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"title": "Is California Still on Track to Meet Its Goal of 100% Clean Power by 2045?",
"headTitle": "Is California Still on Track to Meet Its Goal of 100% Clean Power by 2045? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California leaders have been busy of late making their climate case on the international conference circuit. State delegates are currently at the 28th Conference of Parties, or COP28, an international climate meeting held this year in Dubai, and many also attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, hosted in San Francisco last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The message from California’s leaders is that the state is achieving its ambitious climate goals while also growing its massive economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sustainable development forum at APEC last month, California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild, the state’s top energy official, called the state “a postcard from the future” that will run “through electric wires, not through pipes.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Danny Cullenward, University of Pennsylvania's Kleinman Center for Energy Policy\"]‘You can be really excited about the future while also being kind of sober about where we are and the scale of what needs to happen in the future, none of which is ordained. It’s going to take a lot of work to get where we want to go.’[/pullquote]But serious challenges remain. California reports its emissions over the past two years\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/2022%20GHG%20Estimates%20Report%20for%20Item%203900-001-3237.pdf\"> have gone up when they should be going down\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They need to be going down by about 15 or 16 million tons a year every year through 2030 for us to hit our minimum statutory target,” said Danny Cullenward, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That minimum 2030 target stipulates that statewide emissions drop below 40% of what they were in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, California does not include the harmful greenhouse gasses released from major wildfires in its emissions accounting. Researchers estimate that the state’s devastating 2020 wildfire year \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-20/california-wildfires-offset-greenhouse-gas-reductions\">erased two decades’ worth of gains\u003c/a> Californians have made in emission cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED recently spoke with a handful of climate scientists to get their take on California’s energy trajectory. Most agreed that the state has a strong chance of delivering on its \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1020&showamends=false\">100% clean power mandate by 2045\u003c/a>, offering a bright spot in humanity’s race to eliminate the root causes of climate change: burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are different aspects of the clean energy transition that California leaders and outside experts consider crucial to effectively transitioning to a carbon-free system. Overall, they said, there was much to celebrate — like the meteoric rise of battery storage — as California races toward its energy targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jump straight to:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor1\">Carbon-free electricity\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor2\">Storage\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor3\">Electric vehicles\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor4\">Offshore wind\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor5\">Environmental justice\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor6\">Electricity prices\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor1\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Carbon-free electricity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1931649\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 5472px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1931649\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg\" alt=\"A large solar panel array, with a city skyline in the background.\" width=\"5472\" height=\"3648\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg 5472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 5472px) 100vw, 5472px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar panels are mounted atop the roof of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 5, 2018, in Los Angeles. The solar array of 6,228 panels is expected to generate 3.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>The energy pulsing through California’s grid is 60% clean and carbon-free overall, meaning it comes from renewable sources like solar and wind and zero-carbon sources like hydropower and nuclear. The state’s energy commission anticipates carbon-free energy will comprise two-thirds of retail sales in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alternative energy is the wrong word to use today to describe renewables,” Hochschild said at his APEC talk last month. They are not alternative because they comprise the majority of the state’s energy sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1020&showamends=false\">set benchmarks\u003c/a> for the state to reach 90% clean electricity by 2035 and 95% by 2040, moving toward California’s previously established goal of 100% by 2045. This means energy would come from renewable sources, like solar and wind and zero-carbon sources like nuclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, the California Public Utilities Commission approved plans to \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M502/K651/502651263.PDF\">add 86,000 megawatts (PDF)\u003c/a> of energy to the grid by 2035 to allow for more room as the state electrifies. That would more than double what is currently available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dan Kammen, UC Berkeley energy professor: \u003c/b>The state has produced\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097376890/for-a-brief-moment-calif-fully-powered-itself-with-renewable-energy\"> more than 100%\u003c/a> of its energy from renewables for brief periods during the last few spring seasons. “Where California is today is remarkable,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Merrian Borgeson, California climate and clean energy policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): \u003c/b>The state is moving in the right direction toward meeting these goals but faces challenges connecting all the new renewable projects to the grid. Those projects must submit an application to the state’s grid managers at the California Independent System Operator, known as CAISO, before connecting to the grid. And the approval queue is very backlogged.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"clean-energy\"]“California’s in this place where we don’t need new goals. We just need to implement like crazy,” Borgeson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>James Bushnell, UC Davis energy economist: \u003c/b>California is an incubator for climate ideas. As the state moves toward its goals, it can share lessons learned with other governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way I think about it is not in terms of make or break targets, but what we’re trying to do is rapidly expand zero-carbon energy and get a sense of what the implications and costs and challenges are,” Bushnell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s progress in adding renewables to the grid in the last decade has been rapid, but currently, California is “bumping up against a bunch of different constraints” that may be transitory or signs that we’re “reaching a plateau where further reductions are just more difficult,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ranjit Deshmukh, UC Santa Barbara environmental studies professor: \u003c/b>California’s growth in clean energy is non-linear, and the state might have picked through the low-hanging fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As you get closer to that [100% clean energy] goal, it gets harder and harder to manage your system,” Deshmukh said, given the variability of wind and solar. “We have to introduce more energy storage to manage that variability and shift our generation to times when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. So the challenge is going to get harder and harder.”\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor2\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Storage\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985631\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1240px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985631 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg\" alt=\"A large outdoor battery-storage facility next to a power plant with a large smokestack.\" width=\"1240\" height=\"698\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg 1240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-1020x574.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tesla Megapack batteries at the Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System next to the Vistra Moss Landing natural gas-fired power plant in Moss Landing on California’s central coast. \u003ccite>(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>The state’s ability to store energy through large-scale batteries has grown more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-10/california-sees-unprecedented-growth-energy-storage-key-component-states-clean\">sevenfold \u003c/a>in the past four years. The batteries can store enough energy to power 6.6 million homes for up to four hours and helped the state avert blackouts during a September 2022 10-day heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985632 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg\" alt=\"A charge showing the increase in California's energy storage resources between 2019 and 2023,\" width=\"228\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg 810w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-800x800.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\">\u003c/a>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>Battery storage is one of the main resources needed to shut down fossil-fuel-powered plants, and storage must keep growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The storage story has been really, really amazing,” Borgeson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh\u003c/b>\u003cb>: \u003c/b>The costs of storage are dropping. “The question is how fast we put storage on the ground,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you install storage earlier, prices are higher, but adding the storage increases understanding of how to add storage and will help bring costs down. Ultimately, he said, we must remember that ratepayers will pay those costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Davis’ Bushnell: \u003c/b>There is some resource competition, both in terms of materials and production capacity, as demand for electric-vehicle batteries and storage batteries both surge.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor3\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Electric vehicles\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985634\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985634 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg\" alt=\"A white electric car getting charged.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"701\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-800x548.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-1020x698.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-160x110.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-768x526.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An electric car charges at a mall parking lot on June 27, 2022, in Corte Madera, Marin County. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>In 2018, 5% of California’s new vehicle sales were zero-emission vehicles. According to the state’s energy commission, that figure was 27% this month. California mandates that all new cars sold by 2035 be hybrid or electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really indicative that EVs are going to win,” Hochschild of the state’s Energy Commission said. California’s current top-selling car is electric: a Tesla.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>Californians are buoyed by the state goal to get off internal combustion vehicles. But, Borgeson said, “People are buying them because the cars are working for people in their daily lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>California’s 2035 goal is too lax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be moving that date forward, that looks way too conservative now. That number should be 2030. I would argue we could do it in 2028,” Kammen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh:\u003c/b> Increased EV sales will lead to emissions reductions. “But there’s evidence that people use EVs as their secondary vehicles, and they still keep gasoline cars for the long drives,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As EVs get better and even more popular, California must keep pace by growing public-charging infrastructure. “If folks start thinking that public charging is going to be a constraint, vehicles won’t grow as quickly as we hope they would,” Deshmukh said.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor4\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Offshore wind\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg\" alt=\"Wind turbines at sea.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-800x575.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-1020x733.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-768x552.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm, the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, on July 7, 2022, near Block Island, Rhode Island. \u003ccite>(John Moore/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>California’s goals partly depend on \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/4361\">producing 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2045\u003c/a> from offshore wind. That would be enough energy to power 25 million homes. Officials plan to install floating wind turbines in two locations: one off Humboldt Bay in Northern California and another near Morro Bay off the state’s central coast. The federal government auctioned off 583 square miles of ocean waters for the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>“We’re way behind on building offshore wind,” Kammen said. He called the resource the “ultimate battery” because it is available when solar and onshore wind are often unavailable and can be used to make hydrogen, which can store energy later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>“The goals that the state has set are directionally right and very, very aggressive, appropriately so,” Borgeson said. “The state has been setting all the right signals for offshore wind to be viable in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>“Offshore wind progress is always slow because just to get the industry off the ground requires a lot of effort and investment,” Deshmukh said. It requires building infrastructure like ports, specialized vessels and transmission lines.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor5\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Environmental justice\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985635\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985635\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg\" alt=\"A man in a hard hat installs solar panels on the roof of a house.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-1536x1026.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Hayes, with Grid Alternatives, helps install solar panels on the roof of a home in a lower-income neighborhood in Vallejo, Solano County, on Feb. 13, 2018. \u003ccite>(Lauren Hanussak/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>California’s landmark environmental justice law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB617\">AB 617\u003c/a>, is intended to clear up dirty air for Richmond, West Oakland and other industrial communities across the state, in part through the use of clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law has been heralded by some as groundbreaking and derided by others as toothless. Experts say \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/01/california-air-quality-environmental-justice-law/?series=california-environmental-justice\">it’s unclear if it is working\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state also has other initiatives, like those aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-09/california-energy-commission-launches-38-million-project-ev-charging-low-income\">bringing EV charging to lower-income and disadvantaged communities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many experts and advocates feel the state is failing to meet environmental justice goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>The state should be installing solar and storage on affordable housing and co-locating transit hubs where people with lower-income live, he said. “We are way behind on environmental justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>As California decarbonizes, we have to make sure disadvantaged and minority communities receive their fair share of benefits “whether they are health benefits from reduced air pollution by retiring fossil fuel plants, or receiving incentives for clean energy technologies, or the share of jobs in the clean energy technologies,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state must also work to make sure lower-income and minority communities are not unfairly burdened by increases in costs for both electricity or natural gas, especially as the state works to cut natural gas from our energy mix.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor6\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Electricity prices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985636\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985636\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A utility meter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A PG&E electricity meter on a residential building in Berkeley on April 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>Californians pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.statista.com/statistics/630090/states-with-the-average-electricity-price-for-the-residential-sector-in-the-us/\">one of the highest retail electricity rates\u003c/a> in the United States. That’s a problem for a state pushing people to go all-electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Davis’ Bushnell: \u003c/b>“Electricity prices are extremely high in California,” Bushnell said, which puts a headwind in front of California’s momentum on everything from transportation to home electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>It’s much cheaper to power things with clean power than customers’ current rates. “This really, really, really vital price signal is currently, in my view, wrong,” she said. The state should be focusing on how to change this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>How the state achieves clean electricity in a cost-effective way to ratepayers is crucial, especially given other considerations like conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While solar farms in the desert may provide less expensive energy, they can hurt the plants and animals that live there. Putting solar panels on the built environment decreases this drawback but is more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California's leaders are busy making the case that the state is on track to meet its ambitious clean energy mandate, while also growing its economy. But major challenges remain in the nation's largest state, where carbon emissions continued to increase over the last 2 years.",
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"description": "California's leaders are busy making the case that the state is on track to meet its ambitious clean energy mandate, while also growing its economy. But major challenges remain in the nation's largest state, where carbon emissions continued to increase over the last 2 years.",
"title": "Is California Still on Track to Meet Its Goal of 100% Clean Power by 2045? | KQED",
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"headline": "Is California Still on Track to Meet Its Goal of 100% Clean Power by 2045?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California leaders have been busy of late making their climate case on the international conference circuit. State delegates are currently at the 28th Conference of Parties, or COP28, an international climate meeting held this year in Dubai, and many also attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, hosted in San Francisco last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The message from California’s leaders is that the state is achieving its ambitious climate goals while also growing its massive economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sustainable development forum at APEC last month, California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild, the state’s top energy official, called the state “a postcard from the future” that will run “through electric wires, not through pipes.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘You can be really excited about the future while also being kind of sober about where we are and the scale of what needs to happen in the future, none of which is ordained. It’s going to take a lot of work to get where we want to go.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But serious challenges remain. California reports its emissions over the past two years\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/2022%20GHG%20Estimates%20Report%20for%20Item%203900-001-3237.pdf\"> have gone up when they should be going down\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They need to be going down by about 15 or 16 million tons a year every year through 2030 for us to hit our minimum statutory target,” said Danny Cullenward, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That minimum 2030 target stipulates that statewide emissions drop below 40% of what they were in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, California does not include the harmful greenhouse gasses released from major wildfires in its emissions accounting. Researchers estimate that the state’s devastating 2020 wildfire year \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-20/california-wildfires-offset-greenhouse-gas-reductions\">erased two decades’ worth of gains\u003c/a> Californians have made in emission cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED recently spoke with a handful of climate scientists to get their take on California’s energy trajectory. Most agreed that the state has a strong chance of delivering on its \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1020&showamends=false\">100% clean power mandate by 2045\u003c/a>, offering a bright spot in humanity’s race to eliminate the root causes of climate change: burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are different aspects of the clean energy transition that California leaders and outside experts consider crucial to effectively transitioning to a carbon-free system. Overall, they said, there was much to celebrate — like the meteoric rise of battery storage — as California races toward its energy targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jump straight to:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor1\">Carbon-free electricity\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor2\">Storage\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor3\">Electric vehicles\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor4\">Offshore wind\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor5\">Environmental justice\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"#anchor6\">Electricity prices\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor1\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Carbon-free electricity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1931649\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 5472px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1931649\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg\" alt=\"A large solar panel array, with a city skyline in the background.\" width=\"5472\" height=\"3648\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114.jpg 5472w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/09/GettyImages-1027371114-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 5472px) 100vw, 5472px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar panels are mounted atop the roof of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 5, 2018, in Los Angeles. The solar array of 6,228 panels is expected to generate 3.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. \u003ccite>(Mario Tama/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>The energy pulsing through California’s grid is 60% clean and carbon-free overall, meaning it comes from renewable sources like solar and wind and zero-carbon sources like hydropower and nuclear. The state’s energy commission anticipates carbon-free energy will comprise two-thirds of retail sales in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alternative energy is the wrong word to use today to describe renewables,” Hochschild said at his APEC talk last month. They are not alternative because they comprise the majority of the state’s energy sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1020&showamends=false\">set benchmarks\u003c/a> for the state to reach 90% clean electricity by 2035 and 95% by 2040, moving toward California’s previously established goal of 100% by 2045. This means energy would come from renewable sources, like solar and wind and zero-carbon sources like nuclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, the California Public Utilities Commission approved plans to \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M502/K651/502651263.PDF\">add 86,000 megawatts (PDF)\u003c/a> of energy to the grid by 2035 to allow for more room as the state electrifies. That would more than double what is currently available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dan Kammen, UC Berkeley energy professor: \u003c/b>The state has produced\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097376890/for-a-brief-moment-calif-fully-powered-itself-with-renewable-energy\"> more than 100%\u003c/a> of its energy from renewables for brief periods during the last few spring seasons. “Where California is today is remarkable,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Merrian Borgeson, California climate and clean energy policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): \u003c/b>The state is moving in the right direction toward meeting these goals but faces challenges connecting all the new renewable projects to the grid. Those projects must submit an application to the state’s grid managers at the California Independent System Operator, known as CAISO, before connecting to the grid. And the approval queue is very backlogged.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“California’s in this place where we don’t need new goals. We just need to implement like crazy,” Borgeson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>James Bushnell, UC Davis energy economist: \u003c/b>California is an incubator for climate ideas. As the state moves toward its goals, it can share lessons learned with other governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way I think about it is not in terms of make or break targets, but what we’re trying to do is rapidly expand zero-carbon energy and get a sense of what the implications and costs and challenges are,” Bushnell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s progress in adding renewables to the grid in the last decade has been rapid, but currently, California is “bumping up against a bunch of different constraints” that may be transitory or signs that we’re “reaching a plateau where further reductions are just more difficult,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ranjit Deshmukh, UC Santa Barbara environmental studies professor: \u003c/b>California’s growth in clean energy is non-linear, and the state might have picked through the low-hanging fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As you get closer to that [100% clean energy] goal, it gets harder and harder to manage your system,” Deshmukh said, given the variability of wind and solar. “We have to introduce more energy storage to manage that variability and shift our generation to times when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. So the challenge is going to get harder and harder.”\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor2\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Storage\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985631\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1240px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985631 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg\" alt=\"A large outdoor battery-storage facility next to a power plant with a large smokestack.\" width=\"1240\" height=\"698\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909.jpeg 1240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-1020x574.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/pge_tesla_elkhorn_battery_1237809909-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tesla Megapack batteries at the Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System next to the Vistra Moss Landing natural gas-fired power plant in Moss Landing on California’s central coast. \u003ccite>(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>The state’s ability to store energy through large-scale batteries has grown more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-10/california-sees-unprecedented-growth-energy-storage-key-component-states-clean\">sevenfold \u003c/a>in the past four years. The batteries can store enough energy to power 6.6 million homes for up to four hours and helped the state avert blackouts during a September 2022 10-day heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985632 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg\" alt=\"A charge showing the increase in California's energy storage resources between 2019 and 2023,\" width=\"228\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic.jpeg 810w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-800x800.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/Battery_graphic-768x768.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\">\u003c/a>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>Battery storage is one of the main resources needed to shut down fossil-fuel-powered plants, and storage must keep growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The storage story has been really, really amazing,” Borgeson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh\u003c/b>\u003cb>: \u003c/b>The costs of storage are dropping. “The question is how fast we put storage on the ground,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you install storage earlier, prices are higher, but adding the storage increases understanding of how to add storage and will help bring costs down. Ultimately, he said, we must remember that ratepayers will pay those costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Davis’ Bushnell: \u003c/b>There is some resource competition, both in terms of materials and production capacity, as demand for electric-vehicle batteries and storage batteries both surge.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor3\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Electric vehicles\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985634\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985634 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg\" alt=\"A white electric car getting charged.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"701\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-800x548.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-1020x698.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-160x110.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/GettyImages-1405480915-768x526.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An electric car charges at a mall parking lot on June 27, 2022, in Corte Madera, Marin County. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>In 2018, 5% of California’s new vehicle sales were zero-emission vehicles. According to the state’s energy commission, that figure was 27% this month. California mandates that all new cars sold by 2035 be hybrid or electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really indicative that EVs are going to win,” Hochschild of the state’s Energy Commission said. California’s current top-selling car is electric: a Tesla.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>Californians are buoyed by the state goal to get off internal combustion vehicles. But, Borgeson said, “People are buying them because the cars are working for people in their daily lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>California’s 2035 goal is too lax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be moving that date forward, that looks way too conservative now. That number should be 2030. I would argue we could do it in 2028,” Kammen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh:\u003c/b> Increased EV sales will lead to emissions reductions. “But there’s evidence that people use EVs as their secondary vehicles, and they still keep gasoline cars for the long drives,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As EVs get better and even more popular, California must keep pace by growing public-charging infrastructure. “If folks start thinking that public charging is going to be a constraint, vehicles won’t grow as quickly as we hope they would,” Deshmukh said.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor4\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Offshore wind\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg\" alt=\"Wind turbines at sea.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-800x575.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-1020x733.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/12/GettyImages-1407548832-768x552.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm, the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, on July 7, 2022, near Block Island, Rhode Island. \u003ccite>(John Moore/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>California’s goals partly depend on \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/4361\">producing 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2045\u003c/a> from offshore wind. That would be enough energy to power 25 million homes. Officials plan to install floating wind turbines in two locations: one off Humboldt Bay in Northern California and another near Morro Bay off the state’s central coast. The federal government auctioned off 583 square miles of ocean waters for the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>“We’re way behind on building offshore wind,” Kammen said. He called the resource the “ultimate battery” because it is available when solar and onshore wind are often unavailable and can be used to make hydrogen, which can store energy later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>“The goals that the state has set are directionally right and very, very aggressive, appropriately so,” Borgeson said. “The state has been setting all the right signals for offshore wind to be viable in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>“Offshore wind progress is always slow because just to get the industry off the ground requires a lot of effort and investment,” Deshmukh said. It requires building infrastructure like ports, specialized vessels and transmission lines.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor5\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Environmental justice\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985635\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985635\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg\" alt=\"A man in a hard hat installs solar panels on the roof of a house.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/RS29464_SOLAR_021318_429-qut-1536x1026.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Hayes, with Grid Alternatives, helps install solar panels on the roof of a home in a lower-income neighborhood in Vallejo, Solano County, on Feb. 13, 2018. \u003ccite>(Lauren Hanussak/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>California’s landmark environmental justice law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB617\">AB 617\u003c/a>, is intended to clear up dirty air for Richmond, West Oakland and other industrial communities across the state, in part through the use of clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law has been heralded by some as groundbreaking and derided by others as toothless. Experts say \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/01/california-air-quality-environmental-justice-law/?series=california-environmental-justice\">it’s unclear if it is working\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state also has other initiatives, like those aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-09/california-energy-commission-launches-38-million-project-ev-charging-low-income\">bringing EV charging to lower-income and disadvantaged communities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many experts and advocates feel the state is failing to meet environmental justice goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Berkeley’s Kammen: \u003c/b>The state should be installing solar and storage on affordable housing and co-locating transit hubs where people with lower-income live, he said. “We are way behind on environmental justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>As California decarbonizes, we have to make sure disadvantaged and minority communities receive their fair share of benefits “whether they are health benefits from reduced air pollution by retiring fossil fuel plants, or receiving incentives for clean energy technologies, or the share of jobs in the clean energy technologies,” Deshmukh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state must also work to make sure lower-income and minority communities are not unfairly burdened by increases in costs for both electricity or natural gas, especially as the state works to cut natural gas from our energy mix.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor6\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Electricity prices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985636\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985636\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A utility meter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/12/04262023_ksuzuki_warmweather-426-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A PG&E electricity meter on a residential building in Berkeley on April 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where we are now: \u003c/b>Californians pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.statista.com/statistics/630090/states-with-the-average-electricity-price-for-the-residential-sector-in-the-us/\">one of the highest retail electricity rates\u003c/a> in the United States. That’s a problem for a state pushing people to go all-electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>What the experts are saying\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UC Davis’ Bushnell: \u003c/b>“Electricity prices are extremely high in California,” Bushnell said, which puts a headwind in front of California’s momentum on everything from transportation to home electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>NRDC’s Borgeson: \u003c/b>It’s much cheaper to power things with clean power than customers’ current rates. “This really, really, really vital price signal is currently, in my view, wrong,” she said. The state should be focusing on how to change this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>UCSB’s Deshmukh: \u003c/b>How the state achieves clean electricity in a cost-effective way to ratepayers is crucial, especially given other considerations like conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While solar farms in the desert may provide less expensive energy, they can hurt the plants and animals that live there. Putting solar panels on the built environment decreases this drawback but is more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Oakland Might Have Lost Its 'Coal War' — and Could Have to Pay Millions",
"headTitle": "Oakland Might Have Lost Its ‘Coal War’ — and Could Have to Pay Millions | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11641853/oakland-heads-to-trial-over-coal-ban\">years-long battle over a plan to build a terminal for exporting coal\u003c/a> near the Port of Oakland is now in the hands of an Alameda County Superior Court judge, who will decide whether the project can move forward or if Oakland will have to pay millions for developers’ lost profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day before Thanksgiving, Judge Noël Wise ruled that the city thwarted the project, siding with developers including Phil Tagami, who wants to build the export terminal at the West Oakland Army Base. Tagami runs companies affiliated with the project, including Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, or OBOT.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, local environmental justice advocates continue to push back against it over concerns that the project would further degrade air quality for the community of West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tagami has said Oakland breached its contract with him and previously sued the city for allegedly blocking necessary documents related to the project from moving forward, which created delays that caused him to miss key construction milestones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The terminal would be unique and the preferred terminal on the West Coast to transfer coal from Utah to Japan,” Barry Lee, the attorney representing the developers, said in court on Friday. He claimed that the city “did everything it could to interfere” with the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing the city of Oakland said that Tagami missed key deadlines and failed to uphold his end of the lease. “They have utterly failed to meet their burdens” of the contract, attorney Danielle Leonard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oakland could pay millions of dollars in damages\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In total, Tagami is asking for $159 million in damages or, alternatively, the chance to move forward with the project by receiving an extension to complete construction milestones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://nocoalinoakland.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-22-Pltfs-Remedy-Phase-Trial-Brief.pdf\">pretrial brief (PDF),\u003c/a> OBOT is seeking an extension of at least two years and five months to meet its construction requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Wolff, CEO of Enchant Energy, who was previously involved with the project, said in witness testimony this week that he believes “there were billions of tons of coal to export through this facility” and that the coal prospects “encouraged us to move forward and we secured customers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city countered that the developers’ projected profits are speculative and unreliable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This court has no discretion to award any damages at all,” Leonard said on Friday during closing arguments for the trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California law is clear that lost profits from a future third-party business relationship are typically consequential, not actual damages,” the city wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://nocoalinoakland.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-27-City-Pretrial-Brief-4-re-Availability-of-Legal-Damages.pdf\">pretrial filings (PDF)\u003c/a>. “It is not enough to say, for example, that this was a development contract and the City has interfered with that development, therefore, OBOT should get its estimated lost future profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge ultimately found that the city breached its contract with Tagami, who argued officials blocked him from executing his plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her decision over whether Oakland — and, by extension, taxpayers — will have to pay Tagami back millions or let the project move forward is expected in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>West Oakland pushes back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups continue to oppose the coal terminal project for its potential to increase pollution in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11000374/study-backs-oaklands-case-for-blocking-coal-terminal#coalanalysis\">report by Environmental Science Associates\u003c/a> found that coal flowing through the ship-to-rail terminal would largely impact lower-income communities near the port, including in West Oakland, western San Leandro and Emeryville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Environmental Science Associates 2016 report\"]‘This increase in [greenhouse gas] emissions would contribute incrementally to global climate change along with sea-level rise that would be experienced locally in Oakland.’[/pullquote]Coal dust from the millions of tons of fossil fuels that could pass through the terminal could worsen air pollution, increasing the risk of respiratory and heart disease for those living near the export terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhoods surrounding the heavily industrialized port are already choked by some of the state’s dirtiest air, largely from a near-constant stream of semi-trucks moving goods in and out. Coal transported through the terminal to later burn overseas would add to greenhouse gas emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This increase in [greenhouse gas] emissions would contribute incrementally to global climate change along with sea-level rise that would be experienced locally in Oakland,” the report reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Masover has been working since about 2016 with the community group No Coal in Oakland, coordinating opposition to the project and raising awareness of how it could cause environmental harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an East Bay resident, there can’t be a coal terminal in Oakland,” Masover said. “The outcome of this case notwithstanding, there are many options available for how we might see that it never comes to pass that coal is shipped through Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city could appeal the judge’s decision if the project is allowed to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11641853/oakland-heads-to-trial-over-coal-ban\">years-long battle over a plan to build a terminal for exporting coal\u003c/a> near the Port of Oakland is now in the hands of an Alameda County Superior Court judge, who will decide whether the project can move forward or if Oakland will have to pay millions for developers’ lost profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day before Thanksgiving, Judge Noël Wise ruled that the city thwarted the project, siding with developers including Phil Tagami, who wants to build the export terminal at the West Oakland Army Base. Tagami runs companies affiliated with the project, including Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, or OBOT.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, local environmental justice advocates continue to push back against it over concerns that the project would further degrade air quality for the community of West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tagami has said Oakland breached its contract with him and previously sued the city for allegedly blocking necessary documents related to the project from moving forward, which created delays that caused him to miss key construction milestones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The terminal would be unique and the preferred terminal on the West Coast to transfer coal from Utah to Japan,” Barry Lee, the attorney representing the developers, said in court on Friday. He claimed that the city “did everything it could to interfere” with the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing the city of Oakland said that Tagami missed key deadlines and failed to uphold his end of the lease. “They have utterly failed to meet their burdens” of the contract, attorney Danielle Leonard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oakland could pay millions of dollars in damages\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In total, Tagami is asking for $159 million in damages or, alternatively, the chance to move forward with the project by receiving an extension to complete construction milestones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://nocoalinoakland.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-22-Pltfs-Remedy-Phase-Trial-Brief.pdf\">pretrial brief (PDF),\u003c/a> OBOT is seeking an extension of at least two years and five months to meet its construction requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Wolff, CEO of Enchant Energy, who was previously involved with the project, said in witness testimony this week that he believes “there were billions of tons of coal to export through this facility” and that the coal prospects “encouraged us to move forward and we secured customers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city countered that the developers’ projected profits are speculative and unreliable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This court has no discretion to award any damages at all,” Leonard said on Friday during closing arguments for the trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California law is clear that lost profits from a future third-party business relationship are typically consequential, not actual damages,” the city wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://nocoalinoakland.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-27-City-Pretrial-Brief-4-re-Availability-of-Legal-Damages.pdf\">pretrial filings (PDF)\u003c/a>. “It is not enough to say, for example, that this was a development contract and the City has interfered with that development, therefore, OBOT should get its estimated lost future profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge ultimately found that the city breached its contract with Tagami, who argued officials blocked him from executing his plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her decision over whether Oakland — and, by extension, taxpayers — will have to pay Tagami back millions or let the project move forward is expected in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>West Oakland pushes back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups continue to oppose the coal terminal project for its potential to increase pollution in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11000374/study-backs-oaklands-case-for-blocking-coal-terminal#coalanalysis\">report by Environmental Science Associates\u003c/a> found that coal flowing through the ship-to-rail terminal would largely impact lower-income communities near the port, including in West Oakland, western San Leandro and Emeryville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Coal dust from the millions of tons of fossil fuels that could pass through the terminal could worsen air pollution, increasing the risk of respiratory and heart disease for those living near the export terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighborhoods surrounding the heavily industrialized port are already choked by some of the state’s dirtiest air, largely from a near-constant stream of semi-trucks moving goods in and out. Coal transported through the terminal to later burn overseas would add to greenhouse gas emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This increase in [greenhouse gas] emissions would contribute incrementally to global climate change along with sea-level rise that would be experienced locally in Oakland,” the report reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Masover has been working since about 2016 with the community group No Coal in Oakland, coordinating opposition to the project and raising awareness of how it could cause environmental harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As an East Bay resident, there can’t be a coal terminal in Oakland,” Masover said. “The outcome of this case notwithstanding, there are many options available for how we might see that it never comes to pass that coal is shipped through Oakland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city could appeal the judge’s decision if the project is allowed to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "EPA Aims to Combat Climate Change With New Methane Reduction Rules",
"headTitle": "EPA Aims to Combat Climate Change With New Methane Reduction Rules | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The oil industry has long leaked methane into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse gasses that are warming the planet. Now, new federal rules aim to dramatically reduce that pollution in the next 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration has issued strict new regulations to reduce methane from oil and gas industry operations. The announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency comes as world leaders are in Dubai for the annual United Nations climate meeting, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/events/methane-cop28\">controlling methane is a big focus\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas. It stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide — the most abundant greenhouse gas from humans. But methane is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane\">much more potent climate-warming gas\u003c/a>. Research shows that even small amounts of methane escaping into the atmosphere can \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/14/1187648553/natural-gas-can-rival-coals-climate-warming-potential-when-leaks-are-counted\">equal the climate-warming effects of burning coal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan, in a written statement, called the new final rule an “historic action to reduce climate pollution, protecting people and the planet.” He says the regulation is part of President Biden’s ambitious climate change efforts to zero out the country’s greenhouse gasses by 2050 and meet goals in the landmark Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA estimates the new rule will reduce methane emissions nearly 80% below what they were projected to be, and that will “prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038.” The agency says that’s the equivalent climate warming power “as all the carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA says that over that period, the amount of methane that will be captured or leaks avoided would be enough to heat nearly 8 million American homes for a winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also estimates the final rule will have net financial benefits of at least $7.3 billion a year from 2024 to 2038. Included in that accounting are the cost of deploying new technologies, climate savings, and health benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human-caused methane emissions are responsible for about 30% of global warming today, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/44216/eye_on_methane_summary.pdf?sequence=3\">United Nations Environment Programme\u003c/a>. Most of the methane emitted by humans comes from the energy sector, agriculture and landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule includes a “Super Emitter Program” that allows third parties, including environmental groups, to detect and report large methane releases from oil and gas sites. The EPA says studies show these large emitters account for almost half the methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is also required to phase out routine natural gas flaring at new oil wells. Drillers often flare or burn gas from the ground with more valuable oil when there isn’t a pipeline nearby to transport the gas to buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule also requires “comprehensive monitoring” for methane leaks from well sites and compressor stations. In addition to regularly inspecting sites, the EPA says oil and gas companies must choose “low-cost and innovative methane monitoring technologies” to detect leaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the rule creates standards for reducing emissions from equipment, such as controllers, pumps and storage tanks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states already have methane emissions programs. They will now have two years to submit them to EPA for approval to ensure they comply with the new federal regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With other countries also zeroing in on methane as a key climate risk, it’s a signal to operators worldwide that clean-up time is here,” says Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund president, in a statement. 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The official says now the EPA will certify groups with methane monitoring expertise, assess reports of releases for accuracy, and then notify a responsible company of the release so they can fix it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear whether that will satisfy API’s concerns, but the comments highlight something many people involved in this rulemaking process assume: the new regulations will likely be challenged in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=EPA+aims+to+slash+the+oil+industry%27s+climate-warming+methane+pollution&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The oil industry has long leaked methane into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse gasses that are warming the planet. Now, new federal rules aim to dramatically reduce that pollution in the next 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration has issued strict new regulations to reduce methane from oil and gas industry operations. The announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency comes as world leaders are in Dubai for the annual United Nations climate meeting, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/events/methane-cop28\">controlling methane is a big focus\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas. It stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide — the most abundant greenhouse gas from humans. But methane is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane\">much more potent climate-warming gas\u003c/a>. Research shows that even small amounts of methane escaping into the atmosphere can \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/14/1187648553/natural-gas-can-rival-coals-climate-warming-potential-when-leaks-are-counted\">equal the climate-warming effects of burning coal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan, in a written statement, called the new final rule an “historic action to reduce climate pollution, protecting people and the planet.” He says the regulation is part of President Biden’s ambitious climate change efforts to zero out the country’s greenhouse gasses by 2050 and meet goals in the landmark Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA estimates the new rule will reduce methane emissions nearly 80% below what they were projected to be, and that will “prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038.” The agency says that’s the equivalent climate warming power “as all the carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA says that over that period, the amount of methane that will be captured or leaks avoided would be enough to heat nearly 8 million American homes for a winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also estimates the final rule will have net financial benefits of at least $7.3 billion a year from 2024 to 2038. Included in that accounting are the cost of deploying new technologies, climate savings, and health benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human-caused methane emissions are responsible for about 30% of global warming today, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/44216/eye_on_methane_summary.pdf?sequence=3\">United Nations Environment Programme\u003c/a>. Most of the methane emitted by humans comes from the energy sector, agriculture and landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule includes a “Super Emitter Program” that allows third parties, including environmental groups, to detect and report large methane releases from oil and gas sites. The EPA says studies show these large emitters account for almost half the methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is also required to phase out routine natural gas flaring at new oil wells. Drillers often flare or burn gas from the ground with more valuable oil when there isn’t a pipeline nearby to transport the gas to buyers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule also requires “comprehensive monitoring” for methane leaks from well sites and compressor stations. In addition to regularly inspecting sites, the EPA says oil and gas companies must choose “low-cost and innovative methane monitoring technologies” to detect leaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the rule creates standards for reducing emissions from equipment, such as controllers, pumps and storage tanks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states already have methane emissions programs. They will now have two years to submit them to EPA for approval to ensure they comply with the new federal regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With other countries also zeroing in on methane as a key climate risk, it’s a signal to operators worldwide that clean-up time is here,” says Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund president, in a statement. EDF is among groups that have established methane monitoring programs, including plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpr.org/2023/08/17/methane-satellite-ball-aerospace-boulder/\">launch a $90 million satellite\u003c/a> to detect methane from oil and gas fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the new rules are aimed at the oil industry, they’re getting praise from some larger companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BP welcomes the finalization of a federal methane rule for new, modified and — for the first time — existing sources,” Orlando Alvarez, chairman and president of BP America, says in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But smaller companies have been critical, fearing increased costs that could make some wells unprofitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry’s largest trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, says it’s still reviewing the final rule. Earlier this year, API detailed its concerns in \u003ca href=\"https://www.api.org/~/media/files/news/2023/02/13/api-comments-epa-supplemental-proposed-methane-rule\">comments submitted to the EPA\u003c/a>. Among them, API mentioned potential legal issues with using third-party monitors for the “Super Emitter Program.” The group says the EPA “must establish requirements for monitoring of third-party data” and provide limits on how that information is released to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A senior EPA official says the agency made changes based on such comments. The official says now the EPA will certify groups with methane monitoring expertise, assess reports of releases for accuracy, and then notify a responsible company of the release so they can fix it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear whether that will satisfy API’s concerns, but the comments highlight something many people involved in this rulemaking process assume: the new regulations will likely be challenged in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=EPA+aims+to+slash+the+oil+industry%27s+climate-warming+methane+pollution&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Like its name suggests, the brown dog tick dines on dog blood. But as temperatures rise, they’re more likely to feast on you, too. That’s a problem, because the brown dog tick is a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease that’s deadly to both dogs and humans.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To pet a dog is to know peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But who’s this interloper? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a brown dog tick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re the most widespread tick in the world, and the most adapted to living among us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown dog ticks are thought to have evolved alongside burrowing carnivores like foxes and weasels – and came indoors when we domesticated dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They can be found in and around homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what’s worse, they spread bacteria that can be deadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They aren’t the ticks known for carrying Lyme disease. Those are blacklegged ticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brown dog tick has grooves along its back, and they’re a solid, reddish brown. See the difference?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjad085\">Assistant professor of animal science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Laura Backus, whose research on the brown dog tick we explored in this episode, has spent a lot of time looking into tick populations in California and Mexico during her Ph.D. and postdoc at the University of California, Davis. Check out her team’s work exploring the role of wildlife in tick-borne diseases in this paper!\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/\">Microscopist T Josek took the incredible pictures of the brown dog tick’s Haller’s organ you saw in this episode. Learn more about their organization, Bugscope at the University of Illinois’s Beckman Institute here.\u003cbr>\n[/pullquote]\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No matter what kind of tick they are, they want one thing: blood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And to find that blood, they use what’s called the Haller’s organ, one near the tip of each foreleg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticks use them to pick up chemical signals from the air: carbon dioxide, pheromones and humidity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists believe the Haller’s organ even lets ticks detect the body heat of their prey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All ticks have them, but they use them differently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blacklegged tick “quests” – it stays put, waving its forelegs to sense when it can hop aboard a host.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brown dog tick hunts, using that Haller’s organ to home in on a potential target.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As its name suggests, a brown dog tick is happy to take all its meals from dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the right conditions, the brown dog tick will dine on you, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a problem, because they can transmit bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a terrible disease that can kill both dogs and humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rocky Mountain spotted fever usually occurs in small clusters in the United States and is relatively rare. But outbreaks in northern Mexico have killed hundreds of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And rising temperatures due to climate change are sparking some troubling tick behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s particularly hot out, brown dog ticks start craving human blood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To investigate this, University of California, Davis researchers put a very good dog in a box and a very good human in another, connected by a plastic tube with hungry brown dog ticks inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don’t worry – there’s a screen here and here. The ticks can’t actually get them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At room temperature, the ticks preferred dogs. But when researchers heated up the tube, to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, brown dog ticks preferred – you guessed it – us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are still trying to determine why. In the meantime, researchers are developing vaccines to protect us from the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tick treatments can keep the pests off of dogs. But they’re expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Sonoran Desert, in Southern California, volunteers remove ticks by putting their tweezers right up against a dog’s skin and pulling straight up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This one is full of dog blood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they give the dogs oral medicine for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look at these happy pals!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then it’s back to the petting frenzy you both deserve.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Annual Climate Negotiations Are About To Start. Do They Matter?",
"headTitle": "Annual Climate Negotiations Are About To Start. Do They Matter? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A major annual international climate meeting kicks off later this week in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>World leaders are meeting from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 to discuss the effects of climate change, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the increasingly pressing question of who will pay for the costs of a hotter planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attendance at the annual negotiations \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/parties-non-party-stakeholders/non-party-stakeholders/statistics-on-non-party-stakeholders/statistics-on-participation-and-in-session-engagement\">has ballooned\u003c/a> and hit an \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/news/cop27-reaches-breakthrough-agreement-on-new-loss-and-damage-fund-for-vulnerable-countries#:~:text=COP27%20brought%20together%20more%20than,how%20it%20impacts%20their%20lives.\">estimated 45,000 people\u003c/a> last year. Thousands of climate scientists, mayors, activists, corporate executives, and representatives of major oil companies will also fly to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148810078/the-uae-names-the-head-of-its-main-state-oil-company-to-lead-cop28\">petroleum-dependent host country\u003c/a> to attend hundreds of side events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meeting comes at the close of the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. Extreme weather is killing people around the world. And while it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/30/1208241783/its-unlikely-but-not-impossible-to-limit-global-warming-to-1-5-celsius-study-fin\">still possible\u003c/a> for humans to avoid catastrophic climate change effects — such as mass extinctions and runaway sea level rise by the end of this century — it is only possible if greenhouse gas pollution falls dramatically and immediately, scientists warn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a fight is brewing over whether the countries most responsible for causing climate change will \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">follow through on promises\u003c/a> to help the most vulnerable countries \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1053669015/who-pays-for-climate-change\">foot the bill\u003c/a> for adapting to a hotter world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what you need to know about what’s at stake and what to expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is this meeting happening and what is it supposed to achieve?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This meeting happens every year and is arranged by the branch of the United Nations that handles global negotiations about climate change. In U.N.-speak, the climate meeting is called the Conference of the Parties, or COP. This is the 28th Conference of the Parties, so it’s called COP28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the 2015 COP meeting, world leaders signed the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Paris Agreement requires virtually every country on Earth to pledge how much they’ll cut planet-warming pollution and update those plans every few years. The goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to temperatures in the late 1800s, and ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, world leaders are required to review humanity’s collective progress toward that goal. And the situation is not good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A U.N. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/20/1213207121/this-is-how-far-behind-the-world-is-on-controlling-planet-warming-pollution\">analysis released this month\u003c/a> found that global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, and the planet is on track for at least 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. And while it’s still possible to stay below 2 degrees of warming — and every tenth of a degree of warming the world avoids will save lives — scientists warn that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/30/1208241783/its-unlikely-but-not-impossible-to-limit-global-warming-to-1-5-celsius-study-fin\">1.5-degree target is slipping away\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>These meetings have been happening for 30 years, and it feels like climate change is only getting worse. Do they really matter?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt ended with a watered-down agreement that left out language calling for a phaseout of all fossil fuels — the biggest driver of global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The summits have become a circus, “with the petrostates as the ringmasters” and everyone else as “the clowns,” Sandrine Dixson-Declève \u003ca href=\"https://www.clubofrome.org/blog-post/decleve-cop27/\">wrote last year\u003c/a>, as co-president of The Club of Rome, a nonprofit in Switzerland that works on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem, Dixson-Declève told NPR, is combining international negotiations with a trade show. The number of lobbyists who attend the events has soared, she says, and civil society groups struggle to afford the cost of reserving pavilion space in the COP conference hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some are actually given easier access than others because they can pay for it. And that means that those that have pavilions might be able to invite certain governments to come and have a conversation,” Dixson-Declève says. “It may not seem like direct lobbying, but it is potentially indirect lobbying, depending on where the conversation goes. So I think it’s incredibly important that we take into consideration this aspect, which has created a very unfair playing field.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the COP meetings remain crucial events for activists and poor countries hit hardest by climate-fueled disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the big values of the U.N. process, actually, is that everybody’s at the table,” says David Waskow, director of the International Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meetings are not “a panacea,” Waskow adds, but they “give us a sense of the direction we need to travel in and also can be a catalyst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, assistant director of the Global Economic Governance Initiative at Boston University, says he understands the public’s frustration with the climate talks. Part of it seems to stem from a mismatch between the U.N.’s multilateral process, which ensures every country has a say but often delivers incremental progress, and the urgency people feel as the impacts of climate change get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That tension has only grown as the United Arab Emirates, a big oil producer, prepares to host this year’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given its knowledge of oil and gas, the UAE has a chance to chart a practical but ambitious path to move the world off of fossil fuels, Dixson-Declève says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would be the perfect scenario,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction. António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, \u003ca href=\"https://productiongap.org/unsg-message-2023/\">said earlier in November\u003c/a> that governments “are literally doubling down on fossil fuel production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/co2-cop28-20231120/?initialWidth=953&childId=responsive-embed-co2-cop28-20231120&parentTitle=Everything%20you%20need%20to%20know%20about%20the%20COP28%20climate%20change%20meeting%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2023%2F11%2F27%2F1209676382%2Fcop28-climate-change-conference-faq\" width=\"1000\" height=\"620\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What will be a contentious topic at these talks?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest debates will be the overcompensation that wealthier countries could pay to nations hardest hit by climate change. It’s known as “loss and damage.” Lower-income countries bear the brunt of climate impacts, such as floods, fires and drought that cause billions of dollars in destruction. But they have contributed little to the planetary warming driving those disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Countries like the U.S. and those in Europe built their wealth through fossil fuel use and are responsible for most of the heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, developing nations have argued that they’re owed for the damage caused by climate change. Loss and damage funding could be used to prepare for future impacts, like building infrastructure or \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">relocating communities\u003c/a>, as well as compensating them for \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">irreplaceable cultural resources\u003c/a> that have been lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the 2022 climate summit, countries \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/20/1137349916/did-the-world-make-progress-on-climate-change-heres-what-was-decided-at-global-t\">made a historic agreement\u003c/a> to create a fund, especially for that purpose. Since then, negotiations have been bumpy. Countries have argued about which nations should pay into the fund, which should be eligible to receive funding, and where the fund is housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-cop28-loss-damage-fund-abu-dhabi-bd4969f1b23254a7311d1ad4f4289d9b\">the plan is\u003c/a> for the World Bank to house the “loss and damage” fund temporarily. But global leaders would need to sign off on that plan at the COP28 talks. And some developing countries are concerned about the plan because it only urges, not requires, richer countries to contribute funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985562\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985562\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Rescuers remove mud and debris as they search for people feared trapped after a landslide near a temple on the outskirts of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh state, Aug. 14, 2023.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rescuers search for people after a landslide in India in August that was caused by torrential rains. Climate-driven disasters are particularly destructive in places that are not wealthy, and such disasters can set off cycles of destruction, debt and further vulnerability. \u003ccite>(Pradeep Kumar/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Why is money such a big topic at the meeting?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Industrialized countries have pledged $100 billion annually to developing countries to help them adapt to global warming and move away from fossil fuels, but studies suggest much more money is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The needs for climate finance are much, much higher — more on the order of a trillion dollars per year,” says Laura Kuhl, assistant professor of public policy and international affairs at Northeastern University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent assessment from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oecd.org/environment/growth-accelerated-in-the-climate-finance-provided-and-mobilised-in-2021-but-developed-countries-remain-short.htm\">Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development\u003c/a> says developing countries will need at least $2.4 trillion each year by 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This money — called “climate finance” — can help developing countries switch from planet-heating fossil fuels to clean energy. It also includes money for adapting to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stacy-ann Robinson, an associate professor of environmental studies at Colby College, says you can’t talk about climate finance without talking about climate justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Countries in the Global South,” Robinson says, “are saying, ‘Listen, we contributed the least to historical greenhouse gas emissions, but based on a number of factors — environmental and otherwise — we will be impacted the most.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why back in 2009 at the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, industrialized nations announced that \u003cem>they\u003c/em> would take the lead on climate finance. They pledged that by 2020, they would give $100 billion each year toward funding climate adaptation and reducing fossil fuel use in the Global South.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They missed the 2020 goal. And although industrialized nations \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.oecd.org/climate-change/finance-usd-100-billion-goal/__;!!Iwwt!TcowzyOv2FKzOEQ2b2ribe2pUfpddVlARAVq0htz59aiMKvGjGYB7r4G9AdEE25TLeLgv9DyTp0S-yui5pg%24\">may have finally reached the $100 billion\u003c/a> mark in 2022, in Dubai, the discussions will center on how to get closer to the trillion dollar range. This will involve engaging countries, institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, and the private sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How do wars in the Middle East and Ukraine affect climate talks this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They won’t help. Climate diplomacy is already contentious. The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are further complicating, if not worsening, diplomatic relations among some of the world’s largest historic contributors to climate change — namely, the United States, Russia and China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.N. Secretary-General Guterres acknowledged the problem in recent remarks, saying that it’s clear that world leaders face “distractions” from addressing climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has trashed its relations with the U.S. and the European Union, which have been providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in aid and weaponry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At last year’s climate talks, representatives from developing countries raised questions about why rich countries like the U.S. have been quick to deliver weapons while slow-walking funds for climate adaptation and clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those concerns are likely to come up again in Dubai, as the U.S. is now delivering billions of dollars more to Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip is also raising the ire of other countries in the Middle East and Global South, and a broader regional conflict could cause chaos in the world’s energy markets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this makes it more difficult for world leaders to maintain consensus and focus on addressing the global issue of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=FAQ%3A+Annual+climate+negotiations+are+about+to+start.+Do+they+matter%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A major annual international climate meeting kicks off later this week in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>World leaders are meeting from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 to discuss the effects of climate change, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the increasingly pressing question of who will pay for the costs of a hotter planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attendance at the annual negotiations \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/parties-non-party-stakeholders/non-party-stakeholders/statistics-on-non-party-stakeholders/statistics-on-participation-and-in-session-engagement\">has ballooned\u003c/a> and hit an \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/news/cop27-reaches-breakthrough-agreement-on-new-loss-and-damage-fund-for-vulnerable-countries#:~:text=COP27%20brought%20together%20more%20than,how%20it%20impacts%20their%20lives.\">estimated 45,000 people\u003c/a> last year. Thousands of climate scientists, mayors, activists, corporate executives, and representatives of major oil companies will also fly to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148810078/the-uae-names-the-head-of-its-main-state-oil-company-to-lead-cop28\">petroleum-dependent host country\u003c/a> to attend hundreds of side events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meeting comes at the close of the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. Extreme weather is killing people around the world. And while it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/30/1208241783/its-unlikely-but-not-impossible-to-limit-global-warming-to-1-5-celsius-study-fin\">still possible\u003c/a> for humans to avoid catastrophic climate change effects — such as mass extinctions and runaway sea level rise by the end of this century — it is only possible if greenhouse gas pollution falls dramatically and immediately, scientists warn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a fight is brewing over whether the countries most responsible for causing climate change will \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">follow through on promises\u003c/a> to help the most vulnerable countries \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1053669015/who-pays-for-climate-change\">foot the bill\u003c/a> for adapting to a hotter world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what you need to know about what’s at stake and what to expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is this meeting happening and what is it supposed to achieve?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This meeting happens every year and is arranged by the branch of the United Nations that handles global negotiations about climate change. In U.N.-speak, the climate meeting is called the Conference of the Parties, or COP. This is the 28th Conference of the Parties, so it’s called COP28.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the 2015 COP meeting, world leaders signed the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Paris Agreement requires virtually every country on Earth to pledge how much they’ll cut planet-warming pollution and update those plans every few years. The goal is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to temperatures in the late 1800s, and ideally no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, world leaders are required to review humanity’s collective progress toward that goal. And the situation is not good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A U.N. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/20/1213207121/this-is-how-far-behind-the-world-is-on-controlling-planet-warming-pollution\">analysis released this month\u003c/a> found that global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, and the planet is on track for at least 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. And while it’s still possible to stay below 2 degrees of warming — and every tenth of a degree of warming the world avoids will save lives — scientists warn that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/30/1208241783/its-unlikely-but-not-impossible-to-limit-global-warming-to-1-5-celsius-study-fin\">1.5-degree target is slipping away\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>These meetings have been happening for 30 years, and it feels like climate change is only getting worse. Do they really matter?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt ended with a watered-down agreement that left out language calling for a phaseout of all fossil fuels — the biggest driver of global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The summits have become a circus, “with the petrostates as the ringmasters” and everyone else as “the clowns,” Sandrine Dixson-Declève \u003ca href=\"https://www.clubofrome.org/blog-post/decleve-cop27/\">wrote last year\u003c/a>, as co-president of The Club of Rome, a nonprofit in Switzerland that works on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem, Dixson-Declève told NPR, is combining international negotiations with a trade show. The number of lobbyists who attend the events has soared, she says, and civil society groups struggle to afford the cost of reserving pavilion space in the COP conference hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some are actually given easier access than others because they can pay for it. And that means that those that have pavilions might be able to invite certain governments to come and have a conversation,” Dixson-Declève says. “It may not seem like direct lobbying, but it is potentially indirect lobbying, depending on where the conversation goes. So I think it’s incredibly important that we take into consideration this aspect, which has created a very unfair playing field.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the COP meetings remain crucial events for activists and poor countries hit hardest by climate-fueled disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the big values of the U.N. process, actually, is that everybody’s at the table,” says David Waskow, director of the International Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meetings are not “a panacea,” Waskow adds, but they “give us a sense of the direction we need to travel in and also can be a catalyst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, assistant director of the Global Economic Governance Initiative at Boston University, says he understands the public’s frustration with the climate talks. Part of it seems to stem from a mismatch between the U.N.’s multilateral process, which ensures every country has a say but often delivers incremental progress, and the urgency people feel as the impacts of climate change get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That tension has only grown as the United Arab Emirates, a big oil producer, prepares to host this year’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given its knowledge of oil and gas, the UAE has a chance to chart a practical but ambitious path to move the world off of fossil fuels, Dixson-Declève says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would be the perfect scenario,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the world seems to be moving in the opposite direction. António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, \u003ca href=\"https://productiongap.org/unsg-message-2023/\">said earlier in November\u003c/a> that governments “are literally doubling down on fossil fuel production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/co2-cop28-20231120/?initialWidth=953&childId=responsive-embed-co2-cop28-20231120&parentTitle=Everything%20you%20need%20to%20know%20about%20the%20COP28%20climate%20change%20meeting%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2023%2F11%2F27%2F1209676382%2Fcop28-climate-change-conference-faq\" width=\"1000\" height=\"620\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What will be a contentious topic at these talks?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest debates will be the overcompensation that wealthier countries could pay to nations hardest hit by climate change. It’s known as “loss and damage.” Lower-income countries bear the brunt of climate impacts, such as floods, fires and drought that cause billions of dollars in destruction. But they have contributed little to the planetary warming driving those disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Countries like the U.S. and those in Europe built their wealth through fossil fuel use and are responsible for most of the heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, developing nations have argued that they’re owed for the damage caused by climate change. Loss and damage funding could be used to prepare for future impacts, like building infrastructure or \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">relocating communities\u003c/a>, as well as compensating them for \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">irreplaceable cultural resources\u003c/a> that have been lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the 2022 climate summit, countries \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/20/1137349916/did-the-world-make-progress-on-climate-change-heres-what-was-decided-at-global-t\">made a historic agreement\u003c/a> to create a fund, especially for that purpose. Since then, negotiations have been bumpy. Countries have argued about which nations should pay into the fund, which should be eligible to receive funding, and where the fund is housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-cop28-loss-damage-fund-abu-dhabi-bd4969f1b23254a7311d1ad4f4289d9b\">the plan is\u003c/a> for the World Bank to house the “loss and damage” fund temporarily. But global leaders would need to sign off on that plan at the COP28 talks. And some developing countries are concerned about the plan because it only urges, not requires, richer countries to contribute funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985562\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985562\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Rescuers remove mud and debris as they search for people feared trapped after a landslide near a temple on the outskirts of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh state, Aug. 14, 2023.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap23302774547951-e588f5868c0b80d8995b55a0d7a8712917cc8953-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rescuers search for people after a landslide in India in August that was caused by torrential rains. Climate-driven disasters are particularly destructive in places that are not wealthy, and such disasters can set off cycles of destruction, debt and further vulnerability. \u003ccite>(Pradeep Kumar/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Why is money such a big topic at the meeting?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Industrialized countries have pledged $100 billion annually to developing countries to help them adapt to global warming and move away from fossil fuels, but studies suggest much more money is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The needs for climate finance are much, much higher — more on the order of a trillion dollars per year,” says Laura Kuhl, assistant professor of public policy and international affairs at Northeastern University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent assessment from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oecd.org/environment/growth-accelerated-in-the-climate-finance-provided-and-mobilised-in-2021-but-developed-countries-remain-short.htm\">Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development\u003c/a> says developing countries will need at least $2.4 trillion each year by 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This money — called “climate finance” — can help developing countries switch from planet-heating fossil fuels to clean energy. It also includes money for adapting to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stacy-ann Robinson, an associate professor of environmental studies at Colby College, says you can’t talk about climate finance without talking about climate justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Countries in the Global South,” Robinson says, “are saying, ‘Listen, we contributed the least to historical greenhouse gas emissions, but based on a number of factors — environmental and otherwise — we will be impacted the most.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why back in 2009 at the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, industrialized nations announced that \u003cem>they\u003c/em> would take the lead on climate finance. They pledged that by 2020, they would give $100 billion each year toward funding climate adaptation and reducing fossil fuel use in the Global South.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They missed the 2020 goal. And although industrialized nations \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.oecd.org/climate-change/finance-usd-100-billion-goal/__;!!Iwwt!TcowzyOv2FKzOEQ2b2ribe2pUfpddVlARAVq0htz59aiMKvGjGYB7r4G9AdEE25TLeLgv9DyTp0S-yui5pg%24\">may have finally reached the $100 billion\u003c/a> mark in 2022, in Dubai, the discussions will center on how to get closer to the trillion dollar range. This will involve engaging countries, institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, and the private sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How do wars in the Middle East and Ukraine affect climate talks this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They won’t help. Climate diplomacy is already contentious. The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are further complicating, if not worsening, diplomatic relations among some of the world’s largest historic contributors to climate change — namely, the United States, Russia and China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.N. Secretary-General Guterres acknowledged the problem in recent remarks, saying that it’s clear that world leaders face “distractions” from addressing climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has trashed its relations with the U.S. and the European Union, which have been providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in aid and weaponry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At last year’s climate talks, representatives from developing countries raised questions about why rich countries like the U.S. have been quick to deliver weapons while slow-walking funds for climate adaptation and clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those concerns are likely to come up again in Dubai, as the U.S. is now delivering billions of dollars more to Israel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip is also raising the ire of other countries in the Middle East and Global South, and a broader regional conflict could cause chaos in the world’s energy markets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this makes it more difficult for world leaders to maintain consensus and focus on addressing the global issue of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=FAQ%3A+Annual+climate+negotiations+are+about+to+start.+Do+they+matter%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "draft-living-in-californias-sierra-foothills-residents-confront-climate-change",
"title": "Facing the Fire: California's Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt",
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"headTitle": "Facing the Fire: California’s Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]hari Wilson woke up and stared at the sun, dull and orange against a ruddy sky. She checked the Air Quality Index app on her phone and put on a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt just kind of down,” she said. “You know, there’s that orange sky, gray day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like millions of people across the Midwest and Northeast this past June, she saw smoke from Canadian wildfires. Though the fires were thousands of miles away, she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt trapped in the smoke,” she said. “And it made me think a lot about my friends in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shari Wilson and her husband had moved back to their home state of Michigan less than a year prior. Before that, they had spent nearly four decades in California, more than half of it in Nevada City, a small town on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about an hour’s drive from Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985405 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dark clouds roll into Nevada City, Nevada County, on Aug. 15, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quintessential Gold Rush-era town, complete with a vibrant arts scene and quaint, historic downtown, is surrounded by pine forests. Shari Wilson’s husband, Mark Wilson, said when they first moved there, those trees were a big part of the draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a great evergreen tree that grew two feet away from our deck,” he said. “We thought, ‘This is so great, we can watch the birds.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than two decades, the idea that a wildfire could level their house seemed distant. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-walk-in-the-ashes-of-the-tubbs-fire-five-years-later-in-sonoma-county/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> in California’s wine country brought it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire tore through a suburban neighborhood, killing 22 people. A year later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/five-years-after-the-camp-fire-paradise-survivors-see-hard-future-for-maui\">the Camp Fire\u003c/a> decimated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That made it real,” Mark Wilson said. “And it became a real feeling that this could easily happen to us tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985421\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sign in the form of a cross sits next to the side of a road in dusk light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial reads, ‘Faith, Hope, Paradise,’ in Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple started thinking about where else to live. Shari Wilson was quick to say it wasn’t just due to the fires. “We aren’t climate refugees,” she said. They both grew up in Michigan and wanted to live close to family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when this summer’s smoke began to blot out the sun, Mark Wilson said it was a grim reminder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me sad because it was a reminder that it’s not just California. It’s not just in one place. It’s everywhere,” he said. “And no matter where you go, climate change is going to catch up with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985407 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A red sign with white lettering is nailed to a tree.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising defensible space clearance for wildfire preparation hangs on a tree along the San Juan Ridge near Nevada City on June 27, 2023. The area is heavily forested and borders the Yuba River near historic towns that date back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As rising global temperatures bake the surrounding pine trees, oaks and madrones of the Sierra Nevada mountains, residents living in its scattered communities have a choice: to remain in the fire’s path or hedge their bets elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a question my family found ourselves facing, but in reverse, after my partner inherited a house in Nevada County. It is a place where we both spent our childhoods and where we hoped to one day raise our daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire has always been part of the bargain of living there. But as climate change fuels wildfires of unprecedented proportions, it’s rewriting the terms of that old agreement. As it does, that’s forced us, like many in the forested foothills, to renegotiate what we’re willing to do — and how much we’re willing to risk — to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1360589321&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Nevada County, measures to mitigate the threat of wildfires are underway, but their effectiveness has been stunted by decades of land management policies that sought to suppress all fires and led to an overabundance of brush and trees. Now, residents are racing to make up for lost time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For communities across the globe similarly poised on the knife’s edge of catastrophe — whether the threat is rising seas, stronger hurricanes or longer periods of extreme heat — the question is how to preserve and protect these places, or as retired fire scientist and Nevada County resident Jo Ann Fites-Kaufman put it, “What does it mean to live in different environments? What does it mean to grow up in an area? What does it mean to be human?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barbara’s house\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My partner’s mom, Barbara, was 79 when she passed away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She left behind a two-bedroom Mediterranean-style home with an orange exterior, its hue varied and weathered, one wall splashed robin’s egg blue. Situated on a 13-acre property in the northwestern corner of Nevada County, the house is not only a mausoleum of her artifacts but a physical manifestation of her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara had suffered a stroke, and we spent 10 days in the hospital hoping for an improvement in her condition that never came. During that time, and in the weeks after she passed away, the house was a vessel for our grief. It held us because it held so much of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985313 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg\" alt=\"A one level house with a tile roof is surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara built her home with wildfires in mind. The walls are made from a concrete-like material a foot thick that’s rated to withstand 12 hours of burning. S-shaped tiles line the roof, and a gravel driveway encircles the home. Photographed in August 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we finally turned off the lights and locked the doors to return home to the Bay Area, we did so reluctantly, wondering how and when we might move our lives there. Beneath our decision was an emerging hope for our not-yet-one-year-old daughter — that, although she would never know her grandmother, she might know the house her grandmother built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That summer, smoke from two dozen wildfires loomed over Nevada County and drifted across the state. On one particularly bad day in the Bay Area, it grew so thick \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/the-day-the-san-francisco-sky-turned-orange\">daylight turned to dusk\u003c/a>. It was then when I first began to wonder what kind of future our daughter might inherit if we chose to move to Nevada County, and what it would be like to live in a place where my own memories were constantly clashing with new realities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nothing left to burn\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They call her the voice of doom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her home office overlooking the Yuba River in Nevada County, Pascale Fusshoeller translates the precise, militaristic jargon of wildland firefighting departments into English, conveying need-to-know information on a fire’s origins, its speed and direction to readers across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985197\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985197\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The charred remains of burnt trees stand out from newly grown plants in a field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, Wildfire Prevention and Safety Manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, drives through an area of the county burned by wildfire on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fusshoeller co-founded and edits YubaNet.com, which began in 1999 as the Internet burgeoned from niche to mainstream. She and her wife, Susan Levitz, both career journalists, intended to run a community events page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That changed, Fusshoeller said, the day the site went live, and she spotted a towering plume of smoke rising from the ridge facing their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how we got into fire information,” she said. She hasn’t looked back. “It helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985203\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People wearing hard hats work digging in a forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. Using hand tools, the crew members will ensure that all of the fire has been extinguished. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Fusshoeller, this means that whenever a fire occurs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, her days start early and end late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/there-s-no-more-typical-wildfire-season-california-it-may-n934521\">It used to be\u003c/a> that fire season began in August and wrapped up by the end of September. Now, she says if there is a “fire season” at all, it begins in May and ends in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And of course, some years, there’s large fires in December,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As global temperatures rise, so, too, does the number of wildfires. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, across the western United States, human-caused climate change has doubled the cumulative area burned by wildfires over natural levels since 1984.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985422\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985422\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2006\" height=\"728\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png 2006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-800x290.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1020x370.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-160x58.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-768x279.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1536x557.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1920x697.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2006px) 100vw, 2006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure FAQ2.3.1 | (a) Springs Fire, May 2, 2013, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (photo by Michael Robinson Chávez, Los Angeles Times). (b) Cumulative area burned by wildfire in the western USA, with (orange) and without (yellow) the increased heat and aridity of climate change. \u003ccite>(IPCC Sixth Assessment Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist and climate change scientist at UC Berkeley, said the problem is particularly acute in California, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years/#:~:text=An%20exceptionally%20dry%20year%20in%202021%20helped%20break%20the%20record,least%20a%20couple%20of%20decades.\">a prolonged drought in recent years\u003c/a> has dried out plants and soils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Northern and Central California, almost all of the increase in burned area [over natural levels] has come from human-caused climate change since 1996,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/featured-items/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=ee6ea855632a4b56a46adea1d3c8022f&hash=5B8B3A1A35CBB52CB0ED7A010F0B52E0\">18 of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires (PDF)\u003c/a> have occurred since 2003. Nevada County had been spared. Looking at a map, Fusshoeller noted that all the surrounding counties had experienced large and destructive wildfires during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say that one day we will not have a large catastrophic fire here,” she said. Nevada County shares the same mix of vegetation, topography and climate conditions. “There is nothing else left to burn in the foothills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The forerunner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is something very Californian about believing it’s possible to survive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joan Didion knew this. In her 1968 collection of essays, \u003cem>Slouching Toward Bethlehem\u003c/em>, Didion wrote of the desert metropolis’ clime, “Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same could be said of the entire state. Where early white settlers found a floodplain, they built their capital city, Sacramento. And even amid the rubble of the city’s most destructive earthquake, San Franciscans nonetheless rebuilt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985404\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985404\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg\" alt=\"Left: Dark smoke billows above a structure. Right: Light gray and reddish smoke rises above a home surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"923\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-800x385.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1020x490.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-768x369.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1536x738.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A column of smoke rises behind a house in Lake Wildwood, California, as Mark and Kathy Baldassari prepare to evacuate from the 49er Fire on Sept. 11, 1988. Right: Smoke from the 49er Fire rises behind homes in Lake Wildwood, a small community in Nevada County, on Sept. 11, 1988. The fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres and destroyed almost 150 homes, making it California’s third most destructive wildfire at the time. Now, it’s not even in the top 20. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My own earliest memory, if an infant can be said to have one, is of a thick column of gray and black smoke rising behind my family’s house the day we evacuated from a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theunion.com/opinion/49er-fire-memories-where-were-you-30-years-ago-today/article_960384f0-6667-5f66-a6f9-fb0508006a76.html\">It was Sept. 11, 1988\u003c/a>. I was just over a year old. My dad would later describe the fire’s path: not a continuous wall, but jagged, like fingers on a hand, touching some homes, refusing others — sparing ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you kind of wonder why,” he mused, “why did it spare that house and burn that one?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was called the 49er Fire because it broke out near Highway 49 in Nevada County. It tore through nearly 36,000 acres of forest and grasslands and destroyed almost 150 homes. At the time, it was the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/49er-fire-destruction/\">third-largest wildfire\u003c/a> and is still the county’s most destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985219\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Several houses beside fire-scorched terrain.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1020x787.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1536x1185.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1920x1481.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1988 49er Fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres in Nevada County and destroyed almost 150 homes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a prediction that feels prescient today, Jerry Partain, then-director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now called Cal Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/624226617/?clipping_id=115881062&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjYyNDIyNjYxNywiaWF0IjoxNjk4OTU1MDA4LCJleHAiOjE2OTkwNDE0MDh9.s5IFZHnqPAFNjR2pbvWX3mHL3voE5oItjgwOsPg0Srk\">told \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “This [fire] is the classic. This is what we’ve been preaching about for the past several years. This is just the forerunner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Partain had been preaching about — fireproofing homes and managing the surrounding vegetation — is now a familiar sermon to anyone living in Northern California today, but one that was met with obstinance by the willful inhabitants of that era, a generally unyielding lot with a profound distrust of government matronism and a deep reverence for stick-to-itiveness, the miner’s luck and the sanctity of private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking with \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, Partain stood in front of a map detailing the fire’s course, acknowledging there was no way to save every home. “It will continue to happen in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People sit on blankets and fold out chairs in a grassy space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees lounge on the grass during the dinner hour at the Sierra Storytelling Festival at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center in North San Juan on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Erin Baldassari/KQED) \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the future came more residents, living with more risk. Between 1990 and 2010, the county’s population \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/378/Demographics-Statistics\">grew 26%\u003c/a>, mirroring a trend seen across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/wui-issues-resolutions-report.pdf\">country (PDF)\u003c/a> as more people than ever flooded into wildland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly \u003ca href=\"https://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">half of all homes built during that time period\u003c/a> were constructed in areas designated at “high or extreme risk of wildfire,” according to the Center for Insurance Policy and Research. Nevada County was no exception, where more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=5247\">nine out of every 10\u003c/a> residents live in “high or very high” fire hazard zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wildfires have become more destructive over the past 40 years is simple math, UC Berkeley’s Gonzalez said. “The losses of homes and people, who sadly die in a wildfire, is a function of the number of people who live in fire-prone areas,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985215\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985215 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The smoldering remains of a fire near a house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A controlled fire burns near a home on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “Climate change is exacerbating the risk. So, that makes it even more important [to limit] the number of people who move into or build new houses in fire-prone areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Brute reckoning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The 49er Fire left its mark on my psyche, attuning me to dry, summer winds, focusing my attention on anything that could produce an errant spark, and heightening my awareness, early on, of my own precarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many in Nevada County, myself included, it was still only a glimpse into a distant future. Brute reckoning came much later, in 2018, with the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which is one county away from Nevada County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985409\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985409 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Trucks with piles of logs in the truck beds form a line in a lot near a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vehicles filled with green waste wait in line during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>YubaNet’s Fusshoeller held a town hall event a week after the fire began. Minutes after the doors opened, the seats had filled to capacity, followed by the building’s overflow rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then there were still people outside,” Fusshoeller recalled. “It was the whole community. They were scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire became a wake-up call — and a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regularly hear that this is the next Camp Fire,” said Jamie Jones, the executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the 49er Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people wearing hard hats walk along a roadway beside a stretch of burnt forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they were performing a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have watersheds that if a fire starts on the wrong day and the wrong conditions — or you could call it the right conditions — we could have a potential catastrophic loss like Paradise did,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spurred by that rallying cry, Jones’ organization ballooned from three employees to more than 50, with its own land management crew, \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/defensible-space-advisory-visit-dsav\">free advisory visits\u003c/a> for homeowners, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/chipping-program\">roving wood-chipper\u003c/a>, and a robust grant-writing department, among \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs\">other initiatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became a huge priority to fund [wildfire] mitigation work,” Jones said. “We just kind of grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘We’ll do it. We’ll be that large nonprofit to work in this space.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985191\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985191 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people use a rake-like device to remove all of the dried green waste from the bed of a truck.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees help people unload green waste during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Camp Fire also incited residents to act. Today, Nevada County, with a population of just over \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/nevadacountycalifornia/PST045222\">100,000 people\u003c/a>, boasts the highest number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa\">Firewise Communities\u003c/a> in the country — a program run by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) that encourages neighborhoods to organize and collectively complete fire safety projects, such as thinning trees along evacuation routes and clearing excess brush on individual properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the Camp Fire, Jones said there were 22 Firewise Communities in the county. As of October, there were 94, according to the NFPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it speaks volumes to how committed our community is to protecting their families, their loved ones, their neighbors, and the community that we live in,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">progress remains stilted in other ways\u003c/a>. For instance, Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/01/29/governor-newsom-announces-completion-of-emergency-projects-to-protect-wildfire-vulnerable-communities/\">fast-tracked 35 wildfire defense projects\u003c/a> across the state, including one in Nevada County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/3748/Ponderosa-West-Grass-Valley-Defense-Zone#:~:text=The%20shaded%20fuel%20break%20lies,Newtown%20Road%20to%20the%20north.\">Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone shaded fuel break\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ponderosawestproject.org/\">project\u003c/a> provided free brush clearing on residents’ properties to allow firefighters to more easily defend the town of Grass Valley. But four years after the first phase began, many of the property owners have failed to maintain their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985410\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985410\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"One hand holds up a paper map while the other hand points to an area on the map.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, the wildfire prevention and safety manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, holds a map of a plan for a shaded fuel break in southern Nevada County on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a recent tour, Jones pointed to a property where the homeowner had positioned himself as a poster child of compliance. Crispy brush and small trees, perfect kindling for a big wildfire, now crowded beneath towering oak and manzanita trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sold two years into the project,” she lamented. The new property owner never picked up the work. Continued compliance requires constant care — and a long memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Our place on the planet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Shelly Covert carries with her a cultural memory that spans centuries. What it takes to live in wildland areas today, she said, is in some ways not so different from when her relatives lived freely off the land — and that is constant tending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her relatives, that meant cutting trees, harvesting smaller branches, and collecting reeds — work now done with chainsaws and machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985420\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman's face is reflected in a mirror with brown writing.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelly Covert, spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, in Nevada City, on June 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The difference, she said, is that the Nisenan used these materials in their homes, acorn granaries, tools and baskets. That these same actions also made the forests more resilient to — and protected the Nisenan from — catastrophic wildfires was secondary. Today, the accumulation of these same plant materials is a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants it,” she said. “So, how are forests ever going to be tended in that way again when we don’t need the freaking stuff that’s all over the ground?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada County’s Fire Safe Council is trying to help relieve that burden with a free \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/residential-green-waste-disposal-2023\">green waste disposal site\u003c/a> in Grass Valley. This past June, on the last day it was open for the season, crews heaped logs into towering piles, mounded branches atop each other, and stacked firewood for the taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985193\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985193 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a large wicker hat and sunglasses stands in front of piles of wood and speaks to the driver of a vehicle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonny Sjobeck (left) talks with Roland Harrison during a free green waste residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suzi and Doug Clipperton waited in line for their turn to unload the towering pile of branches in the back of their truck. They had moved to the county from Palm Springs two years ago, and though their property is relatively small, at one acre, it still produces an abundance of vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the green waste disposal site, Suzi Clipperton said she would be forced to pay to get rid of the materials at the dump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so expensive, even the green waste,” she said. “Over $25 a truckload, over and over several times a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting to a truly sustainable lifestyle in the forested foothills is still a long way off, Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just the way we’ve built our built lives,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what people, myself included, want to talk to her about these days. All we want to talk to her about is how to use fire to fight fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985211\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a device to dried grass to start a fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel megafires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The practice, called controlled or prescribed burns, has gained momentum in recent years as a way to clear the brush and grasses that fuel megafires. But Covert’s relatives also burned the land to remove bug infestations from trees, clear land for hunting and travel and promote certain kinds of plants. Public officials have been increasingly turning to her to tap into the tribe’s cultural knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one hand, Covert said she appreciates having a seat at the table, an opportunity her grandparents were never afforded. On the other, she said it’s hard for her not to roll her eyes during those same meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t tell me those old people didn’t sit there and say, ‘You can’t not burn the land.’ It was unfathomable to them,” she said. “We have to burn the land, and we have to burn our dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985413\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Green plants sprout from a burned land.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This yampa root survives a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When white settlers arrived during the Gold Rush, they not only outlawed the practice of burning the land but also the Nisenan practice of cremating their dead. And, while government officials now recognize fire as essential to maintaining forest health, Nisenan cremations are still outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those ceremonies, the nearest female relatives of the deceased would mix pine pitch with ash to blacken their heads and shoulders, washing their faces only after the mixture had worn off, thus defining the period of mourning. Other relatives and friends gathered around to sing and cry. Every year, an annual mourning ceremony, or “Second Burning,” was held for everyone who died that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandma said that the old ladies used to wipe each other’s tears and hold each other up because they were so fraught with sadness,” Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Covert, burning the land and burning the dead are not two practices with distinct purposes and outcomes. They are the same practice for the same purpose of binding humanity to all other life and to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fire burns dried grasses around the truck of a tree.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers perform a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the cremation ceremony is at the core: “It is the kickstarter of all these other protocols that come into play that are respect for the land, respect for the animals, respect for the spirit, respect for one another. And that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the foundation that allows them to see themselves as both indebted to a place and responsible for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have thumbs. We can light fire. We can pull and tend the rubbish in the forests,” Covert said. “That is our place on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Good fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a small community on the western flank of Nevada County, atop a ridge overlooking Lake Wildwood, where the 49er Fire raged 35 years ago, three young men holding drip torches set fire to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was an abnormally cool June day. The crew of roughly a dozen, dressed in flannel shirts, blue jeans and boots, worked methodically downhill. Some held water bladders to douse fires burning into tree roots. Others were posted at control lines to ensure the fire stayed within its boundaries. One roamed the perimeter on a motorcycle to watch for spotfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man holds a water hose near a smoked filled forest area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Bratton uses a hose to douse the roots of a pine tree during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They were lighting a controlled burn on the roughly 80-acre property, with the twin goals of reducing the wildfire risk and promoting native plants, which often need the low-intensity fires to drop seeds or sprout from dormancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see the effects of fire, it all makes sense,” said Tim Van Wagner, an organic farmer in Nevada County and broadcast burn practitioner, who led the burn that day. “All of a sudden, you actually realize the insanity of how we have been able to suppress fire and the damage it’s done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more fuel there is to burn, the hotter the fire becomes, and the more likely they are to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-20/california-forests-are-vanishing-as-wildfires-worsen\">permanently incinerate\u003c/a> even the most fire-adapted forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985214\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap walks through a smokey open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But bringing “good fire” back hasn’t been easy, said fire historian and author Stephen Pyne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spent 50 years trying to take all fire out of the landscape,” he said, “and we’ve spent 50 years trying to put good fire back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal regulators restricted broadcast burns beginning in 1910, following a particularly fearsome spate of fires known as the “Big Blowup,” when some 3 million acres of forestland in Idaho and Montana \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5444731.pdf\">burned over the course of two short days (PDF)\u003c/a>, killing 86 people — the most in US history, until \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maui-hawaii-fires-death-toll-rcna105387\">this year’s fires in Maui\u003c/a>. By the time the National Parks Service \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/11/californias-wildfire-controlled-prescribed-burns-native-americans/#:~:text=In%201968%2C%20the%20National%20Park,introduced%20fire%20to%20their%20landscapes.\">changed its policy\u003c/a> in 1968, areas that had been accustomed to periodic fires were overloaded with fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combine that excess vegetation with rising temperatures, and Pyne said existing models of fire behavior no longer hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being overwhelmed,” he said. “We’re seeing it in Canada now and parts of the Mediterranean, as well as parts of the U.S., and we’re creating a new world out of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans once controlled fire. Now, Pyne said fire is controlling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve taken what had always been our best friend, and we’re making it our worst enemy,” he said. “Even if we tame the climate, we remove the fossil fuel part of it, we still have a relentless obligation to work with fire in the lands that remain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up and away from the camera while holding his arm out while brush burns nearby.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In California, policy leaders from Gov. Newsom down to local leaders are encouraging controlled burns. But the process has been hampered, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979560/cal-fire-fumbles-key-responsibilities-to-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-despite-historic-budget\">in part\u003c/a>, by the slow rollout of its certification program for burn bosses. The designation is crucial for people like Van Wagner because it would allow them to tap into a \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretaskforce.org/prescribed-fire-liability-claims-fund-pilot/#:~:text=Administered%20by%20CAL%20FIRE%2C%20the,burn%20boss%20or%20cultural%20practitioner.\">$20 million pool of insurance to cover damages from fires set under prescribed conditions\u003c/a>. But, as of August, there were \u003ca href=\"https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/divisions/state-fire-training/cfstes-professional-certification/state-certified-prescribed-fire-burn-boss/\">only two dozen state-certified burn bosses\u003c/a> in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hasn’t been a smooth process,” said Van Wagner, who is in the process of obtaining the certification. Without access to insurance, “it can be a basic game-over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985401\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985401 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg\" alt=\"Left: A man walks through dry yellow grasses while using a torch to light the grass on fire.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-768x352.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1536x705.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel mega-fires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Forest Service, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/releases/statement-forest-service-chief-randy-moore-announcing-pause-prescribed-fire\">fewer than 1%\u003c/a> of controlled burns get out of control, but they still make neighbors nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s foreign to most people,” Van Wagner said. “So, there’s more of a fear response than understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Fancy Fechser, who owns the Nevada County property where Van Wagner was burning, learning to live with fire is part of what it means to live in the foothills. She and her husband moved there with their family from Los Angeles in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the luck of the draw here, and that’s something you have to live with,” she said. “But the control you can have — I mean, I feel so much better now that we did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on the side of a hill with a forest behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fancy Fechser (right) talks with prescribed burn practitioner Tim Van Wagner following a prescribed burn on her property in Penn Valley on June 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fechser hopes that in the long run, the work done here will make both her property and the surrounding community safer from megafires and that it’ll be more resilient for the climate changes to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t love looking at a charred backyard, but I know the point,” she said. “We have to look in the future here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Grieving the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein, part of looking into California’s future means grieving — not a lost past, but a future that may never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on this idea in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.codastory.com/rewriting-history/grieving-california/\">2022 Coda Story essay\u003c/a>, she wrote, “A building that burns can be rebuilt. But if fire incinerates a state of mind, can that be put back together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hairs sits in front of a bookshelf indoors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein poses for a portrait in her apartment overlooking Lake Merritt on June 30, 2023. In her Coda Story essay, Grieving California, she explored feelings of climate anxiety associated with grief — specifically, ‘grieving a future that may never come to pass’ as a result of warming global temperatures. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellerstein remembers the rupture when her memories of the past severed from her expectations of the future. It was September 2020, and smoke from fires burning across the state had smothered the sky. She watched, with jarring dissonance, as partygoers in hazmat masks waited outside a nightclub in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just pretending everything was normal,” she said. “That was another turning point for me, just cognitively of being like, ‘OK, yeah, things are really not what I remember from my childhood growing up here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it was visiting Paradise this summer five years after the Camp Fire ravaged the area, and seeing its pine trees replaced with shrubby manzanita and sprouting oaks. As fires and drought kill the mixed conifer trees that give the Sierra foothills their signature beauty, other plants more accustomed to Southern California’s clime are slowly replacing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985418\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985418\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A house sits on a hillside dotted with green shrubs and dry grasses in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty lots dot the side of a residential area of Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These pine trees — whose smell, earthy and fresh after the first fall rain, is permanently imprinted in my olfactory memory — are some of the most threatened. Of all the impacts climate change may bring, their prospective loss is one I haven’t quite reconciled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much grief there because we’ve had it so good in our life,” said Sam Hinrichs, a resident of Nevada County for 35 years. “We’ve had it so good, and we didn’t pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs was once a volunteer firefighter and used to do wildfire mitigation work. Now, she sits on the board of the North San Juan Fire Protection District in Nevada County. She’s keenly aware of her own risk of living three miles down a gravel road, surrounded by forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do look at those climate maps, and I see where the danger zones are,” she said. “I think about fire every day, all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985419\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985419\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A dead tree is surrounded by green trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dead tree stands in the Inimim Forest on Aug. 9, 2023. A prolonged drought in California that began in 2000 and has been the most extreme since the 1500s has resulted in significant tree mortality. The mixed conifer trees of the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada Foothills are particularly threatened. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She’s watched the pine trees around her house turn brown from bark beetles that thrive in hotter weather and overproduce, killing the trees they feed on. It’s something she wants her son, Stanley, to see, so he can learn what to do about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he’s only 6 years old, she’s already gotten him involved in tending their land, identifying which pine and cedar trees to fell, their seedlings replanted upslope, where it’s cooler, and which Black Oaks that can tolerate warmer weather, to leave in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not feeling precious about [the pines] anymore,” she said. “I just want to give him skills for resilience and noticing what needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985423\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A clearing in a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A significantly thinned area of the Inimim Forest on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County on Aug. 9, 2023, co-managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Yuba Watershed Institute, a local nonprofit that got its start in the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s. The management plan has thinned the forest, allowing light to filter through the trees and keeping brush close to the ground, making the area more likely to survive a wildfire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Noticing, and knowing, what needs to happen is not an innate skill. It’s one Hinrichs developed from growing up in the area and from hand-clearing most of her 17-acre property. Using chainsaws and pole saws, she’s worked acre-by-acre, determining which plants hold birds’ nests or provide cover for nursing deers and which can be removed. It’s a labor-intensive process, but it also gives her unique insight into the forest’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quail have come back since we’ve done this clearing,” she said. “I had only 12 quail, and now we’re up to like, 40, which is really cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs cannot know whether these efforts will be enough to save her home from a wildfire. Like many in this more remote part of the county, she lives without an insurer willing to cover her losses, relying instead on her own prevention efforts of hand-clearing the land and using prescribed fire to reduce her risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I married this land. I’ve made this my project,” she said. “If my house burns down, I’ll build another one. Probably. I’m trying to make it so my house doesn’t burn down, but fire is also just part of this place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taking care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her book, \u003cem>Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire\u003c/em>, Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch describes how a group of Buddhist monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared for a wildfire bearing down on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2008, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tassajara-monks-practice-Zen-of-firefighting-3277372.php\">Basin Complex Fire\u003c/a>, and there was a debate among the monks and their students about the Zen Buddhist idea of non-attachment. Some argued to let the monastery burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985206\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses sits at a table in an indoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch poses for a portrait at her home on Sept. 19, 2023. Morton Busch is the author of ‘Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire,’ which describes the ways a group of monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared and then defended against a wildfire bearing down on them. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, a group of five decided to stay and defend it. Morton-Busch wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clever Zen teacher might say that standing back and letting the monastery burn belies a kind of attachment to the idea of non-attachment. That trying to save it when it could all burn anyway is true non-attachment. In trying to save Tassajara from the fire, or your own life from disaster, you can’t be sure you will. In fact, you can lose everything you love in a moment. And that’s not a reason to give up. If anything, it’s a reason to turn toward the fire, recognizing it as a force of both creation and destruction and to take care of what’s right in front of you because that’s all you actually have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the fire bearing down on Tassajara is a lot like climate change — a planetary fire bearing down on all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other ways, it is very different. The monks had one fire to contend with, but across the globe, we all face a different climate. It may be a hurricane in one area, record-breaking temperatures in another, deadly wildfires one year, heavy rains the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, there are the ways these changes quietly manifest, and are mourned or endured, in each heart and mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara was alive, and in the years since she passed away, most of our monthly trips up there were, and still are, spent tending the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A river and bank with trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Yuba River winds through the Sierra Nevada foothills north of Hoyt’s Crossing in August 2023. The river is one of many world-class amenities that lure people to the area. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a continuous cycle of labor defined by the seasons, we begin after the first fall rain, limbing trees and pulling the flammable and invasive scotch broom. In the spring, we mow down annual grasses to preemptively rob the summer’s fires of their fuel. This year, I’ll bring my now four-year-old along with me. Together, we’ll gather branches from the ground to stack for kindling. And hopefully one day, we’ll both learn how to put good fire on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is something liberating about this labor, which is itself a daily act of defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is here, in Nevada County and places like it, where no veneer of denialism can cover the stark realities already underway and where there is little time to brood over what is to come because there is too much work to be done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these places, precariously poised on the knife’s edge of a shifting climate, the choice is clear: leave or turn toward the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In the Sierra Nevada foothills, residents confront what it means to live in fire country in an era of increasingly destructive wildfires.",
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"title": "Facing the Fire: California's Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt | KQED",
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"headline": "Facing the Fire: California's Sierra Foothills Residents Race to Adapt",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hari Wilson woke up and stared at the sun, dull and orange against a ruddy sky. She checked the Air Quality Index app on her phone and put on a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt just kind of down,” she said. “You know, there’s that orange sky, gray day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like millions of people across the Midwest and Northeast this past June, she saw smoke from Canadian wildfires. Though the fires were thousands of miles away, she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt trapped in the smoke,” she said. “And it made me think a lot about my friends in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shari Wilson and her husband had moved back to their home state of Michigan less than a year prior. Before that, they had spent nearly four decades in California, more than half of it in Nevada City, a small town on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, about an hour’s drive from Lake Tahoe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985405\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985405 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-61-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dark clouds roll into Nevada City, Nevada County, on Aug. 15, 2023.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quintessential Gold Rush-era town, complete with a vibrant arts scene and quaint, historic downtown, is surrounded by pine forests. Shari Wilson’s husband, Mark Wilson, said when they first moved there, those trees were a big part of the draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a great evergreen tree that grew two feet away from our deck,” he said. “We thought, ‘This is so great, we can watch the birds.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than two decades, the idea that a wildfire could level their house seemed distant. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-walk-in-the-ashes-of-the-tubbs-fire-five-years-later-in-sonoma-county/\">2017 Tubbs Fire\u003c/a> in California’s wine country brought it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire tore through a suburban neighborhood, killing 22 people. A year later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-20/five-years-after-the-camp-fire-paradise-survivors-see-hard-future-for-maui\">the Camp Fire\u003c/a> decimated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That made it real,” Mark Wilson said. “And it became a real feeling that this could easily happen to us tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985421\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985421\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sign in the form of a cross sits next to the side of a road in dusk light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-59-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial reads, ‘Faith, Hope, Paradise,’ in Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The couple started thinking about where else to live. Shari Wilson was quick to say it wasn’t just due to the fires. “We aren’t climate refugees,” she said. They both grew up in Michigan and wanted to live close to family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when this summer’s smoke began to blot out the sun, Mark Wilson said it was a grim reminder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made me sad because it was a reminder that it’s not just California. It’s not just in one place. It’s everywhere,” he said. “And no matter where you go, climate change is going to catch up with you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985407\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985407 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A red sign with white lettering is nailed to a tree.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign advertising defensible space clearance for wildfire preparation hangs on a tree along the San Juan Ridge near Nevada City on June 27, 2023. The area is heavily forested and borders the Yuba River near historic towns that date back to the 1849 California Gold Rush. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As rising global temperatures bake the surrounding pine trees, oaks and madrones of the Sierra Nevada mountains, residents living in its scattered communities have a choice: to remain in the fire’s path or hedge their bets elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is a question my family found ourselves facing, but in reverse, after my partner inherited a house in Nevada County. It is a place where we both spent our childhoods and where we hoped to one day raise our daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire has always been part of the bargain of living there. But as climate change fuels wildfires of unprecedented proportions, it’s rewriting the terms of that old agreement. As it does, that’s forced us, like many in the forested foothills, to renegotiate what we’re willing to do — and how much we’re willing to risk — to live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC1360589321&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Nevada County, measures to mitigate the threat of wildfires are underway, but their effectiveness has been stunted by decades of land management policies that sought to suppress all fires and led to an overabundance of brush and trees. Now, residents are racing to make up for lost time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For communities across the globe similarly poised on the knife’s edge of catastrophe — whether the threat is rising seas, stronger hurricanes or longer periods of extreme heat — the question is how to preserve and protect these places, or as retired fire scientist and Nevada County resident Jo Ann Fites-Kaufman put it, “What does it mean to live in different environments? What does it mean to grow up in an area? What does it mean to be human?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barbara’s house\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My partner’s mom, Barbara, was 79 when she passed away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She left behind a two-bedroom Mediterranean-style home with an orange exterior, its hue varied and weathered, one wall splashed robin’s egg blue. Situated on a 13-acre property in the northwestern corner of Nevada County, the house is not only a mausoleum of her artifacts but a physical manifestation of her memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barbara had suffered a stroke, and we spent 10 days in the hospital hoping for an improvement in her condition that never came. During that time, and in the weeks after she passed away, the house was a vessel for our grief. It held us because it held so much of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985313 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg\" alt=\"A one level house with a tile roof is surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230627-SoldOutBarbaraHouse-Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_1-EB-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara built her home with wildfires in mind. The walls are made from a concrete-like material a foot thick that’s rated to withstand 12 hours of burning. S-shaped tiles line the roof, and a gravel driveway encircles the home. Photographed in August 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we finally turned off the lights and locked the doors to return home to the Bay Area, we did so reluctantly, wondering how and when we might move our lives there. Beneath our decision was an emerging hope for our not-yet-one-year-old daughter — that, although she would never know her grandmother, she might know the house her grandmother built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That summer, smoke from two dozen wildfires loomed over Nevada County and drifted across the state. On one particularly bad day in the Bay Area, it grew so thick \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/the-day-the-san-francisco-sky-turned-orange\">daylight turned to dusk\u003c/a>. It was then when I first began to wonder what kind of future our daughter might inherit if we chose to move to Nevada County, and what it would be like to live in a place where my own memories were constantly clashing with new realities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nothing left to burn\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They call her the voice of doom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From her home office overlooking the Yuba River in Nevada County, Pascale Fusshoeller translates the precise, militaristic jargon of wildland firefighting departments into English, conveying need-to-know information on a fire’s origins, its speed and direction to readers across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985197\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985197\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The charred remains of burnt trees stand out from newly grown plants in a field.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66840_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-70-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, Wildfire Prevention and Safety Manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, drives through an area of the county burned by wildfire on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fusshoeller co-founded and edits YubaNet.com, which began in 1999 as the Internet burgeoned from niche to mainstream. She and her wife, Susan Levitz, both career journalists, intended to run a community events page.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That changed, Fusshoeller said, the day the site went live, and she spotted a towering plume of smoke rising from the ridge facing their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s how we got into fire information,” she said. She hasn’t looked back. “It helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985203\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985203\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People wearing hard hats work digging in a forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_05-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. Using hand tools, the crew members will ensure that all of the fire has been extinguished. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Fusshoeller, this means that whenever a fire occurs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, her days start early and end late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/there-s-no-more-typical-wildfire-season-california-it-may-n934521\">It used to be\u003c/a> that fire season began in August and wrapped up by the end of September. Now, she says if there is a “fire season” at all, it begins in May and ends in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And of course, some years, there’s large fires in December,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As global temperatures rise, so, too, does the number of wildfires. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, across the western United States, human-caused climate change has doubled the cumulative area burned by wildfires over natural levels since 1984.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985422\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985422\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2006\" height=\"728\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1.png 2006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-800x290.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1020x370.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-160x58.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-768x279.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1536x557.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.3.1-1920x697.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2006px) 100vw, 2006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure FAQ2.3.1 | (a) Springs Fire, May 2, 2013, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (photo by Michael Robinson Chávez, Los Angeles Times). (b) Cumulative area burned by wildfire in the western USA, with (orange) and without (yellow) the increased heat and aridity of climate change. \u003ccite>(IPCC Sixth Assessment Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist and climate change scientist at UC Berkeley, said the problem is particularly acute in California, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/western-megadrought-is-the-worst-in-1-200-years/#:~:text=An%20exceptionally%20dry%20year%20in%202021%20helped%20break%20the%20record,least%20a%20couple%20of%20decades.\">a prolonged drought in recent years\u003c/a> has dried out plants and soils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Northern and Central California, almost all of the increase in burned area [over natural levels] has come from human-caused climate change since 1996,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://34c031f8-c9fd-4018-8c5a-4159cdff6b0d-cdn-endpoint.azureedge.net/-/media/calfire-website/our-impact/fire-statistics/featured-items/top20_destruction.pdf?rev=ee6ea855632a4b56a46adea1d3c8022f&hash=5B8B3A1A35CBB52CB0ED7A010F0B52E0\">18 of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires (PDF)\u003c/a> have occurred since 2003. Nevada County had been spared. Looking at a map, Fusshoeller noted that all the surrounding counties had experienced large and destructive wildfires during that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say that one day we will not have a large catastrophic fire here,” she said. Nevada County shares the same mix of vegetation, topography and climate conditions. “There is nothing else left to burn in the foothills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The forerunner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There is something very Californian about believing it’s possible to survive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joan Didion knew this. In her 1968 collection of essays, \u003cem>Slouching Toward Bethlehem\u003c/em>, Didion wrote of the desert metropolis’ clime, “Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same could be said of the entire state. Where early white settlers found a floodplain, they built their capital city, Sacramento. And even amid the rubble of the city’s most destructive earthquake, San Franciscans nonetheless rebuilt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985404\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985404\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg\" alt=\"Left: Dark smoke billows above a structure. Right: Light gray and reddish smoke rises above a home surrounded by trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"923\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-800x385.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1020x490.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-768x369.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-02-1536x738.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A column of smoke rises behind a house in Lake Wildwood, California, as Mark and Kathy Baldassari prepare to evacuate from the 49er Fire on Sept. 11, 1988. Right: Smoke from the 49er Fire rises behind homes in Lake Wildwood, a small community in Nevada County, on Sept. 11, 1988. The fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres and destroyed almost 150 homes, making it California’s third most destructive wildfire at the time. Now, it’s not even in the top 20. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My own earliest memory, if an infant can be said to have one, is of a thick column of gray and black smoke rising behind my family’s house the day we evacuated from a wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theunion.com/opinion/49er-fire-memories-where-were-you-30-years-ago-today/article_960384f0-6667-5f66-a6f9-fb0508006a76.html\">It was Sept. 11, 1988\u003c/a>. I was just over a year old. My dad would later describe the fire’s path: not a continuous wall, but jagged, like fingers on a hand, touching some homes, refusing others — sparing ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And you kind of wonder why,” he mused, “why did it spare that house and burn that one?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was called the 49er Fire because it broke out near Highway 49 in Nevada County. It tore through nearly 36,000 acres of forest and grasslands and destroyed almost 150 homes. At the time, it was the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/49er-fire-destruction/\">third-largest wildfire\u003c/a> and is still the county’s most destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985219\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Several houses beside fire-scorched terrain.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1543\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1020x787.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1536x1185.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SO-S3-E6-SCAN-1-KQED-1920x1481.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 1988 49er Fire burned through nearly 36,000 acres in Nevada County and destroyed almost 150 homes. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mark and Kathy Baldassari)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a prediction that feels prescient today, Jerry Partain, then-director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now called Cal Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/image/624226617/?clipping_id=115881062&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjYyNDIyNjYxNywiaWF0IjoxNjk4OTU1MDA4LCJleHAiOjE2OTkwNDE0MDh9.s5IFZHnqPAFNjR2pbvWX3mHL3voE5oItjgwOsPg0Srk\">told \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, “This [fire] is the classic. This is what we’ve been preaching about for the past several years. This is just the forerunner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Partain had been preaching about — fireproofing homes and managing the surrounding vegetation — is now a familiar sermon to anyone living in Northern California today, but one that was met with obstinance by the willful inhabitants of that era, a generally unyielding lot with a profound distrust of government matronism and a deep reverence for stick-to-itiveness, the miner’s luck and the sanctity of private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking with \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, Partain stood in front of a map detailing the fire’s course, acknowledging there was no way to save every home. “It will continue to happen in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985217 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"People sit on blankets and fold out chairs in a grassy space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-SIERRA-STORYTELLING-FESTIVAL_NORTH-SAN-JUAN01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees lounge on the grass during the dinner hour at the Sierra Storytelling Festival at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center in North San Juan on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Erin Baldassari/KQED) \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the future came more residents, living with more risk. Between 1990 and 2010, the county’s population \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/378/Demographics-Statistics\">grew 26%\u003c/a>, mirroring a trend seen across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/wui-issues-resolutions-report.pdf\">country (PDF)\u003c/a> as more people than ever flooded into wildland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, nearly \u003ca href=\"https://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/data/wui-change/\">half of all homes built during that time period\u003c/a> were constructed in areas designated at “high or extreme risk of wildfire,” according to the Center for Insurance Policy and Research. Nevada County was no exception, where more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=5247\">nine out of every 10\u003c/a> residents live in “high or very high” fire hazard zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That wildfires have become more destructive over the past 40 years is simple math, UC Berkeley’s Gonzalez said. “The losses of homes and people, who sadly die in a wildfire, is a function of the number of people who live in fire-prone areas,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985215\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985215 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"The smoldering remains of a fire near a house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY14-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A controlled fire burns near a home on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He continued: “Climate change is exacerbating the risk. So, that makes it even more important [to limit] the number of people who move into or build new houses in fire-prone areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Brute reckoning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The 49er Fire left its mark on my psyche, attuning me to dry, summer winds, focusing my attention on anything that could produce an errant spark, and heightening my awareness, early on, of my own precarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many in Nevada County, myself included, it was still only a glimpse into a distant future. Brute reckoning came much later, in 2018, with the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which is one county away from Nevada County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985409\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985409 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Trucks with piles of logs in the truck beds form a line in a lot near a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-19-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vehicles filled with green waste wait in line during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>YubaNet’s Fusshoeller held a town hall event a week after the fire began. Minutes after the doors opened, the seats had filled to capacity, followed by the building’s overflow rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then there were still people outside,” Fusshoeller recalled. “It was the whole community. They were scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire became a wake-up call — and a rallying cry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regularly hear that this is the next Camp Fire,” said Jamie Jones, the executive director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, a nonprofit formed in the wake of the 49er Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985202\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people wearing hard hats walk along a roadway beside a stretch of burnt forest.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-BEAR-TRAP-PRESCRIBED-BURN_NEVADA-COUNTY_01-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew members from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they were performing a ‘mop up’ following a prescribed burn in Nevada County on June 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have watersheds that if a fire starts on the wrong day and the wrong conditions — or you could call it the right conditions — we could have a potential catastrophic loss like Paradise did,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spurred by that rallying cry, Jones’ organization ballooned from three employees to more than 50, with its own land management crew, \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/defensible-space-advisory-visit-dsav\">free advisory visits\u003c/a> for homeowners, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/chipping-program\">roving wood-chipper\u003c/a>, and a robust grant-writing department, among \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs\">other initiatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became a huge priority to fund [wildfire] mitigation work,” Jones said. “We just kind of grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘We’ll do it. We’ll be that large nonprofit to work in this space.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985191\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985191 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people use a rake-like device to remove all of the dried green waste from the bed of a truck.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66792_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-08-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Employees help people unload green waste during a free residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the Camp Fire also incited residents to act. Today, Nevada County, with a population of just over \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/nevadacountycalifornia/PST045222\">100,000 people\u003c/a>, boasts the highest number of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa\">Firewise Communities\u003c/a> in the country — a program run by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) that encourages neighborhoods to organize and collectively complete fire safety projects, such as thinning trees along evacuation routes and clearing excess brush on individual properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the Camp Fire, Jones said there were 22 Firewise Communities in the county. As of October, there were 94, according to the NFPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it speaks volumes to how committed our community is to protecting their families, their loved ones, their neighbors, and the community that we live in,” Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she said \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">progress remains stilted in other ways\u003c/a>. For instance, Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/01/29/governor-newsom-announces-completion-of-emergency-projects-to-protect-wildfire-vulnerable-communities/\">fast-tracked 35 wildfire defense projects\u003c/a> across the state, including one in Nevada County, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/3748/Ponderosa-West-Grass-Valley-Defense-Zone#:~:text=The%20shaded%20fuel%20break%20lies,Newtown%20Road%20to%20the%20north.\">Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone shaded fuel break\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ponderosawestproject.org/\">project\u003c/a> provided free brush clearing on residents’ properties to allow firefighters to more easily defend the town of Grass Valley. But four years after the first phase began, many of the property owners have failed to maintain their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985410\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985410\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"One hand holds up a paper map while the other hand points to an area on the map.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-75-BL-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Mathias, the wildfire prevention and safety manager of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, holds a map of a plan for a shaded fuel break in southern Nevada County on June 26, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a recent tour, Jones pointed to a property where the homeowner had positioned himself as a poster child of compliance. Crispy brush and small trees, perfect kindling for a big wildfire, now crowded beneath towering oak and manzanita trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He sold two years into the project,” she lamented. The new property owner never picked up the work. Continued compliance requires constant care — and a long memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Our place on the planet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Shelly Covert carries with her a cultural memory that spans centuries. What it takes to live in wildland areas today, she said, is in some ways not so different from when her relatives lived freely off the land — and that is constant tending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her relatives, that meant cutting trees, harvesting smaller branches, and collecting reeds — work now done with chainsaws and machines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985420\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985420 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman's face is reflected in a mirror with brown writing.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/GettyImages-1241501048-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shelly Covert, spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, in Nevada City, on June 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The difference, she said, is that the Nisenan used these materials in their homes, acorn granaries, tools and baskets. That these same actions also made the forests more resilient to — and protected the Nisenan from — catastrophic wildfires was secondary. Today, the accumulation of these same plant materials is a burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants it,” she said. “So, how are forests ever going to be tended in that way again when we don’t need the freaking stuff that’s all over the ground?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevada County’s Fire Safe Council is trying to help relieve that burden with a free \u003ca href=\"https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/programs/residential-green-waste-disposal-2023\">green waste disposal site\u003c/a> in Grass Valley. This past June, on the last day it was open for the season, crews heaped logs into towering piles, mounded branches atop each other, and stacked firewood for the taking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985193\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985193 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a large wicker hat and sunglasses stands in front of piles of wood and speaks to the driver of a vehicle.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/RS66813_230626-HousingNevadaCoWildfire-38-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonny Sjobeck (left) talks with Roland Harrison during a free green waste residential disposal hosted by the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County in Grass Valley on June 26, 2023. Residents can bring all tree and plant trimmings, weeds, leaves, branches, and pine needles, except for some plants like scotch broom and poison oak, in an effort to create defensible space on their properties. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suzi and Doug Clipperton waited in line for their turn to unload the towering pile of branches in the back of their truck. They had moved to the county from Palm Springs two years ago, and though their property is relatively small, at one acre, it still produces an abundance of vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without the green waste disposal site, Suzi Clipperton said she would be forced to pay to get rid of the materials at the dump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so expensive, even the green waste,” she said. “Over $25 a truckload, over and over several times a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting to a truly sustainable lifestyle in the forested foothills is still a long way off, Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just the way we’ve built our built lives,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s not what people, myself included, want to talk to her about these days. All we want to talk to her about is how to use fire to fight fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985211\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person holds a device to dried grass to start a fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY06-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel megafires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The practice, called controlled or prescribed burns, has gained momentum in recent years as a way to clear the brush and grasses that fuel megafires. But Covert’s relatives also burned the land to remove bug infestations from trees, clear land for hunting and travel and promote certain kinds of plants. Public officials have been increasingly turning to her to tap into the tribe’s cultural knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one hand, Covert said she appreciates having a seat at the table, an opportunity her grandparents were never afforded. On the other, she said it’s hard for her not to roll her eyes during those same meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t tell me those old people didn’t sit there and say, ‘You can’t not burn the land.’ It was unfathomable to them,” she said. “We have to burn the land, and we have to burn our dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985413\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Green plants sprout from a burned land.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County15-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This yampa root survives a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, California, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When white settlers arrived during the Gold Rush, they not only outlawed the practice of burning the land but also the Nisenan practice of cremating their dead. And, while government officials now recognize fire as essential to maintaining forest health, Nisenan cremations are still outlawed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those ceremonies, the nearest female relatives of the deceased would mix pine pitch with ash to blacken their heads and shoulders, washing their faces only after the mixture had worn off, thus defining the period of mourning. Other relatives and friends gathered around to sing and cry. Every year, an annual mourning ceremony, or “Second Burning,” was held for everyone who died that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandma said that the old ladies used to wipe each other’s tears and hold each other up because they were so fraught with sadness,” Covert said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Covert, burning the land and burning the dead are not two practices with distinct purposes and outcomes. They are the same practice for the same purpose of binding humanity to all other life and to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fire burns dried grasses around the truck of a tree.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY04-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers perform a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the cremation ceremony is at the core: “It is the kickstarter of all these other protocols that come into play that are respect for the land, respect for the animals, respect for the spirit, respect for one another. And that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the foundation that allows them to see themselves as both indebted to a place and responsible for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have thumbs. We can light fire. We can pull and tend the rubbish in the forests,” Covert said. “That is our place on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Good fire\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a small community on the western flank of Nevada County, atop a ridge overlooking Lake Wildwood, where the 49er Fire raged 35 years ago, three young men holding drip torches set fire to the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was an abnormally cool June day. The crew of roughly a dozen, dressed in flannel shirts, blue jeans and boots, worked methodically downhill. Some held water bladders to douse fires burning into tree roots. Others were posted at control lines to ensure the fire stayed within its boundaries. One roamed the perimeter on a motorcycle to watch for spotfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985414\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985414\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man holds a water hose near a smoked filled forest area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County11-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Bratton uses a hose to douse the roots of a pine tree during a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They were lighting a controlled burn on the roughly 80-acre property, with the twin goals of reducing the wildfire risk and promoting native plants, which often need the low-intensity fires to drop seeds or sprout from dormancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see the effects of fire, it all makes sense,” said Tim Van Wagner, an organic farmer in Nevada County and broadcast burn practitioner, who led the burn that day. “All of a sudden, you actually realize the insanity of how we have been able to suppress fire and the damage it’s done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The more fuel there is to burn, the hotter the fire becomes, and the more likely they are to \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-20/california-forests-are-vanishing-as-wildfires-worsen\">permanently incinerate\u003c/a> even the most fire-adapted forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985214\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a baseball cap walks through a smokey open space.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-PRESCRIBED-BURN_PENN-VALLEY_NEVADA-COUNTY13-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on a private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But bringing “good fire” back hasn’t been easy, said fire historian and author Stephen Pyne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spent 50 years trying to take all fire out of the landscape,” he said, “and we’ve spent 50 years trying to put good fire back in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal regulators restricted broadcast burns beginning in 1910, following a particularly fearsome spate of fires known as the “Big Blowup,” when some 3 million acres of forestland in Idaho and Montana \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5444731.pdf\">burned over the course of two short days (PDF)\u003c/a>, killing 86 people — the most in US history, until \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maui-hawaii-fires-death-toll-rcna105387\">this year’s fires in Maui\u003c/a>. By the time the National Parks Service \u003ca href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/11/californias-wildfire-controlled-prescribed-burns-native-americans/#:~:text=In%201968%2C%20the%20National%20Park,introduced%20fire%20to%20their%20landscapes.\">changed its policy\u003c/a> in 1968, areas that had been accustomed to periodic fires were overloaded with fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combine that excess vegetation with rising temperatures, and Pyne said existing models of fire behavior no longer hold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being overwhelmed,” he said. “We’re seeing it in Canada now and parts of the Mediterranean, as well as parts of the U.S., and we’re creating a new world out of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans once controlled fire. Now, Pyne said fire is controlling us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve taken what had always been our best friend, and we’re making it our worst enemy,” he said. “Even if we tame the climate, we remove the fossil fuel part of it, we still have a relentless obligation to work with fire in the lands that remain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985415\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985415\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man looks up and away from the camera while holding his arm out while brush burns nearby.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Prescribed-Burn_Penn-Valley_Nevada-County02-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Van Wagner, a broadcast burn practitioner, oversees a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In California, policy leaders from Gov. Newsom down to local leaders are encouraging controlled burns. But the process has been hampered, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979560/cal-fire-fumbles-key-responsibilities-to-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-despite-historic-budget\">in part\u003c/a>, by the slow rollout of its certification program for burn bosses. The designation is crucial for people like Van Wagner because it would allow them to tap into a \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretaskforce.org/prescribed-fire-liability-claims-fund-pilot/#:~:text=Administered%20by%20CAL%20FIRE%2C%20the,burn%20boss%20or%20cultural%20practitioner.\">$20 million pool of insurance to cover damages from fires set under prescribed conditions\u003c/a>. But, as of August, there were \u003ca href=\"https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/divisions/state-fire-training/cfstes-professional-certification/state-certified-prescribed-fire-burn-boss/\">only two dozen state-certified burn bosses\u003c/a> in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It hasn’t been a smooth process,” said Van Wagner, who is in the process of obtaining the certification. Without access to insurance, “it can be a basic game-over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985401\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985401 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg\" alt=\"Left: A man walks through dry yellow grasses while using a torch to light the grass on fire.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-768x352.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SoldOut-Diptych-01-1536x705.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Drummond wields a drip torch, which he uses to ignite grasses during a prescribed burn on private property in Penn Valley, a small, rural community in Nevada County, on June 22, 2023. The burn aims to reduce the brush and grasses that fuel mega-fires while also helping to restore native plants to the region. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to the U.S. Forest Service, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/releases/statement-forest-service-chief-randy-moore-announcing-pause-prescribed-fire\">fewer than 1%\u003c/a> of controlled burns get out of control, but they still make neighbors nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s foreign to most people,” Van Wagner said. “So, there’s more of a fear response than understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Fancy Fechser, who owns the Nevada County property where Van Wagner was burning, learning to live with fire is part of what it means to live in the foothills. She and her husband moved there with their family from Los Angeles in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the luck of the draw here, and that’s something you have to live with,” she said. “But the control you can have — I mean, I feel so much better now that we did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985417\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985417\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on the side of a hill with a forest behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Fancy-Fechser_Penn-Valley_01-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fancy Fechser (right) talks with prescribed burn practitioner Tim Van Wagner following a prescribed burn on her property in Penn Valley on June 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fechser hopes that in the long run, the work done here will make both her property and the surrounding community safer from megafires and that it’ll be more resilient for the climate changes to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t love looking at a charred backyard, but I know the point,” she said. “We have to look in the future here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Grieving the future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein, part of looking into California’s future means grieving — not a lost past, but a future that may never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on this idea in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.codastory.com/rewriting-history/grieving-california/\">2022 Coda Story essay\u003c/a>, she wrote, “A building that burns can be rebuilt. But if fire incinerates a state of mind, can that be put back together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hairs sits in front of a bookshelf indoors.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-ERICA-HELLERSTEIN_OAKLAND_03-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland-based journalist Erica Hellerstein poses for a portrait in her apartment overlooking Lake Merritt on June 30, 2023. In her Coda Story essay, Grieving California, she explored feelings of climate anxiety associated with grief — specifically, ‘grieving a future that may never come to pass’ as a result of warming global temperatures. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellerstein remembers the rupture when her memories of the past severed from her expectations of the future. It was September 2020, and smoke from fires burning across the state had smothered the sky. She watched, with jarring dissonance, as partygoers in hazmat masks waited outside a nightclub in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just pretending everything was normal,” she said. “That was another turning point for me, just cognitively of being like, ‘OK, yeah, things are really not what I remember from my childhood growing up here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it was visiting Paradise this summer five years after the Camp Fire ravaged the area, and seeing its pine trees replaced with shrubby manzanita and sprouting oaks. As fires and drought kill the mixed conifer trees that give the Sierra foothills their signature beauty, other plants more accustomed to Southern California’s clime are slowly replacing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985418\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985418\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A house sits on a hillside dotted with green shrubs and dry grasses in the foreground.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230809-SoldOutParadise-46-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty lots dot the side of a residential area of Paradise on Aug. 9, 2023. The Camp Fire, a deadly fire that destroyed much of the towns of Paradise and Concow, swept through the area in 2018. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These pine trees — whose smell, earthy and fresh after the first fall rain, is permanently imprinted in my olfactory memory — are some of the most threatened. Of all the impacts climate change may bring, their prospective loss is one I haven’t quite reconciled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much grief there because we’ve had it so good in our life,” said Sam Hinrichs, a resident of Nevada County for 35 years. “We’ve had it so good, and we didn’t pay attention to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs was once a volunteer firefighter and used to do wildfire mitigation work. Now, she sits on the board of the North San Juan Fire Protection District in Nevada County. She’s keenly aware of her own risk of living three miles down a gravel road, surrounded by forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do look at those climate maps, and I see where the danger zones are,” she said. “I think about fire every day, all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985419\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985419\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A dead tree is surrounded by green trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dead tree stands in the Inimim Forest on Aug. 9, 2023. A prolonged drought in California that began in 2000 and has been the most extreme since the 1500s has resulted in significant tree mortality. The mixed conifer trees of the mid-elevation Sierra Nevada Foothills are particularly threatened. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She’s watched the pine trees around her house turn brown from bark beetles that thrive in hotter weather and overproduce, killing the trees they feed on. It’s something she wants her son, Stanley, to see, so he can learn what to do about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he’s only 6 years old, she’s already gotten him involved in tending their land, identifying which pine and cedar trees to fell, their seedlings replanted upslope, where it’s cooler, and which Black Oaks that can tolerate warmer weather, to leave in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not feeling precious about [the pines] anymore,” she said. “I just want to give him skills for resilience and noticing what needs to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985423\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A clearing in a wooded area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Inimim-Forest_San-Juan-Ridge_03-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A significantly thinned area of the Inimim Forest on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County on Aug. 9, 2023, co-managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Yuba Watershed Institute, a local nonprofit that got its start in the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s. The management plan has thinned the forest, allowing light to filter through the trees and keeping brush close to the ground, making the area more likely to survive a wildfire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Noticing, and knowing, what needs to happen is not an innate skill. It’s one Hinrichs developed from growing up in the area and from hand-clearing most of her 17-acre property. Using chainsaws and pole saws, she’s worked acre-by-acre, determining which plants hold birds’ nests or provide cover for nursing deers and which can be removed. It’s a labor-intensive process, but it also gives her unique insight into the forest’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The quail have come back since we’ve done this clearing,” she said. “I had only 12 quail, and now we’re up to like, 40, which is really cool.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinrichs cannot know whether these efforts will be enough to save her home from a wildfire. Like many in this more remote part of the county, she lives without an insurer willing to cover her losses, relying instead on her own prevention efforts of hand-clearing the land and using prescribed fire to reduce her risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I married this land. I’ve made this my project,” she said. “If my house burns down, I’ll build another one. Probably. I’m trying to make it so my house doesn’t burn down, but fire is also just part of this place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taking care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In her book, \u003cem>Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire\u003c/em>, Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch describes how a group of Buddhist monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared for a wildfire bearing down on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was 2008, during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tassajara-monks-practice-Zen-of-firefighting-3277372.php\">Basin Complex Fire\u003c/a>, and there was a debate among the monks and their students about the Zen Buddhist idea of non-attachment. Some argued to let the monastery burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985206\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses sits at a table in an indoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231110-COLLEEN-MORTON-BUSCH_BERKELEY_02-EB-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Berkeley author Colleen Morton Busch poses for a portrait at her home on Sept. 19, 2023. Morton Busch is the author of ‘Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire,’ which describes the ways a group of monks at the Tassajara Zen Center in California’s Carmel Valley prepared and then defended against a wildfire bearing down on them. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, a group of five decided to stay and defend it. Morton-Busch wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A clever Zen teacher might say that standing back and letting the monastery burn belies a kind of attachment to the idea of non-attachment. That trying to save it when it could all burn anyway is true non-attachment. In trying to save Tassajara from the fire, or your own life from disaster, you can’t be sure you will. In fact, you can lose everything you love in a moment. And that’s not a reason to give up. If anything, it’s a reason to turn toward the fire, recognizing it as a force of both creation and destruction and to take care of what’s right in front of you because that’s all you actually have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways, the fire bearing down on Tassajara is a lot like climate change — a planetary fire bearing down on all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other ways, it is very different. The monks had one fire to contend with, but across the globe, we all face a different climate. It may be a hurricane in one area, record-breaking temperatures in another, deadly wildfires one year, heavy rains the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, there are the ways these changes quietly manifest, and are mourned or endured, in each heart and mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara was alive, and in the years since she passed away, most of our monthly trips up there were, and still are, spent tending the land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A river and bank with trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1273\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-800x530.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1020x676.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Barbaras-House_North-San-Juan_3-qut-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Yuba River winds through the Sierra Nevada foothills north of Hoyt’s Crossing in August 2023. The river is one of many world-class amenities that lure people to the area. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a continuous cycle of labor defined by the seasons, we begin after the first fall rain, limbing trees and pulling the flammable and invasive scotch broom. In the spring, we mow down annual grasses to preemptively rob the summer’s fires of their fuel. This year, I’ll bring my now four-year-old along with me. Together, we’ll gather branches from the ground to stack for kindling. And hopefully one day, we’ll both learn how to put good fire on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is something liberating about this labor, which is itself a daily act of defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is here, in Nevada County and places like it, where no veneer of denialism can cover the stark realities already underway and where there is little time to brood over what is to come because there is too much work to be done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In these places, precariously poised on the knife’s edge of a shifting climate, the choice is clear: leave or turn toward the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 11:45 a.m., Friday: \u003c/strong>State energy regulators approved a plan Thursday that allows PG&E to raise rates on its customers to help the utility pay for burying power lines to prevent wildfires, as well as investments in clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E plans to put more than 1,200 miles of lines underground in the most wildfire-prone parts of the state. The utility wanted to do more, but regulators said that plan was too expensive and didn’t think PG&E could complete the work on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The alternate proposed decision reflects our expectation that PG&E must substantially drive down risks from its infrastructure and improve overall safety for ratepayers,” said Alice Busching Reynolds, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ratepayers will see an average increase of about $30 a month on their bills next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 7:30 a.m., Thursday: \u003c/strong>California regulators plan to resume a vote on Thursday on whether to approve PG&E’s latest rate increase proposal, which has an estimated price tag of nearly $6 billion. If approved, the plan would result in an estimated monthly average customer rate increase of about $40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal would pay for the utility to bury 2,000 miles of its power lines by 2026. PG&E has said the plan would also fund investments in other wildfire mitigation work and clean energy growth, and it has argued that the undergrounding plan would help prevent its equipment from touching off the next big Northern California wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission bristled at the cost of PG&E’s proposal and expressed skepticism that the company could complete the undergrounding work on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility needs state approval to raise customer rates and to pay for the costly undergrounding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials have released two alternative proposals. They intended to vote on the various options earlier this month but pushed that back until Thursday’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plans ask PG&E to keep more lines above ground but install protective covers to insulate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One proposal would allow the company to bury 200 miles of line and install 1,800 miles of insulation and other safety measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second plan would install 1,230 miles of line underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both plans would result in an estimated average monthly bill increase of just over $30, or about $10 less per month than PG&E’s plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/industries-and-topics/documents/pge/grcs/updatedfaq-pge-grc-111323.pdf\">according to a commission fact sheet\u003c/a>. [aside postID=science_1985295 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85.jpg']PG&E’s equipment sparked the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people, burned 13,900 homes and destroyed much of the town of Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility eventually pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for its role in igniting the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 when it was faced with shelling out billions of dollars in damages to the victims of these and other wildfires started by its equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility’s infrastructure also started the 2021 Dixie Fire, which torched more than a million acres and burned all the way across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950703/climate-change-is-driving-californias-wildfires-the-kincade-fire-not-so-much\">Climate change has greatly amplified\u003c/a> California’s wildfire risk, especially in PG&E’s territory. A problem that has also been exacerbated by more people moving into forested areas and fire officials suppressing wildfires over many decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, PG&E has shut off power to especially at-risk neighborhoods during strong, dry wind storms — and the utility argues its undergrounding plans would prevent the need for these “public safety power shutoffs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once approved by the commission, customers would see changes to their bills beginning Jan. 1, 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 11:45 a.m., Friday: \u003c/strong>State energy regulators approved a plan Thursday that allows PG&E to raise rates on its customers to help the utility pay for burying power lines to prevent wildfires, as well as investments in clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E plans to put more than 1,200 miles of lines underground in the most wildfire-prone parts of the state. The utility wanted to do more, but regulators said that plan was too expensive and didn’t think PG&E could complete the work on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The alternate proposed decision reflects our expectation that PG&E must substantially drive down risks from its infrastructure and improve overall safety for ratepayers,” said Alice Busching Reynolds, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ratepayers will see an average increase of about $30 a month on their bills next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 7:30 a.m., Thursday: \u003c/strong>California regulators plan to resume a vote on Thursday on whether to approve PG&E’s latest rate increase proposal, which has an estimated price tag of nearly $6 billion. If approved, the plan would result in an estimated monthly average customer rate increase of about $40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal would pay for the utility to bury 2,000 miles of its power lines by 2026. PG&E has said the plan would also fund investments in other wildfire mitigation work and clean energy growth, and it has argued that the undergrounding plan would help prevent its equipment from touching off the next big Northern California wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission bristled at the cost of PG&E’s proposal and expressed skepticism that the company could complete the undergrounding work on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility needs state approval to raise customer rates and to pay for the costly undergrounding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials have released two alternative proposals. They intended to vote on the various options earlier this month but pushed that back until Thursday’s meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plans ask PG&E to keep more lines above ground but install protective covers to insulate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One proposal would allow the company to bury 200 miles of line and install 1,800 miles of insulation and other safety measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second plan would install 1,230 miles of line underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both plans would result in an estimated average monthly bill increase of just over $30, or about $10 less per month than PG&E’s plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/industries-and-topics/documents/pge/grcs/updatedfaq-pge-grc-111323.pdf\">according to a commission fact sheet\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>PG&E’s equipment sparked the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people, burned 13,900 homes and destroyed much of the town of Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility eventually pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for its role in igniting the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019 when it was faced with shelling out billions of dollars in damages to the victims of these and other wildfires started by its equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility’s infrastructure also started the 2021 Dixie Fire, which torched more than a million acres and burned all the way across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950703/climate-change-is-driving-californias-wildfires-the-kincade-fire-not-so-much\">Climate change has greatly amplified\u003c/a> California’s wildfire risk, especially in PG&E’s territory. A problem that has also been exacerbated by more people moving into forested areas and fire officials suppressing wildfires over many decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, PG&E has shut off power to especially at-risk neighborhoods during strong, dry wind storms — and the utility argues its undergrounding plans would prevent the need for these “public safety power shutoffs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once approved by the commission, customers would see changes to their bills beginning Jan. 1, 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Area Climate Activists Rally Against Exxon Mobil CEO's APEC Speech",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Climate Activists Rally Against Exxon Mobil CEO’s APEC Speech | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 2:20 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon Mobil’s CEO Darren Woods spoke to leaders gathered in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative summit today and said his company and the oil industry can be part of the solution to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he spoke, hundreds protested outside, marching across San Francisco and, at times, attempting to prevent attendees from entering the summit by blocking entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocates pressed the oil company to stop its business with fossil fuels and criticized APEC summit leaders for providing the energy giant with an international platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few of the activists staged a “symbolic wedding,” officiated by a person dressed up as a devil, denouncing Citi’s financial assistance for \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/12/1205357429/exxonmobil-makes-a-60-billion-oil-deal-doubling-down-on-fossil-fuels\">Exxon Mobil’s $60 billion deal to acquire one of the country’s biggest oil fields in Texas\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985379 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg\" alt=\"A theatrical performance of a devil as an officiant during a protest wedding.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate demonstrators block Market Street to hold a symbolic wedding to denounce the recent union between Exxon Mobil and Citibank during the APEC summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re just highlighting how these mergers and the union between these corporations continue to extract from communities and [are] destroying our planet and causing the climate chaos that is affecting people everywhere,” said climate activist Renata Pumarol, an organizer with Climate Defenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985375 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"A protester carries a sign.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kurtis Lamore holds a sign that says, ‘Exxon Mobil Darren Wood’ with red hand prints during a protest against the APEC summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>C.J. Acevedo attended the rally in drag, wearing a bloody wedding dress representing the CEO of Citi Jane Fraser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We created this little performance art piece with Jane and Darren getting married because they are doing a merger right now worth over $59 billion,” Acevedo said. “I really think that it’s important to kind of integrate art and social justice issues. I feel like that’s been done like since the beginning, especially when it comes to drag as a form of protest, and what better way to make a statement and entertain and also educate at the same time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/ezraromero/status/1724810064970834242\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woods delivered a speech in the summit’s main hall titled “Reframing the Climate Challenge: Keep the Energy, Reduce the Emissions” and highlighted how the company is investing in technology to capture carbon and slash its emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985393\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985393 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man wearing glasses and business suit stands at a podium with the words \"APEC CEO SUMMIT USA 2023\" in the background.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods speaks at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of APEC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas companies reliably provide affordable products essential to modern life,” Woods said. “Making them into villains is easy, but it does nothing, absolutely nothing, to accomplish the goal of reducing emissions. In fact, it puts the reliable supply of energy at risk, destabilizing global economies, degrading people’s standards of living. And as we saw in Europe, actually raising emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The better approach, constructive approach, is to harness the industry’s capabilities for change, put us to work,” he continued. “We’ve got the tools, the skills, the size, and the intellectual and financial resources to bend the curve on emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the company will work to drive down emissions and produce lower carbon-intensity oil and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nik Vasco, a climate organizer with the No to APEC Coalition, called the speech “greenwashing” and an attempt to mislead the public about the consequences of oil extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that Darren Woods gets to be front and center during this conference is a major red flag for climate-concerned folks,” Vasco said in an interview with KQED. “When we think about Exxon, they’re one of the biggest polluters, one of the largest climate criminals that we’ve ever had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is significance behind Woods speaking in California. State officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/09/16/1199974919/california-oil-lawsuit-climate-change\">filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Exxon Mobil and other oil companies\u003c/a>, alleging that they knew they were causing climate change and lied to cover it up. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FINAL-9-15-COMPLAINT.pdf\">suit\u003c/a> in September with the San Francisco Superior Court, just over a mile from the conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas companies have privately known the truth for decades — that the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change — but have fed us lies and mistruths to further their record-breaking profits at the expense of our environment. Enough is enough,” Bonta said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">statement\u003c/a> at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit demands that these oil companies pay for recovery efforts related to climate-fueled weather events like drought, wildfires or flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woods also talked about lithium, a significant component in the batteries that power electric cars. \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2023/1113_exxonmobil-drilling-first-lithium-well-in-arkansas\">Just this week, Exxon Mobil announced its plans to become a leading lithium producer by 2030\u003c/a>, beginning with a project in southwest Arkansas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives have described the project as a “win-win-win” and an example of how Exxon Mobil can expand the supply of a critical industrial material while reducing the emissions associated with transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1985281,news_11967349 label='Related Coverage']The company plans to use traditional oil and gas drilling methods to reach lithium-rich deposits deep underground, extract it, and separate it from saltwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "An advocate dressed as a devil will preside over a symbolic wedding outside Moscone Center, symbolizing Citi’s financial assistance for an ExxonMobil deal to create a large fracking operation in Texas.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 2:20 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon Mobil’s CEO Darren Woods spoke to leaders gathered in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative summit today and said his company and the oil industry can be part of the solution to reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he spoke, hundreds protested outside, marching across San Francisco and, at times, attempting to prevent attendees from entering the summit by blocking entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advocates pressed the oil company to stop its business with fossil fuels and criticized APEC summit leaders for providing the energy giant with an international platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few of the activists staged a “symbolic wedding,” officiated by a person dressed up as a devil, denouncing Citi’s financial assistance for \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/12/1205357429/exxonmobil-makes-a-60-billion-oil-deal-doubling-down-on-fossil-fuels\">Exxon Mobil’s $60 billion deal to acquire one of the country’s biggest oil fields in Texas\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985379 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg\" alt=\"A theatrical performance of a devil as an officiant during a protest wedding.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-18-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate demonstrators block Market Street to hold a symbolic wedding to denounce the recent union between Exxon Mobil and Citibank during the APEC summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re just highlighting how these mergers and the union between these corporations continue to extract from communities and [are] destroying our planet and causing the climate chaos that is affecting people everywhere,” said climate activist Renata Pumarol, an organizer with Climate Defenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985375 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"A protester carries a sign.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/231115-APECClimateProtest-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kurtis Lamore holds a sign that says, ‘Exxon Mobil Darren Wood’ with red hand prints during a protest against the APEC summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>C.J. Acevedo attended the rally in drag, wearing a bloody wedding dress representing the CEO of Citi Jane Fraser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We created this little performance art piece with Jane and Darren getting married because they are doing a merger right now worth over $59 billion,” Acevedo said. “I really think that it’s important to kind of integrate art and social justice issues. I feel like that’s been done like since the beginning, especially when it comes to drag as a form of protest, and what better way to make a statement and entertain and also educate at the same time.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Woods delivered a speech in the summit’s main hall titled “Reframing the Climate Challenge: Keep the Energy, Reduce the Emissions” and highlighted how the company is investing in technology to capture carbon and slash its emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985393\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985393 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man wearing glasses and business suit stands at a podium with the words \"APEC CEO SUMMIT USA 2023\" in the background.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/SF701419-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods speaks at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Photo Courtesy of APEC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas companies reliably provide affordable products essential to modern life,” Woods said. “Making them into villains is easy, but it does nothing, absolutely nothing, to accomplish the goal of reducing emissions. In fact, it puts the reliable supply of energy at risk, destabilizing global economies, degrading people’s standards of living. And as we saw in Europe, actually raising emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The better approach, constructive approach, is to harness the industry’s capabilities for change, put us to work,” he continued. “We’ve got the tools, the skills, the size, and the intellectual and financial resources to bend the curve on emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the company will work to drive down emissions and produce lower carbon-intensity oil and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nik Vasco, a climate organizer with the No to APEC Coalition, called the speech “greenwashing” and an attempt to mislead the public about the consequences of oil extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that Darren Woods gets to be front and center during this conference is a major red flag for climate-concerned folks,” Vasco said in an interview with KQED. “When we think about Exxon, they’re one of the biggest polluters, one of the largest climate criminals that we’ve ever had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is significance behind Woods speaking in California. State officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/09/16/1199974919/california-oil-lawsuit-climate-change\">filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Exxon Mobil and other oil companies\u003c/a>, alleging that they knew they were causing climate change and lied to cover it up. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FINAL-9-15-COMPLAINT.pdf\">suit\u003c/a> in September with the San Francisco Superior Court, just over a mile from the conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil and gas companies have privately known the truth for decades — that the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change — but have fed us lies and mistruths to further their record-breaking profits at the expense of our environment. Enough is enough,” Bonta said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/16/people-of-the-state-of-california-v-big-oil/\">statement\u003c/a> at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suit demands that these oil companies pay for recovery efforts related to climate-fueled weather events like drought, wildfires or flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woods also talked about lithium, a significant component in the batteries that power electric cars. \u003ca href=\"https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2023/1113_exxonmobil-drilling-first-lithium-well-in-arkansas\">Just this week, Exxon Mobil announced its plans to become a leading lithium producer by 2030\u003c/a>, beginning with a project in southwest Arkansas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives have described the project as a “win-win-win” and an example of how Exxon Mobil can expand the supply of a critical industrial material while reducing the emissions associated with transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985305\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"867\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate change causes tens of billions of dollars in economic damage in the United States every year, according to a new assessment. Many survivors of climate-driven disasters, including hurricanes, floods and wildfires, struggle for months or even years to repair their homes or find new stable housing. Here, a Louisiana home damaged by a hurricane sits waiting for unaffordable repairs. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Climate change is expensive, deadly and preventable, according to the new National Climate Assessment, the most sweeping, sophisticated federal analysis of climate change compiled to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Released every five years, the National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated evaluation of the effects of climate change on American life. This new fifth edition paints a picture of a nation simultaneously beset by climate-driven disasters and capable of dramatically reducing emissions of planet-warming gasses in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the first time the assessment includes standalone chapters about climate change’s toll on the American economy, as well as the complex social factors driving climate change and the nation’s responses. And, unlike past installments, the new assessment draws heavily from social science, including history, sociology, philosophy and Indigenous studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new approach adds context and relevance to the assessment’s robust scientific findings and underscores the disproportionate danger that climate change poses to poor people, marginalized communities, older Americans, and those who work outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change affects us all, but it doesn’t affect us all equally,” says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, one of the authors of the assessment. But threaded throughout the report are case studies and research summaries highlighting ways “climate action can create a more resilient and just country,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is also the first time the National Climate Assessment will be translated into Spanish, although the Spanish-language version won’t be available until the spring, according to the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Climate Assessment is extremely influential in legal and policy circles, and affects everything from court cases about who should foot the bill for wildfire damage to local decisions about how tall to build coastal flood barriers. “It really shapes the way that people understand, and therefore act, in relation to climate change,” says Michael Burger, the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of scientists from universities, industry, and federal agencies contributed to the report. They reviewed cutting-edge research published since the last report and contextualized it in decades of foundational climate research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fifth edition of the assessment arrives as millions of Americans struggle with the effects of a hotter Earth. Dramatic and deadly wildfires, floods and heat waves killed hundreds of people in the United States in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, while federal spending on renewable energy and disaster preparedness has increased, the U.S. is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/29/1166802809/gulf-of-mexico-oil-gas-leases-drilling\">investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure\u003c/a> that is incompatible with avoiding catastrophic warming later this century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the three big takeaways from the \u003ca href=\"https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/\">Fifth National Climate Assessment\u003c/a>. More information about the specific effects of climate change in your area can be found in the assessment’s \u003ca href=\"https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/22/\">regional chapters\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985296\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985296\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Windmills is seen on a backdrop of orange skies.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Windmills near Whitewater, Calif., in 2020. Reducing fossil fuel use and investing more in renewable energy sources such as wind will help the U.S. avoid billions of dollars of economic costs and help Americans live longer, healthier lives, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. \u003ccite>(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate change makes life more expensive\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Food, housing, labor — it all gets pricier as the Earth heats up, according to the National Climate Assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate-driven weather disasters, like heat waves, floods, hurricanes and wildfires, are particularly expensive. They destroy homes and businesses, wreck crops and create supply shortages by delaying trucks, ships and trains. Such disasters make it more likely that families will go bankrupt, and that municipal governments will run deficits, the authors note.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weather-related disasters in the U.S. cause about $150 billion each year in direct losses, according to the report. That’s a lot of money — roughly equal to the annual budget for the Energy Department — and it’s only expected to go up as the Earth gets hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/billion-dollar-disasters-us-20231107/?initialWidth=1288&childId=responsive-embed-billion-dollar-disasters-us-20231107&parentTitle=How%20climate%20change%20affects%20life%20in%20the%20U.S.%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2023%2F11%2F14%2F1206506962%2Fclimate-change-affects-your-life-in-3-big-ways-a-new-report-warns\" width=\"1000\" height=\"850\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s all before factoring in the less obvious or tangible costs of climate change. For example, healthcare bills for people who are sicker because of extreme heat or have respiratory illness brought on by breathing in mold after a flood. Exposure to wildfire smoke alone costs billions of dollars a year in lost earnings, the assessment notes — a burden that falls disproportionately on poor people who work outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The research indicates that people who are lower income have more trouble adapting [to climate change] because adaptation comes at a cost,” says Solomon Hsiang, a climate economist at the University of California, Berkeley and a lead author of the assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, one of the simplest ways to adapt to severe heat waves is to run your air conditioner more. But “if people can’t pay for it, then [they] can’t protect themselves,” explains Hsiang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the hotter it gets, the more profound the economic harm, assessment warns. Twice as much planetary warming leads to more than twice as much economic harm, the assessment warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1985298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change makes people sick and often kills them\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since the previous NCA was released five years ago, the health costs of climate change have gone from theoretical to personal for many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most obvious risk? Extreme weather, particularly heat, says Mary Hayden, the lead author of the chapter examining human health. Heat waves have become hotter, longer, and more dangerous, and they’re hitting areas that aren’t ready for them — like the “record-shattering” heat dome that descended on the Pacific Northwest in 2021 and caused hundreds of deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not just heat. Wildfire smoke can send people thousands of miles from the fires to hospitals with respiratory problems and heart disease complications. Hurricanes can disrupt people’s access to healthcare: when a clinic is flooded or people are displaced, for example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9529177/\">kidney patients can’t get dialysis treatment\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In most cases, the people who bear the brunt of the disasters are those already at risk: poor communities, communities of color, women, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. Temperatures in formerly redlined neighborhoods in cities across the country can\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795961381/racist-housing-practices-from-the-1930s-linked-to-hotter-neighborhoods-today\"> soar nearly 15 degrees Fahrenheit hotter\u003c/a> than wealthier areas just blocks away, putting residents at a much higher risk of heat exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessment also homes in on research tracking less-obvious health impacts. Living through climate disasters, for example, can leave lasting emotional scars. “We’re not just talking about [people’s] physical health — we’re talking about their mental health. We’re talking about their spiritual health. We’re talking about the health and well-being of communities that are being affected by this,” Hayden says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means recognizing the long-term effects on communities like Paradise, California, where people still deal with \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1487\">deep emotional trauma\u003c/a> five years after their town burned in the 2018 Camp Fire. The report also flags the growing emotional toll on children and young people, for whom anxiety about the future of the planet is bleeding into all parts of their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1985299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2220\" height=\"1665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0.jpg 2220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2220px) 100vw, 2220px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change threatens people’s special, sacred places and practices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The places, cultural practices, and traditions that anchor many communities are also in flux because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fishing communities are seeing their livelihoods shift or collapse. The Northeast’s iconic lobster fishery, the single most economically valuable in the country, has\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/#key-message-2\"> withered as marine heatwaves sweep through the regional seas\u003c/a>. Shrinking snowpack and too-warm temperatures are interrupting opportunities for beloved recreational activities,\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/27/#key-message-3\"> like skiing or ice fishing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indigenous communities are being forced to adjust to new climate realities, which are disrupting traditional food-gathering traditions. In Palau, a monthly tradition of catching fish at a particularly low tide has been upset by sea-level rise, which keeps water levels too high to trap fish in the historically used\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/30/#fig-30-6\"> places\u003c/a>. Sea-level rise is also forcing coastal communities to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1204923950/arizona-california-new-jersey-climate-flood-wildfire-drought-building-homes\">re-think their very existence,\u003c/a> pulling apart the social fabric that has developed over generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many communities — Indigenous people, farmers and fishers, groups that have lived tightly connected to their environments for a long time — have deep stores of resilience from which to draw, says Elizabeth Marino, a sociologist and the lead author of the chapter on social transformations. “There is quite a lot of wisdom in place to adapt to and even mitigate climate change,” she says. “It allows people to come up with solutions that fit the lives that they lead, and that’s also a place of hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The fixes to climate change can make Americans’ lives better\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The fifth assessment lays out a stark picture of the climate challenges the U.S. faces. Keeping planetary warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the goal of the international Paris Agreement will require immediate, enormous cuts to fossil fuel emissions in the U.S. and beyond. Keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), an ambitious target written into the Agreement, will be even harder, the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it also points out many successful efforts underway to adapt to the new reality and to prevent worse outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the message that if we don’t hit 1.5 degrees, we’re all going to die,” Hayhoe says. “It’s the message that everything we do matters. Every 10th of a degree of warming we avoid, there’s a benefit to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing fossil fuel-driven climate change can also help people live healthier lives, stresses J. Jason West, the lead author of a chapter on air quality. Dialing back fossil fuel emissions would help prevent further climate change and also lessen the kinds of air pollution most harmful to human health.” There really is a lot of opportunity to take action that would resolve both of those problems at the same time,” West says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s been a subtle shift in the report’s perspective since the last one, says Candis Callison, a sociologist and author of the report. There’s now a clear acknowledgment, developed through years of rigorous research, that the fossil fuel-powered society the U.S. built over generations was profoundly unjust. Many pollution-producing coal or gas power plants were \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/12/05/1061600376/communities-of-color-face-disproportionate-exposure-to-pollution\">sited in communities of color\u003c/a> rather than white communities, affecting people’s health outcomes for generations. And decisions about land and water use for energy extraction \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172273665/tribal-nations-were-once-excluded-from-colorado-river-talks-now-theyre-key-playe\">often excluded tribal communities\u003c/a>, with consequences still playing out today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transition forward can look different, she says. “Climate change actually provides us with an opportunity to address some of those inequities and injustices — and to respond to these impacts,” Callison says. “That’s really a powerful thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Climate+change+affects+your+life+in+3+big+ways%2C+a+new+report+warns&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985305\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"867\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/fema-1_custom-b66ce655e4b269118416609d9fcc1af1f259f12a-s1300-c85-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate change causes tens of billions of dollars in economic damage in the United States every year, according to a new assessment. Many survivors of climate-driven disasters, including hurricanes, floods and wildfires, struggle for months or even years to repair their homes or find new stable housing. Here, a Louisiana home damaged by a hurricane sits waiting for unaffordable repairs. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Climate change is expensive, deadly and preventable, according to the new National Climate Assessment, the most sweeping, sophisticated federal analysis of climate change compiled to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Released every five years, the National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated evaluation of the effects of climate change on American life. This new fifth edition paints a picture of a nation simultaneously beset by climate-driven disasters and capable of dramatically reducing emissions of planet-warming gasses in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the first time the assessment includes standalone chapters about climate change’s toll on the American economy, as well as the complex social factors driving climate change and the nation’s responses. And, unlike past installments, the new assessment draws heavily from social science, including history, sociology, philosophy and Indigenous studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new approach adds context and relevance to the assessment’s robust scientific findings and underscores the disproportionate danger that climate change poses to poor people, marginalized communities, older Americans, and those who work outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change affects us all, but it doesn’t affect us all equally,” says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, one of the authors of the assessment. But threaded throughout the report are case studies and research summaries highlighting ways “climate action can create a more resilient and just country,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is also the first time the National Climate Assessment will be translated into Spanish, although the Spanish-language version won’t be available until the spring, according to the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Climate Assessment is extremely influential in legal and policy circles, and affects everything from court cases about who should foot the bill for wildfire damage to local decisions about how tall to build coastal flood barriers. “It really shapes the way that people understand, and therefore act, in relation to climate change,” says Michael Burger, the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of scientists from universities, industry, and federal agencies contributed to the report. They reviewed cutting-edge research published since the last report and contextualized it in decades of foundational climate research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fifth edition of the assessment arrives as millions of Americans struggle with the effects of a hotter Earth. Dramatic and deadly wildfires, floods and heat waves killed hundreds of people in the United States in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, while federal spending on renewable energy and disaster preparedness has increased, the U.S. is also \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/29/1166802809/gulf-of-mexico-oil-gas-leases-drilling\">investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure\u003c/a> that is incompatible with avoiding catastrophic warming later this century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the three big takeaways from the \u003ca href=\"https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/\">Fifth National Climate Assessment\u003c/a>. More information about the specific effects of climate change in your area can be found in the assessment’s \u003ca href=\"https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/22/\">regional chapters\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985296\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985296\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Windmills is seen on a backdrop of orange skies.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/ap20216281153675_custom-1d05a45fb29ce62970daa40e712f1e61d079949e-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Windmills near Whitewater, Calif., in 2020. Reducing fossil fuel use and investing more in renewable energy sources such as wind will help the U.S. avoid billions of dollars of economic costs and help Americans live longer, healthier lives, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. \u003ccite>(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate change makes life more expensive\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Food, housing, labor — it all gets pricier as the Earth heats up, according to the National Climate Assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate-driven weather disasters, like heat waves, floods, hurricanes and wildfires, are particularly expensive. They destroy homes and businesses, wreck crops and create supply shortages by delaying trucks, ships and trains. Such disasters make it more likely that families will go bankrupt, and that municipal governments will run deficits, the authors note.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weather-related disasters in the U.S. cause about $150 billion each year in direct losses, according to the report. That’s a lot of money — roughly equal to the annual budget for the Energy Department — and it’s only expected to go up as the Earth gets hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/billion-dollar-disasters-us-20231107/?initialWidth=1288&childId=responsive-embed-billion-dollar-disasters-us-20231107&parentTitle=How%20climate%20change%20affects%20life%20in%20the%20U.S.%20%3A%20NPR&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2023%2F11%2F14%2F1206506962%2Fclimate-change-affects-your-life-in-3-big-ways-a-new-report-warns\" width=\"1000\" height=\"850\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s all before factoring in the less obvious or tangible costs of climate change. For example, healthcare bills for people who are sicker because of extreme heat or have respiratory illness brought on by breathing in mold after a flood. Exposure to wildfire smoke alone costs billions of dollars a year in lost earnings, the assessment notes — a burden that falls disproportionately on poor people who work outdoors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The research indicates that people who are lower income have more trouble adapting [to climate change] because adaptation comes at a cost,” says Solomon Hsiang, a climate economist at the University of California, Berkeley and a lead author of the assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, one of the simplest ways to adapt to severe heat waves is to run your air conditioner more. But “if people can’t pay for it, then [they] can’t protect themselves,” explains Hsiang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the hotter it gets, the more profound the economic harm, assessment warns. Twice as much planetary warming leads to more than twice as much economic harm, the assessment warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1985298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/20230825-_dsc8063_slide-4e6669f7eb264958eac6f36ad2bfc98e49e293db-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change makes people sick and often kills them\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since the previous NCA was released five years ago, the health costs of climate change have gone from theoretical to personal for many Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most obvious risk? Extreme weather, particularly heat, says Mary Hayden, the lead author of the chapter examining human health. Heat waves have become hotter, longer, and more dangerous, and they’re hitting areas that aren’t ready for them — like the “record-shattering” heat dome that descended on the Pacific Northwest in 2021 and caused hundreds of deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not just heat. Wildfire smoke can send people thousands of miles from the fires to hospitals with respiratory problems and heart disease complications. Hurricanes can disrupt people’s access to healthcare: when a clinic is flooded or people are displaced, for example, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9529177/\">kidney patients can’t get dialysis treatment\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In most cases, the people who bear the brunt of the disasters are those already at risk: poor communities, communities of color, women, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. Temperatures in formerly redlined neighborhoods in cities across the country can\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795961381/racist-housing-practices-from-the-1930s-linked-to-hotter-neighborhoods-today\"> soar nearly 15 degrees Fahrenheit hotter\u003c/a> than wealthier areas just blocks away, putting residents at a much higher risk of heat exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessment also homes in on research tracking less-obvious health impacts. Living through climate disasters, for example, can leave lasting emotional scars. “We’re not just talking about [people’s] physical health — we’re talking about their mental health. We’re talking about their spiritual health. We’re talking about the health and well-being of communities that are being affected by this,” Hayden says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means recognizing the long-term effects on communities like Paradise, California, where people still deal with \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1487\">deep emotional trauma\u003c/a> five years after their town burned in the 2018 Camp Fire. The report also flags the growing emotional toll on children and young people, for whom anxiety about the future of the planet is bleeding into all parts of their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1985299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2220\" height=\"1665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0.jpg 2220w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/mg_2639-enhanced-nr-e29d7c7e3b36de7b81d92f4533a05120d38427f0-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2220px) 100vw, 2220px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate change threatens people’s special, sacred places and practices\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The places, cultural practices, and traditions that anchor many communities are also in flux because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fishing communities are seeing their livelihoods shift or collapse. The Northeast’s iconic lobster fishery, the single most economically valuable in the country, has\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/#key-message-2\"> withered as marine heatwaves sweep through the regional seas\u003c/a>. Shrinking snowpack and too-warm temperatures are interrupting opportunities for beloved recreational activities,\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/27/#key-message-3\"> like skiing or ice fishing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indigenous communities are being forced to adjust to new climate realities, which are disrupting traditional food-gathering traditions. In Palau, a monthly tradition of catching fish at a particularly low tide has been upset by sea-level rise, which keeps water levels too high to trap fish in the historically used\u003ca href=\"https://nca5preview.globalchange.gov/chapter/30/#fig-30-6\"> places\u003c/a>. Sea-level rise is also forcing coastal communities to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1204923950/arizona-california-new-jersey-climate-flood-wildfire-drought-building-homes\">re-think their very existence,\u003c/a> pulling apart the social fabric that has developed over generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many communities — Indigenous people, farmers and fishers, groups that have lived tightly connected to their environments for a long time — have deep stores of resilience from which to draw, says Elizabeth Marino, a sociologist and the lead author of the chapter on social transformations. “There is quite a lot of wisdom in place to adapt to and even mitigate climate change,” she says. “It allows people to come up with solutions that fit the lives that they lead, and that’s also a place of hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The fixes to climate change can make Americans’ lives better\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The fifth assessment lays out a stark picture of the climate challenges the U.S. faces. Keeping planetary warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the goal of the international Paris Agreement will require immediate, enormous cuts to fossil fuel emissions in the U.S. and beyond. Keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), an ambitious target written into the Agreement, will be even harder, the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it also points out many successful efforts underway to adapt to the new reality and to prevent worse outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the message that if we don’t hit 1.5 degrees, we’re all going to die,” Hayhoe says. “It’s the message that everything we do matters. Every 10th of a degree of warming we avoid, there’s a benefit to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing fossil fuel-driven climate change can also help people live healthier lives, stresses J. Jason West, the lead author of a chapter on air quality. Dialing back fossil fuel emissions would help prevent further climate change and also lessen the kinds of air pollution most harmful to human health.” There really is a lot of opportunity to take action that would resolve both of those problems at the same time,” West says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s been a subtle shift in the report’s perspective since the last one, says Candis Callison, a sociologist and author of the report. There’s now a clear acknowledgment, developed through years of rigorous research, that the fossil fuel-powered society the U.S. built over generations was profoundly unjust. Many pollution-producing coal or gas power plants were \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/12/05/1061600376/communities-of-color-face-disproportionate-exposure-to-pollution\">sited in communities of color\u003c/a> rather than white communities, affecting people’s health outcomes for generations. And decisions about land and water use for energy extraction \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172273665/tribal-nations-were-once-excluded-from-colorado-river-talks-now-theyre-key-playe\">often excluded tribal communities\u003c/a>, with consequences still playing out today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transition forward can look different, she says. “Climate change actually provides us with an opportunity to address some of those inequities and injustices — and to respond to these impacts,” Callison says. “That’s really a powerful thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Climate+change+affects+your+life+in+3+big+ways%2C+a+new+report+warns&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:38 p.m. Monday:\u003c/strong> A storm swirling off the Bay Area’s coast will bring rain to the region this week, albeit much less than meteorologists at the National Weather Service originally forecasted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm stayed further offshore than last week’s forecast anticipated. Meteorologists say that shift will mean less rainfall for the Bay Area and the Central Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the overall week can be categorized as wet, there will likely be breaks in the precip throughout,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/wrh/TextProduct?product=afdmtr\">NWS’s Bay Area office in its latest forecast discussion\u003c/a>, noting that they expect the wettest period for the Bay Area to be Wednesday afternoon into the evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastal mountains could see up to 2 inches of rain through Saturday, the North Bay and coastal areas 1 to 1.5 inches and inland valleys up to an inch, according to the latest forecast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1724207494904385922\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the NWS is confident in a soaking rain this week, meteorologists note that there is still a lot of uncertainty about this slow-moving storm — meaning the forecast could significantly change in the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said the spinning low-pressure system off the coast “adds a level of uncertainty to the forecast,” which they described as “not a slam dunk forecast by any means.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original November 8 story below:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service is forecasting the Bay Area’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">major atmospheric river\u003c/a> of the season next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Tuesday and Thursday, a storm could drop as much as 2 inches of rain from Marin to Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the higher peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Sonoma Coast could get even more,” NWS meteorologist Dalton Behringer said. “It looks like it’s going to hit everyone, even as far down south as Big Sur and Central Coast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This weather is forecast to hit during \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965942\">the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in San Francisco\u003c/a> — an event that was already predicted to disrupt traffic and public transit as world leaders gather in the city for the high-security event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm follows a deep, low-pressure system coming from the Gulf of Alaska. It is supposed to drop down the West Coast, and it’s part of an active, progressive pattern that could last into the middle of the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1721997248576585801\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The atmospheric river is also expected to drop ample snow in the Sierra Nevada. Still, snowfall totals this early are hard to forecast, Behringer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As of now, it looks to be the first big snowpack producer for them as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/UCB_CSSL/status/1721934240177373649?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">climate change may make these deluges from the sky up to 37% wetter\u003c/a>, according to a June 2022 study by Bay Area climate scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm is on par with a traditional winter storm event, and Behringer said while there is an active pattern in the atmosphere, he is unsure if additional storms will follow suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can tell that things are going to come through, but it’s almost impossible to nail down details of exactly how strong they will be or where they’ll set up,” Behringer said. “But this will be the first major event of the season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behringer said he does not expect widespread flooding from this storm and said it is too early to provide other details like wind speeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That could change if this system decides to stall in one area versus another,” he said. “The silver lining is that we’re not nearly as saturated as we were when we had these rapid succession events last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the storm would likely move pretty quickly over the Bay Area, but if last winter’s storms taught Behringer anything, it’s that movements within a weather pattern can change fast. He advises Californians to pay close attention to weather reports as the storm progresses and to prepare their homes for what could be the first of many Bay Area-wide storms this fall and winter. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">Read more about how to prepare your home for a storm.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=CI&glossary=1&issuedby=MTR&product=AFD&site=MTR&version=1\">Keeping up with the forecast right now\u003c/a> is the best preparation you can make,” Behringer said. “We’re still putting the finishing touches on the changes to the forecast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 5:38 p.m. Monday:\u003c/strong> A storm swirling off the Bay Area’s coast will bring rain to the region this week, albeit much less than meteorologists at the National Weather Service originally forecasted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm stayed further offshore than last week’s forecast anticipated. Meteorologists say that shift will mean less rainfall for the Bay Area and the Central Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the overall week can be categorized as wet, there will likely be breaks in the precip throughout,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/wrh/TextProduct?product=afdmtr\">NWS’s Bay Area office in its latest forecast discussion\u003c/a>, noting that they expect the wettest period for the Bay Area to be Wednesday afternoon into the evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastal mountains could see up to 2 inches of rain through Saturday, the North Bay and coastal areas 1 to 1.5 inches and inland valleys up to an inch, according to the latest forecast.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>While the NWS is confident in a soaking rain this week, meteorologists note that there is still a lot of uncertainty about this slow-moving storm — meaning the forecast could significantly change in the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said the spinning low-pressure system off the coast “adds a level of uncertainty to the forecast,” which they described as “not a slam dunk forecast by any means.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original November 8 story below:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Weather Service is forecasting the Bay Area’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">major atmospheric river\u003c/a> of the season next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Tuesday and Thursday, a storm could drop as much as 2 inches of rain from Marin to Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the higher peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Sonoma Coast could get even more,” NWS meteorologist Dalton Behringer said. “It looks like it’s going to hit everyone, even as far down south as Big Sur and Central Coast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This weather is forecast to hit during \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965942\">the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in San Francisco\u003c/a> — an event that was already predicted to disrupt traffic and public transit as world leaders gather in the city for the high-security event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm follows a deep, low-pressure system coming from the Gulf of Alaska. It is supposed to drop down the West Coast, and it’s part of an active, progressive pattern that could last into the middle of the month.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The atmospheric river is also expected to drop ample snow in the Sierra Nevada. Still, snowfall totals this early are hard to forecast, Behringer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As of now, it looks to be the first big snowpack producer for them as well,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000275\">climate change may make these deluges from the sky up to 37% wetter\u003c/a>, according to a June 2022 study by Bay Area climate scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm is on par with a traditional winter storm event, and Behringer said while there is an active pattern in the atmosphere, he is unsure if additional storms will follow suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can tell that things are going to come through, but it’s almost impossible to nail down details of exactly how strong they will be or where they’ll set up,” Behringer said. “But this will be the first major event of the season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behringer said he does not expect widespread flooding from this storm and said it is too early to provide other details like wind speeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That could change if this system decides to stall in one area versus another,” he said. “The silver lining is that we’re not nearly as saturated as we were when we had these rapid succession events last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the storm would likely move pretty quickly over the Bay Area, but if last winter’s storms taught Behringer anything, it’s that movements within a weather pattern can change fast. He advises Californians to pay close attention to weather reports as the storm progresses and to prepare their homes for what could be the first of many Bay Area-wide storms this fall and winter. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">Read more about how to prepare your home for a storm.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=CI&glossary=1&issuedby=MTR&product=AFD&site=MTR&version=1\">Keeping up with the forecast right now\u003c/a> is the best preparation you can make,” Behringer said. “We’re still putting the finishing touches on the changes to the forecast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you",
"title": "Insurance In California Is Changing. Here's How It May Affect You",
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"headTitle": "Insurance In California Is Changing. Here’s How It May Affect You | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most people, insurance is the first line of defense against climate change. When struck by wildfire, flooding or other calamity, an adequate insurance policy can come to the rescue. It’s like a financial first responder, an ambulance full of money to help people back onto their feet. Insurance is the reason something bad happening to you, like losing your home in a wildfire, doesn’t guarantee a slide into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the industry is in serious trouble. Climate disasters around the state, especially worsening wildfires, threaten the current business model and millions of middle-class Californians. Climate risks exist everywhere. However, California is notable for companies racing out of Dodge. Seven of the top 12 insurance companies in the state, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance and American International Group (AIG), have left California or pulled back from offering new policies in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Golden State grapples with the devastating consequences of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires, California officials are crafting a major overhaul to insurance regulations. It is meant to stop the exodus of companies and promote market stability, but it will almost certainly mean that insurance premiums will rise. Here is what we know, what to expect, and how it may affect you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3046460401&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#action\">\u003cstrong>California announces action, at last\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#trouble\">\u003cstrong>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#afoot\">\u003cstrong>Change is afoot\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#deep\">\u003cstrong>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#fair\">\u003cstrong>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#mean\">\u003cstrong>What will the changes mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#next\">\u003cstrong>What comes next\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"action\">\u003c/a>California announces action, at last\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For the better part of the last year, California did not make any structural changes to its insurance marketplace despite the ballooning crisis and the urgency of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Structural changes are not sexy,” said Sashi Sabaratnam, former mayor of Mill Valley and manager of Sonoma County’s UC Cooperative Extension wildfire vegetation mitigation program. “Making those changes [won’t] win anybody big fans or win elections. You need somebody with the kind of political courage to look at the problem and really be able to take the heat for making those structural changes.”[pullquote align='right' citation='State Sen. Bill Dodd']‘To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the state legislature considered putting forth a bill to fix some of the many problems. But the effort dissolved at the last minute before the close of the legislative session. Some officials were reportedly afraid they would not be seen as being tough enough on insurance companies and felt that maintaining the status quo would be politically safer.[pullquote align='right' citation='Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara']‘Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight. We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.’[/pullquote]State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) said he was disappointed when the legislative effort fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong,” he said in the hours after the legislative collapse. “High costs force people to go naked without insurance. That’s happening all over my district. It’s going to affect home and business mortgages because if you can’t get insurance, your mortgages will get called in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state legislature stepped back from the problem, it placed increased pressure on California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who had mostly avoided talking about making big regulatory changes all year. Instead, he largely focused on talking about reducing the risk of wildfire through mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As important as mitigation is, Sabaratnam said, “It means nothing if you do not deal with those structural issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance commissioner is an elected position, but Lara was re-elected in 2022, so his seat is secure until his term ends in 2026. That ought to give him a little room to breathe, suggested Sabaratnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/21/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-to-strengthen-property-insurance-market/\">executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the insurance commission to take swift action\u003c/a> to strengthen the property market apparently gave Lara enough political cover to announce changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, he announced that a significant regulatory overhaul would be in place by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s current regulatory framework does not meet our needs,” Lara said. “We need to update regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that is to say, policymakers felt strongly that someone needed to do something. Just who would do what took the better part of a year to figure out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, as anticipated by policy experts, few people cheered. Some TV news outlets framed the announced changes as a win for the insurance industry. Advocacy groups personally attacked Lara. The powerful Consumer Watchdog even attacked other advocacy groups who expressed some support for Lara’s changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985224\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A couple embraces next to a Weed Community Center sign made of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After losing two homes in the Mill Fire of 2022, Chester and Denise Hopkins are working to help the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Weed rebuild. Many of their neighbors were underinsured or had no insurance. That’s part of what’s determining who can stay and rebuild. They’re committed to staying but don’t know how many of their neighbors will. “We’re putting our trust in God that we have at least 50 % [coming back],” Denise Hopkins said. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"trouble\">\u003c/a>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Perhaps curiously, home insurance in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/average-cost-homeowners-insurance/\">actually costs less than in other states with the same sorts of climate risks\u003c/a>. From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is a sign that risk in California is not priced accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies trace this situation back to 1988, when voters approved a law limiting how much insurance companies could raise rates and said the state has to approve. It was a voter-backed initiative that attempted to improve insurance for consumers, protecting them from arbitrary insurance rate hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups that did not like a proposed rate hike could intervene and recoup the legal and administrative costs of doing so. Insurance companies had to set rates tied to historical data from the past 20 years of losses, but they could not look forward to estimates of future losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1988 measure — Proposition 103 — was prompted by skyrocketing auto insurance, but it also worked on home insurance. The \u003ca href=\"https://consumerfed.org/press_release/30-years-and-154-billion-of-savings-californias-proposition-103-insurance-reforms-still-saving-drivers-money/\">law has saved Californians billions of dollars\u003c/a>, but insurance companies, who have had to shell out tens of billions of dollars to cover losses from the Camp, Tubbs, Thomas, LNU Lightning Complex, Dixie and other major fires in recent years, hate this rule. Many have effectively said, ‘Hey, we are not doing this anymore.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parr Schoolman, Allstate’s chief risk officer, told California insurance officials at a hearing this year that the company needs to be able to raise prices or else it would drop more individual customers or even totally leave the state’s home insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current system makes it very difficult for insurance companies to get rate increases of anything more than 7%. It can take years. Typically, the state does not grant requests in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, from an insurance company’s perspective, their rates lag years behind the actual price of the risk they are insuring. Meanwhile, reinsurance, which is insurance for insurers, has skyrocketed, along with construction costs and other expenses impacted by inflation. That is all laid against the backdrop of jaw-slackening wildfire losses, which have wiped out decades of profits, particularly in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"afoot\">\u003c/a>Change is afoot\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The big elements of Lara’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2023/release051-2023.cfm\">announced changes\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>An agreement with insurance companies to write more policies and collectively offer coverage to at least 85% of homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas. This would allow homeowners currently on the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR plan, to transition back to the normal market.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Allowing insurance companies to use forward-looking climate catastrophe models instead of historical data about risk.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Letting companies pass on California-related reinsurance costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase California Department of Insurance staffing to allow rate increases to be approved faster.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Some consumer advocates and ensuing news coverage suggested it was a victory and bailout for the insurance industry. One of the most strident opposing voices comes from Consumer Watchdog, which has spent years attacking not only the insurance industry but the insurance commissioner himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consumer protection organizations painted Lara as an industry insider and said the deal would not guarantee coverage and would increase premiums. In response, the commission pointed out in recently released data that Consumer Watchdog has also benefited from collecting $8.9 million over a decade in compensation for its work-challenging rate increases. Proposition 103 allows members of the public to intervene on behalf of ratepayers and apply for compensation for the expenses of doing so. That money \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/01-intervenor/upload/CDI_Public-Chart_Total-Compensations-Awarder-to-Intervenors.pdf\">comes from insurers, who pass those costs on to their customers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an organization that advocates for insurance customers, dismissed Consumer Watchdog’s view as ignoring the very real threats to the market. Some of the announced changes will likely mean higher premiums. But what is most important, Bach said, was that a compromise would be workable for both consumers and insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t like [all the changes],” Bach said. “Using catastrophe models and passing on some reinsurance costs? As far as I know, every other state in the union does that — it is not the end of the world. But what is the end of the world if [the insurance flight] keeps going on like this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While public utilities are legally required to serve customers, insurance companies can do business in the state or not, as they please.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To stop selling insurance entirely the way that [insurance companies are] doing suggests to me that they are genuinely worried about the adequacy of their rates,” Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the insurance market collapses in the state, people can’t buy homes or sell homes. Most homes have mortgages, and banks won’t lend money unless it’s insured. If the real estate industry collapses, it will reverberate through the entire economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only market with insurance troubles. Around the nation, climate-driven disasters are accelerating price hikes, coverage withdrawals and instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If insurance market trends continue on the current path, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), speaking at a congressional hearing this year, said it puts the global economy at systemic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The term “global systemic risk,” he said, “has a rather bland quality to it. But it describes something that is anything but bland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bland in the way talking about subprime mortgages seemed in 2007, just before they triggered a global financial meltdown. The current insurance market situation poses the same kind of risk to the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983896\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983896\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A man in sunglasses stands in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Majors in front of the creek bordering his former property. His home outside Santa Rosa survived nearly half a dozen fires in recent years. Despite his efforts to mitigate hazards around his house, Majors was dropped by insurance carriers numerous times. And when he decided to sell his house, prospective buyers had trouble finding insurance coverage. He had to drop the price four times before the home was sold. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"deep\">\u003c/a>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are three different ways you can get home insurance in California. By way of a high school lunchroom analogy: You can eat with the “the cool kids,” the “not-cool kids,” or the vice principal, who is your last choice, but it might be better than having lunch alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cool kids are the “admitted market.” They are licensed to sell in the state, California has to approve rate increases, and if the company fails, California will pay out the claims. Being a cool kid comes with a lot of rules, but if you are a company that wants to sell in bulk to Californians, this is the route you need to go. These companies, like Allstate, State Farm or Farmers, are generally best to have your insurance with. But they have scaled back their offerings in wildfire-prone parts of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the “not-cool-kids.” These are specialty or surplus lines of coverage from companies such as Lloyds of London, Chubb Custom Insurance Company or Spinnaker Specialty Insurance. They’ll write riskier policies for homeowners or businesses, but they are also more high-risk themselves. They’re not guaranteed if they fail, which means more exposure for a consumer. And they can basically charge what they want. These rates are typically more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vice principal is the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. It is expensive, and the coverage is lousy. But you can get some coverage when no one else will take you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"fair\">\u003c/a>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfpnet.com/about-fair-plan/\">FAIR plan\u003c/a> stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, and it’s derisively known as “the un-fair plan” by some of its customers, who feel frustrated they have to use it. It was one of those well-intentioned solutions created to fill a need, but it has ballooned and taken on the dimensions of its own problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan now has 330,000 policyholders. That’s up from 140,000 in 2018 before insurance companies began their flight from California. More people are using it today than were ever intended to. This places the financial foundation of the plan on really shaky ground. And the more people who join, the worse it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan is regulated by the state but it’s funding is guaranteed by private insurers. California\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-watts-riots-explainer-20150715-htmlstory.html\"> created it after the Watts Riots in the 1960s\u003c/a>, when years of simmering anger and distrust had built up between mostly Black residents of the Watts neighborhood and police around Los Angeles exploded for days of unrest. Following those days, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/04/business/riots-raise-concerns-about-insurance-redlining.html\">insurance companies began canceling policies for homeowners and businesses\u003c/a>. The FAIR plan was crafted to provide homeowners and businesses some coverage when nothing else was available. Most states have their own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fair Plan, which is supposed to be sort of a temporary last resort insurance policy, is becoming a permanent insurance policy for many people in high fire risk areas in California,” said Michael Wara, a climate and energy lawyer and researcher at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economic structure of the FAIR plan is that homeowners pay a lot more money for less insurance,” he added. “And hopefully that’s enough. The reality is it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from offering fairly poor coverage, the FAIR plan is just about one big disaster away from not having enough money to pay claims to its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the FAIR plan were a regular insurer, the insurance department would have to step in and shut it down because it’s so undercapitalized,” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a big fire, something on the scale of the Tubbs Fire or Camp Fire, in an area where the FAIR Plan covered many homes, the plan would then charge insurers in the admitted market, aka the “cool kids,” for the rest of the money. In insurance jargon, this is called “levying an assessment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is the scary thing: insurance companies do not have the money saved for this, and they are not allowed to make up the deficit by charging their customers more, so many of them would probably go bankrupt. Other companies would offload policies, basically firing their customers, to try to become financially stable again. The whole market could collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That would stop the buying and selling of homes and also the building of any new ones. California is doing a lot to build more houses, but if the insurance market collapses, that progress will evaporate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One entity that is going to sell a lot of houses is a builder,” Wara said. “And if they can’t sell their houses because the people that want to buy them with a mortgage can’t get insurance. It threatens everything that we’re trying to do to make the state more affordable and more equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985222\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of the National Forest is thinned as a fuel management technique, removing brush and understory vegetation and allowing water to go into ground storage rather than feeding vegetation, near Camptonville, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2023. Fuel management includes thinning, chipping, burning, and removing fuels to reduce the amount of burnable vegetation. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"mean\">\u003c/a>What will the changes mean?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The changes coming to California’s market are a start, but no one seems to think they’re sufficient on their own, least of all officials at the state’s insurance department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight,” Lara said. “We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no consumers, elected officials, or consumer advocates want to see prices increase, there is a sense that the era of cheap insurance is over for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I like the days when people were paying a thousand bucks a year for their home insurance? Of course, everybody liked it,” said Bach from United Policyholders. “But we don’t have that option anymore, so something has to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, how much rates may increase is an open question. One of the few people who has studied how rates rise using historical data versus catastrophic data is \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/wildfire-catastrophe-models-california-ratemaking\">Nancy Watkins, an actuary at Milliman, an independent consulting firm\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2022-articles/10-19-22_pci-pifc-cdi-summary.ashx\">2022 study she did indicated that using catastrophic models did not necessarily mean higher rates\u003c/a>. Her work also found that rates were more stable using modeling and, crucially, that models could incorporate wildfire preparation into risk estimates — something historic data fails at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can \u003ca href=\"https://www.carriermanagement.com/features/2023/08/29/252411.htm?bypass=9c98e38eb4bd3d9fa4d836afcadbaa24\">incentivize home- and community-level fire mitigation work\u003c/a>, something she and many fire and insurance experts hope is the way of the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a yellow jacket brings a hand tool down in a sweeping motion to the ground. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crewmembers from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed ” mop-up” after a prescribed burn on June 21, 2023. Controlled burns like this are one of the best ways communities can reduce the risk from megafire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"next\">\u003c/a>What comes next\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, the state’s insurance department will shape the new regulations and implement reforms. Michael Soller, spokesperson for the department, said this work would focus on a couple of fronts, with some tasks being administrative in nature and some taking place through public meetings and hearings. The state will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Create maps of where they will require insurance companies to write more policies, offering coverage to 85% of homeowners.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate catastrophe models and consider the creation of a new public model, owned by the state, versus adopting existing models made by companies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider incorporating some California-related reinsurance costs into rates.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hire more staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Deny intervenor petitions by advocacy groups that replicate the work already being done by staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Bach said following the announcement of coming reforms, she hoped the exodus would be staunched. But she said many companies still seem wary of offering coverage. She thinks they’re afraid advocates, like Consumer Watchdog, will sue to block the changes. “I think that’s part of the problem of why nothing has really shifted since the announcement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nature of hard problems is that there are no easy, short-term wins, policy expert Sabratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these changes are made and people’s rates go up and some people still lose their insurance and some people still go on the FAIR Plan, people will then turn around and say, ‘Well look, you didn’t succeed, you failed,’” Sabaratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, structural change is what is needed, even if it is unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything else is just a Band-Aid,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of the third season of KQED’s podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/soldout\">find that series here\u003c/a> and read about why \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1984697/why-kqed-focused-a-season-of-its-housing-podcast-on-climate-change#:~:text=Sold%20Out%20Is%20Back%20With%20Season%203&text=Host%20Erin%20Baldassari%20leads%20a,an%20affordable%20place%20to%20live.\">KQED chose to focus a season of its housing podcast on climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most people, insurance is the first line of defense against climate change. When struck by wildfire, flooding or other calamity, an adequate insurance policy can come to the rescue. It’s like a financial first responder, an ambulance full of money to help people back onto their feet. Insurance is the reason something bad happening to you, like losing your home in a wildfire, doesn’t guarantee a slide into poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the industry is in serious trouble. Climate disasters around the state, especially worsening wildfires, threaten the current business model and millions of middle-class Californians. Climate risks exist everywhere. However, California is notable for companies racing out of Dodge. Seven of the top 12 insurance companies in the state, including Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance and American International Group (AIG), have left California or pulled back from offering new policies in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Golden State grapples with the devastating consequences of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires, California officials are crafting a major overhaul to insurance regulations. It is meant to stop the exodus of companies and promote market stability, but it will almost certainly mean that insurance premiums will rise. Here is what we know, what to expect, and how it may affect you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC3046460401&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#action\">\u003cstrong>California announces action, at last\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#trouble\">\u003cstrong>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#afoot\">\u003cstrong>Change is afoot\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#deep\">\u003cstrong>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#fair\">\u003cstrong>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#mean\">\u003cstrong>What will the changes mean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\n\u003ch5>\u003ca href=\"#next\">\u003cstrong>What comes next\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h5>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"action\">\u003c/a>California announces action, at last\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For the better part of the last year, California did not make any structural changes to its insurance marketplace despite the ballooning crisis and the urgency of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Structural changes are not sexy,” said Sashi Sabaratnam, former mayor of Mill Valley and manager of Sonoma County’s UC Cooperative Extension wildfire vegetation mitigation program. “Making those changes [won’t] win anybody big fans or win elections. You need somebody with the kind of political courage to look at the problem and really be able to take the heat for making those structural changes.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the state legislature considered putting forth a bill to fix some of the many problems. But the effort dissolved at the last minute before the close of the legislative session. Some officials were reportedly afraid they would not be seen as being tough enough on insurance companies and felt that maintaining the status quo would be politically safer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) said he was disappointed when the legislative effort fell through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To state the obvious, we do not have a stable insurance market. And when you don’t have that, a lot of things can go awfully wrong,” he said in the hours after the legislative collapse. “High costs force people to go naked without insurance. That’s happening all over my district. It’s going to affect home and business mortgages because if you can’t get insurance, your mortgages will get called in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state legislature stepped back from the problem, it placed increased pressure on California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who had mostly avoided talking about making big regulatory changes all year. Instead, he largely focused on talking about reducing the risk of wildfire through mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As important as mitigation is, Sabaratnam said, “It means nothing if you do not deal with those structural issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance commissioner is an elected position, but Lara was re-elected in 2022, so his seat is secure until his term ends in 2026. That ought to give him a little room to breathe, suggested Sabaratnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/21/governor-newsom-signs-executive-order-to-strengthen-property-insurance-market/\">executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the insurance commission to take swift action\u003c/a> to strengthen the property market apparently gave Lara enough political cover to announce changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, he announced that a significant regulatory overhaul would be in place by the end of next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s current regulatory framework does not meet our needs,” Lara said. “We need to update regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that is to say, policymakers felt strongly that someone needed to do something. Just who would do what took the better part of a year to figure out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, as anticipated by policy experts, few people cheered. Some TV news outlets framed the announced changes as a win for the insurance industry. Advocacy groups personally attacked Lara. The powerful Consumer Watchdog even attacked other advocacy groups who expressed some support for Lara’s changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985224\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985224\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A couple embraces next to a Weed Community Center sign made of wood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/IMG_9350-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">After losing two homes in the Mill Fire of 2022, Chester and Denise Hopkins are working to help the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Weed rebuild. Many of their neighbors were underinsured or had no insurance. That’s part of what’s determining who can stay and rebuild. They’re committed to staying but don’t know how many of their neighbors will. “We’re putting our trust in God that we have at least 50 % [coming back],” Denise Hopkins said. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"trouble\">\u003c/a>Why the insurance market is in trouble\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Perhaps curiously, home insurance in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowners-insurance/average-cost-homeowners-insurance/\">actually costs less than in other states with the same sorts of climate risks\u003c/a>. From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is a sign that risk in California is not priced accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies trace this situation back to 1988, when voters approved a law limiting how much insurance companies could raise rates and said the state has to approve. It was a voter-backed initiative that attempted to improve insurance for consumers, protecting them from arbitrary insurance rate hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups that did not like a proposed rate hike could intervene and recoup the legal and administrative costs of doing so. Insurance companies had to set rates tied to historical data from the past 20 years of losses, but they could not look forward to estimates of future losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1988 measure — Proposition 103 — was prompted by skyrocketing auto insurance, but it also worked on home insurance. The \u003ca href=\"https://consumerfed.org/press_release/30-years-and-154-billion-of-savings-californias-proposition-103-insurance-reforms-still-saving-drivers-money/\">law has saved Californians billions of dollars\u003c/a>, but insurance companies, who have had to shell out tens of billions of dollars to cover losses from the Camp, Tubbs, Thomas, LNU Lightning Complex, Dixie and other major fires in recent years, hate this rule. Many have effectively said, ‘Hey, we are not doing this anymore.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parr Schoolman, Allstate’s chief risk officer, told California insurance officials at a hearing this year that the company needs to be able to raise prices or else it would drop more individual customers or even totally leave the state’s home insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current system makes it very difficult for insurance companies to get rate increases of anything more than 7%. It can take years. Typically, the state does not grant requests in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, from an insurance company’s perspective, their rates lag years behind the actual price of the risk they are insuring. Meanwhile, reinsurance, which is insurance for insurers, has skyrocketed, along with construction costs and other expenses impacted by inflation. That is all laid against the backdrop of jaw-slackening wildfire losses, which have wiped out decades of profits, particularly in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"afoot\">\u003c/a>Change is afoot\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The big elements of Lara’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2023/release051-2023.cfm\">announced changes\u003c/a> include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>An agreement with insurance companies to write more policies and collectively offer coverage to at least 85% of homeowners in high wildfire-risk areas. This would allow homeowners currently on the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR plan, to transition back to the normal market.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Allowing insurance companies to use forward-looking climate catastrophe models instead of historical data about risk.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Letting companies pass on California-related reinsurance costs.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Increase California Department of Insurance staffing to allow rate increases to be approved faster.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Some consumer advocates and ensuing news coverage suggested it was a victory and bailout for the insurance industry. One of the most strident opposing voices comes from Consumer Watchdog, which has spent years attacking not only the insurance industry but the insurance commissioner himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consumer protection organizations painted Lara as an industry insider and said the deal would not guarantee coverage and would increase premiums. In response, the commission pointed out in recently released data that Consumer Watchdog has also benefited from collecting $8.9 million over a decade in compensation for its work-challenging rate increases. Proposition 103 allows members of the public to intervene on behalf of ratepayers and apply for compensation for the expenses of doing so. That money \u003ca href=\"https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/01-intervenor/upload/CDI_Public-Chart_Total-Compensations-Awarder-to-Intervenors.pdf\">comes from insurers, who pass those costs on to their customers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an organization that advocates for insurance customers, dismissed Consumer Watchdog’s view as ignoring the very real threats to the market. Some of the announced changes will likely mean higher premiums. But what is most important, Bach said, was that a compromise would be workable for both consumers and insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t like [all the changes],” Bach said. “Using catastrophe models and passing on some reinsurance costs? As far as I know, every other state in the union does that — it is not the end of the world. But what is the end of the world if [the insurance flight] keeps going on like this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While public utilities are legally required to serve customers, insurance companies can do business in the state or not, as they please.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To stop selling insurance entirely the way that [insurance companies are] doing suggests to me that they are genuinely worried about the adequacy of their rates,” Bach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the insurance market collapses in the state, people can’t buy homes or sell homes. Most homes have mortgages, and banks won’t lend money unless it’s insured. If the real estate industry collapses, it will reverberate through the entire economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not the only market with insurance troubles. Around the nation, climate-driven disasters are accelerating price hikes, coverage withdrawals and instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If insurance market trends continue on the current path, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), speaking at a congressional hearing this year, said it puts the global economy at systemic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The term “global systemic risk,” he said, “has a rather bland quality to it. But it describes something that is anything but bland.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bland in the way talking about subprime mortgages seemed in 2007, just before they triggered a global financial meltdown. The current insurance market situation poses the same kind of risk to the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983896\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983896\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A man in sunglasses stands in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/230810-JASON-MAJORS-DV-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Majors in front of the creek bordering his former property. His home outside Santa Rosa survived nearly half a dozen fires in recent years. Despite his efforts to mitigate hazards around his house, Majors was dropped by insurance carriers numerous times. And when he decided to sell his house, prospective buyers had trouble finding insurance coverage. He had to drop the price four times before the home was sold. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"deep\">\u003c/a>Dive deep: How insurance works\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>There are three different ways you can get home insurance in California. By way of a high school lunchroom analogy: You can eat with the “the cool kids,” the “not-cool kids,” or the vice principal, who is your last choice, but it might be better than having lunch alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cool kids are the “admitted market.” They are licensed to sell in the state, California has to approve rate increases, and if the company fails, California will pay out the claims. Being a cool kid comes with a lot of rules, but if you are a company that wants to sell in bulk to Californians, this is the route you need to go. These companies, like Allstate, State Farm or Farmers, are generally best to have your insurance with. But they have scaled back their offerings in wildfire-prone parts of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the “not-cool-kids.” These are specialty or surplus lines of coverage from companies such as Lloyds of London, Chubb Custom Insurance Company or Spinnaker Specialty Insurance. They’ll write riskier policies for homeowners or businesses, but they are also more high-risk themselves. They’re not guaranteed if they fail, which means more exposure for a consumer. And they can basically charge what they want. These rates are typically more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vice principal is the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. It is expensive, and the coverage is lousy. But you can get some coverage when no one else will take you.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"fair\">\u003c/a>The FAIR plan: California’s least-loved insurer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfpnet.com/about-fair-plan/\">FAIR plan\u003c/a> stands for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, and it’s derisively known as “the un-fair plan” by some of its customers, who feel frustrated they have to use it. It was one of those well-intentioned solutions created to fill a need, but it has ballooned and taken on the dimensions of its own problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan now has 330,000 policyholders. That’s up from 140,000 in 2018 before insurance companies began their flight from California. More people are using it today than were ever intended to. This places the financial foundation of the plan on really shaky ground. And the more people who join, the worse it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FAIR plan is regulated by the state but it’s funding is guaranteed by private insurers. California\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-watts-riots-explainer-20150715-htmlstory.html\"> created it after the Watts Riots in the 1960s\u003c/a>, when years of simmering anger and distrust had built up between mostly Black residents of the Watts neighborhood and police around Los Angeles exploded for days of unrest. Following those days, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/04/business/riots-raise-concerns-about-insurance-redlining.html\">insurance companies began canceling policies for homeowners and businesses\u003c/a>. The FAIR plan was crafted to provide homeowners and businesses some coverage when nothing else was available. Most states have their own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Fair Plan, which is supposed to be sort of a temporary last resort insurance policy, is becoming a permanent insurance policy for many people in high fire risk areas in California,” said Michael Wara, a climate and energy lawyer and researcher at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The economic structure of the FAIR plan is that homeowners pay a lot more money for less insurance,” he added. “And hopefully that’s enough. The reality is it’s not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from offering fairly poor coverage, the FAIR plan is just about one big disaster away from not having enough money to pay claims to its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the FAIR plan were a regular insurer, the insurance department would have to step in and shut it down because it’s so undercapitalized,” Wara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a big fire, something on the scale of the Tubbs Fire or Camp Fire, in an area where the FAIR Plan covered many homes, the plan would then charge insurers in the admitted market, aka the “cool kids,” for the rest of the money. In insurance jargon, this is called “levying an assessment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here is the scary thing: insurance companies do not have the money saved for this, and they are not allowed to make up the deficit by charging their customers more, so many of them would probably go bankrupt. Other companies would offload policies, basically firing their customers, to try to become financially stable again. The whole market could collapse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That would stop the buying and selling of homes and also the building of any new ones. California is doing a lot to build more houses, but if the insurance market collapses, that progress will evaporate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One entity that is going to sell a lot of houses is a builder,” Wara said. “And if they can’t sell their houses because the people that want to buy them with a mortgage can’t get insurance. It threatens everything that we’re trying to do to make the state more affordable and more equitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985222\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985222\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/230815-BlueForestInitiative-29-BL-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of the National Forest is thinned as a fuel management technique, removing brush and understory vegetation and allowing water to go into ground storage rather than feeding vegetation, near Camptonville, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2023. Fuel management includes thinning, chipping, burning, and removing fuels to reduce the amount of burnable vegetation. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"mean\">\u003c/a>What will the changes mean?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The changes coming to California’s market are a start, but no one seems to think they’re sufficient on their own, least of all officials at the state’s insurance department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Modernizing our insurance market is not going to be easy or happen overnight,” Lara said. “We are in really unchartered territory, and we must make difficult choices when the world is changing rapidly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While no consumers, elected officials, or consumer advocates want to see prices increase, there is a sense that the era of cheap insurance is over for good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I like the days when people were paying a thousand bucks a year for their home insurance? Of course, everybody liked it,” said Bach from United Policyholders. “But we don’t have that option anymore, so something has to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, how much rates may increase is an open question. One of the few people who has studied how rates rise using historical data versus catastrophic data is \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/wildfire-catastrophe-models-california-ratemaking\">Nancy Watkins, an actuary at Milliman, an independent consulting firm\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2022-articles/10-19-22_pci-pifc-cdi-summary.ashx\">2022 study she did indicated that using catastrophic models did not necessarily mean higher rates\u003c/a>. Her work also found that rates were more stable using modeling and, crucially, that models could incorporate wildfire preparation into risk estimates — something historic data fails at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can \u003ca href=\"https://www.carriermanagement.com/features/2023/08/29/252411.htm?bypass=9c98e38eb4bd3d9fa4d836afcadbaa24\">incentivize home- and community-level fire mitigation work\u003c/a>, something she and many fire and insurance experts hope is the way of the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1985179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a yellow jacket brings a hand tool down in a sweeping motion to the ground. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bear-Trap-Prescribed-Burn_Nevada-County_05-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crewmembers from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County walk to the site where they performed ” mop-up” after a prescribed burn on June 21, 2023. Controlled burns like this are one of the best ways communities can reduce the risk from megafire. \u003ccite>(Erin Baldassari/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"next\">\u003c/a>What comes next\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the coming months, the state’s insurance department will shape the new regulations and implement reforms. Michael Soller, spokesperson for the department, said this work would focus on a couple of fronts, with some tasks being administrative in nature and some taking place through public meetings and hearings. The state will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Create maps of where they will require insurance companies to write more policies, offering coverage to 85% of homeowners.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate catastrophe models and consider the creation of a new public model, owned by the state, versus adopting existing models made by companies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Consider incorporating some California-related reinsurance costs into rates.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hire more staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Deny intervenor petitions by advocacy groups that replicate the work already being done by staff.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Bach said following the announcement of coming reforms, she hoped the exodus would be staunched. But she said many companies still seem wary of offering coverage. She thinks they’re afraid advocates, like Consumer Watchdog, will sue to block the changes. “I think that’s part of the problem of why nothing has really shifted since the announcement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nature of hard problems is that there are no easy, short-term wins, policy expert Sabratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these changes are made and people’s rates go up and some people still lose their insurance and some people still go on the FAIR Plan, people will then turn around and say, ‘Well look, you didn’t succeed, you failed,’” Sabaratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she added, structural change is what is needed, even if it is unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything else is just a Band-Aid,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "2 Big Takeaways from a State Senator’s Climate Change Exchange with France",
"headTitle": "2 Big Takeaways from a State Senator’s Climate Change Exchange with France | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) and a delegation of other California leaders are shaking off jet lag after returning from a privately funded trip to France, where they swapped ideas on addressing the climate crisis with French officials and industry leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said California could draw lessons from France’s high-speed rail system and the interest its leaders are showing in nuclear energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A legacy of high-speed rail\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Delegates zipped from city to city on high-speed rail and visited train manufacturers, some of whom touted hydrogen fuel-cell-powered trains as the future of clean transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65687665\">France banned\u003c/a> domestic short-haul flights if the same trip can be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours. The goal is to cut the substantial carbon emissions from air travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the tour of France on its train system reinforced one of Dodd’s goals: finishing California’s high-speed train from Los Angeles through the Central Valley and on to San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still a zealot for finishing high-speed rail in California,” Dodd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have 40 million people in this state,” Dodd said. “We’re not going to be able to environmentally site any more international airports. This is something that I think is important for us to do in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985115\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985115 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in blue jackets stand in a church.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023.jpg 1512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California State Sens. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) and Bill Dodd (D-Napa) at Hospices de Beaune, in Beaune, France. The hospital was built to serve the poor in 1443.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Nuclear in the toolbox\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dodd was also intrigued by how eager the French government was to deploy more nuclear energy. “They just believe we are not going to hit our climate goals without nuclear energy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said French officials plan to reconstruct nuclear plants at the end of their useful life and that the next phase of French nuclear technology lies in small modular reactors, as opposed to larger facilities like California’s Diablo Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon is the state’s last working nuclear power plant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-02/cec-determines-diablo-canyon-power-plant-needed-support-grid-reliability#:~:text=Located%20in%20San%20Luis%20Obispo,9%20percent%20of%20total%20electricity.\">supplying 9% of the state’s total electricity\u003c/a>. It’s located on the coast of San Luis Obispo County, partway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The power plant was slated to close in 2025, but Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would need the electricity the plant produces to prevent blackouts as the state transitions to renewable energy sources. State lawmakers approved a $1.4 billion loan to the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, to keep the plant open until 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is seeking permission from the federal government to keep the plant operating for up to 20 additional years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, environmentalists have sued, so far unsuccessfully, to force the power plants’ immediate closure. Opponents of the plant say Diablo Canyon is a safety and security risk for those living nearby should there be an accident and caution that the plant produces a lot of radioactive waste, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/diablo-canyon-power-plant/diablo-canyon-power-plant/decommissioning-used-fuel.page#:~:text=Used%20fuel%20storage&text=After%20nuclear%20fuel%20is%20used,in%20a%20dry%20storage%20format.\">which is currently stored on-site\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are potential benefits to the smaller reactors touted by French officials, such as lower upfront costs, greater scalability and more flexibility in where to put them. Some are small enough to fit into a backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These small reactors are not without drawbacks, according to Edwin Lyman, who heads the nuclear power safety program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said the energy they create is more expensive than that produced by a large reactor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union doesn’t take a position on nuclear power programs, “but we do think that it has to meet very high standards of safety and security in order to be a viable technology,” Lyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nuclear may have a role in the climate transition, but you can’t ignore the safety, security, cost and waste problems that it brings to the table,” Lyman said, and “the fact that it is a more dangerous source of energy than renewables.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small reactors, like large ones, also produce highly radioactive nuclear waste, which makes their construction a nonstarter in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PRC§ionNum=25524.2.\">1976 state law\u003c/a> bars the construction of new nuclear power plants in the state if there is no way to dispose of the resulting high-level nuclear waste, which there is not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was true in the 1970s, and it’s still true in the U.S. today. There is no solution,” Lyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said he’d like “to look at getting that policy changed, to allow our agencies to at least be able to explore, discuss, investigate and hold hearings and have our state agencies make those determinations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said that California should be open to having conversations about new nuclear ideas, including considering smaller reactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are we going to do in the future to reduce 40% of the energy that we have online now, which is natural gas?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said he understands people are concerned about nuclear safety and that they should be. At the same time, “We’re not talking about a weapons-grade type of nuclear. We are talking about nuclear for a clean energy future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To address climate change, Dodd said California needs a “toolbox that includes everything” if the state is going to reduce emissions based on its ambitious climate change targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Sponsored trips are not without controversy\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dodd was one of 10 state legislators on the trip, paid for by the San Francisco-based nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfee.net/about\" rel=\"noopener\">the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy\u003c/a>. The trip also included people representing the California state government, labor unions, environmental groups, and oil and gas companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government transparency groups criticize these kinds of trips, arguing that the travel is unofficial lobbying. They disagree with lawmakers taking free trips during which industry and business groups have exclusive access to them. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/05/california-legislature-trips-bills/\">Legislation has resulted from this type of travel in the past.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Senator Dodd said that was not what the travel was about. “This trip was a great opportunity for lawmakers to learn about important innovations and government policies that could help California,” Dodd said. “There is a real value in looking beyond our borders for best practices, which is why I went, and I certainly didn’t get lobbied on this trip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People attending the trips come from various sectors, including representatives from environmental groups and the oil and gas industry. Dodd said it’s important for lawmakers to talk with stakeholders, even those in the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are people out there that do not want oil companies, anybody having to deal with the internal combustion engine cars or anything to be involved in our clean energy future. I think that might be short-sighted,” Dodd said. “I think that we should use their engineering prowess and their money to help get us to where we need to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Finding ways to communicate, finding ways to work together towards our energy future is going to be more productive than continuing to fight.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) and a delegation of other California leaders are shaking off jet lag after returning from a privately funded trip to France, where they swapped ideas on addressing the climate crisis with French officials and industry leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said California could draw lessons from France’s high-speed rail system and the interest its leaders are showing in nuclear energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A legacy of high-speed rail\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Delegates zipped from city to city on high-speed rail and visited train manufacturers, some of whom touted hydrogen fuel-cell-powered trains as the future of clean transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65687665\">France banned\u003c/a> domestic short-haul flights if the same trip can be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours. The goal is to cut the substantial carbon emissions from air travel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the tour of France on its train system reinforced one of Dodd’s goals: finishing California’s high-speed train from Los Angeles through the Central Valley and on to San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still a zealot for finishing high-speed rail in California,” Dodd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have 40 million people in this state,” Dodd said. “We’re not going to be able to environmentally site any more international airports. This is something that I think is important for us to do in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1985115\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1985115 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in blue jackets stand in a church.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/11/Bill-Dodd-and-Scott-Wilk-in-France-2023.jpg 1512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California State Sens. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) and Bill Dodd (D-Napa) at Hospices de Beaune, in Beaune, France. The hospital was built to serve the poor in 1443.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Nuclear in the toolbox\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dodd was also intrigued by how eager the French government was to deploy more nuclear energy. “They just believe we are not going to hit our climate goals without nuclear energy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said French officials plan to reconstruct nuclear plants at the end of their useful life and that the next phase of French nuclear technology lies in small modular reactors, as opposed to larger facilities like California’s Diablo Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon is the state’s last working nuclear power plant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2023-02/cec-determines-diablo-canyon-power-plant-needed-support-grid-reliability#:~:text=Located%20in%20San%20Luis%20Obispo,9%20percent%20of%20total%20electricity.\">supplying 9% of the state’s total electricity\u003c/a>. It’s located on the coast of San Luis Obispo County, partway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The power plant was slated to close in 2025, but Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would need the electricity the plant produces to prevent blackouts as the state transitions to renewable energy sources. State lawmakers approved a $1.4 billion loan to the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, to keep the plant open until 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is seeking permission from the federal government to keep the plant operating for up to 20 additional years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, environmentalists have sued, so far unsuccessfully, to force the power plants’ immediate closure. Opponents of the plant say Diablo Canyon is a safety and security risk for those living nearby should there be an accident and caution that the plant produces a lot of radioactive waste, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/diablo-canyon-power-plant/diablo-canyon-power-plant/decommissioning-used-fuel.page#:~:text=Used%20fuel%20storage&text=After%20nuclear%20fuel%20is%20used,in%20a%20dry%20storage%20format.\">which is currently stored on-site\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are potential benefits to the smaller reactors touted by French officials, such as lower upfront costs, greater scalability and more flexibility in where to put them. Some are small enough to fit into a backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These small reactors are not without drawbacks, according to Edwin Lyman, who heads the nuclear power safety program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said the energy they create is more expensive than that produced by a large reactor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union doesn’t take a position on nuclear power programs, “but we do think that it has to meet very high standards of safety and security in order to be a viable technology,” Lyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nuclear may have a role in the climate transition, but you can’t ignore the safety, security, cost and waste problems that it brings to the table,” Lyman said, and “the fact that it is a more dangerous source of energy than renewables.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small reactors, like large ones, also produce highly radioactive nuclear waste, which makes their construction a nonstarter in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PRC§ionNum=25524.2.\">1976 state law\u003c/a> bars the construction of new nuclear power plants in the state if there is no way to dispose of the resulting high-level nuclear waste, which there is not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was true in the 1970s, and it’s still true in the U.S. today. There is no solution,” Lyman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said he’d like “to look at getting that policy changed, to allow our agencies to at least be able to explore, discuss, investigate and hold hearings and have our state agencies make those determinations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said that California should be open to having conversations about new nuclear ideas, including considering smaller reactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are we going to do in the future to reduce 40% of the energy that we have online now, which is natural gas?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd said he understands people are concerned about nuclear safety and that they should be. At the same time, “We’re not talking about a weapons-grade type of nuclear. We are talking about nuclear for a clean energy future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To address climate change, Dodd said California needs a “toolbox that includes everything” if the state is going to reduce emissions based on its ambitious climate change targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Sponsored trips are not without controversy\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Dodd was one of 10 state legislators on the trip, paid for by the San Francisco-based nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://www.cfee.net/about\" rel=\"noopener\">the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy\u003c/a>. The trip also included people representing the California state government, labor unions, environmental groups, and oil and gas companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government transparency groups criticize these kinds of trips, arguing that the travel is unofficial lobbying. They disagree with lawmakers taking free trips during which industry and business groups have exclusive access to them. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/05/california-legislature-trips-bills/\">Legislation has resulted from this type of travel in the past.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Senator Dodd said that was not what the travel was about. “This trip was a great opportunity for lawmakers to learn about important innovations and government policies that could help California,” Dodd said. “There is a real value in looking beyond our borders for best practices, which is why I went, and I certainly didn’t get lobbied on this trip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People attending the trips come from various sectors, including representatives from environmental groups and the oil and gas industry. Dodd said it’s important for lawmakers to talk with stakeholders, even those in the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are people out there that do not want oil companies, anybody having to deal with the internal combustion engine cars or anything to be involved in our clean energy future. I think that might be short-sighted,” Dodd said. “I think that we should use their engineering prowess and their money to help get us to where we need to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"perspectives": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"source": "Possible"
},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
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