Red and brown offsetting the green

 

The tree that botanists classify as Parkinsonia aculeata is commonly known even in English as paloverde, a Spanish term that we might translate as ‘green wood.’ While parts of the tree’s branches and trunk often turn conspicuously green, its thorns take on warm colors like red and brown, as you see above. Also sporting some colors in that range was the planthopper shown below on one of the paloverde tree’s leaves. The date was June 24th; the location was Fireoak Dr., a couple of miles from home.

 

  

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From 2017 through 2019 the folks at Gapminder posed various questions to people. Two days ago I listed four of them for you to try your hand (or brain) at. The correct answer to each is in bold italics.

1)  In 1980, roughly 40% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, with less than $2 per day.
What is the share today?       A) 10%       B) 30%       C) 50%

2)  During the past 40 years the amount of oil and natural gas remaining in known reserves has:
A) been reduced to less than half       B) remained more or less the same       C) more than doubled

3)  How much of the world’s total land surface has some physical infrastructure built on it, like houses or roads (excluding farm land)?        A) less than 5%       B) around 15%       C) more than 25%

4)  How many of the world’s one-year-old children were vaccinated against some disease in 2019?        
A) less than 20%       B) around 50%       C) more than 80% 

 For all four questions, Gapminder found that the right answer got the smallest share of votes.

 

© 2022 Steven Schwartzman