Data Vis Dispatch,
October 26

In a few days, the U.N. climate change conference, COP26, is set to begin in Glasgow. One key agenda item is limiting methane emissions — and the problem starts very close to home:

We’ve now had 30 years of international climate conferences. These charts looked back at what’s been achieved and what still needs to be done:

And even as the world tries to limit carbon emissions, some industries are still digging themselves in deeper:

Speaking of West Virginia… The U.S. Senate is still struggling to pass its budget bill. Major programs are almost certain to be cut and reduced:

And there were charts on the White House and the Supreme Court as well:

In elections, we saw Republicans losing trust in democracy, final results of the California recall, a demographic breakdown of voting behavior in Berlin — and a historical look at the alternative:

There are three topics you can always count on in a Data Vis Dispatch; we’ve covered climate and politics, which means it’s time for COVID. Everyone is trying predict how the second pandemic winter will compare to the first:

There’s no end in sight for the pandemic’s social and economic disruptions:

But the good news, as always, remains — vaccines work, more people are getting them every day, and good policy choices can make it happen faster:

This week brought data on race and segregation:

As well as charts of everything from television genres to border arrests to endangered bumblebees:

An unexpected theme of the week was ships and the sea — past and present:

And actually, we covered the other elements — fire, air, and earth — as well: