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"content": "\u003cp>In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HFCs are greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, said the new rule was “a win on climate and a win on jobs and American competitiveness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule is expected to reduce harmful emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, McCarthy said, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,” Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will “detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,” the White House said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/23/fact-sheet-biden-administration-combats-super-pollutants-and-bolsters-domestic-manufacturing-with-new-programs-and-historic-commitments/\">fact sheet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA’s air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We’re going to be vigorous and proactive” in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,” Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will “detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,” the White House said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/23/fact-sheet-biden-administration-combats-super-pollutants-and-bolsters-domestic-manufacturing-with-new-programs-and-historic-commitments/\">fact sheet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA’s air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We’re going to be vigorous and proactive” in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. That amendment calls for the United States and other large industrialized countries to reduce HFCs by 85% by 2036. The State Department has prepared documents for formal ratification of the amendment, but the White House has not submitted them to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCarthy insisted “there is no hold up” on the amendment, but said she did not know when Biden would submit the matter to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $15 billion climate package Thursday, as he stood in a cloud of wildfire smoke during a visit to the KNP Complex fires burning in Sequoia National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a backdrop of 1,000-year-old sequoia trees that nearly burned in recent days, and a park entrance sign wrapped in fire-protecting foil, the governor outlined the details of the largest climate investment in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are going to inherit a world with 8-degree higher temperatures than they have today,” he said. “That’s the track we’re on. That’s the inheritance we’re leaving to our kids, unless we do something radically different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NATION-LEADING-15B-CLIMATE-PACKAGE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">multiyear package\u003c/a> is one of the final pieces of California’s record-high state budget, which Newsom signed with great fanfare in July, after agreeing to ongoing summer negotiations with lawmakers to refine the state’s spending plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures in California have already risen by an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and that heat is baking the state’s forests, which are overgrown with fuel from decades of aggressive fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> lead driver\u003c/a> of more frequent and ferocious summer forest fires in California, especially in the Sierra Nevada and the state’s North Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traditions, lifestyle, people, places wiped off the map,” said Newsom, whose package carves out more than $1.5 billion for wildfire response. “That’s what climate is about, this pollution blanket we put up in the air. Question is, will these trees survive us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Responding to the worst drought in a generation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Another impact of warming: a diminishing rainy season in California, with the state now experiencing longer dry periods, leaving it forced to increasingly depend on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"climate-change\"]About $5.2 billion — roughly a third of the package — will be spent on immediate drought relief and water measures, including money for projects to boost water recycling, reduce flooding risks, and clean up contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, state water officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976840/alarm-bells-as-drought-worsens-and-californians-come-up-short-on-water-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rang alarm bells\u003c/a> about a possible third year of drought, warning water providers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that they might not receive any allocations next year. Nearly 90% of the state is currently in category of “extreme drought” or worse, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a> data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reduced their home water use by less than 2% in July, compared to the same time last year, even after Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new climate plan, the state will spend $815 million to help secure what little water is left in reservoirs and fund contingency planning initiatives for smaller communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Preventing megafires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The plan also \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-california-gavin-newsom-f867c179fa49f32c0ed7098e98e33aeb\">earmarks about $1 billion\u003c/a> in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning, and other measures meant to prevent fires from burning out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot during a morning video call with reporters in advance of Newsom’s signing event. “Expanding our upfront, proactive actions is essential to address the wildfire risks we now face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year, and training for firefighters. The state also plans to invest in micro-lumber mills and other businesses that reuse old wood from overgrown forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest thinning is expensive, and the market is slim for the wood that comes from removed trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer’s Dixie and Caldor fires were the first two wildfires on record to burn over the crest of the Sierra Nevada, a remarkable feat given that forests at high elevations are usually too saturated from heavy winter snow to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowfoot commended South Lake Tahoe officials for conducting years of proactive fuel treatments, a move he said that helped save the city of 22,000 people from being consumed by the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate plan also directs $3.9 billion over the next three years to expand use of electric vehicles in the state, in accordance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/cars/california-2035-zev-mandate/index.html\">Newsom’s mandate\u003c/a> that only zero-emission new passenger cars and trucks be sold in California by 2035. That pot includes funding for new consumer rebates, the production of thousands of buses and heavy-duty trucks, and incentives for low-income Californians to trade in their gas cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will also spend $3.7 billion to prepare communities to deal with sea level rise, fund energy-efficient homes, and invest in low-income communities and communities of color, with the goal of improving air quality and reducing heat disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists were quick to cheer the state’s latest climate spending plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This decade is really the most consequential for the future of our planet,” said Jason Barbose, a policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We need to be spending billions to address climate change. This budget is an important down payment for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $15 billion climate package Thursday, as he stood in a cloud of wildfire smoke during a visit to the KNP Complex fires burning in Sequoia National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a backdrop of 1,000-year-old sequoia trees that nearly burned in recent days, and a park entrance sign wrapped in fire-protecting foil, the governor outlined the details of the largest climate investment in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are going to inherit a world with 8-degree higher temperatures than they have today,” he said. “That’s the track we’re on. That’s the inheritance we’re leaving to our kids, unless we do something radically different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NATION-LEADING-15B-CLIMATE-PACKAGE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">multiyear package\u003c/a> is one of the final pieces of California’s record-high state budget, which Newsom signed with great fanfare in July, after agreeing to ongoing summer negotiations with lawmakers to refine the state’s spending plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures in California have already risen by an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and that heat is baking the state’s forests, which are overgrown with fuel from decades of aggressive fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> lead driver\u003c/a> of more frequent and ferocious summer forest fires in California, especially in the Sierra Nevada and the state’s North Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traditions, lifestyle, people, places wiped off the map,” said Newsom, whose package carves out more than $1.5 billion for wildfire response. “That’s what climate is about, this pollution blanket we put up in the air. Question is, will these trees survive us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Responding to the worst drought in a generation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Another impact of warming: a diminishing rainy season in California, with the state now experiencing longer dry periods, leaving it forced to increasingly depend on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About $5.2 billion — roughly a third of the package — will be spent on immediate drought relief and water measures, including money for projects to boost water recycling, reduce flooding risks, and clean up contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, state water officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976840/alarm-bells-as-drought-worsens-and-californians-come-up-short-on-water-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rang alarm bells\u003c/a> about a possible third year of drought, warning water providers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that they might not receive any allocations next year. Nearly 90% of the state is currently in category of “extreme drought” or worse, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a> data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reduced their home water use by less than 2% in July, compared to the same time last year, even after Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new climate plan, the state will spend $815 million to help secure what little water is left in reservoirs and fund contingency planning initiatives for smaller communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Preventing megafires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The plan also \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-california-gavin-newsom-f867c179fa49f32c0ed7098e98e33aeb\">earmarks about $1 billion\u003c/a> in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning, and other measures meant to prevent fires from burning out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot during a morning video call with reporters in advance of Newsom’s signing event. “Expanding our upfront, proactive actions is essential to address the wildfire risks we now face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year, and training for firefighters. The state also plans to invest in micro-lumber mills and other businesses that reuse old wood from overgrown forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest thinning is expensive, and the market is slim for the wood that comes from removed trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer’s Dixie and Caldor fires were the first two wildfires on record to burn over the crest of the Sierra Nevada, a remarkable feat given that forests at high elevations are usually too saturated from heavy winter snow to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowfoot commended South Lake Tahoe officials for conducting years of proactive fuel treatments, a move he said that helped save the city of 22,000 people from being consumed by the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate plan also directs $3.9 billion over the next three years to expand use of electric vehicles in the state, in accordance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/cars/california-2035-zev-mandate/index.html\">Newsom’s mandate\u003c/a> that only zero-emission new passenger cars and trucks be sold in California by 2035. That pot includes funding for new consumer rebates, the production of thousands of buses and heavy-duty trucks, and incentives for low-income Californians to trade in their gas cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will also spend $3.7 billion to prepare communities to deal with sea level rise, fund energy-efficient homes, and invest in low-income communities and communities of color, with the goal of improving air quality and reducing heat disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists were quick to cheer the state’s latest climate spending plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This decade is really the most consequential for the future of our planet,” said Jason Barbose, a policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We need to be spending billions to address climate change. This budget is an important down payment for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"big-cap-wrap\">\u003cspan class=\"big-cap\">F\u003c/span>\u003c/span>ood and Drug Administration scientists have expressed skepticism about the need for additional doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for all people who have received it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessment by the agency’s staff, included in \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/vaccines-and-related-biological-products-advisory-committee-september-17-2021-meeting-announcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documents released Wednesday\u003c/a>, sets up a high-stakes debate over who will need an additional booster dose — and when they will need it — at the meeting of experts being convened by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the documents, the FDA’s own scientists seemed to strike a skeptical position about the need for widespread booster shots. Overall, they said, “data indicate that currently US-licensed or authorized COVID-19 vaccines still afford protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other data released Wednesday, both in briefing documents for the Friday panel and by other researchers, add to the swirling debate over a question that will affect millions of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 around the world: If the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes, do people need to top it off with an additional dose? If so, when should that happen given that much of the world has not received a first dose of vaccine yet? And should that decision vary by age and by whether people have other health conditions that could make Covid worse if they do become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one side are drug companies and some researchers, who point to data showing the efficacy of the vaccines to protect all infections is waning and that a third shot will provide additional protection. On the other are those who point out that these vaccines are still keeping people out of the hospital and preventing them from dying, indicating that a booster is not needed yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advice of the FDA’s advisory panel on the matter will not be binding, but the agency is likely to consider it. If the FDA authorizes a booster dose, the decision on whether to give them broadly will be taken up by a separate advisory committee convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There has been no date set yet for a meeting of that group, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, any decision by the FDA that limits the approval for booster shots, or even expresses hesitancy about how they should be used, will be seen as a rebuke to the Biden administration, which in August took the unusual step of unveiling a plan to offer boosters to the U.S. population, ahead of decisions from the FDA and the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those who have challenged the need for boosters at this point are two senior FDA officials who recently announced \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/31/top-vaccine-officials-leave-fda/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they will retire\u003c/a> from the agency this fall, a move seen to be motivated by their disagreement with the administration on the booster question. Marion Gruber and Phil Krause, director and deputy director, respectively, of FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review, were also co-authors of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/13/international-review-argues-against-covid-19-vaccine-boosters/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper published Monday\u003c/a> in The Lancet that argued against the need for booster shots for the general public at this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the briefing documents made available Wednesday, Pfizer argued that the effectiveness of its vaccine is declining and that a third dose would return efficacy to the 95% level seen in clinical trials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent data from Israel showed the efficacy of the vaccine against infection with SARS-CoV-2 dropped from 95% in January to 39% in June. In an analysis of Pfizer’s own Phase 3 trial, which resulted in the vaccine’s approval, the incidence of breakthrough cases was higher among patients who received their second dose before December 2020 than in those who received their second dose after March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also released new data from a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California that showed the waning efficacy is likely due to the vaccine becoming less effective over time, not because the new Delta variant is more resistant to the vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Kaiser data, the efficacy of the vaccine at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Delta variant dropped from 93% for those vaccinated less than one month to 53% for those vaccinated more than four months ago. For other variants, this drop was from 97% to 67%. At this point, about 88% of SARS-2 viruses detected globally are from the Delta family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the vaccine still did a very good job preventing hospitalizations in this dataset, reducing hospitalization by 93% in cases infected with the Delta variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It should be recognized that while observational studies can enable understanding of real-world effectiveness, there are known and unknown biases that can affect their reliability,” FDA scientists state in their report. “Due to these biases some studies may be more reliable than others. Furthermore, US-based studies of post- authorization effectiveness of [the vaccine] may most accurately represent vaccine effectiveness in the US population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA documents assessed questions about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/07/how-risk-side-effects-could-change-covid-19-vaccine-boosters/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">safety of giving a third dose of the vaccine\u003c/a>, noting that for some issues, there are no answers. For instance, it is not known if a third dose would trigger elevated rates of myocarditis and pericarditis, a side effect seen mainly in males under the age of 40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is currently not known if there will be an increased risk of myocarditis/pericarditis or other adverse reactions after a booster dose of Comirnaty. These risks and associated uncertainties have to be considered when assessing benefit and risk,” the agency’s scientists wrote. Comirnaty is the brand name of Pfizer’s vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, an \u003ca href=\"https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/Vaccine+effectiveness+and+duration+of+protection+of+covid+vaccines+against+mild+and+severe+COVID-19+in+the+UK.pdf/10dcd99c-0441-0403-dfd8-11ba2c6f5801\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis of vaccine efficacy from the United Kingdom\u003c/a> — the first country to begin vaccination with the vaccines developed in the West — gives further ammunition to those who have argued that booster shots for all are not warranted at this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysis from Public Health England, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found protection against hospitalization and deaths remains high for the Pfizer jab, even among older adults who are healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the sustained high [vaccine efficacy] against hospitalization and death, the additional benefit of a third dose against these more serious outcomes is limited in the current epidemiological situation,” the authors of the British study concluded. They added that vaccine efficacy “may, however, continue to wane over time and it is likely that booster doses may have a bigger impact on the more severe outcomes with longer intervals between the second and third doses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant waning of protection is occurring in people aged 65 and older who have significant health issues, the paper said. It is based on a comparison of the vaccination status of nearly 1.5 million people who tested positive for Covid-19 to nearly 3.3 million people who tested negative for the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found that waning was greatest among individuals in clinical risk groups, suggesting that this group should be prioritized for boosters, whenever they are recommended,” the authors said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the findings, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization recommended Wednesday that everyone who was at the front of the line when the country began its vaccine rollout last December should receive a booster shot, once six months had passed since their second jab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those listed as being at the head of the priority list for boosters in the U.K. are those living in long-term care facilities, adults 50 years of age and older, front-line health care workers and social workers, people 16 to 49 years old with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk of developing severe disease if they contract the virus, and adults who live with immunocompromised people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/10/winter-is-coming-as-flu-season-nears-americas-window-of-opportunity-to-beat-back-covid-19-is-narrowing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"read-more standard\">\u003c/aside>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"big-cap-wrap\">\u003cspan class=\"big-cap\">F\u003c/span>\u003c/span>ood and Drug Administration scientists have expressed skepticism about the need for additional doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for all people who have received it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessment by the agency’s staff, included in \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/vaccines-and-related-biological-products-advisory-committee-september-17-2021-meeting-announcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">documents released Wednesday\u003c/a>, sets up a high-stakes debate over who will need an additional booster dose — and when they will need it — at the meeting of experts being convened by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the documents, the FDA’s own scientists seemed to strike a skeptical position about the need for widespread booster shots. Overall, they said, “data indicate that currently US-licensed or authorized COVID-19 vaccines still afford protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other data released Wednesday, both in briefing documents for the Friday panel and by other researchers, add to the swirling debate over a question that will affect millions of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 around the world: If the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes, do people need to top it off with an additional dose? If so, when should that happen given that much of the world has not received a first dose of vaccine yet? And should that decision vary by age and by whether people have other health conditions that could make Covid worse if they do become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On one side are drug companies and some researchers, who point to data showing the efficacy of the vaccines to protect all infections is waning and that a third shot will provide additional protection. On the other are those who point out that these vaccines are still keeping people out of the hospital and preventing them from dying, indicating that a booster is not needed yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advice of the FDA’s advisory panel on the matter will not be binding, but the agency is likely to consider it. If the FDA authorizes a booster dose, the decision on whether to give them broadly will be taken up by a separate advisory committee convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There has been no date set yet for a meeting of that group, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, any decision by the FDA that limits the approval for booster shots, or even expresses hesitancy about how they should be used, will be seen as a rebuke to the Biden administration, which in August took the unusual step of unveiling a plan to offer boosters to the U.S. population, ahead of decisions from the FDA and the CDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those who have challenged the need for boosters at this point are two senior FDA officials who recently announced \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/31/top-vaccine-officials-leave-fda/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they will retire\u003c/a> from the agency this fall, a move seen to be motivated by their disagreement with the administration on the booster question. Marion Gruber and Phil Krause, director and deputy director, respectively, of FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review, were also co-authors of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/13/international-review-argues-against-covid-19-vaccine-boosters/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper published Monday\u003c/a> in The Lancet that argued against the need for booster shots for the general public at this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the briefing documents made available Wednesday, Pfizer argued that the effectiveness of its vaccine is declining and that a third dose would return efficacy to the 95% level seen in clinical trials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent data from Israel showed the efficacy of the vaccine against infection with SARS-CoV-2 dropped from 95% in January to 39% in June. In an analysis of Pfizer’s own Phase 3 trial, which resulted in the vaccine’s approval, the incidence of breakthrough cases was higher among patients who received their second dose before December 2020 than in those who received their second dose after March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also released new data from a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California that showed the waning efficacy is likely due to the vaccine becoming less effective over time, not because the new Delta variant is more resistant to the vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Kaiser data, the efficacy of the vaccine at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Delta variant dropped from 93% for those vaccinated less than one month to 53% for those vaccinated more than four months ago. For other variants, this drop was from 97% to 67%. At this point, about 88% of SARS-2 viruses detected globally are from the Delta family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the vaccine still did a very good job preventing hospitalizations in this dataset, reducing hospitalization by 93% in cases infected with the Delta variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It should be recognized that while observational studies can enable understanding of real-world effectiveness, there are known and unknown biases that can affect their reliability,” FDA scientists state in their report. “Due to these biases some studies may be more reliable than others. Furthermore, US-based studies of post- authorization effectiveness of [the vaccine] may most accurately represent vaccine effectiveness in the US population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA documents assessed questions about the \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/09/07/how-risk-side-effects-could-change-covid-19-vaccine-boosters/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">safety of giving a third dose of the vaccine\u003c/a>, noting that for some issues, there are no answers. For instance, it is not known if a third dose would trigger elevated rates of myocarditis and pericarditis, a side effect seen mainly in males under the age of 40.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is currently not known if there will be an increased risk of myocarditis/pericarditis or other adverse reactions after a booster dose of Comirnaty. These risks and associated uncertainties have to be considered when assessing benefit and risk,” the agency’s scientists wrote. Comirnaty is the brand name of Pfizer’s vaccine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, an \u003ca href=\"https://khub.net/documents/135939561/338928724/Vaccine+effectiveness+and+duration+of+protection+of+covid+vaccines+against+mild+and+severe+COVID-19+in+the+UK.pdf/10dcd99c-0441-0403-dfd8-11ba2c6f5801\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis of vaccine efficacy from the United Kingdom\u003c/a> — the first country to begin vaccination with the vaccines developed in the West — gives further ammunition to those who have argued that booster shots for all are not warranted at this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysis from Public Health England, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found protection against hospitalization and deaths remains high for the Pfizer jab, even among older adults who are healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the sustained high [vaccine efficacy] against hospitalization and death, the additional benefit of a third dose against these more serious outcomes is limited in the current epidemiological situation,” the authors of the British study concluded. They added that vaccine efficacy “may, however, continue to wane over time and it is likely that booster doses may have a bigger impact on the more severe outcomes with longer intervals between the second and third doses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant waning of protection is occurring in people aged 65 and older who have significant health issues, the paper said. It is based on a comparison of the vaccination status of nearly 1.5 million people who tested positive for Covid-19 to nearly 3.3 million people who tested negative for the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found that waning was greatest among individuals in clinical risk groups, suggesting that this group should be prioritized for boosters, whenever they are recommended,” the authors said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the findings, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization recommended Wednesday that everyone who was at the front of the line when the country began its vaccine rollout last December should receive a booster shot, once six months had passed since their second jab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those listed as being at the head of the priority list for boosters in the U.K. are those living in long-term care facilities, adults 50 years of age and older, front-line health care workers and social workers, people 16 to 49 years old with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk of developing severe disease if they contract the virus, and adults who live with immunocompromised people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/10/winter-is-coming-as-flu-season-nears-americas-window-of-opportunity-to-beat-back-covid-19-is-narrowing/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"read-more standard\">\u003c/aside>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>How are young people coping with climate change? The answer, according to one study, is not well, and for good reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a \u003ca href=\"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3918955\">forthcoming study\u003c/a>, researchers with the U.K.’s University of Bath and other schools spoke to 10,000 people in 10 countries, all of whom were between the ages of 16 and 25, to gauge how they feel about climate change. The prevailing response could be summed up in two words: incredibly worried. And the respondents say governments aren’t doing enough to combat climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey arrives more than six weeks before the world’s nations are set to gather in Glasgow, Scotland, at an annual meeting convened by the United Nations to address climate change. Scientists say that nations aren’t passing the right kinds of bold policies to avert the worst effects of climate change. The survey suggests that young people around the world grasp how widespread and dangerous political inaction is on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study concluded that there’s a correlation between negative emotions, such as worry, and beliefs that government responses to climate change have been inadequate. So the way governments have been addressing — or failing to address — climate change is directly affecting the mental health of young people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of those surveyed, nearly 60% reported that they felt either “very” or “extremely” worried about climate change, and more than half said climate change made them feel “afraid, sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and/or guilty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Positive feelings such as optimism were reported least among the respondents, researchers said. In fact, 77% said that they considered the future to be frightening, and 56% agreed with the viewpoint that humanity is doomed, according to the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many young people, those feelings of fear and worry affect their ability to function, too, results showed. More than 45% of the respondents said the way they feel about climate change adversely affects their day-to-day lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for those living in poorer countries in the Southern Hemisphere, who are more likely to be affected by natural disasters worsened by climate change, the outlook is even worse: Overall, they’re more worried, and their ability to function is even more impeded, researchers found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young people also said they were generally dissatisfied with how their governments have been handling the realities of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across all the countries represented — the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, France, Finland, India, Nigeria, Portugal and the Philippines — 65% of young people felt their government was failing them on climate change and 60% felt that the government had been dismissing citizens’ distress over it. Nearly half of those who said they talk with other people about climate change said that their concerns were ignored, according to researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combating climate change individually isn’t enough on its own, the researchers said. Those in power have a responsibility to act to protect not only the Earth, but also the mental health of those who stand to inherit the planet, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As one 16-year-old included in the study wrote, “I think it’s different for young people. For us, the destruction of the planet is personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 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=Young+People+Are+Anxious+About+Climate+Change+And+Say+Governments+Are+Failing+Them&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Most damselflies prefer sunny spots, but the quirky San Francisco forktail damselfly digs the fogginess of its hometown. When they hook up, they do it in style — linking their delicate bodies in a heart shape, then flying tandem for an hour or more after.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a classic summer day in San Francisco — foggy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But for the quirky San Francisco forktail damselfly, the weather is perfect for finding love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Damselflies are dragonfly cousins. They’re both odonates, a group of flying insects. When they’re at rest, most damselflies neatly fold their wings back, while dragonflies keep theirs outstretched.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rare-forktail-damselflies-introduced-at-9973051.php\">Read more\u003c/a> about how the Presidio Trust is working with the San Francisco Zoo in their attempt to reestablish the San Francisco forktail damselfly in its hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find out more about the damselfly’s fascinating life cycle \u003ca href=\"http://lifeinfreshwater.net/damselfly-nymphs-odonata-zygoptera/\">here\u003c/a>.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t afraid to show some flair — they’re decked out in turquoise. Young females sport a soft pink. Down in the reeds, the courtship begins. The male flies up to the female. He then uses claspers at the end of his blue body to hold the female just behind her head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the female curves her entire body forward. She hooks the tip of her abdomen to his midsection. The male leaves nothing to chance. Inside her body, he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any previous partners. Then he deposits his own. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the mating is over, the pair stays connected, sometimes for more than an hour. This keeps the other males at bay, and gives time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs. When the female’s ready to lay her eggs, the pair moves close to the water. She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs. She tucks them just under the plant’s surface — one at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks later, the eggs hatch into voracious nymphs called naiads. They’ll spend a few months like this in the water. Naiads breathe through caudal gills, these leafy things on their backside. Just like these dragonfly naiads, they’ll climb out of the water, shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are thousands of species of damselflies, but the San Francisco forktail is special — it’s one of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal climate. Researchers think their darker, more robust bodies may better absorb heat and help them stay warm in cool places. But a warming world is diminishing the fog that blankets this city. Plus, the wetlands they lay their eggs in are disappearing. San Francisco forktail damselflies are now one of the rarest species of odonates in North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are stepping in. They’ve figured out how to breed the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and are releasing and monitoring their populations. The number of these insects in the wild is increasing. But will their efforts be enough? It’s too early to tell. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco has long been home to dreamers, misfits, lovers. The work of these scientists is not just for biodiversity — it’s an attempt to save another colorful resident that calls this City by the Bay its home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rare-forktail-damselflies-introduced-at-9973051.php\">Read more\u003c/a> about how the Presidio Trust is working with the San Francisco Zoo in their attempt to reestablish the San Francisco forktail damselfly in its hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find out more about the damselfly’s fascinating life cycle \u003ca href=\"http://lifeinfreshwater.net/damselfly-nymphs-odonata-zygoptera/\">here\u003c/a>.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t afraid to show some flair — they’re decked out in turquoise. Young females sport a soft pink. Down in the reeds, the courtship begins. The male flies up to the female. He then uses claspers at the end of his blue body to hold the female just behind her head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the female curves her entire body forward. She hooks the tip of her abdomen to his midsection. The male leaves nothing to chance. Inside her body, he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any previous partners. Then he deposits his own. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the mating is over, the pair stays connected, sometimes for more than an hour. This keeps the other males at bay, and gives time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs. When the female’s ready to lay her eggs, the pair moves close to the water. She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs. She tucks them just under the plant’s surface — one at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks later, the eggs hatch into voracious nymphs called naiads. They’ll spend a few months like this in the water. Naiads breathe through caudal gills, these leafy things on their backside. Just like these dragonfly naiads, they’ll climb out of the water, shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are thousands of species of damselflies, but the San Francisco forktail is special — it’s one of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal climate. Researchers think their darker, more robust bodies may better absorb heat and help them stay warm in cool places. But a warming world is diminishing the fog that blankets this city. Plus, the wetlands they lay their eggs in are disappearing. San Francisco forktail damselflies are now one of the rarest species of odonates in North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are stepping in. They’ve figured out how to breed the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and are releasing and monitoring their populations. The number of these insects in the wild is increasing. But will their efforts be enough? It’s too early to tell. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco has long been home to dreamers, misfits, lovers. The work of these scientists is not just for biodiversity — it’s an attempt to save another colorful resident that calls this City by the Bay its home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What the Air Quality Index Actually Means",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Over the past five years, as California wildfires increased in both intensity and scope, fall in the Bay Area has meant skies intermittently shrouded in smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">This season, my morning routine has not only included caffeine and email, but also checking outdoor air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The number and color flashing to life on my phone, also known as the Air Quality Index, dictates to some extent how I’ll go through the day. It determines if my kid’s school will be open, how long I can take the dog out, and whether I’ll keep my windows sealed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">So … what actually is the air quality index?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>AQI, Who Am I?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Air Quality Index\u003c/span>\u003c/a> (AQI) is the Environmental Protection Agency’s way of representing the amount of pollution in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The higher the number, the more air pollution, and the worse for your health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The AQI is divided into six color-coded categories, starting with green, which means air quality is healthy enough for everyone to be outdoors. The index then moves through, in increasing order of pollution, yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon. Maroon is equivalent to an AQI of more than 300, indicating a health emergency in which the air is hazardous for everyone to breathe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Bay Area locations have hit high AQI levels for weeks at a time in recent years, even when they’re more than 100 miles away from a particular wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Here are some good thresholds to keep in mind:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"ul1\">\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 100\u003c/b>, categorized as “orange,” means everyone should be mindful of air quality, says Juan Romero, spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. At these levels, the air can be unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with lung disease. It’s important to check in with your doctor and follow their recommendations related to air quality exposure if you’re in one of these groups.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 150\u003c/b>, designated “red,” means everyone should limit outdoor activities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 200\u003c/b>, or “purple,” is the point at which the air district suggests all people stay inside.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How is AQI measured? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Air Quality Index is calculated through measuring six major pollutants: ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and two sizes of particulate matter, known as PM2.5 and the slightly larger PM10. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The major sources of air pollution in the Bay Area are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sparetheair.org/about/what-is-spare-the-air\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ozone and fine particulate matter, or PM2.5\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. PM2.5 is tiny, with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. For a sense of scale, visualize it would take about 25 of these particles to span the width of the average human hair. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We often see higher concentrations of ozone in the warmer months, typically between April and October. Ozone comes mostly from sources of “smog,” such as emissions from cars, trucks, refineries, construction sites and gas stations. While ozone is produced year-round, it builds up more during the longer, hotter days of summer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ozone pollution can worsen respiratory irritation and asthma. Some \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19079727/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">studies \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">link prolonged exposure to ozone to an increased risk of kids developing asthma. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We often see more pollution from PM2.5 in the cooler months of November through February, due to burning firewood. But we also see this pollutant more now during the heart of wildfire season. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This miniscule pollutant can go deep into the lungs and bloodstream and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/protecting-yourself-wildfire-smoke\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">cause lung and heart disease\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Spare the Air? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district converts pollution measurements into the AQI scale, and if concentrations of any of the six pollutants used to measure AQI is expected to exceed 100 somewhere across the Bay Area, it calls a Spare the Air Alert for the entire region. That’s because cutting back on emissions in one location can impact the air miles away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1976757\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png.png\" alt=\"Red sign announcing air quality advisory\" width=\"300\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png.png 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png-160x166.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of an air quality alert, issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. \u003ccite>(courtesy Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the Spare the Air Alert is called due to ozone, the air quality district will recommend driving less to reduce emissions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the alert is called due to high concentrations of PM2.5, it becomes illegal to use fireplaces and other wood-burning stoves in the Bay Area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s also helpful, but not required, to eliminate activities such as lawn mowing, leaf blowing and barbecuing on Spare the Air days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976755\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976755 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png.png\" alt=\"Yellow sign announcing air quality advisory\" width=\"300\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png.png 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png-160x175.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of an air quality advisory, issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. \u003ccite>(courtesy Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air quality district also issues air quality advisories, which can be a precursor to an alert. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advisories\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are often issued when there’s smoke way up in the air, too high for it to pollute the air we breathe on the ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How can folks stay up to date on AQI?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can check \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s air quality map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AirNow Fire and Smoke Map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which combines government and commercial sensors like those that show up on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www2.purpleair.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">PurpleAir’s map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can also sign up for\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sparetheair.org/connect-with-us/sign-up-for-alerts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> alerts from the air quality district\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. You can even pick your favorite form of communication: text, phone call, email, or social media. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Over the past five years, as California wildfires increased in both intensity and scope, fall in the Bay Area has meant skies intermittently shrouded in smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">This season, my morning routine has not only included caffeine and email, but also checking outdoor air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The number and color flashing to life on my phone, also known as the Air Quality Index, dictates to some extent how I’ll go through the day. It determines if my kid’s school will be open, how long I can take the dog out, and whether I’ll keep my windows sealed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">So … what actually is the air quality index?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cb>AQI, Who Am I?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Air Quality Index\u003c/span>\u003c/a> (AQI) is the Environmental Protection Agency’s way of representing the amount of pollution in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The higher the number, the more air pollution, and the worse for your health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">The AQI is divided into six color-coded categories, starting with green, which means air quality is healthy enough for everyone to be outdoors. The index then moves through, in increasing order of pollution, yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon. Maroon is equivalent to an AQI of more than 300, indicating a health emergency in which the air is hazardous for everyone to breathe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Bay Area locations have hit high AQI levels for weeks at a time in recent years, even when they’re more than 100 miles away from a particular wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Here are some good thresholds to keep in mind:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul class=\"ul1\">\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 100\u003c/b>, categorized as “orange,” means everyone should be mindful of air quality, says Juan Romero, spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. At these levels, the air can be unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with lung disease. It’s important to check in with your doctor and follow their recommendations related to air quality exposure if you’re in one of these groups.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 150\u003c/b>, designated “red,” means everyone should limit outdoor activities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli class=\"li1\">\u003cb>An AQI above 200\u003c/b>, or “purple,” is the point at which the air district suggests all people stay inside.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How is AQI measured? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Air Quality Index is calculated through measuring six major pollutants: ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and two sizes of particulate matter, known as PM2.5 and the slightly larger PM10. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The major sources of air pollution in the Bay Area are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sparetheair.org/about/what-is-spare-the-air\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ozone and fine particulate matter, or PM2.5\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. PM2.5 is tiny, with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. For a sense of scale, visualize it would take about 25 of these particles to span the width of the average human hair. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We often see higher concentrations of ozone in the warmer months, typically between April and October. Ozone comes mostly from sources of “smog,” such as emissions from cars, trucks, refineries, construction sites and gas stations. While ozone is produced year-round, it builds up more during the longer, hotter days of summer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ozone pollution can worsen respiratory irritation and asthma. Some \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19079727/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">studies \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">link prolonged exposure to ozone to an increased risk of kids developing asthma. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We often see more pollution from PM2.5 in the cooler months of November through February, due to burning firewood. But we also see this pollutant more now during the heart of wildfire season. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This miniscule pollutant can go deep into the lungs and bloodstream and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/protecting-yourself-wildfire-smoke\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">cause lung and heart disease\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Spare the Air? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air district converts pollution measurements into the AQI scale, and if concentrations of any of the six pollutants used to measure AQI is expected to exceed 100 somewhere across the Bay Area, it calls a Spare the Air Alert for the entire region. That’s because cutting back on emissions in one location can impact the air miles away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1976757\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png.png\" alt=\"Red sign announcing air quality advisory\" width=\"300\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png.png 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/summer-alert-mode-png-160x166.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of an air quality alert, issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. \u003ccite>(courtesy Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the Spare the Air Alert is called due to ozone, the air quality district will recommend driving less to reduce emissions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the alert is called due to high concentrations of PM2.5, it becomes illegal to use fireplaces and other wood-burning stoves in the Bay Area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s also helpful, but not required, to eliminate activities such as lawn mowing, leaf blowing and barbecuing on Spare the Air days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976755\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976755 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png.png\" alt=\"Yellow sign announcing air quality advisory\" width=\"300\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png.png 300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/advisory-mode-png-160x175.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of an air quality advisory, issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. \u003ccite>(courtesy Bay Area Air Quality Management District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The air quality district also issues air quality advisories, which can be a precursor to an alert. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advisories\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are often issued when there’s smoke way up in the air, too high for it to pollute the air we breathe on the ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How can folks stay up to date on AQI?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can check \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s air quality map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AirNow Fire and Smoke Map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which combines government and commercial sensors like those that show up on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www2.purpleair.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">PurpleAir’s map\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can also sign up for\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sparetheair.org/connect-with-us/sign-up-for-alerts\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> alerts from the air quality district\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. You can even pick your favorite form of communication: text, phone call, email, or social media. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California’s Sustainable Farms, Models for Agriculture in Warming World, Need Help Surviving It",
"headTitle": "California’s Sustainable Farms, Models for Agriculture in Warming World, Need Help Surviving It | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The bustle of birds and insect pollinators is the first thing you notice at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco in the Capay Valley, where Judith Redmond and her partners started farming four decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this early morning in August, a hot, dry wind is blowing through the valley, fanning the flames that are devouring the parched lands on either side of Redmond’s 400-acre organic farm, where chickens, pigs and sheep forage alongside vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and flowers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day before, that wind fueled a fast-moving fire about 25 miles northwest of the farm that incinerated dozens of mobile homes. The massive Caldor and Dixie fires were continuing to spread to the east and north, and a gray smoky haze hung in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But fire is just one of the farm’s climate-related challenges, Redmond said. “At the moment, all of us are very, very concerned about the water situation and the drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers have always labored at the mercy of the elements, but climate change has brought overlapping calamities of wildfires, drought, prolonged heat waves and power outages. Small-scale sustainable farmers with direct access to consumers through community-supported agriculture, or CSA, programs hold the key to boosting agricultural resilience in the face of a warming world. They know how to reduce agriculture’s carbon emissions, curb water and air pollution and boost biodiversity. But economic incentives and policies still favor large industrial farms that rely on chemicals and fossil fuels and raise only a few types of livestock or crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without access to the same subsidies, technical assistance and other resources available to large-scale operations, small farms are struggling to survive a rapidly changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a long time we were seeing an increase in both large and small farms, but in the last ag census we saw a decline in small farms,” said Jeanne Merrill, policy director at California Climate and Agriculture Network, or CalCAN, a coalition of sustainable and organic farming organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diversified small and midsize farmers, who tend to 500 acres or less, can’t rely on the stable of consultants and university extension advisers that help larger operations get through extreme weather events, said Merrill. “It is getting much harder with water constraints, with heat events, with catastrophic wildfire to survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fires aren’t likely to make it through vast acres of irrigated crops on large farms, said Evan Wiig, communications director for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. But, he said, since 2017, the most destructive fire season in California on record at the time, “we’ve seen small farmers hit at an unprecedented scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976684\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976684\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-800x534.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1536x1026.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1920x1283.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judith Redmond, one of six owners of Full Belly Farm, samples a turkey fig. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wildfires mostly skirted the edges of Full Belly Farm until a few years ago, when the Sand Fire torched a 25-acre field of heirloom wheat on its way to burning thousands of acres. Securing their “extremely expensive” fire insurance is a constant struggle, Redmond said. “Every year is more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no wonder that small farms are disappearing in California, even as experts say the need for sustainable farming has never been greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sustainable agriculture is “urgently needed” to tackle the environmental and climate crisis, agricultural experts argued in a 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/doi/10.1525/elementa.356/112494/Securing-the-future-of-US-agriculture-The-case-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a>. But the U.S. agricultural system, they wrote, puts practitioners “at a distinct disadvantage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal farm policy is set up to support chemically dependent monocultures through things like crop insurance and university research assistance, said Liz Carlisle, a lead author on the study and assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “It’s definitely not set up for something like a 20-acre diversified vegetable farm with a community-supported agricultural operation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s an entire apparatus built around industrial farming to standardize technologies like synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to maximize production for just a few crops, said study coauthor Ryan Galt, who directs the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at the University of California, Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vast majority of federal money goes to funding commodities like corn and soy that provide cheap raw materials for meat and processed food, Galt said. “There are a patchwork of programs that help out diversified farming systems, but they’re pretty meager compared to those resources that are channeled towards propping up commodity production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another major barrier to sustainable farming is access to affordable land. Close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/74672/eib-161.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">45%\u003c/a> of California farmland is rented, which vastly increases overhead expenses and makes it harder for farmers to invest in long-term sustainability practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early farmers who moved away from monocultures, harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that contaminate water resources were highly motivated to implement environmentally friendly practices, Galt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do you know the kind of will and intelligence that takes? They had to really go against the grain and be supermotivated,” he said. “There weren’t any incentives for them to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Replacing fossil fuels with biology\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Agriculture accounts for \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">10%\u003c/a> of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from industrial practices used to manage crops and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the work on U.S. farms runs on fossil fuel power, Carlisle said. “The fertility comes from synthetic fertilizer. For the most part, that’s fossil fuel derived. The pest control comes from synthetic pesticides that are fossil fuel derived. And, of course, a lot of work is done by diesel-powered tractors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, smaller farms rely on people power and organisms in the farm system to do the work, Carlisle said. Fertility comes from the manure of an animal or from soil-building cover crops. While pest control comes from planting flowers that attract beneficial insects, or from creating a functioning ecosystem where no single population of organisms gets out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You also have the work that would be done with a diesel-powered tractor more frequently done by people,” Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond and her partners have long experimented with such fossil-free approaches to produce environmentally sustainable, chemical-free food as pioneers of the CSA movement. Everything they do is geared toward farming for “more layers of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They see building soil health as critical not just to fertilizing crops but also to boosting the farm’s resilience to climate change. They avoid or minimize tilling the soil, which supports healthy microbial communities and sequesters carbon. The use of so-called cover crops—non-cash crops planted to prevent soil erosion and nurture soil health—adds organic matter to soil, which helps retain moisture in the event of drought and absorbs water during floods. Using compost and pasture-grazing their sheep also feeds soils while planting hedgerows flush with native vegetation attracts pollinators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This low-carbon, high-touch approach to farming keeps their farmhands employed year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Redmond walks along a field of ornamental broomcorn and flowers, sparrows and chickadees dart past dragonflies to a grove of Asian pears. Decades ago, Redmond’s crew started planting bushes, trees and shrubs that would grow naturally in the region to provide habitat and food for native beneficial insects. In turn, the beneficial insects control pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s California Climate Hub highlighted some of the farm’s practices to show growers how they can adapt to changing climate conditions and maintain productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Full Belly Farm has been doing “a lot of really innovative work” experimenting with practices like no-till farming while advocating for practices that nurture the land, said Emilie Winfield, who led the project at the Climate Hub while still a graduate student at the UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a natural choice to partner with them, because they’ve been thinking about these issues for a long time,” said Winfield, who now coordinates the Marin Resource Conservation District’s North Coast Soil Hub. Plus, she added, they’re going to see “fairly severe impacts from climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average maximum temperatures in the region are likely to increase by more than \u003ca href=\"https://cal-adapt.org/tools/annual-averages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3 degrees\u003c/a> Fahrenheit within the next 30 years, according to Cal Adapt, bringing more heat waves, lower soil moisture and more plant stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect their diverse pepper crops, Redmond and her partners erected a large shade structure over two-acres of jalapeños, Jimmy Nardellos and several other pepper varieties. The shade cloth keeps the peppers from getting sunburned, reducing stress on the plants, and plastic mulch retains water in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plants just look absolutely healthy and happy,” Redmond said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some tomatoes have lost their flowers in the heat. No flowers means no fruit. And heat can also disrupt pollination in corn, which loses kernels when pollen fails to find every silk tube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region has seen several searing heat waves this season, which increases water demands. Full Belly Farm has two wells on the property, and in a normal year draws water from the creek that flows along its eastern edge. This is not a normal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly half of the state, including the Capay Valley, is in “exceptional” drought. Redmond’s local water district ended water deliveries that feed the creek and farmers to the south in late June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond said the farm will probably rely on groundwater, as it did when the creek went dry during the devastating five-year drought that ended in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’ve really changed our plans for the fall,” Redmond said. “We’re growing less, we’re not going to have cover crops. There’s various pieces of land that we rent that we’re just not going to be able to plant because there’s just not enough water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creating a sustainability safety net\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For agriculture to reduce its carbon footprint and survive the challenges of a rapidly changing climate, experts like Carlisle and Galt believe, it will need to replace fossil-fuel intensive management with “knowledge-intensive” management. Farmers like Redmond acquired a deep understanding of how to harness the region’s natural resources over years of experimenting with different strategies to figure out how to boost productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the difference between seeing biodiversity as an asset to the farm or a threat, Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In most indigenous food systems, there was not a clear distinction between wild lands, and a farm,” Carlisle said. “Ecological agriculture is a functioning ecosystem that looks, in many ways, like the surrounding natural ecosystem. It’s just managed for the purpose of growing human foods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So-called agroecology requires valuing human knowledge and labor, but the current system has been optimized to minimize both, Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less than 2% of the population farms in the United States,” she said. “What we need to be optimizing for in a world where we’re facing climate change, and a lot of other challenges, is minimizing fossil fuel use, and embracing the idea that people can have really good lives and really good jobs on farms, if we actually prioritize that as a society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the approach many European countries have taken, said Galt of UC Davis, referring to initiatives in the \u003ca href=\"https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/farming/organic-farming_en\">European Union\u003c/a>, which has invested in organic farming as the future of its agricultural production. But there’s still not much direct federal support for U.S. farmers who want to pursue sustainable practices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has a suite of climate smart agriculture programs, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/\">Healthy Soils Program\u003c/a>, which subsidizes practices like cover cropping and no-till farming, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/\">State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program\u003c/a>, or SWEEP, which provides funds for irrigation that conserves water and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those programs ran out of money and didn’t get funded in the pandemic budget that passed last year, said CalCAN’s Merrill. In the budget bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier in the summer, both healthy soils and SWEEP received increased funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are good things, but there was no money yet for farmland conservation or the alternative manure management program,” Merrill said, referring to practices like pasture grazing that reduce potent greenhouse gas emissions in contrast to industrial dairies that store animal waste in large open pits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a historic surplus delaying passage of the final budget, “there’s a lot yet to be decided,” Merrill said. “Will we see funding that prioritizes climate resilience for small and midscale farmers? That’s the outstanding question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when programs offer financial incentives for sustainable practices, the hurdles to accessing those funds can be high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to think about what a system looks like that really supports small and innovative farmers,” said Winfield of the Marin Resource Conservation District. “If the applications are too lengthy or if some of the reporting is too time consuming, we’re putting a lot of demands on farmers’ and ranchers’ time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carlisle believes every sustainable farmer needs access to someone who can answer questions about how to manage vegetation that could fuel wildfires on their property, for example, or help crops tolerate droughts. That technical assistance, she said, should be linked with cost-sharing public funds to help farmers implement recommended measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the things we’re asking farmers to do, in adapting to climate change and mitigating climate change, have tremendous public benefit,” Carlisle said. “We’re asking them to manage public resources like the atmosphere and the soil and the watershed. So we need to have programs like the healthy soils initiative available to pitch in for things that farmers are doing on behalf of all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the funding for those programs is woefully inadequate to cover the scale of transition needed for farmers to adapt to climate change, Carlisle said. If taxpayer money is going to support agriculture, she said, “let’s target it for public benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of insuring commodity crops like corn, for example, farmers could be paid for cover cropping as ecological insurance to mitigate the risk of flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sustainable farmers provide “multiple, pretty massive benefits” for society without compensation, Galt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at Full Belly, you’ve probably greatly reduced the amount of runoff pollution from the farm compared to a conventional farm. You’ve created a ton of wildlife habitat that benefits the area around you and you’re absorbing more water more slowly in the ecosystems, so you’re not contributing to flash floods downstream. And you’re sequestering carbon in the soil, which is benefiting all of us,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galt added, “They also provide really good wages and benefits to farmworkers, which we don’t often see on farms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the only thing farmers get in return for all these services, Galt said, is the revenue from selling whatever they produce on the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s making it hard for some small farmers to compete in the highly consolidated agricultural industry. A recent survey of dozens of small farms that sell to consumers through farmers markets and CSAs in four mid-Atlantic states found that most farmers earned near poverty-level wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California struggles to cope with another disastrous fire season in the midst of a punishing drought, Galt sees an opportunity. “The costs of climate change are becoming really apparent,” he said. “Can we use this moment and do something quickly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond and Full Belly Farm aren’t waiting for policymakers to give sustainable farmers their due. “We’ve learned to adapt to a changing environment,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In talking with other farmers, she said, she realized that everyone’s in the same day-to-day, season-to-season planning mode, figuring out how to survive the abnormal vagaries of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to keep going. We have to keep harvesting. We have to keep our crew employed,” she said. “I think that’s where most people are at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The bustle of birds and insect pollinators is the first thing you notice at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco in the Capay Valley, where Judith Redmond and her partners started farming four decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this early morning in August, a hot, dry wind is blowing through the valley, fanning the flames that are devouring the parched lands on either side of Redmond’s 400-acre organic farm, where chickens, pigs and sheep forage alongside vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and flowers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day before, that wind fueled a fast-moving fire about 25 miles northwest of the farm that incinerated dozens of mobile homes. The massive Caldor and Dixie fires were continuing to spread to the east and north, and a gray smoky haze hung in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But fire is just one of the farm’s climate-related challenges, Redmond said. “At the moment, all of us are very, very concerned about the water situation and the drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers have always labored at the mercy of the elements, but climate change has brought overlapping calamities of wildfires, drought, prolonged heat waves and power outages. Small-scale sustainable farmers with direct access to consumers through community-supported agriculture, or CSA, programs hold the key to boosting agricultural resilience in the face of a warming world. They know how to reduce agriculture’s carbon emissions, curb water and air pollution and boost biodiversity. But economic incentives and policies still favor large industrial farms that rely on chemicals and fossil fuels and raise only a few types of livestock or crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without access to the same subsidies, technical assistance and other resources available to large-scale operations, small farms are struggling to survive a rapidly changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a long time we were seeing an increase in both large and small farms, but in the last ag census we saw a decline in small farms,” said Jeanne Merrill, policy director at California Climate and Agriculture Network, or CalCAN, a coalition of sustainable and organic farming organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diversified small and midsize farmers, who tend to 500 acres or less, can’t rely on the stable of consultants and university extension advisers that help larger operations get through extreme weather events, said Merrill. “It is getting much harder with water constraints, with heat events, with catastrophic wildfire to survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fires aren’t likely to make it through vast acres of irrigated crops on large farms, said Evan Wiig, communications director for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. But, he said, since 2017, the most destructive fire season in California on record at the time, “we’ve seen small farmers hit at an unprecedented scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976684\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976684\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-800x534.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-800x534.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1020x681.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-768x513.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1536x1026.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1-1920x1283.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/JudithEatingFigs-2048x1368-1.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judith Redmond, one of six owners of Full Belly Farm, samples a turkey fig. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wildfires mostly skirted the edges of Full Belly Farm until a few years ago, when the Sand Fire torched a 25-acre field of heirloom wheat on its way to burning thousands of acres. Securing their “extremely expensive” fire insurance is a constant struggle, Redmond said. “Every year is more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s no wonder that small farms are disappearing in California, even as experts say the need for sustainable farming has never been greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sustainable agriculture is “urgently needed” to tackle the environmental and climate crisis, agricultural experts argued in a 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/doi/10.1525/elementa.356/112494/Securing-the-future-of-US-agriculture-The-case-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a>. But the U.S. agricultural system, they wrote, puts practitioners “at a distinct disadvantage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal farm policy is set up to support chemically dependent monocultures through things like crop insurance and university research assistance, said Liz Carlisle, a lead author on the study and assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “It’s definitely not set up for something like a 20-acre diversified vegetable farm with a community-supported agricultural operation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s an entire apparatus built around industrial farming to standardize technologies like synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to maximize production for just a few crops, said study coauthor Ryan Galt, who directs the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at the University of California, Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vast majority of federal money goes to funding commodities like corn and soy that provide cheap raw materials for meat and processed food, Galt said. “There are a patchwork of programs that help out diversified farming systems, but they’re pretty meager compared to those resources that are channeled towards propping up commodity production.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another major barrier to sustainable farming is access to affordable land. Close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/74672/eib-161.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">45%\u003c/a> of California farmland is rented, which vastly increases overhead expenses and makes it harder for farmers to invest in long-term sustainability practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early farmers who moved away from monocultures, harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that contaminate water resources were highly motivated to implement environmentally friendly practices, Galt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do you know the kind of will and intelligence that takes? They had to really go against the grain and be supermotivated,” he said. “There weren’t any incentives for them to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Replacing fossil fuels with biology\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Agriculture accounts for \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">10%\u003c/a> of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from industrial practices used to manage crops and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the work on U.S. farms runs on fossil fuel power, Carlisle said. “The fertility comes from synthetic fertilizer. For the most part, that’s fossil fuel derived. The pest control comes from synthetic pesticides that are fossil fuel derived. And, of course, a lot of work is done by diesel-powered tractors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, smaller farms rely on people power and organisms in the farm system to do the work, Carlisle said. Fertility comes from the manure of an animal or from soil-building cover crops. While pest control comes from planting flowers that attract beneficial insects, or from creating a functioning ecosystem where no single population of organisms gets out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You also have the work that would be done with a diesel-powered tractor more frequently done by people,” Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond and her partners have long experimented with such fossil-free approaches to produce environmentally sustainable, chemical-free food as pioneers of the CSA movement. Everything they do is geared toward farming for “more layers of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They see building soil health as critical not just to fertilizing crops but also to boosting the farm’s resilience to climate change. They avoid or minimize tilling the soil, which supports healthy microbial communities and sequesters carbon. The use of so-called cover crops—non-cash crops planted to prevent soil erosion and nurture soil health—adds organic matter to soil, which helps retain moisture in the event of drought and absorbs water during floods. Using compost and pasture-grazing their sheep also feeds soils while planting hedgerows flush with native vegetation attracts pollinators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This low-carbon, high-touch approach to farming keeps their farmhands employed year-round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Redmond walks along a field of ornamental broomcorn and flowers, sparrows and chickadees dart past dragonflies to a grove of Asian pears. Decades ago, Redmond’s crew started planting bushes, trees and shrubs that would grow naturally in the region to provide habitat and food for native beneficial insects. In turn, the beneficial insects control pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s California Climate Hub highlighted some of the farm’s practices to show growers how they can adapt to changing climate conditions and maintain productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Full Belly Farm has been doing “a lot of really innovative work” experimenting with practices like no-till farming while advocating for practices that nurture the land, said Emilie Winfield, who led the project at the Climate Hub while still a graduate student at the UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a natural choice to partner with them, because they’ve been thinking about these issues for a long time,” said Winfield, who now coordinates the Marin Resource Conservation District’s North Coast Soil Hub. Plus, she added, they’re going to see “fairly severe impacts from climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average maximum temperatures in the region are likely to increase by more than \u003ca href=\"https://cal-adapt.org/tools/annual-averages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3 degrees\u003c/a> Fahrenheit within the next 30 years, according to Cal Adapt, bringing more heat waves, lower soil moisture and more plant stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect their diverse pepper crops, Redmond and her partners erected a large shade structure over two-acres of jalapeños, Jimmy Nardellos and several other pepper varieties. The shade cloth keeps the peppers from getting sunburned, reducing stress on the plants, and plastic mulch retains water in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plants just look absolutely healthy and happy,” Redmond said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some tomatoes have lost their flowers in the heat. No flowers means no fruit. And heat can also disrupt pollination in corn, which loses kernels when pollen fails to find every silk tube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region has seen several searing heat waves this season, which increases water demands. Full Belly Farm has two wells on the property, and in a normal year draws water from the creek that flows along its eastern edge. This is not a normal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly half of the state, including the Capay Valley, is in “exceptional” drought. Redmond’s local water district ended water deliveries that feed the creek and farmers to the south in late June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond said the farm will probably rely on groundwater, as it did when the creek went dry during the devastating five-year drought that ended in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But we’ve really changed our plans for the fall,” Redmond said. “We’re growing less, we’re not going to have cover crops. There’s various pieces of land that we rent that we’re just not going to be able to plant because there’s just not enough water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Creating a sustainability safety net\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For agriculture to reduce its carbon footprint and survive the challenges of a rapidly changing climate, experts like Carlisle and Galt believe, it will need to replace fossil-fuel intensive management with “knowledge-intensive” management. Farmers like Redmond acquired a deep understanding of how to harness the region’s natural resources over years of experimenting with different strategies to figure out how to boost productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the difference between seeing biodiversity as an asset to the farm or a threat, Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In most indigenous food systems, there was not a clear distinction between wild lands, and a farm,” Carlisle said. “Ecological agriculture is a functioning ecosystem that looks, in many ways, like the surrounding natural ecosystem. It’s just managed for the purpose of growing human foods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So-called agroecology requires valuing human knowledge and labor, but the current system has been optimized to minimize both, Carlisle said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less than 2% of the population farms in the United States,” she said. “What we need to be optimizing for in a world where we’re facing climate change, and a lot of other challenges, is minimizing fossil fuel use, and embracing the idea that people can have really good lives and really good jobs on farms, if we actually prioritize that as a society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the approach many European countries have taken, said Galt of UC Davis, referring to initiatives in the \u003ca href=\"https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/farming/organic-farming_en\">European Union\u003c/a>, which has invested in organic farming as the future of its agricultural production. But there’s still not much direct federal support for U.S. farmers who want to pursue sustainable practices, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has a suite of climate smart agriculture programs, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/\">Healthy Soils Program\u003c/a>, which subsidizes practices like cover cropping and no-till farming, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/\">State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program\u003c/a>, or SWEEP, which provides funds for irrigation that conserves water and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those programs ran out of money and didn’t get funded in the pandemic budget that passed last year, said CalCAN’s Merrill. In the budget bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier in the summer, both healthy soils and SWEEP received increased funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are good things, but there was no money yet for farmland conservation or the alternative manure management program,” Merrill said, referring to practices like pasture grazing that reduce potent greenhouse gas emissions in contrast to industrial dairies that store animal waste in large open pits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a historic surplus delaying passage of the final budget, “there’s a lot yet to be decided,” Merrill said. “Will we see funding that prioritizes climate resilience for small and midscale farmers? That’s the outstanding question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when programs offer financial incentives for sustainable practices, the hurdles to accessing those funds can be high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to think about what a system looks like that really supports small and innovative farmers,” said Winfield of the Marin Resource Conservation District. “If the applications are too lengthy or if some of the reporting is too time consuming, we’re putting a lot of demands on farmers’ and ranchers’ time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carlisle believes every sustainable farmer needs access to someone who can answer questions about how to manage vegetation that could fuel wildfires on their property, for example, or help crops tolerate droughts. That technical assistance, she said, should be linked with cost-sharing public funds to help farmers implement recommended measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the things we’re asking farmers to do, in adapting to climate change and mitigating climate change, have tremendous public benefit,” Carlisle said. “We’re asking them to manage public resources like the atmosphere and the soil and the watershed. So we need to have programs like the healthy soils initiative available to pitch in for things that farmers are doing on behalf of all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the funding for those programs is woefully inadequate to cover the scale of transition needed for farmers to adapt to climate change, Carlisle said. If taxpayer money is going to support agriculture, she said, “let’s target it for public benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of insuring commodity crops like corn, for example, farmers could be paid for cover cropping as ecological insurance to mitigate the risk of flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sustainable farmers provide “multiple, pretty massive benefits” for society without compensation, Galt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at Full Belly, you’ve probably greatly reduced the amount of runoff pollution from the farm compared to a conventional farm. You’ve created a ton of wildlife habitat that benefits the area around you and you’re absorbing more water more slowly in the ecosystems, so you’re not contributing to flash floods downstream. And you’re sequestering carbon in the soil, which is benefiting all of us,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Galt added, “They also provide really good wages and benefits to farmworkers, which we don’t often see on farms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the only thing farmers get in return for all these services, Galt said, is the revenue from selling whatever they produce on the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s making it hard for some small farmers to compete in the highly consolidated agricultural industry. A recent survey of dozens of small farms that sell to consumers through farmers markets and CSAs in four mid-Atlantic states found that most farmers earned near poverty-level wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California struggles to cope with another disastrous fire season in the midst of a punishing drought, Galt sees an opportunity. “The costs of climate change are becoming really apparent,” he said. “Can we use this moment and do something quickly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Redmond and Full Belly Farm aren’t waiting for policymakers to give sustainable farmers their due. “We’ve learned to adapt to a changing environment,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In talking with other farmers, she said, she realized that everyone’s in the same day-to-day, season-to-season planning mode, figuring out how to survive the abnormal vagaries of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to keep going. We have to keep harvesting. We have to keep our crew employed,” she said. “I think that’s where most people are at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What California Can Learn From The South About Wildfire Prevention",
"headTitle": "What California Can Learn From The South About Wildfire Prevention | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In early May, flames began to spread through a pine forest, consuming a dense carpet of leaves and underbrush. The burn was the definition of a “good fire,” intentionally ignited to clear vegetation that could fuel future infernos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It happened in the state leading the nation in controlled burns: Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Western states contend with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, some are looking to the Southeastern U.S., where prescribed fire is widespread thanks to policies put in place decades ago. From 1998 to 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/2/2/30/htm\">70% of all controlled burning\u003c/a> in the country was in the Southeast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a continent apart, both regions have a similar need for fire. For thousands of years, forests and woodlands experienced regular burning, both sparked by lightning and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/899422710/to-manage-wildfire-california-looks-to-what-tribes-have-known-all-along\">used by Native American tribes\u003c/a>, which prevented the build up of flammable growth. Without fire, the landscape is prone to intense, potentially devastating wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that risk, Western states have struggled to expand the use of controlled burns. This month, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026137249/with-extreme-fires-burning-forest-service-stops-good-fires-too\">U.S. Forest Service suspended them\u003c/a> because of the extensive fires burning in record-dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, several Western states are moving to adopt the fire policies pioneered by Florida and other Southern states as a hedge against the future. They include training for burn leaders and providing liability protection for them. The bigger challenge is changing the culture around fire, so that residents know that tolerating a little smoke from good fires can help stop the destructive blazes that cloud the air for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have this generational gap in fire knowledge in the Western U.S. that we’re trying to rebuild now,” says Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension. “But Florida and the Southeast still have it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How good fire became routine in the South\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Low-intensity fires were once common across the U.S.. Tribes would burn woodlands to encourage plant growth, improve food and weaving resources, and attract game. In the fast-growing forests of the Southeast, fires would happen every few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After colonization, some settlers in the Southeast adopted similar burning practices on lands taken from tribes. But by the early 1900s, the era of fire suppression began. Burning was seen as a threat to timber harvests. The U.S. Forest Service implemented an edict to extinguish all fires. On billboards and in ads, Smokey Bear spread the idea that fire was the enemy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1960s, land managers realized that many landscapes had become choked with brush, grasses, and small trees. In the Southeast, where the majority of land is privately owned, some residents had continued controlled burning and wanted to see the practice grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re here since the 1800s, my family has been,” says Frank Riley, executive director of the Chestatee-Chattahoochee Resource Conservation and Development Commission, a nonprofit in Demorest, Ga., that works on land management. “They used to light a fire and just let it burn till it quit, wherever over yonder it quit. Because it kept the forest open. The deer had something to eat. The cattle back then had something to eat because it burned all the briars and bushes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990, Florida passed a law to encourage prescribed burns, recognizing that the state would lose significant biodiversity without it. After firestorms burned almost 500,000 acres in 1998, the law was strengthened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Florida set up a certification system for burn managers, also known as “burn bosses,” requiring candidates to get special training on weather and landscape conditions for safe burning. With that certification, burners are protected from liability lawsuits in the rare event a burn gets out of control, unless it’s shown there was “gross negligence” on their part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, 11 Southern states have burn manager certification programs. As a result, controlled burning has become part of the social fabric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city embraces the natural areas that surround it,” says Morgan Varner, director of fire research at \u003ca href=\"https://talltimbers.org/\">Tall Timbers\u003c/a>, a research station and land conservancy in Tallahassee, Fla. “They love the green space and they associate that with the burning that takes place. So there’s a bit of a social license that has to be reborn or restored in the rest of the country that’s really not present.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Varner says many private landowners burn every other year, usually in the spring. As long as the weather and wind conditions are safe, burn bosses can get a required permit in 15 minutes over the phone. In Western states, prescribed burn planning can take weeks or even months in some places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t just accept it there — they look for it,” says Crystal Kolden, a fire scientist at the University of California, Merced. “They demand it, because they know how important it is for maintaining those landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Western states have a long way to go\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Florida has \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/sacc/predictive/intelligence/NationalYTDbyStateandAgency.pdf\">done prescribed burns on more than 1.6 million acres\u003c/a> so far this year. California has only burned around 35,000 acres. The state is 2.5 times larger than Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/13/california-u-s-forest-service-establish-shared-long-term-strategy-to-manage-forests-and-rangelands/\">recently signed an agreement\u003c/a> with the U.S. Forest Service to reduce vegetation on 1 million acres of public lands, but the goal is still out of reach. Experts estimate that tens of millions of acres need addressing statewide, but lack of funding, personnel and political will has limited the work on public lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of California is privately owned, and landowners have had little support from public agencies to conduct burns on their property. Permits from firefighting agencies and air quality regulators can be cumbersome to secure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very important that we have private landowners and community groups involved because they are managing and taking care of the lands around our towns and communities,” Quinn-Davidson says. “They’re critical in this larger vision of California living with fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While federal and state firefighters are protected from liability claims for prescribing burning, most burn bosses on private land in California are unable to get insurance to protect themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I go out and I burn, I have no liability protection,” Quinn-Davidson says. “I’m assuming full responsibility for those projects. And most of the time, we’re doing those projects for public benefit, to reduce wildfire risk, to restore habitat, for cultural reasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California legislators are \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">currently considering a bill\u003c/a> that would protect burners from being charged for the firefighting resources that would be needed if a burn escapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier version of the bill would have copied laws from Southeastern states, protecting burners from civil liability, too, unless they were grossly negligent. After opposition from the insurance industry, that provision was removed. While rare, some prescribed burns have escaped and burned into developed areas, threatening or even destroying homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Western states are beginning to move in the same direction. In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.governor.state.nm.us/2021/03/18/gov-signs-bipartisan-measure-to-improve-forest-management-help-n-m-avoid-catastrophic-fires/\">New Mexico passed a law\u003c/a> limiting liability for prescribed burning and establishing a burn boss training program. \u003ca href=\"https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/SB762\">Oregon passed a bill in July\u003c/a> that established its first burn boss certification, as well as a bill that directs agencies to study issues around liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, several Democratic senators are hoping to help states with added funding from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/National%20Prescribed%20Fire%20Act%20of%202020%20One%20Pager.pdf\">National Prescribed Fire Act of 2021\u003c/a>, which would provide $300 million for federal agency burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Western states have a long way to go, some experts say the resurgence of burning has already begun, led by communities and Native American tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Quinn-Davidson helped lead the first burn manager certification course in California. Fourteen local groups, known as \u003ca href=\"https://calpba.org/\">prescribed burn associations\u003c/a>, recently formed to help private landowners with burns across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is, in some ways, in the dark ages with prescribed fire,” Varner says. “But they’re in a time now, a special time, that they can go from No. 49 in the country to No. 1.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 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=Why+The+South+Is+Decades+Ahead+Of+The+West+In+Wildfire+Prevention&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Another destructive fire season has California searching for ways to prevent it. The Southeast just might have the answers: setting controlled fires before the wildfires come.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In early May, flames began to spread through a pine forest, consuming a dense carpet of leaves and underbrush. The burn was the definition of a “good fire,” intentionally ignited to clear vegetation that could fuel future infernos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It happened in the state leading the nation in controlled burns: Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Western states contend with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, some are looking to the Southeastern U.S., where prescribed fire is widespread thanks to policies put in place decades ago. From 1998 to 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/2/2/30/htm\">70% of all controlled burning\u003c/a> in the country was in the Southeast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a continent apart, both regions have a similar need for fire. For thousands of years, forests and woodlands experienced regular burning, both sparked by lightning and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/899422710/to-manage-wildfire-california-looks-to-what-tribes-have-known-all-along\">used by Native American tribes\u003c/a>, which prevented the build up of flammable growth. Without fire, the landscape is prone to intense, potentially devastating wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that risk, Western states have struggled to expand the use of controlled burns. This month, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026137249/with-extreme-fires-burning-forest-service-stops-good-fires-too\">U.S. Forest Service suspended them\u003c/a> because of the extensive fires burning in record-dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, several Western states are moving to adopt the fire policies pioneered by Florida and other Southern states as a hedge against the future. They include training for burn leaders and providing liability protection for them. The bigger challenge is changing the culture around fire, so that residents know that tolerating a little smoke from good fires can help stop the destructive blazes that cloud the air for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have this generational gap in fire knowledge in the Western U.S. that we’re trying to rebuild now,” says Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension. “But Florida and the Southeast still have it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>How good fire became routine in the South\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Low-intensity fires were once common across the U.S.. Tribes would burn woodlands to encourage plant growth, improve food and weaving resources, and attract game. In the fast-growing forests of the Southeast, fires would happen every few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After colonization, some settlers in the Southeast adopted similar burning practices on lands taken from tribes. But by the early 1900s, the era of fire suppression began. Burning was seen as a threat to timber harvests. The U.S. Forest Service implemented an edict to extinguish all fires. On billboards and in ads, Smokey Bear spread the idea that fire was the enemy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 1960s, land managers realized that many landscapes had become choked with brush, grasses, and small trees. In the Southeast, where the majority of land is privately owned, some residents had continued controlled burning and wanted to see the practice grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re here since the 1800s, my family has been,” says Frank Riley, executive director of the Chestatee-Chattahoochee Resource Conservation and Development Commission, a nonprofit in Demorest, Ga., that works on land management. “They used to light a fire and just let it burn till it quit, wherever over yonder it quit. Because it kept the forest open. The deer had something to eat. The cattle back then had something to eat because it burned all the briars and bushes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990, Florida passed a law to encourage prescribed burns, recognizing that the state would lose significant biodiversity without it. After firestorms burned almost 500,000 acres in 1998, the law was strengthened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Florida set up a certification system for burn managers, also known as “burn bosses,” requiring candidates to get special training on weather and landscape conditions for safe burning. With that certification, burners are protected from liability lawsuits in the rare event a burn gets out of control, unless it’s shown there was “gross negligence” on their part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, 11 Southern states have burn manager certification programs. As a result, controlled burning has become part of the social fabric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city embraces the natural areas that surround it,” says Morgan Varner, director of fire research at \u003ca href=\"https://talltimbers.org/\">Tall Timbers\u003c/a>, a research station and land conservancy in Tallahassee, Fla. “They love the green space and they associate that with the burning that takes place. So there’s a bit of a social license that has to be reborn or restored in the rest of the country that’s really not present.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Varner says many private landowners burn every other year, usually in the spring. As long as the weather and wind conditions are safe, burn bosses can get a required permit in 15 minutes over the phone. In Western states, prescribed burn planning can take weeks or even months in some places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People don’t just accept it there — they look for it,” says Crystal Kolden, a fire scientist at the University of California, Merced. “They demand it, because they know how important it is for maintaining those landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Western states have a long way to go\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Florida has \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/sacc/predictive/intelligence/NationalYTDbyStateandAgency.pdf\">done prescribed burns on more than 1.6 million acres\u003c/a> so far this year. California has only burned around 35,000 acres. The state is 2.5 times larger than Florida.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/13/california-u-s-forest-service-establish-shared-long-term-strategy-to-manage-forests-and-rangelands/\">recently signed an agreement\u003c/a> with the U.S. Forest Service to reduce vegetation on 1 million acres of public lands, but the goal is still out of reach. Experts estimate that tens of millions of acres need addressing statewide, but lack of funding, personnel and political will has limited the work on public lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of California is privately owned, and landowners have had little support from public agencies to conduct burns on their property. Permits from firefighting agencies and air quality regulators can be cumbersome to secure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very important that we have private landowners and community groups involved because they are managing and taking care of the lands around our towns and communities,” Quinn-Davidson says. “They’re critical in this larger vision of California living with fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While federal and state firefighters are protected from liability claims for prescribing burning, most burn bosses on private land in California are unable to get insurance to protect themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I go out and I burn, I have no liability protection,” Quinn-Davidson says. “I’m assuming full responsibility for those projects. And most of the time, we’re doing those projects for public benefit, to reduce wildfire risk, to restore habitat, for cultural reasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California legislators are \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">currently considering a bill\u003c/a> that would protect burners from being charged for the firefighting resources that would be needed if a burn escapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier version of the bill would have copied laws from Southeastern states, protecting burners from civil liability, too, unless they were grossly negligent. After opposition from the insurance industry, that provision was removed. While rare, some prescribed burns have escaped and burned into developed areas, threatening or even destroying homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other Western states are beginning to move in the same direction. In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.governor.state.nm.us/2021/03/18/gov-signs-bipartisan-measure-to-improve-forest-management-help-n-m-avoid-catastrophic-fires/\">New Mexico passed a law\u003c/a> limiting liability for prescribed burning and establishing a burn boss training program. \u003ca href=\"https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/SB762\">Oregon passed a bill in July\u003c/a> that established its first burn boss certification, as well as a bill that directs agencies to study issues around liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, several Democratic senators are hoping to help states with added funding from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/National%20Prescribed%20Fire%20Act%20of%202020%20One%20Pager.pdf\">National Prescribed Fire Act of 2021\u003c/a>, which would provide $300 million for federal agency burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Western states have a long way to go, some experts say the resurgence of burning has already begun, led by communities and Native American tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, Quinn-Davidson helped lead the first burn manager certification course in California. Fourteen local groups, known as \u003ca href=\"https://calpba.org/\">prescribed burn associations\u003c/a>, recently formed to help private landowners with burns across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is, in some ways, in the dark ages with prescribed fire,” Varner says. “But they’re in a time now, a special time, that they can go from No. 49 in the country to No. 1.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 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=Why+The+South+Is+Decades+Ahead+Of+The+West+In+Wildfire+Prevention&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-to-get-or-make-a-free-low-cost-air-purifier-for-your-home",
"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home",
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"headTitle": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KQEDscience/status/1432805403394519040?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jrodriguez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez\u003c/a> contributed reporting to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Bay Area air regulators offer free purifiers for wildfire smoke. Here's how to qualify, or make a DIY filter at home.",
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"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jrodriguez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez\u003c/a> contributed reporting to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Showing Climate Change as it Happens': A Veteran Photojournalist on Capturing California's Intensifying Wildfires",
"headTitle": "‘Showing Climate Change as it Happens’: A Veteran Photojournalist on Capturing California’s Intensifying Wildfires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Kent Porter’s specialty as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is capturing images of wildfires, but he broke format to write an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kent-porter-capturing-climate-change-on-the-front-lines-of-the-dixie-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essay\u003c/a> about how he sees reporting on fire as documenting climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve just passed my 34th year as a photojournalist with The Press Democrat,” he writes. “Every year I think fire season can’t get worse, and it does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porter writes about a “wake-up moment” in 2015, when the Valley Fire and two other wildfires torched Lake County, where he grew up. He describes it as “a preview of the new era of catastrophic wildfire in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976495\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1023px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976495 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1023\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg 1023w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-800x457.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-1020x582.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-160x91.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke from the Dixie Fire hangs in the air as television lights eerily illuminate a burned hotel and restaurant in downtown Greenville. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter recalls fire racing through “bug-killed and parched forest atop Cobb Mountain before storming into Middletown, destroying more than 1,300 homes in all and killing four people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since then, Porter writes, he has felt a sense of responsibility to show how that “threat is escalating amid the onslaught of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Porter spoke with KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon about what it has been like covering this summer’s Dixie Fire, the largest single fire in California history, and the first recorded blaze to burn clear across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg\" alt=\"A fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-1020x773.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-160x121.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-768x582.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tehachapi Valley 11 fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon, July 25, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has it been like on the lines of the Dixie Fire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went up to the Dixie Fire twice, once on my own and once for the newspaper. I realized that it was going to be one of the biggest fires that we’ve covered.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Kent Porter, photojournalist\"]‘The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.’[/pullquote]It was amazing to see the amount of damage that was there. You never really get used to it, even after covering all these fires. One part of the fire blew up and burned 13,000 acres in an afternoon. There was a fire tornado. It’s amazing how dry everything is. The part of the fire that I was on had burned in 2009 and it went through there like it had not burned before, like a virgin forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Describe how you do this, because I don’t think people realize what an individual photographer has to do.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the advent of these climate change-induced fires, I prepare very carefully. I have all the things firefighters need to get on the line except for the firefighting tools. We carry fire shelters. We wear helmets, goggles, and gloves. When you’re in the fire, you’re pretty much there with the firefighters, documenting what they do. And that’s the reason I do it. I want to show people that fighting a fire is not all dropping fire retardant from airplanes and water from helicopters. It’s about the man hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with a fire like the Dixie Fire, you can only manage it. It’s hard to put it out, there’s just no way. The fire does what it wants to do on any given day. All the fires that we’ve experienced within the last six years since the Valley Fire, they just run until they want to stop running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976500\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg\" alt=\"United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-1020x643.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-160x101.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-768x484.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire as it enters Indian Valley, Monday night, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mentioned the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County. What changed then when it comes to wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed changes around 2012. Almost every wildland fire that I went to was involving structures, which was odd because the first several years that I did this job, I covered grass fires, but they were in unincorporated areas and there were no structures around. I just did it as part of my job, even though it was becoming a little bit more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"wildfires\"]In September of 2015, the Valley Fire went off. That was my wake up call, seeing the rates of spread and the flame lengths and how fast the fire moved in one afternoon, it just blew me away. I realized, we’re in a different era now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We keep hearing this from veteran firefighters. Fire behavior is off the charts, extreme this year and in recent years. But they often attribute it to forest management practices as opposed to climate change. What do you think?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s both. The forest management could be stronger. Climate change definitely has something to do with it. But with forest management, we’re so far behind right now, it’s going to take a long time to catch up. Climate change has exacerbated the problem. After you burn, you’ve got to go back every couple of years and retreat to that area. It’s a constant cycle to go on forever, really. If we want these fires to become under control, it’s something that we’re going to have to do. We have to face it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When do you really get scared? How do you decide that it’s too dangerous, that the photos aren’t worth it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good rule of thumb — if I drive down a road and I see the fire laying over the road and the wind has caught it, I don’t go in there. I will go in after the fire burns all the brush. I’m really careful about where I drive my vehicle. I always make sure I have two exit points. These big fires, they create pyrocumulous columns that go up 40,000 feet, dropping embers behind you, everywhere. Spot fires start in front of you, behind you, on the side. I’m very cautious about that. If the firefighters leave, it’s a good idea for me to leave, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg\" alt=\"Garth Foster, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-1020x1090.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-160x171.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-768x821.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garth Foster, who fells trees for the Barry Mickleburgh Tree Company, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You have quite a following on Twitter, and Santa Rosa newspaper readers, locals, they know you and your work. Why did you write that essay now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our communities in California suffer a great deal of PTSD when the wind blows, when it gets hot. We’re very fire aware in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. I felt like I owed it to the readers of the Press Democrat, to go out there and to kind of show them what it’s like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We photograph and report on things that go on in Sonoma County about our fires, but this is a statewide problem. Whether you agree if there’s climate change or not, fire behavior has changed within the last six years, in our region. It’s worse, much worse, off the charts, worse. We’re showing climate change as it happens, witnessing history. We’re witnessing climate change on a daily basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976499 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman in shorts, tank top and pink hair sits in front seat of truck cuddling a dog while another dog sits in passenger seat\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-160x100.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-768x480.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With most of her personal possessions packed in the truck bed, Chester resident Regina Rutledge takes comfort in Allie and Sally Sue, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You talk about a sense of camaraderie and an obligation to the firefighters that you see out in the field that you take pictures of?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They really work hard on the front lines. Imagine being on a fire for 24 hours and breathing the smoke for 24 hours. Think about last year when we had our orange sunrise in the Bay Area. That’s what firefighters live with every single day on a campaign fire. If you’re on a strike team, you’re up there for 15 or 21 days, and you’re breathing that smoke all day long. All night long. When you sleep, when you eat. I want to show people the kind of conditions that firefighters must work in to save communities. I just want to tell these human stories.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Kent Porter’s specialty as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is capturing images of wildfires, but he broke format to write an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kent-porter-capturing-climate-change-on-the-front-lines-of-the-dixie-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essay\u003c/a> about how he sees reporting on fire as documenting climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve just passed my 34th year as a photojournalist with The Press Democrat,” he writes. “Every year I think fire season can’t get worse, and it does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porter writes about a “wake-up moment” in 2015, when the Valley Fire and two other wildfires torched Lake County, where he grew up. He describes it as “a preview of the new era of catastrophic wildfire in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976495\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1023px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976495 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1023\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg 1023w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-800x457.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-1020x582.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-160x91.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke from the Dixie Fire hangs in the air as television lights eerily illuminate a burned hotel and restaurant in downtown Greenville. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter recalls fire racing through “bug-killed and parched forest atop Cobb Mountain before storming into Middletown, destroying more than 1,300 homes in all and killing four people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since then, Porter writes, he has felt a sense of responsibility to show how that “threat is escalating amid the onslaught of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Porter spoke with KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon about what it has been like covering this summer’s Dixie Fire, the largest single fire in California history, and the first recorded blaze to burn clear across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg\" alt=\"A fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-1020x773.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-160x121.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-768x582.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tehachapi Valley 11 fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon, July 25, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has it been like on the lines of the Dixie Fire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went up to the Dixie Fire twice, once on my own and once for the newspaper. I realized that it was going to be one of the biggest fires that we’ve covered.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It was amazing to see the amount of damage that was there. You never really get used to it, even after covering all these fires. One part of the fire blew up and burned 13,000 acres in an afternoon. There was a fire tornado. It’s amazing how dry everything is. The part of the fire that I was on had burned in 2009 and it went through there like it had not burned before, like a virgin forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Describe how you do this, because I don’t think people realize what an individual photographer has to do.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the advent of these climate change-induced fires, I prepare very carefully. I have all the things firefighters need to get on the line except for the firefighting tools. We carry fire shelters. We wear helmets, goggles, and gloves. When you’re in the fire, you’re pretty much there with the firefighters, documenting what they do. And that’s the reason I do it. I want to show people that fighting a fire is not all dropping fire retardant from airplanes and water from helicopters. It’s about the man hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with a fire like the Dixie Fire, you can only manage it. It’s hard to put it out, there’s just no way. The fire does what it wants to do on any given day. All the fires that we’ve experienced within the last six years since the Valley Fire, they just run until they want to stop running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976500\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg\" alt=\"United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-1020x643.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-160x101.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-768x484.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire as it enters Indian Valley, Monday night, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mentioned the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County. What changed then when it comes to wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed changes around 2012. Almost every wildland fire that I went to was involving structures, which was odd because the first several years that I did this job, I covered grass fires, but they were in unincorporated areas and there were no structures around. I just did it as part of my job, even though it was becoming a little bit more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In September of 2015, the Valley Fire went off. That was my wake up call, seeing the rates of spread and the flame lengths and how fast the fire moved in one afternoon, it just blew me away. I realized, we’re in a different era now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We keep hearing this from veteran firefighters. Fire behavior is off the charts, extreme this year and in recent years. But they often attribute it to forest management practices as opposed to climate change. What do you think?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s both. The forest management could be stronger. Climate change definitely has something to do with it. But with forest management, we’re so far behind right now, it’s going to take a long time to catch up. Climate change has exacerbated the problem. After you burn, you’ve got to go back every couple of years and retreat to that area. It’s a constant cycle to go on forever, really. If we want these fires to become under control, it’s something that we’re going to have to do. We have to face it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When do you really get scared? How do you decide that it’s too dangerous, that the photos aren’t worth it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good rule of thumb — if I drive down a road and I see the fire laying over the road and the wind has caught it, I don’t go in there. I will go in after the fire burns all the brush. I’m really careful about where I drive my vehicle. I always make sure I have two exit points. These big fires, they create pyrocumulous columns that go up 40,000 feet, dropping embers behind you, everywhere. Spot fires start in front of you, behind you, on the side. I’m very cautious about that. If the firefighters leave, it’s a good idea for me to leave, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg\" alt=\"Garth Foster, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-1020x1090.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-160x171.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-768x821.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garth Foster, who fells trees for the Barry Mickleburgh Tree Company, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You have quite a following on Twitter, and Santa Rosa newspaper readers, locals, they know you and your work. Why did you write that essay now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our communities in California suffer a great deal of PTSD when the wind blows, when it gets hot. We’re very fire aware in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. I felt like I owed it to the readers of the Press Democrat, to go out there and to kind of show them what it’s like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We photograph and report on things that go on in Sonoma County about our fires, but this is a statewide problem. Whether you agree if there’s climate change or not, fire behavior has changed within the last six years, in our region. It’s worse, much worse, off the charts, worse. We’re showing climate change as it happens, witnessing history. We’re witnessing climate change on a daily basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976499 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman in shorts, tank top and pink hair sits in front seat of truck cuddling a dog while another dog sits in passenger seat\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-160x100.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-768x480.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With most of her personal possessions packed in the truck bed, Chester resident Regina Rutledge takes comfort in Allie and Sally Sue, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You talk about a sense of camaraderie and an obligation to the firefighters that you see out in the field that you take pictures of?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They really work hard on the front lines. Imagine being on a fire for 24 hours and breathing the smoke for 24 hours. Think about last year when we had our orange sunrise in the Bay Area. That’s what firefighters live with every single day on a campaign fire. If you’re on a strike team, you’re up there for 15 or 21 days, and you’re breathing that smoke all day long. All night long. When you sleep, when you eat. I want to show people the kind of conditions that firefighters must work in to save communities. I just want to tell these human stories.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Wildfire Smoke The 'Greatest Challenge' Facing California Wine Industry",
"headTitle": "Wildfire Smoke The ‘Greatest Challenge’ Facing California Wine Industry | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In August 2013, Ron and Cheryl Harms were eagerly anticipating the third harvest from their boutique vineyard in the Sierra Foothills when the massive, fast-moving Rim Fire zigzagged perilously close to their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple’s four-acre Yosemite Cellars vineyard sits on a rocky hillside surrounded by forest about 20 miles west of Yosemite National Park. From their perch high above the valley, the Harms watched helplessly as planes released flame retardant around the gathering firestorm and thick clouds of smoke settled on their ripening grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we convinced ourselves that we were probably going to be okay, personally, and that our property was going to be okay, it was fascinating to just see where the fire was going and how it was being fought,” said Ron Harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fascinating yet terrifying, said Cheryl Harms, fighting back tears. “I have PTSD from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rim Fire, at the time California’s third-largest wildfire, torched more than a quarter of a million acres of Sierra forestland, including nearly 80,000 acres in Yosemite. The inferno spared the Harms’ home and vineyard. But it left the couple grappling with a grape affliction that has emerged as the West Coast wine industry’s latest scourge: smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our grapes were very smoky,” said Cheryl Harms. When they had juice from their grapes analyzed, she said, “it was smokier than anything they’d ever tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there was little they could do to remove the taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause extensive damage throughout the agricultural industry, destroying crops and killing livestock. But grapes appear to be the only commodity affected by smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winemakers intentionally add subtle smoky notes to increase the complexity of wines by aging them in toasted oak barrels. But wildfire smoke can make wines undrinkable. Smoke-tainted wines have unpleasant aromas often described as disinfectant or burnt rubber and taste “like licking an ashtray,” experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine being a 5-year-old who thinks it’s fun to put dad’s old cigarette in their mouth,” said Anita Oberholster, an enology extension specialist who studies smoke taint at the University of California, Davis. Smoke taint, like sucking on a cigarette butt, assaults the back of your throat with a trademark campfire smoke or ashtray quality, she said. “The only thing I’ve ever seen that gives you that character is smoke exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke taint can ruin a wine as surely as a bad cork. And as climate change increases the likelihood of drought-fueled conflagrations in fire-prone California, wildfire’s effects on grape quality have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the state’s $43 billion wine industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic was an enormous challenge,” said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. “But now, without question, I think the threat of wildfire in many different ways is the greatest challenge of the day for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising global temperatures have made droughts and heatwaves more common and intense, fueling ever more devastating wildfires. Last year, thousands of drought-primed fires scorched more than 4 million acres in California—close to 40% of the national total—making 2020 the state’s largest wildfire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still in the throes of severe drought, nearly a million and a half acres have already burned in the state this year, according to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After several devastating fire seasons, many California vintners and wineries found themselves either \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/denied-property-insurance-napa-valley-wineries-extremely-vulnerable-this-fire-season/article_709a9690-11bf-54aa-b603-6a6a09fbc147.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denied fire insurance\u003c/a> because they were too risky or priced out of coverage as rates skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause serious economic losses through direct damage to vineyards and wineries. But vineyards tend to be fairly resistant to the flames, Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In wine country vineyards have demonstrated themselves to be good fire breaks. They can really help prevent the movement of fire,” he said. “But the smoke is a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losses incurred from smoke drifting into vineyards before harvest \u003ca href=\"https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/07c52619-2f6a-44a6-8502-2a67f238abd7/Krstic_et_al-2015-Australian_Journal_of_Grape_and_Wine_Research.pdf\">far outweigh\u003c/a> direct losses from fires, industry analysts say\u003cstrong>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With fire season already in high gear, scientists are scrambling to help growers figure out how to protect their harvests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Adapting to smoke\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Scientists first recognized wildfire smoke’s growing threat to wine grapes less than two decades ago, around the same time \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change was driving\u003c/a> more and more destructive fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires in southeastern Australia followed one of the most severe droughts on record, and left winegrowing regions shrouded in smoke for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inundated by inquiries for help from wineries and grape growers, the Australian Wine Research Institute ran experimental trials to understand the nature and extent of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few vineyards sustained fire damage, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2003_AWRI_Annual_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">institute found\u003c/a>, but damage from smoke exposure was widespread. Institute scientists identified compounds associated with smoke taint’s hallmark ashtray qualities. But solutions, they concluded, “remain elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, Australia had the brunt of the wildfires,” said Oberholster, of UC Davis. “And now since 2017, the West Coast is in the same boat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California endured “one of the deadliest and most destructive fire seasons in modern history,” according to Cal Fire. Fewer fires burned the following year, but they tore through hundreds of thousands more acres to cause some of the worst destruction ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Harms and Eric Harms stand in front of big oak wine barrels. \" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of the Harms’ sons, Ryan (left) and Eric Harms, took over management of Yosemite Cellars in June. \u003ccite>(Yosemite Cellars/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Devastating firestorms were no longer an anomaly in wine country, but the new norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ron Harms looked out his window in early July, he could see smoke on the horizon. “It’s from the Dixie Fire, I presume, though there are also some fires in Yosemite that might be contributing to that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dixie Fire, now California’s second-largest fire on record, incinerated most of the small Sierra Nevada town of Greenville a few weeks ago, and has barely slowed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s little Harms can do about the smoke, he said. “Our reality as a grower and wine producer is that we just have to roll with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After yet another record-breaking fire season in 2020, wine grape growers suffered substantial economic losses due to concerns about smoke exposure. An estimated 165,000 to 325,000 tons of California wine grapes went unharvested last year, contributing to more than $600 million in losses from wildfire and smoke, according to an analysis \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/07/08/cawg-legal-analysis-2020-winegrape-rejections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">released in July\u003c/a> by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Allied Grape Growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many wineries rejected growers’ wine grapes, the analysis found, “often with little evidence to support the rejection and without basis in the grape purchase contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major problem stemmed from fuzzy language in contracts about “quality standards.” Contracts drawn up before severe wildfires had become a recurring wine country hazard did not mention smoke exposure. More recent contracts referenced “smoke taint” or “smoke compounds,” without clear definitions or evaluation criteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lack of understanding and science around smoke issues has meant that people are acting very conservatively and rejecting grapes,” Aguirre said. “The purpose of our report is to highlight that, regrettably, some of these actions by wineries were just inconsistent with contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires are contributing in a substantial way to economic losses in the industry, Aguirre added. “And we’ve got to change the way we’re doing things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, Aguirre and other industry leaders from California, Oregon and Washington formed the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force to advocate for federal funding for research on managing smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force won a $2 million grant to support smoke exposure research last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, and expects an additional $5 million for research when the 2022 federal appropriations bill passes. The hope is to find ways to predict the risk of smoke taint in the vineyard and mitigate its effects in the winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re optimistic that funding for research will help a great deal,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Dissecting smoke’s effects\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Oberholster is among the scientists leading that research. One of her top priorities will be to identify objective markers of smoke-affected grapes. The task is complicated by the fact that some of the same chemical compounds associated with taint occur naturally in berries at levels that vary among grape varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the growers’ contracts talk about “elevated” levels, Oberholster said. But to know what’s elevated, you need to know what’s normal. “We need to figure out a baseline for each variety to figure out what’s normal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations of the compounds vary seasonally, so it will take multiple seasons to get an accurate picture of what’s normal. Australian scientists identified markers for their top 12 varieties, but it took them seven years because wildfire smoke kept interfering with their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oberholster had been studying a grapevine virus in an experimental Napa vineyard when the 2017 firestorms broke out. She couldn’t get to her plot for 10 days, as wildfire smoke settled on her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when my smoke exposure research started,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "As climate change brings longer, more destructive fire seasons, the California wine industry scrambles to protect vineyards from the dreaded taint of smoke.",
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"description": "As climate change brings longer, more destructive fire seasons, the California wine industry scrambles to protect vineyards from the dreaded taint of smoke.",
"title": "Wildfire Smoke The 'Greatest Challenge' Facing California Wine Industry | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In August 2013, Ron and Cheryl Harms were eagerly anticipating the third harvest from their boutique vineyard in the Sierra Foothills when the massive, fast-moving Rim Fire zigzagged perilously close to their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple’s four-acre Yosemite Cellars vineyard sits on a rocky hillside surrounded by forest about 20 miles west of Yosemite National Park. From their perch high above the valley, the Harms watched helplessly as planes released flame retardant around the gathering firestorm and thick clouds of smoke settled on their ripening grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we convinced ourselves that we were probably going to be okay, personally, and that our property was going to be okay, it was fascinating to just see where the fire was going and how it was being fought,” said Ron Harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fascinating yet terrifying, said Cheryl Harms, fighting back tears. “I have PTSD from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rim Fire, at the time California’s third-largest wildfire, torched more than a quarter of a million acres of Sierra forestland, including nearly 80,000 acres in Yosemite. The inferno spared the Harms’ home and vineyard. But it left the couple grappling with a grape affliction that has emerged as the West Coast wine industry’s latest scourge: smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our grapes were very smoky,” said Cheryl Harms. When they had juice from their grapes analyzed, she said, “it was smokier than anything they’d ever tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there was little they could do to remove the taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause extensive damage throughout the agricultural industry, destroying crops and killing livestock. But grapes appear to be the only commodity affected by smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winemakers intentionally add subtle smoky notes to increase the complexity of wines by aging them in toasted oak barrels. But wildfire smoke can make wines undrinkable. Smoke-tainted wines have unpleasant aromas often described as disinfectant or burnt rubber and taste “like licking an ashtray,” experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine being a 5-year-old who thinks it’s fun to put dad’s old cigarette in their mouth,” said Anita Oberholster, an enology extension specialist who studies smoke taint at the University of California, Davis. Smoke taint, like sucking on a cigarette butt, assaults the back of your throat with a trademark campfire smoke or ashtray quality, she said. “The only thing I’ve ever seen that gives you that character is smoke exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke taint can ruin a wine as surely as a bad cork. And as climate change increases the likelihood of drought-fueled conflagrations in fire-prone California, wildfire’s effects on grape quality have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the state’s $43 billion wine industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic was an enormous challenge,” said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. “But now, without question, I think the threat of wildfire in many different ways is the greatest challenge of the day for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising global temperatures have made droughts and heatwaves more common and intense, fueling ever more devastating wildfires. Last year, thousands of drought-primed fires scorched more than 4 million acres in California—close to 40% of the national total—making 2020 the state’s largest wildfire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still in the throes of severe drought, nearly a million and a half acres have already burned in the state this year, according to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After several devastating fire seasons, many California vintners and wineries found themselves either \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/denied-property-insurance-napa-valley-wineries-extremely-vulnerable-this-fire-season/article_709a9690-11bf-54aa-b603-6a6a09fbc147.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denied fire insurance\u003c/a> because they were too risky or priced out of coverage as rates skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause serious economic losses through direct damage to vineyards and wineries. But vineyards tend to be fairly resistant to the flames, Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In wine country vineyards have demonstrated themselves to be good fire breaks. They can really help prevent the movement of fire,” he said. “But the smoke is a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losses incurred from smoke drifting into vineyards before harvest \u003ca href=\"https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/07c52619-2f6a-44a6-8502-2a67f238abd7/Krstic_et_al-2015-Australian_Journal_of_Grape_and_Wine_Research.pdf\">far outweigh\u003c/a> direct losses from fires, industry analysts say\u003cstrong>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With fire season already in high gear, scientists are scrambling to help growers figure out how to protect their harvests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Adapting to smoke\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Scientists first recognized wildfire smoke’s growing threat to wine grapes less than two decades ago, around the same time \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change was driving\u003c/a> more and more destructive fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires in southeastern Australia followed one of the most severe droughts on record, and left winegrowing regions shrouded in smoke for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inundated by inquiries for help from wineries and grape growers, the Australian Wine Research Institute ran experimental trials to understand the nature and extent of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few vineyards sustained fire damage, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2003_AWRI_Annual_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">institute found\u003c/a>, but damage from smoke exposure was widespread. Institute scientists identified compounds associated with smoke taint’s hallmark ashtray qualities. But solutions, they concluded, “remain elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, Australia had the brunt of the wildfires,” said Oberholster, of UC Davis. “And now since 2017, the West Coast is in the same boat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California endured “one of the deadliest and most destructive fire seasons in modern history,” according to Cal Fire. Fewer fires burned the following year, but they tore through hundreds of thousands more acres to cause some of the worst destruction ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Harms and Eric Harms stand in front of big oak wine barrels. \" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of the Harms’ sons, Ryan (left) and Eric Harms, took over management of Yosemite Cellars in June. \u003ccite>(Yosemite Cellars/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Devastating firestorms were no longer an anomaly in wine country, but the new norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ron Harms looked out his window in early July, he could see smoke on the horizon. “It’s from the Dixie Fire, I presume, though there are also some fires in Yosemite that might be contributing to that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dixie Fire, now California’s second-largest fire on record, incinerated most of the small Sierra Nevada town of Greenville a few weeks ago, and has barely slowed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s little Harms can do about the smoke, he said. “Our reality as a grower and wine producer is that we just have to roll with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After yet another record-breaking fire season in 2020, wine grape growers suffered substantial economic losses due to concerns about smoke exposure. An estimated 165,000 to 325,000 tons of California wine grapes went unharvested last year, contributing to more than $600 million in losses from wildfire and smoke, according to an analysis \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/07/08/cawg-legal-analysis-2020-winegrape-rejections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">released in July\u003c/a> by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Allied Grape Growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many wineries rejected growers’ wine grapes, the analysis found, “often with little evidence to support the rejection and without basis in the grape purchase contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major problem stemmed from fuzzy language in contracts about “quality standards.” Contracts drawn up before severe wildfires had become a recurring wine country hazard did not mention smoke exposure. More recent contracts referenced “smoke taint” or “smoke compounds,” without clear definitions or evaluation criteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lack of understanding and science around smoke issues has meant that people are acting very conservatively and rejecting grapes,” Aguirre said. “The purpose of our report is to highlight that, regrettably, some of these actions by wineries were just inconsistent with contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires are contributing in a substantial way to economic losses in the industry, Aguirre added. “And we’ve got to change the way we’re doing things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, Aguirre and other industry leaders from California, Oregon and Washington formed the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force to advocate for federal funding for research on managing smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force won a $2 million grant to support smoke exposure research last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, and expects an additional $5 million for research when the 2022 federal appropriations bill passes. The hope is to find ways to predict the risk of smoke taint in the vineyard and mitigate its effects in the winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re optimistic that funding for research will help a great deal,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Dissecting smoke’s effects\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Oberholster is among the scientists leading that research. One of her top priorities will be to identify objective markers of smoke-affected grapes. The task is complicated by the fact that some of the same chemical compounds associated with taint occur naturally in berries at levels that vary among grape varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the growers’ contracts talk about “elevated” levels, Oberholster said. But to know what’s elevated, you need to know what’s normal. “We need to figure out a baseline for each variety to figure out what’s normal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations of the compounds vary seasonally, so it will take multiple seasons to get an accurate picture of what’s normal. Australian scientists identified markers for their top 12 varieties, but it took them seven years because wildfire smoke kept interfering with their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oberholster had been studying a grapevine virus in an experimental Napa vineyard when the 2017 firestorms broke out. She couldn’t get to her plot for 10 days, as wildfire smoke settled on her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when my smoke exposure research started,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In Berkeley Visit, U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm Says U.S. Must ‘Act With Urgency’ to Reduce Planet-Warming Emissions",
"headTitle": "In Berkeley Visit, U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm Says U.S. Must ‘Act With Urgency’ to Reduce Planet-Warming Emissions | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In her first official visit as the nation’s top energy official, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm returned to Berkeley last week to promote the Biden administration’s clean energy agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Granholm, a UC Berkeley graduate and former scholar at the Goldman School of Public Policy, on Friday reviewed desalination and battery storage technology innovations at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), where she once worked as a project scientist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lab is doing amazing research on some of the biggest problems facing California,” she said. “There’s research that they’re doing here that is directly applicable to people’s lives. We want to take these solutions to scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a subsequent interview with KQED, Granholm said the U.S. needs to “act with urgency” to reduce its massive consumption of fossil fuels that produce planet-warming gas emissions, sparking more frequent extreme weather events, like the devastating wildfires now burning across California and throughout the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her visit, which included a tour of several solar-powered homes in Berkeley, also comes on the heels of the latest climate assessment from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976184/a-major-report-warns-climate-change-is-accelerating-and-humans-must-cut-emissions-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a major report \u003c/a>that details the dangerously accelerating pace of climate change and underscores the urgent need for humans to dramatically reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The West is on fire, our hair should be on fire,” Granholm said. “If this [report] isn’t an exclamation point, if this isn’t a flashing code red on the fact that we have to act with urgency, I don’t know what is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A banner takeaway from the report, she noted: We still have time to stave off catastrophic warming this century. And doing so, she said, requires major infrastructure upgrades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have got to get clean energy technology on our transmission grid,” Granholm said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976455 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (third from right) and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland (third from left), speak with scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Aug. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Residential solar, she added, is crucial to meeting the Biden administration’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Solar is part of the lowest hanging fruit of how we’re going to deploy the number of gigawatts that the United States needs,” said Granholm, who visited California less than two weeks after the U.S. Senate passed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026081880/senate-passes-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill\">$1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package\u003c/a> that would send billions of dollars to the state for highway, bridges, and public transportation projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976456\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976456 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Advanced Light Source (ALS), a scientific user facility at the Berkeley Lab. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Berkeley Lab estimates that 40% of U.S. electricity generation could come from solar by 2035. It’s roughly 3% today. How do we get from here to there?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to make sure that we have the level of resiliency and capacity on the electric grid, that it is able to take on that clean energy generation. We need to be able to empower people to be able to put solar on their homes, seamlessly and affordably, so that we have distributed electricity [on-site generation] through solar on people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One of the most successful California climate policies is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/renewables-portfolio-standard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Renewables Portfolio Standard\u003c/a>, which requires all utilities in the state to source half of their electricity sales from clean, renewable sources\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/renewables-portfolio-standard\">.\u003c/a> The U.S. Senate’s infrastructure bill left out a similar type of policy. Will the Biden administration support an infrastructure bill without a mandate for utilities to buy clean energy?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The president 100% supports a clean electricity standard that is similar to what you have in California. He could not get bipartisan agreement for it in the bipartisan bill. But there is a second step, which is the Build Back Better agenda, which is also known as reconciliation. Ridiculous word, but nonetheless, it is in that [Senate bill that can pass by a simple majority], and the president is very much pushing for a robust electricity standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s pushing for it because it’s great for the planet, but he also sees the economic opportunity for the country in that. All of the nation’s solar panels now that are on people’s roofs are made elsewhere. And we simply allowed that to happen. And the president is saying no more. We are not going to watch our manufacturing capability just walk away. Incentivizing through tax credits, solar, wind, clean energy technologies, so that we can be competitive globally and we can deploy those technologies in the United States, is all part of that agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976457 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During a tour of a solar-powered Berkeley home on Aug. 20, 2021, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm discusses the Biden administration’s efforts to streamline the ability of local governments to approve residential solar installation permits. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Another item not in the Senate’s infrastructure bill is the Civilian Climate Corps. In June, California teenagers \u003c/b>\u003ca style=\"font-weight: bold\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975362/young-activists-march-from-paradise-to-sf-in-100-degree-heat-to-protest-climate-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">marched for weeks from Paradise to San Francisco\u003c/a>\u003cb>, demanding that Congress pass legislation by the end of summer 2021 to fund this initiative. What do you say to them?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are right and the president agrees with them. And that’s why that policy, too, is in this second step [reconciliation bill]. If a Civilian Climate Corps is funded, [Biden’s] goal is to put a whole new diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands, our waters, to bolster community resilience, to advance environmental justice, all the while paving the way for good-paying union jobs. President Biden sees that as a fundamental element to the climate portions of his agenda. And he’s pushing for that in Congress as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The president signed an order pushing for 50% of vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. How do you sell folks on electric vehicles who see them as a lifestyle choice for wealthy city dwellers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"clean-energy\"]We need to make sure that these vehicles are affordable for people. And one of the strategies in doing that is at the point of purchase. When you go to a dealer, you don’t want this electric vehicle to be more expensive than a regular gas-powered vehicle. [People should] get a refundable tax credit right there, to bring down the cost so that there is parity between electric vehicle cost and regular gasoline vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You also have to make sure that people in all areas, in lower-income areas, in rural areas, have access to be able to fuel those vehicles. And that means charging stations. In that bipartisan bill that was passed by the Senate, there was $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations. California, by the way, is going to get $384 million for electric vehicle charging out of that bill. The president is all in on making it easy for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are you pushing for a sped up timeline on reducing U.S. carbon emissions based on the release of the IPCC’s latest climate report?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, 1,000%. We have to act with urgency on eliminating methane emissions and carbon emissions. We have to act with urgency on deploying these technologies that are coming out of our labs and our private sector. We have got to get this clean energy technology on our transmission grid. The administration feels this sense of urgency, which is why the president has put out these big, hairy, audacious goals of getting to 100% clean electricity by 2035, getting to a net zero-carbon economy by 2050. And he wants to lead the world and demonstrate that we can do what we are calling others to do, which is, of course, to meet their global commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Calling the U.N.’s latest climate assessment a \"flashing code red,\" Granholm said the U.S. needs to immediately reduce carbon and methane emissions. ",
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"description": "Calling the U.N.’s latest climate assessment a "flashing code red," Granholm said the U.S. needs to immediately reduce carbon and methane emissions. ",
"title": "In Berkeley Visit, U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm Says U.S. Must ‘Act With Urgency’ to Reduce Planet-Warming Emissions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In her first official visit as the nation’s top energy official, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm returned to Berkeley last week to promote the Biden administration’s clean energy agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Granholm, a UC Berkeley graduate and former scholar at the Goldman School of Public Policy, on Friday reviewed desalination and battery storage technology innovations at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), where she once worked as a project scientist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This lab is doing amazing research on some of the biggest problems facing California,” she said. “There’s research that they’re doing here that is directly applicable to people’s lives. We want to take these solutions to scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a subsequent interview with KQED, Granholm said the U.S. needs to “act with urgency” to reduce its massive consumption of fossil fuels that produce planet-warming gas emissions, sparking more frequent extreme weather events, like the devastating wildfires now burning across California and throughout the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her visit, which included a tour of several solar-powered homes in Berkeley, also comes on the heels of the latest climate assessment from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976184/a-major-report-warns-climate-change-is-accelerating-and-humans-must-cut-emissions-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a major report \u003c/a>that details the dangerously accelerating pace of climate change and underscores the urgent need for humans to dramatically reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The West is on fire, our hair should be on fire,” Granholm said. “If this [report] isn’t an exclamation point, if this isn’t a flashing code red on the fact that we have to act with urgency, I don’t know what is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A banner takeaway from the report, she noted: We still have time to stave off catastrophic warming this century. And doing so, she said, requires major infrastructure upgrades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have got to get clean energy technology on our transmission grid,” Granholm said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976455\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976455 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50926_030_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (third from right) and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland (third from left), speak with scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Aug. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Residential solar, she added, is crucial to meeting the Biden administration’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Solar is part of the lowest hanging fruit of how we’re going to deploy the number of gigawatts that the United States needs,” said Granholm, who visited California less than two weeks after the U.S. Senate passed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/10/1026081880/senate-passes-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill\">$1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package\u003c/a> that would send billions of dollars to the state for highway, bridges, and public transportation projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976456\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976456 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50898_001_Berkeley_LawrenceLaboratory_08202021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Advanced Light Source (ALS), a scientific user facility at the Berkeley Lab. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Berkeley Lab estimates that 40% of U.S. electricity generation could come from solar by 2035. It’s roughly 3% today. How do we get from here to there?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to make sure that we have the level of resiliency and capacity on the electric grid, that it is able to take on that clean energy generation. We need to be able to empower people to be able to put solar on their homes, seamlessly and affordably, so that we have distributed electricity [on-site generation] through solar on people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One of the most successful California climate policies is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/renewables-portfolio-standard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Renewables Portfolio Standard\u003c/a>, which requires all utilities in the state to source half of their electricity sales from clean, renewable sources\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/renewables-portfolio-standard\">.\u003c/a> The U.S. Senate’s infrastructure bill left out a similar type of policy. Will the Biden administration support an infrastructure bill without a mandate for utilities to buy clean energy?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The president 100% supports a clean electricity standard that is similar to what you have in California. He could not get bipartisan agreement for it in the bipartisan bill. But there is a second step, which is the Build Back Better agenda, which is also known as reconciliation. Ridiculous word, but nonetheless, it is in that [Senate bill that can pass by a simple majority], and the president is very much pushing for a robust electricity standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s pushing for it because it’s great for the planet, but he also sees the economic opportunity for the country in that. All of the nation’s solar panels now that are on people’s roofs are made elsewhere. And we simply allowed that to happen. And the president is saying no more. We are not going to watch our manufacturing capability just walk away. Incentivizing through tax credits, solar, wind, clean energy technologies, so that we can be competitive globally and we can deploy those technologies in the United States, is all part of that agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976457 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RS50982_051_Berkeley_SolarHomeGranholmLee_08202021-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During a tour of a solar-powered Berkeley home on Aug. 20, 2021, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm discusses the Biden administration’s efforts to streamline the ability of local governments to approve residential solar installation permits. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Another item not in the Senate’s infrastructure bill is the Civilian Climate Corps. In June, California teenagers \u003c/b>\u003ca style=\"font-weight: bold\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975362/young-activists-march-from-paradise-to-sf-in-100-degree-heat-to-protest-climate-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">marched for weeks from Paradise to San Francisco\u003c/a>\u003cb>, demanding that Congress pass legislation by the end of summer 2021 to fund this initiative. What do you say to them?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are right and the president agrees with them. And that’s why that policy, too, is in this second step [reconciliation bill]. If a Civilian Climate Corps is funded, [Biden’s] goal is to put a whole new diverse generation of Americans to work conserving our public lands, our waters, to bolster community resilience, to advance environmental justice, all the while paving the way for good-paying union jobs. President Biden sees that as a fundamental element to the climate portions of his agenda. And he’s pushing for that in Congress as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The president signed an order pushing for 50% of vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. How do you sell folks on electric vehicles who see them as a lifestyle choice for wealthy city dwellers?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>We need to make sure that these vehicles are affordable for people. And one of the strategies in doing that is at the point of purchase. When you go to a dealer, you don’t want this electric vehicle to be more expensive than a regular gas-powered vehicle. [People should] get a refundable tax credit right there, to bring down the cost so that there is parity between electric vehicle cost and regular gasoline vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You also have to make sure that people in all areas, in lower-income areas, in rural areas, have access to be able to fuel those vehicles. And that means charging stations. In that bipartisan bill that was passed by the Senate, there was $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations. California, by the way, is going to get $384 million for electric vehicle charging out of that bill. The president is all in on making it easy for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are you pushing for a sped up timeline on reducing U.S. carbon emissions based on the release of the IPCC’s latest climate report?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, 1,000%. We have to act with urgency on eliminating methane emissions and carbon emissions. We have to act with urgency on deploying these technologies that are coming out of our labs and our private sector. We have got to get this clean energy technology on our transmission grid. The administration feels this sense of urgency, which is why the president has put out these big, hairy, audacious goals of getting to 100% clean electricity by 2035, getting to a net zero-carbon economy by 2050. And he wants to lead the world and demonstrate that we can do what we are calling others to do, which is, of course, to meet their global commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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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",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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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": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"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": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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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": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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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
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"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",
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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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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"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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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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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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"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",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"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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"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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"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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},
"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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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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": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"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)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"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",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"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/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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