Is it just me, or is the world in general just in a bad mood? I keep hoping that we have to bottom out at some point and start climbing back up. The cycle from trough to peak seems to be 20 years or so.

Most frightening and/or depressing story: The use of small nuclear weapons is becoming more thinkable. Just a reminder that nuclear war is truly insane. Assuming we manage to avoid nuclear war, food insecurity might be our biggest near- to medium-term issue. One lesson of World War II is worries about food security played a role in the diseased minds of both Hitler and Stalin. And food prices right now are experiencing a “giant leap” unprecedented over the last couple decades. Food security, natural disasters, sea level rise, migration, and geopolitical stability all can form ugly feedback loops. And no, I couldn’t limit myself to just one depressing story this month!

Most hopeful story: While we are experiencing a disturbing homicide wave in U.S. cities, violent and overall crime are not necessarily at historical highs and are more or less flat. And yes, this was the most uplifting story I could come up with this month. Brave politicians could use the Ukraine emergency to talk about arms control, but if anybody is talking about that I am missing it.

Most interesting story, that was not particularly frightening or hopeful, or perhaps was a mixture of both: We might be able to use windmills to control the weather.