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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to drastically limit the power of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate planet-warming emissions\u003c/a> upsets environmentalists, but experts say it doesn’t necessarily pose a threat to California’s ability to maintain its own stringent greenhouse gas reduction rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 6-3 vote in the West Virginia v. EPA decision marks a significant change in how the federal EPA can exercise power to address climate change, making it clear that without approval from Congress, the agency is limited in how it can set national standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bigger question now is how the ruling could affect the control all federal agencies have in imposing regulations and how states like California — which have historically taken a stronger approach to tackling climate change — could be affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Air Resources Board, which oversees the state’s efforts to reduce air pollution, told CalMatters the agency agrees that the state’s policies and regulatory agencies now play an even more critical role in the fight against climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several experts say the ruling would not hinder the state’s efforts. Still, California’s efforts alone can’t solve a global problem, said attorney Sean Donahue, whose firm, Donahue, Goldberg & Littleton, wrote a brief in the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has its own state laws that are regulating carbon dioxide emissions, so in that respect, it matters less to California directly,” Donahue said. “However, we’re all affected by climate change. California is doing a lot to try to reduce its own emissions, but we won’t have a safe climate unless everybody pitches in, and the federal government’s efforts are really important there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s authority to independently set stronger tailpipe emissions standards than those of the federal government was granted half a century ago, when Congress passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/evolution-clean-air-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Clean Air Act in 1970\u003c/a>. The law included special conditions for California to help the state address its severe smog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some experts worry that Thursday’s ruling could lead federal agencies to take a more cautious and less effective approach to addressing major threats to public health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The opinion takes away one of the EPA’s tools to address climate change going forward,” said UCLA law professor Blake Emerson. “But the broader significance is that it’s going to provide a precedent for both the Supreme Court itself and the lower courts to strike down federal regulations, both with regards to the environment and with regards to market regulation and public health and safety if those courts think that the agency has taken a really major policy position.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Climate Change Coverage' tag='climate-change']Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, agreed, adding that “regulations that affect significant swaths of the economy that are not explicitly authorized by Congress with very specific and clear statutory language, are especially vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several state leaders on Thursday maintained that California would continue to lead the nation in setting its own rules to reduce emissions, affirming that the ruling would not impede the state’s efforts to combat climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s ruling makes it even more imperative that California and other states succeed in our efforts to combat the climate crisis,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “California will remain the tentpole for this movement with record investments and aggressive policies to reduce pollution, to protect people from extreme weather, and to leave our children and grandchildren a world that’s better off than we found it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Supreme Court’s decision “misguided and gravely disappointing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are running out of time in the fight against climate change, and we need all levels of government working together to take action before it’s too late,” he said in a statement.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>“In California, we have strong programs in place to address climate change, and we will not go backwards. With the future of our planet at stake, our commitment to tackling the climate crisis cannot waver.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, agreed, adding that “regulations that affect significant swaths of the economy that are not explicitly authorized by Congress with very specific and clear statutory language, are especially vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several state leaders on Thursday maintained that California would continue to lead the nation in setting its own rules to reduce emissions, affirming that the ruling would not impede the state’s efforts to combat climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s ruling makes it even more imperative that California and other states succeed in our efforts to combat the climate crisis,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “California will remain the tentpole for this movement with record investments and aggressive policies to reduce pollution, to protect people from extreme weather, and to leave our children and grandchildren a world that’s better off than we found it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Supreme Court’s decision “misguided and gravely disappointing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are running out of time in the fight against climate change, and we need all levels of government working together to take action before it’s too late,” he said in a statement.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>“In California, we have strong programs in place to address climate change, and we will not go backwards. With the future of our planet at stake, our commitment to tackling the climate crisis cannot waver.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Richard A. Wilson is worried about wildfires this summer, amid dry conditions, extreme temperatures, punishing winds and the amplification of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are very vulnerable,” the 90-year-old said while looking out the window of his house on Buck Mountain, part of a 3,000-acre cattle ranch spanning Mendocino and Trinity counties that has been in his family for 80 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson estimates about 70% of his land — the whole northern end, including grassland, and pine and Douglas fir timberland — has burned in recent years. It was hit by the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and the 2020 August Complex Fire, both among the largest fires in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scale of the fires covered the country in a way we hadn’t seen, in size or intensity,” Wilson recalled.[pullquote align='right' citation='Richard Wilson, former head of Cal Fire']‘Their business [now] is putting fires out. The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires in California have burned nearly 7 million acres in the last two years alone. It is not only the size of the fires but also the destruction that’s breathtaking. In just the 2021 fire season, the Dixie Fire destroyed the town of Greenville and the Caldor Fire devastated the foothills community of Grizzly Flats. Both were the first fires in modern state history to burn across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Wilson fears, will be dangerous, as well: “We are headed into a tenuous time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson is not just any worried landowner: He’s the former head of Cal Fire, the state department responsible for fighting wildfires and managing forestland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Cal Fire is broadly recognized as a leader in firefighting, Wilson says it is also partly to blame for the looming danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he led the department in the 1990s, he claims it viewed caring for forest health as a primary mission. Foresters are trained to see wooded areas as living ecosystems, and know how to make them more fire-resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years after his tenure, he says the culture changed. Firefighting, not forestry, became the route to advancement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it’s now a fire department. A very good fire department. But it’s not a forestry department,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cal Fire is at an inflection point: trying to return to a greater emphasis on fire mitigation and forest health, while still working to protect communities from historic and deadly wildfires. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature lavished the department with record amounts of money for prescribed burns, brush clearing and cutting fuel breaks. But money alone does not solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has publicly signaled a commitment to rebalancing its priorities. But a monthslong investigation by The California Newsroom, a public media collaboration, found that the department continues to fumble key responsibilities related to forest management and wildfire mitigation, potentially leaving the state at greater risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state set aside a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. However, Cal Fire’s forest management hiring remains stagnant, while its firefighting staffing has ballooned.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire is struggling to track wildfire prevention projects that experts say are desperately needed to protect communities from destructive wildfires. The department still can’t determine how many acres of work it completed and funded through grants in the fiscal year ending in June 2021.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire has taken years to implement laws passed by the state Legislature. A program, required under state law to bolster the prescribed-burn workforce, suffered nearly a year of delay. So far, only two burn bosses have been certified, slowing the pace of protective projects. Experts say this delay has caused a loss of opportunities to enact community-protecting work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least four years, Cal Fire has failed to send its annual report to the Legislature detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts. The report, required by law, is an inventory of Cal Fire’s efforts and helps lawmakers understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has increased its output during the past five years. It completed fire prevention work — directly or through grants — on 105,000 acres in the fiscal year that ended in June 2020. The department could not provide a more current total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tasked\u003c/a> Cal Fire, along with partners that control state and private land, with performing 500,000 acres of forest management and fire mitigation work every year by 2025. But progress toward that goal has been slow, in part because a key state program \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/04/12/newsom-hailed-this-critical-wildfire-prevention-program-two-years-on-it-hasnt-completed-a-single-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed to increase project completions\u003c/a>. [pullquote align='right' citation='Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler']‘Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Cal Fire’s Joe Tyler, who was appointed chief in March, said the department is making progress on improving forest health and protecting communities in advance of catastrophic fires by “investing in community preparedness and mitigation” and “continuing to do those fuels projects across the board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to this year’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/p24fmjyg/cwpm-news-release_2022.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division\u003c/a>, which aims to “develop, prioritize and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tyler said the longer, more extreme wildfire seasons — coupled with the pandemic — have left the department’s workforce “fatigued.” That has affected Cal Fire’s administrative, forest management and fire suppression capabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also acknowledged the need to change Cal Fire’s culture so it focuses more on prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire practitioners like Margo Robbins, executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, argue this change at Cal Fire is long overdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they have forgotten that forestry is part of their responsibility, quite frankly,” said Robbins, whose expertise is in setting intentional fires that benefit the landscape and can protect communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She noted that Cal Fire is “moving in the right direction” by boosting investment in fire mitigation and fuel reduction. And the department has helped accommodate cultural prescribed burning led by Native American communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “they have a ways to go,” Robbins added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they would focus more on that management piece, I think we would be seeing a very different scenario on our landscapes and a very different scenario in terms of wildfires,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rebranding the department, changing the culture\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979580\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979580\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in orange and yellow uniforms stand in front of a burning hillside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-800x604.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1020x770.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters from the State of California and the Orange County Fire Authority on a controlled burn in Crystal Cove State Park, June 27, 1998. \u003ccite>(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back when Wilson ran Cal Fire in the 1990s, it was known by its official name: the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He says during those years he made sure foresters — who are trained in managing forest health — had a lot of say. He feels their voice has disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo lineup of Cal Fire’s past executive roster\u003c/a> , Wilson is the last chief wearing a suit and tie. All subsequent chiefs are wearing uniforms with badges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their business [now] is putting fires out,” Wilson said. “The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new chief, Tyler, is a 30-year veteran of the department who previously oversaw aspects of Cal Fire’s firefighting and emergency response. He said he witnessed the culture change, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I recall far ago in my career, in the ’90s, where fuels treatment, fuels reduction, vegetation management was an extremely high priority of the department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979575\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1020x818.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-160x128.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-768x616.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1536x1232.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM.png 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photoline up of Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive roster\u003c/a> from 1990 to the present. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But then, with the onset of larger and more damaging fires, the department’s focus increasingly shifted to suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name “Cal Fire” embodies this tension. In 2006, the Legislature passed a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200520060AB1423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">law\u003c/a> allowing The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to rebrand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the bill — including the department’s firefighters union — argued the change was “\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22015888-ab-1423-assembly-bill-bill-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">necessary to reflect [the department’s] primary role as a fire-fighting agency.\u003c/a> ” But the department itself had opposed the legislation, worried that the new moniker would obscure its forest management mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tensions are once again at the fore as California faces a new wildfire reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Record investment, few new fire-prevention hires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Last year, Newsom and lawmakers allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest management, with the bulk of it going to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a record amount. As of April, about half of the $1.5 billion had been “committed” to specific projects and initiatives, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program/2022-04-29-Wildfire-Resilience-Budget-Report.pdf\">according\u003c/a> to a recent report from the Natural Resources Agency, which oversees Cal Fire. The state has up to seven years to spend the bulk of the investment; some money may have to be spent sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says the committed money is going to good use. “We’ve launched over 550 new projects with that funding,” said Jessica Morse, deputy secretary for forest and wildland resilience with the Natural Resources Agency. “Which is pretty fast — for bureaucracy, from appropriation — within less than a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of these projects are specific wildfire prevention and forest health efforts, according to a chart on the agency’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a>. For example, the Tuolumne County Resource Conservation District is planning a 641-acre fuel break to protect the communities of Groveland and Big Oak Flat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of projects don’t turn dirt or remove dangerous brush. Some fund studies of mitigation techniques and vegetation types. Another pays a consulting firm half-a-million dollars to develop a communications strategy for the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of other projects are related to climate change resilience, but have no immediate connection to wildfires. For example, a $600,000 allocation will help the city of Glendale, in Los Angeles County, plant 500 trees within the most “tree-poor area of the City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of that money would go to distributing pamphlets to urban property owners on “the benefits of trees and tree care,” the project description reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979578\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979578 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png\" alt=\"Chart showing rising costs of responding to wildfires.\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-1020x690.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State spending on firefighting has more than tripled since 2005, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Legislative Analyst’s Office\u003c/a>. Despite recent increases, spending on resource management and fire prevention is still a small fraction of the total. \u003ccite>(LAO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In spite of last year’s investment, the bulk of Cal Fire’s overall spending remains focused on fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last three fiscal years, Cal Fire allocated nearly $8 billion for “fire protection,” according to figures provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO. That money is used “to attack fires quickly and aggressively … until the fire is under control,” according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/3000/3540.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the department’s budget\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those three years, the department allocated about $1.5 billion for “resource management,” which according to the department’s budget is for the “regulation of timber harvesting,” “coordination of climate and forest restoration” and “vegetation management projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing and new hires also heavily favor fire suppression. In the last three years, “fire protection” positions jumped from 7,076 to 8,187, according to figures provided by the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials noted that some positions in the department’s “fire protection” division focus on fire prevention work. About 3% of the division’s staff are described as “fire prevention” positions, according to Department of Finance figures.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that same time period, Cal Fire’s “resource management” division increased by 31 positions to a total of 518 — despite the massive investment in forest health and wildfire mitigation last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Note: Every department’s budget includes staffing figures, but the Department of Finance cautioned that some of the numbers for Cal Fire in recent years needed to be updated. The Department of Finance provided updated, accurate figures in response to a request from The California Newsroom.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts acknowledge the need to ramp up fire suppression forces in the face of extreme wildfires. But they argue there needs to be a complementary increase in resource management hiring to prevent catastrophic wildfires in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robbins, with the Cultural Fire Management Council, called the hiring disparity “startling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking at these numbers,” she said, “it is very obvious to me that they’re not putting as much focus as they should be on prevention as opposed to reactionary suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Mason, vice president of policy and incentives with Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group focused on sustainable forests, said the need for more resource management staffing is “substantial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire needs dozens, if not hundreds, of additional people working on the resource management side of the organization,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that Cal Fire can’t achieve forest sustainability alone, and should build up its workforce alongside other agencies focused on water resources, climate resilience and biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge, according to Morse with the Natural Resources Agency, is that last year’s historic investment in wildfire resilience is mostly one-time spending, meaning the agency cannot count on it in future budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s not permanent funding, it’s hard to get permanent positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the money can be spent for up to seven years, Morse said. Some might have to be spent sooner. That would put a time limit on any positions created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Robbins and Mason are pushing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacificforest.org/wildfire-resiliency-group-budget-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least $1 billion in annual\u003c/a> for the next five years — totaling a minimum of $5 billion — for wildfire resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979582 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A firefighter in a yellow uniform drips flame from a torch onto a pile of brush. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews conduct a prescribed burn as part of its vegetation management program in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Struggling to track progress\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>An overarching initiative driving the state’s fire prevention efforts is an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreement\u003c/a> Newsom forged with the federal government in the summer of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the plan, California and the U.S. Forest Service each committed to completing 500,000 acres of forest management work annually in the state by 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after signing the agreement, Newsom held a press conference in Butte County amid ruins of the North Complex Fire. Peering through the smoky air and clad in a vintage-style military jacket, he called the plan “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXga8CM_uuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a significant milestone, a significant step forward\u003c/a> .”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In 2018, in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5.10.18-Forest-EO.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive order\u003c/a>, former Gov. Jerry Brown set an annual 500,000-acre goal for California agencies, with a deadline of 2023, but Newsom’s agreement with the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/29/gov-gavin-newsom-retreats-on-1-billion-wildfire-prevention-plan-ahead-of-meeting-with-president-biden/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pushed \u003c/a>the target back two years.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measuring progress toward this goal is murky at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom requested data on the number of fire prevention acres Cal Fire itself completed, or funded through grants, in recent years. The department provided a chart showing a steady increase in total acreage, reaching over 105,000 acres in the fiscal year ending in June 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is still figuring out the total number it completed and funded through grants between July 2020 and June 2021. And the department did not provide any data on the current fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve its 500,000-acre goal, the state will count wildfire prevention work performed by Cal Fire, its grantees and private landowners, which can include large properties such as logging companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, Cal Fire does not have a way to track work completed by many private landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It highlights something pretty basic, which is we need an accounting system that works,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He notes that tabulating total fire mitigation acres is a limited method of measuring risk reduction. He and other experts advocate for a system that takes into consideration factors like proximity to vulnerable communities and topography. But quantifying total acres of completed work is a basic step toward a more sophisticated assessment system, according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is aiming to develop an online dashboard to track progress on forest management and fire prevention work. The goal is to show “the public where these projects are occurring” by putting “all this data at their fingertips,” said Daniel Berlant, deputy director of the department’s newly created Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has come under \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/\">criticism in the past for overstating the state’s wildfire prevention accomplishments,\u003c/a> first uncovered in an investigation by The California Newsroom last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has teased the new system — an upgrade of its existing, inconsistent \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fegis.fire.ca.gov%2Farcgis%2Frest%2Fservices%2FCalMapper%2FCalMAPPER_Public%2FMapServer&source=sd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CalMAPPER\u003c/a> database — since last summer. But it hasn’t committed to a release date. At a meeting of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force last month, director Patrick Wright said it would offer “an initial flavor” of the dashboard in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional challenge stands in the way of measuring progress toward the 1 million acre goal. While the target seems straightforward, Cal Fire and the federal government haven’t arrived at an agreed-upon definition of what counts as an “acre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are differing perspectives over which types of fuel reduction should be eligible. For example, if an area has to be hand-thinned prior to a prescribed burn, should that area be tallied twice? Is salvage-logging, the process of removing damaged trees after a fire, eligible? What if the federal and state governments work together on the same project — could they both count it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire says it has internal definitions of how to measure and count acres of forest management work. But an agreed-upon definition with the Forest Service remains elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials told The California Newsroom that the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is taking the lead on crafting this definition. The task force is made up of representatives from the state and federal governments, tribal leaders and other groups that do forest health projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure that we’re talking apples to apples,” Berlant said. When pressed, he and other senior officials did not provide a timeline for when that definition would be finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979583 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a helmet tosses a dead branch down a dry, yellow hill. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews cleared brush to create a fuel break in San Diego County. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A ‘messy, confusing process’ to certify ‘burn bosses’ and expand prescribed fire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s prescribed fire guidebook says setting controlled, beneficial fire “is a key tool for the Department and its cooperators to use in reducing fuels at a landscape scale while improving ecosystem health in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the workforce needed to meaningfully scale up prescribed fire, and protect forests and communities, is still largely lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually “burn bosses” — those qualified to plan and lead controlled burns — need to work for many years for fire suppression agencies, such as Cal Fire or the U.S. Forest Service, to get enough experience for certification. But being so busy fighting fires for much of the year, they struggle to get many burns done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, burns remain a key strategy, and the state’s goal has been to increase the workforce. To that end, the Legislature passed a bill in 2018 meant to increase the number of people trained to run burns. The law created a state-led training and certification program called State-Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss, or CA-RX. It signaled a shift in direction — and a hope that burn bosses who do not work for government agencies in suppression, but may work for nonprofits, will have more freedom to conduct burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it took four years — until mid-April 2022 — for the first burn boss to be certified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails obtained through a Public Records Act request make it clear that some Cal Fire unit chiefs, whose signoff was required to advance the certification process, did not fully support the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays in issuing and signing paperwork prevented the certification of trainees for the better part of a year. For example, course participants were not issued training checklists known as “task books,” which are used to evaluate their abilities. And trainees suggest these delays may have come at a cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply concerned that I have still not been issued a task book to finalize my CARX certification,” wrote trainee Will Harling, director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, in an early January 2022 email to Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division. “This sense of urgency is shared by myself and others who have seen first-hand towns nearly wiped off the map in the time we have been waiting for this CARX certification process to be finalized, and have the skills and knowledge to safely implement prescribed burns that can help save homes and protect resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harling wasn’t the only one to write in frustration to the division. In response to a December 2021 email from another trainee, Battalion Chief Mark Bisbee within Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division acknowledged the program’s problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess the best way to characterize this entire process is messy, confusing,” Bisbee wrote. “The next step is in flux because […] not all Unit Chiefs are on board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bisbee acknowledged in his email that the certification program “has been a very long, drawn out process,” but said he would continue to advocate for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview in April, Bisbee said the slow start was partially due to only a few people being authorized to teach the program, but also to “bottlenecks within the bureaucracy.” While he said he saw progress within the department of accepting prescribed fire — which can be a hard adjustment for those trained only to put out fire — the paradigm shift was like a huge ship moving sideways: slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the push from lawmakers to take a new direction: “Whether Cal Fire is ready or not, the legislation is saying this is what we need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a legislative oversight hearing last December, Lenya Quinn-Davidson — a fire adviser with the University of California who helped write the legislation and the curriculum and who hosted the first course — told lawmakers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve missed a ton of opportunities for project implementation. There is a huge need for qualified burn bosses to plan and implement projects and to partner with the state and to partner with landowners. But without the state certification and the protections that it can provide, many of those folks are not willing to go out and do that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quinn-Davidson wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/california-burn-boss-program-new-path-forward-or-dead-end-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post \u003c/a>in mid-January about the delays in the certification process. Soon after it published, Cal Fire issued task books to almost all participants, according to a blog update. Will Harling confirmed receiving his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see this work happen more quickly,” Quinn-Davidson told The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Reischman, Cal Fire’s deputy director of resource management, said he believes the program will prove a success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a new course for us, so there’s a lot of changes and things that we had to do to get it up and running,” he said. “It’s a process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Missing reports and safety inspections\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In some instances, The California Newsroom discovered, Cal Fire is altogether neglecting oversight requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For over a decade, the Legislature has mandated that the department file an annual report detailing its fire prevention activities for the previous year, and its plans for improving prevention efforts moving forward. The report is an inventory of the department’s accomplishments, and lawmakers rely on it to understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an exhaustive search by the State Library, carried out at The California Newsroom’s request, found that the department has not filed this report in at least four years. The library’s most recent copy covers fiscal year 2014-15. The state’s website for \u003ca href=\"https://agencyreports.ca.gov/rep13922308081004\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agency reports\u003c/a> indicates the department may have filed a report for 2017, but the library does not have a copy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last two state budgets, the Legislature also required Cal Fire to file reports on grants awarded to local governments and nonprofits for fire prevention, including the number of applications received and grants awarded. The reports were due in February of this year, according to the state’s website for agency reports. A search by the State Library turned up no copies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire did not provide copies of the reports in response to an email request. In an interview, Berlant said “the reports are in the works,” adding the department took its responsibilities seriously but had been delayed by the pandemic and that “fighting fire in the middle of December, January, February — that becomes a bit of our priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief Tyler said the department is actively working on completing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I myself learned about those reports to the Legislature that are due, I put a task in my own calendar to start checking up on those to ensure that those are getting submitted timely,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some legislation lays out clear mandates for Cal Fire, other bills establish goals for the department to meet. For example, a law passed in 2019 set a goal for Cal Fire to inspect homes within its responsibility area once every three years. These inspections are designed to educate homeowners about dangers with vegetation near the home and structural vulnerabilities to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is struggling to hit its inspection targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 report\u003c/a> from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, “CalFire was not able to provide data on how many unique properties were inspected each year or how many properties had not been inspected within the past three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the LAO concluded, “[I]t is unclear what share of properties have received recent inspections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department provided some information, and indicated some local Cal Fire units inspected 10% or fewer of their parcels each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said the department is working to hit its goals and plans to hire more defensible space inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be working to not only increase those [inspection] numbers, but to make sure that those numbers are being reported to the public to see exactly where that work is being done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moritz, the wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension, said the inspections are essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clearly if Cal Fire was able to follow through and inspect 100% of the parcels that need it,” said Moritz, “presumably those inspections would lead to a great benefit, a great reduction in risk for both the firefighters and for the homeowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire also is supposed to update fire hazard severity maps every five years, but they were last updated in 2007. The agency told CapRadio in December that \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/12/20/after-years-of-delays-calfire-says-updated-and-expanded-wildfire-hazard-maps-are-on-their-way/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the new ones would be released in the next few months\u003c/a> — at that time, ostensibly February or March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Cal Fire staff now says the new maps likely will roll out in the summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps are “a really important tool that we have for smarter building and design of our communities, because the building codes are attached to those maps,” according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delaying the map updates, Moritz said, could lead to places still being identified at a lower hazard level than they should be. “You could have building going on that would not be at the building codes that are necessary for the hazard in that location,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department’s modeling has struggled to keep pace with the conditions feeding California’s extreme wildfires. Berlant says the department is now using science that “tracks extreme wind events at a much smaller scale, so that we can better mirror conditions that we’ve been experiencing in these last couple of fire seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cal Fire’s chief responds\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom presented Chief Tyler with its findings, and he expounded on ways he plans to change the culture and structure of Cal Fire. He also reiterated his belief that Cal Fire can — and under his leadership will — balance its firefighting and forestry responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979588\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979588\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue uniform stands at a podium in front of a bulldozer. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler speaks in Santa Rosa for Wildfire Preparedness Week, May 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For example, experts and practitioners in the world of fire resilience have told The California Newsroom they feel an inability to publicly criticize or offer scrutiny of Cal Fire for fear of damaging their relationship with the department, being cut out of grants or not getting their permits signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler acknowledged this fear is a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That disappoints me,” he said. “I have heard that in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his short time as chief, Tyler said he has been working to create an environment that welcomes open communication and collaboration. He said in his first weeks as the head of Cal Fire, he spent about six days a week soliciting input from stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse, with the state’s Natural Resources Agency, added that Cal Fire’s participation in the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force brought the department to the table with representatives from nongovernment organizations, tribes and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s open to some changes, Tyler stopped short of advocating for radical overhauls to the department’s structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire uses a top-down organizational structure called the “incident command system.” This organizational model is often used by public agencies to manage emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler believes this structure is effective for fighting fires — and planning to prevent them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire is a very paramilitary organization,” the chief said. “You can use that system for applying anything to this organization, whether that be fuels reduction, vegetation management, prescribed fire or full suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also pushed back on \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handing over fire prevention responsibilities\u003c/a> , such as prescribed burns and other mitigation efforts, to a cabinet-level position appointed by the governor — a proposal floated by one lawmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not believe that there is a need to split this department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized his expectation that, when firefighters “are not actively suppressing fires and going to emergencies, they are doing defensible space inspections, they are doing fuels reduction [and] they are investing in prescribed fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is important that these employees are doing the entire mission of the department,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The California Newsroom is a collaboration of public radio stations, NPR and CalMatters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Richard A. Wilson is worried about wildfires this summer, amid dry conditions, extreme temperatures, punishing winds and the amplification of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are very vulnerable,” the 90-year-old said while looking out the window of his house on Buck Mountain, part of a 3,000-acre cattle ranch spanning Mendocino and Trinity counties that has been in his family for 80 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson estimates about 70% of his land — the whole northern end, including grassland, and pine and Douglas fir timberland — has burned in recent years. It was hit by the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and the 2020 August Complex Fire, both among the largest fires in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scale of the fires covered the country in a way we hadn’t seen, in size or intensity,” Wilson recalled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Their business [now] is putting fires out. The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires in California have burned nearly 7 million acres in the last two years alone. It is not only the size of the fires but also the destruction that’s breathtaking. In just the 2021 fire season, the Dixie Fire destroyed the town of Greenville and the Caldor Fire devastated the foothills community of Grizzly Flats. Both were the first fires in modern state history to burn across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Wilson fears, will be dangerous, as well: “We are headed into a tenuous time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson is not just any worried landowner: He’s the former head of Cal Fire, the state department responsible for fighting wildfires and managing forestland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Cal Fire is broadly recognized as a leader in firefighting, Wilson says it is also partly to blame for the looming danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he led the department in the 1990s, he claims it viewed caring for forest health as a primary mission. Foresters are trained to see wooded areas as living ecosystems, and know how to make them more fire-resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years after his tenure, he says the culture changed. Firefighting, not forestry, became the route to advancement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it’s now a fire department. A very good fire department. But it’s not a forestry department,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cal Fire is at an inflection point: trying to return to a greater emphasis on fire mitigation and forest health, while still working to protect communities from historic and deadly wildfires. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature lavished the department with record amounts of money for prescribed burns, brush clearing and cutting fuel breaks. But money alone does not solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has publicly signaled a commitment to rebalancing its priorities. But a monthslong investigation by The California Newsroom, a public media collaboration, found that the department continues to fumble key responsibilities related to forest management and wildfire mitigation, potentially leaving the state at greater risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state set aside a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. However, Cal Fire’s forest management hiring remains stagnant, while its firefighting staffing has ballooned.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire is struggling to track wildfire prevention projects that experts say are desperately needed to protect communities from destructive wildfires. The department still can’t determine how many acres of work it completed and funded through grants in the fiscal year ending in June 2021.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire has taken years to implement laws passed by the state Legislature. A program, required under state law to bolster the prescribed-burn workforce, suffered nearly a year of delay. So far, only two burn bosses have been certified, slowing the pace of protective projects. Experts say this delay has caused a loss of opportunities to enact community-protecting work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least four years, Cal Fire has failed to send its annual report to the Legislature detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts. The report, required by law, is an inventory of Cal Fire’s efforts and helps lawmakers understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has increased its output during the past five years. It completed fire prevention work — directly or through grants — on 105,000 acres in the fiscal year that ended in June 2020. The department could not provide a more current total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tasked\u003c/a> Cal Fire, along with partners that control state and private land, with performing 500,000 acres of forest management and fire mitigation work every year by 2025. But progress toward that goal has been slow, in part because a key state program \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/04/12/newsom-hailed-this-critical-wildfire-prevention-program-two-years-on-it-hasnt-completed-a-single-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed to increase project completions\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Cal Fire’s Joe Tyler, who was appointed chief in March, said the department is making progress on improving forest health and protecting communities in advance of catastrophic fires by “investing in community preparedness and mitigation” and “continuing to do those fuels projects across the board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to this year’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/p24fmjyg/cwpm-news-release_2022.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division\u003c/a>, which aims to “develop, prioritize and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tyler said the longer, more extreme wildfire seasons — coupled with the pandemic — have left the department’s workforce “fatigued.” That has affected Cal Fire’s administrative, forest management and fire suppression capabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also acknowledged the need to change Cal Fire’s culture so it focuses more on prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire practitioners like Margo Robbins, executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, argue this change at Cal Fire is long overdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they have forgotten that forestry is part of their responsibility, quite frankly,” said Robbins, whose expertise is in setting intentional fires that benefit the landscape and can protect communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She noted that Cal Fire is “moving in the right direction” by boosting investment in fire mitigation and fuel reduction. And the department has helped accommodate cultural prescribed burning led by Native American communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “they have a ways to go,” Robbins added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they would focus more on that management piece, I think we would be seeing a very different scenario on our landscapes and a very different scenario in terms of wildfires,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rebranding the department, changing the culture\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979580\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979580\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in orange and yellow uniforms stand in front of a burning hillside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-800x604.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1020x770.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters from the State of California and the Orange County Fire Authority on a controlled burn in Crystal Cove State Park, June 27, 1998. \u003ccite>(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back when Wilson ran Cal Fire in the 1990s, it was known by its official name: the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He says during those years he made sure foresters — who are trained in managing forest health — had a lot of say. He feels their voice has disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo lineup of Cal Fire’s past executive roster\u003c/a> , Wilson is the last chief wearing a suit and tie. All subsequent chiefs are wearing uniforms with badges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their business [now] is putting fires out,” Wilson said. “The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new chief, Tyler, is a 30-year veteran of the department who previously oversaw aspects of Cal Fire’s firefighting and emergency response. He said he witnessed the culture change, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I recall far ago in my career, in the ’90s, where fuels treatment, fuels reduction, vegetation management was an extremely high priority of the department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979575\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1020x818.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-160x128.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-768x616.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1536x1232.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM.png 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photoline up of Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive roster\u003c/a> from 1990 to the present. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But then, with the onset of larger and more damaging fires, the department’s focus increasingly shifted to suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name “Cal Fire” embodies this tension. In 2006, the Legislature passed a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200520060AB1423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">law\u003c/a> allowing The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to rebrand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the bill — including the department’s firefighters union — argued the change was “\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22015888-ab-1423-assembly-bill-bill-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">necessary to reflect [the department’s] primary role as a fire-fighting agency.\u003c/a> ” But the department itself had opposed the legislation, worried that the new moniker would obscure its forest management mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tensions are once again at the fore as California faces a new wildfire reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Record investment, few new fire-prevention hires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Last year, Newsom and lawmakers allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest management, with the bulk of it going to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a record amount. As of April, about half of the $1.5 billion had been “committed” to specific projects and initiatives, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program/2022-04-29-Wildfire-Resilience-Budget-Report.pdf\">according\u003c/a> to a recent report from the Natural Resources Agency, which oversees Cal Fire. The state has up to seven years to spend the bulk of the investment; some money may have to be spent sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says the committed money is going to good use. “We’ve launched over 550 new projects with that funding,” said Jessica Morse, deputy secretary for forest and wildland resilience with the Natural Resources Agency. “Which is pretty fast — for bureaucracy, from appropriation — within less than a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of these projects are specific wildfire prevention and forest health efforts, according to a chart on the agency’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a>. For example, the Tuolumne County Resource Conservation District is planning a 641-acre fuel break to protect the communities of Groveland and Big Oak Flat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of projects don’t turn dirt or remove dangerous brush. Some fund studies of mitigation techniques and vegetation types. Another pays a consulting firm half-a-million dollars to develop a communications strategy for the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of other projects are related to climate change resilience, but have no immediate connection to wildfires. For example, a $600,000 allocation will help the city of Glendale, in Los Angeles County, plant 500 trees within the most “tree-poor area of the City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of that money would go to distributing pamphlets to urban property owners on “the benefits of trees and tree care,” the project description reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979578\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979578 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png\" alt=\"Chart showing rising costs of responding to wildfires.\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-1020x690.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State spending on firefighting has more than tripled since 2005, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Legislative Analyst’s Office\u003c/a>. Despite recent increases, spending on resource management and fire prevention is still a small fraction of the total. \u003ccite>(LAO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In spite of last year’s investment, the bulk of Cal Fire’s overall spending remains focused on fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last three fiscal years, Cal Fire allocated nearly $8 billion for “fire protection,” according to figures provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO. That money is used “to attack fires quickly and aggressively … until the fire is under control,” according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/3000/3540.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the department’s budget\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those three years, the department allocated about $1.5 billion for “resource management,” which according to the department’s budget is for the “regulation of timber harvesting,” “coordination of climate and forest restoration” and “vegetation management projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing and new hires also heavily favor fire suppression. In the last three years, “fire protection” positions jumped from 7,076 to 8,187, according to figures provided by the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials noted that some positions in the department’s “fire protection” division focus on fire prevention work. About 3% of the division’s staff are described as “fire prevention” positions, according to Department of Finance figures.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that same time period, Cal Fire’s “resource management” division increased by 31 positions to a total of 518 — despite the massive investment in forest health and wildfire mitigation last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Note: Every department’s budget includes staffing figures, but the Department of Finance cautioned that some of the numbers for Cal Fire in recent years needed to be updated. The Department of Finance provided updated, accurate figures in response to a request from The California Newsroom.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts acknowledge the need to ramp up fire suppression forces in the face of extreme wildfires. But they argue there needs to be a complementary increase in resource management hiring to prevent catastrophic wildfires in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robbins, with the Cultural Fire Management Council, called the hiring disparity “startling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking at these numbers,” she said, “it is very obvious to me that they’re not putting as much focus as they should be on prevention as opposed to reactionary suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Mason, vice president of policy and incentives with Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group focused on sustainable forests, said the need for more resource management staffing is “substantial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire needs dozens, if not hundreds, of additional people working on the resource management side of the organization,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that Cal Fire can’t achieve forest sustainability alone, and should build up its workforce alongside other agencies focused on water resources, climate resilience and biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge, according to Morse with the Natural Resources Agency, is that last year’s historic investment in wildfire resilience is mostly one-time spending, meaning the agency cannot count on it in future budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s not permanent funding, it’s hard to get permanent positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the money can be spent for up to seven years, Morse said. Some might have to be spent sooner. That would put a time limit on any positions created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Robbins and Mason are pushing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacificforest.org/wildfire-resiliency-group-budget-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least $1 billion in annual\u003c/a> for the next five years — totaling a minimum of $5 billion — for wildfire resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979582 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A firefighter in a yellow uniform drips flame from a torch onto a pile of brush. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews conduct a prescribed burn as part of its vegetation management program in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Struggling to track progress\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>An overarching initiative driving the state’s fire prevention efforts is an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreement\u003c/a> Newsom forged with the federal government in the summer of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the plan, California and the U.S. Forest Service each committed to completing 500,000 acres of forest management work annually in the state by 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after signing the agreement, Newsom held a press conference in Butte County amid ruins of the North Complex Fire. Peering through the smoky air and clad in a vintage-style military jacket, he called the plan “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXga8CM_uuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a significant milestone, a significant step forward\u003c/a> .”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In 2018, in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5.10.18-Forest-EO.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive order\u003c/a>, former Gov. Jerry Brown set an annual 500,000-acre goal for California agencies, with a deadline of 2023, but Newsom’s agreement with the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/29/gov-gavin-newsom-retreats-on-1-billion-wildfire-prevention-plan-ahead-of-meeting-with-president-biden/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pushed \u003c/a>the target back two years.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measuring progress toward this goal is murky at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom requested data on the number of fire prevention acres Cal Fire itself completed, or funded through grants, in recent years. The department provided a chart showing a steady increase in total acreage, reaching over 105,000 acres in the fiscal year ending in June 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is still figuring out the total number it completed and funded through grants between July 2020 and June 2021. And the department did not provide any data on the current fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve its 500,000-acre goal, the state will count wildfire prevention work performed by Cal Fire, its grantees and private landowners, which can include large properties such as logging companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, Cal Fire does not have a way to track work completed by many private landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It highlights something pretty basic, which is we need an accounting system that works,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He notes that tabulating total fire mitigation acres is a limited method of measuring risk reduction. He and other experts advocate for a system that takes into consideration factors like proximity to vulnerable communities and topography. But quantifying total acres of completed work is a basic step toward a more sophisticated assessment system, according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is aiming to develop an online dashboard to track progress on forest management and fire prevention work. The goal is to show “the public where these projects are occurring” by putting “all this data at their fingertips,” said Daniel Berlant, deputy director of the department’s newly created Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has come under \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/\">criticism in the past for overstating the state’s wildfire prevention accomplishments,\u003c/a> first uncovered in an investigation by The California Newsroom last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has teased the new system — an upgrade of its existing, inconsistent \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fegis.fire.ca.gov%2Farcgis%2Frest%2Fservices%2FCalMapper%2FCalMAPPER_Public%2FMapServer&source=sd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CalMAPPER\u003c/a> database — since last summer. But it hasn’t committed to a release date. At a meeting of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force last month, director Patrick Wright said it would offer “an initial flavor” of the dashboard in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional challenge stands in the way of measuring progress toward the 1 million acre goal. While the target seems straightforward, Cal Fire and the federal government haven’t arrived at an agreed-upon definition of what counts as an “acre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are differing perspectives over which types of fuel reduction should be eligible. For example, if an area has to be hand-thinned prior to a prescribed burn, should that area be tallied twice? Is salvage-logging, the process of removing damaged trees after a fire, eligible? What if the federal and state governments work together on the same project — could they both count it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire says it has internal definitions of how to measure and count acres of forest management work. But an agreed-upon definition with the Forest Service remains elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials told The California Newsroom that the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is taking the lead on crafting this definition. The task force is made up of representatives from the state and federal governments, tribal leaders and other groups that do forest health projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure that we’re talking apples to apples,” Berlant said. When pressed, he and other senior officials did not provide a timeline for when that definition would be finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979583 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a helmet tosses a dead branch down a dry, yellow hill. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews cleared brush to create a fuel break in San Diego County. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A ‘messy, confusing process’ to certify ‘burn bosses’ and expand prescribed fire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s prescribed fire guidebook says setting controlled, beneficial fire “is a key tool for the Department and its cooperators to use in reducing fuels at a landscape scale while improving ecosystem health in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the workforce needed to meaningfully scale up prescribed fire, and protect forests and communities, is still largely lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually “burn bosses” — those qualified to plan and lead controlled burns — need to work for many years for fire suppression agencies, such as Cal Fire or the U.S. Forest Service, to get enough experience for certification. But being so busy fighting fires for much of the year, they struggle to get many burns done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, burns remain a key strategy, and the state’s goal has been to increase the workforce. To that end, the Legislature passed a bill in 2018 meant to increase the number of people trained to run burns. The law created a state-led training and certification program called State-Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss, or CA-RX. It signaled a shift in direction — and a hope that burn bosses who do not work for government agencies in suppression, but may work for nonprofits, will have more freedom to conduct burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it took four years — until mid-April 2022 — for the first burn boss to be certified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails obtained through a Public Records Act request make it clear that some Cal Fire unit chiefs, whose signoff was required to advance the certification process, did not fully support the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays in issuing and signing paperwork prevented the certification of trainees for the better part of a year. For example, course participants were not issued training checklists known as “task books,” which are used to evaluate their abilities. And trainees suggest these delays may have come at a cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply concerned that I have still not been issued a task book to finalize my CARX certification,” wrote trainee Will Harling, director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, in an early January 2022 email to Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division. “This sense of urgency is shared by myself and others who have seen first-hand towns nearly wiped off the map in the time we have been waiting for this CARX certification process to be finalized, and have the skills and knowledge to safely implement prescribed burns that can help save homes and protect resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harling wasn’t the only one to write in frustration to the division. In response to a December 2021 email from another trainee, Battalion Chief Mark Bisbee within Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division acknowledged the program’s problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess the best way to characterize this entire process is messy, confusing,” Bisbee wrote. “The next step is in flux because […] not all Unit Chiefs are on board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bisbee acknowledged in his email that the certification program “has been a very long, drawn out process,” but said he would continue to advocate for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview in April, Bisbee said the slow start was partially due to only a few people being authorized to teach the program, but also to “bottlenecks within the bureaucracy.” While he said he saw progress within the department of accepting prescribed fire — which can be a hard adjustment for those trained only to put out fire — the paradigm shift was like a huge ship moving sideways: slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the push from lawmakers to take a new direction: “Whether Cal Fire is ready or not, the legislation is saying this is what we need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a legislative oversight hearing last December, Lenya Quinn-Davidson — a fire adviser with the University of California who helped write the legislation and the curriculum and who hosted the first course — told lawmakers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve missed a ton of opportunities for project implementation. There is a huge need for qualified burn bosses to plan and implement projects and to partner with the state and to partner with landowners. But without the state certification and the protections that it can provide, many of those folks are not willing to go out and do that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quinn-Davidson wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/california-burn-boss-program-new-path-forward-or-dead-end-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post \u003c/a>in mid-January about the delays in the certification process. Soon after it published, Cal Fire issued task books to almost all participants, according to a blog update. Will Harling confirmed receiving his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see this work happen more quickly,” Quinn-Davidson told The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Reischman, Cal Fire’s deputy director of resource management, said he believes the program will prove a success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a new course for us, so there’s a lot of changes and things that we had to do to get it up and running,” he said. “It’s a process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Missing reports and safety inspections\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In some instances, The California Newsroom discovered, Cal Fire is altogether neglecting oversight requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For over a decade, the Legislature has mandated that the department file an annual report detailing its fire prevention activities for the previous year, and its plans for improving prevention efforts moving forward. The report is an inventory of the department’s accomplishments, and lawmakers rely on it to understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an exhaustive search by the State Library, carried out at The California Newsroom’s request, found that the department has not filed this report in at least four years. The library’s most recent copy covers fiscal year 2014-15. The state’s website for \u003ca href=\"https://agencyreports.ca.gov/rep13922308081004\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agency reports\u003c/a> indicates the department may have filed a report for 2017, but the library does not have a copy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last two state budgets, the Legislature also required Cal Fire to file reports on grants awarded to local governments and nonprofits for fire prevention, including the number of applications received and grants awarded. The reports were due in February of this year, according to the state’s website for agency reports. A search by the State Library turned up no copies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire did not provide copies of the reports in response to an email request. In an interview, Berlant said “the reports are in the works,” adding the department took its responsibilities seriously but had been delayed by the pandemic and that “fighting fire in the middle of December, January, February — that becomes a bit of our priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief Tyler said the department is actively working on completing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I myself learned about those reports to the Legislature that are due, I put a task in my own calendar to start checking up on those to ensure that those are getting submitted timely,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some legislation lays out clear mandates for Cal Fire, other bills establish goals for the department to meet. For example, a law passed in 2019 set a goal for Cal Fire to inspect homes within its responsibility area once every three years. These inspections are designed to educate homeowners about dangers with vegetation near the home and structural vulnerabilities to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is struggling to hit its inspection targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 report\u003c/a> from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, “CalFire was not able to provide data on how many unique properties were inspected each year or how many properties had not been inspected within the past three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the LAO concluded, “[I]t is unclear what share of properties have received recent inspections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department provided some information, and indicated some local Cal Fire units inspected 10% or fewer of their parcels each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said the department is working to hit its goals and plans to hire more defensible space inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be working to not only increase those [inspection] numbers, but to make sure that those numbers are being reported to the public to see exactly where that work is being done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moritz, the wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension, said the inspections are essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clearly if Cal Fire was able to follow through and inspect 100% of the parcels that need it,” said Moritz, “presumably those inspections would lead to a great benefit, a great reduction in risk for both the firefighters and for the homeowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire also is supposed to update fire hazard severity maps every five years, but they were last updated in 2007. The agency told CapRadio in December that \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/12/20/after-years-of-delays-calfire-says-updated-and-expanded-wildfire-hazard-maps-are-on-their-way/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the new ones would be released in the next few months\u003c/a> — at that time, ostensibly February or March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Cal Fire staff now says the new maps likely will roll out in the summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps are “a really important tool that we have for smarter building and design of our communities, because the building codes are attached to those maps,” according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delaying the map updates, Moritz said, could lead to places still being identified at a lower hazard level than they should be. “You could have building going on that would not be at the building codes that are necessary for the hazard in that location,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department’s modeling has struggled to keep pace with the conditions feeding California’s extreme wildfires. Berlant says the department is now using science that “tracks extreme wind events at a much smaller scale, so that we can better mirror conditions that we’ve been experiencing in these last couple of fire seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cal Fire’s chief responds\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom presented Chief Tyler with its findings, and he expounded on ways he plans to change the culture and structure of Cal Fire. He also reiterated his belief that Cal Fire can — and under his leadership will — balance its firefighting and forestry responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979588\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979588\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue uniform stands at a podium in front of a bulldozer. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler speaks in Santa Rosa for Wildfire Preparedness Week, May 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For example, experts and practitioners in the world of fire resilience have told The California Newsroom they feel an inability to publicly criticize or offer scrutiny of Cal Fire for fear of damaging their relationship with the department, being cut out of grants or not getting their permits signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler acknowledged this fear is a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That disappoints me,” he said. “I have heard that in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his short time as chief, Tyler said he has been working to create an environment that welcomes open communication and collaboration. He said in his first weeks as the head of Cal Fire, he spent about six days a week soliciting input from stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse, with the state’s Natural Resources Agency, added that Cal Fire’s participation in the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force brought the department to the table with representatives from nongovernment organizations, tribes and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s open to some changes, Tyler stopped short of advocating for radical overhauls to the department’s structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire uses a top-down organizational structure called the “incident command system.” This organizational model is often used by public agencies to manage emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler believes this structure is effective for fighting fires — and planning to prevent them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire is a very paramilitary organization,” the chief said. “You can use that system for applying anything to this organization, whether that be fuels reduction, vegetation management, prescribed fire or full suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also pushed back on \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handing over fire prevention responsibilities\u003c/a> , such as prescribed burns and other mitigation efforts, to a cabinet-level position appointed by the governor — a proposal floated by one lawmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not believe that there is a need to split this department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized his expectation that, when firefighters “are not actively suppressing fires and going to emergencies, they are doing defensible space inspections, they are doing fuels reduction [and] they are investing in prescribed fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is important that these employees are doing the entire mission of the department,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The California Newsroom is a collaboration of public radio stations, NPR and CalMatters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Slick Business: Texas Oil Company Wants to Use California Clean Energy Credits to Extract More Oil",
"headTitle": "Slick Business: Texas Oil Company Wants to Use California Clean Energy Credits to Extract More Oil | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Occidental Petroleum is seeking to sell credits in California’s transportation carbon market to help finance the construction of what would be the world’s largest industrial carbon dioxide removal plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The operation would effectively invert what Occidental has done for a century, by taking carbon out of the air and sending it underground, even if on a relatively small scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a twist. Occidental has said it plans to use some or most of the carbon dioxide it captures from the Texas plant to squeeze more petroleum out of the ground, by pumping it into aging oil fields. As a result, the California carbon market, which is meant to help lower the climate emissions of transportation in the state, could supply tens of millions of dollars to help extract more oil, thereby contributing more emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='right' citation='Danny Cullenward, CarbonPlan']‘There’s a holy war brewing in climate politics over these kinds of technologies and whether or not they’re a tool of the oil industry.’[/pullquote]Occidental’s plans raise one of environmental advocates’ biggest concerns about carbon removal technologies: that they will be used by oil companies to delay the far more urgent task of rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels. By allowing companies to sell credits for captured carbon dioxide used to produce oil, some advocates warn, California’s program is poised to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, Chief Executive Vicki Hollub has said Occidental will expand oil production, rather than curtail it, using captured CO2 to produce what the company is audaciously branding as “net-zero oil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People familiar with Occidental’s plans say that accessing California’s transportation market is critical to financing the “direct air capture” plant, which the company has said would cost up to $1 billion and would initially pull half-a-million metric tons of the greenhouse gas out of the air every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occidental says it will break ground this year in West Texas, near Odessa. If the project is completed as planned, it would mark a quantum leap for a technology that some scientists and advocates say could play an important role in meeting climate targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressed by a raft of climate disasters, regional and national governments across the globe are rushing to support carbon removal technologies. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed last year included $3.5 billion to build direct air capture “hubs.” Meanwhile, New York and Washington, the European Union and others have enacted or are considering a range of possible incentives, from clean-fuel policies like California’s to government procurement programs for carbon dioxide removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some environmental advocates say that many of the policies that are emerging, including California’s clean fuels market and a federal carbon capture tax credit, have been shaped by oil companies to their own advantage, diluting the climate benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a holy war brewing in climate politics over these kinds of technologies and whether or not they’re a tool of the oil industry,” said Danny Cullenward, the policy director at CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that analyzes the integrity of carbon removal efforts. Cullenward said incentives like California’s are beginning to shape a new field, “and I don’t think it’s an accident that we’re seeing deployment aligned with industry priorities. Deployment is not aligning around pure climate objectives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Getting to ‘net zero’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The case for carbon removal emerged from the uncertain math of climate models. When climate scientists have tried to model pathways that limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, nearly all of them have required some degree of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many of the models require billions of tons of carbon removal per year by mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When accounting for sectors like agriculture and long-haul shipping, scientists and governments simply haven’t figured out how to get all the way to zero emissions fast enough. That leaves carbon removal to provide the “net” in “net zero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few if any scientists or experts think direct air capture technology alone can achieve that scale. Natural carbon removal like reforestation will need to play a large role, and there are a suite of other techniques, like converting waste biomass into charcoal that can be mixed into the soil or tinkering with seawater to enhance its absorption of CO2. But all these approaches have their limits, risks and drawbacks, and increasingly, many people say direct air capture should be part of the mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1979076 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png\" alt=\"Graphic titled "How An Oil Company Plans to Pull Carbon from the Air." It's a cartoon overhead view of the plant Occidental proposes building, with arrows and text bubble indicating what the various buildings, silos, etc., do, and how everything is connected.\" width=\"750\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px-160x149.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the largest existing direct air capture plant, built by the Swiss start-up Climeworks, which has not partnered with oil companies, removes only 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Even if Occidental can realize its direct air capture ambitions to eventually remove 1 million tons annually at its Texas plant, the benefit would be minuscule on a planetary scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Energy Agency has said direct air capture capacity must reach roughly 85 million tons by 2030, a feat that would still represent less than three-tenths of 1% of current global energy-related emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope, or prayer, is that capacity could rise sharply in the following two decades. By 2050, the Biden administration’s long-term strategy for reaching net-zero emissions is counting on direct air capture and other carbon removal technologies to make up nearly 10% of all emissions cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is whether the technology can be pursued in such a way that it doesn’t distract or detract from the urgent task of phasing out fossil fuels. And many advocates warn there’s little hope of achieving that goal if the emerging direct air capture industry is built by oil companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Seeking access to California’s market \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s low-carbon fuel standard, or LCFS, aims to lower the state’s transportation emissions by setting a statewide benchmark for the carbon intensity of its fuels. In order to sell gasoline or diesel, which fall above that mark, a refiner must buy credits, which companies generate by selling low-carbon fuels like biodiesel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2018, oil refineries and biofuels plants also have been allowed to install carbon capture equipment to effectively lower the carbon intensity of their fuels. Direct air capture plants do not need to sell any fuel at all — they can simply generate and sell credits by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. They cannot, however, sell the oil they extract with the CO2 they capture as a low-carbon fuel. Any of these operations can be located outside California, but refiners or biofuels plants must sell their fuel in the state to access its carbon market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of the credits fluctuates, but at the beginning of this year they averaged about $170 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, making the market extremely attractive for carbon capture and removal operations looking to cover their costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Zeller, vice president of technology at Occidental’s low-carbon business, said in an interview last month that his company was working with regulators in California to gain access to the LCFS market for the Texas direct air capture plant. He did not elaborate on whether the company plans to sell credits for captured CO2 that is used for oil production, as opposed to pure storage. Occidental declined to answer questions for this article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the LCFS rules are clear: Companies are free to sell credits for carbon removal from the atmosphere, even if the carbon is used to extract more oil, and they are not required to account for the emissions that come from burning that oil when determining how many carbon credits they can sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many environmental advocates say that system undermines the state’s larger climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving a carbon capture project the same number of credits whether or not it helps produce additional oil makes no sense as a climate mitigation or a carbon removal policy,” said Cullenward, the policy director at CarbonPlan, in an email. “It only makes sense as a carbon capture technology subsidy that actively privileges oil and gas production over climate-safe applications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s equal treatment of carbon dioxide used for so-called “enhanced oil recovery” and that which is just stored is particularly problematic, Cullenward said, because each credit sold in the state represents an additional volume of gasoline or diesel that is burned in its cars and trucks. In other words, the removal comes instead of phasing out some amount of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Martin, director of fuels policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he thinks the state should “adjust” how it treats enhanced oil recovery. Like many environmental advocates who support carbon removal technologies, Martin said their promise is in helping address emissions from certain sectors, like aviation and heavy industry, that are extremely difficult or expensive to reduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I think it’s also really important not to lose sight of the fact that using these technologies to maximize emissions reduction as we’re transitioning off of petroleum, that’s what makes sense to us, that’s what our analysis supports,” Martin said. “It does not support using these technologies as an alternative to ramping down petroleum.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee for California’s Air Resources Board, which administers the LCFS, submitted draft comments recommending that enhanced oil recovery projects be barred from the system, warning that allowing them increases emissions and extends the life of “highly polluting facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Duffy, a staffer at the board’s LCFS program, said in an interview that his agency had developed robust regulations to ensure that carbon dioxide storage is safe and well monitored, even when it is injected in oil fields, but that any emissions that come from the oil produced are “not part of the accounting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Occidental’s grand ambition \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the CERAWeek energy conference last month in Houston, a couple of dozen men and women hailing mostly from the financial and energy sectors watched as Occidental unveiled a holographic animation of its direct air capture plant. The presentation showed a rectangular perimeter of giant fans sucking in vast volumes of virtual air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has licensed technology from Carbon Engineering, a Canadian direct air capture start-up, that passes air over a mineral-laced liquid, which draws out the carbon. The display showed how this carbonated mineral would then be sent through a series of pipes and towers, which would mix it with another mineral before processing and heating it to eventually produce a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979112\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979112\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-800x596.png\" alt=\"An rendering of a plant to capture carbon from the air shows a long brown building running across the foreground, with large round fans inset along the roof of the building. The ground is brown and the sky is pale blue with puffy clouds.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-800x596.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-1020x760.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-768x572.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage.png 1062w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of a planned direct air capture plant in Texas that would initially pull 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the air annually. Occidental Petroleum, which is planning to build the plant, would use some or most of the carbon dioxide it captures to pump more oil out of depleted reservoirs. \u003ccite>(Carbon Engineering)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plant would be powered with a combination of renewable energy, generated specifically for its operation, and natural gas. Carbon Engineering’s designs include equipment to capture the emissions from burning the natural gas as part of the plant’s operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That morning, Hollub, Occidental’s CEO, told a ballroom full of people at the annual energy industry conference that “initially, this was solely a business focus for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s oil fields in the Permian Basin, beneath Texas and New Mexico, still hold about 2 billion barrels of oil, she said, but in order to pump the oil to the surface, Occidental must inject carbon dioxide into the reservoir to increase its pressure. That carbon dioxide had generally been mined from naturally occurring underground pools, but about a dozen years ago, Hollub said, they realized those pools were drying up. “There wasn’t sufficient CO2 to help us develop all of those reserves,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps carbon capture offered a solution, she recalled. Technologies to extract carbon dioxide from exhaust plumes had been used by industry for decades, and more recently, some scientists and companies had begun experimenting with ways to pull the gas straight from the air. Even when it is injected in oil fields, the vast majority of the carbon dioxide can be locked away underground, if it is monitored properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For both approaches, the chief obstacle to scaling the technology is not technical but financial, so Occidental set about trying to help tip the scales, and in 2018, two key pieces fell into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Washington, Congress passed an expansion of a federal tax credit for carbon capture and storage, which Hollub said her company worked on with then-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat and the bill’s sponsor. And in California, state regulators began allowing carbon capture and direct air capture plants to begin accessing its low-carbon fuels market, even if they were located outside the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both changes drew lobbying and support from Occidental and other oil companies. And because carbon capture or direct air capture projects can combine, or “stack,” the two credits, a new market emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To underscore the importance of the 2018 federal tax credit to his business, Zeller, the vice president at Occidental’s low-carbon business, told a CERAWeek panel, “That’s the reason I’m here today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a call with investors late last month, Hollub and other executives said the company would build 70 direct air capture plants by 2035. But central to this plan is a strategy to produce what Occidental calls “net-zero oil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, nearly all of the carbon dioxide injected for enhanced oil recovery can remain underground if it is monitored properly, and experts say it is possible to store more carbon dioxide than is emitted by the oil that’s produced. Compared to a conventional barrel of oil, the life-cycle emissions are substantially lower, and Hollub has made a spirited case for the environmental benefits of oil pumped with captured CO2, saying it is better than drilling new fields with new infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a March interview, Zeller said the company’s position has evolved, from focusing almost purely on producing oil to being open to other uses for the carbon dioxide. If a customer is willing to pay a premium to inject carbon dioxide for pure storage, he said, “sure, OK, we’ll do that.” If companies want to buy CO2 to make synthetic fuel, he said, “sure, no problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Zeller made it clear that Occidental’s plans haven’t strayed from oil, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to be listening to the market, and people aren’t ready for net-zero oil, really, they’re not,” he said, adding, “They will be, because it is going to be a high-value, low-cost answer, and people just need to get past the emotions of it, and they will. They have to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last three weeks, Occidental has announced a flurry of activity around its direct air capture plans. Airbus, the European airplane manufacturer, said it would buy credits to remove 100,000 metric tons per year for four years from the Texas plant, coming on top of investments by United Airlines, Shopify and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One week later, Occidental announced a deal with a South Korean refiner to buy up to 200,000 barrels of oil squeezed out of the ground with CO2 captured by the Texas plant. In a press release, the companies boasted of a milestone in emissions reduction efforts, an “affordable, scalable” way to work toward their own climate goals, by buying and selling net-zero oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pVpuCW682XuzAGmkurLDvW?domain=insideclimatenews.org\">\u003cem>InsideClimate News\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/bJVSCXDM32FBx0oJiEwEOr?domain=insideclimatenews.org\">Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>here.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The oil company plans on removing carbon from the atmosphere and pumping it into the ground to extract more oil in the Permian Basin. Climate activists fear the fossil fuel industry will use this new technology as a cover for continuing to sell oil.",
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"description": "The oil company plans on removing carbon from the atmosphere and pumping it into the ground to extract more oil in the Permian Basin. Climate activists fear the fossil fuel industry will use this new technology as a cover for continuing to sell oil.",
"title": "Slick Business: Texas Oil Company Wants to Use California Clean Energy Credits to Extract More Oil | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Occidental Petroleum is seeking to sell credits in California’s transportation carbon market to help finance the construction of what would be the world’s largest industrial carbon dioxide removal plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The operation would effectively invert what Occidental has done for a century, by taking carbon out of the air and sending it underground, even if on a relatively small scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s a twist. Occidental has said it plans to use some or most of the carbon dioxide it captures from the Texas plant to squeeze more petroleum out of the ground, by pumping it into aging oil fields. As a result, the California carbon market, which is meant to help lower the climate emissions of transportation in the state, could supply tens of millions of dollars to help extract more oil, thereby contributing more emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘There’s a holy war brewing in climate politics over these kinds of technologies and whether or not they’re a tool of the oil industry.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Occidental’s plans raise one of environmental advocates’ biggest concerns about carbon removal technologies: that they will be used by oil companies to delay the far more urgent task of rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels. By allowing companies to sell credits for captured carbon dioxide used to produce oil, some advocates warn, California’s program is poised to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, Chief Executive Vicki Hollub has said Occidental will expand oil production, rather than curtail it, using captured CO2 to produce what the company is audaciously branding as “net-zero oil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People familiar with Occidental’s plans say that accessing California’s transportation market is critical to financing the “direct air capture” plant, which the company has said would cost up to $1 billion and would initially pull half-a-million metric tons of the greenhouse gas out of the air every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occidental says it will break ground this year in West Texas, near Odessa. If the project is completed as planned, it would mark a quantum leap for a technology that some scientists and advocates say could play an important role in meeting climate targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressed by a raft of climate disasters, regional and national governments across the globe are rushing to support carbon removal technologies. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed last year included $3.5 billion to build direct air capture “hubs.” Meanwhile, New York and Washington, the European Union and others have enacted or are considering a range of possible incentives, from clean-fuel policies like California’s to government procurement programs for carbon dioxide removal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some environmental advocates say that many of the policies that are emerging, including California’s clean fuels market and a federal carbon capture tax credit, have been shaped by oil companies to their own advantage, diluting the climate benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a holy war brewing in climate politics over these kinds of technologies and whether or not they’re a tool of the oil industry,” said Danny Cullenward, the policy director at CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that analyzes the integrity of carbon removal efforts. Cullenward said incentives like California’s are beginning to shape a new field, “and I don’t think it’s an accident that we’re seeing deployment aligned with industry priorities. Deployment is not aligning around pure climate objectives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Getting to ‘net zero’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The case for carbon removal emerged from the uncertain math of climate models. When climate scientists have tried to model pathways that limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, nearly all of them have required some degree of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many of the models require billions of tons of carbon removal per year by mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When accounting for sectors like agriculture and long-haul shipping, scientists and governments simply haven’t figured out how to get all the way to zero emissions fast enough. That leaves carbon removal to provide the “net” in “net zero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few if any scientists or experts think direct air capture technology alone can achieve that scale. Natural carbon removal like reforestation will need to play a large role, and there are a suite of other techniques, like converting waste biomass into charcoal that can be mixed into the soil or tinkering with seawater to enhance its absorption of CO2. But all these approaches have their limits, risks and drawbacks, and increasingly, many people say direct air capture should be part of the mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1979076 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png\" alt=\"Graphic titled "How An Oil Company Plans to Pull Carbon from the Air." It's a cartoon overhead view of the plant Occidental proposes building, with arrows and text bubble indicating what the various buildings, silos, etc., do, and how everything is connected.\" width=\"750\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px.png 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage750px-160x149.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the largest existing direct air capture plant, built by the Swiss start-up Climeworks, which has not partnered with oil companies, removes only 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Even if Occidental can realize its direct air capture ambitions to eventually remove 1 million tons annually at its Texas plant, the benefit would be minuscule on a planetary scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The International Energy Agency has said direct air capture capacity must reach roughly 85 million tons by 2030, a feat that would still represent less than three-tenths of 1% of current global energy-related emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope, or prayer, is that capacity could rise sharply in the following two decades. By 2050, the Biden administration’s long-term strategy for reaching net-zero emissions is counting on direct air capture and other carbon removal technologies to make up nearly 10% of all emissions cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question now is whether the technology can be pursued in such a way that it doesn’t distract or detract from the urgent task of phasing out fossil fuels. And many advocates warn there’s little hope of achieving that goal if the emerging direct air capture industry is built by oil companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Seeking access to California’s market \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s low-carbon fuel standard, or LCFS, aims to lower the state’s transportation emissions by setting a statewide benchmark for the carbon intensity of its fuels. In order to sell gasoline or diesel, which fall above that mark, a refiner must buy credits, which companies generate by selling low-carbon fuels like biodiesel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2018, oil refineries and biofuels plants also have been allowed to install carbon capture equipment to effectively lower the carbon intensity of their fuels. Direct air capture plants do not need to sell any fuel at all — they can simply generate and sell credits by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. They cannot, however, sell the oil they extract with the CO2 they capture as a low-carbon fuel. Any of these operations can be located outside California, but refiners or biofuels plants must sell their fuel in the state to access its carbon market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of the credits fluctuates, but at the beginning of this year they averaged about $170 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, making the market extremely attractive for carbon capture and removal operations looking to cover their costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Zeller, vice president of technology at Occidental’s low-carbon business, said in an interview last month that his company was working with regulators in California to gain access to the LCFS market for the Texas direct air capture plant. He did not elaborate on whether the company plans to sell credits for captured CO2 that is used for oil production, as opposed to pure storage. Occidental declined to answer questions for this article.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the LCFS rules are clear: Companies are free to sell credits for carbon removal from the atmosphere, even if the carbon is used to extract more oil, and they are not required to account for the emissions that come from burning that oil when determining how many carbon credits they can sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many environmental advocates say that system undermines the state’s larger climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving a carbon capture project the same number of credits whether or not it helps produce additional oil makes no sense as a climate mitigation or a carbon removal policy,” said Cullenward, the policy director at CarbonPlan, in an email. “It only makes sense as a carbon capture technology subsidy that actively privileges oil and gas production over climate-safe applications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s equal treatment of carbon dioxide used for so-called “enhanced oil recovery” and that which is just stored is particularly problematic, Cullenward said, because each credit sold in the state represents an additional volume of gasoline or diesel that is burned in its cars and trucks. In other words, the removal comes instead of phasing out some amount of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeremy Martin, director of fuels policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he thinks the state should “adjust” how it treats enhanced oil recovery. Like many environmental advocates who support carbon removal technologies, Martin said their promise is in helping address emissions from certain sectors, like aviation and heavy industry, that are extremely difficult or expensive to reduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I think it’s also really important not to lose sight of the fact that using these technologies to maximize emissions reduction as we’re transitioning off of petroleum, that’s what makes sense to us, that’s what our analysis supports,” Martin said. “It does not support using these technologies as an alternative to ramping down petroleum.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee for California’s Air Resources Board, which administers the LCFS, submitted draft comments recommending that enhanced oil recovery projects be barred from the system, warning that allowing them increases emissions and extends the life of “highly polluting facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Duffy, a staffer at the board’s LCFS program, said in an interview that his agency had developed robust regulations to ensure that carbon dioxide storage is safe and well monitored, even when it is injected in oil fields, but that any emissions that come from the oil produced are “not part of the accounting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Occidental’s grand ambition \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the CERAWeek energy conference last month in Houston, a couple of dozen men and women hailing mostly from the financial and energy sectors watched as Occidental unveiled a holographic animation of its direct air capture plant. The presentation showed a rectangular perimeter of giant fans sucking in vast volumes of virtual air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has licensed technology from Carbon Engineering, a Canadian direct air capture start-up, that passes air over a mineral-laced liquid, which draws out the carbon. The display showed how this carbonated mineral would then be sent through a series of pipes and towers, which would mix it with another mineral before processing and heating it to eventually produce a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979112\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979112\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-800x596.png\" alt=\"An rendering of a plant to capture carbon from the air shows a long brown building running across the foreground, with large round fans inset along the roof of the building. The ground is brown and the sky is pale blue with puffy clouds.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-800x596.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-1020x760.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-160x119.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage-768x572.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/DirectAirCaptureStorage.png 1062w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of a planned direct air capture plant in Texas that would initially pull 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the air annually. Occidental Petroleum, which is planning to build the plant, would use some or most of the carbon dioxide it captures to pump more oil out of depleted reservoirs. \u003ccite>(Carbon Engineering)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The plant would be powered with a combination of renewable energy, generated specifically for its operation, and natural gas. Carbon Engineering’s designs include equipment to capture the emissions from burning the natural gas as part of the plant’s operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That morning, Hollub, Occidental’s CEO, told a ballroom full of people at the annual energy industry conference that “initially, this was solely a business focus for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s oil fields in the Permian Basin, beneath Texas and New Mexico, still hold about 2 billion barrels of oil, she said, but in order to pump the oil to the surface, Occidental must inject carbon dioxide into the reservoir to increase its pressure. That carbon dioxide had generally been mined from naturally occurring underground pools, but about a dozen years ago, Hollub said, they realized those pools were drying up. “There wasn’t sufficient CO2 to help us develop all of those reserves,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps carbon capture offered a solution, she recalled. Technologies to extract carbon dioxide from exhaust plumes had been used by industry for decades, and more recently, some scientists and companies had begun experimenting with ways to pull the gas straight from the air. Even when it is injected in oil fields, the vast majority of the carbon dioxide can be locked away underground, if it is monitored properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For both approaches, the chief obstacle to scaling the technology is not technical but financial, so Occidental set about trying to help tip the scales, and in 2018, two key pieces fell into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Washington, Congress passed an expansion of a federal tax credit for carbon capture and storage, which Hollub said her company worked on with then-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat and the bill’s sponsor. And in California, state regulators began allowing carbon capture and direct air capture plants to begin accessing its low-carbon fuels market, even if they were located outside the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both changes drew lobbying and support from Occidental and other oil companies. And because carbon capture or direct air capture projects can combine, or “stack,” the two credits, a new market emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To underscore the importance of the 2018 federal tax credit to his business, Zeller, the vice president at Occidental’s low-carbon business, told a CERAWeek panel, “That’s the reason I’m here today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a call with investors late last month, Hollub and other executives said the company would build 70 direct air capture plants by 2035. But central to this plan is a strategy to produce what Occidental calls “net-zero oil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, nearly all of the carbon dioxide injected for enhanced oil recovery can remain underground if it is monitored properly, and experts say it is possible to store more carbon dioxide than is emitted by the oil that’s produced. Compared to a conventional barrel of oil, the life-cycle emissions are substantially lower, and Hollub has made a spirited case for the environmental benefits of oil pumped with captured CO2, saying it is better than drilling new fields with new infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a March interview, Zeller said the company’s position has evolved, from focusing almost purely on producing oil to being open to other uses for the carbon dioxide. If a customer is willing to pay a premium to inject carbon dioxide for pure storage, he said, “sure, OK, we’ll do that.” If companies want to buy CO2 to make synthetic fuel, he said, “sure, no problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Zeller made it clear that Occidental’s plans haven’t strayed from oil, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to be listening to the market, and people aren’t ready for net-zero oil, really, they’re not,” he said, adding, “They will be, because it is going to be a high-value, low-cost answer, and people just need to get past the emotions of it, and they will. They have to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last three weeks, Occidental has announced a flurry of activity around its direct air capture plans. Airbus, the European airplane manufacturer, said it would buy credits to remove 100,000 metric tons per year for four years from the Texas plant, coming on top of investments by United Airlines, Shopify and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One week later, Occidental announced a deal with a South Korean refiner to buy up to 200,000 barrels of oil squeezed out of the ground with CO2 captured by the Texas plant. In a press release, the companies boasted of a milestone in emissions reduction efforts, an “affordable, scalable” way to work toward their own climate goals, by buying and selling net-zero oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pVpuCW682XuzAGmkurLDvW?domain=insideclimatenews.org\">\u003cem>InsideClimate News\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/bJVSCXDM32FBx0oJiEwEOr?domain=insideclimatenews.org\">Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>here.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How Rising Sea Levels Could Push Up a 'Toxic Soup' Into Bay Area Neighborhoods",
"headTitle": "How Rising Sea Levels Could Push Up a ‘Toxic Soup’ Into Bay Area Neighborhoods | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Phoenix Armenta is worried about the future of neighborhoods along the edge of San Francisco Bay. Contaminated sites litter shoreline communities like West Oakland, where Armenta works as a community organizer. As climate change pushes bay water higher, floodwaters could mix with toxic pollution and threaten people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Phoenix Armenta']‘I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes. They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes,” said Armenta, regional resilience manager for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two separate science groups have released updates to ongoing research exploring this threat for the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and the state have well documented the potential impact of sea level rise on the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers are examining an under-studied threat: rising ocean water driving fresh water up from the ground, which could move as far as three miles inland from the edge of the bay, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Pathways.SFEI_.Rising.Groundwater.pdf\">summary of ongoing work shared with KQED\u003c/a>.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1971660 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/12/KQEDSCIENCE_GRNDWTR.gif\" alt=\"An animated graphic shows how sea level rise will push groundwater up, with toxic results. The rising seawater pushes against salty groundwater, then fresh groundwater, then sewer, until it reaches basements and foundations.\" width=\"400\" height=\"720\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute forecast that groundwater will move into low-lying areas of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Marin counties, potentially s\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eeping past seawalls, flooding basements, overwhelming sewers and damaging building foundations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study is slated to be released in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from UC Berkeley and UCLA are concerned that the groundwater will steep in toxic pollution before spreading into neighborhoods and the bay itself. They found that more than \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">900 toxic sites\u003c/a> could be affected by both sea level rise and groundwater rise across the state by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities like West Oakland — which abuts one of the West Coast’s busiest ports and is bound by busy freeways — already are dealing with high levels of air pollution and other adverse health outcomes because of their proximity to industry and its waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armenta, who uses they pronouns, heads the \u003ca href=\"https://woeip.org/featured-work/oakland-shoreline-leadership-academy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy\u003c/a>, teaching students of all ages about the issues for shoreline communities — including sea level rise and contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to give the students “who want to be part of the solution” an understanding of local shoreline issues, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there was redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are. And exactly where all the sea level rise is going to happen,” Armenta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979181 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A black woman with green glasses and a black and white striped shirt sorts landscaping material using gloves and flanked by two young people.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta, program manager of the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy and an environmental justice organizer, leads interns on a shoreline restoration trip in partnership with Save the Bay on March 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Nicole Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate justice red flags\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch and UCLA’s Lara Cushing are the scientists behind the \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a> interactive tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, they released a stunning finding: About 400 sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup sites and others — across the state are at risk of inundation, based on various sea-level-rise scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their latest analysis found more than double that could be affected statewide, if more extreme scenarios and additional groundwater are considered. The scientists say they don’t see signs that greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The global] response to reducing emissions is quite underwhelming,” Morello-Frosch said of international efforts to limit warming. “Some scientists in the climate change community may feel like that’s too much of a severe estimate, 10 feet of sea level rise, but it’s important to show when we’re thinking about land-use planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The take-home message of their work is that climate change is presenting new risks that could lead to human exposure to hazardous materials all along the California coastline, with a high Bay Area concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Use your mouse to move different directions on the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the magnifying glass at the bottom to search for a specific site. Click on each site for details. Click on the down arrow top right of the legend to remove it. Sources: UC Berkeley, UCLA\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://yangj90.carto.com/builder/0a968569-b1f7-4798-960a-a0998e0589e2/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a historical central hub for commerce, the region has a legacy of contaminated sites from shipbuilding, computer chip manufacturing and other industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pair’s work raises major red flags regarding climate justice. Many of these places are neighborhoods of color, where residents are increasingly at risk from the effects of warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities or communities where English is not the primary language that’s spoken,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is innovative because it uses groundwater depth data from the U.S. Geological Survey alongside climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morello-Frosch says sea level rise will push groundwater up, “particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re concerned that as seas rise, sites where contamination has been capped, partially cleaned up or never addressed could be disturbed, threatening Bay Area shoreline communities already fighting for pollution cleanups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists say that local groundwater mapping and “deep assessments” are crucial steps to understand specific local threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities can use this information to develop their own strategies at the local, county and statewide scales to begin to respond,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added, “unlike a hurricane, which is happening right away, this is a very slow-moving storm that we do have time to respond to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling a data gap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are partnering with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Pathways Climate Institute, San Francisco Estuary Institute']‘Failure to acknowledge the threats, especially in underserved communities, could undermine the success of adapting to sea level rise adaptation plans.’\u003c/span>[/pullquote]The authors note that flooding has the “potential to damage building foundations, flood basements and other below grade structures, and to infiltrate and overwhelm sewers. Ultimately it may emerge aboveground as an urban flood hazard even before coastal floodwaters overtop the shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also warn of “contaminants in the soil” entering buildings through sewer lines or other pathways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While they released the two-page document describing the work, they are not commenting until the research is finished later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists are compiling and sorting through multiple datasets to understand the risk to infrastructure in low-lying areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They want to expand their work to all Bay Area counties, if they can find funding for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The memo says a “failure to acknowledge” the threats, especially in underserved communities, “could undermine the success of adapting to sea level rise and potentially threaten public health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Phoenix Armenta is worried about the future of neighborhoods along the edge of San Francisco Bay. Contaminated sites litter shoreline communities like West Oakland, where Armenta works as a community organizer. As climate change pushes bay water higher, floodwaters could mix with toxic pollution and threaten people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes,” said Armenta, regional resilience manager for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two separate science groups have released updates to ongoing research exploring this threat for the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and the state have well documented the potential impact of sea level rise on the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers are examining an under-studied threat: rising ocean water driving fresh water up from the ground, which could move as far as three miles inland from the edge of the bay, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Pathways.SFEI_.Rising.Groundwater.pdf\">summary of ongoing work shared with KQED\u003c/a>.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1971660 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/12/KQEDSCIENCE_GRNDWTR.gif\" alt=\"An animated graphic shows how sea level rise will push groundwater up, with toxic results. The rising seawater pushes against salty groundwater, then fresh groundwater, then sewer, until it reaches basements and foundations.\" width=\"400\" height=\"720\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute forecast that groundwater will move into low-lying areas of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Marin counties, potentially s\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eeping past seawalls, flooding basements, overwhelming sewers and damaging building foundations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study is slated to be released in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from UC Berkeley and UCLA are concerned that the groundwater will steep in toxic pollution before spreading into neighborhoods and the bay itself. They found that more than \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">900 toxic sites\u003c/a> could be affected by both sea level rise and groundwater rise across the state by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities like West Oakland — which abuts one of the West Coast’s busiest ports and is bound by busy freeways — already are dealing with high levels of air pollution and other adverse health outcomes because of their proximity to industry and its waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armenta, who uses they pronouns, heads the \u003ca href=\"https://woeip.org/featured-work/oakland-shoreline-leadership-academy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy\u003c/a>, teaching students of all ages about the issues for shoreline communities — including sea level rise and contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to give the students “who want to be part of the solution” an understanding of local shoreline issues, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there was redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are. And exactly where all the sea level rise is going to happen,” Armenta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979181 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A black woman with green glasses and a black and white striped shirt sorts landscaping material using gloves and flanked by two young people.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta, program manager of the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy and an environmental justice organizer, leads interns on a shoreline restoration trip in partnership with Save the Bay on March 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Nicole Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate justice red flags\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch and UCLA’s Lara Cushing are the scientists behind the \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a> interactive tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, they released a stunning finding: About 400 sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup sites and others — across the state are at risk of inundation, based on various sea-level-rise scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their latest analysis found more than double that could be affected statewide, if more extreme scenarios and additional groundwater are considered. The scientists say they don’t see signs that greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The global] response to reducing emissions is quite underwhelming,” Morello-Frosch said of international efforts to limit warming. “Some scientists in the climate change community may feel like that’s too much of a severe estimate, 10 feet of sea level rise, but it’s important to show when we’re thinking about land-use planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The take-home message of their work is that climate change is presenting new risks that could lead to human exposure to hazardous materials all along the California coastline, with a high Bay Area concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Use your mouse to move different directions on the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the magnifying glass at the bottom to search for a specific site. Click on each site for details. Click on the down arrow top right of the legend to remove it. Sources: UC Berkeley, UCLA\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://yangj90.carto.com/builder/0a968569-b1f7-4798-960a-a0998e0589e2/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a historical central hub for commerce, the region has a legacy of contaminated sites from shipbuilding, computer chip manufacturing and other industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pair’s work raises major red flags regarding climate justice. Many of these places are neighborhoods of color, where residents are increasingly at risk from the effects of warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities or communities where English is not the primary language that’s spoken,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is innovative because it uses groundwater depth data from the U.S. Geological Survey alongside climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morello-Frosch says sea level rise will push groundwater up, “particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re concerned that as seas rise, sites where contamination has been capped, partially cleaned up or never addressed could be disturbed, threatening Bay Area shoreline communities already fighting for pollution cleanups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists say that local groundwater mapping and “deep assessments” are crucial steps to understand specific local threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities can use this information to develop their own strategies at the local, county and statewide scales to begin to respond,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added, “unlike a hurricane, which is happening right away, this is a very slow-moving storm that we do have time to respond to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling a data gap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are partnering with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The authors note that flooding has the “potential to damage building foundations, flood basements and other below grade structures, and to infiltrate and overwhelm sewers. Ultimately it may emerge aboveground as an urban flood hazard even before coastal floodwaters overtop the shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also warn of “contaminants in the soil” entering buildings through sewer lines or other pathways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While they released the two-page document describing the work, they are not commenting until the research is finished later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists are compiling and sorting through multiple datasets to understand the risk to infrastructure in low-lying areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They want to expand their work to all Bay Area counties, if they can find funding for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "It's Not Too Late To Stave Off the Climate Crisis, U.N. Report Finds. Here's How",
"headTitle": "It’s Not Too Late To Stave Off the Climate Crisis, U.N. Report Finds. Here’s How | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The world still has time to avoid the most extreme dangers of climate change, but only if nations cut greenhouse gas pollution much faster from nearly every aspect of human activity, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/\">landmark international climate science report.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology and solutions are available to rein in emissions, but the world is rapidly running out of time to deploy them, the report notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s now or never,” says Jim Skea, professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London and one of the co-chairs overseeing the report. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report issued on Monday is the latest by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/\">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a> (IPCC), a United Nations body that brings together the world’s researchers to assess the prevailing science on planetary warming. The new report looks at worldwide efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and recommends next steps to keep global average temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nations and industries need to make faster, deeper cuts to heat-trapping pollution. Average annual greenhouse gasses in the last decade were the highest in human history, which means the world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the report says. With warming beyond that level, the planet will see \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1052198840/1-5-degrees-warming-climate-change\">increasingly dangerous heat waves, floods and storms\u003c/a> that would affect millions of people, especially the most vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a crucial near-term step, “substantial reduction” in the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas would need to happen, the report finds. By 2050, low-carbon energy like solar and wind power will need to supply the majority of the world’s energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say this report, part of a scientific assessment done roughly every seven years by the IPCC, is likely the last to be published while the key goal of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1052198840/1-5-degrees-warming-climate-change\">limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius\u003c/a> is still possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report’s final summary was adopted after marathon negotiations among the 195 member countries of the IPCC. Some countries wanted to see more support for fossil fuel use in developing countries, as well as larger demands on developed nations to reduce emissions. Industrialized nations are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, with the United States being the largest polluter over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report builds on the dire warnings of two others also released in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/\">IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report\u003c/a>. The first documented how heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels were the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026137992/3-things-to-know-about-what-scientists-say-about-our-future-climate\">“unequivocal” cause of rising temperatures\u003c/a>. The second, released in late February, showed how \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1082564304/billions-of-people-are-in-danger-from-climate-change-u-n-report-warns\">billions of people around the globe are at risk\u003c/a> of more extreme disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This latest report comes amidst a renewed push for oil and gas drilling, as the war in Ukraine drives a spike in oil prices. \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/global-co2-emissions-rebounded-to-their-highest-level-in-history-in-2021\">Carbon emissions already roared back\u003c/a> to their highest levels ever in 2021, rebounding after a decline during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#1 – Grow renewable energy. It’s cheap enough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The report lays out what scientists consider to be the most effective steps to reducing emissions fast. The clearest is accelerating the use of renewable energy and cutting fossil fuels. The cost of solar energy has plummeted by 85 percent since 2010, according to the report. Batteries have fallen by the same amount, a key technology for storing solar and wind power so it can be used when it’s dark or the wind isn’t blowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes low-carbon energy sources more economically viable than fossil fuels in many cases, the report finds. They also improve public health, since renewable energy doesn’t produce air pollution. Still, renewables are not being deployed fast enough, especially in developing countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979083\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a black coat with hood up and fur around the hood walks in the foreground on a snowy street. Houses line one side of the street, with electricity lines crisscrossing the sky. In the background are tall towers releasing white smoke, from coal-fired power plants. The photo was taken in Shanxi, China.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels, like these coal-fired power plants in Shanxi, China, have rebounded after dropping during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world’s energy supply would need to reach net-zero as soon as 2050, which means if the sector is still producing emissions, those emissions are captured in some way before reaching the atmosphere. That’s because other areas, like heavy industry and transportation, would likely take longer to fully cut their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Continuing the world’s existing fossil fuel energy projects at their current pace, as well as developing new ones, puts the energy sector nowhere near that necessary trajectory. The emissions from fossil fuel use would be almost double the amount needed to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And as renewable energy grows, trillions of dollars of fossil fuel infrastructure risks becoming “stranded”, or worthless, as governments shift to cleaner energy sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sobering conclusion is that, although we have all the tools we need, emissions would need to decrease immediately and at a much larger scale than they have been,” Stephanie Roe, one of the lead authors of the IPCC report and Global Climate and Energy Lead Scientist at the World Wildlife Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#2 – We’ll probably need to suck carbon emissions out of the air\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even if the world rapidly transforms where its energy comes from, some aspects of modern life will take longer to shift from fossil fuel use, like airplanes, shipping and heavy industry. Gas-powered cars being bought today will also remain on the road for potentially decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New technology could eventually transition those industries and vehicles away from fossil fuels. But the delay means that to avoid extreme warming, countries and companies will likely have to remove some of the carbon dioxide emissions that are already in the atmosphere, the report finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most tried and tested method uses Mother Nature. Plants and soils are carbon sponges. So restoring forests and wetlands can help soak up emissions, providing a relatively low cost way of making up for emissions from other sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also points to more cutting-edge approaches, like using technology to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/01/11/1071282973/as-carbon-removal-gains-traction-economists-imagine-a-new-market-to-save-the-pla\">suck carbon emissions directly from the air\u003c/a>. That process could potentially use large amounts of energy, which would negate its climate usefulness. Some climate activists also worry it could amount to a free pass for the fossil fuel industry to keep operating and pumping out greenhouse gas emissions. The technology has a long way to go before it could make a large impact on the atmosphere, the report concludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#3 – Your decisions matter to slowing climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Changing the way humans work, live and eat in cities and buildings can have a major impact on reducing emissions, as much as 40 to 70 percent in some of those sectors, the report finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report is not just talking about recycling. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/18/877460056/minneapolis-has-a-bold-plan-to-tackle-racial-inequity-now-it-has-to-follow-throu\">Redesigning and zoning cities\u003c/a> so people live closer to where they work and can walk and bike could reduce transportation emissions by as much as a third, the report says. Electric cars that are charged with renewable energy from the grid would reduce fossil fuel use. Making buildings more energy efficient and using renewable energy like solar has a decades-long impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With many cities around the world still growing and urbanizing, building in a sustainable way is especially important in developing countries, the report finds. Cities are vulnerable to flooding and air pollution, as well as extreme heat waves made worse by the way pavement absorbs heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a really amazing role that we can play, not just as consumers, but also as professionals,” Roe says. “If you’re a builder, if you’re an urban planner, if you’re an influencer or a role model, you have a role to play. And it’s not about individual actions necessarily. It’s about individual actions that make cascading impacts across society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 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=It%27s+not+too+late+to+stave+off+the+climate+crisis%2C+U.N.+report+finds.+Here%27s+how&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The world still has time to avoid the most extreme dangers of climate change, but only if nations cut greenhouse gas pollution much faster from nearly every aspect of human activity, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/\">landmark international climate science report.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology and solutions are available to rein in emissions, but the world is rapidly running out of time to deploy them, the report notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s now or never,” says Jim Skea, professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London and one of the co-chairs overseeing the report. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report issued on Monday is the latest by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/\">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a> (IPCC), a United Nations body that brings together the world’s researchers to assess the prevailing science on planetary warming. The new report looks at worldwide efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and recommends next steps to keep global average temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nations and industries need to make faster, deeper cuts to heat-trapping pollution. Average annual greenhouse gasses in the last decade were the highest in human history, which means the world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the report says. With warming beyond that level, the planet will see \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1052198840/1-5-degrees-warming-climate-change\">increasingly dangerous heat waves, floods and storms\u003c/a> that would affect millions of people, especially the most vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a crucial near-term step, “substantial reduction” in the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas would need to happen, the report finds. By 2050, low-carbon energy like solar and wind power will need to supply the majority of the world’s energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say this report, part of a scientific assessment done roughly every seven years by the IPCC, is likely the last to be published while the key goal of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1052198840/1-5-degrees-warming-climate-change\">limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius\u003c/a> is still possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report’s final summary was adopted after marathon negotiations among the 195 member countries of the IPCC. Some countries wanted to see more support for fossil fuel use in developing countries, as well as larger demands on developed nations to reduce emissions. Industrialized nations are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, with the United States being the largest polluter over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report builds on the dire warnings of two others also released in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/\">IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report\u003c/a>. The first documented how heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels were the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026137992/3-things-to-know-about-what-scientists-say-about-our-future-climate\">“unequivocal” cause of rising temperatures\u003c/a>. The second, released in late February, showed how \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1082564304/billions-of-people-are-in-danger-from-climate-change-u-n-report-warns\">billions of people around the globe are at risk\u003c/a> of more extreme disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This latest report comes amidst a renewed push for oil and gas drilling, as the war in Ukraine drives a spike in oil prices. \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/global-co2-emissions-rebounded-to-their-highest-level-in-history-in-2021\">Carbon emissions already roared back\u003c/a> to their highest levels ever in 2021, rebounding after a decline during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech. “Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#1 – Grow renewable energy. It’s cheap enough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The report lays out what scientists consider to be the most effective steps to reducing emissions fast. The clearest is accelerating the use of renewable energy and cutting fossil fuels. The cost of solar energy has plummeted by 85 percent since 2010, according to the report. Batteries have fallen by the same amount, a key technology for storing solar and wind power so it can be used when it’s dark or the wind isn’t blowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes low-carbon energy sources more economically viable than fossil fuels in many cases, the report finds. They also improve public health, since renewable energy doesn’t produce air pollution. Still, renewables are not being deployed fast enough, especially in developing countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979083\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a black coat with hood up and fur around the hood walks in the foreground on a snowy street. Houses line one side of the street, with electricity lines crisscrossing the sky. In the background are tall towers releasing white smoke, from coal-fired power plants. The photo was taken in Shanxi, China.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/gettyimages-500863126_custom-0634ff2e7e155b049fdd7eb297ae84627a04e7e2-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels, like these coal-fired power plants in Shanxi, China, have rebounded after dropping during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world’s energy supply would need to reach net-zero as soon as 2050, which means if the sector is still producing emissions, those emissions are captured in some way before reaching the atmosphere. That’s because other areas, like heavy industry and transportation, would likely take longer to fully cut their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Continuing the world’s existing fossil fuel energy projects at their current pace, as well as developing new ones, puts the energy sector nowhere near that necessary trajectory. The emissions from fossil fuel use would be almost double the amount needed to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And as renewable energy grows, trillions of dollars of fossil fuel infrastructure risks becoming “stranded”, or worthless, as governments shift to cleaner energy sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sobering conclusion is that, although we have all the tools we need, emissions would need to decrease immediately and at a much larger scale than they have been,” Stephanie Roe, one of the lead authors of the IPCC report and Global Climate and Energy Lead Scientist at the World Wildlife Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#2 – We’ll probably need to suck carbon emissions out of the air\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even if the world rapidly transforms where its energy comes from, some aspects of modern life will take longer to shift from fossil fuel use, like airplanes, shipping and heavy industry. Gas-powered cars being bought today will also remain on the road for potentially decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New technology could eventually transition those industries and vehicles away from fossil fuels. But the delay means that to avoid extreme warming, countries and companies will likely have to remove some of the carbon dioxide emissions that are already in the atmosphere, the report finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most tried and tested method uses Mother Nature. Plants and soils are carbon sponges. So restoring forests and wetlands can help soak up emissions, providing a relatively low cost way of making up for emissions from other sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also points to more cutting-edge approaches, like using technology to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/01/11/1071282973/as-carbon-removal-gains-traction-economists-imagine-a-new-market-to-save-the-pla\">suck carbon emissions directly from the air\u003c/a>. That process could potentially use large amounts of energy, which would negate its climate usefulness. Some climate activists also worry it could amount to a free pass for the fossil fuel industry to keep operating and pumping out greenhouse gas emissions. The technology has a long way to go before it could make a large impact on the atmosphere, the report concludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>#3 – Your decisions matter to slowing climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Changing the way humans work, live and eat in cities and buildings can have a major impact on reducing emissions, as much as 40 to 70 percent in some of those sectors, the report finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report is not just talking about recycling. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/18/877460056/minneapolis-has-a-bold-plan-to-tackle-racial-inequity-now-it-has-to-follow-throu\">Redesigning and zoning cities\u003c/a> so people live closer to where they work and can walk and bike could reduce transportation emissions by as much as a third, the report says. Electric cars that are charged with renewable energy from the grid would reduce fossil fuel use. Making buildings more energy efficient and using renewable energy like solar has a decades-long impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With many cities around the world still growing and urbanizing, building in a sustainable way is especially important in developing countries, the report finds. Cities are vulnerable to flooding and air pollution, as well as extreme heat waves made worse by the way pavement absorbs heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a really amazing role that we can play, not just as consumers, but also as professionals,” Roe says. “If you’re a builder, if you’re an urban planner, if you’re an influencer or a role model, you have a role to play. And it’s not about individual actions necessarily. It’s about individual actions that make cascading impacts across society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 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=It%27s+not+too+late+to+stave+off+the+climate+crisis%2C+U.N.+report+finds.+Here%27s+how&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Punishing Bay Area Drought Prompts Calls for Major Water Rethink",
"headTitle": "Punishing Bay Area Drought Prompts Calls for Major Water Rethink | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke from wildfires can ruin a year’s worth of wine and is harmful to the health of harvesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cejavineyards.com/about/amelia-moran-ceja\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ceja\u003c/a> is banking that last October and December’s heavy storms filled aquifers below her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nonetheless, we’re still conserving,” she said. “We literally only water the vines when they need it, and it’s barely a couple of gallons of water at most.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja is just one example of the millions of Bay Area residents learning to live with seemingly perpetual dry times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Brian Garcia, NWS Bay Area']‘We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s snowpack is far below average again this year. Less than 31% of the snowpack remains, and state reservoirs are about 48% full. Millions of Bay Area residents rely on this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have less snow than we did last year,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting section. “California’s only received about half the amount of rainfall recorded in comparison to 2013, which ended up turning into the driest calendar year on record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s traditional rainy season is over, and California’s summer forecast looks to be hotter than average. Meteorologists expect a heat wave this week, which poses a critical threat to what’s left of the snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Weather_West/status/1511040977628110849\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The odds of any rain or snow making a dent in the drought are “slim to none,” said Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service located in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history,” he said, referring to records that date back to the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Megadrought bakes the West\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Regionally, the American Southwest is in the grips of a \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22-year megadrought\u003c/a>, the worst in recorded history and the driest since at least the year 800, according to a new analysis of tree ring records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take several wet years to end the drought cycle, said UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without climate change, \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\">the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years\u003c/a>,” Williams noted in a release. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s, or 1100s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The burning of fossil fuels — the lead driver of climate change — must be stopped, or quickly shifted away from, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090577162/climate-change-un-ipcc-report\">UN climate report\u003c/a>, in order for the world to reach its goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming beyond that point will mean even more severe droughts, water scarcity and increased wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area drought deepens\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With around 8 million residents across nine counties, each part of the Bay Area is grappling with the drought differently. To the south and north, Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties are similarly affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the multiyear drought ending in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that all residents curb water use by 25% — a goal that Californians nearly met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, people are less adherent. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked for a 15% water reduction, but urban water users saved less than half of that from June to January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977229/healdsburg-cut-its-water-use-in-half-whats-in-the-citys-secret-water-saving-sauce\">some cities, like Healdsburg, saved more than 50%\u003c/a> last summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration is entrusting local water agencies to impose restrictions, compelling them to save water through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">late\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">March\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">executive\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">order\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979001 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds a hollow blue pole that when pierces the ground tells how much water is in snow in a certain spot. Blue skies and green mountains in the distance. A patch of snow in view. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting unit uses a tape measure to pinpoint the next measuring location during the fourth media snow survey of the 2022 season. \u003ccite>(Kenneth James / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we learned from the last drought is, it’s really important to listen to locals,” said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, on a recent press call. “We live in a state that has many different hydrological zones, many different water usage scenarios, and that the one-size-fits-all doesn’t really work in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order presses major water retailers and agencies to conserve an average of 10%-20% come June. More than half of the state’s urban water providers don’t yet have restrictions to provide this kind of savings, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, state leaders are touting efforts to build new dams, reinstalling the drought salinity barrier in the delta — literally a pile of rocks blocking saltwater from tainting the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They also are granting millions of dollars in drought aid and using innovative climate forecasting models to inform how they manage reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to expand the time horizon of our decision-making,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the San Francisco District of the Army Corps of Engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When there are two weeks of dry weather, and we got a lot of water coming into the lake, we don’t need to make space for the next storm because there isn’t one,” he added of efforts to better manage reservoirs in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Digging out of a hole. Again.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local water leaders will decide how deep restrictions should cut in the upcoming weeks. At 10%, San Francisco and parts of the East Bay have the lowest conservation targets in the Bay Area. Cities in the North Bay like Sonoma and Healdsburg are at 20% or higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Pauli, who co-manages the water district at the eastern headwaters of the Russian River in Mendocino County — which is reliant on rain — says the creeks that feed into the river are already dry. Valley pastures are browning and fire-scarred trees on the hills surround the agriculture basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauli says it looked similar last year when crops “were dramatically impacted — pears and vineyards,” she said. “We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south in Sonoma County, the region’s largest reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\">Lake Sonoma, is 60% full\u003c/a> but has less water than last April.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Janet Pauli, co-chair, Potter Valley Irrigation District']‘We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]“We have a huge hole we got to dig out of,” said Brad Sherwood, spokesperson for Sonoma Water. “It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day in the situation that we’re facing in Sonoma County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South of Sonoma, Marin County got a stroke of luck this past rainy season when two atmospheric rivers parked themselves over the county, dumping more than 40 inches of rain, said Adriane Mertens, spokesperson for Marin Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired woman in blue flannel and blue jeans leans on a cement bridge with a river and greenery behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli, with the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says farmers are already feeling the impacts of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before those two brief, very wet storms, the county was contemplating emergency desalination or piping water from elsewhere over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Now their reservoirs are filled to 91%, a two-year water supply, Mertens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were projecting to deplete our local reservoir supplies by summer of this year,” she said. “The rain was a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 miles south of Marin in Santa Clara County, the drought scenario is more dire — and a lot dryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water supplies for the South Bay are particularly precarious because local reservoirs are only a quarter full — the largest, Anderson Reservoir, is out of commission for seismic retrofitting for the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect that Valley Water, which supplies water to around 2 million people, won’t receive any of the imports it typically relies on, except for what’s absolutely necessary for health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, more than half of the county’s water originates from the Sierra Nevada snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valley Water put in place a 15% mandatory water restriction last June, but residents have not met the target, said John Varela, Valley Water chief pro tem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since then, through January 2022, residents, businesses and farmers reduced overall water usage by only 8%,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost no measurable rain has landed on San Jose this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water restrictions could intensify in Santa Clara County, said the water supplier’s spokesperson Matt Keller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can hope for rain, but you know hope is not enough — we have to take action,” he said. “Everything is on the table heading into the summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could mean boosting mandatory water restrictions or increasing penalties for water wasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose Water already charges residential customers $7.13 for each 748-gallon unit of water used over their limit, but the restrictions don’t apply to businesses. Ninety percent of the agency’s customers are residential, said Liann Walborsky, director of corporate communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mother Nature has not been very helpful,” she said of the lack of rain this winter. Customers used 2% more water in February than before the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going in the wrong direction,” she said. “We’ve had people focus on outside irrigation. It’s very hard to cut water use inside your house because that starts to affect your quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nibbling around the edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Restricting water and limiting flows to farms, parks or golf courses are quick ways to deal with the drought, but they are not long-term solutions. If restrictions are overused, they can lose their desired effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water experts like Susan Leal say we need to stop nibbling around the edges and rethink how California and the Bay Area use water. Twelve years ago, she co-authored the book “\u003ca href=\"https://www.susanleal.com/books/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Running Out of Water\u003c/a>,” and raised remedies for the very crisis the state is in today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe we will still be able to deliver water to people, but they’ll have to use less of it,” she said. The climate whiplash the state experienced this past year — flooding rains followed by months of dry conditions — stresses the state’s water system, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may get to the point where we have to start subsidizing water because the cost of recycled water is going to be much more expensive,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979019 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian man in a white polo shirt holds a beaker full of water that's been filtered. A system of tubes behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Engineer Zachary Helsley holds a beaker of treated wastewater at the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center in San Jose on Sept. 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leal was once the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She wants the state to invest billions in cleaning wastewater for drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recycled water encompasses only a small fraction of the state’s water supply; the majority is in Southern California. Valley Water pledged to double the amount of water it recycles over the next decade, but even that would only augment 10% of its supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t actually put some dough into it now, it won’t happen,” Leal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can take decades to change or build infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Close the loop so we don’t depend on snowpack\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Newsha\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Ajami\u003c/a> studies water in the West as the chief development officer for research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She says water agencies will have to start valuing people over a revenue based model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities [will] survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change,” she said. “If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart. Because every drought leads to a reduction in demand.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Newsha Ajami, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory']‘If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities can become an entity that can survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change. If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart.’\u003c/span>[/pullquote]Ajami would like to see agencies split operational costs among all customers equally, while having people cover the energy costs necessary to get their water to them. This would make the price of water more equitable, she says, and allow water agencies to flourish instead of merely remaining afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It separates people who are actually mindful from the people who use more and put a lot more pressure on the system,” she said. “If you and I live in the same building, and I’m using 10 units of water, and you’re using two, I’m putting a lot more demand on the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, co-authored a bill that aims to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1469\">decouple California water agency sales and revenue\u003c/a>. He wants to incentivize water conservation and force water utilities to restructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we’re decoupling water use from profits, because otherwise, we get perverse incentives,” he said. “We want people to use less water. And so decoupling helps us achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the bill doesn’t pass this year, Becker and Ajami believe it’s doing something good: It’s rethinking how California uses water. Their hope is that these ideas become reality.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke from wildfires can ruin a year’s worth of wine and is harmful to the health of harvesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cejavineyards.com/about/amelia-moran-ceja\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ceja\u003c/a> is banking that last October and December’s heavy storms filled aquifers below her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nonetheless, we’re still conserving,” she said. “We literally only water the vines when they need it, and it’s barely a couple of gallons of water at most.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja is just one example of the millions of Bay Area residents learning to live with seemingly perpetual dry times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s snowpack is far below average again this year. Less than 31% of the snowpack remains, and state reservoirs are about 48% full. Millions of Bay Area residents rely on this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have less snow than we did last year,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting section. “California’s only received about half the amount of rainfall recorded in comparison to 2013, which ended up turning into the driest calendar year on record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s traditional rainy season is over, and California’s summer forecast looks to be hotter than average. Meteorologists expect a heat wave this week, which poses a critical threat to what’s left of the snowpack.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The odds of any rain or snow making a dent in the drought are “slim to none,” said Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service located in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history,” he said, referring to records that date back to the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Megadrought bakes the West\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Regionally, the American Southwest is in the grips of a \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22-year megadrought\u003c/a>, the worst in recorded history and the driest since at least the year 800, according to a new analysis of tree ring records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take several wet years to end the drought cycle, said UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without climate change, \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\">the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years\u003c/a>,” Williams noted in a release. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s, or 1100s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The burning of fossil fuels — the lead driver of climate change — must be stopped, or quickly shifted away from, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090577162/climate-change-un-ipcc-report\">UN climate report\u003c/a>, in order for the world to reach its goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming beyond that point will mean even more severe droughts, water scarcity and increased wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area drought deepens\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With around 8 million residents across nine counties, each part of the Bay Area is grappling with the drought differently. To the south and north, Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties are similarly affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the multiyear drought ending in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that all residents curb water use by 25% — a goal that Californians nearly met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, people are less adherent. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked for a 15% water reduction, but urban water users saved less than half of that from June to January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977229/healdsburg-cut-its-water-use-in-half-whats-in-the-citys-secret-water-saving-sauce\">some cities, like Healdsburg, saved more than 50%\u003c/a> last summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration is entrusting local water agencies to impose restrictions, compelling them to save water through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">late\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">March\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">executive\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">order\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979001 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds a hollow blue pole that when pierces the ground tells how much water is in snow in a certain spot. Blue skies and green mountains in the distance. A patch of snow in view. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting unit uses a tape measure to pinpoint the next measuring location during the fourth media snow survey of the 2022 season. \u003ccite>(Kenneth James / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we learned from the last drought is, it’s really important to listen to locals,” said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, on a recent press call. “We live in a state that has many different hydrological zones, many different water usage scenarios, and that the one-size-fits-all doesn’t really work in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order presses major water retailers and agencies to conserve an average of 10%-20% come June. More than half of the state’s urban water providers don’t yet have restrictions to provide this kind of savings, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, state leaders are touting efforts to build new dams, reinstalling the drought salinity barrier in the delta — literally a pile of rocks blocking saltwater from tainting the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They also are granting millions of dollars in drought aid and using innovative climate forecasting models to inform how they manage reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to expand the time horizon of our decision-making,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the San Francisco District of the Army Corps of Engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When there are two weeks of dry weather, and we got a lot of water coming into the lake, we don’t need to make space for the next storm because there isn’t one,” he added of efforts to better manage reservoirs in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Digging out of a hole. Again.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local water leaders will decide how deep restrictions should cut in the upcoming weeks. At 10%, San Francisco and parts of the East Bay have the lowest conservation targets in the Bay Area. Cities in the North Bay like Sonoma and Healdsburg are at 20% or higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Pauli, who co-manages the water district at the eastern headwaters of the Russian River in Mendocino County — which is reliant on rain — says the creeks that feed into the river are already dry. Valley pastures are browning and fire-scarred trees on the hills surround the agriculture basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauli says it looked similar last year when crops “were dramatically impacted — pears and vineyards,” she said. “We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south in Sonoma County, the region’s largest reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\">Lake Sonoma, is 60% full\u003c/a> but has less water than last April.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.\u003c/span>‘",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We have a huge hole we got to dig out of,” said Brad Sherwood, spokesperson for Sonoma Water. “It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day in the situation that we’re facing in Sonoma County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South of Sonoma, Marin County got a stroke of luck this past rainy season when two atmospheric rivers parked themselves over the county, dumping more than 40 inches of rain, said Adriane Mertens, spokesperson for Marin Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired woman in blue flannel and blue jeans leans on a cement bridge with a river and greenery behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli, with the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says farmers are already feeling the impacts of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before those two brief, very wet storms, the county was contemplating emergency desalination or piping water from elsewhere over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Now their reservoirs are filled to 91%, a two-year water supply, Mertens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were projecting to deplete our local reservoir supplies by summer of this year,” she said. “The rain was a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 miles south of Marin in Santa Clara County, the drought scenario is more dire — and a lot dryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water supplies for the South Bay are particularly precarious because local reservoirs are only a quarter full — the largest, Anderson Reservoir, is out of commission for seismic retrofitting for the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect that Valley Water, which supplies water to around 2 million people, won’t receive any of the imports it typically relies on, except for what’s absolutely necessary for health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, more than half of the county’s water originates from the Sierra Nevada snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valley Water put in place a 15% mandatory water restriction last June, but residents have not met the target, said John Varela, Valley Water chief pro tem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since then, through January 2022, residents, businesses and farmers reduced overall water usage by only 8%,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost no measurable rain has landed on San Jose this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water restrictions could intensify in Santa Clara County, said the water supplier’s spokesperson Matt Keller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can hope for rain, but you know hope is not enough — we have to take action,” he said. “Everything is on the table heading into the summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could mean boosting mandatory water restrictions or increasing penalties for water wasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose Water already charges residential customers $7.13 for each 748-gallon unit of water used over their limit, but the restrictions don’t apply to businesses. Ninety percent of the agency’s customers are residential, said Liann Walborsky, director of corporate communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mother Nature has not been very helpful,” she said of the lack of rain this winter. Customers used 2% more water in February than before the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going in the wrong direction,” she said. “We’ve had people focus on outside irrigation. It’s very hard to cut water use inside your house because that starts to affect your quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nibbling around the edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Restricting water and limiting flows to farms, parks or golf courses are quick ways to deal with the drought, but they are not long-term solutions. If restrictions are overused, they can lose their desired effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water experts like Susan Leal say we need to stop nibbling around the edges and rethink how California and the Bay Area use water. Twelve years ago, she co-authored the book “\u003ca href=\"https://www.susanleal.com/books/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Running Out of Water\u003c/a>,” and raised remedies for the very crisis the state is in today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe we will still be able to deliver water to people, but they’ll have to use less of it,” she said. The climate whiplash the state experienced this past year — flooding rains followed by months of dry conditions — stresses the state’s water system, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may get to the point where we have to start subsidizing water because the cost of recycled water is going to be much more expensive,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979019 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian man in a white polo shirt holds a beaker full of water that's been filtered. A system of tubes behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Engineer Zachary Helsley holds a beaker of treated wastewater at the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center in San Jose on Sept. 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leal was once the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She wants the state to invest billions in cleaning wastewater for drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recycled water encompasses only a small fraction of the state’s water supply; the majority is in Southern California. Valley Water pledged to double the amount of water it recycles over the next decade, but even that would only augment 10% of its supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t actually put some dough into it now, it won’t happen,” Leal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can take decades to change or build infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Close the loop so we don’t depend on snowpack\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Newsha\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Ajami\u003c/a> studies water in the West as the chief development officer for research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She says water agencies will have to start valuing people over a revenue based model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities [will] survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change,” she said. “If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart. Because every drought leads to a reduction in demand.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities can become an entity that can survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change. If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart.’\u003c/span>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ajami would like to see agencies split operational costs among all customers equally, while having people cover the energy costs necessary to get their water to them. This would make the price of water more equitable, she says, and allow water agencies to flourish instead of merely remaining afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It separates people who are actually mindful from the people who use more and put a lot more pressure on the system,” she said. “If you and I live in the same building, and I’m using 10 units of water, and you’re using two, I’m putting a lot more demand on the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, co-authored a bill that aims to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1469\">decouple California water agency sales and revenue\u003c/a>. He wants to incentivize water conservation and force water utilities to restructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we’re decoupling water use from profits, because otherwise, we get perverse incentives,” he said. “We want people to use less water. And so decoupling helps us achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the bill doesn’t pass this year, Becker and Ajami believe it’s doing something good: It’s rethinking how California uses water. Their hope is that these ideas become reality.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Now Requires You to Compost Food Waste to Reduce Potent Greenhouse Gas",
"headTitle": "California Now Requires You to Compost Food Waste to Reduce Potent Greenhouse Gas | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California has set an ambitious goal: reduce scraps and yard waste that go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landfills by 75% by 2025\u003c/a>. The new state composting regulation means waste haulers will handle a lot more moldy leftovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some are ready, because they’ve been collecting and processing organic waste for years. Others will need to invest in new infrastructure, which will push up garbage rates. The state plans to help in the form of financial grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane emissions is the state’s main goal. Its composting regulation requires residents, municipalities and soon more businesses to compost or divert food waste and scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sprawling facility in Tracy, food scraps and yard clippings get turned into something useful. Here, an 18-wheeler backs up onto a ramp, dumping a load of waste into a huge hopper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of coffee grounds and eggshells and banana peels and things of that nature in there,” said Robert Reed, spokesperson for Recology, the company that hauls away San Francisco’s waste. “All of those materials are natural. Particularly the food scraps are very rich in nutrients, very rich in carbon. They all came from a farm and are to go back to a farm in the form of compost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Municipal solid waste landfills are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third-largest source of human-related methane emissions\u003c/a> in the country, accounting for about 15% in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and engineers see an opportunity to capture methane and use it to create energy. They’re also studying how it can lock carbon in the ground and \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincarbonproject.org/science/land-management-carbon-sequestration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">enhance the soil\u003c/a> in fields, orchards and rangelands to help farmers grow crops and livestock more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge for the state: building enough facilities like Recology’s, especially in Southern California, where composting is less common. Commercial-scale manufacturing businesses are expensive, and require land and heavy machinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978944\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man with a red hard hat holds a handful of rich, brown compost as a crane dumps more in a large pile behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Reed, compost hype man, in Tracy on Jan. 31, 2022. ‘This is what helps grow healthy plants,’ Reed said. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recology began composting decades ago, and Reed argues it keeps greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is what helps grow healthy plants,” he said, plunging his hands into a steaming pile. “We’ve got food to eat and it gets carbon back into the soil where it belongs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage, the compost is sorted and dried to a fine dust; it has a rich brown color and smells sweet, like a wet forest floor. But it’s not fully cooked yet. It will sit in windrows, long piles that workers will aerate for weeks while bacteria break the “material down into finished compost,” Reed said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These piles are eight- to 10-feet tall and chock-full of microbial colonies that are breaking the material down into smaller and smaller pieces,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers add water to make a perfect, spa-like environment for the right microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New compost rules ‘biggest change’ to CA trash since ’80s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bacteria are key to the state’s new composting standards, which require all municipalities to collect green waste separately, to keep it out of the landfill. When food waste “cooks” under the right conditions, the bacteria give off less methane, a potent greenhouse gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diverting our organic waste is the single fastest and easiest thing that every single Californian and every American can do to fight climate change,” said Rachel Machi Wagoner, CalRecycle’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called the state’s composting mandate “the biggest change to our trash since we started recycling in the 1980s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state will require businesses to compost and donate edible food to food banks and charities. First, large grocery stores and food wholesalers will have to comply or face fines. Later, that list will include restaurants and cafeterias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California hits its composting goal, the state estimates it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road each year in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To go after food waste that aggressively is unprecedented, and it’s a big deal,” said Matthew Cotton, an independent \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattcotton.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commercial composting consultant\u003c/a>. “We have a lot of infrastructure, maybe not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of this new infrastructure will be offset by a $90 million infusion from this year’s state budget. But Cotton said it’s hard to get permits for composting at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a popular piece of infrastructure,” he said. “No one says, ‘Hey, let’s put in a composting site.’ It serves a lot of people, but nobody really wants to live by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting past the ‘yuck factor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The other big hurdle is getting people to sort their food waste correctly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a big yuck factor,” said Sally Brown, a soil scientist at the University of Washington. “The slimy stuff is slimy and it can smell bad and look gross and then you don’t want to touch it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Composting can be a hard sell, when you’ve been throwing stuff away your whole life, Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’ll always be a market for high-quality compost, especially in California, where agriculture is such a big business, she said. But if the final compost product is contaminated, it becomes less desirable to farmers and landscapers. Think plastic bags, rocks and those annoying little stickers on fruits and veggies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The top lid on your Häagen-Dazs container — it feels like cardboard, but is that plastic on the edge?” she said, noting that many people might not care enough to investigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s golden age of compost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is in a golden age of compost research and policy, Brown said. Farmers have always known that compost adds nutrients to their fields and orchards. Now scientists are trying to measure how much carbon it locks into soil and how that benefits the climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had 16-inch carrots in my garden this year, and that’s because of the healthier, lighter and fluffier soil from years of compost use,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t require genius cold-fusion tech. It requires you to put your broccoli stems into a different bucket. We can handle that — in theory,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California has set an ambitious goal: reduce scraps and yard waste that go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landfills by 75% by 2025\u003c/a>. The new state composting regulation means waste haulers will handle a lot more moldy leftovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some are ready, because they’ve been collecting and processing organic waste for years. Others will need to invest in new infrastructure, which will push up garbage rates. The state plans to help in the form of financial grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane emissions is the state’s main goal. Its composting regulation requires residents, municipalities and soon more businesses to compost or divert food waste and scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sprawling facility in Tracy, food scraps and yard clippings get turned into something useful. Here, an 18-wheeler backs up onto a ramp, dumping a load of waste into a huge hopper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of coffee grounds and eggshells and banana peels and things of that nature in there,” said Robert Reed, spokesperson for Recology, the company that hauls away San Francisco’s waste. “All of those materials are natural. Particularly the food scraps are very rich in nutrients, very rich in carbon. They all came from a farm and are to go back to a farm in the form of compost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Municipal solid waste landfills are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third-largest source of human-related methane emissions\u003c/a> in the country, accounting for about 15% in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and engineers see an opportunity to capture methane and use it to create energy. They’re also studying how it can lock carbon in the ground and \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincarbonproject.org/science/land-management-carbon-sequestration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">enhance the soil\u003c/a> in fields, orchards and rangelands to help farmers grow crops and livestock more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge for the state: building enough facilities like Recology’s, especially in Southern California, where composting is less common. Commercial-scale manufacturing businesses are expensive, and require land and heavy machinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978944\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man with a red hard hat holds a handful of rich, brown compost as a crane dumps more in a large pile behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Reed, compost hype man, in Tracy on Jan. 31, 2022. ‘This is what helps grow healthy plants,’ Reed said. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recology began composting decades ago, and Reed argues it keeps greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is what helps grow healthy plants,” he said, plunging his hands into a steaming pile. “We’ve got food to eat and it gets carbon back into the soil where it belongs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage, the compost is sorted and dried to a fine dust; it has a rich brown color and smells sweet, like a wet forest floor. But it’s not fully cooked yet. It will sit in windrows, long piles that workers will aerate for weeks while bacteria break the “material down into finished compost,” Reed said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These piles are eight- to 10-feet tall and chock-full of microbial colonies that are breaking the material down into smaller and smaller pieces,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers add water to make a perfect, spa-like environment for the right microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New compost rules ‘biggest change’ to CA trash since ’80s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bacteria are key to the state’s new composting standards, which require all municipalities to collect green waste separately, to keep it out of the landfill. When food waste “cooks” under the right conditions, the bacteria give off less methane, a potent greenhouse gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diverting our organic waste is the single fastest and easiest thing that every single Californian and every American can do to fight climate change,” said Rachel Machi Wagoner, CalRecycle’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called the state’s composting mandate “the biggest change to our trash since we started recycling in the 1980s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state will require businesses to compost and donate edible food to food banks and charities. First, large grocery stores and food wholesalers will have to comply or face fines. Later, that list will include restaurants and cafeterias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California hits its composting goal, the state estimates it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road each year in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To go after food waste that aggressively is unprecedented, and it’s a big deal,” said Matthew Cotton, an independent \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattcotton.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commercial composting consultant\u003c/a>. “We have a lot of infrastructure, maybe not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of this new infrastructure will be offset by a $90 million infusion from this year’s state budget. But Cotton said it’s hard to get permits for composting at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a popular piece of infrastructure,” he said. “No one says, ‘Hey, let’s put in a composting site.’ It serves a lot of people, but nobody really wants to live by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting past the ‘yuck factor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The other big hurdle is getting people to sort their food waste correctly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a big yuck factor,” said Sally Brown, a soil scientist at the University of Washington. “The slimy stuff is slimy and it can smell bad and look gross and then you don’t want to touch it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Composting can be a hard sell, when you’ve been throwing stuff away your whole life, Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’ll always be a market for high-quality compost, especially in California, where agriculture is such a big business, she said. But if the final compost product is contaminated, it becomes less desirable to farmers and landscapers. Think plastic bags, rocks and those annoying little stickers on fruits and veggies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The top lid on your Häagen-Dazs container — it feels like cardboard, but is that plastic on the edge?” she said, noting that many people might not care enough to investigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s golden age of compost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is in a golden age of compost research and policy, Brown said. Farmers have always known that compost adds nutrients to their fields and orchards. Now scientists are trying to measure how much carbon it locks into soil and how that benefits the climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had 16-inch carrots in my garden this year, and that’s because of the healthier, lighter and fluffier soil from years of compost use,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t require genius cold-fusion tech. It requires you to put your broccoli stems into a different bucket. We can handle that — in theory,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Youth Vs. Apocalypse Joins Global Day of Action for Climate March",
"headTitle": "Youth Vs. Apocalypse Joins Global Day of Action for Climate March | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Hundreds of Bay Area students marched across San Francisco’s Financial District on Friday, as part of a global day of demonstrations tied to the \u003ca href=\"https://fridaysforfuture.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fridays for Future\u003c/a> youth movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand at the center with several protest signs in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofia Palau and Simon Singh, YVA leaders, pose for a portrait outside the BlackRock building on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. ‘We’re protesting against BlackRock because of their violation of Native land rights and their heavy investment in fossil fuels. They’re also managing the California Teachers Association’s money and they’re investing it in fossil fuels and destroying the futures of their students without most of the teachers’ knowledge,’ Palau said. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a> organized high schoolers and other young kids from across the region. The students walked from Embarcadero Plaza to the headquarters of the investment management company BlackRock on Howard St. and to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Sansome St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The protestors painted their hands red and marked the pavement to symbolize how these groups are failing to protect their lives and futures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg\" alt=\"A person with red hands poses for the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kendal Erving poses for a portrait on March 25, 2022. Her hands are covered in red paint, which was provided to students so they could leave handprints at the BlackRock building. This symbolizes the blood advocates say BlackRock has on their hands as a fossil fuel investor. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The world is in a state of crisis,” organizers said in a statement. “The climate crisis threatens the sake of all life on earth. We recognize that the climate crisis does not impact people equally and disproportionately severely impacts communities of color as well as low income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BlackRock directly funds the climate crisis and ICE is displacing and committing violence against climate refugees and people seeking safety,” they said. “We demand change now so that we can have a tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978861\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978861\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young man with an orange beanie speaks into a mic with the background of protest signs.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez speaks during a Youth Vs. Apocalypse climate strike at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco on March 25, 2022. Hernandez, 18, is an environmental justice organizer in Richmond. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal spoke with one youth organizer, Richmond’s Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez, who said the cause is personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my uncle and aunt to chronic respiratory disease,” he said. “And that’s my story, [but] there’s millions of stories like it in Richmond. Thousands of stories of students affected by fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The youth group called on BlackRock to divest the California state teachers pension system from the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Y_Vs_A/status/1507412460289941509?s=20&t=UJlnha6rvos5LAJQwrosTw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calstrs.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">CalSTRS\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978865\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A youth organizer points a microphone to the crowd.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simon Singh, a youth organizer with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, leads the crowd in chants calling for climate and migrant justice on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ICE building, the group also rallied for a “pathway to citizenship and a respect of people’s right to seek asylum from within the U.S.” and asked “for a livable and equitable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student organizer with YVA leads chants and a large group of student demonstrators during a climate strike in San Francisco on March 25, 2022.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The action was part of a global day of demonstrations tied to the Fridays for Future youth movement.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Hundreds of Bay Area students marched across San Francisco’s Financial District on Friday, as part of a global day of demonstrations tied to the \u003ca href=\"https://fridaysforfuture.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fridays for Future\u003c/a> youth movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand at the center with several protest signs in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofia Palau and Simon Singh, YVA leaders, pose for a portrait outside the BlackRock building on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. ‘We’re protesting against BlackRock because of their violation of Native land rights and their heavy investment in fossil fuels. They’re also managing the California Teachers Association’s money and they’re investing it in fossil fuels and destroying the futures of their students without most of the teachers’ knowledge,’ Palau said. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a> organized high schoolers and other young kids from across the region. The students walked from Embarcadero Plaza to the headquarters of the investment management company BlackRock on Howard St. and to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Sansome St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The protestors painted their hands red and marked the pavement to symbolize how these groups are failing to protect their lives and futures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg\" alt=\"A person with red hands poses for the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kendal Erving poses for a portrait on March 25, 2022. Her hands are covered in red paint, which was provided to students so they could leave handprints at the BlackRock building. This symbolizes the blood advocates say BlackRock has on their hands as a fossil fuel investor. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The world is in a state of crisis,” organizers said in a statement. “The climate crisis threatens the sake of all life on earth. We recognize that the climate crisis does not impact people equally and disproportionately severely impacts communities of color as well as low income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BlackRock directly funds the climate crisis and ICE is displacing and committing violence against climate refugees and people seeking safety,” they said. “We demand change now so that we can have a tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978861\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978861\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young man with an orange beanie speaks into a mic with the background of protest signs.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez speaks during a Youth Vs. Apocalypse climate strike at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco on March 25, 2022. Hernandez, 18, is an environmental justice organizer in Richmond. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal spoke with one youth organizer, Richmond’s Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez, who said the cause is personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my uncle and aunt to chronic respiratory disease,” he said. “And that’s my story, [but] there’s millions of stories like it in Richmond. Thousands of stories of students affected by fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The youth group called on BlackRock to divest the California state teachers pension system from the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calstrs.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">CalSTRS\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978865\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A youth organizer points a microphone to the crowd.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simon Singh, a youth organizer with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, leads the crowd in chants calling for climate and migrant justice on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ICE building, the group also rallied for a “pathway to citizenship and a respect of people’s right to seek asylum from within the U.S.” and asked “for a livable and equitable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student organizer with YVA leads chants and a large group of student demonstrators during a climate strike in San Francisco on March 25, 2022.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Writing Music About Climate Change, Oakland Artist Reclaims Feminine Power",
"headTitle": "Writing Music About Climate Change, Oakland Artist Reclaims Feminine Power | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>To address climate change, experts say we \u003cem>all\u003c/em> need to get to work. So how do you do that, as just one, busy person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one idea: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977320 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like musician and writer \u003ca href=\"https://www.madlinesinfo.com/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maddy “MADlines” Clifford\u003c/a>. She’s penned an entire album about climate change, finding it to be surprisingly … fun, which is not a word most people associate with climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Clifford about her latest creative venture and how it intersects with injustices affecting so much more than the natural world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MADDY CLIFFORD\u003c/strong>: That day that we all woke up in 2020 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\">the sky was like this apocalyptic ashen color\u003c/a> for the whole entire day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think that was a really big moment for a lot of people, especially on the West Coast. And it really cemented in my mind how dire the situation is and has been.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt a lot of despair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m from Seattle, born and raised in the city of Seattle and in the northwest. Environmentalism is a really big topic that we talked about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when I was in elementary school, they even had us in different “orca pods,” but [environmentalism] was still largely seen as a white, hippie, upper-middle-class issue, and it wasn’t really talked about in the Black community in particular or the community that I was in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I just didn’t really see myself reflected in a lot of the environmental movements until more recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to research and learn a bit about Indigenous stewardship around fires — how that related to colonization and the ways in which we’ve lost a lot of really vital information about how to protect the planet because of racism and colonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last year, I was lucky enough to find this really cool project called \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Creative Wildfire\u003c/a>, and it’s a collective action involving \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/artists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">different artists\u003c/a> from across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their purpose was to educate artists on how to really amplify issues around the climate emergency and push back against this idea of returning to normal. I really liked that concept because I was just experiencing such profound change over 2020 and 2021, and I was like, I really don’t want to go back to some of the things that were problematic, especially as it relates to pollution and the destruction of our climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had to attend classes. We learned about all types of different things, from \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2022/02/14/queer-communities-often-left-out-of-disaster-planning-research-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">solidarity economies\u003c/a> [economies \u003ca href=\"https://doughnuteconomics.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prioritizing people and the planet over endless growth and profit\u003c/a>] to different grassroots organizing that was going on in different parts of the country around climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to feel really excited about how to draw connections in my arts practice. I was able to reach out to one of my colleagues and friends, \u003ca href=\"http://charlesburchell.com/\">Charles Burchell\u003c/a>, and he created these instrumentals and I wrote songs to the instrumentals, and we put out this project called “downCHANTS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell me a bit about “downCHANTS.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s inspired by the Bob Marley and the Wailers song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZAsarTZHo&ab_channel=BobMarley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chant Down Babylon\u003c/a>.” [Chanting down] is a spiritual pushing back against all this negativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going through a lot of these different workshops as part of the Creative Wildfire cohort, I realized everything is connected to the climate emergency. Women are going to be more disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Immigrants, Indigenous folks, all the people that are actually the ones that can make a difference. I really got inspired by that and invigorated by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are some of your favorite songs [on the album]? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/1PHvy8vNSdNrK73B0nPLQr?si=07f666019cba4823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Imagination\u003c/a>” is one song where I bring up the fact that the Black imagination is so rich, even though there is a serious racial wealth gap in our country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I begin the song with, “The end is near, but also the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has to do with this balance between pessimism and optimism that I see a lot of Black writers and Black intellectuals bring up. It’s this balance between being really clear and aware of the obstacles that we’re facing, but at the same time having a healthy dose of joy and excitement about the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/229B8qFmcrtdr9C5Lt3m3n?si=3f5ca6b84a2b4138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Femme Future\u003c/a>,” I thought a lot about the way the Earth is gendered feminine, and how this degradation of anything that’s non-male really contributes to people not caring about the climate crisis, or thinking that it’s inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Woman wearing a red and gold shirt throws back her head; her dark golden hair flies up behind her and around her face.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maddy Clifford was surprised when writing songs about climate change: It was actually fun. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Wong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I wanted to reclaim femininity as something that was powerful. In a lot of ways, I felt almost a sense of pride in the fact that the Earth is seen as feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do love “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/5WrcmSdUPB2SJe1lsQnfvI?si=8707106a3d624efe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bike Life\u003c/a>.” I love riding a bike: It gives me the ability to exercise, it’s really fun, and biking culture is a huge part of the culture in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11879641' label='Trucks Are Banned on Oakland's I-580. These Sixth Graders Wondered Why']I don’t think people realize — in their cars all the time — the fact that the city was literally built for cars and that it didn’t have to be built that way. I also think about the ways that freeways, for example, desecrated and destroyed a lot of thriving Black communities in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do I make these issues around climate and social justice visceral? How do I make them poetic? Because you want to show people, you don’t want to just tell them these things. That’s what makes these topics really resonate with wider amounts of people at the end of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always been a politicized artist because I believe art is innately political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this is a way to strengthen the work that I’ve already been doing around intersectional feminism and empowerment. It really actually complimented my work in a lot of ways, and it felt really exciting to go in this direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had such a good time just writing about climate, I didn’t realize how much fun I would have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the discussions around the climate crisis become really apocalyptic and really depressing, and I think that can often cause people to just ignore it. And for me, it wasn’t so much that I was ignoring the issues, it’s just I felt I didn’t know where to get in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then I thought back to rappers that I admire and a lot of them actually have written songs about the climate, like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU7HhWoQgi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New World Water\u003c/a>” by Yasiin Bey. I was like, “Wow, that’s one of my favorite songs of all time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to realize this is not something that’s so outside of me, but it’s part of a tradition within the hip-hop community, within my practice and my medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was surprised how much I actually fit perfectly into this idea of a climate activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: Maddy Clifford has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881399/why-we-must-center-healing-in-the-movement-for-black-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">written for KQED Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "When wildfire smoke obscured the sun for days, Maddy 'MADlines' Clifford dug into the climate crisis, exploring how it intersects with colonialism and racism.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>To address climate change, experts say we \u003cem>all\u003c/em> need to get to work. So how do you do that, as just one, busy person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one idea: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977320 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like musician and writer \u003ca href=\"https://www.madlinesinfo.com/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maddy “MADlines” Clifford\u003c/a>. She’s penned an entire album about climate change, finding it to be surprisingly … fun, which is not a word most people associate with climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Clifford about her latest creative venture and how it intersects with injustices affecting so much more than the natural world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MADDY CLIFFORD\u003c/strong>: That day that we all woke up in 2020 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\">the sky was like this apocalyptic ashen color\u003c/a> for the whole entire day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think that was a really big moment for a lot of people, especially on the West Coast. And it really cemented in my mind how dire the situation is and has been.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt a lot of despair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m from Seattle, born and raised in the city of Seattle and in the northwest. Environmentalism is a really big topic that we talked about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when I was in elementary school, they even had us in different “orca pods,” but [environmentalism] was still largely seen as a white, hippie, upper-middle-class issue, and it wasn’t really talked about in the Black community in particular or the community that I was in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I just didn’t really see myself reflected in a lot of the environmental movements until more recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to research and learn a bit about Indigenous stewardship around fires — how that related to colonization and the ways in which we’ve lost a lot of really vital information about how to protect the planet because of racism and colonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last year, I was lucky enough to find this really cool project called \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Creative Wildfire\u003c/a>, and it’s a collective action involving \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/artists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">different artists\u003c/a> from across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their purpose was to educate artists on how to really amplify issues around the climate emergency and push back against this idea of returning to normal. I really liked that concept because I was just experiencing such profound change over 2020 and 2021, and I was like, I really don’t want to go back to some of the things that were problematic, especially as it relates to pollution and the destruction of our climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had to attend classes. We learned about all types of different things, from \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2022/02/14/queer-communities-often-left-out-of-disaster-planning-research-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">solidarity economies\u003c/a> [economies \u003ca href=\"https://doughnuteconomics.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prioritizing people and the planet over endless growth and profit\u003c/a>] to different grassroots organizing that was going on in different parts of the country around climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to feel really excited about how to draw connections in my arts practice. I was able to reach out to one of my colleagues and friends, \u003ca href=\"http://charlesburchell.com/\">Charles Burchell\u003c/a>, and he created these instrumentals and I wrote songs to the instrumentals, and we put out this project called “downCHANTS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell me a bit about “downCHANTS.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s inspired by the Bob Marley and the Wailers song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZAsarTZHo&ab_channel=BobMarley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chant Down Babylon\u003c/a>.” [Chanting down] is a spiritual pushing back against all this negativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going through a lot of these different workshops as part of the Creative Wildfire cohort, I realized everything is connected to the climate emergency. Women are going to be more disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Immigrants, Indigenous folks, all the people that are actually the ones that can make a difference. I really got inspired by that and invigorated by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are some of your favorite songs [on the album]? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/1PHvy8vNSdNrK73B0nPLQr?si=07f666019cba4823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Imagination\u003c/a>” is one song where I bring up the fact that the Black imagination is so rich, even though there is a serious racial wealth gap in our country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I begin the song with, “The end is near, but also the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has to do with this balance between pessimism and optimism that I see a lot of Black writers and Black intellectuals bring up. It’s this balance between being really clear and aware of the obstacles that we’re facing, but at the same time having a healthy dose of joy and excitement about the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/229B8qFmcrtdr9C5Lt3m3n?si=3f5ca6b84a2b4138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Femme Future\u003c/a>,” I thought a lot about the way the Earth is gendered feminine, and how this degradation of anything that’s non-male really contributes to people not caring about the climate crisis, or thinking that it’s inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Woman wearing a red and gold shirt throws back her head; her dark golden hair flies up behind her and around her face.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maddy Clifford was surprised when writing songs about climate change: It was actually fun. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Wong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I wanted to reclaim femininity as something that was powerful. In a lot of ways, I felt almost a sense of pride in the fact that the Earth is seen as feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do love “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/5WrcmSdUPB2SJe1lsQnfvI?si=8707106a3d624efe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bike Life\u003c/a>.” I love riding a bike: It gives me the ability to exercise, it’s really fun, and biking culture is a huge part of the culture in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I don’t think people realize — in their cars all the time — the fact that the city was literally built for cars and that it didn’t have to be built that way. I also think about the ways that freeways, for example, desecrated and destroyed a lot of thriving Black communities in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do I make these issues around climate and social justice visceral? How do I make them poetic? Because you want to show people, you don’t want to just tell them these things. That’s what makes these topics really resonate with wider amounts of people at the end of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always been a politicized artist because I believe art is innately political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this is a way to strengthen the work that I’ve already been doing around intersectional feminism and empowerment. It really actually complimented my work in a lot of ways, and it felt really exciting to go in this direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had such a good time just writing about climate, I didn’t realize how much fun I would have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the discussions around the climate crisis become really apocalyptic and really depressing, and I think that can often cause people to just ignore it. And for me, it wasn’t so much that I was ignoring the issues, it’s just I felt I didn’t know where to get in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then I thought back to rappers that I admire and a lot of them actually have written songs about the climate, like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU7HhWoQgi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New World Water\u003c/a>” by Yasiin Bey. I was like, “Wow, that’s one of my favorite songs of all time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to realize this is not something that’s so outside of me, but it’s part of a tradition within the hip-hop community, within my practice and my medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was surprised how much I actually fit perfectly into this idea of a climate activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: Maddy Clifford has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881399/why-we-must-center-healing-in-the-movement-for-black-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">written for KQED Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "To Understand Sea Level Rise, This Climate Artist Wants You to Feel It in Your Body | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>So you’re worried about climate change. You’re ready to act. But you don’t know where to start, or how to actually be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a suggestion: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1977320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like artist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ana Teresa Fernández\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When she first heard how much sea levels could rise by 2100 — roughly 6 feet — she grappled with what that would look and feel like. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_11527370']As someone who communicates through visual and performance art, Fernández wanted to make that number something people could touch. After deliberating for a year on how to do that, she created a project that’s sprouted up on beaches in California and Mexico, and is currently installed at the San Francisco Cliff House as a part of the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">FOR-SITE Foundation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s exhibition “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.for-site.org/project/landsend/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lands End\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Fernández.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANA TERESA FERNÁNDEZ\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> As I was growing up in Tampico, Tamaulipas [in Mexico], we spent every Sunday at the beach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were all these refineries. We knew we were getting closer to the beach because there was a stench in the air. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The smell was something that triggered happiness for me, not realizing what a refinery really does and how harmful that is to not only the land, but the world in its entirety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are these things that you are aware of that are not right; you just know in your body that there’s something wrong. I think that was when I first realized that the world is under pressure. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many, many years later, I went to the Art and Environment Conference at the Nevada [Museum of Art], where \u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/1718-2/\">I was invited to speak about borders\u003c/a> in 2017.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the panelists was talking about climate change. I remember sitting in the audience, just having my arms crossed and thinking, “Huh, six feet. I’m 5’10.'” \u003cem>(Editor’s note: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978580/new-sea-level-predictions-show-need-for-environmental-justice-in-climate-change-planning\">latest projections\u003c/a> put sea level rise as high as 6.5 feet by 2100.)\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As someone who surfs and who’s constantly in the water, I know what that feels like — when you’re pushed down under a wave and you actually can’t get to the surface of the water to breathe. It gave me this moment where I was like, huhhh! [Gasps audibly.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, this is the time where I actually have to connect the dots and do something directly in response to this specific statistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really began to understand that we have a disassociation from these numbers to our bodies. These numbers sit on a page neatly in line in relation to words, but they don’t sit in relation to a body. So how is it that we can have those numbers come off the page and really become an experience, a somatic experience, a visceral experience?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It took me about a year to really get the courage to start working on this and start walking towards it and trying to find a way to embody this idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about the installation you ultimately created, called “\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://onthehorizon.org/\">\u003cb>On the Horizon\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wanted to actually take a step to try and tackle this issue. And when I say tackle, I mean, how can I hold it, quite literally? Not only the idea of sea levels rising, but specifically grasp and hold 6 feet of ocean water? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I worked with a fabricator to create a design that would be able to hold 6 feet of ocean water. It’s a [plexiglass] cylinder that’s 10 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall. It looks and feels as if this body of seawater is emerging from the sand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people address them as pillars, but I see them as “sea bodies” because they’re an extension of the body of water that’s in front of us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I’ve done this installation, it’s always at the shoreline — literally where the water ends and the land begins. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Five clear, cylindrical pillars of ocean water emerge vertically from the sand on a shoreline. Three children sit at the bases of the scattered pillars, while four people hold hands and walk towards them from the left of the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community volunteers help install ‘On the Horizon’ in November 2021, at Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Carlos Bravo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What happens during the installations? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things that became really apparent was that people want to touch it; people want to be a part of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time that we put the piece up at the beach, people would stop us: “What is this?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When they realize what it’s about, it’s like someone’s knocking them over. Then the second reaction is always walking towards it to touch the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People want to see the relationship of their own body to [the sea bodies].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think that says about the human relationship to climate change? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re missing a way in which we can experience climate change more physically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change is usually experienced in really chaotic, violent, sudden, unpredictable ways. But there are not many moments where you can experience climate change in a physical way that is peaceful and calm.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if you can sit with it, if you can talk to it, I think you can slowly alter behaviors — we can change how we respond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A mother and child smile while carrying a white bucket painted light blue between them. They walk across a beach toward the camera and away from the ocean. More people carrying buckets follow behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel McIntire with daughter Isla were community volunteers in an ‘On the Horizon’ bucket brigade at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach in October 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Colectivo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You talk about the community being part of the installation process. Why is that important?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the most beautiful parts of this has been that with the installation, I’ve actually gotten closer to my neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As soon as we start inserting [the tubes] into the sand and then the buckets come out [to carry ocean water to fill the tubes], people are like, “Can I help?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve worked with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunsetcoop.org/\">Sunset Co-Op [Nursery School]\u003c/a> as well, with the kindergarten kids.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been really beautiful to see how easy it is to educate people through an experience that’s about them creating the piece. Because ultimately, this piece doesn’t exist without the community, because the community are the ones that are actually pouring life into the piece. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the external hustle of finding the funding and figuring out the fabrication.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the internal hustle. I sat with this idea for about a year before I let myself try to tackle it because I’m like, “No, it’s too simple. No, it’s not good enough. No, it’s not going to make a difference.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, “I’m not a climatologist. I’m not a scientist. Can I do this?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I had to come to terms with — I had touched issues that are very political, that are very much driven by numbers and by statistics and all these things that might not necessarily be artsy. But why not use art as a way to grapple with these issues, help bring people to it and create an awareness in a different way that sits off the page? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot of science and it’s printed everywhere. But no matter how many times it gets printed, sometimes we just need to experience it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like anything, you just make it a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978568\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Three glass cylinders, or sea bodies, six feet tall, rise from a pile of sand in front of wide glass windows at San Francisco's Cliff House. The sea green ocean beyond the windows is restless with whitecaps. Dark mounds of rock rise from the sea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘On the Horizon’ is installed at the FOR-SITE Foundation’s exhibition ‘Lands End’ in San Francisco’s Cliff House. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of connectivity to the community, both here along this coastline and around different coastlines. People from Israel have contacted me, people from Sweden. People are really eager to amplify the message of protecting the sea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of doing these things is starting something and then hoping there’s a ripple effect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now I’ve been invited to three other exhibitions about climate change. I never thought of myself as a climate artist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The director of the Sunset Co-Op has told me all these stories about the kids talking about the piece and how they’ve been relating to the water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It creates its own constellations that exist beyond you. And that’s the beauty of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Ana Teresa Fernández wanted to give people a way to sit calmly with the idea of sea level rise. \r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>So you’re worried about climate change. You’re ready to act. But you don’t know where to start, or how to actually be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a suggestion: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1977320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like artist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ana Teresa Fernández\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When she first heard how much sea levels could rise by 2100 — roughly 6 feet — she grappled with what that would look and feel like. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As someone who communicates through visual and performance art, Fernández wanted to make that number something people could touch. After deliberating for a year on how to do that, she created a project that’s sprouted up on beaches in California and Mexico, and is currently installed at the San Francisco Cliff House as a part of the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">FOR-SITE Foundation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s exhibition “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.for-site.org/project/landsend/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lands End\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Fernández.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANA TERESA FERNÁNDEZ\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> As I was growing up in Tampico, Tamaulipas [in Mexico], we spent every Sunday at the beach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were all these refineries. We knew we were getting closer to the beach because there was a stench in the air. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The smell was something that triggered happiness for me, not realizing what a refinery really does and how harmful that is to not only the land, but the world in its entirety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are these things that you are aware of that are not right; you just know in your body that there’s something wrong. I think that was when I first realized that the world is under pressure. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many, many years later, I went to the Art and Environment Conference at the Nevada [Museum of Art], where \u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/1718-2/\">I was invited to speak about borders\u003c/a> in 2017.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the panelists was talking about climate change. I remember sitting in the audience, just having my arms crossed and thinking, “Huh, six feet. I’m 5’10.'” \u003cem>(Editor’s note: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978580/new-sea-level-predictions-show-need-for-environmental-justice-in-climate-change-planning\">latest projections\u003c/a> put sea level rise as high as 6.5 feet by 2100.)\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As someone who surfs and who’s constantly in the water, I know what that feels like — when you’re pushed down under a wave and you actually can’t get to the surface of the water to breathe. It gave me this moment where I was like, huhhh! [Gasps audibly.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, this is the time where I actually have to connect the dots and do something directly in response to this specific statistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really began to understand that we have a disassociation from these numbers to our bodies. These numbers sit on a page neatly in line in relation to words, but they don’t sit in relation to a body. So how is it that we can have those numbers come off the page and really become an experience, a somatic experience, a visceral experience?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It took me about a year to really get the courage to start working on this and start walking towards it and trying to find a way to embody this idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about the installation you ultimately created, called “\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://onthehorizon.org/\">\u003cb>On the Horizon\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wanted to actually take a step to try and tackle this issue. And when I say tackle, I mean, how can I hold it, quite literally? Not only the idea of sea levels rising, but specifically grasp and hold 6 feet of ocean water? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I worked with a fabricator to create a design that would be able to hold 6 feet of ocean water. It’s a [plexiglass] cylinder that’s 10 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall. It looks and feels as if this body of seawater is emerging from the sand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people address them as pillars, but I see them as “sea bodies” because they’re an extension of the body of water that’s in front of us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I’ve done this installation, it’s always at the shoreline — literally where the water ends and the land begins. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Five clear, cylindrical pillars of ocean water emerge vertically from the sand on a shoreline. Three children sit at the bases of the scattered pillars, while four people hold hands and walk towards them from the left of the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community volunteers help install ‘On the Horizon’ in November 2021, at Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Carlos Bravo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What happens during the installations? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things that became really apparent was that people want to touch it; people want to be a part of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time that we put the piece up at the beach, people would stop us: “What is this?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When they realize what it’s about, it’s like someone’s knocking them over. Then the second reaction is always walking towards it to touch the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People want to see the relationship of their own body to [the sea bodies].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think that says about the human relationship to climate change? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re missing a way in which we can experience climate change more physically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change is usually experienced in really chaotic, violent, sudden, unpredictable ways. But there are not many moments where you can experience climate change in a physical way that is peaceful and calm.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if you can sit with it, if you can talk to it, I think you can slowly alter behaviors — we can change how we respond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A mother and child smile while carrying a white bucket painted light blue between them. They walk across a beach toward the camera and away from the ocean. More people carrying buckets follow behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel McIntire with daughter Isla were community volunteers in an ‘On the Horizon’ bucket brigade at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach in October 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Colectivo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You talk about the community being part of the installation process. Why is that important?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the most beautiful parts of this has been that with the installation, I’ve actually gotten closer to my neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As soon as we start inserting [the tubes] into the sand and then the buckets come out [to carry ocean water to fill the tubes], people are like, “Can I help?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve worked with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunsetcoop.org/\">Sunset Co-Op [Nursery School]\u003c/a> as well, with the kindergarten kids.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been really beautiful to see how easy it is to educate people through an experience that’s about them creating the piece. Because ultimately, this piece doesn’t exist without the community, because the community are the ones that are actually pouring life into the piece. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the external hustle of finding the funding and figuring out the fabrication.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the internal hustle. I sat with this idea for about a year before I let myself try to tackle it because I’m like, “No, it’s too simple. No, it’s not good enough. No, it’s not going to make a difference.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, “I’m not a climatologist. I’m not a scientist. Can I do this?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I had to come to terms with — I had touched issues that are very political, that are very much driven by numbers and by statistics and all these things that might not necessarily be artsy. But why not use art as a way to grapple with these issues, help bring people to it and create an awareness in a different way that sits off the page? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot of science and it’s printed everywhere. But no matter how many times it gets printed, sometimes we just need to experience it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like anything, you just make it a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978568\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Three glass cylinders, or sea bodies, six feet tall, rise from a pile of sand in front of wide glass windows at San Francisco's Cliff House. The sea green ocean beyond the windows is restless with whitecaps. Dark mounds of rock rise from the sea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘On the Horizon’ is installed at the FOR-SITE Foundation’s exhibition ‘Lands End’ in San Francisco’s Cliff House. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of connectivity to the community, both here along this coastline and around different coastlines. People from Israel have contacted me, people from Sweden. People are really eager to amplify the message of protecting the sea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of doing these things is starting something and then hoping there’s a ripple effect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now I’ve been invited to three other exhibitions about climate change. I never thought of myself as a climate artist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The director of the Sunset Co-Op has told me all these stories about the kids talking about the piece and how they’ve been relating to the water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It creates its own constellations that exist beyond you. And that’s the beauty of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Can Once Again Set Its Own Car Emissions Standards",
"headTitle": "California Can Once Again Set Its Own Car Emissions Standards | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">No surprise, but now it’s official: The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it has restored California’s authority to set tailpipe emissions standards more strict than the federal government’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move allows California to once again set its own strict clean car rules, something the state had done for nearly a half century in an effort to combat smog and, more recently, fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA announcement is a reversal of a contentious decision by the Trump administration to revoke the waiver, which teed off years of fighting and lawsuits between the country’s top environmental agency and the leaders of its most populous state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration said in a press release that Trump’s policy was “decided in error” and is now “entirely rescinded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partnership with states to confront the climate crisis has never been more important,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement, adding that the action would “advance clean technologies and cut air pollution for people not just in California, but for the U.S. as a whole.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation sector is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “a major victory for the environment, our economy, and the health of families across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/mslianeran/status/1501640062731120641?s=20&t=9yR3gRqc1DuELbbJX_oFtg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, California has sought and obtained dozens of waivers that provide the state special authority to set tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks more stringent than those adopted federally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/177_states_12062021_nada_sales.pdf\">The District of Columbia and 15 other states\u003c/a> have adopted California’s strict emissions standards, momentum that steered the U.S. car market overall toward cleaner cars. Now that California’s waiver has been restored, other states can once again choose to adopt these more stringent standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much has changed in the few years since the Trump administration moved to pull California’s waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, Newsom issued an \u003cspan class=\"s1\">executive order\u003c/span> requiring that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/\">all new cars sold in California after 2035 must be electric\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following that announcement, major carmakers committed \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">billions of dollars in \u003cspan class=\"s1\">investments\u003c/span> in new electric car models\u003c/a>, and President Biden set the goal of 50% clean car sales by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California getting its waiver back sends a signal that the federal government is counting on innovation at the state level, said \u003ca href=\"https://erg.berkeley.edu/people/kammen-daniel-m/\">Dan Kammen\u003c/a>, who directs a \u003ca href=\"https://rael.berkeley.edu/\">renewable energy lab\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley and advises the Biden administration on energy and international development issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">“\u003c/b>California has traditionally been that leader, but we need more,” he said. “We need more creative policies to build the market and to build energy justice into those markets, so that would reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, said during an \u003ca href=\"https://www.veloz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/220224_March-Summit-Agenda_FINAL.pdf?mc_cid=6b887d011c&mc_eid\">electric vehicle \u003cspan class=\"s1\">summit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> this morning that California’s electric vehicle policies created “the market and will continue to drive it globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omar Vargas, head of global policy for GM, said in an emailed statement that the company is “proud to share California’s vision of an all-electric future with zero emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe everyone should have access to affordable, long-range electric vehicle options, and we are committed to working in collaboration with California to achieve an equitable transportation future,” he said. “We’re all in on putting everybody in an EV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a coalition group of health, labor and justice organizations thinks the state can be moving even faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the EPA’s announcement, the American Lung Association in California, IBEW Local 569, the Greenlining Institute, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others called on California to set even stronger electric vehicle sales targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California and the U.S. government charging toward an electric vehicle future, and major automakers like GM, Ford, Honda, and Volvo\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">investing\u003c/span> billions into new electric models\u003c/a>, California’s waiver continues to be important, said Richard Frank, director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“While we are in the process of seeing a transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, that transition is going to take a considerable amount of time,” he said. “California has adopted an ambitious timeline for that transition. But it will take a while. And the state has a huge number of vehicles on the road, including personal vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever California can do to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks is “important and indeed critical” to the state reaching its climate targets, Frank said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">No surprise, but now it’s official: The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it has restored California’s authority to set tailpipe emissions standards more strict than the federal government’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move allows California to once again set its own strict clean car rules, something the state had done for nearly a half century in an effort to combat smog and, more recently, fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA announcement is a reversal of a contentious decision by the Trump administration to revoke the waiver, which teed off years of fighting and lawsuits between the country’s top environmental agency and the leaders of its most populous state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration said in a press release that Trump’s policy was “decided in error” and is now “entirely rescinded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partnership with states to confront the climate crisis has never been more important,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement, adding that the action would “advance clean technologies and cut air pollution for people not just in California, but for the U.S. as a whole.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation sector is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “a major victory for the environment, our economy, and the health of families across the country.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, California has sought and obtained dozens of waivers that provide the state special authority to set tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks more stringent than those adopted federally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/177_states_12062021_nada_sales.pdf\">The District of Columbia and 15 other states\u003c/a> have adopted California’s strict emissions standards, momentum that steered the U.S. car market overall toward cleaner cars. Now that California’s waiver has been restored, other states can once again choose to adopt these more stringent standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much has changed in the few years since the Trump administration moved to pull California’s waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, Newsom issued an \u003cspan class=\"s1\">executive order\u003c/span> requiring that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/\">all new cars sold in California after 2035 must be electric\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following that announcement, major carmakers committed \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">billions of dollars in \u003cspan class=\"s1\">investments\u003c/span> in new electric car models\u003c/a>, and President Biden set the goal of 50% clean car sales by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California getting its waiver back sends a signal that the federal government is counting on innovation at the state level, said \u003ca href=\"https://erg.berkeley.edu/people/kammen-daniel-m/\">Dan Kammen\u003c/a>, who directs a \u003ca href=\"https://rael.berkeley.edu/\">renewable energy lab\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley and advises the Biden administration on energy and international development issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">“\u003c/b>California has traditionally been that leader, but we need more,” he said. “We need more creative policies to build the market and to build energy justice into those markets, so that would reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, said during an \u003ca href=\"https://www.veloz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/220224_March-Summit-Agenda_FINAL.pdf?mc_cid=6b887d011c&mc_eid\">electric vehicle \u003cspan class=\"s1\">summit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> this morning that California’s electric vehicle policies created “the market and will continue to drive it globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omar Vargas, head of global policy for GM, said in an emailed statement that the company is “proud to share California’s vision of an all-electric future with zero emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe everyone should have access to affordable, long-range electric vehicle options, and we are committed to working in collaboration with California to achieve an equitable transportation future,” he said. “We’re all in on putting everybody in an EV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a coalition group of health, labor and justice organizations thinks the state can be moving even faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the EPA’s announcement, the American Lung Association in California, IBEW Local 569, the Greenlining Institute, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others called on California to set even stronger electric vehicle sales targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California and the U.S. government charging toward an electric vehicle future, and major automakers like GM, Ford, Honda, and Volvo\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">investing\u003c/span> billions into new electric models\u003c/a>, California’s waiver continues to be important, said Richard Frank, director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“While we are in the process of seeing a transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, that transition is going to take a considerable amount of time,” he said. “California has adopted an ambitious timeline for that transition. But it will take a while. And the state has a huge number of vehicles on the road, including personal vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever California can do to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks is “important and indeed critical” to the state reaching its climate targets, Frank said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California's Transition to Solar Energy Is at a Crossroads: What That Means for Equity and Your Energy Bill",
"headTitle": "California’s Transition to Solar Energy Is at a Crossroads: What That Means for Equity and Your Energy Bill | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pitched battle over rooftop solar regulations in California is at a momentary détente, with several vested interests hoping that Gov. Gavin Newsom will intervene to swing the new rules on solar incentives their way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The proposed changes would affect subsidies for generating power with rooftop solar arrays. In January, they provoked an all-out revolt among solar installers and some environmentalists. But unions and utilities are on the other side. They want drastic changes, arguing that renters and people with lower incomes shouldn’t have to pay more than their fair share for power. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Veronica Young, Berkeley resident']‘We always had crazy-high electric and gas bills, so we used some of her retirement to essentially eliminate the worry about unpredictable energy bills.’[/pullquote]Environmental groups that usually agree on green energy are divided on the proposed changes, because they say the changes that are supposed to promote equity will jeopardize the state’s ability to reach its ambitious climate goals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Luverta Cooper, a retired accountant, installed solar panels last year on the family’s 1963 ranch-style home in Richmond’s Hilltop neighborhood. If the proposed net-metering changes were in place, they would’ve changed her entire calculus on whether to install solar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It cost about $40,000. More than we were expecting, but we’re totally electrified now,” she said. “Our PG&E bill was running like $500 a month.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The family went big: 19 panels, 320 watts, a battery in the garage to store power for blackouts, and a heat pump in the side yard to replace the gas heater and AC. Her daughter, Veronica Young, who takes care of her parents, helped with the research and decision-making, and said the savings means the investment will pay off in about 10 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We always had crazy-high electric and gas bills, so we used some of her retirement to essentially eliminate the worry about unpredictable energy bills,” Young explained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The utility bill went from about $500 per month to only $5 per month — a fee for the gas connection. And now PG&E pays the family for the excess electricity their system generates and transmits to the electrical grid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Mark Toney, executive director, The Utility Reform Network (TURN)']‘We think it’s important that the cost of greening the grid does not mean that low-income families, that communities of color are cut off from solar because the prices are too doggone high.’[/pullquote]At issue are the rules that govern selling power back to the utilities. It’s been five years since state utility regulators last adjusted the incentives to go solar so people like the Coopers could make the change financially feasible. Experts say it’s high time for adjustments, because when the Coopers pay less for power, that means their neighbors pay more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The utilities still have to maintain infrastructure, build new and greener power plants, and bury power lines so they don’t start wildfires. Those costs are built into the cost of energy per kilowatt. Customers with solar pay for fewer kilowatts, or maybe don’t pay at all if they can sell enough extra solar power back to the utility. That means rates go up for the rest of the utility’s customers. The utilities argue that \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">someone \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">has to pay so the electrical grid functions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the other electrical customers who pay the subsidies. The subsidies do not come from the utility companies, it comes from utility customers,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a utility watchdog.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For once, TURN has found itself agreeing with the state’s investor-owned utilities. But TURN’s argument is about equity. The people who have a few extra thousand dollars to invest in rooftop solar aren’t representative of California as a whole, Toney said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1972585\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1972585\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-800x551.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1920x1322.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Biden has set a goal of making the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050, which will require steeper emissions cuts than the US has ever achieved. To reach it, coal power would have to wane into a footnote, replaced by renewables like solar and wind. \u003ccite>(Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Solar adopters \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2021/06/01/rooftop-solar-inequity/#:~:text=California%27s%20distributed%20solar%20policy%20hurts%20the%20poor.&text=As%20numerous%20EI%20blogs%20and,pumps%20kilowatts%20into%20the%20grid.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">skew whiter and higher-income\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compared to California’s demographics, although their median incomes are dropping gradually. However, most renters — 45% of California residents — don’t even have a chance to go solar, he said. People who invested in solar should pay their fair share. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It made sense for early adopters to receive a high subsidy rate. But the price of solar installation has dropped [by] more than 50% in the past several years. And the solar subsidies have tripled in that same time,” Toney said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some environmental justice advocates are pushing for a grid participation fee that would be reduced for homeowners with lower incomes, along with lower subsidies for future solar customers, in alignment with the reduced cost of actually installing solar, plus more incentives to install battery storage and funding to help lower-income homeowners install solar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We think it’s important that the cost of greening the grid does not mean that low-income families, that communities of color are cut off from solar because the prices are too doggone high,” he said. “We have to find a solution that provides the greatest amount of clean energy at the most economical prices. The fact is, utilities are awful at doing that in a cost-effective manner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the environmental front, respected national organizations are split — with the Natural Resources Defense Council siding with the investor-owned utilities in the name of equity, and the Sierra Club lining up with the solar installers to keep things the same, so as not to jeopardize the state’s ambitious climate goals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Ben Giustino, A1 Sun']‘People call it the solar coaster. It’s a disruptive technology. And so there’s a lot of larger powers that don’t really necessarily know what to do with it or like it because it challenges their way of doing business.’[/pullquote]The Public Utilities Commission proposal that went public in December would cut the rates that customers can get when they sell their excess solar power back to utilities. The proposal would also impose a new monthly fee to connect solar customers to the grid. Plus, it would set aside $600 million to help lower-income communities go solar and add battery storage for peak evening hours after the sun goes down, when electrical usage is still high.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are two competing visions for what solar power generation will look like in California. Solar installers want it distributed, in small arrays on rooftops across the state. Utilities want to invest in large-scale arrays developed out in the desert and built by union labor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many environmentalists ask, why don’t we have both? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It is going to be a tall order to build out all the resources we need to hit our climate targets. And California needs a thriving rooftop solar industry,” said Kate Ramsay, an attorney with the Sierra Club, one of the many parties that weighed in to ask state regulators to keep the subsidies. She says the fact that this discussion is going on at all means that California’s green energy industry is thriving and mature. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have greened many parts of our grid,” she said. “Now a lot of parties are trying to focus on decarbonizing those peak hours in the late afternoons and evenings, when we’re firing up our gas plants, particularly on the hottest days of the summer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978645\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978645\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ben Giustino, owner of A1 Sun, shows off a packet of rooftop solar panels at his Berkeley business in February 2022. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rooftop solar systems won’t solve that peak problem, unless more homeowners invest in battery storage. The proposed changes include incentives to install batteries. But they’ll also mean it’ll take longer for the savings on power bills to pay off after a home gets panels. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ben Giustino, with A1 Sun, the Berkeley company that installed the Coopers’ panels and battery, says solar installers are in limbo, waiting for the PUC to reevaluate its proposal and wondering what to tell their customers and sales leads in the meantime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Giustino’s father founded the company, which makes Ben the second generation in his family to work in solar. It’s a family-owned business, complete with a dog named Sunshine. He and his colleagues are riled up about what the Public Utilities Commission might do to their industry. But he says one thing he’s learned from watching his dad over the years is that solar is a threat to the status quo, which benefits investor-owned utilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People call it the solar coaster. It’s a disruptive technology. And so there’s a lot of larger powers that don’t really necessarily know what to do with it or like it because it challenges their way of doing business,” Giustino said. He thinks the proposal before the Public Utilities Commission was bought and paid for by investor-owned utilities and jeopardizes the future of clean energy in California. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s rooftops that can be used” to generate power, he said. “That benefits the homeowners, it benefits the grid, it reduces CO2 emissions. So the main gist of what investor-owned utilities are trying to do is pull the rug out from the competition so they can maintain monopoly.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Solar and Storage Association, which represents installers and the 75,000 Californians who work in the solar industry, says the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calssa.org/press-releases/2022/2/23/calssa-statement-on-california-energy-commissions-announcement-on-californias-clean-energy-progress\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proposed changes to subsidies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> would cost thousands of jobs statewide. Giustino says they would jeopardize a dozen jobs at his company. But worse, he says, cutting subsidies and adding fees would make solar power a niche industry, like it was when his dad got into the business — only for tinkerers, off-grid homesteaders and devoted environmentalists. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s still lots of people here who are probably going to install solar just because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “But if you look across the state and across the industry, there’s no doubt that people will stop installing solar if it stops making financial sense for them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since the proposal came out in December, it’s been busy at A1 Sun. Potential customers want to complete their solar projects and get grandfathered in before regulators make a decision. But even customers who already have rooftop arrays will lose their current rates eventually. Exactly when depends on what California utility regulators decide to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the much-criticized proposal that the PUC is reevaluating, Luverta Cooper will be grandfathered in and able to sell power for solar credits at current rates for the next 15 years, and then at dramatically lower rates. But Veronica Young is quick to admit that part of what inspired her and her family to go solar was that “we truly hate PG&E” because the company isn’t managing the environment and wildfire risk well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“PG&E has not done what they should have,” she said. “And because of that, the customer is being punished. We’re the ones paying the lawsuits that they lost.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Young and her mother don’t buy the arguments about equity, even though the family is African American. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Veronica did not grow up poor, but I did. And so I do understand that part of it,” Cooper said. “I have family who couldn’t afford to do this, and I understand those issues, but I don’t feel like I need to be made responsible for what others are doing. I’m taking responsibility for my own situation.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cooper says she and her husband worked hard to buy this house back in 1984, so she could provide her daughter with all the privileges of a middle-class upbringing. She intends to keep her home updated so she can pass it on to her daughter and share the generational wealth she’s accumulated. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“A lot of the people who do solar aren’t exactly truly rich,” Young said. “I think they’re like us, who are [a] middle-class family who want to get off from paying unpredictable energy bills.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Homeowners with rooftop solar arrays can sell excess energy back to the utility company. A proposal to change how that works has erupted in conflicts over fairness, jobs and the state's climate goals. ",
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"description": "Homeowners with rooftop solar arrays can sell excess energy back to the utility company. A proposal to change how that works has erupted in conflicts over fairness, jobs and the state's climate goals. ",
"title": "California's Transition to Solar Energy Is at a Crossroads: What That Means for Equity and Your Energy Bill | KQED",
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"headline": "California's Transition to Solar Energy Is at a Crossroads: What That Means for Equity and Your Energy Bill",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pitched battle over rooftop solar regulations in California is at a momentary détente, with several vested interests hoping that Gov. Gavin Newsom will intervene to swing the new rules on solar incentives their way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The proposed changes would affect subsidies for generating power with rooftop solar arrays. In January, they provoked an all-out revolt among solar installers and some environmentalists. But unions and utilities are on the other side. They want drastic changes, arguing that renters and people with lower incomes shouldn’t have to pay more than their fair share for power. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We always had crazy-high electric and gas bills, so we used some of her retirement to essentially eliminate the worry about unpredictable energy bills.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Environmental groups that usually agree on green energy are divided on the proposed changes, because they say the changes that are supposed to promote equity will jeopardize the state’s ability to reach its ambitious climate goals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Luverta Cooper, a retired accountant, installed solar panels last year on the family’s 1963 ranch-style home in Richmond’s Hilltop neighborhood. If the proposed net-metering changes were in place, they would’ve changed her entire calculus on whether to install solar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It cost about $40,000. More than we were expecting, but we’re totally electrified now,” she said. “Our PG&E bill was running like $500 a month.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The family went big: 19 panels, 320 watts, a battery in the garage to store power for blackouts, and a heat pump in the side yard to replace the gas heater and AC. Her daughter, Veronica Young, who takes care of her parents, helped with the research and decision-making, and said the savings means the investment will pay off in about 10 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We always had crazy-high electric and gas bills, so we used some of her retirement to essentially eliminate the worry about unpredictable energy bills,” Young explained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The utility bill went from about $500 per month to only $5 per month — a fee for the gas connection. And now PG&E pays the family for the excess electricity their system generates and transmits to the electrical grid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We think it’s important that the cost of greening the grid does not mean that low-income families, that communities of color are cut off from solar because the prices are too doggone high.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At issue are the rules that govern selling power back to the utilities. It’s been five years since state utility regulators last adjusted the incentives to go solar so people like the Coopers could make the change financially feasible. Experts say it’s high time for adjustments, because when the Coopers pay less for power, that means their neighbors pay more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The utilities still have to maintain infrastructure, build new and greener power plants, and bury power lines so they don’t start wildfires. Those costs are built into the cost of energy per kilowatt. Customers with solar pay for fewer kilowatts, or maybe don’t pay at all if they can sell enough extra solar power back to the utility. That means rates go up for the rest of the utility’s customers. The utilities argue that \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">someone \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">has to pay so the electrical grid functions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the other electrical customers who pay the subsidies. The subsidies do not come from the utility companies, it comes from utility customers,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, a utility watchdog.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For once, TURN has found itself agreeing with the state’s investor-owned utilities. But TURN’s argument is about equity. The people who have a few extra thousand dollars to invest in rooftop solar aren’t representative of California as a whole, Toney said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1972585\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1972585\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-800x551.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/02/gettyimages-527740276_custom-44a9fba694aee1e1f2cd4d4751a8498bea2e25f3-1920x1322.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Biden has set a goal of making the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050, which will require steeper emissions cuts than the US has ever achieved. To reach it, coal power would have to wane into a footnote, replaced by renewables like solar and wind. \u003ccite>(Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Solar adopters \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2021/06/01/rooftop-solar-inequity/#:~:text=California%27s%20distributed%20solar%20policy%20hurts%20the%20poor.&text=As%20numerous%20EI%20blogs%20and,pumps%20kilowatts%20into%20the%20grid.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">skew whiter and higher-income\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compared to California’s demographics, although their median incomes are dropping gradually. However, most renters — 45% of California residents — don’t even have a chance to go solar, he said. People who invested in solar should pay their fair share. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It made sense for early adopters to receive a high subsidy rate. But the price of solar installation has dropped [by] more than 50% in the past several years. And the solar subsidies have tripled in that same time,” Toney said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some environmental justice advocates are pushing for a grid participation fee that would be reduced for homeowners with lower incomes, along with lower subsidies for future solar customers, in alignment with the reduced cost of actually installing solar, plus more incentives to install battery storage and funding to help lower-income homeowners install solar. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We think it’s important that the cost of greening the grid does not mean that low-income families, that communities of color are cut off from solar because the prices are too doggone high,” he said. “We have to find a solution that provides the greatest amount of clean energy at the most economical prices. The fact is, utilities are awful at doing that in a cost-effective manner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the environmental front, respected national organizations are split — with the Natural Resources Defense Council siding with the investor-owned utilities in the name of equity, and the Sierra Club lining up with the solar installers to keep things the same, so as not to jeopardize the state’s ambitious climate goals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘People call it the solar coaster. It’s a disruptive technology. And so there’s a lot of larger powers that don’t really necessarily know what to do with it or like it because it challenges their way of doing business.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Public Utilities Commission proposal that went public in December would cut the rates that customers can get when they sell their excess solar power back to utilities. The proposal would also impose a new monthly fee to connect solar customers to the grid. Plus, it would set aside $600 million to help lower-income communities go solar and add battery storage for peak evening hours after the sun goes down, when electrical usage is still high.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are two competing visions for what solar power generation will look like in California. Solar installers want it distributed, in small arrays on rooftops across the state. Utilities want to invest in large-scale arrays developed out in the desert and built by union labor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many environmentalists ask, why don’t we have both? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It is going to be a tall order to build out all the resources we need to hit our climate targets. And California needs a thriving rooftop solar industry,” said Kate Ramsay, an attorney with the Sierra Club, one of the many parties that weighed in to ask state regulators to keep the subsidies. She says the fact that this discussion is going on at all means that California’s green energy industry is thriving and mature. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have greened many parts of our grid,” she said. “Now a lot of parties are trying to focus on decarbonizing those peak hours in the late afternoons and evenings, when we’re firing up our gas plants, particularly on the hottest days of the summer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978645\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978645\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/Ben-Giustino-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ben Giustino, owner of A1 Sun, shows off a packet of rooftop solar panels at his Berkeley business in February 2022. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rooftop solar systems won’t solve that peak problem, unless more homeowners invest in battery storage. The proposed changes include incentives to install batteries. But they’ll also mean it’ll take longer for the savings on power bills to pay off after a home gets panels. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ben Giustino, with A1 Sun, the Berkeley company that installed the Coopers’ panels and battery, says solar installers are in limbo, waiting for the PUC to reevaluate its proposal and wondering what to tell their customers and sales leads in the meantime. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Giustino’s father founded the company, which makes Ben the second generation in his family to work in solar. It’s a family-owned business, complete with a dog named Sunshine. He and his colleagues are riled up about what the Public Utilities Commission might do to their industry. But he says one thing he’s learned from watching his dad over the years is that solar is a threat to the status quo, which benefits investor-owned utilities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People call it the solar coaster. It’s a disruptive technology. And so there’s a lot of larger powers that don’t really necessarily know what to do with it or like it because it challenges their way of doing business,” Giustino said. He thinks the proposal before the Public Utilities Commission was bought and paid for by investor-owned utilities and jeopardizes the future of clean energy in California. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s rooftops that can be used” to generate power, he said. “That benefits the homeowners, it benefits the grid, it reduces CO2 emissions. So the main gist of what investor-owned utilities are trying to do is pull the rug out from the competition so they can maintain monopoly.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The California Solar and Storage Association, which represents installers and the 75,000 Californians who work in the solar industry, says the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calssa.org/press-releases/2022/2/23/calssa-statement-on-california-energy-commissions-announcement-on-californias-clean-energy-progress\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proposed changes to subsidies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> would cost thousands of jobs statewide. Giustino says they would jeopardize a dozen jobs at his company. But worse, he says, cutting subsidies and adding fees would make solar power a niche industry, like it was when his dad got into the business — only for tinkerers, off-grid homesteaders and devoted environmentalists. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s still lots of people here who are probably going to install solar just because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “But if you look across the state and across the industry, there’s no doubt that people will stop installing solar if it stops making financial sense for them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since the proposal came out in December, it’s been busy at A1 Sun. Potential customers want to complete their solar projects and get grandfathered in before regulators make a decision. But even customers who already have rooftop arrays will lose their current rates eventually. Exactly when depends on what California utility regulators decide to do. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the much-criticized proposal that the PUC is reevaluating, Luverta Cooper will be grandfathered in and able to sell power for solar credits at current rates for the next 15 years, and then at dramatically lower rates. But Veronica Young is quick to admit that part of what inspired her and her family to go solar was that “we truly hate PG&E” because the company isn’t managing the environment and wildfire risk well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“PG&E has not done what they should have,” she said. “And because of that, the customer is being punished. We’re the ones paying the lawsuits that they lost.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Young and her mother don’t buy the arguments about equity, even though the family is African American. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Veronica did not grow up poor, but I did. And so I do understand that part of it,” Cooper said. “I have family who couldn’t afford to do this, and I understand those issues, but I don’t feel like I need to be made responsible for what others are doing. I’m taking responsibility for my own situation.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cooper says she and her husband worked hard to buy this house back in 1984, so she could provide her daughter with all the privileges of a middle-class upbringing. She intends to keep her home updated so she can pass it on to her daughter and share the generational wealth she’s accumulated. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“A lot of the people who do solar aren’t exactly truly rich,” Young said. “I think they’re like us, who are [a] middle-class family who want to get off from paying unpredictable energy bills.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"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?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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