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"title": "Climate Change is Driving California’s Wildfires. The Kincade Fire? Not So Much",
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"content": "\u003cp>Let’s get something out of the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wildfire activity has increased for five decades, and a strong body of research implicates climate change as a key driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\">study\u003c/a> from Columbia University found that warming is the \u003cem>lead \u003c/em>driver in a five-fold increase in the area of California that burns during any given year. The U.S. Forest Service policy of stomping out every fire as quickly as possible exacerbates the long-term trend, loading forests with fuel to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, 2019 is an unusual year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By several measures, it is so far the least destructive wildfire year of the last five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of this writing, California has experienced fewer fire incidents, acres burned, and structures destroyed in 2019 than any other year dating back to 2015, based on data from Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three people have lost their lives to wildfire this year. The only recent year with fewer wildfire deaths was 2016, when there were none.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Wildfire\" aria-label=\"Table\" src=\"//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mKMWX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"339\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet wildfires have upended life across California. The Kincade Fire forced the evacuation of more than 180,000 people, a record for Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, PG&E cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers across 29 counties, to try and prevent more fires from starting. Some people went for days without electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, what’s going on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Forest Fires\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To start, the fir, pine and other trees that fill the Sierra Nevada and higher elevations of Northern California are not burning much, thanks to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">monster\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">snow\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">year\u003c/a> and a thorough soaking of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942464/bay-area-logs-its-wettest-may-this-century\">May\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942464/bay-area-logs-its-wettest-may-this-century\">rain\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kincade Fire, the year’s largest, has burned more than 77,000 acres of Sonoma County’s chaparral. Sage, shrubs, coastal live oak and madrones spot the grassy woodlands. Sure, there are areas with forest canopies here, but they are not nearly as thick as in the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the fire is 100% contained, fire scientists say that strong winds, not forest fuel, drove the Kincade’s growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Sierra Nevada generally has less fires when we have wet years,” says Jon Keeley, a fire scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “But when you get into coastal California, rain isn’t necessarily a good predictor. It’s these extreme autumn winds which ultimately determine what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeley says that the Kincade Fire and other severe fires from the last few years, including the Thomas Fire, Woolsey Fire and the North Bay fires of 2017, were “all blown by extreme wind events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The People\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change “is probably secondary” as a cause, Oregon State University fire ecologist Meg Krawchuk says about the Kincade Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other incidents this year underscore California’s wildfire vulnerabilities beyond warming, she adds. “This year’s fires are showing more sensitivity associated with how California is growing, where populations are, building codes, and where people are allowed to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of Californians — about a third of the state’s population — live in what academics call the WUI, or the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/data/WUI/\">wildland-urban interface\u003c/a>” (pronounced whoo-ie). Wildfires \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917302/bay-area-sprawl-has-put-homes-in-the-path-of-fires-what-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threaten\u003c/a> these neighborhoods, trailer parks and small developments that have sprawled into the forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of people expected to move into harm’s way is increasing. That means it’s likelier that somebody will ignite a fire when the winds are strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasingly, humans do not directly start fires. Our stuff does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Primarily, power lines,” Keeley says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at acreage burned by power line ignitions from 2000 to the present, they burned about half a million acres in California. That’s five times more than burned in the previous 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Climate Change\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming temperatures play an important role in California’s uptick in wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat waves are more common. Snow is melting earlier in the spring. The state is at least three degrees warmer and less rain is falling, report \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/climate-change-ca.pdf\">scientists\u003c/a> at the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The heat is expanding the area of the state prone to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire needs three ingredients to burn: ignition, fuel and oxygen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming temperatures are baking conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada and Northern California, increasing the available fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strongest effect of that warming is in the summertime forest fires,” says Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrival of winter rains this year and strong dry winds were “essential ingredients” that likely contributed to the Kincade Fire, Williams says, but climate change may have been a contributing factor, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have one of those ingredients, but not the other, then you’re not going to get big fires,” he says. “When both of those switches are on, then it suddenly becomes very relevant that California is about three degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would be without global warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Wind\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, the National Weather Service issued three red flag warnings for windy, dry conditions in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arriving back-to-back, the offshore winds were a kind of three-act play, with brief interludes in which the gusts calmed for a day before whipping up again and expanding the Kincade Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Matson battled it in a bulldozer. “The fire was outrunning us,” he recalls. “We couldn’t go as fast as the fire, it would jump ahead of us.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National Weather Service forecasters in the Bay Area had not seen these conditions before, says David King, one of the meteorologists. “At one point I stood up and asked if anyone has ever put out three red flag warnings in one week, and no one had an answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wind peaked the night of Saturday, Oct. 26 into Sunday, when gusts ripped faster than 90 miles per hour, in some locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/Ot4H8Y-NtHs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The cellphone video above shows the Kincade Fire during one of the wind events. The video was provided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Ben Ingwerson, who led a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11784042/inmates-saved-homes-in-the-kincade-fire-theyll-face-an-uphill-battle-getting-firefighting-jobs-after-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crew of inmate firefighters\u003c/a> in a fight against the wildfire. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some media outlets incorrectly reported the gusts as “hurricane force.” Scientists measure hurricane intensity by sustained wind speed, not gusts. Regardless, the winds were strong and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950377/heres-what-makes-the-winds-driving-the-kincade-fire-so-unusual\">the event lasted\u003c/a> for about 30 hours, which itself, is uncommon (King says these wind storms normally last for about 12 hours).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the gusts have subsided, the area remains bone dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says measurements of the moisture in the atmosphere — known as precipitable water — tied the record for the lowest October reading ever recorded in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1190300390106910720?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While light winds are projected for the foreseeable future in Northern California, the reading is a reminder that fire season in California doesn’t adhere to a calendar. King suggests that 2019’s wildfire season could extend late into November or even December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no on-off switch,” he says. “Once it’s this dry, you must be prepared until you get a good soaking of rain. But nothing in the models shows even a sliver of rain coming our way.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of this writing, California has experienced fewer fire incidents, acres burned, and structures destroyed in 2019 than any other year dating back to 2015, based on data from Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three people have lost their lives to wildfire this year. The only recent year with fewer wildfire deaths was 2016, when there were none.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Wildfire\" aria-label=\"Table\" src=\"//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mKMWX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"600\" height=\"339\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet wildfires have upended life across California. The Kincade Fire forced the evacuation of more than 180,000 people, a record for Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, PG&E cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers across 29 counties, to try and prevent more fires from starting. Some people went for days without electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, what’s going on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No Forest Fires\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To start, the fir, pine and other trees that fill the Sierra Nevada and higher elevations of Northern California are not burning much, thanks to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">monster\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">snow\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939675/big-snow-year-is-good-and-bad-news-for-california-but-mostly-good\">year\u003c/a> and a thorough soaking of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942464/bay-area-logs-its-wettest-may-this-century\">May\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942464/bay-area-logs-its-wettest-may-this-century\">rain\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kincade Fire, the year’s largest, has burned more than 77,000 acres of Sonoma County’s chaparral. Sage, shrubs, coastal live oak and madrones spot the grassy woodlands. Sure, there are areas with forest canopies here, but they are not nearly as thick as in the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the fire is 100% contained, fire scientists say that strong winds, not forest fuel, drove the Kincade’s growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Sierra Nevada generally has less fires when we have wet years,” says Jon Keeley, a fire scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “But when you get into coastal California, rain isn’t necessarily a good predictor. It’s these extreme autumn winds which ultimately determine what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeley says that the Kincade Fire and other severe fires from the last few years, including the Thomas Fire, Woolsey Fire and the North Bay fires of 2017, were “all blown by extreme wind events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The People\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change “is probably secondary” as a cause, Oregon State University fire ecologist Meg Krawchuk says about the Kincade Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other incidents this year underscore California’s wildfire vulnerabilities beyond warming, she adds. “This year’s fires are showing more sensitivity associated with how California is growing, where populations are, building codes, and where people are allowed to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of Californians — about a third of the state’s population — live in what academics call the WUI, or the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/data/WUI/\">wildland-urban interface\u003c/a>” (pronounced whoo-ie). Wildfires \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917302/bay-area-sprawl-has-put-homes-in-the-path-of-fires-what-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threaten\u003c/a> these neighborhoods, trailer parks and small developments that have sprawled into the forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of people expected to move into harm’s way is increasing. That means it’s likelier that somebody will ignite a fire when the winds are strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasingly, humans do not directly start fires. Our stuff does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Primarily, power lines,” Keeley says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at acreage burned by power line ignitions from 2000 to the present, they burned about half a million acres in California. That’s five times more than burned in the previous 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Climate Change\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming temperatures play an important role in California’s uptick in wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat waves are more common. Snow is melting earlier in the spring. The state is at least three degrees warmer and less rain is falling, report \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/climate-change-ca.pdf\">scientists\u003c/a> at the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The heat is expanding the area of the state prone to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire needs three ingredients to burn: ignition, fuel and oxygen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming temperatures are baking conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada and Northern California, increasing the available fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strongest effect of that warming is in the summertime forest fires,” says Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrival of winter rains this year and strong dry winds were “essential ingredients” that likely contributed to the Kincade Fire, Williams says, but climate change may have been a contributing factor, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have one of those ingredients, but not the other, then you’re not going to get big fires,” he says. “When both of those switches are on, then it suddenly becomes very relevant that California is about three degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would be without global warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Wind\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, the National Weather Service issued three red flag warnings for windy, dry conditions in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arriving back-to-back, the offshore winds were a kind of three-act play, with brief interludes in which the gusts calmed for a day before whipping up again and expanding the Kincade Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Matson battled it in a bulldozer. “The fire was outrunning us,” he recalls. “We couldn’t go as fast as the fire, it would jump ahead of us.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National Weather Service forecasters in the Bay Area had not seen these conditions before, says David King, one of the meteorologists. “At one point I stood up and asked if anyone has ever put out three red flag warnings in one week, and no one had an answer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wind peaked the night of Saturday, Oct. 26 into Sunday, when gusts ripped faster than 90 miles per hour, in some locations.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ot4H8Y-NtHs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ot4H8Y-NtHs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The cellphone video above shows the Kincade Fire during one of the wind events. The video was provided by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Ben Ingwerson, who led a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11784042/inmates-saved-homes-in-the-kincade-fire-theyll-face-an-uphill-battle-getting-firefighting-jobs-after-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crew of inmate firefighters\u003c/a> in a fight against the wildfire. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some media outlets incorrectly reported the gusts as “hurricane force.” Scientists measure hurricane intensity by sustained wind speed, not gusts. Regardless, the winds were strong and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950377/heres-what-makes-the-winds-driving-the-kincade-fire-so-unusual\">the event lasted\u003c/a> for about 30 hours, which itself, is uncommon (King says these wind storms normally last for about 12 hours).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the gusts have subsided, the area remains bone dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King says measurements of the moisture in the atmosphere — known as precipitable water — tied the record for the lowest October reading ever recorded in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>While light winds are projected for the foreseeable future in Northern California, the reading is a reminder that fire season in California doesn’t adhere to a calendar. King suggests that 2019’s wildfire season could extend late into November or even December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no on-off switch,” he says. “Once it’s this dry, you must be prepared until you get a good soaking of rain. But nothing in the models shows even a sliver of rain coming our way.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>One of the longest-running jokes in \u003cem>The Good Place \u003c/em>is about almond milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the big twist in the show’s first season, moral philosopher Chidi Anagonye agonized about being condemned to The Bad Place, and decided early on what had tipped the scales: “I used almond milk in my coffee, even though I knew about the negative environmental impact.” For ages, it’s a running joke that such a particular infraction could be the thing that condemned him. But eventually, they get a look at the judgment system and realize he was right all along: Every decision has consequences, and nothing is decided in a vacuum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s impossible not to think of Chidi and his many philosophical thought-exercises-slash-inescapable-moral-quagmires while reading \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises.\u003c/em> Nominally an environmental and social history of the Galápagos Islands, Prof. Elizabeth Hennessy lays bare the many intertwined issues that confront us as we attempt conservation efforts in complex situations, while faced with a sweeping ecological crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tortoises of the Galápagos are “keystone species and ecosystem engineers,” and since sailors first began using the islands in 1535, they have been the most obvious barometer of the effect of people on an ecosystem. (Hennessy notes grimly that “three of the fifteen species” that originally populated the islands “exist only as historical records.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using tortoises as a marker, Hennessy traces the various ways the islands — and nature itself — has been framed, both by opportunists and by conservationists. By turns, tortoises are food or natural treasure; they must be carefully sheltered or made celebrities for their own good. The islands spend time as a prison colony, promised frontier for settlers, American military base, and national park with a controversial tourist industry. The thread of natural conservation runs throughout, but even there, the meaning has changed. For Walter Rothschild a century ago, it was collection of specimens. Now, it is attempts to breed tortoises for release into a wilderness that’s being shaped by the introduction of foreign animals and plants. (In 1957, fishers left three goats on Pinta island for food. Their eradication has become a cottage industry, with thousands of kills a month that are left to rot; nothing is easily parsed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And much like poor Chidi getting frequent moral paralysis in the face of complexities or a looming crisis, moments in \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> can be tough reading, with very few answers for some very pressing questions about culture, politics, and blackberries (an invasive species whose presence on the island is a growing problem).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hennessy is clear about the futility in dreaming of a pristine pre-1535 Galápagos, unpopulated and untouched — “There is no return to Eden,” she says — but the current problems can feel extremely immediate, and the current solutions not particularly hopeful. The tortoises that do hatch at the tourist-friendly breeding center are springing from a very small pool, and are released into islands full of rats that prey on them, goats that eat their food, and people whose needs will only grow. Where do you begin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this book isn’t meant to offer easy answers. Early on, we read the old story about “turtles all the way down” — the concept that the world is balanced on the back of an ever-expanding stack of helpful \u003cem>Testudinidae\u003c/em>. But as Hennessy points out, such an idea doesn’t actually indicate that there’s a single answer to a difficult question; rather, that stack of tortoises suggests that, if we’re looking for balance, there’s always something more to learn beneath the things we think we know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This book works the same way, beginning with a gripping history and then delving deeper — the world of the Galapagos becomes more complicated as we go, until we understand the underpinnings of any decision (almond milk or otherwise). It’s a book about the ways we need to understand how deeply everything is entangled, and just how far down it goes. The result is a well-researched and thought-provoking read — whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Genevieve Valentine’s latest novel is \u003c/em>Icon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 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=%27On+The+Backs+Of+Tortoises%27+Challenges+Us+To+Consider+How+Much+Of+Life+Is+Intertwined&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One of the longest-running jokes in \u003cem>The Good Place \u003c/em>is about almond milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the big twist in the show’s first season, moral philosopher Chidi Anagonye agonized about being condemned to The Bad Place, and decided early on what had tipped the scales: “I used almond milk in my coffee, even though I knew about the negative environmental impact.” For ages, it’s a running joke that such a particular infraction could be the thing that condemned him. But eventually, they get a look at the judgment system and realize he was right all along: Every decision has consequences, and nothing is decided in a vacuum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s impossible not to think of Chidi and his many philosophical thought-exercises-slash-inescapable-moral-quagmires while reading \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises.\u003c/em> Nominally an environmental and social history of the Galápagos Islands, Prof. Elizabeth Hennessy lays bare the many intertwined issues that confront us as we attempt conservation efforts in complex situations, while faced with a sweeping ecological crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tortoises of the Galápagos are “keystone species and ecosystem engineers,” and since sailors first began using the islands in 1535, they have been the most obvious barometer of the effect of people on an ecosystem. (Hennessy notes grimly that “three of the fifteen species” that originally populated the islands “exist only as historical records.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using tortoises as a marker, Hennessy traces the various ways the islands — and nature itself — has been framed, both by opportunists and by conservationists. By turns, tortoises are food or natural treasure; they must be carefully sheltered or made celebrities for their own good. The islands spend time as a prison colony, promised frontier for settlers, American military base, and national park with a controversial tourist industry. The thread of natural conservation runs throughout, but even there, the meaning has changed. For Walter Rothschild a century ago, it was collection of specimens. Now, it is attempts to breed tortoises for release into a wilderness that’s being shaped by the introduction of foreign animals and plants. (In 1957, fishers left three goats on Pinta island for food. Their eradication has become a cottage industry, with thousands of kills a month that are left to rot; nothing is easily parsed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And much like poor Chidi getting frequent moral paralysis in the face of complexities or a looming crisis, moments in \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> can be tough reading, with very few answers for some very pressing questions about culture, politics, and blackberries (an invasive species whose presence on the island is a growing problem).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hennessy is clear about the futility in dreaming of a pristine pre-1535 Galápagos, unpopulated and untouched — “There is no return to Eden,” she says — but the current problems can feel extremely immediate, and the current solutions not particularly hopeful. The tortoises that do hatch at the tourist-friendly breeding center are springing from a very small pool, and are released into islands full of rats that prey on them, goats that eat their food, and people whose needs will only grow. Where do you begin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this book isn’t meant to offer easy answers. Early on, we read the old story about “turtles all the way down” — the concept that the world is balanced on the back of an ever-expanding stack of helpful \u003cem>Testudinidae\u003c/em>. But as Hennessy points out, such an idea doesn’t actually indicate that there’s a single answer to a difficult question; rather, that stack of tortoises suggests that, if we’re looking for balance, there’s always something more to learn beneath the things we think we know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This book works the same way, beginning with a gripping history and then delving deeper — the world of the Galapagos becomes more complicated as we go, until we understand the underpinnings of any decision (almond milk or otherwise). It’s a book about the ways we need to understand how deeply everything is entangled, and just how far down it goes. The result is a well-researched and thought-provoking read — whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Genevieve Valentine’s latest novel is \u003c/em>Icon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 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=%27On+The+Backs+Of+Tortoises%27+Challenges+Us+To+Consider+How+Much+Of+Life+Is+Intertwined&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Climate Reality Clashes With California Dreams",
"headTitle": "Climate Reality Clashes With California Dreams | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thousands of people remain under mandatory evacuation orders in Northern California. Some have endured wildfires, smoke, floods, blackouts and evacuations many times. Now, even though the state’s population is predicted to top 40 million this year, some are wondering whether California is the dream they’d hoped for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A few weeks ago, Philip Van Gelder’s biggest chore was clearing crusty mud and debris from his land. He and his wife live on an idyllic property nestled among vineyards and rolling hills in the tiny town of Geyserville, a few hours north of San Francisco. Last winter, record-breaking downpours turned the community into an island. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve been through several flood situations there,” said Van Gelder, a 74-year-old musician. “This was the worst we’ve seen in 40 years.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He and his wife watched water creep toward the front porch of their green wooden cottage. When the top step disappeared underwater, the couple fled. They lost fruit orchards, a woodshop and an art studio. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ll be cleaning up from that flood for the rest of our lives,” Van Gelder said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The property was starting to look normal a week ago when he heard explosions in the wee hours of the morning. Hot, gusty winds shook the windows. Wildfire raged through the surrounding hills. Firefighters warned his family that flames could level the town. Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for his neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Van Gelder refused to abandon his property, though he told officials he would remain vigilant. He and his wife weathered a few smoky days without electricity or gas, before ferocious winds picked up again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The hills exploded in flames,” Van Gelder said. “The house was surrounded by soot and ash blowing everywhere.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They raced to their car with their cat, a few guitars and some key documents. The husband and wife are now staying with their daughter a few hours south, in Oakland. Van Gelder says he can’t relax. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He questions his future in California.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think the climate is definitely becoming extreme,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change did not, by itself, cause the Kincade Fire or the winds that propelled it. But it has increased the risk of wildfire in California and throughout the nation, along with the rapid spread of those fires when they do start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Still Running\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two years after wildfires in Santa Rosa chased her from her home, Danielle Bryant feels as if she’s still running for her life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fire, which killed 44 people, consumed her neighborhood, including her house. The next year, a few hours away, the Camp Fire killed more than 80 people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last weekend at dawn, sirens woke Bryant and her husband again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My heart was racing. I couldn’t think. I felt very on guard,” Bryant recalled. “I tried to put myself into action but also I felt frozen.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They hit a fog bank of smoke as they drove from their temporary apartment, less than a mile from their old house. “It looked like we were driving through hell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since then, Bryant has lost her appetite. Bad dreams keep her up at night. She and her husband are talking about selling the house they’re rebuilding. Construction is way behind schedule. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everyone is stretched and stressed because our builder took on too many homes,” she said. “There are so many stories about people folding and leaving.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says a sense of humor has helped her cope. But at the same time, she said, “It feels very scary. \u003c/span>I just don’t know where home is right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every day she thinks about relocating. The stress and trauma have taxed her marriage, her work and her health. But leaving would not be \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">simple. Bryant grew up here. Her aging mother lives nearby. And moving is no guarantee of safety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “What place doesn’t have fire?” she said. “Iceland? Vast wide open spaces like the Mojave desert?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is it possible, she wonders, to outrun climate change?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The state’s population is predicted to top 40 million this year, but amid serial catastrophes, some are wondering whether the dream of California is still alive.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thousands of people remain under mandatory evacuation orders in Northern California. Some have endured wildfires, smoke, floods, blackouts and evacuations many times. Now, even though the state’s population is predicted to top 40 million this year, some are wondering whether California is the dream they’d hoped for. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A few weeks ago, Philip Van Gelder’s biggest chore was clearing crusty mud and debris from his land. He and his wife live on an idyllic property nestled among vineyards and rolling hills in the tiny town of Geyserville, a few hours north of San Francisco. Last winter, record-breaking downpours turned the community into an island. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ve been through several flood situations there,” said Van Gelder, a 74-year-old musician. “This was the worst we’ve seen in 40 years.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He and his wife watched water creep toward the front porch of their green wooden cottage. When the top step disappeared underwater, the couple fled. They lost fruit orchards, a woodshop and an art studio. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We’ll be cleaning up from that flood for the rest of our lives,” Van Gelder said. \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\">The property was starting to look normal a week ago when he heard explosions in the wee hours of the morning. Hot, gusty winds shook the windows. Wildfire raged through the surrounding hills. Firefighters warned his family that flames could level the town. Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for his neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Van Gelder refused to abandon his property, though he told officials he would remain vigilant. He and his wife weathered a few smoky days without electricity or gas, before ferocious winds picked up again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The hills exploded in flames,” Van Gelder said. “The house was surrounded by soot and ash blowing everywhere.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They raced to their car with their cat, a few guitars and some key documents. The husband and wife are now staying with their daughter a few hours south, in Oakland. Van Gelder says he can’t relax. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He questions his future in California.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think the climate is definitely becoming extreme,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change did not, by itself, cause the Kincade Fire or the winds that propelled it. But it has increased the risk of wildfire in California and throughout the nation, along with the rapid spread of those fires when they do start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Still Running\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Two years after wildfires in Santa Rosa chased her from her home, Danielle Bryant feels as if she’s still running for her life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fire, which killed 44 people, consumed her neighborhood, including her house. The next year, a few hours away, the Camp Fire killed more than 80 people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last weekend at dawn, sirens woke Bryant and her husband again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My heart was racing. I couldn’t think. I felt very on guard,” Bryant recalled. “I tried to put myself into action but also I felt frozen.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They hit a fog bank of smoke as they drove from their temporary apartment, less than a mile from their old house. “It looked like we were driving through hell.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since then, Bryant has lost her appetite. Bad dreams keep her up at night. She and her husband are talking about selling the house they’re rebuilding. Construction is way behind schedule. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everyone is stretched and stressed because our builder took on too many homes,” she said. “There are so many stories about people folding and leaving.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She says a sense of humor has helped her cope. But at the same time, she said, “It feels very scary. \u003c/span>I just don’t know where home is right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every day she thinks about relocating. The stress and trauma have taxed her marriage, her work and her health. But leaving would not be \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">simple. Bryant grew up here. Her aging mother lives nearby. And moving is no guarantee of safety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “What place doesn’t have fire?” she said. “Iceland? Vast wide open spaces like the Mojave desert?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Is it possible, she wonders, to outrun climate change?\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg has turned down a major environmental prize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a huge honor,” Thunberg said of the Nordic Council Environment Prize. “But the climate movement does not need any more awards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is for our politicians and the people in power to start listening to the current, best available science,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The award Thunberg rejected came with prize money of 350,000 Danish kroner — about $52,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Swedish activist, who is currently traveling in North America, was also a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. That award ultimately went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nordic Council, an organization aimed at promoting cooperation between Nordic governments, \u003ca href=\"https://www.norden.org/en/news/greta-thunberg-declines-nordic-council-environment-prize\">awarded Thunberg the prize\u003c/a> for “breathing new life into the debate surrounding the environment and climate at a critical moment in world history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She has stubbornly and persuasively urged the world to listen to research and act on the basis of facts,” the council said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council president Hans Wallmark \u003ca href=\"https://www.norden.org/en/news/nordic-council-respects-greta-thunbergs-decision\">said that the body respects\u003c/a> both Thunberg’s decision to turn down the award “and the reasons for this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the $52,000 award, Wallmark said the council “will now think carefully about what to do with the prize money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Ns7PQpE5C/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">statement on Instagram\u003c/a> explaining why she declined, Thunberg slammed the council’s member countries for not taking firmer action on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Nordic countries have a great reputation around the world when it comes to climate and environmental issues,” she said. “But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita — if we include our consumption, our imports as well as aviation and shipping — then it’s a whole other story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thunberg referenced a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.footprintnetwork.org/content/uploads/2019/05/WWF-GFN-EU-Overshoot-Day-report.pdf\">WWF and Global Footprint Network\u003c/a> report that stated Swedes, and other EU residents, are depleting natural ecosystems far faster than they can renew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 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=%27Start+Listening%27%3A+Greta+Thunberg+Rejects+Major+Environmental+Award&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg has turned down a major environmental prize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a huge honor,” Thunberg said of the Nordic Council Environment Prize. “But the climate movement does not need any more awards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is for our politicians and the people in power to start listening to the current, best available science,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The award Thunberg rejected came with prize money of 350,000 Danish kroner — about $52,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Swedish activist, who is currently traveling in North America, was also a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. That award ultimately went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nordic Council, an organization aimed at promoting cooperation between Nordic governments, \u003ca href=\"https://www.norden.org/en/news/greta-thunberg-declines-nordic-council-environment-prize\">awarded Thunberg the prize\u003c/a> for “breathing new life into the debate surrounding the environment and climate at a critical moment in world history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She has stubbornly and persuasively urged the world to listen to research and act on the basis of facts,” the council said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Council president Hans Wallmark \u003ca href=\"https://www.norden.org/en/news/nordic-council-respects-greta-thunbergs-decision\">said that the body respects\u003c/a> both Thunberg’s decision to turn down the award “and the reasons for this decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the $52,000 award, Wallmark said the council “will now think carefully about what to do with the prize money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Ns7PQpE5C/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">statement on Instagram\u003c/a> explaining why she declined, Thunberg slammed the council’s member countries for not taking firmer action on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Nordic countries have a great reputation around the world when it comes to climate and environmental issues,” she said. “But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita — if we include our consumption, our imports as well as aviation and shipping — then it’s a whole other story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thunberg referenced a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.footprintnetwork.org/content/uploads/2019/05/WWF-GFN-EU-Overshoot-Day-report.pdf\">WWF and Global Footprint Network\u003c/a> report that stated Swedes, and other EU residents, are depleting natural ecosystems far faster than they can renew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 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=%27Start+Listening%27%3A+Greta+Thunberg+Rejects+Major+Environmental+Award&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Wildfires Generate Questions. We've Got Answers to Some of Yours",
"headTitle": "Wildfires Generate Questions. We’ve Got Answers to Some of Yours | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>The Kincade Fire is disrupting thousands of lives in northeastern Sonoma County. Wildfires always raise questions about the best ways to deal with their effects. That’s why we’re offering this still-relevant information that came out of the disastrous 2017 fire season. It was first published in July 2018.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in California has always meant living with wildfire, but in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941376/we-can-make-california-wildfires-less-horrific-will-we\">recent years\u003c/a> it has meant living with some of the worst fires in recorded history. Of the top 10 most destructive wildfires in the state, seven occurred within the last four years. In the last two years alone, the fires of Paradise and Wine Country claimed, in combination, more than 100 lives and scorched nearly 200,000 acres of land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED, we’ve been talking to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/tag/livingwithwildfire\">experts\u003c/a> about the ways in which we can protect ourselves in an increasingly uncertain future. We know our Reddit users share these concerns, and decided to have an AMA to address your thoughtful questions. Below are some highlights from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/cbyy98/were_a_team_of_reporters_at_kqed_san_franciscos/\">AMA\u003c/a>, which have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED Science and News Staff:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Kat Snow, KQED Science Senior Editor (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CosmologicalKat\">@CosmologicalKat\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Lauren Sommer, KQED Science reporter covering climate change, water, and energy (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lesommer\">@lesommer\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Molly Peterson, KQED Science reporter covering climate change, toxics, and wildfires (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Mollydacious\">@mollydacious\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Jeremy Siegel, KQED News reporter and weekend afternoon news anchor/editor covering the Camp Fire (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jersiegel\">@jersiegel\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Danielle Venton, KQED Science editor and reporter covering wildfires, astronomy, and physics (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DanielleVenton\">@DanielleVenton\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What should every Californian know as we head into fire season this year?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kat Snow: \u003c/em>There’s a lot people can do to reduce the risk their home will burn, but few people seem to know how much these actions can make a difference. People can manage the vegetation around their house, and do small fire-proofing things like installing screens over vents to keep out flying sparks. It’s not that hard to take these actions, but it does mean thinking of fire and making it a priority every year. See Lauren’s reporting about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941685/this-california-neighborhood-was-built-to-survive-a-wildfire-and-it-worked\">vegetation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917346/wildfires-can-attack-your-house-from-the-inside-heres-how-to-prevent-it\">building\u003c/a> for fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Sommer: \u003c/em>Even if we build the most fire-resistant communities we can, there will still be more fires. So Californians should know how to evacuate — what to take and where to go. Jeremy did some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942547/in-the-age-of-the-crazy-fast-fire-a-good-evacuation-plan-may-not-be-enough\">reporting\u003c/a> on why evacuations are a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>Disaster and climate change are pointing up tensions, both actively debated and unaddressed, in a range of policies that are everyday, year-round issues for Californians — health, transportation and housing chief among them. Nobody can ignore these problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>We can do many things to lessen our wildfire risk, but taking action requires us to reconsider how we do things (and maybe give up some personal freedom).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has surprised you the most in your researching and reporting on the wildfire issues?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Siegel: \u003c/em>I did a story about what’s next for wildfire evacuation planning in the aftermath of the Camp Fire, and what I found surprising is that everyone I spoke to — from emergency officials to fire experts — didn’t have many clear answers to questions I asked, and they had a lot of questions themselves. This isn’t to say anyone was dodging difficult questions, it’s to say that the Camp Fire raised a lot of good questions for emergency managers. After a disaster, it’s common practice for communities to go back and examine their own emergency procedures and see what can be learned. But what’s different about the Camp Fire is that Paradise was a community that had experience with wildfires and had planned for them. They had plans in place and evacuation procedures they had tested. So now, as communities are re-examining their own plans, the big question is: if Paradise’s plans didn’t work, what will work? No one has an answer yet. But everyone is trying to figure it out. That’s what was surprising, that so many people are asking the same question and so many people don’t have an answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>I was most surprised by how differently smart engaged people in rural far Northern California see fire risk and fire management issues from smart engaged people in Central-Northern California and Southern California. Maybe more of us live in cities, but people who live in rural and resource areas have strong local knowledge and a connection to risk that deserves a place in the conversation. And this isn’t a left-right thing: this is a rural-urban thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kat Snow: \u003c/em>What surprised me was how many excellent solutions there are in small communities all over the state. It’s not that we don’t know how to do this — how to survive these increasingly unpredictable wildfires; it’s that lawmakers and the public have to actually decide whether to do it, whether to make the changes in how people live and think about fire that would actually make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who right now is doing the best with coming up with good ideas and implementing them regarding California wildfires?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Sommer: \u003c/em>In our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/tag/livingwithwildfire\">Living with Wildfire\u003c/a> series, we covered a town called Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego that’s right in a high risk fire zone. The area has burned before, so they’ve put in some strict rules about how the houses can be built and the types of vegetation in yards. One example: you can’t have cypress or palm trees next to your house because they’re so flammable. And the fire department checks every year. You also can’t park on the street in some neighborhoods since it blocks fire trucks. But since it’s a fairly wealthy community, they can afford to do this stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you think laws and regulations will improve because of the severe damages caused by wildfires?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>Disasters generally prompt demand for change. I think we’ll continue to see lawmakers try to chip away at problems. At the state level, there is a bill making its way through the legislature that would require communities to address evacuation routes in their general plan. This was directly inspired by the Camp Fire. In the aftermath of the 2017 fires there were a number of new bills signed into law (things like garage doors have to have backup power sources). At the federal level, there is some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1943331/federal-government-wants-to-accelerate-wildfire-protections.\">movement\u003c/a> to fast-track forest management projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shortly after the Camp Fire broke out, Donald Trump criticized California for poor forest management practices, even though the federal government is responsible for most of the forest lands in the state. Can you speak to the efforts lawmakers like Sen. Bill Dodd, Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and others have made in terms of forest management legislation and how those efforts have ultimately played out since last year? Can you also discuss if the federal government has done anything to step up its responsibility when it comes to forest management practices?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>Among fire scientists and land managers, “active management” is a term used to describe forest management practices that include brush removal, prescribed burns, mechanical thinning of vegetation, and tree removal. Tree removal has a legacy connotation in California, dating back to the Timber Wars, when environmentalists and loggers took absolutist positions in a bitter dispute that grew at times violent. But certainly in some communities, such as those I’ve visited in the Sierras and in Trinity County, that conversation has shifted, and community preference is to permit some removal of secondary and tertiary growth trees, not old-growth trees, though there are some who would still advocate for full protection of and exploitation of old growth areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation is still evolving, and it’s hard to say yet whether laws that loosen tree thinning are supported by science. What we do know from a review of fire science is that more research suggests that both prescribed burns and thinning — to different degrees, but notably together — are valuable management tools. So both “raking the forest” and some tree removal aren’t ideas beyond the pale, but they’re definitely tools that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/files/research/projects/WildfireCommonGround.pdf\">scientists\u003c/a> say need to be carefully deployed to be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What can I do as an individual to help reduce wildfires and recovering areas besides donations? I really want to find a way where I can personally contribute with my own hands, not money — I’m in high school, so I can’t become a firefighter yet. Also, what kind of preparation do you recommend people take to be wildfire ready?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Siegel: \u003c/em>In my reporting, I heard from a number of local officials and fire experts about the importance of community groups that work on fire safety. For many California communities these are called “Firesafe Councils.” These groups tend to get together once a month or so, and they talk about little projects the community can take on to help with fire prevention and fire safety. That includes discussions about evacuation procedures, how people can clear brush from around their homes and what people should have ready in their evacuation “go bags” — things like that. When I spoke with the head of the Firesafe Council in Foresthill (a Sierra Foothill town), he said the most important thing people can do is become informed about wildfire safety themselves (by going to these meetings, for example) and then to spread the word around their community. So if you’re looking for a way to help out, I’d say become a fire safety whiz and talk with other people in your community about what you’ve learned.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>The Kincade Fire is disrupting thousands of lives in northeastern Sonoma County. Wildfires always raise questions about the best ways to deal with their effects. That’s why we’re offering this still-relevant information that came out of the disastrous 2017 fire season. It was first published in July 2018.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in California has always meant living with wildfire, but in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941376/we-can-make-california-wildfires-less-horrific-will-we\">recent years\u003c/a> it has meant living with some of the worst fires in recorded history. Of the top 10 most destructive wildfires in the state, seven occurred within the last four years. In the last two years alone, the fires of Paradise and Wine Country claimed, in combination, more than 100 lives and scorched nearly 200,000 acres of land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At KQED, we’ve been talking to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/tag/livingwithwildfire\">experts\u003c/a> about the ways in which we can protect ourselves in an increasingly uncertain future. We know our Reddit users share these concerns, and decided to have an AMA to address your thoughtful questions. Below are some highlights from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/cbyy98/were_a_team_of_reporters_at_kqed_san_franciscos/\">AMA\u003c/a>, which have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED Science and News Staff:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Kat Snow, KQED Science Senior Editor (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CosmologicalKat\">@CosmologicalKat\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Lauren Sommer, KQED Science reporter covering climate change, water, and energy (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lesommer\">@lesommer\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Molly Peterson, KQED Science reporter covering climate change, toxics, and wildfires (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Mollydacious\">@mollydacious\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Jeremy Siegel, KQED News reporter and weekend afternoon news anchor/editor covering the Camp Fire (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jersiegel\">@jersiegel\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Danielle Venton, KQED Science editor and reporter covering wildfires, astronomy, and physics (Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DanielleVenton\">@DanielleVenton\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What should every Californian know as we head into fire season this year?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kat Snow: \u003c/em>There’s a lot people can do to reduce the risk their home will burn, but few people seem to know how much these actions can make a difference. People can manage the vegetation around their house, and do small fire-proofing things like installing screens over vents to keep out flying sparks. It’s not that hard to take these actions, but it does mean thinking of fire and making it a priority every year. See Lauren’s reporting about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941685/this-california-neighborhood-was-built-to-survive-a-wildfire-and-it-worked\">vegetation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1917346/wildfires-can-attack-your-house-from-the-inside-heres-how-to-prevent-it\">building\u003c/a> for fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Sommer: \u003c/em>Even if we build the most fire-resistant communities we can, there will still be more fires. So Californians should know how to evacuate — what to take and where to go. Jeremy did some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942547/in-the-age-of-the-crazy-fast-fire-a-good-evacuation-plan-may-not-be-enough\">reporting\u003c/a> on why evacuations are a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>Disaster and climate change are pointing up tensions, both actively debated and unaddressed, in a range of policies that are everyday, year-round issues for Californians — health, transportation and housing chief among them. Nobody can ignore these problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>We can do many things to lessen our wildfire risk, but taking action requires us to reconsider how we do things (and maybe give up some personal freedom).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has surprised you the most in your researching and reporting on the wildfire issues?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Siegel: \u003c/em>I did a story about what’s next for wildfire evacuation planning in the aftermath of the Camp Fire, and what I found surprising is that everyone I spoke to — from emergency officials to fire experts — didn’t have many clear answers to questions I asked, and they had a lot of questions themselves. This isn’t to say anyone was dodging difficult questions, it’s to say that the Camp Fire raised a lot of good questions for emergency managers. After a disaster, it’s common practice for communities to go back and examine their own emergency procedures and see what can be learned. But what’s different about the Camp Fire is that Paradise was a community that had experience with wildfires and had planned for them. They had plans in place and evacuation procedures they had tested. So now, as communities are re-examining their own plans, the big question is: if Paradise’s plans didn’t work, what will work? No one has an answer yet. But everyone is trying to figure it out. That’s what was surprising, that so many people are asking the same question and so many people don’t have an answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>I was most surprised by how differently smart engaged people in rural far Northern California see fire risk and fire management issues from smart engaged people in Central-Northern California and Southern California. Maybe more of us live in cities, but people who live in rural and resource areas have strong local knowledge and a connection to risk that deserves a place in the conversation. And this isn’t a left-right thing: this is a rural-urban thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kat Snow: \u003c/em>What surprised me was how many excellent solutions there are in small communities all over the state. It’s not that we don’t know how to do this — how to survive these increasingly unpredictable wildfires; it’s that lawmakers and the public have to actually decide whether to do it, whether to make the changes in how people live and think about fire that would actually make a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who right now is doing the best with coming up with good ideas and implementing them regarding California wildfires?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lauren Sommer: \u003c/em>In our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/tag/livingwithwildfire\">Living with Wildfire\u003c/a> series, we covered a town called Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego that’s right in a high risk fire zone. The area has burned before, so they’ve put in some strict rules about how the houses can be built and the types of vegetation in yards. One example: you can’t have cypress or palm trees next to your house because they’re so flammable. And the fire department checks every year. You also can’t park on the street in some neighborhoods since it blocks fire trucks. But since it’s a fairly wealthy community, they can afford to do this stuff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you think laws and regulations will improve because of the severe damages caused by wildfires?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Danielle Venton: \u003c/em>Disasters generally prompt demand for change. I think we’ll continue to see lawmakers try to chip away at problems. At the state level, there is a bill making its way through the legislature that would require communities to address evacuation routes in their general plan. This was directly inspired by the Camp Fire. In the aftermath of the 2017 fires there were a number of new bills signed into law (things like garage doors have to have backup power sources). At the federal level, there is some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1943331/federal-government-wants-to-accelerate-wildfire-protections.\">movement\u003c/a> to fast-track forest management projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shortly after the Camp Fire broke out, Donald Trump criticized California for poor forest management practices, even though the federal government is responsible for most of the forest lands in the state. Can you speak to the efforts lawmakers like Sen. Bill Dodd, Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and others have made in terms of forest management legislation and how those efforts have ultimately played out since last year? Can you also discuss if the federal government has done anything to step up its responsibility when it comes to forest management practices?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson: \u003c/em>Among fire scientists and land managers, “active management” is a term used to describe forest management practices that include brush removal, prescribed burns, mechanical thinning of vegetation, and tree removal. Tree removal has a legacy connotation in California, dating back to the Timber Wars, when environmentalists and loggers took absolutist positions in a bitter dispute that grew at times violent. But certainly in some communities, such as those I’ve visited in the Sierras and in Trinity County, that conversation has shifted, and community preference is to permit some removal of secondary and tertiary growth trees, not old-growth trees, though there are some who would still advocate for full protection of and exploitation of old growth areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislation is still evolving, and it’s hard to say yet whether laws that loosen tree thinning are supported by science. What we do know from a review of fire science is that more research suggests that both prescribed burns and thinning — to different degrees, but notably together — are valuable management tools. So both “raking the forest” and some tree removal aren’t ideas beyond the pale, but they’re definitely tools that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/files/research/projects/WildfireCommonGround.pdf\">scientists\u003c/a> say need to be carefully deployed to be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What can I do as an individual to help reduce wildfires and recovering areas besides donations? I really want to find a way where I can personally contribute with my own hands, not money — I’m in high school, so I can’t become a firefighter yet. Also, what kind of preparation do you recommend people take to be wildfire ready?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "exxons-climate-fraud-trial-has-begun-heres-what-you-need-to-know",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ExxonMobil went on trial Tuesday in a packed courtroom in New York, where the oil giant stands accused of defrauding investors by misleading them about the risks it faces from future climate regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil case is the first major climate change lawsuit to reach trial in the United States, and it is the culmination of four years of investigation by the New York state attorney general’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The central allegation is that Exxon fraudulently used two sets of books to estimate the risks it faces as governments take steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions: one that was shared with investors and another that was used only internally. The public estimate was higher, suggesting a future with stricter limits on emissions, while the internal figures were lower, reflecting more lenient regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who took office this year, a few months after the lawsuit was filed, have argued that this practice exposed investors to greater risks than Exxon had disclosed and inflated the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The central question that Justice Barry Ostrager will have to decide is whether Exxon’s disclosures reflected its practices, Kevin Wallace, acting chief of the attorney general’s investor protection bureau, told the state court in his opening statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not telling Exxon how to run its business,” Wallace said. “But it has to be honest with investors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon’s lead attorney, Theodore Wells, called the allegations “bizarre and twisted” and said the company did nothing wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon does not dispute that it used two estimates for the future impacts of climate regulations, but it argues that it was transparent with investors about its practices and that each had legitimate business purposes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening statements suggested that the case may turn on semantic arguments about what a reasonable investor would have believed from reading Exxon’s reports and disclosures, and on a technical forensic analysis of what impact the company’s practices had on its share price and value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this discussion, Exxon’s former chief executive and former Secretary of State \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032017/exxonmobil-climate-change-investigation-wayne-tracker-rex-tillerson-new-york-ag\">Rex Tillerson\u003c/a> is expected to testify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever decision the judge reaches is sure to be cited in major climate cases to come. More than a dozen local and state governments have sued Exxon and other energy companies seeking damages to help pay the costs imposed on cities by rising seas and extreme weather caused by climate change. On Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court justices denied requests by energy companies in three of those cases—involving \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072018/baltimore-climate-change-lawsuit-inner-harbor-coastal-flooding-sea-level-rise-urban-waterfront-revitalization\">Baltimore,\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a391.html\">Rhode Island\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a428.html\">three Colorado municipalities\u003c/a>—to intervene as the companies try to have the cases heard in federal rather than state courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since at least 2010, Exxon had been reporting that it was using something called a proxy cost of carbon to model the financial impacts of climate policies decades into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the company came under increasing pressure from some investors to better disclose the risks it was facing, Wallace told the court in his opening statement, “Exxon realized it had a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the company’s top management was \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16102019/exxon-oil-sands-trial-climate-change-fraud-new-york-rex-tillerson\">given a presentation\u003c/a> written by Guy Powell, Exxon’s corporate greenhouse gas manager, warning that the way the company had been accounting for climate risks was potentially misleading. Even as it was reporting its proxy cost to the public, it was using a separate estimate for carbon costs—which it called a “greenhouse gas cost”—to evaluate investment opportunities internally. The proxy cost assumed carbon costs would be significantly higher than the internal estimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One effect of using a lower estimate for future carbon costs was that it made high-polluting oil projects look like more attractive investments, compared to if the higher proxy cost were applied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powell recommended aligning the costs. Soon after the presentation, Wallace said, Exxon’s management directed company planners to start using the higher cost for their internal evaluations, as well. Exxon attorney Wells told the court Tuesday that the decision had nothing to do with the presentation but was a reflection of how the company saw climate policies evolving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even after Exxon aligned its two carbon price estimates in the summer of 2014, corporate planners continued to apply lower estimates when evaluating whether to invest in new energy projects, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16102019/exxon-oil-sands-trial-climate-change-fraud-new-york-rex-tillerson\">documents\u003c/a> obtained by the attorney general show. In Alberta, for example, where Exxon has spent tens of billions of dollars on projects in Canada’s oil sands, the company directed planners to apply an existing carbon fee that was much lower than the corporate estimates. In particular, while corporate estimates projected carbon prices continuing to rise up to $80 per ton in 2040, planners in Canada applied a fee that held flat at $24 decades into the future and didn’t apply to all of a given project’s emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Assuming that existing legislation would remain frozen in place forever is the exact opposite of accounting for increasingly stringent regulation,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general argues that this practice hid tens of billions of dollars in potential future costs at these oil sands projects from investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his opening statement for Exxon, Wells argued that the public proxy cost was used to model global supply and demand for its products decades into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because it was global in scope, the proxy cost was informed by a suite of policies Exxon expects to see adopted around the world, from fuel efficiency standards in the U.S. to carbon taxes in Europe. The lower greenhouse gas cost, Wells said, was meant to reflect direct costs at specific Exxon facilities around the globe, so it was informed by a more limited set of policies. Wells used the example of a hypothetical refinery in Brooklyn, which would pay for its emissions if New York were to implement a tax or fee on polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to a specific sentence in \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.exxonmobil.com/~/media/global/files/energy-and-environment/report---energy-and-carbon---managing-the-risks.pdf\">one report that Exxon issued\u003c/a> in 2014 in response to investor pressure, where the company said “we require that all our business segments include, where appropriate, GHG costs in their economics when seeking funding for capital investments.” The sentence made clear that the proxy cost and greenhouse gas cost were distinct, he argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wallace countered that this claim hangs on a “tortured reading” of the company’s disclosures, and pointed to other reports that he argued obfuscated any difference. In some, Exxon used the term “GHG proxy cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A reasonable investor had every reason to believe that Exxon was using the term proxy costs and greenhouse gas costs interchangeably,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward the end of his statement, Wells drew a smile from Ostrager when he mentioned what he called “the elephant in the room,” charging that the allegations are part of a political conspiracy by liberal attorneys general, backed by activists, to smear the company. He cited \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/climate-change-fraud-investigation-exxon-eric-shneiderman-18-attorneys-general\">a 2016 press conference \u003c/a>held by then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman with many of his counterparts from other states promising to go after energy companies for their role in fueling climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ostrager has already dismissed an attempt by Exxon to halt the case on such a claim, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032018/exxon-climate-fraud-investigations-ruling-federal-judge-caproni-new-york-schneiderman-massachusetts-healey\">as has a federal judge in New York\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Years of Investigation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New York \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/exxon-climate-change-investigation\">investigation\u003c/a> began in the fall of 2015, when then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05112015/new-york-attorney-general-eric-schneiderman-subpoena-Exxon-climate-documents\">issued a subpoena\u003c/a> seeking documents spanning four decades of research findings and communications about climate change. Massachusetts investigators followed several months later with a separate subpoena. While Massachusetts has yet to file a lawsuit, that state’s attorney general \u003ca href=\"https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/documents-show-massachusetts-ag-ready-to-file-climate-case-against-exxon\">sent a letter to Exxon\u003c/a> earlier this month saying it plans to file a claim soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two investigations followed the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken\">investigative series of stories by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and later reporting by the \u003ca href=\"http://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-arctic/\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> that disclosed that Exxon had long understood the science of global warming, predicted its catastrophic consequences, and then spent millions of dollars to promote misinformation about global warming and the role of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ostrager has allotted three weeks for the trial and has said he will issue a ruling shortly after it ends. If he rules against Exxon, the company could face substantial fines and be ordered to revise how it discloses climate risks.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Exxon’s Climate Fraud Trial Has Begun. Here’s What You Need to Know | KQED",
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"headline": "Exxon’s Climate Fraud Trial Has Begun. Here’s What You Need to Know",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ExxonMobil went on trial Tuesday in a packed courtroom in New York, where the oil giant stands accused of defrauding investors by misleading them about the risks it faces from future climate regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil case is the first major climate change lawsuit to reach trial in the United States, and it is the culmination of four years of investigation by the New York state attorney general’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The central allegation is that Exxon fraudulently used two sets of books to estimate the risks it faces as governments take steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions: one that was shared with investors and another that was used only internally. The public estimate was higher, suggesting a future with stricter limits on emissions, while the internal figures were lower, reflecting more lenient regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who took office this year, a few months after the lawsuit was filed, have argued that this practice exposed investors to greater risks than Exxon had disclosed and inflated the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The central question that Justice Barry Ostrager will have to decide is whether Exxon’s disclosures reflected its practices, Kevin Wallace, acting chief of the attorney general’s investor protection bureau, told the state court in his opening statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not telling Exxon how to run its business,” Wallace said. “But it has to be honest with investors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon’s lead attorney, Theodore Wells, called the allegations “bizarre and twisted” and said the company did nothing wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon does not dispute that it used two estimates for the future impacts of climate regulations, but it argues that it was transparent with investors about its practices and that each had legitimate business purposes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening statements suggested that the case may turn on semantic arguments about what a reasonable investor would have believed from reading Exxon’s reports and disclosures, and on a technical forensic analysis of what impact the company’s practices had on its share price and value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this discussion, Exxon’s former chief executive and former Secretary of State \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032017/exxonmobil-climate-change-investigation-wayne-tracker-rex-tillerson-new-york-ag\">Rex Tillerson\u003c/a> is expected to testify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever decision the judge reaches is sure to be cited in major climate cases to come. More than a dozen local and state governments have sued Exxon and other energy companies seeking damages to help pay the costs imposed on cities by rising seas and extreme weather caused by climate change. On Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court justices denied requests by energy companies in three of those cases—involving \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072018/baltimore-climate-change-lawsuit-inner-harbor-coastal-flooding-sea-level-rise-urban-waterfront-revitalization\">Baltimore,\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a391.html\">Rhode Island\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a428.html\">three Colorado municipalities\u003c/a>—to intervene as the companies try to have the cases heard in federal rather than state courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since at least 2010, Exxon had been reporting that it was using something called a proxy cost of carbon to model the financial impacts of climate policies decades into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the company came under increasing pressure from some investors to better disclose the risks it was facing, Wallace told the court in his opening statement, “Exxon realized it had a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the company’s top management was \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16102019/exxon-oil-sands-trial-climate-change-fraud-new-york-rex-tillerson\">given a presentation\u003c/a> written by Guy Powell, Exxon’s corporate greenhouse gas manager, warning that the way the company had been accounting for climate risks was potentially misleading. Even as it was reporting its proxy cost to the public, it was using a separate estimate for carbon costs—which it called a “greenhouse gas cost”—to evaluate investment opportunities internally. The proxy cost assumed carbon costs would be significantly higher than the internal estimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One effect of using a lower estimate for future carbon costs was that it made high-polluting oil projects look like more attractive investments, compared to if the higher proxy cost were applied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powell recommended aligning the costs. Soon after the presentation, Wallace said, Exxon’s management directed company planners to start using the higher cost for their internal evaluations, as well. Exxon attorney Wells told the court Tuesday that the decision had nothing to do with the presentation but was a reflection of how the company saw climate policies evolving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even after Exxon aligned its two carbon price estimates in the summer of 2014, corporate planners continued to apply lower estimates when evaluating whether to invest in new energy projects, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16102019/exxon-oil-sands-trial-climate-change-fraud-new-york-rex-tillerson\">documents\u003c/a> obtained by the attorney general show. In Alberta, for example, where Exxon has spent tens of billions of dollars on projects in Canada’s oil sands, the company directed planners to apply an existing carbon fee that was much lower than the corporate estimates. In particular, while corporate estimates projected carbon prices continuing to rise up to $80 per ton in 2040, planners in Canada applied a fee that held flat at $24 decades into the future and didn’t apply to all of a given project’s emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Assuming that existing legislation would remain frozen in place forever is the exact opposite of accounting for increasingly stringent regulation,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general argues that this practice hid tens of billions of dollars in potential future costs at these oil sands projects from investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his opening statement for Exxon, Wells argued that the public proxy cost was used to model global supply and demand for its products decades into the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because it was global in scope, the proxy cost was informed by a suite of policies Exxon expects to see adopted around the world, from fuel efficiency standards in the U.S. to carbon taxes in Europe. The lower greenhouse gas cost, Wells said, was meant to reflect direct costs at specific Exxon facilities around the globe, so it was informed by a more limited set of policies. Wells used the example of a hypothetical refinery in Brooklyn, which would pay for its emissions if New York were to implement a tax or fee on polluters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to a specific sentence in \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.exxonmobil.com/~/media/global/files/energy-and-environment/report---energy-and-carbon---managing-the-risks.pdf\">one report that Exxon issued\u003c/a> in 2014 in response to investor pressure, where the company said “we require that all our business segments include, where appropriate, GHG costs in their economics when seeking funding for capital investments.” The sentence made clear that the proxy cost and greenhouse gas cost were distinct, he argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wallace countered that this claim hangs on a “tortured reading” of the company’s disclosures, and pointed to other reports that he argued obfuscated any difference. In some, Exxon used the term “GHG proxy cost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A reasonable investor had every reason to believe that Exxon was using the term proxy costs and greenhouse gas costs interchangeably,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward the end of his statement, Wells drew a smile from Ostrager when he mentioned what he called “the elephant in the room,” charging that the allegations are part of a political conspiracy by liberal attorneys general, backed by activists, to smear the company. He cited \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/climate-change-fraud-investigation-exxon-eric-shneiderman-18-attorneys-general\">a 2016 press conference \u003c/a>held by then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman with many of his counterparts from other states promising to go after energy companies for their role in fueling climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ostrager has already dismissed an attempt by Exxon to halt the case on such a claim, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032018/exxon-climate-fraud-investigations-ruling-federal-judge-caproni-new-york-schneiderman-massachusetts-healey\">as has a federal judge in New York\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Years of Investigation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New York \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/exxon-climate-change-investigation\">investigation\u003c/a> began in the fall of 2015, when then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05112015/new-york-attorney-general-eric-schneiderman-subpoena-Exxon-climate-documents\">issued a subpoena\u003c/a> seeking documents spanning four decades of research findings and communications about climate change. Massachusetts investigators followed several months later with a separate subpoena. While Massachusetts has yet to file a lawsuit, that state’s attorney general \u003ca href=\"https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/documents-show-massachusetts-ag-ready-to-file-climate-case-against-exxon\">sent a letter to Exxon\u003c/a> earlier this month saying it plans to file a claim soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two investigations followed the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken\">investigative series of stories by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and later reporting by the \u003ca href=\"http://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-arctic/\">Los Angeles Times\u003c/a> that disclosed that Exxon had long understood the science of global warming, predicted its catastrophic consequences, and then spent millions of dollars to promote misinformation about global warming and the role of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ostrager has allotted three weeks for the trial and has said he will issue a ruling shortly after it ends. If he rules against Exxon, the company could face substantial fines and be ordered to revise how it discloses climate risks.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California's Top Air Regulator Is Scathing in Response to DOJ Climate Suit",
"headTitle": "California’s Top Air Regulator Is Scathing in Response to DOJ Climate Suit | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Once again, the federal government is challenging California over policies related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today in the Eastern District of California arguing that the state’s 2013 cap-and-trade \u003ca href=\"https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/linkage/linkage.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">agreement \u003c/span>\u003c/a>with the Canadian Province of Quebec violates the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The feds say in a \u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-lawsuit-against-state-california-unlawful-cap-and-trade-agreement\">release\u003c/a> that \u003c/span>California is interfering with U.S. international relations by “attempting to pursue an independent foreign policy in the area of greenhouse gas regulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">In a statement, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said that California “veered outside of its proper constitutional lane” with the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The power to enter into such agreements is reserved to the federal government, which must be able to speak with one voice in the area of U.S. foreign policy,” he said.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil complaint named the state, key officials, the California Air Resources Board and the Western Climate Initiative Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, was scathing in her criticism of the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking after her keynote address at a climate policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forum\u003c/a> hosted by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, she said her “first thought was that it was a joke.” She continued …\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The linkage with Canada has been in effect for a number of years. And our State Department and other elements of the U.S. government are well aware of it. They were following its development from the very beginning. We’ve also had legal opinions at all levels that what we’re doing doesn’t interfere with the federal prerogative on treaties. We don’t have a treaty. We’re not entering into treaties. But we do have many different memorandums of understanding that allow us to work on cross boundary problems with other states in other countries. And this is one of those programs. We’ll fight it out in the court, of course. But it just seems odd. The timing seems odd, and particularly odd at a time when the U.S. government is being investigated for conducting illegal foreign policy. It’s almost as though they are searching for a distraction.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back even before the workday in California had begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release, Newsom said on the issue of climate change that the White House has its “head in the sand,” and the Trump administration is pursuing “political retribution against California, our climate policies and the health of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Carbon pollution knows no borders, and the Trump administration’s abysmal record of denying climate change and propping up big polluters makes cross-border collaboration all the more necessary,” Newsom said in his statement. “California’s landmark cap-and-trade program has inspired the creation of dozens of businesses, is a model for similar policies around the world, and puts California well ahead of the pack as we prepare for a low-carbon future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, Newsom and Nichols reached a tailpipe emissions agreement with four major automakers. Ford, Honda, BMW, and Volkswagen voluntarily agreed to produce cleaner cars over time and invest in electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That agreement was a rebuke of the Trump administration, which wanted to loosen emission standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s attorney general has sued the federal government more two dozen times over the Trump administration’s environmental policies.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Once again, the federal government is challenging California over policies related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today in the Eastern District of California arguing that the state’s 2013 cap-and-trade \u003ca href=\"https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/linkage/linkage.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">agreement \u003c/span>\u003c/a>with the Canadian Province of Quebec violates the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The feds say in a \u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-lawsuit-against-state-california-unlawful-cap-and-trade-agreement\">release\u003c/a> that \u003c/span>California is interfering with U.S. international relations by “attempting to pursue an independent foreign policy in the area of greenhouse gas regulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">In a statement, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said that California “veered outside of its proper constitutional lane” with the agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The power to enter into such agreements is reserved to the federal government, which must be able to speak with one voice in the area of U.S. foreign policy,” he said.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil complaint named the state, key officials, the California Air Resources Board and the Western Climate Initiative Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, was scathing in her criticism of the suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking after her keynote address at a climate policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forum\u003c/a> hosted by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, she said her “first thought was that it was a joke.” She continued …\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The linkage with Canada has been in effect for a number of years. And our State Department and other elements of the U.S. government are well aware of it. They were following its development from the very beginning. We’ve also had legal opinions at all levels that what we’re doing doesn’t interfere with the federal prerogative on treaties. We don’t have a treaty. We’re not entering into treaties. But we do have many different memorandums of understanding that allow us to work on cross boundary problems with other states in other countries. And this is one of those programs. We’ll fight it out in the court, of course. But it just seems odd. The timing seems odd, and particularly odd at a time when the U.S. government is being investigated for conducting illegal foreign policy. It’s almost as though they are searching for a distraction.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back even before the workday in California had begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release, Newsom said on the issue of climate change that the White House has its “head in the sand,” and the Trump administration is pursuing “political retribution against California, our climate policies and the health of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Carbon pollution knows no borders, and the Trump administration’s abysmal record of denying climate change and propping up big polluters makes cross-border collaboration all the more necessary,” Newsom said in his statement. “California’s landmark cap-and-trade program has inspired the creation of dozens of businesses, is a model for similar policies around the world, and puts California well ahead of the pack as we prepare for a low-carbon future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, Newsom and Nichols reached a tailpipe emissions agreement with four major automakers. Ford, Honda, BMW, and Volkswagen voluntarily agreed to produce cleaner cars over time and invest in electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That agreement was a rebuke of the Trump administration, which wanted to loosen emission standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s attorney general has sued the federal government more two dozen times over the Trump administration’s environmental policies.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>There are enormous costs to doing nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond threats to public health and the environment, climate change poses a danger to the economy, especially for those who have the least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those are the findings of a new analysis from the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Institute\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">for\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Economic\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Policy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Research\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Hamilton\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Project\u003c/a>, a centrist economic think tank of the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949772\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png 346w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase-160x136.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Economic Damages from Climate Change in 2080-99 by Temperature Increase \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two factors will determine just how disruptive climate change will be, according to the study. One is the extent of the warming; the other is the effectiveness of any mitigating technology and policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, an increase in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels could trim .5% off of U.S. gross domestic product, the economists found. At 4 degrees of warming the decline would hit 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the damage would increase exponentially as warming continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. counties with the weakest economies, will be hit hardest, the report says. Similarly, around the world, the countries with the lowest incomes will face the most hardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lower Emissions But Economic Growth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers point out that lower emissions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between 2007 and 2017, U.S. planet-warming gas emissions dropped by 14%, while economic output grew 16%. E\u003c/span>nergy use fell, as did the price of developing renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind. (\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. emissions rose again in 2018.)\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949774\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17.-160x63.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Change in Levelized Cost of Energy for Solar and Wind. 2010-17. \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>Economic impacts from climate change unmitigated would be very, very large,” said Jay Shambough, a study author and former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. But there are clearly things that can be done. We’ve been making progress. Not enough, but some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing for us is to be clear that different policy approaches have different costs and benefits. Some ways to reduce carbon emissions can be pretty expensive, while other ways are more flexible and not actually that expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study estimates the average cost of a host of climate policies; the researchers found that replanting forests and flaring methane gas are on the less-expensive end, along with the regulation of emissions from power plants and cars in former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration replaced those regulations with significantly weaker rules that could end up increasing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More expensive climate solutions include weatherization assistance and vehicle trade-in programs like “Cash-for-Clunkers,” although these offer benefits beyond carbon reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carbon Tax\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, economists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/4/22/11446232/price-on-carbon-fine\">argued\u003c/a> that the most potent tool for fighting climate change is a tax on carbon emissions. A price on carbon, they maintain, lets the market determine the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. The researchers corroborated that view, finding that a price on carbon can reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of governments across the world have introduced carbon pricing initiatives, with varying results. Many programs have set prices below what economists have identified as carbon’s “social cost,” a sweet spot that provides the most benefit at the lowest expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 709px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png 709w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives-160x65.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prices for Selected Carbon Initiatives \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The study says that in 2020, based on policy that’s planned or in effect, 80% of the world’s emissions will remain unpriced. The U.S. will be pricing just 1% of global emissions, Europe 5.5% and China 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solutions outlined in the paper are much less sweeping than what is being called for by some of the current Democratic candidates for president. Proponents of a Green New Deal-style climate program, they are calling for a price on carbon, but also more aggressive action, including regulations to promote rapid decarbonization and investment in clean-energy jobs by the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors released the study Wednesday, timed to coincide with a Brookings and Stanford policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\">forum\u003c/a> on economic policy innovations to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There are enormous costs to doing nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond threats to public health and the environment, climate change poses a danger to the economy, especially for those who have the least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those are the findings of a new analysis from the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Institute\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">for\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Economic\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Policy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Research\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Hamilton\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Project\u003c/a>, a centrist economic think tank of the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949772\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png 346w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase-160x136.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Economic Damages from Climate Change in 2080-99 by Temperature Increase \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two factors will determine just how disruptive climate change will be, according to the study. One is the extent of the warming; the other is the effectiveness of any mitigating technology and policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, an increase in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels could trim .5% off of U.S. gross domestic product, the economists found. At 4 degrees of warming the decline would hit 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the damage would increase exponentially as warming continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. counties with the weakest economies, will be hit hardest, the report says. Similarly, around the world, the countries with the lowest incomes will face the most hardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lower Emissions But Economic Growth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers point out that lower emissions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between 2007 and 2017, U.S. planet-warming gas emissions dropped by 14%, while economic output grew 16%. E\u003c/span>nergy use fell, as did the price of developing renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind. (\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. emissions rose again in 2018.)\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949774\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17.-160x63.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Change in Levelized Cost of Energy for Solar and Wind. 2010-17. \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>Economic impacts from climate change unmitigated would be very, very large,” said Jay Shambough, a study author and former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. But there are clearly things that can be done. We’ve been making progress. Not enough, but some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing for us is to be clear that different policy approaches have different costs and benefits. Some ways to reduce carbon emissions can be pretty expensive, while other ways are more flexible and not actually that expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study estimates the average cost of a host of climate policies; the researchers found that replanting forests and flaring methane gas are on the less-expensive end, along with the regulation of emissions from power plants and cars in former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration replaced those regulations with significantly weaker rules that could end up increasing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More expensive climate solutions include weatherization assistance and vehicle trade-in programs like “Cash-for-Clunkers,” although these offer benefits beyond carbon reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carbon Tax\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, economists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/4/22/11446232/price-on-carbon-fine\">argued\u003c/a> that the most potent tool for fighting climate change is a tax on carbon emissions. A price on carbon, they maintain, lets the market determine the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. The researchers corroborated that view, finding that a price on carbon can reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of governments across the world have introduced carbon pricing initiatives, with varying results. Many programs have set prices below what economists have identified as carbon’s “social cost,” a sweet spot that provides the most benefit at the lowest expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 709px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png 709w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives-160x65.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prices for Selected Carbon Initiatives \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The study says that in 2020, based on policy that’s planned or in effect, 80% of the world’s emissions will remain unpriced. The U.S. will be pricing just 1% of global emissions, Europe 5.5% and China 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solutions outlined in the paper are much less sweeping than what is being called for by some of the current Democratic candidates for president. Proponents of a Green New Deal-style climate program, they are calling for a price on carbon, but also more aggressive action, including regulations to promote rapid decarbonization and investment in clean-energy jobs by the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors released the study Wednesday, timed to coincide with a Brookings and Stanford policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\">forum\u003c/a> on economic policy innovations to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins",
"headTitle": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Envision California’s lush forests from San Francisco to the Oregon border. Now imagine that 90 percent of those forests disappear within two years. Laura Rogers-Bennett, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, says that’s exactly what happened to underwater kelp forests off Northern California’s coastline from 2014-16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51114-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis published this week\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em> documents the rapid decline of California’s bull kelp. The study links the reduction in the seaweed’s population to a confluence of environmental and ecological stressors, including a marine heat wave, a sea star die-off and the emergence of an “urchin barrens,” large swaths of subtidal zones overtaken by kelp-hungry purple sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1949763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Katie-Sowul-CDFW-Urchin-Barren-surrounds-Red-Abalone-800x462.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins have overtaken California waters, grazing down forests of bull kelp. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/California Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett, who monitors kelp forests in partnership with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, says taken together, these strains on the kelp population threaten the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are finding out,” she says, “that if we cross some of these thresholds, that the system will collapse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers are now noting kelp deforestation off the Oregon coast and in California south of San Francisco to Monterey Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ripple Effects \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published Monday, points to \u003ca href=\"https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intense ocean warming\u003c/a> recorded in Northern California waters from 2014-17 as a major cause for the decline of the kelp forest. Kelp relies on nitrogen to thrive, but that element decreases as the ocean heats up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says as temperatures cooled back down, bull kelp, a resilient species, would normally have recovered. But warmer ocean temperatures created other conditions that accelerated the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690003678/massive-starfish-die-off-is-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a> linked to the warm ocean “blob” led to the mass die-off of 20 starfish species along the West Coast. In California, the disease decimated sea stars from San Mateo to Mendocino counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary food source for sea stars is urchins, which in turn feed on kelp. Without starfish to keep urchin populations in check, the number of purple sea urchins swelled beginning in 2014. The following year, says the analysis in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, “purple sea urchins shifted to a more aggressive feeding behavior,” devouring more layers of the kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Other Species Affected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deforestation of Northern California’s kelp affects other species that rely on it for sustenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, in 2017, abalone stocks in the region were down by 80 percent. That led the recreational red abalone fishery to shut down in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you envision the land … without the forest, there’d be many animals that would be starving, and that’s what we’re seeing,” Rogers-Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are picking up and detecting what’s happening with the abalone, but they’re just an indicator species of that whole suite of organisms that depend on the kelp forest, that are all starving or have no homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restoring the Forest\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to help restore the kelp forest, Rogers-Bennett says, is to harvest urchins for human consumption. Uni, or sea urchin gonads, is a premium menu item at many sushi restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says that while the scarcity of kelp harms the health and harvestability of wild urchins, relocating them to designated urchin farms, where they could be fed algae and other nutrients, could be a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This goes beyond sustainable farming, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re actually having a restorative seafood product because the more you eat of urchin, the better it is for the kelp forest,” she said. “So you’re restoring the kelp forest by eliminating that grazing pressure from those urchin that are just eating everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett and colleagues are in the process of \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bull-Kelp-Recovery-Plan-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identifying pockets of coastal waters\u003c/a> off Sonoma and Mendocino counties where harvesters could remove urchins to bolster the recovery of California’s kelp forests.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A new study link the underwater deforestation of Northern California's kelp canopy to a deadly combination of environmental factors, including an ocean heat wave and the swell of purple sea urchin populations.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Envision California’s lush forests from San Francisco to the Oregon border. Now imagine that 90 percent of those forests disappear within two years. Laura Rogers-Bennett, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, says that’s exactly what happened to underwater kelp forests off Northern California’s coastline from 2014-16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51114-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis published this week\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em> documents the rapid decline of California’s bull kelp. The study links the reduction in the seaweed’s population to a confluence of environmental and ecological stressors, including a marine heat wave, a sea star die-off and the emergence of an “urchin barrens,” large swaths of subtidal zones overtaken by kelp-hungry purple sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1949763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Katie-Sowul-CDFW-Urchin-Barren-surrounds-Red-Abalone-800x462.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins have overtaken California waters, grazing down forests of bull kelp. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/California Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett, who monitors kelp forests in partnership with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, says taken together, these strains on the kelp population threaten the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are finding out,” she says, “that if we cross some of these thresholds, that the system will collapse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers are now noting kelp deforestation off the Oregon coast and in California south of San Francisco to Monterey Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ripple Effects \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published Monday, points to \u003ca href=\"https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intense ocean warming\u003c/a> recorded in Northern California waters from 2014-17 as a major cause for the decline of the kelp forest. Kelp relies on nitrogen to thrive, but that element decreases as the ocean heats up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says as temperatures cooled back down, bull kelp, a resilient species, would normally have recovered. But warmer ocean temperatures created other conditions that accelerated the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690003678/massive-starfish-die-off-is-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a> linked to the warm ocean “blob” led to the mass die-off of 20 starfish species along the West Coast. In California, the disease decimated sea stars from San Mateo to Mendocino counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary food source for sea stars is urchins, which in turn feed on kelp. Without starfish to keep urchin populations in check, the number of purple sea urchins swelled beginning in 2014. The following year, says the analysis in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, “purple sea urchins shifted to a more aggressive feeding behavior,” devouring more layers of the kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Other Species Affected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deforestation of Northern California’s kelp affects other species that rely on it for sustenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, in 2017, abalone stocks in the region were down by 80 percent. That led the recreational red abalone fishery to shut down in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you envision the land … without the forest, there’d be many animals that would be starving, and that’s what we’re seeing,” Rogers-Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are picking up and detecting what’s happening with the abalone, but they’re just an indicator species of that whole suite of organisms that depend on the kelp forest, that are all starving or have no homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restoring the Forest\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to help restore the kelp forest, Rogers-Bennett says, is to harvest urchins for human consumption. Uni, or sea urchin gonads, is a premium menu item at many sushi restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says that while the scarcity of kelp harms the health and harvestability of wild urchins, relocating them to designated urchin farms, where they could be fed algae and other nutrients, could be a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This goes beyond sustainable farming, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re actually having a restorative seafood product because the more you eat of urchin, the better it is for the kelp forest,” she said. “So you’re restoring the kelp forest by eliminating that grazing pressure from those urchin that are just eating everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett and colleagues are in the process of \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bull-Kelp-Recovery-Plan-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identifying pockets of coastal waters\u003c/a> off Sonoma and Mendocino counties where harvesters could remove urchins to bolster the recovery of California’s kelp forests.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Exxon's Trial Begins in New York Climate Fraud Case",
"headTitle": "Exxon’s Trial Begins in New York Climate Fraud Case | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2013, ExxonMobil faced increasing pressure from investors to disclose more about the risks the company faced as governments began limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many costs climate change will impose, oil companies face a particularly acute one: the demand for their product will have to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Exxon had been using something called a proxy cost of carbon to estimate what stricter climate policies might mean for its bottom line. But as pressure from shareholders grew, a problem came sharply into focus: An\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> internal presentation warned\u003c/a> top executives that the way the company had been applying this proxy cost was potentially misleading. That’s because Exxon didn’t have one projected cost of carbon. It had two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contents of that presentation are at the heart of a trial set to start next week in a civil case brought against the company by the New York attorney general. Exxon is accused of disclosing one set of these projected carbon costs while planners used an entirely different set internally for evaluating investments. The public set projected that climate policies would be more stringent, while the internal one assumed more modest attempts to limit emissions. The effect of using these dueling estimates,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/BqoDCR6LWDurvBj9hPnMtP?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the attorney general says\u003c/a>, was that Exxon hid tens of billions of dollars in potential costs, downplaying the risk to investors and inflating the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the company is found guilty of defrauding stockholders, it could face substantial penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Exxon has denied wrongdoing, it does not dispute the core fact of the case: that for years it disclosed a proxy cost that was higher than what it applied to its investment evaluations. Its lawyers have argued these different sets of figures did not mislead investors. But this only highlights another side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy Exxon produces today is more polluting, according to the attorney general’s complaint, because the company took the potential costs of climate change less seriously than it represented to investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applying a lower estimate for carbon costs made high-polluting projects look more attractive, and it undermined the investment case for any project that would reduce emissions. Nowhere is this clearer than in Canada’s oil sands, a vast expanse of low-grade hydrocarbons that now make up about 30 percent of Exxon’s oil reserves, far more than any of its peer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil sands tick all the boxes when it comes to a carbon-risky asset,” \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949663 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px-160x171.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">said Andrew Logan, who runs the oil and gas program at Ceres, a sustainable investment advocacy group. Because they require enormous amounts of energy to exploit, the oil sands are among the world’s most expensive and carbon-polluting sources of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The oil sands are this very concrete, specific example—and very big example—of the kind of asset you wouldn’t invest in,” he said, “if you actually believed the rhetoric of Exxon and others about climate risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the trial may prove to be about much more than Exxon’s risky investments. Climate change has abruptly shifted in the public consciousness from a future threat to a present danger. In the United States alone, more than a dozen local and state governments\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/DwLFCVON1KClx9NrfJ36zu?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> have sued energy companies\u003c/a> seeking damages. Exxon is a defendant in many of these cases, and the New York attorney general’s case would be the first to go to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story behind the trial begins in the 1990s, when Lee Raymond took control of Exxon as chief executive. State-owned energy companies were on the rise, and while Exxon was still a giant in the industry, it was struggling to replace the oil it pumped each year. At least through this lens, Exxon was shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon enough, Raymond began boasting the opposite—that the company was actually increasing its reserves, as Steve Coll details in his history of Exxon, Private Empire, thanks to new investments in an obscure resource in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil sands, or tar sands, lie beneath a swath of northern Alberta about the size of New York State. They are a viscous mix of sand and bitumen that’s generally strip-mined and then heated and treated to produce an oil that can be refined into fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Exxon was increasing its stakes in the oil sands, it was also confronting what a carbon-constrained future might look like. In its 2010 Outlook for Energy report, Exxon projected carbon prices would reach $60 per ton in 2030. But it turns out that, at the time, Exxon had a second estimate for carbon pricing—it called this one a “greenhouse gas cost” rather than a proxy cost—which company strategists used to evaluate investments and which was not disclosed publicly. This internal greenhouse gas cost estimate did not rise above $40 per ton, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2011 email exchange cited in the lawsuit, Robert Bailes, the company’s greenhouse gas manager,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/JRmwCW682Xuj5GR7CmCAGj?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> proposed aligning the two cost estimates\u003c/a> by using the higher set of figures only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rex has seemed happy with the difference previously,” replied Tom Eizember, a planning manager, referring to then-chief executive Rex Tillerson. Apparently, he wrote, Tillerson liked that the lower greenhouse gas costs didn’t give as much incentive to invest in efforts to cut emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June deposition, Tillerson said\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KgUJCXDM32FnX0Vvh9-hVU?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> he didn’t recall discussing\u003c/a> the issue with Eizember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2011, the complaint says, an internal presentation by Exxon’s vice president of environmental policy and planning warned that high carbon costs would present a “major concern” for energy-intensive operations like oil sands, which would be “vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2014, after management was given \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the presentation about the potentially misleading\u003c/a> internal carbon cost, however, that executives ordered that the lower greenhouse gas cost be revised to match the proxy cost contained in the Outlook reports. (In a\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/t50ZCYEM4Nt3LOERs3hYYc?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> pre-trial memorandum\u003c/a>, Exxon asserts that it aligned the costs in response to shifting climate policies.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, New York prosecutors working for then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued their first subpoenas, provoked by investigative reports\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/a2dUCZ6W5NuM52rZhNVO2k?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> published by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/B-3oC1w95PSpM52yImplIX?domain=graphics.latimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>. A tumbling oil market abruptly halted new investment in Canada’s tar sands, but Exxon had already spent $33 billion on a new project there, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general’s allegations go beyond Alberta, too. The complaint says Exxon understated greenhouse gas costs at operations around the world, including natural gas assets in the U.S., a refinery in Belgium and a liquid natural gas terminal in Cyprus. All told, the attorney general claims, these practices cost investors as much as $1.6 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon declined to comment for this article. But the company has asserted in filings that it was appropriate to use different estimates. It’s public facing proxy cost, it said, was used to estimate global demand for fossil fuels and reflected a collection of policies Exxon expected to see enacted internationally. While this would affect how much oil Exxon would sell, it wouldn’t necessarily reflect the direct costs at company projects scattered around the globe. Instead, the internal “greenhouse gas costs” were meant to estimate these direct costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to prevail, prosecutors do not have to prove that Exxon executives intentionally misled investors. But they will have to show that the company’s policies had a “material” effect on its stock price, said David Shapiro, a financial crimes specialist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” he said. “Conceptually they have a great case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon’s stock is still widely held by investment giants like Vanguard, and most Wall Street analysts give it a hold rating, rather than buy or sell. But these financial trends have led some of the industry’s critics to warn that the company is facing a reckoning.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2013, ExxonMobil faced increasing pressure from investors to disclose more about the risks the company faced as governments began limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many costs climate change will impose, oil companies face a particularly acute one: the demand for their product will have to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Exxon had been using something called a proxy cost of carbon to estimate what stricter climate policies might mean for its bottom line. But as pressure from shareholders grew, a problem came sharply into focus: An\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> internal presentation warned\u003c/a> top executives that the way the company had been applying this proxy cost was potentially misleading. That’s because Exxon didn’t have one projected cost of carbon. It had two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contents of that presentation are at the heart of a trial set to start next week in a civil case brought against the company by the New York attorney general. Exxon is accused of disclosing one set of these projected carbon costs while planners used an entirely different set internally for evaluating investments. The public set projected that climate policies would be more stringent, while the internal one assumed more modest attempts to limit emissions. The effect of using these dueling estimates,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/BqoDCR6LWDurvBj9hPnMtP?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the attorney general says\u003c/a>, was that Exxon hid tens of billions of dollars in potential costs, downplaying the risk to investors and inflating the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the company is found guilty of defrauding stockholders, it could face substantial penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Exxon has denied wrongdoing, it does not dispute the core fact of the case: that for years it disclosed a proxy cost that was higher than what it applied to its investment evaluations. Its lawyers have argued these different sets of figures did not mislead investors. But this only highlights another side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy Exxon produces today is more polluting, according to the attorney general’s complaint, because the company took the potential costs of climate change less seriously than it represented to investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applying a lower estimate for carbon costs made high-polluting projects look more attractive, and it undermined the investment case for any project that would reduce emissions. Nowhere is this clearer than in Canada’s oil sands, a vast expanse of low-grade hydrocarbons that now make up about 30 percent of Exxon’s oil reserves, far more than any of its peer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil sands tick all the boxes when it comes to a carbon-risky asset,” \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949663 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px-160x171.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">said Andrew Logan, who runs the oil and gas program at Ceres, a sustainable investment advocacy group. Because they require enormous amounts of energy to exploit, the oil sands are among the world’s most expensive and carbon-polluting sources of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The oil sands are this very concrete, specific example—and very big example—of the kind of asset you wouldn’t invest in,” he said, “if you actually believed the rhetoric of Exxon and others about climate risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the trial may prove to be about much more than Exxon’s risky investments. Climate change has abruptly shifted in the public consciousness from a future threat to a present danger. In the United States alone, more than a dozen local and state governments\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/DwLFCVON1KClx9NrfJ36zu?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> have sued energy companies\u003c/a> seeking damages. Exxon is a defendant in many of these cases, and the New York attorney general’s case would be the first to go to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story behind the trial begins in the 1990s, when Lee Raymond took control of Exxon as chief executive. State-owned energy companies were on the rise, and while Exxon was still a giant in the industry, it was struggling to replace the oil it pumped each year. At least through this lens, Exxon was shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon enough, Raymond began boasting the opposite—that the company was actually increasing its reserves, as Steve Coll details in his history of Exxon, Private Empire, thanks to new investments in an obscure resource in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil sands, or tar sands, lie beneath a swath of northern Alberta about the size of New York State. They are a viscous mix of sand and bitumen that’s generally strip-mined and then heated and treated to produce an oil that can be refined into fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Exxon was increasing its stakes in the oil sands, it was also confronting what a carbon-constrained future might look like. In its 2010 Outlook for Energy report, Exxon projected carbon prices would reach $60 per ton in 2030. But it turns out that, at the time, Exxon had a second estimate for carbon pricing—it called this one a “greenhouse gas cost” rather than a proxy cost—which company strategists used to evaluate investments and which was not disclosed publicly. This internal greenhouse gas cost estimate did not rise above $40 per ton, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2011 email exchange cited in the lawsuit, Robert Bailes, the company’s greenhouse gas manager,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/JRmwCW682Xuj5GR7CmCAGj?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> proposed aligning the two cost estimates\u003c/a> by using the higher set of figures only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rex has seemed happy with the difference previously,” replied Tom Eizember, a planning manager, referring to then-chief executive Rex Tillerson. Apparently, he wrote, Tillerson liked that the lower greenhouse gas costs didn’t give as much incentive to invest in efforts to cut emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June deposition, Tillerson said\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KgUJCXDM32FnX0Vvh9-hVU?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> he didn’t recall discussing\u003c/a> the issue with Eizember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2011, the complaint says, an internal presentation by Exxon’s vice president of environmental policy and planning warned that high carbon costs would present a “major concern” for energy-intensive operations like oil sands, which would be “vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2014, after management was given \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the presentation about the potentially misleading\u003c/a> internal carbon cost, however, that executives ordered that the lower greenhouse gas cost be revised to match the proxy cost contained in the Outlook reports. (In a\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/t50ZCYEM4Nt3LOERs3hYYc?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> pre-trial memorandum\u003c/a>, Exxon asserts that it aligned the costs in response to shifting climate policies.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, New York prosecutors working for then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued their first subpoenas, provoked by investigative reports\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/a2dUCZ6W5NuM52rZhNVO2k?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> published by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/B-3oC1w95PSpM52yImplIX?domain=graphics.latimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>. A tumbling oil market abruptly halted new investment in Canada’s tar sands, but Exxon had already spent $33 billion on a new project there, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general’s allegations go beyond Alberta, too. The complaint says Exxon understated greenhouse gas costs at operations around the world, including natural gas assets in the U.S., a refinery in Belgium and a liquid natural gas terminal in Cyprus. All told, the attorney general claims, these practices cost investors as much as $1.6 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon declined to comment for this article. But the company has asserted in filings that it was appropriate to use different estimates. It’s public facing proxy cost, it said, was used to estimate global demand for fossil fuels and reflected a collection of policies Exxon expected to see enacted internationally. While this would affect how much oil Exxon would sell, it wouldn’t necessarily reflect the direct costs at company projects scattered around the globe. Instead, the internal “greenhouse gas costs” were meant to estimate these direct costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to prevail, prosecutors do not have to prove that Exxon executives intentionally misled investors. But they will have to show that the company’s policies had a “material” effect on its stock price, said David Shapiro, a financial crimes specialist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” he said. “Conceptually they have a great case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon’s stock is still widely held by investment giants like Vanguard, and most Wall Street analysts give it a hold rating, rather than buy or sell. But these financial trends have led some of the industry’s critics to warn that the company is facing a reckoning.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown",
"headTitle": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric has generated confusion — not to mention outrage — with its power grid shutdowns. The situation continues for a second day in 34 California counties. On social media and phone calls to KQED’s Forum radio program, people throughout PG&E’s service area have asked how and why the investor-owned utility took this step. KQED reporters have some answers to some of the questions that have come in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Is PG&E Turning the Power Off? Is This PG&E’s Fault?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, PG&E doesn’t want to risk having its power lines start another fire, so it is pre-emptively turning the power off during this week’s dry, windy weather. The company made the decision based on information from its wildfire center, where meteorologists keep watch on fire conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s power lines have sparked many catastrophic wildfires in California, including last year’s Camp Fire in Butte County that caused 85 deaths, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in 100 years. PG&E lines started more than a dozen fires in 2017. Less than a month ago, the company agreed to pay billion in a settlement with victims of the recent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs are part of its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\">plan\u003c/a>, mandated by the state and agreed to by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s top power regulator. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who Made This Decision and When?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If past practice tells us anything, PG&E has been making and remaking this decision, with the help of its meteorological team, over several days. The utility says it considers weather, fuel and other conditions and observations, as well as the need for notice by state and local parties, when it decides to implement shutoffs. As we’ve seen over the last few days, the planned outage times can change with shifting conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact is, there’s nothing new about turning off power lines when conditions get risky: San Diego Gas and Electric, with the permission of the CPUC, has mitigated fire risk this way since 2012. What is new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/News_Room/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff-Policies-and-Procedures-September-2018.pdf\">are the guidelines PG&E filed\u003c/a> just a year ago for its public safety power shutoff procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last couple of years, the CPUC has required investor-owned utilities to describe their processes for arriving at decisions like the one affecting nearly three dozen California counties right now. PG&E shut off power two times last year; the last time PG&E called a public safety power shutoff, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Energy_-_Electricity_and_Natural_Gas/PGE%20PSPS%20Report%20Letter_06-21-19.pdf\">for two days in June\u003c/a>, it affected about 22,000 customers in the North Bay and the Sierra foothills, including Butte County and Paradise. — \u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are the Shutoffs So Widespread?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essentially, PG&E says that current conditions warrant extreme caution. The utility does its own predictive analysis, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-weather-map.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_weather\">dedicated page\u003c/a> offering a 7-day forecast of the possibility of a public safety power shutoff. As a rationale for the current outages, members of PG&E’s meteorological team have pointed out that Diablo and Santa Ana winds, along with low humidity and dry surface fuels, are making the state vulnerable to wildfire. Apart from PG&E’s in-house operation, the National Weather Service has issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mqt/redflagtips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Flag Warnings\u003c/a> for large chunks of California, and PG&E says these are “in alignment” with its own analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, says these dangerous winds, though occurring annually, haven’t been this widespread in the state since the Wine Country Fires of 2017, before PG&E had instituted its de-energization protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara also says PG&E may have had to cast a wide net because the energy infrastructure of California wasn’t built to accommodate the kind of fire risk we’re now experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll have a power line that will serve one valley and then go up and over a ridge to serve the next valley,” Wara told KQED’s Miranda Leitsinger. “And that means that if you have to turn that light off, you could black out both valleys in addition to the ridgetop — even though the risk is only on the ridgetop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is a longtime critic of the company who is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TedrickG/status/1182312963090182145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questioning\u003c/a> the widespread nature of the outage. In a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission Wednesday, he wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I strongly disagree with the binary position currently offered by PG&E – they can turn the power off and shut down the economy and livelihoods of millions in California, an action which may protect us from wildfire, or they can roll the dice and continue with the lights on, and risk an enormous fire starting from their power lines. This situation is not acceptable nor sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill wrote that a public safety power shutoff must be a surgical, last resort measure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, PG&E will have to say more about the choices it made: The utility must file a CPUC report with information related to its decisionmaking 10 days after the shutoff event ends. —\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This Is Intolerable. Why Can’t PG&E Just Bury The Lines?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For new construction, PG&E places most power lines underground, so its main issue is dealing with 81,000 miles of existing overhead lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no small feat. A little back-of-the-envelope math: Strung together, the lines could extend there and back from San Francisco to Buenos Aires about four times. Burying lines is very expensive. On its website, PG&E estimates it would cost $3 million per mile to puts its lines underground. So $3 million x 81,000 miles = $243 billion, which is more than California’s entire 2019 budget. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf\">report\u003c/a> suggests that burying lines in urban places can be even more expensive — up to $5 million a mile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, consumer safety advocates \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article222387335.html\">argue\u003c/a> that leaders in Sacramento should require the utility to bury lines in heavily populated, high-risk fire areas. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Can’t the State Take Over PG&E and Solve This Mess?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, though there’s no real model for a state taking over a publicly traded utility of this size. We also have yet to see the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">political\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">will\u003c/a> for this to occur. One reason is that taxpayers would have to take on the financial responsibility that just bankrupted PG&E — liability for its aging, unsafe electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a way to untangle PG&E’s many stakeholders and its various functions — don’t forget, it’s a gas company, too — other challenges would emerge: For one, figuring out how to value its massive assets and sorting out how the state would foot the bill for them, especially since ratepayers have already been paying for the system. Also, the main wildfire problems of aging, poorly maintained electrical transmission lines in rural, fire-prone areas, as well as more frequently occurring climate change-driven severe weather, are not going away, no matter who is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public power \u003cem>does \u003c/em>exist in California — Sacramento and Los Angeles both have it, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">offering\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">to\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">buy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">E\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">’\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">s\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">assets\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">within\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">city\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">limits\u003c/a>. But that’s different than completely ending PG&E as we know it and making it a public, state-run power company. It’s worth mentioning that PG&E workers largely oppose this option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One idea that’s been floated: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">Breaking\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">up\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">E\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">into\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">smaller\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">companies\u003c/a>. — \u003ci> Marisa Lagos\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are These Winds So Dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are known as “Diablo winds,” although they’re not necessarily hot. They are, however, pretty typical for this time of year. Their speed and dryness make them especially good at fanning and spreading flames. That can turn a potentially manageable wildfire into an out-of-control inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These winds that are so good at driving wildfires actually start out cold\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Early autumn’s big, cold air masses, brought by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet\"> jet stream\u003c/a>, first move over Washington and Oregon then head to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. This cold air is drier because it holds less moisture, and it has relatively higher pressure than the warmer air sitting over California. The meeting of these air currents propels the winds over the Sierra. As the winds move downslope, they speed up, the air compresses and warms, and the humidity plummets. This removes moisture from the landscape, and makes any spark more likely to start a wildfire. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will Any Good Come Of This Shutdown?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, one thing is that the outages are testing the region’s emergency response system. They could expose weaknesses that can be fixed before the next major earthquake hits — for example, Caltrans administrators realized they needed to install a backup generator at the Caldecott Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs underscore another fact: PG&E’s grid technology is outdated and clunky. The utility proactively shut off power on Wednesday morning, only to have people wake up to no electricity, less-than-gusty wind conditions, and warnings that the lights could remain off for days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disruption could serve as a focusing event for California to invest in local wind, solar, battery storage and other technologies that would turn neighborhoods into small power islands, called microgrids, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Peter\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Asmus\u003c/a>, a director at Navigant Research, a market research firm for the power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forecasts are often wrong,” he said. “In an ideal situation, you would have the flexibility to make real-time adjustments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Ricans lived without electricity for months after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in 2017. Now its main utility \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#4c0e345755fc\">plans\u003c/a> to divide the entire island into a series of microgrids that could offer resiliency and flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E has not widely adopted that technology. But, Asmus suggested, “the shutoffs are going to drive California to be the leader in microgrids in the U.S.” — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will These Power Shutoffs Work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait and see. There are many other ways fires can start: discarded cigarette butts, overheated cars idling over dry vegetation, chains dragging on the ground and sparking. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "You've called into Forum. You've commented on our Facebook page. You want to understand what's happening with PG&E. We answer your most common questions.",
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"title": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric has generated confusion — not to mention outrage — with its power grid shutdowns. The situation continues for a second day in 34 California counties. On social media and phone calls to KQED’s Forum radio program, people throughout PG&E’s service area have asked how and why the investor-owned utility took this step. KQED reporters have some answers to some of the questions that have come in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Is PG&E Turning the Power Off? Is This PG&E’s Fault?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, PG&E doesn’t want to risk having its power lines start another fire, so it is pre-emptively turning the power off during this week’s dry, windy weather. The company made the decision based on information from its wildfire center, where meteorologists keep watch on fire conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s power lines have sparked many catastrophic wildfires in California, including last year’s Camp Fire in Butte County that caused 85 deaths, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in 100 years. PG&E lines started more than a dozen fires in 2017. Less than a month ago, the company agreed to pay billion in a settlement with victims of the recent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs are part of its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\">plan\u003c/a>, mandated by the state and agreed to by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s top power regulator. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who Made This Decision and When?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If past practice tells us anything, PG&E has been making and remaking this decision, with the help of its meteorological team, over several days. The utility says it considers weather, fuel and other conditions and observations, as well as the need for notice by state and local parties, when it decides to implement shutoffs. As we’ve seen over the last few days, the planned outage times can change with shifting conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact is, there’s nothing new about turning off power lines when conditions get risky: San Diego Gas and Electric, with the permission of the CPUC, has mitigated fire risk this way since 2012. What is new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/News_Room/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff-Policies-and-Procedures-September-2018.pdf\">are the guidelines PG&E filed\u003c/a> just a year ago for its public safety power shutoff procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last couple of years, the CPUC has required investor-owned utilities to describe their processes for arriving at decisions like the one affecting nearly three dozen California counties right now. PG&E shut off power two times last year; the last time PG&E called a public safety power shutoff, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Energy_-_Electricity_and_Natural_Gas/PGE%20PSPS%20Report%20Letter_06-21-19.pdf\">for two days in June\u003c/a>, it affected about 22,000 customers in the North Bay and the Sierra foothills, including Butte County and Paradise. — \u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are the Shutoffs So Widespread?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essentially, PG&E says that current conditions warrant extreme caution. The utility does its own predictive analysis, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-weather-map.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_weather\">dedicated page\u003c/a> offering a 7-day forecast of the possibility of a public safety power shutoff. As a rationale for the current outages, members of PG&E’s meteorological team have pointed out that Diablo and Santa Ana winds, along with low humidity and dry surface fuels, are making the state vulnerable to wildfire. Apart from PG&E’s in-house operation, the National Weather Service has issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mqt/redflagtips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Flag Warnings\u003c/a> for large chunks of California, and PG&E says these are “in alignment” with its own analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, says these dangerous winds, though occurring annually, haven’t been this widespread in the state since the Wine Country Fires of 2017, before PG&E had instituted its de-energization protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara also says PG&E may have had to cast a wide net because the energy infrastructure of California wasn’t built to accommodate the kind of fire risk we’re now experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll have a power line that will serve one valley and then go up and over a ridge to serve the next valley,” Wara told KQED’s Miranda Leitsinger. “And that means that if you have to turn that light off, you could black out both valleys in addition to the ridgetop — even though the risk is only on the ridgetop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is a longtime critic of the company who is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TedrickG/status/1182312963090182145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questioning\u003c/a> the widespread nature of the outage. In a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission Wednesday, he wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I strongly disagree with the binary position currently offered by PG&E – they can turn the power off and shut down the economy and livelihoods of millions in California, an action which may protect us from wildfire, or they can roll the dice and continue with the lights on, and risk an enormous fire starting from their power lines. This situation is not acceptable nor sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill wrote that a public safety power shutoff must be a surgical, last resort measure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, PG&E will have to say more about the choices it made: The utility must file a CPUC report with information related to its decisionmaking 10 days after the shutoff event ends. —\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This Is Intolerable. Why Can’t PG&E Just Bury The Lines?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For new construction, PG&E places most power lines underground, so its main issue is dealing with 81,000 miles of existing overhead lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no small feat. A little back-of-the-envelope math: Strung together, the lines could extend there and back from San Francisco to Buenos Aires about four times. Burying lines is very expensive. On its website, PG&E estimates it would cost $3 million per mile to puts its lines underground. So $3 million x 81,000 miles = $243 billion, which is more than California’s entire 2019 budget. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf\">report\u003c/a> suggests that burying lines in urban places can be even more expensive — up to $5 million a mile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, consumer safety advocates \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article222387335.html\">argue\u003c/a> that leaders in Sacramento should require the utility to bury lines in heavily populated, high-risk fire areas. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Can’t the State Take Over PG&E and Solve This Mess?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, though there’s no real model for a state taking over a publicly traded utility of this size. We also have yet to see the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">political\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">will\u003c/a> for this to occur. One reason is that taxpayers would have to take on the financial responsibility that just bankrupted PG&E — liability for its aging, unsafe electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a way to untangle PG&E’s many stakeholders and its various functions — don’t forget, it’s a gas company, too — other challenges would emerge: For one, figuring out how to value its massive assets and sorting out how the state would foot the bill for them, especially since ratepayers have already been paying for the system. Also, the main wildfire problems of aging, poorly maintained electrical transmission lines in rural, fire-prone areas, as well as more frequently occurring climate change-driven severe weather, are not going away, no matter who is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public power \u003cem>does \u003c/em>exist in California — Sacramento and Los Angeles both have it, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">offering\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">to\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">buy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">E\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">’\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">s\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">assets\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">within\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">city\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">limits\u003c/a>. But that’s different than completely ending PG&E as we know it and making it a public, state-run power company. It’s worth mentioning that PG&E workers largely oppose this option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One idea that’s been floated: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">Breaking\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">up\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">E\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">into\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">smaller\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">companies\u003c/a>. — \u003ci> Marisa Lagos\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are These Winds So Dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are known as “Diablo winds,” although they’re not necessarily hot. They are, however, pretty typical for this time of year. Their speed and dryness make them especially good at fanning and spreading flames. That can turn a potentially manageable wildfire into an out-of-control inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These winds that are so good at driving wildfires actually start out cold\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Early autumn’s big, cold air masses, brought by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet\"> jet stream\u003c/a>, first move over Washington and Oregon then head to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. This cold air is drier because it holds less moisture, and it has relatively higher pressure than the warmer air sitting over California. The meeting of these air currents propels the winds over the Sierra. As the winds move downslope, they speed up, the air compresses and warms, and the humidity plummets. This removes moisture from the landscape, and makes any spark more likely to start a wildfire. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will Any Good Come Of This Shutdown?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, one thing is that the outages are testing the region’s emergency response system. They could expose weaknesses that can be fixed before the next major earthquake hits — for example, Caltrans administrators realized they needed to install a backup generator at the Caldecott Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs underscore another fact: PG&E’s grid technology is outdated and clunky. The utility proactively shut off power on Wednesday morning, only to have people wake up to no electricity, less-than-gusty wind conditions, and warnings that the lights could remain off for days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disruption could serve as a focusing event for California to invest in local wind, solar, battery storage and other technologies that would turn neighborhoods into small power islands, called microgrids, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Peter\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Asmus\u003c/a>, a director at Navigant Research, a market research firm for the power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forecasts are often wrong,” he said. “In an ideal situation, you would have the flexibility to make real-time adjustments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Ricans lived without electricity for months after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in 2017. Now its main utility \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#4c0e345755fc\">plans\u003c/a> to divide the entire island into a series of microgrids that could offer resiliency and flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E has not widely adopted that technology. But, Asmus suggested, “the shutoffs are going to drive California to be the leader in microgrids in the U.S.” — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will These Power Shutoffs Work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait and see. There are many other ways fires can start: discarded cigarette butts, overheated cars idling over dry vegetation, chains dragging on the ground and sparking. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Your SUV Is Really Messing With California's Climate Plans",
"headTitle": "Your SUV Is Really Messing With California’s Climate Plans | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A couple of years ago, environmental groups and state leaders cheered when California reported it had reached its 2020 emissions target four years \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-adv-california-climate-pollution-20180722-story.html\">early\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when it comes to meeting California’s ambitious 2030-and- beyond climate goals, it appears to be way too early to pop any celebratory champagne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]Emissions from the transportation sector soared to a record high, as more people drove more miles in larger, less-efficient trucks and SUVs. These gas guzzlers made up 57% of new vehicle registrations in the fourth quarter of 2018, up from 39% five years ago.[/pullquote] According to the latest report from the annual California Green Innovation Index, at its current rate of emissions reduction, the state is 31 years behind its 2030 goal, which it wouldn’t meet until 2061.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California is to meet the 2030 target, a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases from 1990 levels, the state needs to cut emissions about three times faster than the current rate. The outlook for California reaching its 2050 goal — an 80% reduction compared to 1990 — is even bleaker. At its current pace, the state will overshoot that goal by a full century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the latest report, by researchers at Beacon Economics and is not the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ghg-inventory-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official greenhouse gas inventory\u003c/a>, California reduced emissions by just over 1 percent from 2017 to 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could be decades behind if we don’t implement an ambitious new set of innovative policies, and that’s a big if,” said Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that releases the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perry called the numbers, which draw on nearly a decade’s worth of data, “a wakeup call.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Wildfire Issue\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California wildfires in 2018 emitted an estimated 45.5 million metric tons of CO2, a 24% increase from 2017, when California wildfires released an estimated total of 26.7 million metric tons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, wildfires in California produced “an estimated nine times more emissions than were reduced across the entire state’s economy the year prior,” according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Air Resources Board, which is in charge of implementing the state’s emissions reduction policies, is pushing back on the report’s inclusion of these emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanley Young, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, said it is a “mistake to compare carbon released by wildfire with human-caused emissions” because carbon released by wildfires is part of the natural carbon cycle, while emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the result of extracting carbon that otherwise would stay in the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Young acknowledged that the state’s 2030 goal is going to be a heavy lift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California published a \u003ca style=\"font-weight: bold\" href=\"https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/scoping_plan_2017.pdf\">plan\u003c/a> to achieve reductions that are “cost-effective” and “technologically feasible,” said Young. But they are going to require “continued legislative and funding support,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emissions \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1945609/california-and-carmakers-reach-clean-vehicle-agreement-rebuking-trump-administration\">agreement\u003c/a> with four major car companies, and the state’s investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from its cap-and-trade program towards incentives for electric vehicles, as examples of “California’s full-throated commitment to transforming the transportation sector, where we face the biggest challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Policy Changes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make the necessary reductions in emissions, Californians will need to make drastic changes in the way they get around, build homes, manufacture goods and consume energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California historically has shown its ability to use policy and technology innovation to make dramatic shifts in carbon reductions,” Perry said. “We’ve seen that through renewable energy and also in energy efficiency. Although the news is sobering, if California were to galvanize together and create new regulations and new policies that help to drive the reduction of emissions, I think that it is quite possible that we can hit our ambitious policy goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that California isn’t making progress. In fact, the state’s energy sector is slashing carbon emission, particularly from its electricity grid, at the same time the economy has been growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 1990, the state’s GDP increased by 41% while per capita planet-warming gas emissions fell by 25%, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re finally seeing a lot of research and development investment start to pay off,” said Adam Fowler, director of research at Beacon. “Renewable energy has reached a tipping point in terms of being increasingly cost competitive with fossil fuels, and that’s exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that emissions from other sectors are flat or, in the case of transportation, rising. Transportation-related carbon pollution remains the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California, mostly because of personal vehicles, the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, emissions from the transportation sector soared to a record high, as more people drove more miles in larger, less-efficient trucks and SUVs. These vehicles made up 57% of new registrations in state in the fourth quarter of 2018, up from 39% five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There has been a shift in consumer preference toward what have historically been less efficient vehicles,” Fowler said. “This is probably one of the most sobering points from the report. Breakthroughs in these hard to reach sectors are going to require ambitious policy setting to push our economic and climate goals forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some other key takeaways from the report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state’s renewable energy sector is strong. In 2017, for the first time, a greater portion of California’s power mix came from renewable energy sources like wind and solar than from fossil fuels\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Renewable resources like hydroelectric, solar and wind are increasingly replacing natural gas.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Electric vehicle sales are rising, with adoption up 37% in 2018 over the previous year. Still, while electric, hybrid, and even hydrogen vehicles are more popular, at the current pace, they will account for just 2% of all the cars registered on the road by the end of 2019.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Emissions from landfills continue to rise, jumping about 7% in 2017. At the same time, the state’s recycling rate declined. At this rate, California is not on track to meet its goal of a 75% recycling rate by the year 2020, Fowler said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Soaring emissions from vehicles are a big factor in limiting the state's greenhouse gas reductions, according to a new report. At the current pace, California is 31 years behind hitting its 2030 target.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A couple of years ago, environmental groups and state leaders cheered when California reported it had reached its 2020 emissions target four years \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-adv-california-climate-pollution-20180722-story.html\">early\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when it comes to meeting California’s ambitious 2030-and- beyond climate goals, it appears to be way too early to pop any celebratory champagne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> According to the latest report from the annual California Green Innovation Index, at its current rate of emissions reduction, the state is 31 years behind its 2030 goal, which it wouldn’t meet until 2061.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California is to meet the 2030 target, a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases from 1990 levels, the state needs to cut emissions about three times faster than the current rate. The outlook for California reaching its 2050 goal — an 80% reduction compared to 1990 — is even bleaker. At its current pace, the state will overshoot that goal by a full century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the latest report, by researchers at Beacon Economics and is not the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ghg-inventory-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official greenhouse gas inventory\u003c/a>, California reduced emissions by just over 1 percent from 2017 to 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could be decades behind if we don’t implement an ambitious new set of innovative policies, and that’s a big if,” said Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that releases the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perry called the numbers, which draw on nearly a decade’s worth of data, “a wakeup call.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Wildfire Issue\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California wildfires in 2018 emitted an estimated 45.5 million metric tons of CO2, a 24% increase from 2017, when California wildfires released an estimated total of 26.7 million metric tons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, wildfires in California produced “an estimated nine times more emissions than were reduced across the entire state’s economy the year prior,” according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Air Resources Board, which is in charge of implementing the state’s emissions reduction policies, is pushing back on the report’s inclusion of these emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanley Young, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, said it is a “mistake to compare carbon released by wildfire with human-caused emissions” because carbon released by wildfires is part of the natural carbon cycle, while emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the result of extracting carbon that otherwise would stay in the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Young acknowledged that the state’s 2030 goal is going to be a heavy lift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California published a \u003ca style=\"font-weight: bold\" href=\"https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/scoping_plan_2017.pdf\">plan\u003c/a> to achieve reductions that are “cost-effective” and “technologically feasible,” said Young. But they are going to require “continued legislative and funding support,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emissions \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1945609/california-and-carmakers-reach-clean-vehicle-agreement-rebuking-trump-administration\">agreement\u003c/a> with four major car companies, and the state’s investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from its cap-and-trade program towards incentives for electric vehicles, as examples of “California’s full-throated commitment to transforming the transportation sector, where we face the biggest challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Policy Changes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make the necessary reductions in emissions, Californians will need to make drastic changes in the way they get around, build homes, manufacture goods and consume energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California historically has shown its ability to use policy and technology innovation to make dramatic shifts in carbon reductions,” Perry said. “We’ve seen that through renewable energy and also in energy efficiency. Although the news is sobering, if California were to galvanize together and create new regulations and new policies that help to drive the reduction of emissions, I think that it is quite possible that we can hit our ambitious policy goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that California isn’t making progress. In fact, the state’s energy sector is slashing carbon emission, particularly from its electricity grid, at the same time the economy has been growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 1990, the state’s GDP increased by 41% while per capita planet-warming gas emissions fell by 25%, according to the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re finally seeing a lot of research and development investment start to pay off,” said Adam Fowler, director of research at Beacon. “Renewable energy has reached a tipping point in terms of being increasingly cost competitive with fossil fuels, and that’s exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem is that emissions from other sectors are flat or, in the case of transportation, rising. Transportation-related carbon pollution remains the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California, mostly because of personal vehicles, the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, emissions from the transportation sector soared to a record high, as more people drove more miles in larger, less-efficient trucks and SUVs. These vehicles made up 57% of new registrations in state in the fourth quarter of 2018, up from 39% five years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There has been a shift in consumer preference toward what have historically been less efficient vehicles,” Fowler said. “This is probably one of the most sobering points from the report. Breakthroughs in these hard to reach sectors are going to require ambitious policy setting to push our economic and climate goals forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some other key takeaways from the report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state’s renewable energy sector is strong. In 2017, for the first time, a greater portion of California’s power mix came from renewable energy sources like wind and solar than from fossil fuels\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Renewable resources like hydroelectric, solar and wind are increasingly replacing natural gas.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Electric vehicle sales are rising, with adoption up 37% in 2018 over the previous year. Still, while electric, hybrid, and even hydrogen vehicles are more popular, at the current pace, they will account for just 2% of all the cars registered on the road by the end of 2019.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Emissions from landfills continue to rise, jumping about 7% in 2017. At the same time, the state’s recycling rate declined. At this rate, California is not on track to meet its goal of a 75% recycling rate by the year 2020, Fowler said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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 />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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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",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"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",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"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/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"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.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"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",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"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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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"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",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"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": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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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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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"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": {
"site": "news",
"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",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
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