this summer many people participated like never before, according to the estimates.
The experts believe that this movement determines deep cultural and political changes in the American society, especially because the participants are mostly young and white people, as this map clearly illustrates:
The amount of white people protesting is rising and this fact, according to the polls, was a peculiar factor that influenced the last US elections.
In this map published by Wbur, it’s possible to see how the Black Lives Matter movement has led to the spread of protests not only in the USA, but all around the world.
BEIRUT EXPLOSIONS
On August 4, explosions erupted in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. According to the New York Times, more than 5,000 people were injured, more than 200 people died and several buildings were destroyed.
Officials declared that the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that had been stored in a warehouse at the port since 2014.
As we can see in this map, the explosion struck many populated areas, so many residents had to leave their houses and see their properties totally burned.
The second explosion, more intense than the first one, was heard in Cyprus too, more than 100 miles away.
These two blasts damaged several buildings not only across the port area, but also in the hinterland.
The actual cause of this catastrophe is still not completely clear.
