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"title": "Record-Shattering Heat Waves Are an 'Alarm System for the Climate Emergency'",
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"content": "\u003cp>The latest in a seemingly \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082020/climate-extremes-record-heat-wildfires-hurricane-laura-floods/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">endless series of heat waves\u003c/a> around the world hit the Pacific Northwest last weekend and will continue through the week, showing that even regions with cool coastlines and lush forests cannot avoid the blistering extremes of global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temperatures across most of Oregon and Washington spiked 20 to 30 degrees Celsius above normal, with even hotter conditions expected through Tuesday, driving concerns about impacts to human health, infrastructure and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BenNollWeather/status/1409513163750580229\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter thread\u003c/a> over the weekend, Ben Noll, a meteorologist with the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/niwa_nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research\u003c/a>, reported that Portland, Oregon, would be hotter than 99.9% of the rest of the planet on Sunday. “The only places expected to be hotter: Africa’s Sahara Desert, Persian Gulf, California’s deserts,” he tweeted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, the heat \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/wspd7pio/status/1409353691287592970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">buckled roads\u003c/a> as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington reached a record temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, 12 degrees hotter than its previous record of 92, which was set in 2015. And the western Canadian community of Lytton reached 116 on Sunday, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57634700\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all-time record\u003c/a> for the nation and one of 40 records set in British Columbia that day, according to the BBC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in Washington and Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains, the heat was expected to endure through the week, after reaching a projected high of 117 on Tuesday. At least \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSPortland/status/1409378393678774274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">11 towns\u003c/a> in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington state recorded all-time high temperatures, many surging past the previous maximums by 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excessive heat warnings covered western maps from British Columbia, Canada, to Montana in the east, and south to the U.S.-Mexico border. The heat wave shattered all-time temperature records on Saturday and Sunday with triple-digit temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. But still higher temperatures were forecast for Monday and Tuesday, as the “unprecedented event” continued to scorch the landscape and put health at risk through the week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dangerously hot conditions today with temperatures lingering in the upper 90s on Tuesday with potentially dangerously hot heat index values up to 111,” said the NWS excessive heat warning that remained in place \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=pqr&wwa=excessive%20heat%20warning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">through Monday\u003c/a> and, in some areas, extended into \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ORZ507&warncounty=ORC059&firewxzone=ORZ641&local_place1=Pendleton%20OR&product1=Excessive+Heat+Warning&lat=45.6722&lon=-118.787\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thursday\u003c/a>. “Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities.” Health officials on Monday advised people to reschedule outdoor activities, The Seattle Times reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The intensity of the heat wave, measured by how far temperatures are spiking above normal, is among the greatest ever measured globally. The extremes are on par with a 2003 European heat wave that killed about 70,000 people, and a 2013 heat wave in Australia, when meteorologists \u003ca href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/temperatures-off-the-charts-as-australia-turns-deep-purple-20130108-2ce33.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">added new shades of dark purple\u003c/a> to their maps to show unprecedented temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the more extreme the temperature records, climate scientists said, the more obvious the fingerprint of global warming will be on the heat wave. But even among climate scientists, the biggest concern was the immediate impacts of the record shattering temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I shudder to think what the mortality rate will be from this event,” said Phil Mote, a climate scientist with the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OSUCEOAS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University\u003c/a>. Research shows that early season heat waves like this one are deadlier than those happening later in the year because people haven’t acclimatized yet, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local weather service offices warned people to cool themselves with a reminder that heat was the leading cause of weather-related fatalities between 1991 and 2020. But experts and officials warned that people in the region, where there are fewer people with air conditioning than without it, are ill-equipped to protect themselves from persistent triple-digit temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Seattle, University of Washington climate scientist \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/huprice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heather Price\u003c/a> taped aluminum foil inside her windows to try and protect her family of four as temperatures reached the 90s early Sunday morning. She \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/huprice/status/1409302753264824322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">used a handheld thermometer\u003c/a> to check how much it cooled their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This really is a public health emergency,” she said. “Of all disasters, heat kills the most people. The data is out there, and it’s worse in cool climates.” Even though Seattle has opened wading pools and spray parks that have been closed since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some public water fountains are still turned off to prevent spread of the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Residents are not happy about the failure of access to public water with this heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where There’s Unprecedented Heat, There’s Fire\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire meteorologist John Saltenberger of the Northwest Coordination Center in Portland, keeps an eye on the risk of wildfire across Oregon and Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not only the historic temperatures increasing the wildfire potential, but also what might follow, with winds kicking up across the rangelands east of the Cascade Mountains as the heat wave extends for another week, he said. But Saltenberger’s concerns also extend beyond the current weather patterns to some troubling long-term trends that he was following through the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Never have the three months from March to May been drier in 125 years of record-keeping, he said. He also recalled a climate study that showed how, over four decades, the number of rainy days during the fire season is declining in the Northwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat alone isn’t really sufficient to trigger the risk of large costly, fires,” he said. “Heat, overlaid with lightning or heat overlaid with a strong wind event — now that’s a different matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less rain during fire season means more hot, dry days, which means higher fire danger and more fires and more burned areas,” he added. “And 2021 appears to be going right along with that trend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon had just \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn#Oregon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two large fires\u003c/a> burning Monday totaling less than 8,000 acres, and Washington had none, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Saltenberger’s latest seven-day outlook for Washington and Oregon projected that wildfire risk is rising for the drier, inland landscapes in both states east of the Cascade Range. Beginning Wednesday, the probability of large fires triggered by lightning and fueled by a “critical burn environment,” rises to high risk levels, his Monday wildfire forecast said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire danger indices continue rising as the heat wave amplifies over the entire region,” it said. “Significant fire potential ramps up starting today due to the combination of heat, rising fire danger indices and easterly winds that will eventually switch as a thermal trough moves across the Cascades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Drought Monitor \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?West\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">map\u003c/a> showed the entire state of Oregon experiencing some form of dryness last week, with more than three quarters of the state in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought. In Washington state, about one fourth of the land appeared in the “extreme” drought category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists are hoping to protect Snake River \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/27/hot-salmon-heat-wave-brings-concern-over-river-water-temperatures/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sockeye salmon\u003c/a>, which are just beginning to head upstream to spawn, by releasing cooler water from the Dworshak Dam, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat wave, following a year of deadly wildfires and a spring dry enough to put 91% of the West in drought, is triggering conversations about the ways climate change has already set the stage for more record-smashing weather disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Underestimated and Underreported Threat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current Western heat wave is remarkable by almost any standard, said University of Reading climate scientist \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ChloBrim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chloe Brimicombe\u003c/a>. But such events are becoming more common, to a large degree because of the 1.2 degree Celsius global average temperature increase since the industrial revolution has pushed the heat wave needle into the red zone, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat waves are our alarm system for the climate emergency,” she said. “If there are more heat waves, our emergency is getting worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of her recent research shows heat threats are underestimated and underreported, and that poor, vulnerable communities suffer the most, with developing countries taking the biggest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arizona Republic reported earlier this month on the steep increase in people suffering severe burns from surfaces like pavement during heat waves. Over the summer of 2020, the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health reported 104 people being admitted with burns from hot pavement, almost all of whom required surgery for their injuries, a fact that shocked Brimicombe. “I hadn’t fathomed the idea of (third-degree) burns (during a heat wave),” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, extreme heat killed at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/health-topics/heatwaves#tab=tab_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">166,000 people between 1998 and 2017\u003c/a>, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, the EPA cites studies estimating 1,300 heat deaths occurred annually in recent decades. \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalchange.gov/browse/indicators/us-heat-waves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Federal research shows\u003c/a> the heat wave season in Portland and Seattle is 40 to 60 days longer than in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat waves threaten food crops and are already triggering mass migration. They also have ecosystem impacts, such as widespread fish die-offs in dried-out streams and potentially harmful algal blooms in lakes and coastal areas. Extreme heat can drive sudden forest mortality, killing trees already weakened by drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karin Bumbaco, assistant Washington state climatologist, called climate change attribution “a really great question, and it is one that’s hard to answer.” She said it won’t be possible to tease apart how much natural variability and how much man-made warming can be blamed for the current Northwest heat wave until scientific studies examine what happened, which typically takes months or years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But, you know, even without that being done, it’s a safe assumption, in my view, to blame increasing greenhouse gases for some portion of this event — Washington state is warming, the Pacific Northwest is warming, globally we’re warming,” she said. “As we shift that baseline, we’re going to see more and more of these extreme events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Pacific Northwest extreme heat is shocking. He said on Twitter that scientists will find a clear global warming fingerprint on the heat wave, with the exact influence of global warming linked with how hot it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the hotter it gets,” he said, “the larger the attribution will be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists with World Weather Attribution have already launched a study to identify how global warming intensified the Pacific Northwest heat wave, with initial results expected in early July, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gjvoldenborgh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Geert Jan van Oldenborgh\u003c/a>, a climate scientist with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who has co-authored several previous \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/analysis/heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate attribution studies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That research could help explain a worrying trend. In some regions, like northwestern Europe, heat waves in the last 20 years have become warmer about twice as fast\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>as many climate models project, “and we don’t know why,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist and associate professor at Oregon State University, agreed the trend in the Northwest is for more extreme heat events and even higher temperatures, based on a growing body of climate research. Temperature records, shorter winters, drought, the doggedness of a heat dome over the West and even tropical cyclone data from the western Pacific — they all point to what’s come to be called the “fingerprint” of global warming on weather, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are things that were all projected by climate models 20 years ago, and we’re experiencing them now,” O’Neill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some climate scientists actually feeling the heat, the fact that climate models have been predicting events like the current heat wave for decades means their discomfort is matched by frustration over the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062019/heat-deaths-cities-climate-change-paris-agreement-half-degree/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unheeded warnings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping this heat wave is going to wake some folks up,” Price, the University of Washington climate scientist, said. “People think they are living in the climate they grew up in, but it’s gone. The best we can do now is soften our landing in a heated world.”\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 latest in a seemingly \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082020/climate-extremes-record-heat-wildfires-hurricane-laura-floods/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">endless series of heat waves\u003c/a> around the world hit the Pacific Northwest last weekend and will continue through the week, showing that even regions with cool coastlines and lush forests cannot avoid the blistering extremes of global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temperatures across most of Oregon and Washington spiked 20 to 30 degrees Celsius above normal, with even hotter conditions expected through Tuesday, driving concerns about impacts to human health, infrastructure and ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BenNollWeather/status/1409513163750580229\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter thread\u003c/a> over the weekend, Ben Noll, a meteorologist with the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/niwa_nz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research\u003c/a>, reported that Portland, Oregon, would be hotter than 99.9% of the rest of the planet on Sunday. “The only places expected to be hotter: Africa’s Sahara Desert, Persian Gulf, California’s deserts,” he tweeted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, the heat \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/wspd7pio/status/1409353691287592970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">buckled roads\u003c/a> as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington reached a record temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, 12 degrees hotter than its previous record of 92, which was set in 2015. And the western Canadian community of Lytton reached 116 on Sunday, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57634700\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all-time record\u003c/a> for the nation and one of 40 records set in British Columbia that day, according to the BBC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, in Washington and Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains, the heat was expected to endure through the week, after reaching a projected high of 117 on Tuesday. At least \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSPortland/status/1409378393678774274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">11 towns\u003c/a> in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington state recorded all-time high temperatures, many surging past the previous maximums by 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excessive heat warnings covered western maps from British Columbia, Canada, to Montana in the east, and south to the U.S.-Mexico border. The heat wave shattered all-time temperature records on Saturday and Sunday with triple-digit temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. But still higher temperatures were forecast for Monday and Tuesday, as the “unprecedented event” continued to scorch the landscape and put health at risk through the week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dangerously hot conditions today with temperatures lingering in the upper 90s on Tuesday with potentially dangerously hot heat index values up to 111,” said the NWS excessive heat warning that remained in place \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=pqr&wwa=excessive%20heat%20warning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">through Monday\u003c/a> and, in some areas, extended into \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ORZ507&warncounty=ORC059&firewxzone=ORZ641&local_place1=Pendleton%20OR&product1=Excessive+Heat+Warning&lat=45.6722&lon=-118.787\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thursday\u003c/a>. “Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities.” Health officials on Monday advised people to reschedule outdoor activities, The Seattle Times reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The intensity of the heat wave, measured by how far temperatures are spiking above normal, is among the greatest ever measured globally. The extremes are on par with a 2003 European heat wave that killed about 70,000 people, and a 2013 heat wave in Australia, when meteorologists \u003ca href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/temperatures-off-the-charts-as-australia-turns-deep-purple-20130108-2ce33.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">added new shades of dark purple\u003c/a> to their maps to show unprecedented temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the more extreme the temperature records, climate scientists said, the more obvious the fingerprint of global warming will be on the heat wave. But even among climate scientists, the biggest concern was the immediate impacts of the record shattering temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I shudder to think what the mortality rate will be from this event,” said Phil Mote, a climate scientist with the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OSUCEOAS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University\u003c/a>. Research shows that early season heat waves like this one are deadlier than those happening later in the year because people haven’t acclimatized yet, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local weather service offices warned people to cool themselves with a reminder that heat was the leading cause of weather-related fatalities between 1991 and 2020. But experts and officials warned that people in the region, where there are fewer people with air conditioning than without it, are ill-equipped to protect themselves from persistent triple-digit temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Seattle, University of Washington climate scientist \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/huprice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heather Price\u003c/a> taped aluminum foil inside her windows to try and protect her family of four as temperatures reached the 90s early Sunday morning. She \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/huprice/status/1409302753264824322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">used a handheld thermometer\u003c/a> to check how much it cooled their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This really is a public health emergency,” she said. “Of all disasters, heat kills the most people. The data is out there, and it’s worse in cool climates.” Even though Seattle has opened wading pools and spray parks that have been closed since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some public water fountains are still turned off to prevent spread of the coronavirus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Residents are not happy about the failure of access to public water with this heat,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where There’s Unprecedented Heat, There’s Fire\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire meteorologist John Saltenberger of the Northwest Coordination Center in Portland, keeps an eye on the risk of wildfire across Oregon and Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not only the historic temperatures increasing the wildfire potential, but also what might follow, with winds kicking up across the rangelands east of the Cascade Mountains as the heat wave extends for another week, he said. But Saltenberger’s concerns also extend beyond the current weather patterns to some troubling long-term trends that he was following through the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Never have the three months from March to May been drier in 125 years of record-keeping, he said. He also recalled a climate study that showed how, over four decades, the number of rainy days during the fire season is declining in the Northwest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat alone isn’t really sufficient to trigger the risk of large costly, fires,” he said. “Heat, overlaid with lightning or heat overlaid with a strong wind event — now that’s a different matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less rain during fire season means more hot, dry days, which means higher fire danger and more fires and more burned areas,” he added. “And 2021 appears to be going right along with that trend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon had just \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn#Oregon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two large fires\u003c/a> burning Monday totaling less than 8,000 acres, and Washington had none, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Saltenberger’s latest seven-day outlook for Washington and Oregon projected that wildfire risk is rising for the drier, inland landscapes in both states east of the Cascade Range. Beginning Wednesday, the probability of large fires triggered by lightning and fueled by a “critical burn environment,” rises to high risk levels, his Monday wildfire forecast said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire danger indices continue rising as the heat wave amplifies over the entire region,” it said. “Significant fire potential ramps up starting today due to the combination of heat, rising fire danger indices and easterly winds that will eventually switch as a thermal trough moves across the Cascades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Drought Monitor \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?West\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">map\u003c/a> showed the entire state of Oregon experiencing some form of dryness last week, with more than three quarters of the state in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought. In Washington state, about one fourth of the land appeared in the “extreme” drought category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists are hoping to protect Snake River \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/27/hot-salmon-heat-wave-brings-concern-over-river-water-temperatures/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sockeye salmon\u003c/a>, which are just beginning to head upstream to spawn, by releasing cooler water from the Dworshak Dam, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heat wave, following a year of deadly wildfires and a spring dry enough to put 91% of the West in drought, is triggering conversations about the ways climate change has already set the stage for more record-smashing weather disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Underestimated and Underreported Threat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current Western heat wave is remarkable by almost any standard, said University of Reading climate scientist \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ChloBrim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chloe Brimicombe\u003c/a>. But such events are becoming more common, to a large degree because of the 1.2 degree Celsius global average temperature increase since the industrial revolution has pushed the heat wave needle into the red zone, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat waves are our alarm system for the climate emergency,” she said. “If there are more heat waves, our emergency is getting worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of her recent research shows heat threats are underestimated and underreported, and that poor, vulnerable communities suffer the most, with developing countries taking the biggest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arizona Republic reported earlier this month on the steep increase in people suffering severe burns from surfaces like pavement during heat waves. Over the summer of 2020, the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health reported 104 people being admitted with burns from hot pavement, almost all of whom required surgery for their injuries, a fact that shocked Brimicombe. “I hadn’t fathomed the idea of (third-degree) burns (during a heat wave),” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, extreme heat killed at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/health-topics/heatwaves#tab=tab_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">166,000 people between 1998 and 2017\u003c/a>, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, the EPA cites studies estimating 1,300 heat deaths occurred annually in recent decades. \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalchange.gov/browse/indicators/us-heat-waves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Federal research shows\u003c/a> the heat wave season in Portland and Seattle is 40 to 60 days longer than in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat waves threaten food crops and are already triggering mass migration. They also have ecosystem impacts, such as widespread fish die-offs in dried-out streams and potentially harmful algal blooms in lakes and coastal areas. Extreme heat can drive sudden forest mortality, killing trees already weakened by drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karin Bumbaco, assistant Washington state climatologist, called climate change attribution “a really great question, and it is one that’s hard to answer.” She said it won’t be possible to tease apart how much natural variability and how much man-made warming can be blamed for the current Northwest heat wave until scientific studies examine what happened, which typically takes months or years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But, you know, even without that being done, it’s a safe assumption, in my view, to blame increasing greenhouse gases for some portion of this event — Washington state is warming, the Pacific Northwest is warming, globally we’re warming,” she said. “As we shift that baseline, we’re going to see more and more of these extreme events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Pacific Northwest extreme heat is shocking. He said on Twitter that scientists will find a clear global warming fingerprint on the heat wave, with the exact influence of global warming linked with how hot it gets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And the hotter it gets,” he said, “the larger the attribution will be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists with World Weather Attribution have already launched a study to identify how global warming intensified the Pacific Northwest heat wave, with initial results expected in early July, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gjvoldenborgh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Geert Jan van Oldenborgh\u003c/a>, a climate scientist with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who has co-authored several previous \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/analysis/heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate attribution studies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That research could help explain a worrying trend. In some regions, like northwestern Europe, heat waves in the last 20 years have become warmer about twice as fast\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>as many climate models project, “and we don’t know why,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist and associate professor at Oregon State University, agreed the trend in the Northwest is for more extreme heat events and even higher temperatures, based on a growing body of climate research. Temperature records, shorter winters, drought, the doggedness of a heat dome over the West and even tropical cyclone data from the western Pacific — they all point to what’s come to be called the “fingerprint” of global warming on weather, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are things that were all projected by climate models 20 years ago, and we’re experiencing them now,” O’Neill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some climate scientists actually feeling the heat, the fact that climate models have been predicting events like the current heat wave for decades means their discomfort is matched by frustration over the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062019/heat-deaths-cities-climate-change-paris-agreement-half-degree/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unheeded warnings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping this heat wave is going to wake some folks up,” Price, the University of Washington climate scientist, said. “People think they are living in the climate they grew up in, but it’s gone. The best we can do now is soften our landing in a heated world.”\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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"slug": "russian-river-drought-sonoma-and-mendocino-residents-save-the-little-water-they-have",
"title": "Russian River Drought: Sonoma and Mendocino Residents Save the Little Water They Have",
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"headTitle": "Russian River Drought: Sonoma and Mendocino Residents Save the Little Water They Have | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The genesis of the Russian River estuary begins in two coastal range mountain valleys, the heart of Mendocino County. Both basins are known for what they produce — Redwood Valley for its smooth, full-bodied wine and Potter Valley for the sweetness of its pears and round, plump melons. But the current drought, exacerbated by human-caused climate change, is showcasing the region’s precarious water situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The river, flowing downhill for 110 miles to the ocean, is the lifeblood of farms, and the main source of drinking water for 600,000 people across three counties. But without two reservoirs — Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma — and hundreds of water diversions during wet times, the river would be dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This region is unique in that no water comes from the Sierra Nevada snowmelt. The Russian River watershed sits isolated from the rest of the state, and in dry times, like this second year of drought, communities in the region are on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along this drying watershed are farms, wineries and family homes that rely on water from the managed river. Many of these businesses are concerned that a third year of drought could be in the cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[This water] is being used by businesses, anybody who has a hotel or a winery, or a tasting room,” said Janet Pauli, a director with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.pottervalleywater.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potter Valley Irrigation District,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the east fork of the river. “This is it, and this is what is so frightening this year.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli directs the Potter Valley Irrigation District. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Official efforts are now underway to preserve what’s left in both Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma. Water managers are keeping more water in the reservoirs by cutting flows in half and experimenting with updated weather modeling to guide their decisions. Meanwhile, some communities are rationing water, and others are mandating water restrictions. The goal is to have enough water to weather a third, fourth or even fifth year without significant rain. But even with all that work, wells are dry, showers are short and crop yields may be smaller for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lake Mendocino is about 35% full, and Lake Sonoma is around 54% full\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/gov-newsom-highlights-water-supply-woes-in-visit-to-lake-mendocino/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">declared a drought emergency\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> while standing on the cracked surface of Lake Mendocino, north of the town of Ukiah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I should be standing 40 feet underwater,” he said. “This is a historic moment . The hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting dryer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975557\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975557 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The west fork of the Russian River is all but dry. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Way To Manage Reservoirs\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nick Malasavage\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, chief of operations and readiness division for the San Francisco district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says Lake Mendocino could go dry by the end of the summer. He hopes 20,000 acre feet of water remains in the reservoir when the rainy season begins in October, but that could prove a challenge if people don’t conserve. By comparison, downstream, Lake Sonoma has enough water in it for a few years.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975611 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/KQED_MENDOCINO_TL_B.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"715\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With so little rain in this watershed, our lake levels here at Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma are the lowest they’ve ever been for this time in the year,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Malasavage says his agency is changing how it manages Lake Mendocino. In the past, water was let out of the reservoir whether or not storms were in the forecast to make room for rainwater. The dam was built to help prevent flooding. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Increasingly, California’s rainy season is more concentrated and its dry season prolonged, a result of climate change. The state now relies on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Lake Mendocino, water managers used to regularly release water, independent of any forecasted storms. Now, they are piloting a new method. Conserve, wait until a major rainstorm is coming, and then let water out of the reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Army Corps is experimenting with this program, called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/news/post/11357/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on other lakes across the West, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We can sit on this water, watch the forecast and then when we see that big boomer of a storm coming, make the decision to put water into the river,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems simple, hold the water in the lake until a storm is somewhat guaranteed, but the feds will need to change their rule book for reservoir management, updating policies established more than half a century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Malasavage says the program works. A trial run last year allowed the reservoir to hold 20% more water during 2020 than would have previously been allowed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/FIRO_docs/LakeMendocino_FIRO_FVA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">assessment\u003c/a>, Sonoma and other agencies say the FIRO program should also be implemented at Lake Sonoma, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But funding for revamping water management here depends in part on whether President Biden’s budget proposal passes in September. During an infrastructure committee hearing last week, Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, indicated it “should be complete within a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this month, the California State Water Resources Control Board granted a request from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sonoma Water\u003c/a> to cut flows out of Lake Sonoma by more than half to preserve water.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975613 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/KQED_SONOMA_TL_B.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"715\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re not going to run out of water in Lake Sonoma this year,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/management\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Jasperse\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a chief engineer for Sonoma Water. “But if we don’t watch it, and it’s dry next year, or the year after, it’ll be extremely rough. “\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board also approved emergency regulations to halt diversions for up to 2,400 ranchers, grape growers and other rural residents who pull water out of the river. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“F\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">armers call me and say, ‘What do I do? I’ve put tens and thousands of dollars into planting this new vineyard last year, and now I’m not going to have water to irrigate it,” \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">s\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">aid \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.rrfc.net/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elizabeth \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Salomone\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, general manager for the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A Valley Adjusts To Drought\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potter Valley surrounds the eastern fork of the Russian River. The riverbed is all but dry with a 2 to 3 inch dribbling flow — thanks to water piped through a mountain from the Eel River, which is also in drought.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pauli, a director for the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says without that water, the riverbed would be nothing but dust. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the lifeblood of this valley,” she said. “We couldn’t grow the crops we do without this water supply.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This drought is going to stress the system in a way that it has never been stressed before,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That stress is being felt in Potter Valley, where businesses, farms, wineries and family homes rely on the managed river. Pauli says everyone is wondering if the drought will persist for another year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If we can’t adjust to a long-term drought, I’m not sure how people will end up thriving here,” she said. “The idea of a long-term drought is really frightening.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One solution in Pauli’s district is to ration water for growers, depending on their acreage and crop. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you’ve used it all, you have no more water for this season,” she said. “Does it mean that everybody’s going to have a normal year here in Potter Valley? Absolutely not. There will be long stretches of time in between irrigations depending on where you are in the valley.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975559\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975559\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the Warm Springs Creek Bridge from the Lake Sonoma overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Beth LeBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Story in Redwood Valley\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A sign in the middle of the town’s four-way stop reads, if not begs, residents to be on “ALERT! SAVE WATER NOW.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The riverbed is dry except for a few lonely ponds. Water is severely limited, and people must rely on a water supply that’s not guaranteed. The Redwood Valley County Water District limits water use to 55 gallons per person, per day — or about two loads of laundry in a new washing machine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is not the first water shortage in the area. The district imposed similar restrictions during the last drought and regularly purchases water from other water agencies, or wherever it’s available and affordable. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975554\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1536x1098.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-2048x1464.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1920x1373.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Last year, dry conditions limited the crop yield at Russian River Vineyards by 20 percent. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Water rights for many growers who pull from the river have been eliminated this year in the valley, known for its superior wine grapes. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.barraofmendocino.com/Our-Family/Martha\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martha Barra\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, owner of Barra wines is thankful her farm stores rainwater in ponds on her 350 acres, where she grows award-winning wine grapes. The water trickles down the mountains above her property and collects in ponds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says she has enough stored water to irrigate sparingly, but her most-prized Petite Sirah on a mountain nearby has no water. She’s purchasing $14,000 worth of water to be trucked from a nearby mine to water those grapes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s growing the same variety lower down along the valley floor, but these vines have less fruit because of two years of dry conditions and an untimely frost last fall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[They] just doesn’t look as healthy as all the rest of the ranch,” she said. “There’ll be a crop. It just won’t be four-ton to the acre like it usually is.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975555\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975555\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-800x551.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1920x1322.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martha Barra, 79, says this drought is hotter, drier, and worse than her previous experiences. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barra’s family has been making wine since 1999. The little rain last year meant that some of her vines produced fewer grapes. She ended up watering the vines less to stretch out the water in her ponds. As a result, her grape harvest shrunk by 20%.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The roots of the vines just didn’t get that good soaking that would make the healthy vines,” she said. “This is a second year. Now, if we go into our third year, it’s gonna be really, really critical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>An Emotional Roller Coaster\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Russian River Watershed is stressed. Cities along the river either have mandatory water restrictions or are ramping them up. Healdsburg has a mandatory 40% water restriction, while \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/mandatory-water-conservation-orders-in-place-across-a-wider-swath-of-sonoma/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Petaluma and Sonoma both have a 25% mandatory restriction\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Santa Rosa has a voluntary 20% restriction. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A majority of Santa Rosa’s water comes from the Russian River via Sonoma Water. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-martin-b138b06/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peter Martin\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, deputy director of water resources for Santa Rosa, says the city’s voluntary restrictions will likely become mandatory as the drought worsens.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Certain activities are definitely gonna be prohibited — water upon request at restaurants, requirements on when you can irrigate and we’re going to be out there messaging,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the last drought and deadly wildfires in recent memory, Martin says residents are taking this drought seriously. His department is inundated with requests for help on how to make homes and yards water efficient. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Over 500 calls a month for folks requesting services,” he said. “Typically, that’s around 80.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975551\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975551\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crews go out daily in Santa Rosa looking for people wasting water. The goal is preserve water in case of a third year of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city already pays overtime for about 10 staff members, like Jason Leef, to catch water wasters. They drive around looking for oversaturated lawns and water running down streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a recent shift, Leef spotted five water wasters. So far, he says crews have inspected about 30% of the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m looking for any kind of water running off hard surfaces, coming down the sidewalk into the gutter pan, broken sprinkler heads, just any kind of excessive watering,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time he spots a water waster, he fills out a warning, what he describes as an “oops ticket.” Later, the city reaches out to the homeowner to help them fix any leaks. But if the homeowner doesn’t respond, as a last resort the city can turn their water off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We don’t want to see that,” Leef said. “We’re just trying to help this customer, because that’s excessive.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preventing water waste is critical because a quarter-inch pipe can leak as much as 30 gallons a minute, he adds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It can add up very quickly, especially if you don’t know about it,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leef says wasting water isn’t an option when what’s being wasted could be saved in case a third year of drought happens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975552\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Restaurants like Dierk’s Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa are requiring customers to serve their own water in an effort to save water. (Ezra David Romero/KQED) \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For server Varina Richter, encouraging patrons to save water is now part of her job. Dierk’s Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa requires customers to fill their own glasses using a water jug in the middle of the restaurant.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’ve noticed a big difference in the water that we’re saving from people getting up to get their own,” she said. “I have had a few people yell at me. One guy thought it was absolutely ridiculous that I could get him a coffee and a mimosa, but not a water.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richter has lived in the area her whole life and says she is doing as much as she can to conserve because dry times aren’t just about less water, it’s also about the risk of fires.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Last year, my dad almost lost his home four times,” she said. “It’s definitely like an emotional roller coaster, and seeing how bad things are right now is very scary.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The genesis of the Russian River estuary begins in two coastal range mountain valleys, the heart of Mendocino County. Both basins are known for what they produce — Redwood Valley for its smooth, full-bodied wine and Potter Valley for the sweetness of its pears and round, plump melons. But the current drought, exacerbated by human-caused climate change, is showcasing the region’s precarious water situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The river, flowing downhill for 110 miles to the ocean, is the lifeblood of farms, and the main source of drinking water for 600,000 people across three counties. But without two reservoirs — Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma — and hundreds of water diversions during wet times, the river would be dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This region is unique in that no water comes from the Sierra Nevada snowmelt. The Russian River watershed sits isolated from the rest of the state, and in dry times, like this second year of drought, communities in the region are on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along this drying watershed are farms, wineries and family homes that rely on water from the managed river. Many of these businesses are concerned that a third year of drought could be in the cards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[This water] is being used by businesses, anybody who has a hotel or a winery, or a tasting room,” said Janet Pauli, a director with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.pottervalleywater.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potter Valley Irrigation District,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on the east fork of the river. “This is it, and this is what is so frightening this year.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli directs the Potter Valley Irrigation District. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Official efforts are now underway to preserve what’s left in both Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma. Water managers are keeping more water in the reservoirs by cutting flows in half and experimenting with updated weather modeling to guide their decisions. Meanwhile, some communities are rationing water, and others are mandating water restrictions. The goal is to have enough water to weather a third, fourth or even fifth year without significant rain. But even with all that work, wells are dry, showers are short and crop yields may be smaller for the foreseeable future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lake Mendocino is about 35% full, and Lake Sonoma is around 54% full\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/gov-newsom-highlights-water-supply-woes-in-visit-to-lake-mendocino/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">declared a drought emergency\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> while standing on the cracked surface of Lake Mendocino, north of the town of Ukiah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I should be standing 40 feet underwater,” he said. “This is a historic moment . The hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting dryer.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975557\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975557 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4211-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The west fork of the Russian River is all but dry. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Way To Manage Reservoirs\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nick Malasavage\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, chief of operations and readiness division for the San Francisco district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says Lake Mendocino could go dry by the end of the summer. He hopes 20,000 acre feet of water remains in the reservoir when the rainy season begins in October, but that could prove a challenge if people don’t conserve. By comparison, downstream, Lake Sonoma has enough water in it for a few years.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975611 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/KQED_MENDOCINO_TL_B.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"715\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With so little rain in this watershed, our lake levels here at Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma are the lowest they’ve ever been for this time in the year,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Malasavage says his agency is changing how it manages Lake Mendocino. In the past, water was let out of the reservoir whether or not storms were in the forecast to make room for rainwater. The dam was built to help prevent flooding. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Increasingly, California’s rainy season is more concentrated and its dry season prolonged, a result of climate change. The state now relies on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Lake Mendocino, water managers used to regularly release water, independent of any forecasted storms. Now, they are piloting a new method. Conserve, wait until a major rainstorm is coming, and then let water out of the reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Army Corps is experimenting with this program, called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/news/post/11357/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on other lakes across the West, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We can sit on this water, watch the forecast and then when we see that big boomer of a storm coming, make the decision to put water into the river,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems simple, hold the water in the lake until a storm is somewhat guaranteed, but the feds will need to change their rule book for reservoir management, updating policies established more than half a century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Malasavage says the program works. A trial run last year allowed the reservoir to hold 20% more water during 2020 than would have previously been allowed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/FIRO_docs/LakeMendocino_FIRO_FVA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">assessment\u003c/a>, Sonoma and other agencies say the FIRO program should also be implemented at Lake Sonoma, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But funding for revamping water management here depends in part on whether President Biden’s budget proposal passes in September. During an infrastructure committee hearing last week, Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, indicated it “should be complete within a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this month, the California State Water Resources Control Board granted a request from \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sonoma Water\u003c/a> to cut flows out of Lake Sonoma by more than half to preserve water.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975613 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/KQED_SONOMA_TL_B.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"715\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’re not going to run out of water in Lake Sonoma this year,” said \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/management\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Jasperse\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a chief engineer for Sonoma Water. “But if we don’t watch it, and it’s dry next year, or the year after, it’ll be extremely rough. “\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board also approved emergency regulations to halt diversions for up to 2,400 ranchers, grape growers and other rural residents who pull water out of the river. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“F\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">armers call me and say, ‘What do I do? I’ve put tens and thousands of dollars into planting this new vineyard last year, and now I’m not going to have water to irrigate it,” \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">s\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">aid \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.rrfc.net/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elizabeth \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Salomone\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, general manager for the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A Valley Adjusts To Drought\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Potter Valley surrounds the eastern fork of the Russian River. The riverbed is all but dry with a 2 to 3 inch dribbling flow — thanks to water piped through a mountain from the Eel River, which is also in drought.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pauli, a director for the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says without that water, the riverbed would be nothing but dust. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s the lifeblood of this valley,” she said. “We couldn’t grow the crops we do without this water supply.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This drought is going to stress the system in a way that it has never been stressed before,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That stress is being felt in Potter Valley, where businesses, farms, wineries and family homes rely on the managed river. Pauli says everyone is wondering if the drought will persist for another year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If we can’t adjust to a long-term drought, I’m not sure how people will end up thriving here,” she said. “The idea of a long-term drought is really frightening.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One solution in Pauli’s district is to ration water for growers, depending on their acreage and crop. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you’ve used it all, you have no more water for this season,” she said. “Does it mean that everybody’s going to have a normal year here in Potter Valley? Absolutely not. There will be long stretches of time in between irrigations depending on where you are in the valley.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975559\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975559\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49895_011_SonomaCounty_LakeSonomaDrought_06112021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the Warm Springs Creek Bridge from the Lake Sonoma overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Beth LeBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Story in Redwood Valley\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A sign in the middle of the town’s four-way stop reads, if not begs, residents to be on “ALERT! SAVE WATER NOW.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The riverbed is dry except for a few lonely ponds. Water is severely limited, and people must rely on a water supply that’s not guaranteed. The Redwood Valley County Water District limits water use to 55 gallons per person, per day — or about two loads of laundry in a new washing machine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is not the first water shortage in the area. The district imposed similar restrictions during the last drought and regularly purchases water from other water agencies, or wherever it’s available and affordable. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975554\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1536x1098.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-2048x1464.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4177-1920x1373.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Last year, dry conditions limited the crop yield at Russian River Vineyards by 20 percent. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Water rights for many growers who pull from the river have been eliminated this year in the valley, known for its superior wine grapes. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.barraofmendocino.com/Our-Family/Martha\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martha Barra\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, owner of Barra wines is thankful her farm stores rainwater in ponds on her 350 acres, where she grows award-winning wine grapes. The water trickles down the mountains above her property and collects in ponds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says she has enough stored water to irrigate sparingly, but her most-prized Petite Sirah on a mountain nearby has no water. She’s purchasing $14,000 worth of water to be trucked from a nearby mine to water those grapes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s growing the same variety lower down along the valley floor, but these vines have less fruit because of two years of dry conditions and an untimely frost last fall.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[They] just doesn’t look as healthy as all the rest of the ranch,” she said. “There’ll be a crop. It just won’t be four-ton to the acre like it usually is.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975555\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975555\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-800x551.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-768x529.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-2048x1410.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_4093-1920x1322.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martha Barra, 79, says this drought is hotter, drier, and worse than her previous experiences. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barra’s family has been making wine since 1999. The little rain last year meant that some of her vines produced fewer grapes. She ended up watering the vines less to stretch out the water in her ponds. As a result, her grape harvest shrunk by 20%.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The roots of the vines just didn’t get that good soaking that would make the healthy vines,” she said. “This is a second year. Now, if we go into our third year, it’s gonna be really, really critical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>An Emotional Roller Coaster\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Russian River Watershed is stressed. Cities along the river either have mandatory water restrictions or are ramping them up. Healdsburg has a mandatory 40% water restriction, while \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/mandatory-water-conservation-orders-in-place-across-a-wider-swath-of-sonoma/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Petaluma and Sonoma both have a 25% mandatory restriction\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Santa Rosa has a voluntary 20% restriction. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A majority of Santa Rosa’s water comes from the Russian River via Sonoma Water. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-martin-b138b06/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peter Martin\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, deputy director of water resources for Santa Rosa, says the city’s voluntary restrictions will likely become mandatory as the drought worsens.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Certain activities are definitely gonna be prohibited — water upon request at restaurants, requirements on when you can irrigate and we’re going to be out there messaging,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the last drought and deadly wildfires in recent memory, Martin says residents are taking this drought seriously. His department is inundated with requests for help on how to make homes and yards water efficient. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Over 500 calls a month for folks requesting services,” he said. “Typically, that’s around 80.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975551\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975551\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3899-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crews go out daily in Santa Rosa looking for people wasting water. The goal is preserve water in case of a third year of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The city already pays overtime for about 10 staff members, like Jason Leef, to catch water wasters. They drive around looking for oversaturated lawns and water running down streets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a recent shift, Leef spotted five water wasters. So far, he says crews have inspected about 30% of the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m looking for any kind of water running off hard surfaces, coming down the sidewalk into the gutter pan, broken sprinkler heads, just any kind of excessive watering,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time he spots a water waster, he fills out a warning, what he describes as an “oops ticket.” Later, the city reaches out to the homeowner to help them fix any leaks. But if the homeowner doesn’t respond, as a last resort the city can turn their water off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We don’t want to see that,” Leef said. “We’re just trying to help this customer, because that’s excessive.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Preventing water waste is critical because a quarter-inch pipe can leak as much as 30 gallons a minute, he adds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It can add up very quickly, especially if you don’t know about it,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leef says wasting water isn’t an option when what’s being wasted could be saved in case a third year of drought happens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975552\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3942-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Restaurants like Dierk’s Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa are requiring customers to serve their own water in an effort to save water. (Ezra David Romero/KQED) \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For server Varina Richter, encouraging patrons to save water is now part of her job. Dierk’s Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa requires customers to fill their own glasses using a water jug in the middle of the restaurant.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’ve noticed a big difference in the water that we’re saving from people getting up to get their own,” she said. “I have had a few people yell at me. One guy thought it was absolutely ridiculous that I could get him a coffee and a mimosa, but not a water.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richter has lived in the area her whole life and says she is doing as much as she can to conserve because dry times aren’t just about less water, it’s also about the risk of fires.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Last year, my dad almost lost his home four times,” she said. “It’s definitely like an emotional roller coaster, and seeing how bad things are right now is very scary.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'Bottom of the Barrel' California Oil Can Be Far More Carbon Intensive Than What State Imports",
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"content": "\u003cp>A new analysis from an environmental advocacy group highlights a dirty secret about California-produced oil: It is responsible for higher carbon emissions than the oil the state imports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists with the Center for Biological Diversity examined the carbon intensity of the crude oil supplied to California refineries and released their \u003ca href=\"https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/pdfs/June-2021-Killer-Crude-Rpt.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Monday, which shows that producing gasoline from heavy crude oil drilled in places like Kern County takes a lot of energy and creates tons of pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They found that the carbon intensity of oil produced in California has climbed by 22% since 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s oil is getting dirtier and heavier, heating the planet more and requiring more polluting methods to extract it,” said John Fleming, the report’s lead author, in a statement. “The idea that California oil is somehow cleaner or climate-friendly is ludicrous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/classic//fuels/lcfs/crude-oil/2019_crude_average_ci_value_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tracks\u003c/a> with similar statistics released by California regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dave Clegern, a spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said agency staff haven’t yet read the environmentalists’ report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he said California and its regulators are working to drive down consumer demand for gasoline with its policies, like incentivizing the use of electric vehicles. Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\">announced\u003c/a> last September that California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"John Fleming, Center for Biological Diversity\"]‘The idea that California oil is somehow cleaner or climate-friendly is ludicrous.’[/pullquote]“We know that as you get to the bottom of the barrel, more and more unconventional fuels, from light sweet crude to heavy crude — which California produces a lot off — to tar sands, it takes more effort to make gasoline,” said Dan Kammen, an energy professor at UC Berkeley who helped the state craft its fuel standard more than a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More effort means more energy. It means more pollution. It also typically means removing more impurities, all of that adds up to a dirtier and dirtier product,” he said. “This report really calls that out. California produces in Kern County some very sour, high-toxics fuels. It is not a surprise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kammen was not involved in the center’s report, but he helped design the methodology behind California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The environmentalists used equations from that state regulation in their report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of California oil drilling have \u003ca href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2021/03/08/californias-big-oil-wins-okay-40-500-wells-farmer-vows-sue/4629935001/\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">argued\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that California-produced oil products are cleaner than the imported alternatives. These statistics undercut that argument — at least, in part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the production of California oil could contribute more planet-warming gas emissions, industry groups and labor groups have \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-04/newsom-california-fracking-ban-vision-exceeds-original-scope\">argued\u003c/a> that California oil is preferable to imported alternatives because it is produced under strict environmental and labor regulations. Limiting drilling here could hurt jobs, they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='oil-drilling']“Foreign oil is not produced with the same environmental protections or humanitarian values that we have here in California; nor do they pay billions in California taxes or hundreds of millions of dollars in fees that are reinvested to advance California’s climate goals,” Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-04/newsom-california-fracking-ban-vision-exceeds-original-scope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The environmentalists are using the report to call on California to swiftly stop approving new oil and gas wells, ban fracking and “immediately implement a health-and-safety buffer to prevent oil and gas drilling in communities and protect public health and safety from the air pollution and other harms of oil and gas extraction,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators with the California Geologic Energy Management Division, known as CalGEM, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975538/california-oil-regulators-delay-health-safety-rules-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">delayed\u003c/a>, for the second time, the release of draft rules that could require oil and gas drilling sites be set back from homes and schools in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A new analysis from an environmental advocacy group highlights a dirty secret about California-produced oil: It is responsible for higher carbon emissions than the oil the state imports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists with the Center for Biological Diversity examined the carbon intensity of the crude oil supplied to California refineries and released their \u003ca href=\"https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/pdfs/June-2021-Killer-Crude-Rpt.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on Monday, which shows that producing gasoline from heavy crude oil drilled in places like Kern County takes a lot of energy and creates tons of pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They found that the carbon intensity of oil produced in California has climbed by 22% since 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s oil is getting dirtier and heavier, heating the planet more and requiring more polluting methods to extract it,” said John Fleming, the report’s lead author, in a statement. “The idea that California oil is somehow cleaner or climate-friendly is ludicrous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/classic//fuels/lcfs/crude-oil/2019_crude_average_ci_value_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tracks\u003c/a> with similar statistics released by California regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dave Clegern, a spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said agency staff haven’t yet read the environmentalists’ report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he said California and its regulators are working to drive down consumer demand for gasoline with its policies, like incentivizing the use of electric vehicles. Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\">announced\u003c/a> last September that California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We know that as you get to the bottom of the barrel, more and more unconventional fuels, from light sweet crude to heavy crude — which California produces a lot off — to tar sands, it takes more effort to make gasoline,” said Dan Kammen, an energy professor at UC Berkeley who helped the state craft its fuel standard more than a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More effort means more energy. It means more pollution. It also typically means removing more impurities, all of that adds up to a dirtier and dirtier product,” he said. “This report really calls that out. California produces in Kern County some very sour, high-toxics fuels. It is not a surprise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kammen was not involved in the center’s report, but he helped design the methodology behind California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The environmentalists used equations from that state regulation in their report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proponents of California oil drilling have \u003ca href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2021/03/08/californias-big-oil-wins-okay-40-500-wells-farmer-vows-sue/4629935001/\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">argued\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that California-produced oil products are cleaner than the imported alternatives. These statistics undercut that argument — at least, in part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the production of California oil could contribute more planet-warming gas emissions, industry groups and labor groups have \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-04/newsom-california-fracking-ban-vision-exceeds-original-scope\">argued\u003c/a> that California oil is preferable to imported alternatives because it is produced under strict environmental and labor regulations. Limiting drilling here could hurt jobs, they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Foreign oil is not produced with the same environmental protections or humanitarian values that we have here in California; nor do they pay billions in California taxes or hundreds of millions of dollars in fees that are reinvested to advance California’s climate goals,” Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association, told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-04/newsom-california-fracking-ban-vision-exceeds-original-scope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The environmentalists are using the report to call on California to swiftly stop approving new oil and gas wells, ban fracking and “immediately implement a health-and-safety buffer to prevent oil and gas drilling in communities and protect public health and safety from the air pollution and other harms of oil and gas extraction,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regulators with the California Geologic Energy Management Division, known as CalGEM, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975538/california-oil-regulators-delay-health-safety-rules-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">delayed\u003c/a>, for the second time, the release of draft rules that could require oil and gas drilling sites be set back from homes and schools in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bone Dry Bay Area Forests Portend Fierce Fire Season",
"headTitle": "Bone Dry Bay Area Forests Portend Fierce Fire Season | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Blackberry Hill has a panoramic vista of the South Bay, the stuff of bucolic, real estate fantasies. Serene, nothing but birds and chaparral and oaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Huston appreciates the view, but he’s much more interested in the chamise bushes that dot the sun-drenched hillside above Los Gatos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a month, Huston, a meteorology grad student at San Jose State University, comes here, snipping new growth off of the native chamise plant. On a sunny afternoon, he took part in a data collection project to measure how much water plants have lost to heat and drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Up here at \u003ca href=\"https://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/site.php?site_fuel=Blackberry%20Hill&gacc=NOCC&state=CA&grup=CalFire%20Santa%20Clara%20Unit&sitefuel=site&display_type=Graph%20With%20Tables%20Bi\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blackberry Hill\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you can tell the plants are struggling,” Huston said, pruning twigs off the bushes and placing them in tin cans. “A ton of chaparral, chamise plants that are just dead.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975518 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose State’s Alan Huston, a grad student studying meteorology, snips new growth from a chamise bush on a hill outside of Los Gatos on May 14, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In mid-May, the chamise had taken advantage of a late spring sprinkle of rain to send out tender new shoots in between gray, dead branches — a valiant, last-ditch attempt to grow during a dry winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing the plants slowly creep out of winter when we didn’t have a lot of rain — it’s the most hopeful time because you see the new growth come out. This is supposed to be the brightest point of the year in terms of fuel moisture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not this year. Researchers started tracking vegetation moisture at the Blackberry Hill site eight years ago. This year, fuel moisture levels in the forest and chaparral of the Santa Cruz Mountains are lower than they’ve ever seen. That means trees and shrubs of the Santa Cruz Mountains are drier than the peak of the last major California drought, and any other moment since researchers began collecting records about a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/22106/the-connection-between-californias-drought-and-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/22106/the-connection-between-californias-drought-and-climate-change\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">suggests\u003c/a> that climate change is making weather patterns responsible for drought conditions in California more likely. Warming is also a \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">key driver\u003c/a> of more frequent wildfires in the state. One \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">study \u003c/a>found the number of extreme fire-weather days has already doubled due to rising temperatures and will continue to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston collects enough tiny twigs to add up to about 30 grams. Later, he’ll analyze the samples in the lab by baking them in tin containers for 24 hours in an oven and measuring how much moisture is lost to determine the precise moisture content of the chamise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston’s boss, professor Craig Clements, summed up these findings in April, when he posted a line graph of the fuel moisture content at this monitoring site, along with a rough prediction about this fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/FireWeatherLab/status/1379117042897391621\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tweet caught on well beyond his usual followers in the fire and weather research community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clements regularly posts wonky, data-rich tweets about vegetation moisture, as part of his job as the director of San Jose State’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But until this spring, only scientists and firefighters seemed to notice. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “fuel” in what academics like Clements call “fuel moisture” is basically just plants or buildings that could burn in a wildfire. Fuel moisture content is a measure of how much moisture is in the vegetation, which influences how fast it can ignite and burn. (It’s expressed as percentage, which indicates the ratio of moisture to combustible plant material.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was shocking because usually when we go up in April to these sites, it’s full of new growth and the plants are growing,” Clements said. “I tweet out fuel moistures all the time, nobody really cared until this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is different because Northern California is in the second year of a punishing drought that’s hurt even native plants like chamise and manzanita, which are adapted to thrive in the Bay Area with winter rain and almost no moisture during summer months. But the low vegetation moisture is another data point reminding researchers and the public that the forests around the Bay Area are bone dry. These graphs indicate precisely how dangerous wildfire conditions are right now along the coastal mountains in the South Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measurements are collected at \u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/states_map.php?state=CA\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than a hundred sites\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across California. San Jose State’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fireweather.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fire Weather Research Lab\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is part of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, manages three sampling sites in the hills around the South Bay. Cal Fire and other agencies and researchers manage \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">others\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The data informs a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">national database\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that helps scientists understand how wildfires burn, along with topography and weather, the other two factors that determine fire behavior.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamise and other native chaparral plants have evolved to go without water for months through hot summers, but they still are ignitable, Clements said. Later in the season as the soil dries out, the plant moisture content falls, and the fuel becomes easier to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low fuel moisture content “sets the stage for fires being able to spread a lot easier and earlier in the season than [is typical],” Clements said. “These data are really critical [to our understanding of wildfire] because of the new modeling and forecasting tools that we’re developing at San Jose State, where we’re actually developing very high-resolution prediction systems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vegetation moisture is one parameter that goes into the fire danger rating system. Think of those Smokey the Bear signs, with colors that indicate fire danger. Predictions based on this vegetation moisture data allow fire officials to pre-position crews and allocate resources to respond quickly and put out fires while they’re still small. The information also helps park officials and land managers decide whether or not to keep a park open or close it during hot, windy weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick McIntyre, a fire captain with the East Bay Regional Park District, is one of those decision-makers. The park district samples for fuel moisture at four remote weather stations around the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975519 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patrick McIntyre, a fire captain with the East Bay Regional Parks District, points out signs of drought stress in a cluster of Monterey pines in Tilden Park on May 17, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But for him — a trained forester, outdoorsman, and veteran firefighter — vegetation moisture isn’t just a number. His senses provide other data points that tell the story without graphs or charts. The foliage in the parks he patrolled last spring looked more washed out instead of brilliant green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brush crunched underfoot earlier this year because it dried out sooner. As he drives through Tilden Park, he points out trees — eucalyptus from Australia, Monterey pines from just across the bay, Ponderosa pines from the Sierra — native and non-native alike, all showing signs of drought stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaning out his department-issued pickup truck, he points across a grassy swale at a copse of majestic redwoods. “The health of these giant sequoias is definitely declining,” he said. “Some of them might not even make it. The plants that look the healthiest are the native trees: coast live oaks, California bays, poison oak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He sees signs of drought and the ominous wildfire season all over: a pine tree “flagging” a branch of dead needles, eucalyptus bark peeling more than usual, a hardy bay laurel dropping yellow leaves, or the puffs of dry dirt and brittleness of the brush underfoot. He says those symptoms are shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everywhere — freeway, roadside trees, up in Oakland Hills there’s just massive swaths [of forest] that’re just looking peakish,” he said, describing it as a “visible kind of sadness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem as though there’s enough soil moisture to keep the trees happy and alive right now,” he said. “It’s worrisome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is working to clear the brush, especially the fallen bark and leaves in eucalyptus groves near buildings and infrastructure. McIntyre surveyed a crew from the Conservation Corps clearing a small grove of trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975520\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975520 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A work crew builds a fire break by clearing overgrown eucalyptus saplings from along a trail in Tilden Park on May 17, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the smaller diameter eucalyptus, less than 8 to 12 inches, we’ll remove and get out of there and then we’ll leave the larger diameter to still provide shade habitat,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The winding trail by Tilden Park’s public golf course will still be shady and cool, but there will be less dry fuels — vegetation that could catch and spread fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These symptoms of drought won’t go away until rain returns in the fall — if it returns. Those record low vegetation moisture readings aren’t likely to get any better until then either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters and scientists agree: this kind of dryness sets the table for earlier, bigger wildfires this season. One errant firecracker, one spark from an unlucky vehicle, is all it takes. The data and the look of the landscape point in the same, grim direction.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "It’s dry, but how dry? Fire researchers say some vegetation is drier now than at the peak of California's last major drought.",
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"description": "It’s dry, but how dry? Fire researchers say some vegetation is drier now than at the peak of California's last major drought.",
"title": "Bone Dry Bay Area Forests Portend Fierce Fire Season | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Blackberry Hill has a panoramic vista of the South Bay, the stuff of bucolic, real estate fantasies. Serene, nothing but birds and chaparral and oaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alan Huston appreciates the view, but he’s much more interested in the chamise bushes that dot the sun-drenched hillside above Los Gatos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a month, Huston, a meteorology grad student at San Jose State University, comes here, snipping new growth off of the native chamise plant. On a sunny afternoon, he took part in a data collection project to measure how much water plants have lost to heat and drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Up here at \u003ca href=\"https://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/site.php?site_fuel=Blackberry%20Hill&gacc=NOCC&state=CA&grup=CalFire%20Santa%20Clara%20Unit&sitefuel=site&display_type=Graph%20With%20Tables%20Bi\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blackberry Hill\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, you can tell the plants are struggling,” Huston said, pruning twigs off the bushes and placing them in tin cans. “A ton of chaparral, chamise plants that are just dead.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975518 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50131_Huston-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose State’s Alan Huston, a grad student studying meteorology, snips new growth from a chamise bush on a hill outside of Los Gatos on May 14, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In mid-May, the chamise had taken advantage of a late spring sprinkle of rain to send out tender new shoots in between gray, dead branches — a valiant, last-ditch attempt to grow during a dry winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing the plants slowly creep out of winter when we didn’t have a lot of rain — it’s the most hopeful time because you see the new growth come out. This is supposed to be the brightest point of the year in terms of fuel moisture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not this year. Researchers started tracking vegetation moisture at the Blackberry Hill site eight years ago. This year, fuel moisture levels in the forest and chaparral of the Santa Cruz Mountains are lower than they’ve ever seen. That means trees and shrubs of the Santa Cruz Mountains are drier than the peak of the last major California drought, and any other moment since researchers began collecting records about a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/22106/the-connection-between-californias-drought-and-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/22106/the-connection-between-californias-drought-and-climate-change\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">suggests\u003c/a> that climate change is making weather patterns responsible for drought conditions in California more likely. Warming is also a \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">key driver\u003c/a> of more frequent wildfires in the state. One \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">study \u003c/a>found the number of extreme fire-weather days has already doubled due to rising temperatures and will continue to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston collects enough tiny twigs to add up to about 30 grams. Later, he’ll analyze the samples in the lab by baking them in tin containers for 24 hours in an oven and measuring how much moisture is lost to determine the precise moisture content of the chamise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huston’s boss, professor Craig Clements, summed up these findings in April, when he posted a line graph of the fuel moisture content at this monitoring site, along with a rough prediction about this fire season.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The tweet caught on well beyond his usual followers in the fire and weather research community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clements regularly posts wonky, data-rich tweets about vegetation moisture, as part of his job as the director of San Jose State’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But until this spring, only scientists and firefighters seemed to notice. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “fuel” in what academics like Clements call “fuel moisture” is basically just plants or buildings that could burn in a wildfire. Fuel moisture content is a measure of how much moisture is in the vegetation, which influences how fast it can ignite and burn. (It’s expressed as percentage, which indicates the ratio of moisture to combustible plant material.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was shocking because usually when we go up in April to these sites, it’s full of new growth and the plants are growing,” Clements said. “I tweet out fuel moistures all the time, nobody really cared until this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is different because Northern California is in the second year of a punishing drought that’s hurt even native plants like chamise and manzanita, which are adapted to thrive in the Bay Area with winter rain and almost no moisture during summer months. But the low vegetation moisture is another data point reminding researchers and the public that the forests around the Bay Area are bone dry. These graphs indicate precisely how dangerous wildfire conditions are right now along the coastal mountains in the South Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measurements are collected at \u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/states_map.php?state=CA\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than a hundred sites\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across California. San Jose State’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fireweather.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fire Weather Research Lab\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is part of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, manages three sampling sites in the hills around the South Bay. Cal Fire and other agencies and researchers manage \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">others\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The data informs a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.wfas.net/nfmd/public/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">national database\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that helps scientists understand how wildfires burn, along with topography and weather, the other two factors that determine fire behavior.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamise and other native chaparral plants have evolved to go without water for months through hot summers, but they still are ignitable, Clements said. Later in the season as the soil dries out, the plant moisture content falls, and the fuel becomes easier to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low fuel moisture content “sets the stage for fires being able to spread a lot easier and earlier in the season than [is typical],” Clements said. “These data are really critical [to our understanding of wildfire] because of the new modeling and forecasting tools that we’re developing at San Jose State, where we’re actually developing very high-resolution prediction systems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vegetation moisture is one parameter that goes into the fire danger rating system. Think of those Smokey the Bear signs, with colors that indicate fire danger. Predictions based on this vegetation moisture data allow fire officials to pre-position crews and allocate resources to respond quickly and put out fires while they’re still small. The information also helps park officials and land managers decide whether or not to keep a park open or close it during hot, windy weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick McIntyre, a fire captain with the East Bay Regional Park District, is one of those decision-makers. The park district samples for fuel moisture at four remote weather stations around the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975519 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50128_McIntyre-tight-1-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patrick McIntyre, a fire captain with the East Bay Regional Parks District, points out signs of drought stress in a cluster of Monterey pines in Tilden Park on May 17, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But for him — a trained forester, outdoorsman, and veteran firefighter — vegetation moisture isn’t just a number. His senses provide other data points that tell the story without graphs or charts. The foliage in the parks he patrolled last spring looked more washed out instead of brilliant green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brush crunched underfoot earlier this year because it dried out sooner. As he drives through Tilden Park, he points out trees — eucalyptus from Australia, Monterey pines from just across the bay, Ponderosa pines from the Sierra — native and non-native alike, all showing signs of drought stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaning out his department-issued pickup truck, he points across a grassy swale at a copse of majestic redwoods. “The health of these giant sequoias is definitely declining,” he said. “Some of them might not even make it. The plants that look the healthiest are the native trees: coast live oaks, California bays, poison oak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He sees signs of drought and the ominous wildfire season all over: a pine tree “flagging” a branch of dead needles, eucalyptus bark peeling more than usual, a hardy bay laurel dropping yellow leaves, or the puffs of dry dirt and brittleness of the brush underfoot. He says those symptoms are shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everywhere — freeway, roadside trees, up in Oakland Hills there’s just massive swaths [of forest] that’re just looking peakish,” he said, describing it as a “visible kind of sadness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem as though there’s enough soil moisture to keep the trees happy and alive right now,” he said. “It’s worrisome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is working to clear the brush, especially the fallen bark and leaves in eucalyptus groves near buildings and infrastructure. McIntyre surveyed a crew from the Conservation Corps clearing a small grove of trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975520\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975520 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS50130_ThinningEBRPD-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A work crew builds a fire break by clearing overgrown eucalyptus saplings from along a trail in Tilden Park on May 17, 2021. (Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the smaller diameter eucalyptus, less than 8 to 12 inches, we’ll remove and get out of there and then we’ll leave the larger diameter to still provide shade habitat,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The winding trail by Tilden Park’s public golf course will still be shady and cool, but there will be less dry fuels — vegetation that could catch and spread fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These symptoms of drought won’t go away until rain returns in the fall — if it returns. Those record low vegetation moisture readings aren’t likely to get any better until then either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters and scientists agree: this kind of dryness sets the table for earlier, bigger wildfires this season. One errant firecracker, one spark from an unlucky vehicle, is all it takes. The data and the look of the landscape point in the same, grim direction.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Millions of Calif. Homes Are in Fire-Prone Areas. Researchers Say It's Time To Reimagine Where People Live",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Millions of Californians are at risk of losing their homes to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When tragedy strikes, people often rebuild in the same risky places, according to researchers at UC Berkeley and \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/about\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Next 10,\u003c/span>\u003c/a> a nonprofit think tank, who are urging California policymakers to rethink how communities are rebuilt after destructive wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The academics want state policymakers to encourage rebuilding efforts away from fire-prone areas, many of which are increasingly risky places to live as warming temperatures bake forests across California, priming them to burn. \u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“This is really important in a state where the focus has been on specific [wildfire] mitigation measures such as hardening homes, prescribed burns, fuel breaks, and not on land use planning, not on making more sustainable settlement patterns around the state,” said report co-author Karen Chapple, an \u003cspan class=\"s2\">urban planning professor and \u003c/span>director of UC Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Center for Community Innovation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. “It’s about thinking about what our post-fire communities look like before the fire happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">More than 11 million Californians, roughly a quarter of the state’s population, live in high-risk wildfire areas known as the wildland-urban interface, or as its often referred to in academic circles, the WUI (pronounced woo-eee). Chapple says California’s housing crisis threatens to drive that number even higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“We have a housing crisis that is pushing housing out to the periphery of our urban areas. We’re building on peripheral land, on exurban land,” she said, “And that’s putting much more housing at risk than we’ve ever had before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Chapple adds that when wildfire hits, the state loses a portion of that housing stock, putting more pressure on the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Alternatives to ‘Rebuilding as Usual’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\">In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/rebuilding-resilient\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">new report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, \u003c/span>Chapple and a group of Berkeley graduate students looked at rebuilding alternatives for three California communities that were hit hard by catastrophic fires over the last five years: Santa Rosa, Ventura and Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Following the Tubbs Fire in 2017, Chapple says, Santa Rosa’s planning division mobilized to help homeowners rebuild the homes they lost. But, she said, “They helped them rebuild right in place, right back in the wildland-urban interface. And what if they had instead looked at building in an alternative way?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">In one scenario, fire survivors would be given incentives to relocate to cities and other lower-risk areas (researchers call this “managed retreat”) and found it was the most effective way to pull people out of the path of destructive wildfires, potentially reducing the number of housing units in fire zones by more than 50% in Santa Rosa and Ventura, and to a lesser extent, Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second scenario drives survivors toward\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pockets of development in rural areas with robust wildfire mitigation features, neighborhoods surrounded by defensible space to act as a fire break. Chapple describes these communities — what she calls “resilience nodes” — as mini villages or stand alone neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“This is a scenario where you would rebuild partly in the exurban areas or in the suburban areas, in the wildland-urban interface. But you would build with more density,” she said. “You would create dense, walkable nodes with small protective green buffers around them so people wouldn’t have to move totally out of their areas and into downtown, which a lot of people don’t want to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Researchers compared these scenarios against what it labeled the typical “rebuilding as usual” strategy, noting that encouraging people to relocate to cities has added climate benefits.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>Urbanites typically drive less and consume less energy (not to mention, have lower costs for transportation, power and water).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conserving forested areas is beneficial, too. Trees sequester carbon dioxide, a planet warming gas contributing to climate change, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7?ftag=MSF0951a18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">driver of extreme wildfire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>A Costly Problem\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Building in fire-prone regions comes with financial risk. An analysis from \u003ca href=\"https://urbanfootprint.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Urban Footprint\u003c/span>\u003c/a> , a sustainability-focussed urban planning site, estimates the cost of rebuilding all of the 1.4 million homes located in California’s highest-risk fire zones to be around $600 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">These costs threaten to send insurance rates skyrocketing.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Ultimately, rates that adequately insure property that is endangered by wildfire will simply be too high for customers to pay, which means insurers may choose to get out of the market entirely, leaving homes in the WUI uninsurable,” Robert Olshansky, an urban and regional planning researcher at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, wrote in a statement. “If we continue with rebuilding as usual, it’s almost inevitable that a major insurance crisis lies ahead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/climate/climate-California-wildfires-insurance.html#click=https://t.co/JilE2jWg19\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">New York Times\u003c/span>\u003c/a> reported earlier this month that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara \u003c/span>endorsed a list of \u003ca href=\"http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/180-climate-change/upload/Draft-Climate-Insurance-Recommendations.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">policy recommendations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, floated by a state working group,\u003cbr>\naimed at curtailing development in wildfire hazard zones. Some insurers have already pulled out of regions prone to wildfire, making it harder for Californians to secure financial protection from potential home damage or loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Rebuilding Safer With ‘Carrots and Sticks’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Imagining what alternative rebuilding strategies could look like is one thing, finding feasible ways to implement them is another. Officials also have to ask people who’ve just endured the trauma of losing their homes and possessions to move away from their communities, potentially disrupting jobs, school and family — and that’s all the more difficult if a person lost a childhood home or their dream house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Chapple says a couple solutions that might work could be a combination of new local zoning policies that would enable denser housing and statewide financial incentives to encourage residents to relocate. The state could also reserve funds to support subsidized housing when disaster strikes.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">She notes that renters, disadvantaged communities, communities of color and immigrants are more vulnerable to the displacement caused by wildfire; another set of policies could be necessary to support these people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“How do you rethink your hazard mitigation and fire recovery policies to help people so they’re not doubly vulnerable?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The report recommends California policymakers discourage risky development, while incentivizing the development of more affordable housing in lower-risk areas. Prohibitively expensive fire insurance rates may also drive an exodus of people leaving forested, fire-prone areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Jim Thorne, a UC Davis landscape ecologist with no connection to the new report, says the idea of managed retreat is gaining traction for another climate-related crisis the state is facing: sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Many California cities are looking at that,” he said. “But this report is talking about managed retreat from areas in the WUI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the study could capture the attention of people who are living in these areas and “grappling with that insecurity of, ‘Wow, it’s really difficult to be sure that we’re going to be able maintain things here\u003ci>.’” \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Incentivizing residents to relocate away from wildfire-prone areas could help, Thorne adds, but the lack of affordable housing in urban areas is still a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“If you moved 500,000 units out of the WUI, where are you going to move them?” he said. Some research suggests the most effective strategy would be the creation of more \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204616301669\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">infill housing\u003c/span>\u003c/a> units in urban areas around existing housing developments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Thorne calls resilience nodes a “great idea,” even if it might not be all together practical\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> A more realistic idea might be more akin to the ways in which the \u003cspan class=\"s4\">California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection\u003c/span> has begun prioritizing wildfire-prone communities for vegetation removal and fire breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Even though those [areas] might not be planned as urban pods,” he said, “There’s already a recognition of, ‘hey, we need to do that.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Thorne says there is no single, magic solution. Solving this problem will be a process, a policy combination of “some carrots and sticks” along with “some ways of moving people around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“It won’t be a clean break where you just go, ‘Okay, now from here on out all the housing is going to go over here,'” he said. “We need to implement these types of resiliency measures, but how we go about it? That’s one of the current challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Millions of Californians are at risk of losing their homes to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When tragedy strikes, people often rebuild in the same risky places, according to researchers at UC Berkeley and \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/about\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Next 10,\u003c/span>\u003c/a> a nonprofit think tank, who are urging California policymakers to rethink how communities are rebuilt after destructive wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The academics want state policymakers to encourage rebuilding efforts away from fire-prone areas, many of which are increasingly risky places to live as warming temperatures bake forests across California, priming them to burn. \u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“This is really important in a state where the focus has been on specific [wildfire] mitigation measures such as hardening homes, prescribed burns, fuel breaks, and not on land use planning, not on making more sustainable settlement patterns around the state,” said report co-author Karen Chapple, an \u003cspan class=\"s2\">urban planning professor and \u003c/span>director of UC Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Center for Community Innovation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. “It’s about thinking about what our post-fire communities look like before the fire happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">More than 11 million Californians, roughly a quarter of the state’s population, live in high-risk wildfire areas known as the wildland-urban interface, or as its often referred to in academic circles, the WUI (pronounced woo-eee). Chapple says California’s housing crisis threatens to drive that number even higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“We have a housing crisis that is pushing housing out to the periphery of our urban areas. We’re building on peripheral land, on exurban land,” she said, “And that’s putting much more housing at risk than we’ve ever had before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Chapple adds that when wildfire hits, the state loses a portion of that housing stock, putting more pressure on the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Alternatives to ‘Rebuilding as Usual’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\">In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/rebuilding-resilient\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">new report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, \u003c/span>Chapple and a group of Berkeley graduate students looked at rebuilding alternatives for three California communities that were hit hard by catastrophic fires over the last five years: Santa Rosa, Ventura and Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Following the Tubbs Fire in 2017, Chapple says, Santa Rosa’s planning division mobilized to help homeowners rebuild the homes they lost. But, she said, “They helped them rebuild right in place, right back in the wildland-urban interface. And what if they had instead looked at building in an alternative way?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">In one scenario, fire survivors would be given incentives to relocate to cities and other lower-risk areas (researchers call this “managed retreat”) and found it was the most effective way to pull people out of the path of destructive wildfires, potentially reducing the number of housing units in fire zones by more than 50% in Santa Rosa and Ventura, and to a lesser extent, Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second scenario drives survivors toward\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>pockets of development in rural areas with robust wildfire mitigation features, neighborhoods surrounded by defensible space to act as a fire break. Chapple describes these communities — what she calls “resilience nodes” — as mini villages or stand alone neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“This is a scenario where you would rebuild partly in the exurban areas or in the suburban areas, in the wildland-urban interface. But you would build with more density,” she said. “You would create dense, walkable nodes with small protective green buffers around them so people wouldn’t have to move totally out of their areas and into downtown, which a lot of people don’t want to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Researchers compared these scenarios against what it labeled the typical “rebuilding as usual” strategy, noting that encouraging people to relocate to cities has added climate benefits.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>Urbanites typically drive less and consume less energy (not to mention, have lower costs for transportation, power and water).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conserving forested areas is beneficial, too. Trees sequester carbon dioxide, a planet warming gas contributing to climate change, which is a \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab83a7?ftag=MSF0951a18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">driver of extreme wildfire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>A Costly Problem\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Building in fire-prone regions comes with financial risk. An analysis from \u003ca href=\"https://urbanfootprint.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Urban Footprint\u003c/span>\u003c/a> , a sustainability-focussed urban planning site, estimates the cost of rebuilding all of the 1.4 million homes located in California’s highest-risk fire zones to be around $600 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">These costs threaten to send insurance rates skyrocketing.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Ultimately, rates that adequately insure property that is endangered by wildfire will simply be too high for customers to pay, which means insurers may choose to get out of the market entirely, leaving homes in the WUI uninsurable,” Robert Olshansky, an urban and regional planning researcher at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, wrote in a statement. “If we continue with rebuilding as usual, it’s almost inevitable that a major insurance crisis lies ahead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/climate/climate-California-wildfires-insurance.html#click=https://t.co/JilE2jWg19\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">New York Times\u003c/span>\u003c/a> reported earlier this month that California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara \u003c/span>endorsed a list of \u003ca href=\"http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/180-climate-change/upload/Draft-Climate-Insurance-Recommendations.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">policy recommendations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, floated by a state working group,\u003cbr>\naimed at curtailing development in wildfire hazard zones. Some insurers have already pulled out of regions prone to wildfire, making it harder for Californians to secure financial protection from potential home damage or loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cb>Rebuilding Safer With ‘Carrots and Sticks’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Imagining what alternative rebuilding strategies could look like is one thing, finding feasible ways to implement them is another. Officials also have to ask people who’ve just endured the trauma of losing their homes and possessions to move away from their communities, potentially disrupting jobs, school and family — and that’s all the more difficult if a person lost a childhood home or their dream house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Chapple says a couple solutions that might work could be a combination of new local zoning policies that would enable denser housing and statewide financial incentives to encourage residents to relocate. The state could also reserve funds to support subsidized housing when disaster strikes.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">She notes that renters, disadvantaged communities, communities of color and immigrants are more vulnerable to the displacement caused by wildfire; another set of policies could be necessary to support these people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“How do you rethink your hazard mitigation and fire recovery policies to help people so they’re not doubly vulnerable?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The report recommends California policymakers discourage risky development, while incentivizing the development of more affordable housing in lower-risk areas. Prohibitively expensive fire insurance rates may also drive an exodus of people leaving forested, fire-prone areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Jim Thorne, a UC Davis landscape ecologist with no connection to the new report, says the idea of managed retreat is gaining traction for another climate-related crisis the state is facing: sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Many California cities are looking at that,” he said. “But this report is talking about managed retreat from areas in the WUI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the study could capture the attention of people who are living in these areas and “grappling with that insecurity of, ‘Wow, it’s really difficult to be sure that we’re going to be able maintain things here\u003ci>.’” \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Incentivizing residents to relocate away from wildfire-prone areas could help, Thorne adds, but the lack of affordable housing in urban areas is still a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“If you moved 500,000 units out of the WUI, where are you going to move them?” he said. Some research suggests the most effective strategy would be the creation of more \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204616301669\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">infill housing\u003c/span>\u003c/a> units in urban areas around existing housing developments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Thorne calls resilience nodes a “great idea,” even if it might not be all together practical\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> A more realistic idea might be more akin to the ways in which the \u003cspan class=\"s4\">California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection\u003c/span> has begun prioritizing wildfire-prone communities for vegetation removal and fire breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Even though those [areas] might not be planned as urban pods,” he said, “There’s already a recognition of, ‘hey, we need to do that.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Thorne says there is no single, magic solution. Solving this problem will be a process, a policy combination of “some carrots and sticks” along with “some ways of moving people around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“It won’t be a clean break where you just go, ‘Okay, now from here on out all the housing is going to go over here,'” he said. “We need to implement these types of resiliency measures, but how we go about it? That’s one of the current challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It might be tempting to shrug at the scorching weather across large swaths of the West. This just in: It gets hot in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this record-setting heat wave’s remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly called “heat domes” are relatively common in later summer months. This current system is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not only unusual for June, but it is pretty extreme even in absolute terms,” said Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “It would be a pretty extreme event for August,” Swain says, when these typically occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Even in Coastal California, Cities Are Setting Record Temps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This heat dome’s reach is remarkable, too: It has set record highs stretching from the Great Plains to coastal California. And these aren’t just records for that specific date or month, but in a few spots, they are records for the singularly hottest day in the entire period of record, sometimes stretching back 100 to 150 years. “That’s a pretty big deal,” Swain says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unusual in that it’s more intense in terms of the maximum temperature,” said Alison Bridger, a professor in the Meteorology and Climate Science Department at San Jose State University. “And how widespread the impact is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Palm Springs, California, recently hit 123 degrees, equaling its highest recorded temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Las Vegas set a daily record of 114 degrees. Phoenix \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSPhoenix/status/1405654514141589505\">reached a record 118\u003c/a> degrees, the earliest the city has hit that high a mark. It broke the previous record of 114 set in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacramento, California, set a new daily record of 109 degrees. The National Weather Service \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSSacramento/status/1405989947912376326/photo/1\">extended its excessive heat warning through Sunday\u003c/a> night in the Central Valley and parts of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denver this week hit 100 for three straight days, the earliest date of such a streak on record, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bhensonweather/status/1405619186538139649\">tweeted meteorologist Bob Henson. \u003c/a>He noted that all of the 100-degree streaks in Denver’s 150 years of climate record keeping have occurred in the last three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the Great Plains, several cities including Omaha, Nebraska, set records, including a daily \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSOmaha/status/1405679809053614080\">record high of 105 degrees\u003c/a>. That breaks an Omaha daily record set in 1918.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just last year, several cities in the West also hit record highs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This current heat dome “fits with climate change ideas, global warming, meaning that it’s just a little bit warmer than it would have been last year,” Bridger says. “And if we have this next year, it’ll be just a little bit warmer again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The ‘Heat Dome’ is Making Droughts Even Worse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also coinciding with and worsening record drought across big parts of the West. These two things, Swain says, are now making each other worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drought is leading to extremely low soil moisture, which is making it easier for these high pressure systems to generate extreme heat waves because more of the sun’s energy is going into heating the atmosphere rather than evaporating nonexistent water in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that is only making things hotter and drier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s sort of the vicious cycle of drought and extreme heat in a warming climate,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s More Evidence of Human-Caused Climate Change\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The excessive heat and widening drought continues to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/993172298/deepening-drought-holds-ominous-signs-for-wildfire-threat-in-the-west\">elevate wildfire risk across\u003c/a> much of the West. New federal data show that the number of new wildfires in the U.S. so far this year is at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn\">a 10-year high\u003c/a>, signaling a long, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/1007784176/new-wildfires-10-year-high-western-u-s\">potentially dangerous summer and fall for wildfires.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say this current heat dome is yet more evidence of the impact of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bridger at San Jose State says while that is most likely the case, “it takes a lot of work to figure that out. A lot of hard scientific work in order to be statistically sure that it’s associated with climate change,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others are more certain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so clear at this point,” says climate scientist Swain, “when it comes to record-breaking heat events, the study has been run for event after event after event in region after region after region in year after year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the answer is almost always the same, he says: “There’s a crystal clear human fingerprint on extreme heat and extreme heat events … climate change is making these sorts of things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what was historically rare is now becoming almost commonplace: Forecasters say there’s a chance of yet another heat wave of similar magnitude in the West about 10 days from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That sounds crazy, except that last summer we saw like three to five of these, you know, ‘unprecedented events’ in different regions of the West,” Swain points out.\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=The+Record+Temperatures+Enveloping+The+West+Are+Not+Your+Average+Heat+Wave&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It might be tempting to shrug at the scorching weather across large swaths of the West. This just in: It gets hot in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this record-setting heat wave’s remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly called “heat domes” are relatively common in later summer months. This current system is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not only unusual for June, but it is pretty extreme even in absolute terms,” said Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “It would be a pretty extreme event for August,” Swain says, when these typically occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Even in Coastal California, Cities Are Setting Record Temps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This heat dome’s reach is remarkable, too: It has set record highs stretching from the Great Plains to coastal California. And these aren’t just records for that specific date or month, but in a few spots, they are records for the singularly hottest day in the entire period of record, sometimes stretching back 100 to 150 years. “That’s a pretty big deal,” Swain says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unusual in that it’s more intense in terms of the maximum temperature,” said Alison Bridger, a professor in the Meteorology and Climate Science Department at San Jose State University. “And how widespread the impact is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Palm Springs, California, recently hit 123 degrees, equaling its highest recorded temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Las Vegas set a daily record of 114 degrees. Phoenix \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSPhoenix/status/1405654514141589505\">reached a record 118\u003c/a> degrees, the earliest the city has hit that high a mark. It broke the previous record of 114 set in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacramento, California, set a new daily record of 109 degrees. The National Weather Service \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSSacramento/status/1405989947912376326/photo/1\">extended its excessive heat warning through Sunday\u003c/a> night in the Central Valley and parts of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Denver this week hit 100 for three straight days, the earliest date of such a streak on record, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bhensonweather/status/1405619186538139649\">tweeted meteorologist Bob Henson. \u003c/a>He noted that all of the 100-degree streaks in Denver’s 150 years of climate record keeping have occurred in the last three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the Great Plains, several cities including Omaha, Nebraska, set records, including a daily \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSOmaha/status/1405679809053614080\">record high of 105 degrees\u003c/a>. That breaks an Omaha daily record set in 1918.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just last year, several cities in the West also hit record highs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This current heat dome “fits with climate change ideas, global warming, meaning that it’s just a little bit warmer than it would have been last year,” Bridger says. “And if we have this next year, it’ll be just a little bit warmer again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The ‘Heat Dome’ is Making Droughts Even Worse\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also coinciding with and worsening record drought across big parts of the West. These two things, Swain says, are now making each other worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drought is leading to extremely low soil moisture, which is making it easier for these high pressure systems to generate extreme heat waves because more of the sun’s energy is going into heating the atmosphere rather than evaporating nonexistent water in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that is only making things hotter and drier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s sort of the vicious cycle of drought and extreme heat in a warming climate,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s More Evidence of Human-Caused Climate Change\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The excessive heat and widening drought continues to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/993172298/deepening-drought-holds-ominous-signs-for-wildfire-threat-in-the-west\">elevate wildfire risk across\u003c/a> much of the West. New federal data show that the number of new wildfires in the U.S. so far this year is at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information/nfn\">a 10-year high\u003c/a>, signaling a long, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/1007784176/new-wildfires-10-year-high-western-u-s\">potentially dangerous summer and fall for wildfires.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say this current heat dome is yet more evidence of the impact of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bridger at San Jose State says while that is most likely the case, “it takes a lot of work to figure that out. A lot of hard scientific work in order to be statistically sure that it’s associated with climate change,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others are more certain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so clear at this point,” says climate scientist Swain, “when it comes to record-breaking heat events, the study has been run for event after event after event in region after region after region in year after year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the answer is almost always the same, he says: “There’s a crystal clear human fingerprint on extreme heat and extreme heat events … climate change is making these sorts of things worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what was historically rare is now becoming almost commonplace: Forecasters say there’s a chance of yet another heat wave of similar magnitude in the West about 10 days from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That sounds crazy, except that last summer we saw like three to five of these, you know, ‘unprecedented events’ in different regions of the West,” Swain points out.\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=The+Record+Temperatures+Enveloping+The+West+Are+Not+Your+Average+Heat+Wave&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Communities Know Best': Climate Solutions in The South Bay Start With Listening",
"headTitle": "‘Communities Know Best’: Climate Solutions in The South Bay Start With Listening | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the South Bay grapples with the impacts of climate change, people there are creating solutions by relying on arguably the most fundamental element of conversation: listening.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This process began in East Palo Alto, where community groups and scientists are helping residents understand how warming temperatures are raising water levels in the bay — already half the city lies in a federal flood zone. And the idea is now spreading to nearby communities like North Fair Oaks, a small unincorporated area of mostly neighborhoods. Soon, it will expand into a regional science project where hundreds of residents will document how climate change is altering their lives over the next five years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The listening project is led by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.climatercommunities.org/staff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Violet Wulf-Saena,\u003c/span>\u003c/a> founder and executive director of the\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> nonprofit \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.climatercommunities.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate Resilient Communities\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her group advocates for climate change solutions that integrate the communities most affected by warming temperatures in the Bay Area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot of power in the community,” she said. “They are the ones who are being impacted. They’re the ones who live in East Palo Alto, they know more than me. They are the experts. … Success is really about bringing the community together and finding ways where they can also be part of the process.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Too often, she says, climate change policies are top-down approaches that forgo meaningful exchanges with the people who are going to have to live with solutions created for \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">them\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena’s primary mode for closing that gap is conversation. It works, she says, because her team looks like the communities they work with. She’s from Samoa and emigrated to the U.S. to be closer to her husband’s family nearly two decades ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s easier for me, because I’m a person of color and I do come from the island,” she said. “They see that: ‘Oh, yeah, she’s part of us.’”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973805/climate-solutions-in-east-palo-alto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I met Wulf-Saena while speaking with residents who came to East Palo Alto after fleeing flooding and sea level rise back home in the Pacific Islands\u003c/a>, only to find that in the coming decades they could be climate migrants for a second time. One of those residents is Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi, known as Mama Dee.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The last two floods over here, the question is, where was God?’ she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I believe in prayers. But I lived through so many disasters.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I learned East Palo Alto is ahead of some other Bay Area cities in planning for rising tides — thanks in large part to the community activism of those who emigrated to this small city along the bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975434\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975434\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi, known as “Mama Dee,” and her husband, Senita Uhila, at their home in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It Began in Samoa\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This idea of listening isn’t new. People likely listened (or, \u003cem>didn’t\u003c/em> listen) \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">before they even learned to write.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But Wulf-Saena experienced an epiphany about the power of listening when she was Samoa’s first climate change officer in the early 2000s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The government she represented wanted to move the village of Saoluafata, located on the north side of the island Upolu, upland and away from an eroding shoreline — a problem that would be exacerbated as climate change pushed tide levels even higher. Already, residents reported waves washing away the land and encroaching on homes, according to a study titled \u003ca href=\"https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2084&context=isp_collection\">“Seawalls in Samoa\u003c/a>.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While drinking kava — usually sipped to mark important occasions within Samoan society — with elders of the village in Saoluafata, Wulf-Saena quickly learned they didn’t want to move inland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to stay on their ancestral land is more important than adapting or moving to another place where their families can be safe,” she explained. “In the end, we compromised.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The solution? A \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/k9WcaStolhY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seawall the length of 22 San Francisco city blocks constructed of boulders\u003c/a> piled on top of sand that allowed the villagers to stay. The coastline was revegetated, the village water tank was upgraded and residents were taught about coral gardening and how to protect the reef. Residents said in the survey that the seawall solved the erosion problem, and a study suggests it was a success because the “villagers made all of the decisions.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The big lesson for Wulf-Saena in Saoluafata was that engaging residents in climate change solutions opens the opportunity for them to thrive despite the ever-increasing climate emergency. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s really about being in their shoes … trying to understand their situations, the conflicts, and the barriers that they’re facing. And also working with them to find a way forward,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975435\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975435\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate Resilient Communities Executive Director Violet Wulf-Saena at Cooley Landing Park in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Listening to People Around the Bay\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena moved to California in 2005. Shortly after she took what she learned in Samoa and began applying it to the community of East Palo Alto in San Mateo County, which out of all the Bay Area counties, is the most at risk from sea level rise. The city is one of the most vulnerable to climate-driven inundation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About 2.5 square miles, the city is made up of mostly one-story homes. Scientists say in about a decade two-thirds of the city may regularly flood, and by 2050, those areas could be frequently underwater during high tides.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena partnered with Stanford students on a door-to-door climate survey, and she learned that the community did not understand the link between increased flooding and warming temperatures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What I found was a lot of the community members didn’t know what climate change was,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through community meetings and one-on-one peer counseling, local organizations and the county worked to help residents connect the dots. Her team fostered community buy-in for a levee project to protect against future flooding as the bay rises, much like the sea wall in Samoa. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, she understands that there’s a large percentage of the population she hasn’t reached; working with other nonprofit groups, she hopes to “help residents plan and respond [to climate change].”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975432\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975432\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An apartment building in North Fair Oaks on May 10, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘The Community Knows Best’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar listening session occurred 15 minutes north of East Palo Alto in the community of North Fair Oaks. In 2018, San Mateo County announced the community would receive a $50,000 grant to study climate change-related flooding impacts. The contract was finalized in 2019. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But when advocates and Stanford students once again went door to door, they were surprised with what residents like Linda Lopez, who moved to the community in 1959 when she was 9 years old, told them. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their climate concern? Heat and smoke from wildfires, not flooding.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I just wasn’t thinking about [sea level rise] because we’ve never had any degree of flooding,” she said. “We think we live far enough from the (San Francisco) Bay that if it did rise, it’s not going to affect us.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate models show water encroaching only on the eastern edge of North Fair Oaks as the seas rise by mid-century. (Although, flooding could block roads and create other transportation problems, cutting off access to food.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Smaller than a couple square miles and home to roughly 15,000 people, the main drag of North Fair Oaks is a predominantly Latino area, lined with taquerias, paleterias and joyerias. But what’s noticeably missing are trees, says Ever Rodriguez, chair of the volunteer \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://dev.nfoc.nimbusdesign.com/about-north-fair-oaks/north-fair-oaks-community-council\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">North Fair Oaks Community Council.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">North Fair Oaks borders Menlo Park to the south, which he describes as a “more affluent area” with many “beautiful oaks” and other trees.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here on this side, there aren’t any trees, really. Just all cement and asphalt,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is where that fundamental part of conversation comes in again. The organizers realized they had to listen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Early research questions were centered around flooding, but the community insisted that the blistering heat was the more imminent problem. Organizers say the community feedback helped them convince the county that the most immediate climate risk for North Fair Oaks was heat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community leaders and the county began working with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://canopy.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Canopy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, to reduce temperatures by planting free trees in people’s yards. Temps in North Fair Oaks, a heat island, are higher than surrounding areas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With little shade from sparse greenery, black asphalt streets and cement sidewalks absorb sunlight, radiating heat out into the neighborhoods.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The community knows best and I think all public servants need to be guided by listening,” Rodriguez said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rodriguez is in the process of helping organize climate change ambassadors on each block of North Fair Oaks. He wants every resident to be prepared for when the effects of climate change — fire, floods, drought, smoke — inevitably worsen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975438\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975438 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new tree planted in front of a home in North Fair Oaks on May 10, 2021. The tree was provided by the not-for-profit Canopy, which plants trees in urban environments in the mid-Peninsula region. (Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Partly a Problem of Consent’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But why is it important for scientists and government leaders to listen to communities while creating climate solutions? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.brittwray.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Britt Wray\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> says listening replaces the mindset that the government or scientists know best. She studies the mental health impacts of climate change as a postdoc at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wray says listening to people is about moving past the “dark legacies” that have shaped the climate crisis and figuring out “why it hurts some people more than others,” referring to the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, corporations valuing wealth over people’s health, and how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/-in-california-extreme-heat-and-ozone-pollution-hit-poor-communities-hardest\">low-income people are more negatively affected by a changing climate\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Domination is the predominant force in this crisis, as compared with true partnership that centers around human values like reciprocity, trust, dignity and respect,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wray says listening empowers people to come up with climate solutions that better life at the neighborhood level. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We can actually start moving towards the world that isn’t the one we’ve been living in, but the one that we want to live in,” she said. “We can’t do that without listening deeply to the people who are most affected.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/kyle-whyte\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kyle Powys Whyte\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, listening to people is about restoring consent. He’s an \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as a University of Michigan professor, he studies the moral and political issues around climate policy, and Indigenous people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says the issue of climate change in the country’s history “was created not just because people were addicted to the benefits of fossil fuels, but they were also addicted to getting away with taking advantage of Indigenous people and other groups without those people’s consent.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says the consent issue hasn’t improved and he’s concerned “that we actually haven’t gotten out of the situation that got us into the climate crisis, and it’s partly a problem of consent,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whyte is on the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2021/03/29/white-house-announces-environmental-justice-advisory-council-members/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> advising the administration on the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">American Jobs Plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which calls for 40% of the proposal’s benefits to go to communities affected by environmental justice. He says his role is to remind the team that these projects will take longer to implement because these communities already have an infrastructure deficit because of a lack of federal investment — like, inadequate roads, housing and transmission lines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People haven’t listened to tribes for years and they don’t understand the current infrastructure situation that tribes are in,” he said. “They’re about to consider spending billions of dollars and it could just be wasted if our policymakers and legislators aren’t listening to what tribes are going to actually need to be able to use and benefit from the renewable energy and clean water infrastructure being advocated for right now in Washington.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975436\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975436\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family looks out into the bay from Cooley Landing Park in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Wake-Up Call\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena and Stanford lecturer \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://profiles.stanford.edu/derek-ouyang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Derek Ouyang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will soon start recruiting 500 families for a big listening project over the next five years in Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Alviso in San Jose. They’ll routinely check in with participants to see how climate change is challenging their lives. Participants have the option to be contacted through an app, over the phone or in-person. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ouyang had a major realization several years ago that if his research doesn’t help regular people he feels like it’s worthless. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Listening from the bottom up ensures that you’re identifying the most important challenges that communities are facing and the most feasible, and holistic solution,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He hopes the study illuminates blind spots to exactly what impacts floods, heat waves and wildfires can have on the most housing insecure.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The only way to really understand the deep underlying challenges households face is if you can really follow them for the next few years, until those events inevitably occur,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The team of scientists, students and community organizers will lead the five-year study to examine the social and psychological effects of climate exposure, while building relationships with the families as warming alters their lives. The goal is to come up with the best solutions with the families involved.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our hypothesis is that we’ll find that the things that work are exactly the kinds of things that organizations like Climate Resilient Communities are best poised to offer,” he said. “Because they look like the neighborhood, they’re more trusted and have built those networks already.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He thinks that the impacts of climate change are being felt “much deeper than we like to admit right now” and could “look like [families] increasingly foregoing healthy food and the kinds of care you want to provide for your children,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ouyang wants to examine how vulnerable communities in the South Bay really are, and if they need greater access to mental health services, sandbags for flood times, ventilators for smoky times, and cooling centers for hot times. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena says that she’s involved because she believes it will lead to solutions for people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m also on the other side protecting the interests of the communities,” she said. “I’m there thinking, ‘Okay, Stanford, this is not just a study.’ Whatever the outcome of this project will be, let’s have something that will give back to the communities that we’re going to work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Leaders in the South Bay are trying out a radical new approach to designing climate solutions. ",
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"description": "Leaders in the South Bay are trying out a radical new approach to designing climate solutions. ",
"title": "'Communities Know Best': Climate Solutions in The South Bay Start With Listening | KQED",
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"headline": "'Communities Know Best': Climate Solutions in The South Bay Start With Listening",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the South Bay grapples with the impacts of climate change, people there are creating solutions by relying on arguably the most fundamental element of conversation: listening.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This process began in East Palo Alto, where community groups and scientists are helping residents understand how warming temperatures are raising water levels in the bay — already half the city lies in a federal flood zone. And the idea is now spreading to nearby communities like North Fair Oaks, a small unincorporated area of mostly neighborhoods. Soon, it will expand into a regional science project where hundreds of residents will document how climate change is altering their lives over the next five years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The listening project is led by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.climatercommunities.org/staff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Violet Wulf-Saena,\u003c/span>\u003c/a> founder and executive director of the\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> nonprofit \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.climatercommunities.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate Resilient Communities\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her group advocates for climate change solutions that integrate the communities most affected by warming temperatures in the Bay Area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot of power in the community,” she said. “They are the ones who are being impacted. They’re the ones who live in East Palo Alto, they know more than me. They are the experts. … Success is really about bringing the community together and finding ways where they can also be part of the process.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Too often, she says, climate change policies are top-down approaches that forgo meaningful exchanges with the people who are going to have to live with solutions created for \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">them\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena’s primary mode for closing that gap is conversation. It works, she says, because her team looks like the communities they work with. She’s from Samoa and emigrated to the U.S. to be closer to her husband’s family nearly two decades ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s easier for me, because I’m a person of color and I do come from the island,” she said. “They see that: ‘Oh, yeah, she’s part of us.’”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973805/climate-solutions-in-east-palo-alto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I met Wulf-Saena while speaking with residents who came to East Palo Alto after fleeing flooding and sea level rise back home in the Pacific Islands\u003c/a>, only to find that in the coming decades they could be climate migrants for a second time. One of those residents is Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi, known as Mama Dee.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The last two floods over here, the question is, where was God?’ she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I believe in prayers. But I lived through so many disasters.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I learned East Palo Alto is ahead of some other Bay Area cities in planning for rising tides — thanks in large part to the community activism of those who emigrated to this small city along the bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975434\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975434\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48316_043_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi, known as “Mama Dee,” and her husband, Senita Uhila, at their home in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It Began in Samoa\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This idea of listening isn’t new. People likely listened (or, \u003cem>didn’t\u003c/em> listen) \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">before they even learned to write.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But Wulf-Saena experienced an epiphany about the power of listening when she was Samoa’s first climate change officer in the early 2000s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The government she represented wanted to move the village of Saoluafata, located on the north side of the island Upolu, upland and away from an eroding shoreline — a problem that would be exacerbated as climate change pushed tide levels even higher. Already, residents reported waves washing away the land and encroaching on homes, according to a study titled \u003ca href=\"https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2084&context=isp_collection\">“Seawalls in Samoa\u003c/a>.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While drinking kava — usually sipped to mark important occasions within Samoan society — with elders of the village in Saoluafata, Wulf-Saena quickly learned they didn’t want to move inland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to stay on their ancestral land is more important than adapting or moving to another place where their families can be safe,” she explained. “In the end, we compromised.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The solution? A \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/k9WcaStolhY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seawall the length of 22 San Francisco city blocks constructed of boulders\u003c/a> piled on top of sand that allowed the villagers to stay. The coastline was revegetated, the village water tank was upgraded and residents were taught about coral gardening and how to protect the reef. Residents said in the survey that the seawall solved the erosion problem, and a study suggests it was a success because the “villagers made all of the decisions.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The big lesson for Wulf-Saena in Saoluafata was that engaging residents in climate change solutions opens the opportunity for them to thrive despite the ever-increasing climate emergency. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s really about being in their shoes … trying to understand their situations, the conflicts, and the barriers that they’re facing. And also working with them to find a way forward,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975435\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975435\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48287_013_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate Resilient Communities Executive Director Violet Wulf-Saena at Cooley Landing Park in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Listening to People Around the Bay\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena moved to California in 2005. Shortly after she took what she learned in Samoa and began applying it to the community of East Palo Alto in San Mateo County, which out of all the Bay Area counties, is the most at risk from sea level rise. The city is one of the most vulnerable to climate-driven inundation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About 2.5 square miles, the city is made up of mostly one-story homes. Scientists say in about a decade two-thirds of the city may regularly flood, and by 2050, those areas could be frequently underwater during high tides.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena partnered with Stanford students on a door-to-door climate survey, and she learned that the community did not understand the link between increased flooding and warming temperatures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What I found was a lot of the community members didn’t know what climate change was,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through community meetings and one-on-one peer counseling, local organizations and the county worked to help residents connect the dots. Her team fostered community buy-in for a levee project to protect against future flooding as the bay rises, much like the sea wall in Samoa. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, she understands that there’s a large percentage of the population she hasn’t reached; working with other nonprofit groups, she hopes to “help residents plan and respond [to climate change].”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975432\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975432\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49260_015_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An apartment building in North Fair Oaks on May 10, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘The Community Knows Best’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar listening session occurred 15 minutes north of East Palo Alto in the community of North Fair Oaks. In 2018, San Mateo County announced the community would receive a $50,000 grant to study climate change-related flooding impacts. The contract was finalized in 2019. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But when advocates and Stanford students once again went door to door, they were surprised with what residents like Linda Lopez, who moved to the community in 1959 when she was 9 years old, told them. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their climate concern? Heat and smoke from wildfires, not flooding.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I just wasn’t thinking about [sea level rise] because we’ve never had any degree of flooding,” she said. “We think we live far enough from the (San Francisco) Bay that if it did rise, it’s not going to affect us.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate models show water encroaching only on the eastern edge of North Fair Oaks as the seas rise by mid-century. (Although, flooding could block roads and create other transportation problems, cutting off access to food.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Smaller than a couple square miles and home to roughly 15,000 people, the main drag of North Fair Oaks is a predominantly Latino area, lined with taquerias, paleterias and joyerias. But what’s noticeably missing are trees, says Ever Rodriguez, chair of the volunteer \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://dev.nfoc.nimbusdesign.com/about-north-fair-oaks/north-fair-oaks-community-council\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">North Fair Oaks Community Council.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">North Fair Oaks borders Menlo Park to the south, which he describes as a “more affluent area” with many “beautiful oaks” and other trees.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here on this side, there aren’t any trees, really. Just all cement and asphalt,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is where that fundamental part of conversation comes in again. The organizers realized they had to listen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Early research questions were centered around flooding, but the community insisted that the blistering heat was the more imminent problem. Organizers say the community feedback helped them convince the county that the most immediate climate risk for North Fair Oaks was heat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community leaders and the county began working with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://canopy.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Canopy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, to reduce temperatures by planting free trees in people’s yards. Temps in North Fair Oaks, a heat island, are higher than surrounding areas.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With little shade from sparse greenery, black asphalt streets and cement sidewalks absorb sunlight, radiating heat out into the neighborhoods.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The community knows best and I think all public servants need to be guided by listening,” Rodriguez said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rodriguez is in the process of helping organize climate change ambassadors on each block of North Fair Oaks. He wants every resident to be prepared for when the effects of climate change — fire, floods, drought, smoke — inevitably worsen. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975438\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975438 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS49270_025_NorthFairOaks_ClimateListening_05102021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new tree planted in front of a home in North Fair Oaks on May 10, 2021. The tree was provided by the not-for-profit Canopy, which plants trees in urban environments in the mid-Peninsula region. (Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Partly a Problem of Consent’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But why is it important for scientists and government leaders to listen to communities while creating climate solutions? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.brittwray.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Britt Wray\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> says listening replaces the mindset that the government or scientists know best. She studies the mental health impacts of climate change as a postdoc at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wray says listening to people is about moving past the “dark legacies” that have shaped the climate crisis and figuring out “why it hurts some people more than others,” referring to the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, corporations valuing wealth over people’s health, and how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/-in-california-extreme-heat-and-ozone-pollution-hit-poor-communities-hardest\">low-income people are more negatively affected by a changing climate\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Domination is the predominant force in this crisis, as compared with true partnership that centers around human values like reciprocity, trust, dignity and respect,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wray says listening empowers people to come up with climate solutions that better life at the neighborhood level. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We can actually start moving towards the world that isn’t the one we’ve been living in, but the one that we want to live in,” she said. “We can’t do that without listening deeply to the people who are most affected.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/kyle-whyte\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kyle Powys Whyte\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, listening to people is about restoring consent. He’s an \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma, and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as a University of Michigan professor, he studies the moral and political issues around climate policy, and Indigenous people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says the issue of climate change in the country’s history “was created not just because people were addicted to the benefits of fossil fuels, but they were also addicted to getting away with taking advantage of Indigenous people and other groups without those people’s consent.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says the consent issue hasn’t improved and he’s concerned “that we actually haven’t gotten out of the situation that got us into the climate crisis, and it’s partly a problem of consent,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whyte is on the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2021/03/29/white-house-announces-environmental-justice-advisory-council-members/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> advising the administration on the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">American Jobs Plan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which calls for 40% of the proposal’s benefits to go to communities affected by environmental justice. He says his role is to remind the team that these projects will take longer to implement because these communities already have an infrastructure deficit because of a lack of federal investment — like, inadequate roads, housing and transmission lines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“People haven’t listened to tribes for years and they don’t understand the current infrastructure situation that tribes are in,” he said. “They’re about to consider spending billions of dollars and it could just be wasted if our policymakers and legislators aren’t listening to what tribes are going to actually need to be able to use and benefit from the renewable energy and clean water infrastructure being advocated for right now in Washington.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975436\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975436\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48282_008_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family looks out into the bay from Cooley Landing Park in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Wake-Up Call\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena and Stanford lecturer \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://profiles.stanford.edu/derek-ouyang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Derek Ouyang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will soon start recruiting 500 families for a big listening project over the next five years in Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Alviso in San Jose. They’ll routinely check in with participants to see how climate change is challenging their lives. Participants have the option to be contacted through an app, over the phone or in-person. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ouyang had a major realization several years ago that if his research doesn’t help regular people he feels like it’s worthless. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Listening from the bottom up ensures that you’re identifying the most important challenges that communities are facing and the most feasible, and holistic solution,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He hopes the study illuminates blind spots to exactly what impacts floods, heat waves and wildfires can have on the most housing insecure.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The only way to really understand the deep underlying challenges households face is if you can really follow them for the next few years, until those events inevitably occur,” he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The team of scientists, students and community organizers will lead the five-year study to examine the social and psychological effects of climate exposure, while building relationships with the families as warming alters their lives. The goal is to come up with the best solutions with the families involved.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our hypothesis is that we’ll find that the things that work are exactly the kinds of things that organizations like Climate Resilient Communities are best poised to offer,” he said. “Because they look like the neighborhood, they’re more trusted and have built those networks already.”\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He thinks that the impacts of climate change are being felt “much deeper than we like to admit right now” and could “look like [families] increasingly foregoing healthy food and the kinds of care you want to provide for your children,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ouyang wants to examine how vulnerable communities in the South Bay really are, and if they need greater access to mental health services, sandbags for flood times, ventilators for smoky times, and cooling centers for hot times. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wulf-Saena says that she’s involved because she believes it will lead to solutions for people.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m also on the other side protecting the interests of the communities,” she said. “I’m there thinking, ‘Okay, Stanford, this is not just a study.’ Whatever the outcome of this project will be, let’s have something that will give back to the communities that we’re going to work with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "young-activists-march-from-paradise-to-sf-in-100-degree-heat-to-protest-climate-crisis",
"title": "Young Activists March From Paradise to SF in 100 Degree Heat to Protest Climate Crisis",
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"content": "\u003cp>A climate justice march led by a small group of young activists that began in Paradise ended in San Francisco on Monday, after more than 100 climate activists from the youth-led Sunrise Movement marched across the Golden Gate Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The young activists are calling on California lawmakers to support the “most progressive version possible” of President Biden’s plan to retool former President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, a Great Depression-era program that created jobs by putting people to work building roads and bridges, installing telephone lines and establishing campgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration has proposed a $10 billion revamp called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/993976948/reaching-back-to-the-new-deal-biden-proposes-a-civilian-climate-corps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Civilian Climate Corps,\u003c/a> a program geared toward fighting climate change by employing people to restore wetlands and remove invasive species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975380\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975380\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate activists on the final leg of a march from Paradise to San Francisco on June 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Seven of the marchers began walking the 266-mile stretch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875863/a-266-mile-walk-youth-climate-activists-march-from-paradise-to-san-francisco\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">last month\u003c/span>\u003c/a> as part of a national campaign called \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrisemovement.org/campaign/generation-on-fire/\">Generation on Fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their ranks swelled to more than 20 last week, with dozens more joining for the final leg, many of them beating drums and singing as they crossed from Marin to San Francisco over the iconic bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the marchers, Ema Govea, a 17-year-old high school student from Santa Rosa, spoke with KQED’s Brian Watt last week. The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975377\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975377\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Rosa resident Ema Govea,17, speaks before the marchers by the Golden Gate Bridge on June 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did this idea come together? You’re walking from Paradise? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ema Govea:\u003c/em> We are really excited to have started in Paradise because it’s such a flashpoint for all the [conversations around] fire in California. And this idea really came together out of an urgency of really wanting to do something as big as we can. I was really excited to organize this march and participate in it. We walked so far because we have an opportunity right now politically, and as young people at this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Paradise is a very important place to start a march like this. But I’m thinking about your feet. How are you feeling at this moment after all this walking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> The first week was over 100 degrees and I had a lot of blisters. I was really feeling it. At this point, my legs have gotten used to it. And thinking about what we’re fighting for, plans that we have for the future, and future actions has kept me going. It honestly doesn’t matter if my legs are sore or if my feet hurt, at this point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975381\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975381\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from Analy High School in Sebastopol sit at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I imagine you’ve done some travels like this through California by car on a freeway. What did you notice about the landscape as you walked?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> One thing that was especially amazing was talking to people in towns who I would have never met before. We walked through some of the reddest parts of the state and had really amazing conversations with a lot of people. Also, we passed hills that had burned, trees that were all black and didn’t have any growth on them — it really brought home what is at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When you say walking through and meeting people in some of the reddest parts of the state, I think I know what you mean. But what kinds of feedback did you get on your march from the people you met?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> We would walk by and we have these big flags. People would ask us: “What are you doing?” We would say: “We’re marching to San Francisco and we’re demanding good jobs to stop the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that would start a conversation with a lot of people. And we would talk to them about what jobs are like in their areas. A lot of times the job opportunities are not great. A lot of people, regardless of political affiliation, were really supportive of the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975382\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975382 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The rally was the culmination of a 266-mile march from Paradise, California, to San Francisco led by seven youth activists. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re in this group of seven people who are around your age. And in what way does your experience growing up in California shape how you’re doing this work for climate justice?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> I am really grateful for this group of seven people. And now, actually, as we’re speaking, there’s an even larger group of over 20 people who are now marching with us, who have joined us along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your group grew as you walked, is what you’re telling us?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started with a group of seven and now we’re around 30 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975383\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975383 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The young climate activists prepare to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re doing all of this while you are a high school student. I’m kind of curious how you were thinking about this issue during the pandemic?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> The pandemic and the recession that has come along with it has really shown the inequalities people face in this county. I have talked to a lot of people who’ve lost their jobs and who have even more instability than they had before. And there’s a need right now for good paying jobs. And the Civilian Climate Corps would be one of those things that could provide really good paying union jobs that would also benefit society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Now, you want to end this march, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco — all in support of the Civilian Climate Corps. What do you make of congressional action on the issue?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> It’s been wholly inadequate. We’re demanding that our politicians step up and be brave and pass the boldest version of the Climate Corps possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office told KQED that “congressional Democrats support the goals of the Civilian Climate Corps and look forward to working with the administration to enact it in the jobs plan.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A climate justice march led by a small group of young activists that began in Paradise ended in San Francisco on Monday, after more than 100 climate activists from the youth-led Sunrise Movement marched across the Golden Gate Bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The young activists are calling on California lawmakers to support the “most progressive version possible” of President Biden’s plan to retool former President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, a Great Depression-era program that created jobs by putting people to work building roads and bridges, installing telephone lines and establishing campgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration has proposed a $10 billion revamp called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/993976948/reaching-back-to-the-new-deal-biden-proposes-a-civilian-climate-corps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Civilian Climate Corps,\u003c/a> a program geared toward fighting climate change by employing people to restore wetlands and remove invasive species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975380\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975380\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/048_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Climate activists on the final leg of a march from Paradise to San Francisco on June 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Seven of the marchers began walking the 266-mile stretch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11875863/a-266-mile-walk-youth-climate-activists-march-from-paradise-to-san-francisco\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">last month\u003c/span>\u003c/a> as part of a national campaign called \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrisemovement.org/campaign/generation-on-fire/\">Generation on Fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their ranks swelled to more than 20 last week, with dozens more joining for the final leg, many of them beating drums and singing as they crossed from Marin to San Francisco over the iconic bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the marchers, Ema Govea, a 17-year-old high school student from Santa Rosa, spoke with KQED’s Brian Watt last week. The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975377\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975377\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/029_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Rosa resident Ema Govea,17, speaks before the marchers by the Golden Gate Bridge on June 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did this idea come together? You’re walking from Paradise? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ema Govea:\u003c/em> We are really excited to have started in Paradise because it’s such a flashpoint for all the [conversations around] fire in California. And this idea really came together out of an urgency of really wanting to do something as big as we can. I was really excited to organize this march and participate in it. We walked so far because we have an opportunity right now politically, and as young people at this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Paradise is a very important place to start a march like this. But I’m thinking about your feet. How are you feeling at this moment after all this walking?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> The first week was over 100 degrees and I had a lot of blisters. I was really feeling it. At this point, my legs have gotten used to it. And thinking about what we’re fighting for, plans that we have for the future, and future actions has kept me going. It honestly doesn’t matter if my legs are sore or if my feet hurt, at this point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975381\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975381\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/006_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students from Analy High School in Sebastopol sit at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I imagine you’ve done some travels like this through California by car on a freeway. What did you notice about the landscape as you walked?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> One thing that was especially amazing was talking to people in towns who I would have never met before. We walked through some of the reddest parts of the state and had really amazing conversations with a lot of people. Also, we passed hills that had burned, trees that were all black and didn’t have any growth on them — it really brought home what is at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When you say walking through and meeting people in some of the reddest parts of the state, I think I know what you mean. But what kinds of feedback did you get on your march from the people you met?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> We would walk by and we have these big flags. People would ask us: “What are you doing?” We would say: “We’re marching to San Francisco and we’re demanding good jobs to stop the climate crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that would start a conversation with a lot of people. And we would talk to them about what jobs are like in their areas. A lot of times the job opportunities are not great. A lot of people, regardless of political affiliation, were really supportive of the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975382\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975382 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/057_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The rally was the culmination of a 266-mile march from Paradise, California, to San Francisco led by seven youth activists. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re in this group of seven people who are around your age. And in what way does your experience growing up in California shape how you’re doing this work for climate justice?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> I am really grateful for this group of seven people. And now, actually, as we’re speaking, there’s an even larger group of over 20 people who are now marching with us, who have joined us along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Your group grew as you walked, is what you’re telling us?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It started with a group of seven and now we’re around 30 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975383\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1975383 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/050_SanFrancisco_YouthClimateActivists_06142021.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The young climate activists prepare to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’re doing all of this while you are a high school student. I’m kind of curious how you were thinking about this issue during the pandemic?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> The pandemic and the recession that has come along with it has really shown the inequalities people face in this county. I have talked to a lot of people who’ve lost their jobs and who have even more instability than they had before. And there’s a need right now for good paying jobs. And the Civilian Climate Corps would be one of those things that could provide really good paying union jobs that would also benefit society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Now, you want to end this march, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco — all in support of the Civilian Climate Corps. What do you make of congressional action on the issue?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Govea:\u003c/em> It’s been wholly inadequate. We’re demanding that our politicians step up and be brave and pass the boldest version of the Climate Corps possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office told KQED that “congressional Democrats support the goals of the Civilian Climate Corps and look forward to working with the administration to enact it in the jobs plan.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Farmers toil at the mercy of nature’s whims, which can prove particularly vexing in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before climate change, bouncing between drought and deluge was routine in the Central Valley, the state’s richest farming region. Humans have amplified these natural cycles by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39936-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">studies\u003c/a> show, creating a future filled with what scientists recently dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0140-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">whiplash events\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California got a taste of whiplash four years ago, when one of its wettest winters immediately followed one of its deepest, longest droughts. Heavy runoff from rivers in the Sierra Nevada damaged the main spillway of the Oroville Dam, the largest in the nation, forcing more than 180,000 people to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such dramatic swings will create even more headaches for California farmers and water managers, who have more than their share in a good year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, as California farmers grapple with reduced federal water allocations amid an intensifying drought, a \u003ca href=\"https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/17/eabe6025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> challenges policymakers to think about floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increased frequency of extreme drought and flooding under climate change in the nation’s largest economy will intensify the already fierce competition for water, said Xiaogang He, a hydrologist who led the research while a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the potential for more storms also points to an opportunity. If climate change is likely to unleash more floods on California, reasoned He, why not try to capture that water and send it to where it’s needed most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, published in Science Advances, He and his colleagues provided the first statewide analysis of the floodwater potentially available to restore depleted groundwater basins under future climate change scenarios. The increase in floodwater available to replenish over-drafted aquifers over the next 30 years, they found, would be enough to fill 192,000 Olympic swimming pools each year under an intermediate-emissions scenario, and 232,000 pools under a high-emissions scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potential additional floodwaters increased even more toward the end of the century, with enough available to fill up to 552,000 Olympic swimming pools under the high-emissions scenario. But the extent to which this additional water could be used to replenish basins would be limited by constraints on the ability to capture and divert it, they found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their analysis focused on the highest levels of streamflow likely to accompany future spikes in big storms. Harvesting those high-water flows, they concluded, could help mitigate flood risk while boosting the state’s dwindling groundwater supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those supplies are critically low in the backbone of the state’s $50 billion agricultural industry, the San Joaquin Valley. Farmers there have sucked so much water from the Tulare Basin to grow crops in an arid landscape that parts of the San Joaquin Valley, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/us/corcoran-california-sinking.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one entire town\u003c/a>, have sunk several feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s groundwater sustainability law gives water managers roughly 20 years to replenish, or recharge, aquifers by balancing pumping and resupply levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies show that farmers may need to retire \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00138/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hundreds of thousands of acres\u003c/a> worth \u003ca href=\"https://www.restorethedelta.org/wp-content/uploads/SJV-Blueprint-for-Extinction-Economic-Study-2-15-2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">billions of dollars\u003c/a> to reduce groundwater demand and comply with the requirements of the sustainability law, said He, now assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the National University of Singapore. “But a lot of farmers may not be willing to retire their crops, especially if they’re perennial high-profit crops like grapes or almonds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He undertook the ambitious task of estimating the potential for capturing runoff throughout the state from whatever nature may have in store to help farmers adapt to the new pumping restrictions and future droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, the team designed a computer model to simulate streamflow and climate conditions under different emissions scenarios, and used statistical methods to account for human actions like irrigation and reservoir operation. They prioritized regions where investing in structures to divert floodwaters to the increasingly parched south would make the most sense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s really nice about this paper is that they look at a lot of different scenarios about what we might be seeing in terms of future runoff,” said Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, who was not involved in the research. “And that’s really key to thinking about how much extra water might be available for recharge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2010101883843\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/43/2021/06/CaliforniaAquiferFuture700px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"621\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also predicted, in line with previous research, that the wetter parts of the state will get wetter and the drier parts drier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will further complicate what’s arguably the biggest challenge for California water managers: \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/water-basics/the-california-water-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Three-quarters\u003c/a> of the rain, hail and snow that feeds reservoirs falls in the north of the state, while 80%. of demand for that water comes from the southern two-thirds. To manage the mismatch between water availability and need, state and federal agencies over the last century built an extensive network of dams, reservoirs and canals to shuttle water from north to south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, however, cities and farms supplemented the water from reservoirs with groundwater. A dramatic increase in groundwater pumping during the last drought, which lingered from 2012 to 2016, prompted the state to enact the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, though, decades of unregulated pumping had extracted far more water from underground aquifers than was replenished. Eleven of the state’s 21 “critically overdrafted” groundwater basins are in the fertile San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dire condition of the San Joaquin Valley’s groundwater inspired the state to explore innovative ways to safeguard its most precious resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Groundwater recharge has been a tool for a long time,” said the Public Policy Institute of California’s Hanak. But the sustainability law, she said, “has really kicked interest to a higher level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Embracing Nature’s Whims\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s water system is built around three main storage systems: reservoirs, groundwater and snowpack. “As the climate warms, you’re getting less precipitation as snow and it’s melting sooner,” said Hanak. “You don’t want to lose that water, and groundwater basins are a great place to store it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groundwater accounts for about \u003ca href=\"https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/auewpaper/0402.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">90%\u003c/a> of the world’s freshwater reserves, excluding the polar ice caps. California’s unique hydrology and succession of droughts have drained many of the state’s natural underground reservoirs, even as the prospect of more heavy rainstorms and earlier snowmelt threatens to increase flood risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recognized the urgent need to “rehabilitate and modernize” the state’s water and flood infrastructure three years ago, when it launched the Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge (Flood-MAR) program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood-MAR also seeks to integrate the disparate elements of California’s famously complex water system to better manage surface and groundwater, upgrade canals and aqueducts that move water and identify opportunities to harness floodwater to recharge aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s interest in integrating flood and groundwater management inspired He to figure out how much future floodwater might be available to recharge aquifers and where high-water flows are likely to occur in the face of huge uncertainties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A very nice thing about doing a study in California is that the state cares so much about climate change,” said He. “So we can get very high quality climate change scenarios that reflect California’s climate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His team’s models showed that increases in high-volume flows as a result of climate change are likely to be concentrated in a shorter window during the wet season. Shorter periods of heavy rain in several regions, mostly in Northern California, will increase flood risks by straining dams, levees and facilities meant to contain rising waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even climate models tailored to California carry a range of uncertainties about exactly when, where and how much floodwater might occur over the next several decades. And since reinforcing or building structures to catch, store and divert floodwaters can run into billions of dollars, policymakers need tools to determine whether the benefits justify the costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A model can’t capture the universe of uncertainties embedded in policymaking decisions, but it can simulate a range of possibilities for a specific factor. For example, the amount of water available to recharge basins is set by “high-magnitude flow” thresholds — flows that exceed water rights allocations and levels legally required to protect freshwater ecosystems and could be used to recharge groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the definition for “high magnitude flow” varies, He said, depending on how much water different experts think should be in a river. Hydrologists, for example, use a lower threshold than salmon and fisheries biologists, who generally favor higher flows for ecological reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Streamflow volume typically rises fairly rapidly during a storm, hits a peak and then declines, said study co-author David Freyberg, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. The researchers looked at just the highest peaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easier to remove water when flows are lower than when a river is raging, but that has “huge impacts” on salmon and downstream water supply, among other issues, Freyberg said. So they focused on the high flows, even though it’s more challenging to remove that water. “Whether or not we can actually do that, and how much of it we could do, I view it as still an open question,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the next challenge would be to figure out how to capture floodwaters in such a way that the benefits are worth the costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policymakers will also have to weigh the balance between reducing flood risks and the environmental benefits of letting floodplains flood. Another reason the researchers considered just high-magnitude flows, Freyberg said, “was to acknowledge that we don’t want to just stop all flooding, because flooding is really important for ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, knowing that a watershed faces a high risk of flooding down the road may give policymakers the incentive they need to build structures to divert extra water. That leaves the increasingly difficult problem of moving large volumes of water from Northern California to the southern reaches of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Planning for a Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prospect of a wetter north and an even drier south is certain to place greater strain on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the already overtaxed fulcrum of the state’s water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The massive network of reservoirs, dams and canals operated by federal and state water projects was designed to move water from north to south through the delta. “That’s a major bottleneck already for moving water, just about at any time,” Hanak said, “because it’s a complicated ecosystem and environmental constraints on pumping have increased over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the state is exploring alternatives for moving water, including tunnels, she said. “If you want to get water from north to south in the state, you’ve got to fix the delta.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accounting for all the political, environmental, technical and socioeconomic drivers of water policy around the delta, which Hanak called “a world unto itself,” was beyond the scope of He’s research. But by focusing on the physical availability of floodwater, He and his colleagues hoped to help policymakers decide where building canals and recharge basins would offer the biggest return on investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What this research and other studies have shown is that current systems aren’t robust enough to convey the water that’s already available, Hanak said. “Now the question comes, what’s cost effective, because you don’t want to build stuff if it’s mostly going to be empty. So what are the smart plays in terms of expanding infrastructure, given the probabilities of what you’re going to be able to do with it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For He, tackling California’s future water challenges will require finding ways to integrate management of droughts, floods, water allocations and groundwater depletion — all overseen now by a highly decentralized, fragmented network of water districts and agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighty percent of the land subject to California’s groundwater sustainability law is managed by multiple entities, He said, with as many as 24 separate authorities in a single groundwater basin. Decisions to build floodwater infrastructure in even a single basin would call for an extraordinary level of collaboration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some places, it might make more sense to consider changing the way reservoirs operate, He said, which in any event should update decisions about how much water is released, and when, to account for climate projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water policy is really complicated,” Freyberg said. “As soon as you recommend one thing, there’s always a counterargument.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, he added, any plans to boost groundwater sustainability must explicitly consider climate change, rather than designing a future based on historical or current conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to be thinking about the changing climate,” Freyberg said. “You have to take changing climate seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "How Capturing Floodwaters Can Reduce Flooding and Combat Drought | KQED",
"description": "Farmers toil at the mercy of nature’s whims, which can prove particularly vexing in California. Even before climate change, bouncing between drought and deluge was routine in the Central Valley, the state’s richest farming region. Humans have amplified these natural cycles by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, studies show, creating a future filled with what scientists recently dubbed “whiplash events.” California got a taste of whiplash four years ago, when one of its wettest winters immediately followed one of its deepest, longest droughts. Heavy runoff from rivers in the Sierra Nevada damaged the main spillway of the Oroville Dam,",
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"headline": "How Capturing Floodwaters Can Reduce Flooding and Combat Drought",
"datePublished": "2021-06-09T11:09:19-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Farmers toil at the mercy of nature’s whims, which can prove particularly vexing in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before climate change, bouncing between drought and deluge was routine in the Central Valley, the state’s richest farming region. Humans have amplified these natural cycles by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39936-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">studies\u003c/a> show, creating a future filled with what scientists recently dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0140-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">whiplash events\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California got a taste of whiplash four years ago, when one of its wettest winters immediately followed one of its deepest, longest droughts. Heavy runoff from rivers in the Sierra Nevada damaged the main spillway of the Oroville Dam, the largest in the nation, forcing more than 180,000 people to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such dramatic swings will create even more headaches for California farmers and water managers, who have more than their share in a good year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, as California farmers grapple with reduced federal water allocations amid an intensifying drought, a \u003ca href=\"https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/17/eabe6025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent study\u003c/a> challenges policymakers to think about floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increased frequency of extreme drought and flooding under climate change in the nation’s largest economy will intensify the already fierce competition for water, said Xiaogang He, a hydrologist who led the research while a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the potential for more storms also points to an opportunity. If climate change is likely to unleash more floods on California, reasoned He, why not try to capture that water and send it to where it’s needed most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, published in Science Advances, He and his colleagues provided the first statewide analysis of the floodwater potentially available to restore depleted groundwater basins under future climate change scenarios. The increase in floodwater available to replenish over-drafted aquifers over the next 30 years, they found, would be enough to fill 192,000 Olympic swimming pools each year under an intermediate-emissions scenario, and 232,000 pools under a high-emissions scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potential additional floodwaters increased even more toward the end of the century, with enough available to fill up to 552,000 Olympic swimming pools under the high-emissions scenario. But the extent to which this additional water could be used to replenish basins would be limited by constraints on the ability to capture and divert it, they found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their analysis focused on the highest levels of streamflow likely to accompany future spikes in big storms. Harvesting those high-water flows, they concluded, could help mitigate flood risk while boosting the state’s dwindling groundwater supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those supplies are critically low in the backbone of the state’s $50 billion agricultural industry, the San Joaquin Valley. Farmers there have sucked so much water from the Tulare Basin to grow crops in an arid landscape that parts of the San Joaquin Valley, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/us/corcoran-california-sinking.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one entire town\u003c/a>, have sunk several feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s groundwater sustainability law gives water managers roughly 20 years to replenish, or recharge, aquifers by balancing pumping and resupply levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies show that farmers may need to retire \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00138/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hundreds of thousands of acres\u003c/a> worth \u003ca href=\"https://www.restorethedelta.org/wp-content/uploads/SJV-Blueprint-for-Extinction-Economic-Study-2-15-2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">billions of dollars\u003c/a> to reduce groundwater demand and comply with the requirements of the sustainability law, said He, now assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the National University of Singapore. “But a lot of farmers may not be willing to retire their crops, especially if they’re perennial high-profit crops like grapes or almonds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He undertook the ambitious task of estimating the potential for capturing runoff throughout the state from whatever nature may have in store to help farmers adapt to the new pumping restrictions and future droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, the team designed a computer model to simulate streamflow and climate conditions under different emissions scenarios, and used statistical methods to account for human actions like irrigation and reservoir operation. They prioritized regions where investing in structures to divert floodwaters to the increasingly parched south would make the most sense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s really nice about this paper is that they look at a lot of different scenarios about what we might be seeing in terms of future runoff,” said Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, who was not involved in the research. “And that’s really key to thinking about how much extra water might be available for recharge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2010101883843\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/43/2021/06/CaliforniaAquiferFuture700px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"621\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also predicted, in line with previous research, that the wetter parts of the state will get wetter and the drier parts drier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will further complicate what’s arguably the biggest challenge for California water managers: \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/water-basics/the-california-water-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Three-quarters\u003c/a> of the rain, hail and snow that feeds reservoirs falls in the north of the state, while 80%. of demand for that water comes from the southern two-thirds. To manage the mismatch between water availability and need, state and federal agencies over the last century built an extensive network of dams, reservoirs and canals to shuttle water from north to south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, however, cities and farms supplemented the water from reservoirs with groundwater. A dramatic increase in groundwater pumping during the last drought, which lingered from 2012 to 2016, prompted the state to enact the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, though, decades of unregulated pumping had extracted far more water from underground aquifers than was replenished. Eleven of the state’s 21 “critically overdrafted” groundwater basins are in the fertile San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dire condition of the San Joaquin Valley’s groundwater inspired the state to explore innovative ways to safeguard its most precious resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Groundwater recharge has been a tool for a long time,” said the Public Policy Institute of California’s Hanak. But the sustainability law, she said, “has really kicked interest to a higher level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Embracing Nature’s Whims\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s water system is built around three main storage systems: reservoirs, groundwater and snowpack. “As the climate warms, you’re getting less precipitation as snow and it’s melting sooner,” said Hanak. “You don’t want to lose that water, and groundwater basins are a great place to store it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groundwater accounts for about \u003ca href=\"https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/auewpaper/0402.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">90%\u003c/a> of the world’s freshwater reserves, excluding the polar ice caps. California’s unique hydrology and succession of droughts have drained many of the state’s natural underground reservoirs, even as the prospect of more heavy rainstorms and earlier snowmelt threatens to increase flood risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recognized the urgent need to “rehabilitate and modernize” the state’s water and flood infrastructure three years ago, when it launched the Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge (Flood-MAR) program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood-MAR also seeks to integrate the disparate elements of California’s famously complex water system to better manage surface and groundwater, upgrade canals and aqueducts that move water and identify opportunities to harness floodwater to recharge aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s interest in integrating flood and groundwater management inspired He to figure out how much future floodwater might be available to recharge aquifers and where high-water flows are likely to occur in the face of huge uncertainties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A very nice thing about doing a study in California is that the state cares so much about climate change,” said He. “So we can get very high quality climate change scenarios that reflect California’s climate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His team’s models showed that increases in high-volume flows as a result of climate change are likely to be concentrated in a shorter window during the wet season. Shorter periods of heavy rain in several regions, mostly in Northern California, will increase flood risks by straining dams, levees and facilities meant to contain rising waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even climate models tailored to California carry a range of uncertainties about exactly when, where and how much floodwater might occur over the next several decades. And since reinforcing or building structures to catch, store and divert floodwaters can run into billions of dollars, policymakers need tools to determine whether the benefits justify the costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A model can’t capture the universe of uncertainties embedded in policymaking decisions, but it can simulate a range of possibilities for a specific factor. For example, the amount of water available to recharge basins is set by “high-magnitude flow” thresholds — flows that exceed water rights allocations and levels legally required to protect freshwater ecosystems and could be used to recharge groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the definition for “high magnitude flow” varies, He said, depending on how much water different experts think should be in a river. Hydrologists, for example, use a lower threshold than salmon and fisheries biologists, who generally favor higher flows for ecological reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Streamflow volume typically rises fairly rapidly during a storm, hits a peak and then declines, said study co-author David Freyberg, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. The researchers looked at just the highest peaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easier to remove water when flows are lower than when a river is raging, but that has “huge impacts” on salmon and downstream water supply, among other issues, Freyberg said. So they focused on the high flows, even though it’s more challenging to remove that water. “Whether or not we can actually do that, and how much of it we could do, I view it as still an open question,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the next challenge would be to figure out how to capture floodwaters in such a way that the benefits are worth the costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policymakers will also have to weigh the balance between reducing flood risks and the environmental benefits of letting floodplains flood. Another reason the researchers considered just high-magnitude flows, Freyberg said, “was to acknowledge that we don’t want to just stop all flooding, because flooding is really important for ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, knowing that a watershed faces a high risk of flooding down the road may give policymakers the incentive they need to build structures to divert extra water. That leaves the increasingly difficult problem of moving large volumes of water from Northern California to the southern reaches of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Planning for a Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prospect of a wetter north and an even drier south is certain to place greater strain on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the already overtaxed fulcrum of the state’s water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The massive network of reservoirs, dams and canals operated by federal and state water projects was designed to move water from north to south through the delta. “That’s a major bottleneck already for moving water, just about at any time,” Hanak said, “because it’s a complicated ecosystem and environmental constraints on pumping have increased over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the state is exploring alternatives for moving water, including tunnels, she said. “If you want to get water from north to south in the state, you’ve got to fix the delta.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accounting for all the political, environmental, technical and socioeconomic drivers of water policy around the delta, which Hanak called “a world unto itself,” was beyond the scope of He’s research. But by focusing on the physical availability of floodwater, He and his colleagues hoped to help policymakers decide where building canals and recharge basins would offer the biggest return on investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What this research and other studies have shown is that current systems aren’t robust enough to convey the water that’s already available, Hanak said. “Now the question comes, what’s cost effective, because you don’t want to build stuff if it’s mostly going to be empty. So what are the smart plays in terms of expanding infrastructure, given the probabilities of what you’re going to be able to do with it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For He, tackling California’s future water challenges will require finding ways to integrate management of droughts, floods, water allocations and groundwater depletion — all overseen now by a highly decentralized, fragmented network of water districts and agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighty percent of the land subject to California’s groundwater sustainability law is managed by multiple entities, He said, with as many as 24 separate authorities in a single groundwater basin. Decisions to build floodwater infrastructure in even a single basin would call for an extraordinary level of collaboration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some places, it might make more sense to consider changing the way reservoirs operate, He said, which in any event should update decisions about how much water is released, and when, to account for climate projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water policy is really complicated,” Freyberg said. “As soon as you recommend one thing, there’s always a counterargument.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, he added, any plans to boost groundwater sustainability must explicitly consider climate change, rather than designing a future based on historical or current conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to be thinking about the changing climate,” Freyberg said. “You have to take changing climate seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In her latest investigation, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Lisa Song \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/the-climate-solution-actually-adding-millions-of-tons-of-co2-into-the-atmosphere\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">reports\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that millions of carbon credits generated by California’s cap-and-trade program do not represent real reductions in planet-warming gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Song writes that these “ghost credits” allowed the industry to emit unaccounted for emissions that are the equivalent of adding millions of cars to the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those ghost credits represent nearly one-in-three credits issued through California’s primary forest offset program, highlighting systemic flaws in the rules and suggesting widespread gaming of the market,” Song writes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story, which was co-reported with James Temple of MIT Technology Review, relies on \u003ca href=\"https://carbonplan.org/research/forest-offsets-explainer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">data\u003c/span>\u003c/a> from the Bay Area nonprofit research group Carbon Plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group’s calculations found that because of flaws in the rules, between 20 million and 39 million carbon credits awarded to landowners don’t achieve real climate benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Cullenward, Carbon Plan’s director, told Song that California’s forest offsets program is increasing greenhouse gas emissions “despite being a large part of the state’s strategy for reducing climate pollution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The program creates the false appearance of progress when in fact it makes the climate problem worse,” Cullenward said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20705679-response-propublica-05102021-sy-final\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">response\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to the ProPublica story, the California Air Resources Board aggressively defended the program, writing that the carbon credits “represent real, quantifiable, permanent, verifiable, enforceable, and additional CO2 reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board did not ask ProPublica for any corrections, as Song and Temple note in their \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/the-california-air-resources-board-challenges-our-carbon-credits-investigations-we-respond\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">response\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to CARB’s complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Brian Watt on Thursday interviewed Song about the investigation. The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>First, let’s just do a quick review of how cap and trade and the carbon credits work.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nCap and trade is one of the main programs that California has for reducing its carbon emissions. Every year there’s a statewide limit on the CO2 emissions allowed from major industry. Companies in those industries have to buy permits to emit a certain amount of CO2. Companies can trade those permits with each other or buy and sell them. There is flexibility company-to-company as part of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With carbon offsets, companies are allowed to pay somebody else, to reduce CO2 emissions somewhere else, instead of reducing the emissions themselves. There’s a limit to how many offsets each industry can buy per year. This is where the forest carbon offsets come in, because landowners anywhere in the country can start an offset project where they find ways to manage their forests to store or prevent carbon emissions and quantify the carbon savings from those projects. Then those polluters in California can buy those carbon offsets and use them, theoretically, to cancel out a ton of their real CO2 emissions.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nWhat part of this system is going wrong? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that the way the rules are written in how the state of California quantifies the carbon offsets, there are flaws that are allowing these projects to generate far more carbon savings than they deserve. So they’re generating a bunch of empty carbon credits that aren’t actually canceling out the real tons of emissions coming out of these polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You write that it isn’t that companies are actually cheating the system, it’s flaws within the system.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who buy these carbon credits are major polluters in the state, like refineries and power plants. They are not the ones cheating the system. The problem is deeper and has to do with flaws in the rules as they were written.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What rules could have been written better to make this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This gets to some pretty complicated science. But essentially the way you earn credits is if you’re a landowner, you can say, here’s a forest that I have and I was going to cut it down. But now, in exchange for carbon credits, I will save the forest or reduce logging so that it is preserving more carbon than it otherwise would have. As a landowner, you calculate how much carbon per acre is stored in your forest and you compare that to the amount of carbon per acre stored in a forest that is typical — that is, one that is similar to your forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These kinds of baseline forests are called regional averages, and the Air Resources Board calculates the regional averages for many different types of forests across the country. The problem is those regional average numbers are done using very coarse data that doesn’t take into account a lot of the nuances between different types of forests. And as a result, you are seeing a pattern where a lot of projects are being done in places where the trees hold so much more carbon than the regional average. It’s inflating the carbon savings generated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>State officials stand by the policy and do not agree with the conclusions of your report, noting that the research hasn’t been formally peer reviewed.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing that the study was not peer reviewed, we put in place our own peer review system. When the first completed draft of the study was done, we took it from Carbon Plan and we sent it to several independent scientists in academia. These are all people who had not worked with Carbon Plan, who didn’t know Carbon Plan, and we were able to send them the studies and get their independent analysis to make sure the study was sound and the methodology was good. And only after we got that did we then fully take on the project and the story and fully confirm that we wanted to write this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The state notes that its program has protected hundreds of millions of trees, and Native American tribes have used proceeds from the program to buy back traditional tribal forests. These are good things, right? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are unquestionably good things. And the study and our reporting doesn’t criticize any of that. I think it’s important to point out that with this forest offset program you are trying to achieve carbon savings and help the climate. But in the process of doing that, you are also creating good benefits for forest conservation and for many Native American tribes. The story isn’t about how you can only have one thing or the other. Our story goes into great detail about these conservation and cultural co-benefits. The real question is: Should we be more honest about the actual carbon savings coming out of these projects? We have some folks in the story quoted who are saying that it’s absolutely worthwhile to fund these conservation goals and absolutely worthwhile to bring more resources to tribes so they can do things like buy back their ancestral land. But should that be tied to a flawed program where we’re overpromising the carbon savings achieved?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In her latest investigation, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Lisa Song \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/the-climate-solution-actually-adding-millions-of-tons-of-co2-into-the-atmosphere\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">reports\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that millions of carbon credits generated by California’s cap-and-trade program do not represent real reductions in planet-warming gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Song writes that these “ghost credits” allowed the industry to emit unaccounted for emissions that are the equivalent of adding millions of cars to the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those ghost credits represent nearly one-in-three credits issued through California’s primary forest offset program, highlighting systemic flaws in the rules and suggesting widespread gaming of the market,” Song writes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story, which was co-reported with James Temple of MIT Technology Review, relies on \u003ca href=\"https://carbonplan.org/research/forest-offsets-explainer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">data\u003c/span>\u003c/a> from the Bay Area nonprofit research group Carbon Plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group’s calculations found that because of flaws in the rules, between 20 million and 39 million carbon credits awarded to landowners don’t achieve real climate benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Cullenward, Carbon Plan’s director, told Song that California’s forest offsets program is increasing greenhouse gas emissions “despite being a large part of the state’s strategy for reducing climate pollution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The program creates the false appearance of progress when in fact it makes the climate problem worse,” Cullenward said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20705679-response-propublica-05102021-sy-final\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">response\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to the ProPublica story, the California Air Resources Board aggressively defended the program, writing that the carbon credits “represent real, quantifiable, permanent, verifiable, enforceable, and additional CO2 reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the board did not ask ProPublica for any corrections, as Song and Temple note in their \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/the-california-air-resources-board-challenges-our-carbon-credits-investigations-we-respond\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">response\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to CARB’s complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Brian Watt on Thursday interviewed Song about the investigation. The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>First, let’s just do a quick review of how cap and trade and the carbon credits work.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nCap and trade is one of the main programs that California has for reducing its carbon emissions. Every year there’s a statewide limit on the CO2 emissions allowed from major industry. Companies in those industries have to buy permits to emit a certain amount of CO2. Companies can trade those permits with each other or buy and sell them. There is flexibility company-to-company as part of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With carbon offsets, companies are allowed to pay somebody else, to reduce CO2 emissions somewhere else, instead of reducing the emissions themselves. There’s a limit to how many offsets each industry can buy per year. This is where the forest carbon offsets come in, because landowners anywhere in the country can start an offset project where they find ways to manage their forests to store or prevent carbon emissions and quantify the carbon savings from those projects. Then those polluters in California can buy those carbon offsets and use them, theoretically, to cancel out a ton of their real CO2 emissions.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>\u003cbr>\nWhat part of this system is going wrong? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that the way the rules are written in how the state of California quantifies the carbon offsets, there are flaws that are allowing these projects to generate far more carbon savings than they deserve. So they’re generating a bunch of empty carbon credits that aren’t actually canceling out the real tons of emissions coming out of these polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You write that it isn’t that companies are actually cheating the system, it’s flaws within the system.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The people who buy these carbon credits are major polluters in the state, like refineries and power plants. They are not the ones cheating the system. The problem is deeper and has to do with flaws in the rules as they were written.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What rules could have been written better to make this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This gets to some pretty complicated science. But essentially the way you earn credits is if you’re a landowner, you can say, here’s a forest that I have and I was going to cut it down. But now, in exchange for carbon credits, I will save the forest or reduce logging so that it is preserving more carbon than it otherwise would have. As a landowner, you calculate how much carbon per acre is stored in your forest and you compare that to the amount of carbon per acre stored in a forest that is typical — that is, one that is similar to your forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These kinds of baseline forests are called regional averages, and the Air Resources Board calculates the regional averages for many different types of forests across the country. The problem is those regional average numbers are done using very coarse data that doesn’t take into account a lot of the nuances between different types of forests. And as a result, you are seeing a pattern where a lot of projects are being done in places where the trees hold so much more carbon than the regional average. It’s inflating the carbon savings generated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>State officials stand by the policy and do not agree with the conclusions of your report, noting that the research hasn’t been formally peer reviewed.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing that the study was not peer reviewed, we put in place our own peer review system. When the first completed draft of the study was done, we took it from Carbon Plan and we sent it to several independent scientists in academia. These are all people who had not worked with Carbon Plan, who didn’t know Carbon Plan, and we were able to send them the studies and get their independent analysis to make sure the study was sound and the methodology was good. And only after we got that did we then fully take on the project and the story and fully confirm that we wanted to write this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The state notes that its program has protected hundreds of millions of trees, and Native American tribes have used proceeds from the program to buy back traditional tribal forests. These are good things, right? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are unquestionably good things. And the study and our reporting doesn’t criticize any of that. I think it’s important to point out that with this forest offset program you are trying to achieve carbon savings and help the climate. But in the process of doing that, you are also creating good benefits for forest conservation and for many Native American tribes. The story isn’t about how you can only have one thing or the other. Our story goes into great detail about these conservation and cultural co-benefits. The real question is: Should we be more honest about the actual carbon savings coming out of these projects? We have some folks in the story quoted who are saying that it’s absolutely worthwhile to fund these conservation goals and absolutely worthwhile to bring more resources to tribes so they can do things like buy back their ancestral land. But should that be tied to a flawed program where we’re overpromising the carbon savings achieved?\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "Ford’s Electric F-150 Attracts 70,000 Customers, Signaling Market Movement Toward EVs | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford expects 40% of its global sales to be battery-electric vehicles by 2030 as it adds billions to what it’s spending to develop them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The automaker said in a presentation for investors Wednesday that it will add about $8 billion to its EV development spending from this year to 2025. That brings the total spend to nearly $20 billion as Ford begins to develop and build batteries in a joint venture with SK Innovation of South Korea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Under former CEO Jim Hackett, Ford was criticized by analysts for moving too slowly on its turnaround and future vehicle plans. But those plans have accelerated under CEO Jim Farley, who took over in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">“Today is show, not tell time, for the Ford team,” Farley said at the start of the presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Wall Street liked what it heard and shares surged $1.09, or 8.5%, to close Wednesday at $13.90, a level not seen in about five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford announced two new electric vehicle platforms to handle pickup trucks, commercial vehicles and SUVs such as the Ford Explorer. It also said smaller vehicles in Europe would be built on underpinnings from Ford partner Volkswagen. But company executives wouldn’t give details about when the new electric vehicles will go on sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Much of the 40% electric vehicle sales target will come from Europe, where the company has pledged to convert its entire passenger vehicle lineup to electric power by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The global auto industry and government policymakers are trying to pivot away from internal combustion to battery power as a way to curb climate change. Some European countries, as well as California, plan to phase out petroleum-powered vehicles, while President Biden is promising to spend billions on charging stations as well as tax credits and rebates to get people to switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford crosstown rival General Motors says it hopes to stop selling combustion vehicles by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">In addition, shareholders at Exxon Mobil \u003ca class=\"\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-environment-and-nature-business-e926285af9ab2e5913453d00ebe99186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted Wednesday \u003c/a>to replace at least two of the company’s 12 board members with directors who are seen as better suited to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Farley said Ford’s financial performance hasn’t been acceptable in recent years, but it has accelerated its turnaround plan and made progress in the past few quarters. The company is now generating cash flow so it can grow the scale of its electric and commercial vehicle businesses, he said. Ford predicted it would post an 8% pretax profit margin in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The company also announced it would create a separate business called Ford Pro that will focus on commercial and government fleet buyers. It expects the business to generate $45 billion in annual revenue by 2025, up from $27 billion in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">It also expects to have about 1 million vehicles capable of getting over-the-internet software updates by the end of this year. Ford says it will have more vehicles with that capability than Tesla by July 2022. This opens up the chance of added revenue through driver assist technology and digital subscription services, a $20 billion market by 2030, Ford said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">In the U.S., Ford’s largest market, electric vehicles are only 1.2% of Ford’s sales through April. Ford currently offers only one all-electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E SUV, but by next spring it will have an all-electric F-150 pickup and a battery-powered Transit big commercial van on the roads. The company said 70,000 customers have put down $100 deposits to reserve an electric F-150 in the week since it was unveiled. Ford’s F-Series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford said it plans a new rear-drive, all-wheel-drive electric vehicle architecture to bring a new generation of high-sales vehicles, including an electric Ford Explorer SUV and other larger SUVs with two and three rows of seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The company also plans additional cargo vans and pickup trucks from the new architecture, and it expects one third of pickup truck sales to be fully electric by 2030, said Hau Thai-Tang, the company’s product development chief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Chief Operating Officer Lisa Drake said that by making electric versions of its top-selling brands, the Mustang, F-150 and Transit van, Ford can bring bulk purchasing power to EVs that smaller startups can’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">She said 70% of Mustang Mach-E electric SUV sales came from other auto brands, proving that EVs will help Ford increase its sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford, she said, expects to reduce battery costs from the current $140 per kilowatt hour to under $100 by 2025, and $80 by the end of this decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">As an example of its turnaround plan taking hold, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said international businesses, including Europe, China and South America, lost over $2 billion per year for the past two years, but in the first quarter generated a $500 million profit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Lawler wouldn’t commit to when Ford would restore its dividend, which was suspended at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He said the company is focused on investing in growth areas and will bring the dividend back “as soon as practicable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The $8 billion in additional electric vehicle spending would go toward the joint venture with SK Innovation to develop and manufacture batteries announced last week. The venture will build two North American factories to make batteries for roughly 600,000 electric vehicles per year by the middle of this decade. The companies say they have signed a memorandum of understanding, but details on the ownership structure and factory locations have yet to be worked out.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford expects 40% of its global sales to be battery-electric vehicles by 2030 as it adds billions to what it’s spending to develop them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The automaker said in a presentation for investors Wednesday that it will add about $8 billion to its EV development spending from this year to 2025. That brings the total spend to nearly $20 billion as Ford begins to develop and build batteries in a joint venture with SK Innovation of South Korea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Under former CEO Jim Hackett, Ford was criticized by analysts for moving too slowly on its turnaround and future vehicle plans. But those plans have accelerated under CEO Jim Farley, who took over in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">“Today is show, not tell time, for the Ford team,” Farley said at the start of the presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Wall Street liked what it heard and shares surged $1.09, or 8.5%, to close Wednesday at $13.90, a level not seen in about five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford announced two new electric vehicle platforms to handle pickup trucks, commercial vehicles and SUVs such as the Ford Explorer. It also said smaller vehicles in Europe would be built on underpinnings from Ford partner Volkswagen. But company executives wouldn’t give details about when the new electric vehicles will go on sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Much of the 40% electric vehicle sales target will come from Europe, where the company has pledged to convert its entire passenger vehicle lineup to electric power by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The global auto industry and government policymakers are trying to pivot away from internal combustion to battery power as a way to curb climate change. Some European countries, as well as California, plan to phase out petroleum-powered vehicles, while President Biden is promising to spend billions on charging stations as well as tax credits and rebates to get people to switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford crosstown rival General Motors says it hopes to stop selling combustion vehicles by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">In addition, shareholders at Exxon Mobil \u003ca class=\"\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-environment-and-nature-business-e926285af9ab2e5913453d00ebe99186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted Wednesday \u003c/a>to replace at least two of the company’s 12 board members with directors who are seen as better suited to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Farley said Ford’s financial performance hasn’t been acceptable in recent years, but it has accelerated its turnaround plan and made progress in the past few quarters. The company is now generating cash flow so it can grow the scale of its electric and commercial vehicle businesses, he said. Ford predicted it would post an 8% pretax profit margin in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The company also announced it would create a separate business called Ford Pro that will focus on commercial and government fleet buyers. It expects the business to generate $45 billion in annual revenue by 2025, up from $27 billion in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">It also expects to have about 1 million vehicles capable of getting over-the-internet software updates by the end of this year. Ford says it will have more vehicles with that capability than Tesla by July 2022. This opens up the chance of added revenue through driver assist technology and digital subscription services, a $20 billion market by 2030, Ford said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">In the U.S., Ford’s largest market, electric vehicles are only 1.2% of Ford’s sales through April. Ford currently offers only one all-electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E SUV, but by next spring it will have an all-electric F-150 pickup and a battery-powered Transit big commercial van on the roads. The company said 70,000 customers have put down $100 deposits to reserve an electric F-150 in the week since it was unveiled. Ford’s F-Series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford said it plans a new rear-drive, all-wheel-drive electric vehicle architecture to bring a new generation of high-sales vehicles, including an electric Ford Explorer SUV and other larger SUVs with two and three rows of seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The company also plans additional cargo vans and pickup trucks from the new architecture, and it expects one third of pickup truck sales to be fully electric by 2030, said Hau Thai-Tang, the company’s product development chief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Chief Operating Officer Lisa Drake said that by making electric versions of its top-selling brands, the Mustang, F-150 and Transit van, Ford can bring bulk purchasing power to EVs that smaller startups can’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">She said 70% of Mustang Mach-E electric SUV sales came from other auto brands, proving that EVs will help Ford increase its sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Ford, she said, expects to reduce battery costs from the current $140 per kilowatt hour to under $100 by 2025, and $80 by the end of this decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">As an example of its turnaround plan taking hold, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said international businesses, including Europe, China and South America, lost over $2 billion per year for the past two years, but in the first quarter generated a $500 million profit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">Lawler wouldn’t commit to when Ford would restore its dividend, which was suspended at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He said the company is focused on investing in growth areas and will bring the dividend back “as soon as practicable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-85 Component-p-0-2-76\">The $8 billion in additional electric vehicle spending would go toward the joint venture with SK Innovation to develop and manufacture batteries announced last week. The venture will build two North American factories to make batteries for roughly 600,000 electric vehicles per year by the middle of this decade. The companies say they have signed a memorandum of understanding, but details on the ownership structure and factory locations have yet to be worked out.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Dutch Court First to Order an Oil Company to Slash Net Emissions",
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"content": "\u003cp>Climate change activists have won a big legal victory against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that the company must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030, based on 2019 levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940717012/climate-case-against-shell-begins-in-the-netherlands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case could set a precedent\u003c/a> for similar lawsuits against huge oil companies that operate across the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our hope is that this verdict will trigger a wave of climate litigation against big polluters, to force them to stop extracting and burning fossil fuels,” said Sara Shaw of \u003ca href=\"https://www.foei.org/features/historic-victory-judge-forces-shell-to-drastically-reduce-co2-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Friends of the Earth International\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2030 goal affirmed by the court is more ambitious than Shell’s target of becoming “a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.” Shell \u003ca href=\"https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/our-climate-target.html#iframe=L3dlYmFwcHMvY2xpbWF0ZV9hbWJpdGlvbi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argues\u003c/a> the 2050 goal is in line with the Paris climate accord. But The Hague District Court determined Shell’s plans were not adequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling applies to Shell and its suppliers and covers not only the companies’ emissions, but also emissions from products burned by its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a monumental victory for our planet, for our children and a big leap towards a livable future for everyone,” said Donald Pols, director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Shell spokesperson Anna Arata acknowledged that “urgent action is needed on climate change,” and said the company has accelerated efforts to reduce emissions. The oil giant is “investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy, including electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, renewables and biofuels,” Arata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision comes after \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/news/most-fossil-fuels-must-stay-in-the-ground-new-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scientists have said\u003c/a> most of the known fossil fuel reserves will have to be left in the ground to avoid the worst effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month the U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/us-supreme-court-backs-energy-companies-over-baltimore-climate-case-2021-05-17/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sided with major oil companies\u003c/a> in a climate change lawsuit brought by the city of Baltimore. Justices delivered a victory to the oil giants on a technical issue — that the case should be heard in federal court instead of state court, as the city preferred. There are about a dozen similar lawsuits that U.S. state and local governments have brought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven environmental groups filed the lawsuit against Shell, including Friends of the Earth Netherlands, or \u003ca href=\"https://en.milieudefensie.nl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milieudefensie\u003c/a>, Greenpeace and Fossil Free Netherlands. The lawsuit also named 17,000 Dutch citizens as co-plaintiffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Royal Dutch Shell is based in The Hague, where the case was heard. Shell can still appeal the ruling, something the company said it expects to do. The Dutch judge said the more ambitious target for the company will remain in effect while the appeals process plays out.\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=In+A+Landmark+Case%2C+A+Dutch+Court+Orders+Shell+To+Cut+Its+Carbon+Emissions+Faster&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Thousands of Dutch citizens joined environmental groups to accuse the oil giant with endangering lives. The first-of-its-kind decision could pressure other companies to take aggressive climate action.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Climate change activists have won a big legal victory against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that the company must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030, based on 2019 levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940717012/climate-case-against-shell-begins-in-the-netherlands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case could set a precedent\u003c/a> for similar lawsuits against huge oil companies that operate across the globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our hope is that this verdict will trigger a wave of climate litigation against big polluters, to force them to stop extracting and burning fossil fuels,” said Sara Shaw of \u003ca href=\"https://www.foei.org/features/historic-victory-judge-forces-shell-to-drastically-reduce-co2-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Friends of the Earth International\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2030 goal affirmed by the court is more ambitious than Shell’s target of becoming “a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.” Shell \u003ca href=\"https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/our-climate-target.html#iframe=L3dlYmFwcHMvY2xpbWF0ZV9hbWJpdGlvbi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argues\u003c/a> the 2050 goal is in line with the Paris climate accord. But The Hague District Court determined Shell’s plans were not adequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling applies to Shell and its suppliers and covers not only the companies’ emissions, but also emissions from products burned by its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a monumental victory for our planet, for our children and a big leap towards a livable future for everyone,” said Donald Pols, director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Shell spokesperson Anna Arata acknowledged that “urgent action is needed on climate change,” and said the company has accelerated efforts to reduce emissions. The oil giant is “investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy, including electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, renewables and biofuels,” Arata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision comes after \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/news/most-fossil-fuels-must-stay-in-the-ground-new-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scientists have said\u003c/a> most of the known fossil fuel reserves will have to be left in the ground to avoid the worst effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month the U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/us-supreme-court-backs-energy-companies-over-baltimore-climate-case-2021-05-17/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sided with major oil companies\u003c/a> in a climate change lawsuit brought by the city of Baltimore. Justices delivered a victory to the oil giants on a technical issue — that the case should be heard in federal court instead of state court, as the city preferred. There are about a dozen similar lawsuits that U.S. state and local governments have brought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven environmental groups filed the lawsuit against Shell, including Friends of the Earth Netherlands, or \u003ca href=\"https://en.milieudefensie.nl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milieudefensie\u003c/a>, Greenpeace and Fossil Free Netherlands. The lawsuit also named 17,000 Dutch citizens as co-plaintiffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Royal Dutch Shell is based in The Hague, where the case was heard. Shell can still appeal the ruling, something the company said it expects to do. The Dutch judge said the more ambitious target for the company will remain in effect while the appeals process plays out.\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=In+A+Landmark+Case%2C+A+Dutch+Court+Orders+Shell+To+Cut+Its+Carbon+Emissions+Faster&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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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",
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"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": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
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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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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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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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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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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",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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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",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"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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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"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",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
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