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"headTitle": "This Tiny Oyster Once Thrived in California. Now, Scientists Are Bringing It Back | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a cool July morning, the scent of burning sage drifted across Elkhorn Slough as a quiet circle of more than a dozen volunteers and conservationists, including \u003ca href=\"https://amahmutsun.org/\">Amah Mutsun Tribal Band\u003c/a> members, introduced themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They passed around the smoldering bundle in an Indigenous ritual of cleansing and renewal, known as smudging.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Afterward, the group set out on a 20-minute trek to Oak Marsh, passing by a great blue heron, rabbits, patches of blooming yellow lupine, following a boardwalk that extends over mudflats at low tide. There, laid out on folding tables, were recycled clamshells studded with tiny \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11713665/can-scientists-save-californias-only-native-oysters-new-technique-shows-promise\">Olympia oysters\u003c/a> — the only native oyster on the West Coast of North America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001411\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hatchery-raised baby oysters growing atop clamshells sit in a bucket prior to being reintroduced to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group’s task was straightforward: measure each oyster, record its size and secure the shells to biodegradable stakes to carry to a nearby gravel bar. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once abundant along the West Coast, Olympia oysters formed reefs that filtered water for eelgrass, sheltered marine life like shrimp, crab, worms and juvenile fish and sustained Indigenous communities for thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Humans used to touch the oysters at this exact spot on low tides for millennia,” said Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/\">Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, those reefs have nearly disappeared. Scientists, conservation groups and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band are working together to bring them back to Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For at least 7,000 years, Indigenous peoples harvested Olympia oysters in Elkhorn Slough. By the 1920s, commercial harvesting, altered tidal flows and agricultural runoff drove the population into collapse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Levees and agricultural runoff leave parts of the estuary covered in thick mud, where young oysters struggle to survive, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jasmine Castro stakes clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them into the mud in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Amah Mutsun Tribal Band member Esak Ordoñez, the gathering was about much more than restoring shellfish.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s a special feeling to be able to come out here surrounded by our elders, our tribal community and friends to relearn this ancient practice of stewardship,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Olympia oysters are functionally extinct across much of California, existing only in scattered individuals rather than dense reefs. As of 2018, fewer than 1,000 oysters remained at Elkhorn Slough, putting the population on the brink of disappearance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bringing back a reef\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, Wasson and others at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve have worked to reverse that decline. Over the past decade, the effort has grown into a partnership with the \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/\">Amah Mutsun Land Trust\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/\">California Sea Grant\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/\">Moss Landing Marine Laboratories\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.org/en-us/\">The Nature Conservancy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The restoration strategy tackles two challenges at once.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>First, researchers are rebuilding oyster numbers through \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/research/olympia-oysters-coastwide/\">conservation aquaculture\u003c/a>. At Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, scientists spawn local Olympia oysters in hatcheries, raising juveniles before transplanting them into the estuary, much like growing native plants in a greenhouse before restoring a prairie.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001417\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As the tide comes in, Native Stewardship Corps members and tribal elders sing a blessing after helping to reintroduce baby oysters to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hatchery-raised oysters are grown until they’re about the size of a dime, then transplanted into the estuary during the summer, when survival rates are much higher. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scientists are also experimenting with where to place oysters along the shoreline, said Luke Gardner, research faculty and California Sea Grant aquaculture specialist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s a bit of a balance to find that optimum,” Gardner said. Oysters higher in the intertidal zone avoid competitors that can smother them but spend more time exposed to air, making them vulnerable during extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Climate change is another factor to consider. Gardner pointed to the Pacific Northwest’s 2021 “heat dome,” when extreme heat and unusually low tides exposed oysters to the sun, causing \u003ca href=\"https://environment.uw.edu/news/2022/06/new-study-2021-heat-wave-created-perfect-storm-for-shellfish-die-off/\">catastrophic die-offs\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The second challenge is rebuilding the habitat itself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During this summer’s restoration event, volunteers attached hatchery-raised oysters growing on recycled clam shells, many left behind by hungry sea otters, to biodegradable stakes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then they placed them on a gravel bar, mimicking how natural oyster reefs form. Wasson called the larvae “gregarious settlers.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“They like to settle where there’s existing oysters,” Wasson said. “By putting these out, we should be attracting more settlement to the area. It’s sort of a two-for-one.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Colonization transformed the estuary through levees, altered waterways and polluted runoff while simultaneously disrupting thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both,” Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Oysters are a really important pathway to build community and recover the tribe’s relationship with the landscape more broadly,” said Jacob Harris, coastal and oceans stewardship program manager at Amah Mutsun Land Trust. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Native Stewardship Corps member Esak Ordoñez Garcia (center) prepares clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them to be placed in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/native-stewardship-corps\">Native Stewardship Corps\u003c/a>, Tribal members train in aquaculture, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration and more. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Ordoñez, the restoration is also about relearning how people once cared for the landscape. “Back then, our human presence worked with nature,” he said. “Now we’re impeding on nature.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phoebe Racine, estuarine project director at The Nature Conservancy, said the project reflects a broader effort to restore Indigenous stewardship throughout California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“As an indigenous person, it’s important for me to better steward the lands I live on,” Racine said. “Having tribal stewardship expand throughout California is critical to restoration work.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Signs of recovery\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since conservation aquaculture began in 2018, researchers have released hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised oysters into Elkhorn Slough. Scientists are now finding \u003ca href=\"https://library.elkhornslough.org/attachments/Harris_2024_Experiments_In_Conservation_Aquaculture.pdf\">increasing numbers of wild juvenile oysters settling naturally\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to see more wild recruitment. And we think that is a direct result of our intervention, which is just amazing,” Gardner said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The long-term goal is ambitious: to rebuild the estuary to 10 million oysters, enough to create self-sustaining reefs that can withstand changing environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001412\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elizabeth Rodriguez (center left) and Kerstin Wasson (center right) count the hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on a clamshell prior to placing the shell in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Every reef creates a habitat for hundreds of small marine organisms that can make the entire estuary more resilient. But the biggest challenge is helping Californians recognize what has been lost, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Because native oyster reefs disappeared long before most people alive today were born, few realize California once had thriving oyster reefs in its own backyard, she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wasson calls it “generational amnesia,” which she first read about in an \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25588455/\">Australian paper on oyster reefs\u003c/a>. It’s the idea that people can’t miss an ecosystem that they never knew existed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After volunteers finished placing the oysters into the mud, everyone gathered on the boardwalk overlooking the estuary, while tribe members led the group in a traditional Indigenous song to honor and offer thanks to the Creator.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the tide slowly crept back over the gravel bar, the tiny oysters disappeared beneath the water. If enough survive, they’ll grow into clusters that attract the next generation of larvae, eventually building reefs that can sustain themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 7,500 hatchery-raised oysters got their first taste of estuary water today,” Wasson said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Afterward, the group set out on a 20-minute trek to Oak Marsh, passing by a great blue heron, rabbits, patches of blooming yellow lupine, following a boardwalk that extends over mudflats at low tide. There, laid out on folding tables, were recycled clamshells studded with tiny \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11713665/can-scientists-save-californias-only-native-oysters-new-technique-shows-promise\">Olympia oysters\u003c/a> — the only native oyster on the West Coast of North America.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Once abundant along the West Coast, Olympia oysters formed reefs that filtered water for eelgrass, sheltered marine life like shrimp, crab, worms and juvenile fish and sustained Indigenous communities for thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Humans used to touch the oysters at this exact spot on low tides for millennia,” said Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/\">Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Humans used to touch the oysters at this exact spot on low tides for millennia,” said Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/\">Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Today, those reefs have nearly disappeared. Scientists, conservation groups and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band are working together to bring them back to Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Today, those reefs have nearly disappeared. Scientists, conservation groups and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band are working together to bring them back to Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For at least 7,000 years, Indigenous peoples harvested Olympia oysters in Elkhorn Slough. By the 1920s, commercial harvesting, altered tidal flows and agricultural runoff drove the population into collapse.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Levees and agricultural runoff leave parts of the estuary covered in thick mud, where young oysters struggle to survive, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jasmine Castro stakes clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them into the mud in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001415\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jasmine Castro stakes clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them into the mud in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For Amah Mutsun Tribal Band member Esak Ordoñez, the gathering was about much more than restoring shellfish.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For Amah Mutsun Tribal Band member Esak Ordoñez, the gathering was about much more than restoring shellfish.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s a special feeling to be able to come out here surrounded by our elders, our tribal community and friends to relearn this ancient practice of stewardship,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s a special feeling to be able to come out here surrounded by our elders, our tribal community and friends to relearn this ancient practice of stewardship,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Olympia oysters are functionally extinct across much of California, existing only in scattered individuals rather than dense reefs. As of 2018, fewer than 1,000 oysters remained at Elkhorn Slough, putting the population on the brink of disappearance. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Olympia oysters are functionally extinct across much of California, existing only in scattered individuals rather than dense reefs. As of 2018, fewer than 1,000 oysters remained at Elkhorn Slough, putting the population on the brink of disappearance. \u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "Bringing back a reef",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bringing back a reef\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, Wasson and others at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve have worked to reverse that decline. Over the past decade, the effort has grown into a partnership with the \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/\">Amah Mutsun Land Trust\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/\">California Sea Grant\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/\">Moss Landing Marine Laboratories\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.org/en-us/\">The Nature Conservancy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, Wasson and others at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve have worked to reverse that decline. Over the past decade, the effort has grown into a partnership with the \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/\">Amah Mutsun Land Trust\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/\">California Sea Grant\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/\">Moss Landing Marine Laboratories\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.org/en-us/\">The Nature Conservancy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The restoration strategy tackles two challenges at once.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The restoration strategy tackles two challenges at once.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>First, researchers are rebuilding oyster numbers through \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/research/olympia-oysters-coastwide/\">conservation aquaculture\u003c/a>. At Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, scientists spawn local Olympia oysters in hatcheries, raising juveniles before transplanting them into the estuary, much like growing native plants in a greenhouse before restoring a prairie.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>First, researchers are rebuilding oyster numbers through \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/research/olympia-oysters-coastwide/\">conservation aquaculture\u003c/a>. At Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, scientists spawn local Olympia oysters in hatcheries, raising juveniles before transplanting them into the estuary, much like growing native plants in a greenhouse before restoring a prairie.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001417\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As the tide comes in, Native Stewardship Corps members and tribal elders sing a blessing after helping to reintroduce baby oysters to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001417\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As the tide comes in, Native Stewardship Corps members and tribal elders sing a blessing after helping to reintroduce baby oysters to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hatchery-raised oysters are grown until they’re about the size of a dime, then transplanted into the estuary during the summer, when survival rates are much higher. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Hatchery-raised oysters are grown until they’re about the size of a dime, then transplanted into the estuary during the summer, when survival rates are much higher. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scientists are also experimenting with where to place oysters along the shoreline, said Luke Gardner, research faculty and California Sea Grant aquaculture specialist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scientists are also experimenting with where to place oysters along the shoreline, said Luke Gardner, research faculty and California Sea Grant aquaculture specialist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s a bit of a balance to find that optimum,” Gardner said. Oysters higher in the intertidal zone avoid competitors that can smother them but spend more time exposed to air, making them vulnerable during extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s a bit of a balance to find that optimum,” Gardner said. Oysters higher in the intertidal zone avoid competitors that can smother them but spend more time exposed to air, making them vulnerable during extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Climate change is another factor to consider. Gardner pointed to the Pacific Northwest’s 2021 “heat dome,” when extreme heat and unusually low tides exposed oysters to the sun, causing \u003ca href=\"https://environment.uw.edu/news/2022/06/new-study-2021-heat-wave-created-perfect-storm-for-shellfish-die-off/\">catastrophic die-offs\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Climate change is another factor to consider. Gardner pointed to the Pacific Northwest’s 2021 “heat dome,” when extreme heat and unusually low tides exposed oysters to the sun, causing \u003ca href=\"https://environment.uw.edu/news/2022/06/new-study-2021-heat-wave-created-perfect-storm-for-shellfish-die-off/\">catastrophic die-offs\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The second challenge is rebuilding the habitat itself.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The second challenge is rebuilding the habitat itself.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During this summer’s restoration event, volunteers attached hatchery-raised oysters growing on recycled clam shells, many left behind by hungry sea otters, to biodegradable stakes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During this summer’s restoration event, volunteers attached hatchery-raised oysters growing on recycled clam shells, many left behind by hungry sea otters, to biodegradable stakes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then they placed them on a gravel bar, mimicking how natural oyster reefs form. Wasson called the larvae “gregarious settlers.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“They like to settle where there’s existing oysters,” Wasson said. “By putting these out, we should be attracting more settlement to the area. It’s sort of a two-for-one.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Then they placed them on a gravel bar, mimicking how natural oyster reefs form. Wasson called the larvae “gregarious settlers.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“They like to settle where there’s existing oysters,” Wasson said. “By putting these out, we should be attracting more settlement to the area. It’s sort of a two-for-one.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "‘We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both’\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both’\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Colonization transformed the estuary through levees, altered waterways and polluted runoff while simultaneously disrupting thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Colonization transformed the estuary through levees, altered waterways and polluted runoff while simultaneously disrupting thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both,” Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both,” Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Oysters are a really important pathway to build community and recover the tribe’s relationship with the landscape more broadly,” said Jacob Harris, coastal and oceans stewardship program manager at Amah Mutsun Land Trust. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Oysters are a really important pathway to build community and recover the tribe’s relationship with the landscape more broadly,” said Jacob Harris, coastal and oceans stewardship program manager at Amah Mutsun Land Trust. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Native Stewardship Corps member Esak Ordoñez Garcia (center) prepares clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them to be placed in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001414\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Native Stewardship Corps member Esak Ordoñez Garcia (center) prepares clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them to be placed in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/native-stewardship-corps\">Native Stewardship Corps\u003c/a>, Tribal members train in aquaculture, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration and more. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/native-stewardship-corps\">Native Stewardship Corps\u003c/a>, Tribal members train in aquaculture, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration and more. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For Ordoñez, the restoration is also about relearning how people once cared for the landscape. “Back then, our human presence worked with nature,” he said. “Now we’re impeding on nature.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For Ordoñez, the restoration is also about relearning how people once cared for the landscape. “Back then, our human presence worked with nature,” he said. “Now we’re impeding on nature.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Phoebe Racine, estuarine project director at The Nature Conservancy, said the project reflects a broader effort to restore Indigenous stewardship throughout California. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Phoebe Racine, estuarine project director at The Nature Conservancy, said the project reflects a broader effort to restore Indigenous stewardship throughout California. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“As an indigenous person, it’s important for me to better steward the lands I live on,” Racine said. “Having tribal stewardship expand throughout California is critical to restoration work.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“As an indigenous person, it’s important for me to better steward the lands I live on,” Racine said. “Having tribal stewardship expand throughout California is critical to restoration work.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "Signs of recovery",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Signs of recovery\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since conservation aquaculture began in 2018, researchers have released hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised oysters into Elkhorn Slough. Scientists are now finding \u003ca href=\"https://library.elkhornslough.org/attachments/Harris_2024_Experiments_In_Conservation_Aquaculture.pdf\">increasing numbers of wild juvenile oysters settling naturally\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Since conservation aquaculture began in 2018, researchers have released hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised oysters into Elkhorn Slough. Scientists are now finding \u003ca href=\"https://library.elkhornslough.org/attachments/Harris_2024_Experiments_In_Conservation_Aquaculture.pdf\">increasing numbers of wild juvenile oysters settling naturally\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to see more wild recruitment. And we think that is a direct result of our intervention, which is just amazing,” Gardner said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to see more wild recruitment. And we think that is a direct result of our intervention, which is just amazing,” Gardner said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The long-term goal is ambitious: to rebuild the estuary to 10 million oysters, enough to create self-sustaining reefs that can withstand changing environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The long-term goal is ambitious: to rebuild the estuary to 10 million oysters, enough to create self-sustaining reefs that can withstand changing environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001412\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elizabeth Rodriguez (center left) and Kerstin Wasson (center right) count the hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on a clamshell prior to placing the shell in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Every reef creates a habitat for hundreds of small marine organisms that can make the entire estuary more resilient. But the biggest challenge is helping Californians recognize what has been lost, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Because native oyster reefs disappeared long before most people alive today were born, few realize California once had thriving oyster reefs in its own backyard, she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wasson calls it “generational amnesia,” which she first read about in an \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25588455/\">Australian paper on oyster reefs\u003c/a>. It’s the idea that people can’t miss an ecosystem that they never knew existed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After volunteers finished placing the oysters into the mud, everyone gathered on the boardwalk overlooking the estuary, while tribe members led the group in a traditional Indigenous song to honor and offer thanks to the Creator.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the tide slowly crept back over the gravel bar, the tiny oysters disappeared beneath the water. If enough survive, they’ll grow into clusters that attract the next generation of larvae, eventually building reefs that can sustain themselves.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“About 7,500 hatchery-raised oysters got their first taste of estuary water today,” Wasson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Researchers at Elkhorn Slough are using hatcheries, habitat restoration and Indigenous stewardship to help bring back the state’s only native oyster and the ecosystem it supports.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a cool July morning, the scent of burning sage drifted across Elkhorn Slough as a quiet circle of more than a dozen volunteers and conservationists, including \u003ca href=\"https://amahmutsun.org/\">Amah Mutsun Tribal Band\u003c/a> members, introduced themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They passed around the smoldering bundle in an Indigenous ritual of cleansing and renewal, known as smudging.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Afterward, the group set out on a 20-minute trek to Oak Marsh, passing by a great blue heron, rabbits, patches of blooming yellow lupine, following a boardwalk that extends over mudflats at low tide. There, laid out on folding tables, were recycled clamshells studded with tiny \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11713665/can-scientists-save-californias-only-native-oysters-new-technique-shows-promise\">Olympia oysters\u003c/a> — the only native oyster on the West Coast of North America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001411\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hatchery-raised baby oysters growing atop clamshells sit in a bucket prior to being reintroduced to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group’s task was straightforward: measure each oyster, record its size and secure the shells to biodegradable stakes to carry to a nearby gravel bar. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once abundant along the West Coast, Olympia oysters formed reefs that filtered water for eelgrass, sheltered marine life like shrimp, crab, worms and juvenile fish and sustained Indigenous communities for thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Humans used to touch the oysters at this exact spot on low tides for millennia,” said Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator at \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/\">Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, those reefs have nearly disappeared. Scientists, conservation groups and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band are working together to bring them back to Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For at least 7,000 years, Indigenous peoples harvested Olympia oysters in Elkhorn Slough. By the 1920s, commercial harvesting, altered tidal flows and agricultural runoff drove the population into collapse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Levees and agricultural runoff leave parts of the estuary covered in thick mud, where young oysters struggle to survive, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-13-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jasmine Castro stakes clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them into the mud in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Amah Mutsun Tribal Band member Esak Ordoñez, the gathering was about much more than restoring shellfish.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s a special feeling to be able to come out here surrounded by our elders, our tribal community and friends to relearn this ancient practice of stewardship,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Olympia oysters are functionally extinct across much of California, existing only in scattered individuals rather than dense reefs. As of 2018, fewer than 1,000 oysters remained at Elkhorn Slough, putting the population on the brink of disappearance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bringing back a reef\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, Wasson and others at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve have worked to reverse that decline. Over the past decade, the effort has grown into a partnership with the \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/\">Amah Mutsun Land Trust\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/\">California Sea Grant\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/\">Moss Landing Marine Laboratories\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.org/en-us/\">The Nature Conservancy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The restoration strategy tackles two challenges at once.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>First, researchers are rebuilding oyster numbers through \u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/reserve/research/olympia-oysters-coastwide/\">conservation aquaculture\u003c/a>. At Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, scientists spawn local Olympia oysters in hatcheries, raising juveniles before transplanting them into the estuary, much like growing native plants in a greenhouse before restoring a prairie.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001417\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-17-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">As the tide comes in, Native Stewardship Corps members and tribal elders sing a blessing after helping to reintroduce baby oysters to Elkhorn Slough on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hatchery-raised oysters are grown until they’re about the size of a dime, then transplanted into the estuary during the summer, when survival rates are much higher. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scientists are also experimenting with where to place oysters along the shoreline, said Luke Gardner, research faculty and California Sea Grant aquaculture specialist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s a bit of a balance to find that optimum,” Gardner said. Oysters higher in the intertidal zone avoid competitors that can smother them but spend more time exposed to air, making them vulnerable during extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Climate change is another factor to consider. Gardner pointed to the Pacific Northwest’s 2021 “heat dome,” when extreme heat and unusually low tides exposed oysters to the sun, causing \u003ca href=\"https://environment.uw.edu/news/2022/06/new-study-2021-heat-wave-created-perfect-storm-for-shellfish-die-off/\">catastrophic die-offs\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The second challenge is rebuilding the habitat itself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During this summer’s restoration event, volunteers attached hatchery-raised oysters growing on recycled clam shells, many left behind by hungry sea otters, to biodegradable stakes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then they placed them on a gravel bar, mimicking how natural oyster reefs form. Wasson called the larvae “gregarious settlers.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“They like to settle where there’s existing oysters,” Wasson said. “By putting these out, we should be attracting more settlement to the area. It’s sort of a two-for-one.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Colonization transformed the estuary through levees, altered waterways and polluted runoff while simultaneously disrupting thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to recover the oysters and the people both,” Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Oysters are a really important pathway to build community and recover the tribe’s relationship with the landscape more broadly,” said Jacob Harris, coastal and oceans stewardship program manager at Amah Mutsun Land Trust. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001414\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-11-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Native Stewardship Corps member Esak Ordoñez Garcia (center) prepares clamshells with hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on them to be placed in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Through the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s \u003ca href=\"https://amlt.org/native-stewardship-corps\">Native Stewardship Corps\u003c/a>, Tribal members train in aquaculture, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration and more. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Ordoñez, the restoration is also about relearning how people once cared for the landscape. “Back then, our human presence worked with nature,” he said. “Now we’re impeding on nature.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phoebe Racine, estuarine project director at The Nature Conservancy, said the project reflects a broader effort to restore Indigenous stewardship throughout California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“As an indigenous person, it’s important for me to better steward the lands I live on,” Racine said. “Having tribal stewardship expand throughout California is critical to restoration work.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Signs of recovery\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since conservation aquaculture began in 2018, researchers have released hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised oysters into Elkhorn Slough. Scientists are now finding \u003ca href=\"https://library.elkhornslough.org/attachments/Harris_2024_Experiments_In_Conservation_Aquaculture.pdf\">increasing numbers of wild juvenile oysters settling naturally\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to see more wild recruitment. And we think that is a direct result of our intervention, which is just amazing,” Gardner said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The long-term goal is ambitious: to rebuild the estuary to 10 million oysters, enough to create self-sustaining reefs that can withstand changing environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001412\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/07/260701-NATIVE-OYSTER-RESTORATION-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elizabeth Rodriguez (center left) and Kerstin Wasson (center right) count the hatchery-raised baby oysters growing on a clamshell prior to placing the shell in Elkhorn Slough in an effort to reintroduce the oysters to the ecosystem on July 1, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Every reef creates a habitat for hundreds of small marine organisms that can make the entire estuary more resilient. But the biggest challenge is helping Californians recognize what has been lost, Wasson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Because native oyster reefs disappeared long before most people alive today were born, few realize California once had thriving oyster reefs in its own backyard, she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wasson calls it “generational amnesia,” which she first read about in an \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25588455/\">Australian paper on oyster reefs\u003c/a>. It’s the idea that people can’t miss an ecosystem that they never knew existed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After volunteers finished placing the oysters into the mud, everyone gathered on the boardwalk overlooking the estuary, while tribe members led the group in a traditional Indigenous song to honor and offer thanks to the Creator.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the tide slowly crept back over the gravel bar, the tiny oysters disappeared beneath the water. If enough survive, they’ll grow into clusters that attract the next generation of larvae, eventually building reefs that can sustain themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Iván Higuera-Mendieta had never experienced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">wildfire \u003c/a>season before arriving in California as a Stanford University Ph.D. student. Then, during a bike ride around Palo Alto in the summer of 2021, the Colombian-born researcher noticed what smelled like a neighborhood barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remarked to his colleagues how interesting it was that it smelled like wood outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recalls their response with a laugh: “People said, ‘Well, it’s fire season, dummy. You shouldn’t be outside. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969739/smoke-from-californias-record-wildfires-is-its-own-disaster\">It’s bad for you\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experience prompted Higuera-Mendieta to investigate a question that has become increasingly urgent in California: How can we reduce smoke from future wildfires?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research, published in the June 11 issue of \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> found that a sustained campaign of yearly prescribed burning — in line with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/12/31/california-certifies-statewide-programmatic-environmental-impact-review-to-protect-californians-from-catastrophic-wildfires/\">pre-existing state goals\u003c/a> — could reduce smoke severity during bad wildfire years by 25%. Averaged over a decade of good, normal and bad fire years, the net reduction in smoke pollution is about 10%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study, conducted with co-author Marshall Burke, examined two decades of fire and smoke data and provides the first large-scale estimate of how prescribed-fire-like burns influence future smoke exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that smoke is killing a lot of people. Any reduction in that is meaningful,” said Burke, \u003ca href=\"https://sustainability.stanford.edu/people/marshall-burke\">professor\u003c/a> in the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford and Higuera-Mendieta’s advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants in the prescribed burn add fuel to fires as part of a CAL-TREX prescribed burn in Berry Creek on Nov. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Andri Tambunan for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prescribed fire, or the intentional and cautious burning of land at low severity, is a smoke solution that comes with trade-offs. A prescribed burn produces its own smoke, so the net benefits to air pollution are felt during the next wildfire, which may be soon or may be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re not eliminating the problem,” Burke said. “But you’re making a meaningful dent in the problem, particularly in the worst years, and to me, that’s important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In past research, Burke’s group at Stanford has estimated that wildfire smoke will be the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972725/wildfire-smoke-could-be-the-main-way-californians-experience-climate-change\">key way most Californians\u003c/a> will feel the harmful effects of climate change. A drying, heating atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuel, is leading us to more severe wildfires, which are reversing decades of air quality improvements in California and across the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire smoke will kill an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056655/wildfire-smoke-could-kill-over-5000-californians-a-year-by-2050-study-shows\">70,000 Americans each year by 2050\u003c/a>, if the planet continues to warm at its current rate, according to research Burke and colleagues published last September.[aside postID=news_12086933 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-21603288801.jpg']California has set a goal of treating half a million acres annually with low-severity fire. The state is about 20% of the way towards that goal, depending on how you count the progress. But such fires don’t have unalloyed support from the public. Some people complain about the smoke they inevitably produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the implications of Burke and Higuera-Mendieta’s research is that policymakers who support prescribed fires should emphasize educating the public about the delayed benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A message to all of us living in California that we are probably going to have to tolerate some low-severity smoke during parts of the year when we’re not used to seeing it,” Burke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been putting out fires for a century. This has caused a big problem. We’ve got a warming climate, and these put us in a world of hard trade-offs. We just have to be clear-eyed about those trade-offs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the study, researchers mined decades of satellite readings, from data sources like the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. national parks and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Working in such a data-rich environment stood out to Higuera-Mendieta as one of the best things about studying a scientific problem in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wish people knew that part of America’s greatness is this investment in all the open data,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on earlier work done by Burke’s group, they used models to trace smoke detected by satellites to the originating fire. They could then simulate how much less smoke those fires would have produced if they’d been less severe because there was a history of prescribed fire in the area. They used natural low-severity fire as a proxy for prescribed fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996121\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo.jpg\" alt=\"A before and after picture of a small, one-story, nicely kept home, and the remains of it after it was burned down.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"990\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-800x396.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1020x505.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-160x79.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-768x380.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1536x760.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1920x950.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family home in Altadena, California, before and after the Eaton Fire ravaged the community. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Moreno family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A parallel, but not novel, finding was that low-severity fire reduced the chance of very severe fires in the area by more than 90%, with reductions trailing off over a decade. This finding is backed by a large body of pre-existing research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One interesting wrinkle was that the greatest benefits were found in conifer forests, the site of many of the most severe fires, but not all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But if you think of the L.A. fires,” Higuera-Mendieta said, “that’s a completely different animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Southern California’s brushy, chaparral landscapes, low-severity fires were not very protective from future fires and future smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to find solutions for that second half [of the state],” Higuera-Mendieta said. “I think that opens new research avenues for me, asking what interventions work for Southern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Iván Higuera-Mendieta had never experienced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/wildfires\">wildfire \u003c/a>season before arriving in California as a Stanford University Ph.D. student. Then, during a bike ride around Palo Alto in the summer of 2021, the Colombian-born researcher noticed what smelled like a neighborhood barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remarked to his colleagues how interesting it was that it smelled like wood outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recalls their response with a laugh: “People said, ‘Well, it’s fire season, dummy. You shouldn’t be outside. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969739/smoke-from-californias-record-wildfires-is-its-own-disaster\">It’s bad for you\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experience prompted Higuera-Mendieta to investigate a question that has become increasingly urgent in California: How can we reduce smoke from future wildfires?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research, published in the June 11 issue of \u003cem>Science,\u003c/em> found that a sustained campaign of yearly prescribed burning — in line with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2019/12/31/california-certifies-statewide-programmatic-environmental-impact-review-to-protect-californians-from-catastrophic-wildfires/\">pre-existing state goals\u003c/a> — could reduce smoke severity during bad wildfire years by 25%. Averaged over a decade of good, normal and bad fire years, the net reduction in smoke pollution is about 10%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study, conducted with co-author Marshall Burke, examined two decades of fire and smoke data and provides the first large-scale estimate of how prescribed-fire-like burns influence future smoke exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that smoke is killing a lot of people. Any reduction in that is meaningful,” said Burke, \u003ca href=\"https://sustainability.stanford.edu/people/marshall-burke\">professor\u003c/a> in the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford and Higuera-Mendieta’s advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/KQED_PRESCRIBED-BURN_AT_257_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants in the prescribed burn add fuel to fires as part of a CAL-TREX prescribed burn in Berry Creek on Nov. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Andri Tambunan for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prescribed fire, or the intentional and cautious burning of land at low severity, is a smoke solution that comes with trade-offs. A prescribed burn produces its own smoke, so the net benefits to air pollution are felt during the next wildfire, which may be soon or may be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re not eliminating the problem,” Burke said. “But you’re making a meaningful dent in the problem, particularly in the worst years, and to me, that’s important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In past research, Burke’s group at Stanford has estimated that wildfire smoke will be the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972725/wildfire-smoke-could-be-the-main-way-californians-experience-climate-change\">key way most Californians\u003c/a> will feel the harmful effects of climate change. A drying, heating atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuel, is leading us to more severe wildfires, which are reversing decades of air quality improvements in California and across the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire smoke will kill an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056655/wildfire-smoke-could-kill-over-5000-californians-a-year-by-2050-study-shows\">70,000 Americans each year by 2050\u003c/a>, if the planet continues to warm at its current rate, according to research Burke and colleagues published last September.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California has set a goal of treating half a million acres annually with low-severity fire. The state is about 20% of the way towards that goal, depending on how you count the progress. But such fires don’t have unalloyed support from the public. Some people complain about the smoke they inevitably produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the implications of Burke and Higuera-Mendieta’s research is that policymakers who support prescribed fires should emphasize educating the public about the delayed benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A message to all of us living in California that we are probably going to have to tolerate some low-severity smoke during parts of the year when we’re not used to seeing it,” Burke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been putting out fires for a century. This has caused a big problem. We’ve got a warming climate, and these put us in a world of hard trade-offs. We just have to be clear-eyed about those trade-offs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the study, researchers mined decades of satellite readings, from data sources like the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. national parks and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Working in such a data-rich environment stood out to Higuera-Mendieta as one of the best things about studying a scientific problem in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wish people knew that part of America’s greatness is this investment in all the open data,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on earlier work done by Burke’s group, they used models to trace smoke detected by satellites to the originating fire. They could then simulate how much less smoke those fires would have produced if they’d been less severe because there was a history of prescribed fire in the area. They used natural low-severity fire as a proxy for prescribed fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996121\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo.jpg\" alt=\"A before and after picture of a small, one-story, nicely kept home, and the remains of it after it was burned down.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"990\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-800x396.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1020x505.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-160x79.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-768x380.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1536x760.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/IMG_5331_duo-1920x950.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family home in Altadena, California, before and after the Eaton Fire ravaged the community. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Moreno family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A parallel, but not novel, finding was that low-severity fire reduced the chance of very severe fires in the area by more than 90%, with reductions trailing off over a decade. This finding is backed by a large body of pre-existing research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One interesting wrinkle was that the greatest benefits were found in conifer forests, the site of many of the most severe fires, but not all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But if you think of the L.A. fires,” Higuera-Mendieta said, “that’s a completely different animal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Southern California’s brushy, chaparral landscapes, low-severity fires were not very protective from future fires and future smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to find solutions for that second half [of the state],” Higuera-Mendieta said. “I think that opens new research avenues for me, asking what interventions work for Southern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-launches-sweeping-rules-aimed-at-cutting-plastic-packaging-waste",
"title": "California Launches Sweeping Rules Aimed at Cutting Plastic Packaging Waste",
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"headTitle": "California Launches Sweeping Rules Aimed at Cutting Plastic Packaging Waste | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the 1967 film \u003cem>The Graduate\u003c/em>, a businessman offers career advice to a young Dustin Hoffman with a single word: “Plastics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/climate\">plastics\u003c/a> were the future. Since then, as production has \u003ca href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution\">exploded worldwide\u003c/a>, scientists have found plastic pollution everywhere from Arctic ecosystems to human breast milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With global production projected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352550924002823#f0005\">triple in the next 25 years\u003c/a>, California is attempting something no state has done before: requiring producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging and take responsibility for the waste they create.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calrecycle.ca.gov/packaging/packaging-epr/\">Regulations are now rolling out\u003c/a> to make manufacturers responsible for reducing the amount of plastic they use, recycling currently single-use plastic and ensuring that all of their packaging is recyclable or compostable by 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulations, spurred by a state law signed in 2022, also require producers to pay into a fund to help clean up plastic pollution and restore ecosystems, focusing on low-income communities and rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The producers of a material should be responsible for the end-of-life costs to manage that material, not the local communities who pay for waste management and recycling,” state Sen. Ben Allen, the bill’s author, said while advocating for SB 54 on the floor of the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001237\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ben Allen, a California state senator, speaks during a forum for candidates for California insurance commissioner at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) in San Francisco on April 9, 2026. The event brought together candidates to discuss the state’s insurance market, including affordability and coverage challenges facing homeowners. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The SB 54 regulations approved last month will set step-by-step targets for packaging producers over the next several years: reduce single-use plastic 10% by 2027, 20% by 2030 and 25% by 2032; and recycle 30% of their single-use plastic by 2028; 40% by 2030 and 65% by 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, producers were required to submit baseline data about how much plastic packaging they produce to California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, which is administering the regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bigger than anything we’ve ever done at CalRecycle,” said Zoe Heller, the department’s director. “Right now about 40% by volume of what we’re sending to landfill is packaging. This is an opportunity for us to reduce that material that’s being sold into the state in a very meaningful way.”[aside postID=science_2001163 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/20260531-RENTERSELECTRIFY-JY-15-KQED.jpg']Some producers have warned that the regulations will increase food costs. While compliance will call for major investments and may increase the cost of packaged foods, \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/352/2025/07/2025-SB-54-Standardized-Regulatory-Impact-Assessment-063025-1.pdf\">a state analysis\u003c/a> (PDF) indicated Californians would save money overall — at a rate of about $2.50 for every additional dollar spent — by bearing less cleanup costs and avoiding illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many producers are working with the Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit set up to help them comply with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a webinar hosted by the CAA, plastic producers asked questions about the finer details of how to accurately measure the amount of packaging in products and requested that the organization advocate for more time to comply with deadlines, which was denied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t do anything about the implementation timelines,” said Shane Buckingham, chief of staff for the CAA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, meanwhile, have expressed concern with how the regulations were drawn up and announced Thursday they are suing CalRecycle in a San Francisco court, hoping to close workarounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The regulations create giant loopholes that undermine the law’s recycling and plastic reduction goals,” said Avi Kar, senior attorney and senior director for toxics at the Natural Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998283\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Resynergi facility, located in Rohnert Park’s SOMO Village, uses a process called pyrolysis in order to recycle plastic. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Resynergi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law is meant to exclude types of plastic recycling that produce significant amounts of hazardous waste. But according to the NRDC, lots of the chemical plastic recycling that should be exempted is allowed as long as the producer has a permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the regulations say as long as you have a permit, no matter how much hazardous waste you might produce, you’re okay under the regulations. And we think that’s inconsistent with the law,” Kar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NRDC joined Californians Against Waste Foundation and international advocacy coalition Oceana in filing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/2026-06/sb-54-loopholes-legal-petition.pdf\">complaint \u003c/a>on June 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CAA has until June 15 to submit a plan to the state detailing how its members will comply with the regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California is trying something no state has done before: requiring producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging, recycle more and take responsibility for the waste they create.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the 1967 film \u003cem>The Graduate\u003c/em>, a businessman offers career advice to a young Dustin Hoffman with a single word: “Plastics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/climate\">plastics\u003c/a> were the future. Since then, as production has \u003ca href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution\">exploded worldwide\u003c/a>, scientists have found plastic pollution everywhere from Arctic ecosystems to human breast milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With global production projected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352550924002823#f0005\">triple in the next 25 years\u003c/a>, California is attempting something no state has done before: requiring producers to dramatically reduce plastic packaging and take responsibility for the waste they create.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calrecycle.ca.gov/packaging/packaging-epr/\">Regulations are now rolling out\u003c/a> to make manufacturers responsible for reducing the amount of plastic they use, recycling currently single-use plastic and ensuring that all of their packaging is recyclable or compostable by 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulations, spurred by a state law signed in 2022, also require producers to pay into a fund to help clean up plastic pollution and restore ecosystems, focusing on low-income communities and rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The producers of a material should be responsible for the end-of-life costs to manage that material, not the local communities who pay for waste management and recycling,” state Sen. Ben Allen, the bill’s author, said while advocating for SB 54 on the floor of the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001237\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260409-InsuranceCandidateForum-12-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ben Allen, a California state senator, speaks during a forum for candidates for California insurance commissioner at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) in San Francisco on April 9, 2026. The event brought together candidates to discuss the state’s insurance market, including affordability and coverage challenges facing homeowners. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The SB 54 regulations approved last month will set step-by-step targets for packaging producers over the next several years: reduce single-use plastic 10% by 2027, 20% by 2030 and 25% by 2032; and recycle 30% of their single-use plastic by 2028; 40% by 2030 and 65% by 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, producers were required to submit baseline data about how much plastic packaging they produce to California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, which is administering the regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bigger than anything we’ve ever done at CalRecycle,” said Zoe Heller, the department’s director. “Right now about 40% by volume of what we’re sending to landfill is packaging. This is an opportunity for us to reduce that material that’s being sold into the state in a very meaningful way.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some producers have warned that the regulations will increase food costs. While compliance will call for major investments and may increase the cost of packaged foods, \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/352/2025/07/2025-SB-54-Standardized-Regulatory-Impact-Assessment-063025-1.pdf\">a state analysis\u003c/a> (PDF) indicated Californians would save money overall — at a rate of about $2.50 for every additional dollar spent — by bearing less cleanup costs and avoiding illness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many producers are working with the Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit set up to help them comply with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a webinar hosted by the CAA, plastic producers asked questions about the finer details of how to accurately measure the amount of packaging in products and requested that the organization advocate for more time to comply with deadlines, which was denied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t do anything about the implementation timelines,” said Shane Buckingham, chief of staff for the CAA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, meanwhile, have expressed concern with how the regulations were drawn up and announced Thursday they are suing CalRecycle in a San Francisco court, hoping to close workarounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The regulations create giant loopholes that undermine the law’s recycling and plastic reduction goals,” said Avi Kar, senior attorney and senior director for toxics at the Natural Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998283\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/RohnertParkProcessingPlant1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Resynergi facility, located in Rohnert Park’s SOMO Village, uses a process called pyrolysis in order to recycle plastic. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Resynergi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law is meant to exclude types of plastic recycling that produce significant amounts of hazardous waste. But according to the NRDC, lots of the chemical plastic recycling that should be exempted is allowed as long as the producer has a permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now, the regulations say as long as you have a permit, no matter how much hazardous waste you might produce, you’re okay under the regulations. And we think that’s inconsistent with the law,” Kar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NRDC joined Californians Against Waste Foundation and international advocacy coalition Oceana in filing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/2026-06/sb-54-loopholes-legal-petition.pdf\">complaint \u003c/a>on June 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CAA has until June 15 to submit a plan to the state detailing how its members will comply with the regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "patagonia-sued-pattie-gonia-now-fans-want-the-company-to-back-down",
"title": "Patagonia Sued Pattie Gonia. Now Fans Want the Company to Back Down",
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"content": "\u003cp>Climate drag fans have taken to social media demanding that Patagonia drop its trademark infringement lawsuit against \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997477/fishnets-and-fossil-fuels-meet-3-bay-area-climate-conscious-drag-artists\">drag artist\u003c/a> and environmental activist Pattie Gonia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Pattie Gonia filed a trademark application for exclusive rights to use her brand to sell merchandise and to promote activism and online marketing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a suit filed in January, outdoor company \u003ca href=\"https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2026/1/21/protecting-our-brand-update-on-trademark-activity\">Patagonia said\u003c/a> that Pattie Gonia violated a previous agreement regarding the use of its name and logo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the artist, who goes by Wyn Wiley out of drag, said in a social media \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pattiegonia/reel/DY2L725tVow/\">video\u003c/a> that the suit is about “a corporation trying to erase an activist.” Trademark experts, who acknowledged both sides, said Pattie Gonia is facing an uphill battle. But they said that the case is likely the first of many to come involving influencers and celebrities defending themselves as brands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pattiegonia.net/patagonia-open-letter\">open letter\u003c/a> on Wednesday, Pattie Gonia implored Patagonia to drop the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a betrayal of Patagonia’s core mission,” Pattie Gonia said. “Because if they’re in business to save the home planet, why are they suing a climate activist?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001129\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001129\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks past the American outdoor clothing brand company Patagonia store. \u003ccite>(Sebastian Ng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pattie Gonia advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusivity and the protection of public land and the environment. In 2023, she started her nationwide climate drag show, Save Her, in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has employed Bay Area drag artists, raised $3.7 million for environmental causes, and has been recognized on the 2025 National Geographic 33 list, which honors people creating solutions to environmental issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Patagonia wants to celebrate Pride Month this year by taking a queer climate activist to federal court, then I’m here to fight for myself, and I am here to fight for us,” Pattie Gonia said.[aside postID=science_1997477 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/06/20250604_ClimateDrag_GC-5_qed.jpg']Patagonia told KQED in a statement that it spent years trying to reach an agreement “that would allow Pattie Gonia to continue their work while also protecting the Patagonia trademark.” Officials said the efforts included multiple proposals, dialogue and “genuine efforts to avoid ending up in court.” But the two parties have not yet reached an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want Pattie to have a long and successful career and make progress on issues that matter – but in a way that respects Patagonia’s intellectual property,” Patagonia officials wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patagonia is seeking $1 in damages and legal fees. Officials wrote that it’s “not about seeking financial gain” or “challenging anyone’s identity or right to advocacy, protest, or creative expression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last thing we wanted was a legal fight with someone who shares our values, but we must protect our business and employees, the officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Pattie Gonia said that the lawsuit makes one thing clear: the company is “willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to grind me down so far that I can’t continue to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s not necessarily a good look for them to be suing her’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patagonia’s lawsuit states that Pattie Gonia’s products “compete directly” with Patagonia’s products and brand “in a way that has already confused consumers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company wrote that “it supports advocacy and activism that promote the environment and inclusion in the outdoors.” But Patagonia officials said that they “repeatedly communicated with Pattie Gonia” and in the past “reached agreement about how that advocacy work might continue in a way that would not interfere with Patagonia’s brand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patagonia alleges that Pattie Gonia violated their agreement by seeking “exclusive ownership of a PATTIE GONIA trademark to commercialize products, endorsements, marketing campaigns, and advocacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pattie Gonia, right, and Cynthia Erivo, left, are seen during the Out100 Event 2024 at NeueHouse Hollywood on Dec. 11, 2024, in Hollywood, California. \u003ccite>(Presley Ann/Getty Images for Out.com/equalpride)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Victoria Schwartz, a professor of law at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, said the case is “incredibly interesting” because the company isn’t trying to get Pattie Gonia to change her name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strongest evidence of that, which is very unusual, is that [Patagonia] only asked for $1 in damages,” Schwartz said. “It’s almost a way of signaling we’re not trying to come after you for money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Schwartz said, the company is sending a PR signal that it wants a court order to prevent Pattie Gonia from using branding that resembles its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not necessarily a good look for them to be suing her,” Schwartz said. But the company is arguing “she’s crossed the line by selling merchandise and by trying to register the trademark herself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the case doesn’t settle, Schwartz expects an expensive, lengthy case because it will take time to determine which party is in the clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>While I do think Pattie Gonia has an uphill battle, there are so many factors in the test that these are not the kind of cases that get resolved cheaply and easily,” Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartz said the suit is part of a larger story in which people — including celebrities and influencers — are filing trademarks for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is going to be the first of many lawsuits where traditional brands are coming up against influencers who are going to be using trademarks,” Schwartz said. “Not in the way that Patagonia the company does trademarks for goods and services, but essentially they themselves are the brand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patagonia logos are seen on a hanger and on a sweater in the store in Krakow, Poland, on Sept. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tyler Ochoa, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, said the dispute could go to a jury trial to decide whether consumers are confused, but said the company will push for a judge to decide the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Interestingly, both parties claim to be interested in the environment and in safeguarding it,” Ochoa said. “Ironically, that makes it harder for Pattie Gonia, the drag artist, to prevail in the lawsuit because it makes her merchandise overlap in the marketplace with Patagonia’s merchandise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said the lawsuit might push both sides to bend a little for a mutual outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sounds like they are willing to let her use [Pattie Gonia] as her drag queen name without opposition if there is no merchandise involved,” Ochoa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ochoa also said that there is a world where the injunction “might be broad enough to keep her from using the name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "Patagonia Sued Pattie Gonia. Now Fans Want the Company to Back Down",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Climate drag fans have taken to social media demanding that Patagonia drop its trademark infringement lawsuit against \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997477/fishnets-and-fossil-fuels-meet-3-bay-area-climate-conscious-drag-artists\">drag artist\u003c/a> and environmental activist Pattie Gonia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Pattie Gonia filed a trademark application for exclusive rights to use her brand to sell merchandise and to promote activism and online marketing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a suit filed in January, outdoor company \u003ca href=\"https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2026/1/21/protecting-our-brand-update-on-trademark-activity\">Patagonia said\u003c/a> that Pattie Gonia violated a previous agreement regarding the use of its name and logo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the artist, who goes by Wyn Wiley out of drag, said in a social media \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pattiegonia/reel/DY2L725tVow/\">video\u003c/a> that the suit is about “a corporation trying to erase an activist.” Trademark experts, who acknowledged both sides, said Pattie Gonia is facing an uphill battle. But they said that the case is likely the first of many to come involving influencers and celebrities defending themselves as brands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pattiegonia.net/patagonia-open-letter\">open letter\u003c/a> on Wednesday, Pattie Gonia implored Patagonia to drop the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a betrayal of Patagonia’s core mission,” Pattie Gonia said. “Because if they’re in business to save the home planet, why are they suing a climate activist?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001129\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001129\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2210426372-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks past the American outdoor clothing brand company Patagonia store. \u003ccite>(Sebastian Ng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pattie Gonia advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusivity and the protection of public land and the environment. In 2023, she started her nationwide climate drag show, Save Her, in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has employed Bay Area drag artists, raised $3.7 million for environmental causes, and has been recognized on the 2025 National Geographic 33 list, which honors people creating solutions to environmental issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Patagonia wants to celebrate Pride Month this year by taking a queer climate activist to federal court, then I’m here to fight for myself, and I am here to fight for us,” Pattie Gonia said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Patagonia told KQED in a statement that it spent years trying to reach an agreement “that would allow Pattie Gonia to continue their work while also protecting the Patagonia trademark.” Officials said the efforts included multiple proposals, dialogue and “genuine efforts to avoid ending up in court.” But the two parties have not yet reached an agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want Pattie to have a long and successful career and make progress on issues that matter – but in a way that respects Patagonia’s intellectual property,” Patagonia officials wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patagonia is seeking $1 in damages and legal fees. Officials wrote that it’s “not about seeking financial gain” or “challenging anyone’s identity or right to advocacy, protest, or creative expression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last thing we wanted was a legal fight with someone who shares our values, but we must protect our business and employees, the officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Pattie Gonia said that the lawsuit makes one thing clear: the company is “willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to grind me down so far that I can’t continue to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s not necessarily a good look for them to be suing her’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patagonia’s lawsuit states that Pattie Gonia’s products “compete directly” with Patagonia’s products and brand “in a way that has already confused consumers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company wrote that “it supports advocacy and activism that promote the environment and inclusion in the outdoors.” But Patagonia officials said that they “repeatedly communicated with Pattie Gonia” and in the past “reached agreement about how that advocacy work might continue in a way that would not interfere with Patagonia’s brand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patagonia alleges that Pattie Gonia violated their agreement by seeking “exclusive ownership of a PATTIE GONIA trademark to commercialize products, endorsements, marketing campaigns, and advocacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-2189516253-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pattie Gonia, right, and Cynthia Erivo, left, are seen during the Out100 Event 2024 at NeueHouse Hollywood on Dec. 11, 2024, in Hollywood, California. \u003ccite>(Presley Ann/Getty Images for Out.com/equalpride)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Victoria Schwartz, a professor of law at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, said the case is “incredibly interesting” because the company isn’t trying to get Pattie Gonia to change her name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strongest evidence of that, which is very unusual, is that [Patagonia] only asked for $1 in damages,” Schwartz said. “It’s almost a way of signaling we’re not trying to come after you for money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Schwartz said, the company is sending a PR signal that it wants a court order to prevent Pattie Gonia from using branding that resembles its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not necessarily a good look for them to be suing her,” Schwartz said. But the company is arguing “she’s crossed the line by selling merchandise and by trying to register the trademark herself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the case doesn’t settle, Schwartz expects an expensive, lengthy case because it will take time to determine which party is in the clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>While I do think Pattie Gonia has an uphill battle, there are so many factors in the test that these are not the kind of cases that get resolved cheaply and easily,” Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartz said the suit is part of a larger story in which people — including celebrities and influencers — are filing trademarks for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is going to be the first of many lawsuits where traditional brands are coming up against influencers who are going to be using trademarks,” Schwartz said. “Not in the way that Patagonia the company does trademarks for goods and services, but essentially they themselves are the brand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/GettyImages-1243274789-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patagonia logos are seen on a hanger and on a sweater in the store in Krakow, Poland, on Sept. 16, 2022. \u003ccite>(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tyler Ochoa, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, said the dispute could go to a jury trial to decide whether consumers are confused, but said the company will push for a judge to decide the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Interestingly, both parties claim to be interested in the environment and in safeguarding it,” Ochoa said. “Ironically, that makes it harder for Pattie Gonia, the drag artist, to prevail in the lawsuit because it makes her merchandise overlap in the marketplace with Patagonia’s merchandise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said the lawsuit might push both sides to bend a little for a mutual outcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sounds like they are willing to let her use [Pattie Gonia] as her drag queen name without opposition if there is no merchandise involved,” Ochoa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ochoa also said that there is a world where the injunction “might be broad enough to keep her from using the name.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Scientists Worry El Niño Could Supercharge Marine Heat Wave Roiling Coastal California",
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"headTitle": "Scientists Worry El Niño Could Supercharge Marine Heat Wave Roiling Coastal California | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a recent plunge into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028741/rare-video-captures-super-pod-of-2000-dolphins-breaching-playing-off-monterey-coast\">Monterey Bay\u003c/a>, Dr. Anita Giraldo Ospina noticed the water was oddly warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It definitely feels comfortable, let’s put it that way,” said Giraldo Ospina, principal investigator of coastal ecosystems at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059734/monterey-bay-aquarium-revives-30-year-old-otter-tee-worn-by-taylor-swift\">Monterey Bay Aquarium\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of ongoing research projects into how kelp species are repopulating the area. She collects \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kelp \u003c/span>spores and tiny baby urchin from glass slides and rectangular broom heads anchored to the seafloor and stores them in plastic bags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looks pretty green down there,” Giraldo Ospina said. “We try to keep all the water in the bag because that’s where larvae settle into the brushes and that might be what’s floating in the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Baby kelp need cold, nutrient rich water to mature into tall, strong adult stipes. \u003c/span> Giraldo Ospina worries that a massive, ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://omny.fm/shows/kqed-segmented-audio/a-heat-wave-in-the-pacific-ocean-is-killing-birds-on-cas-coast\">marine heat wave\u003c/a>, which has already raised coastal waters \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/west-coast-waters-experiencing-another-large-marine-heatwave\">by 3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit\u003c/a>, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">could disrupt efforts to regrow kelp forests vital to the Monterey Bay ecosystem, depending on how warm it becomes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001054\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001054\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conservation science director April Ridlon (left) and research scientist Dr. Anita Giraldo Ospina look at the Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. The exhibit is modeled after the kelp forests found along the Monterey Bay coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have seen kelp recovering, and we don’t know if that trend is going to continue, if we continue to have these warm waters,” Giraldo Ospina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the seventh marine heat wave in seven years and could be amplified by a developing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083376/an-incoming-super-el-nino-may-bring-california-a-wet-hot-winter\">super El Niño\u003c/a>, which has the potential to raise sea surface temperatures even higher. This combined influence could disrupt ecosystems, harm or kill local marine life and attract other species north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With El Niño, the fear is that the kelp that persisted [past the marine heat wave] may now decline, and recovering kelp may not get a chance to get back to what they were before,” Giraldo Ospina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘More dead birds than living ones being found’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even a few degrees of warming can set an ecosystem out of whack and lead to the die-off of almost entire populations. As of May 20, the International Bird Rescue in Fairfield has treated \u003ca href=\"https://www.birdrescue.org/2026-california-starvation-event/\">288 starving birds\u003c/a>, including brown pelicans, cormorants and common murres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are the same birds people are reporting finding dead on beaches, especially in Southern California, but now in Northern California as well,” said JD Bergeron, the group’s CEO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001051\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001051\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelp floats in a kelp forest in Monterey Bay outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bergeron said one theory is that small schooling fish — favorite food for shore birds — are seeking colder water deeper in the ocean, beyond the birds’ reach. So they do not have enough food to eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have had very regular concerns with brown pelican starvation events, but this one does feel a little bit different,” Bergeron said. “We’re seeing a lot more dead birds than living ones being found.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A marine heat wave off the coast of California forms when southerly winds from a semi-permanent area of high pressure weaken between Hawaii and the state.[aside postID=news_12068644 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/MarinCountyFloodingAP.jpg']The winds normally help cool the top layer of the ocean through evaporation and by mixing it with deep, cold water. Without the wind, this thin top layer warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current ocean warming \u003ca href=\"https://www.integratedecosystemassessment.noaa.gov/regions/california-current/california-current-marine-heatwave-tracker-blobtracker\">began last May\u003c/a> near Eastern Asia and spread across the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some waters have had little break since mid-2025, with more than 200 days of elevated temperatures, according to researchers with Climate Central, who said \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index-alert/severe-marine-heatwave-climate-change-California-Mexico\">human-caused climate change has significantly intensified the marine heat wave\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up to 45% of the ocean impacted “is experiencing conditions that are at least six times more likely due to human-caused warming,” Climate Central said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without climate change, they wrote, the heat wave’s footprint would be 36% smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How could El Niño make the marine heat wave worse?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>An El Niño event can weaken winds and slow the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water, which could further intensify the marine heat wave. Without that strong mixing, warm water lingers at the surface, causing temperatures to spike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the ingredients are there for a strong El Niño,” said Tom Di Liberto, media director and climate scientist with Climate Central. “If you’re making cookies, you’ve already mixed the dough, but haven’t baked them yet. We still have to wait to see if, in the summer months, these cookies get put in the oven to see if we have that strong El Niño form.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001055\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001055\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, on May 19, 2026, modeled after the kelp forests found along the Monterey Bay coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, said in a recent live-streamed office hours series that while El Niño is not directly related to the marine heat wave, “later this year, it’s actually quite likely that El Niño will reinforce this tropical warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because El Niño refers to the “sloshing of water from the tropics to the Eastern Pacific it can and does impact sea surface temperatures along the California coast,” said Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can even result in very different species of fish appearing off the coast here as the upwelling shuts down,” Gershunov said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘They’re in a really, really fragile state’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If waters get even warmer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave\">jellyfish, crabs, dolphins, sea turtles\u003c/a> and other species could move into colder habitats, said \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. \u003c/span>April Ridlon, director of science for the U.S. Ocean Conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more we change the ecosystems, the more possible it is for those warm water species not just to arrive every once in a while and be a novelty and a news article, but for the fundamental composition of the ecosystems to change over time because the warm waters just don’t stop,” Ridlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ridlon said the current marine heat wave reminds her of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1123047/the-blob-is-back-what-warm-ocean-mass-means-for-weather-wildlife\">The Blob\u003c/a>,” a warming event that ended about a decade ago. It decimated about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\">60% of kelp\u003c/a> along the Central Coast and nearly all of the kelp off the coast of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001057\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins and giant kelp sit in a touch pool in the Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Warming water accelerates the metabolism of \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/11/14/even-moderate-heat-waves-depress-sea-urchin-reproduction-along-the-pacific-coast/\">purple urchins\u003c/a>, causing the marine animal to voraciously devour kelp forests. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even after the kelp disappears, they can survive as “zombie urchins” in a low-energy state, said Daniel Okamoto, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can sit there for decades and just hang out,” Okamoto said. “Anytime the kelp tries to come back, they have the potential to graze it down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also worried about red abalone, whose populations have declined by up to 95% off California’s North Coast. Unlike urchins, they can’t survive in starvation mode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001052\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001052\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelp floats in a kelp forest in Monterey Bay outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re in a really, really fragile state,” Okamoto said. “The impending marine heat wave may cause some additional harm on top of what’s already been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunflower sea stars nearly vanished off the California coast when an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/falling-stars\">ocean warming\u003c/a> event accelerated the effects of a marine plant disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t even think anybody really appreciated their importance until they were gone,” Okamoto said. It was the “equivalent of their global pandemic that wiped out most of those organisms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A widespread marine heat wave and brewing El Niño could further threaten California kelp, sea birds and marine ecosystems.",
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"title": "Scientists Worry El Niño Could Supercharge Marine Heat Wave Roiling Coastal California | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent plunge into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028741/rare-video-captures-super-pod-of-2000-dolphins-breaching-playing-off-monterey-coast\">Monterey Bay\u003c/a>, Dr. Anita Giraldo Ospina noticed the water was oddly warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It definitely feels comfortable, let’s put it that way,” said Giraldo Ospina, principal investigator of coastal ecosystems at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059734/monterey-bay-aquarium-revives-30-year-old-otter-tee-worn-by-taylor-swift\">Monterey Bay Aquarium\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of ongoing research projects into how kelp species are repopulating the area. She collects \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kelp \u003c/span>spores and tiny baby urchin from glass slides and rectangular broom heads anchored to the seafloor and stores them in plastic bags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looks pretty green down there,” Giraldo Ospina said. “We try to keep all the water in the bag because that’s where larvae settle into the brushes and that might be what’s floating in the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Baby kelp need cold, nutrient rich water to mature into tall, strong adult stipes. \u003c/span> Giraldo Ospina worries that a massive, ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://omny.fm/shows/kqed-segmented-audio/a-heat-wave-in-the-pacific-ocean-is-killing-birds-on-cas-coast\">marine heat wave\u003c/a>, which has already raised coastal waters \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/west-coast-waters-experiencing-another-large-marine-heatwave\">by 3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit\u003c/a>, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">could disrupt efforts to regrow kelp forests vital to the Monterey Bay ecosystem, depending on how warm it becomes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001054\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001054\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-14-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conservation science director April Ridlon (left) and research scientist Dr. Anita Giraldo Ospina look at the Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. The exhibit is modeled after the kelp forests found along the Monterey Bay coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have seen kelp recovering, and we don’t know if that trend is going to continue, if we continue to have these warm waters,” Giraldo Ospina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the seventh marine heat wave in seven years and could be amplified by a developing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083376/an-incoming-super-el-nino-may-bring-california-a-wet-hot-winter\">super El Niño\u003c/a>, which has the potential to raise sea surface temperatures even higher. This combined influence could disrupt ecosystems, harm or kill local marine life and attract other species north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With El Niño, the fear is that the kelp that persisted [past the marine heat wave] may now decline, and recovering kelp may not get a chance to get back to what they were before,” Giraldo Ospina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘More dead birds than living ones being found’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even a few degrees of warming can set an ecosystem out of whack and lead to the die-off of almost entire populations. As of May 20, the International Bird Rescue in Fairfield has treated \u003ca href=\"https://www.birdrescue.org/2026-california-starvation-event/\">288 starving birds\u003c/a>, including brown pelicans, cormorants and common murres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are the same birds people are reporting finding dead on beaches, especially in Southern California, but now in Northern California as well,” said JD Bergeron, the group’s CEO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001051\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001051\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-02-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelp floats in a kelp forest in Monterey Bay outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bergeron said one theory is that small schooling fish — favorite food for shore birds — are seeking colder water deeper in the ocean, beyond the birds’ reach. So they do not have enough food to eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have had very regular concerns with brown pelican starvation events, but this one does feel a little bit different,” Bergeron said. “We’re seeing a lot more dead birds than living ones being found.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A marine heat wave off the coast of California forms when southerly winds from a semi-permanent area of high pressure weaken between Hawaii and the state.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The winds normally help cool the top layer of the ocean through evaporation and by mixing it with deep, cold water. Without the wind, this thin top layer warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current ocean warming \u003ca href=\"https://www.integratedecosystemassessment.noaa.gov/regions/california-current/california-current-marine-heatwave-tracker-blobtracker\">began last May\u003c/a> near Eastern Asia and spread across the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some waters have had little break since mid-2025, with more than 200 days of elevated temperatures, according to researchers with Climate Central, who said \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index-alert/severe-marine-heatwave-climate-change-California-Mexico\">human-caused climate change has significantly intensified the marine heat wave\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up to 45% of the ocean impacted “is experiencing conditions that are at least six times more likely due to human-caused warming,” Climate Central said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without climate change, they wrote, the heat wave’s footprint would be 36% smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How could El Niño make the marine heat wave worse?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>An El Niño event can weaken winds and slow the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water, which could further intensify the marine heat wave. Without that strong mixing, warm water lingers at the surface, causing temperatures to spike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the ingredients are there for a strong El Niño,” said Tom Di Liberto, media director and climate scientist with Climate Central. “If you’re making cookies, you’ve already mixed the dough, but haven’t baked them yet. We still have to wait to see if, in the summer months, these cookies get put in the oven to see if we have that strong El Niño form.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001055\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001055\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, on May 19, 2026, modeled after the kelp forests found along the Monterey Bay coast. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, said in a recent live-streamed office hours series that while El Niño is not directly related to the marine heat wave, “later this year, it’s actually quite likely that El Niño will reinforce this tropical warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because El Niño refers to the “sloshing of water from the tropics to the Eastern Pacific it can and does impact sea surface temperatures along the California coast,” said Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can even result in very different species of fish appearing off the coast here as the upwelling shuts down,” Gershunov said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘They’re in a really, really fragile state’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If waters get even warmer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave\">jellyfish, crabs, dolphins, sea turtles\u003c/a> and other species could move into colder habitats, said \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. \u003c/span>April Ridlon, director of science for the U.S. Ocean Conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more we change the ecosystems, the more possible it is for those warm water species not just to arrive every once in a while and be a novelty and a news article, but for the fundamental composition of the ecosystems to change over time because the warm waters just don’t stop,” Ridlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ridlon said the current marine heat wave reminds her of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1123047/the-blob-is-back-what-warm-ocean-mass-means-for-weather-wildlife\">The Blob\u003c/a>,” a warming event that ended about a decade ago. It decimated about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\">60% of kelp\u003c/a> along the Central Coast and nearly all of the kelp off the coast of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001057\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MarineHeatwave-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins and giant kelp sit in a touch pool in the Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Warming water accelerates the metabolism of \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/11/14/even-moderate-heat-waves-depress-sea-urchin-reproduction-along-the-pacific-coast/\">purple urchins\u003c/a>, causing the marine animal to voraciously devour kelp forests. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even after the kelp disappears, they can survive as “zombie urchins” in a low-energy state, said Daniel Okamoto, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can sit there for decades and just hang out,” Okamoto said. “Anytime the kelp tries to come back, they have the potential to graze it down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also worried about red abalone, whose populations have declined by up to 95% off California’s North Coast. Unlike urchins, they can’t survive in starvation mode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2001052\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2001052\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260519-MARINEHEATWAVE-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelp floats in a kelp forest in Monterey Bay outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re in a really, really fragile state,” Okamoto said. “The impending marine heat wave may cause some additional harm on top of what’s already been done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunflower sea stars nearly vanished off the California coast when an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/falling-stars\">ocean warming\u003c/a> event accelerated the effects of a marine plant disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t even think anybody really appreciated their importance until they were gone,” Okamoto said. It was the “equivalent of their global pandemic that wiped out most of those organisms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Fire risk experts cautioned California lawmakers this week that the state needs to change course to both survive and bounce back from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021019/la-fires-threaten-california-insurance-market-stability-housing-costs\">wildfires\u003c/a> and other natural catastrophes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the state Capitol on Tuesday, Nancy Watkins, an actuary at financial adviser Milliman who specializes in fire risk and insurance, counseled lawmakers that the state needs to stop “nibbling around the edges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody is going to save California from our decisions,” she said. “The state has to really step in and be more strategic about how to make things happen faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-leader-taps-senators-becker-and-padilla-advance-effort-wildfire-recovery-and-energy\">statement on \u003c/a>Wednesday, state Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, and Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said they would study the report’s findings and develop a plan to help strengthen recovery efforts and protect residents from rising energy and insurance costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This work is essential,” Becker said. “We must advance reforms that protect access to insurance, lower costs, support wildfire resilience, and provide fair outcomes for those impacted — while ensuring our utilities are both accountable for safety and financially stable enough to attract low-cost capital on behalf of ratepayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires over the past decade have driven up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">home insurance \u003c/a>rates and made coverage harder to obtain in many parts of California. In response, the state has invested heavily in firefighting capacity, early fire-detection technology and vegetation management. But Watkins told legislators those efforts alone are not enough.[aside postID=science_2000680 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/480270735_qed-1020x680.jpg']“The buildup of wildfire risk is a state and a local issue. It’s arising from climate change, it also arises from decades of decisions that we’ve made on land use, building, fire suppression, and decades of regulatory decisions,” Watkins said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watkins said the state should focus more heavily on making communities less vulnerable to wildfire by making them less ready to burn, rather than relying primarily on detecting and extinguishing fires quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot address this problem through ignition reduction, fuel reduction, or fire suppression, and we definitely can’t get it just through early detection. This all has to include home hardening and defensible space within communities at a much, much greater scale than has been done,” Watkins said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watkins recently co-authored an\u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/state-wildfire-mitigation-framework-measure-twice-cut-once\"> article\u003c/a> with Michael Wara of the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University and Dave Winnacker, wildfire policy adviser of the Western Fire Chiefs Association, which outlined a roadmap for reducing wildfire risk in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, Watkins said the paper was intended to give policymakers “explicit, tangible steps” to better protect communities and reduce the state’s growing wildfire exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Fire risk experts cautioned California lawmakers this week that the state needs to change course to both survive and bounce back from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021019/la-fires-threaten-california-insurance-market-stability-housing-costs\">wildfires\u003c/a> and other natural catastrophes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the state Capitol on Tuesday, Nancy Watkins, an actuary at financial adviser Milliman who specializes in fire risk and insurance, counseled lawmakers that the state needs to stop “nibbling around the edges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody is going to save California from our decisions,” she said. “The state has to really step in and be more strategic about how to make things happen faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-leader-taps-senators-becker-and-padilla-advance-effort-wildfire-recovery-and-energy\">statement on \u003c/a>Wednesday, state Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, and Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said they would study the report’s findings and develop a plan to help strengthen recovery efforts and protect residents from rising energy and insurance costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This work is essential,” Becker said. “We must advance reforms that protect access to insurance, lower costs, support wildfire resilience, and provide fair outcomes for those impacted — while ensuring our utilities are both accountable for safety and financially stable enough to attract low-cost capital on behalf of ratepayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires over the past decade have driven up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985175/insurance-in-california-is-changing-heres-how-it-may-affect-you\">home insurance \u003c/a>rates and made coverage harder to obtain in many parts of California. In response, the state has invested heavily in firefighting capacity, early fire-detection technology and vegetation management. But Watkins told legislators those efforts alone are not enough.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The buildup of wildfire risk is a state and a local issue. It’s arising from climate change, it also arises from decades of decisions that we’ve made on land use, building, fire suppression, and decades of regulatory decisions,” Watkins said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watkins said the state should focus more heavily on making communities less vulnerable to wildfire by making them less ready to burn, rather than relying primarily on detecting and extinguishing fires quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot address this problem through ignition reduction, fuel reduction, or fire suppression, and we definitely can’t get it just through early detection. This all has to include home hardening and defensible space within communities at a much, much greater scale than has been done,” Watkins said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watkins recently co-authored an\u003ca href=\"https://www.milliman.com/en/insight/state-wildfire-mitigation-framework-measure-twice-cut-once\"> article\u003c/a> with Michael Wara of the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University and Dave Winnacker, wildfire policy adviser of the Western Fire Chiefs Association, which outlined a roadmap for reducing wildfire risk in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, Watkins said the paper was intended to give policymakers “explicit, tangible steps” to better protect communities and reduce the state’s growing wildfire exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-bay-area-libraries-are-helping-residents-switch-from-gas-to-induction-cooking",
"title": "How Bay Area Libraries Are Helping Residents Switch From Gas to Induction Cooking",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>California is transitioning to clean energy. KQED is reporting on what that means for you. What works? What doesn’t? How much does it cost? Help us find these answers and more by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://donate.kqed.org/sojo?ms=W2510EANXXXX22\">\u003cem>donating today\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mirella Bucci cooked on a gas stove her whole life. She connected it to her family’s Italian cooking traditions and the way she grew up. Bucci thought its heat control was unmatched. Until she tried an induction cooktop for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom and these influential people in my cooking world have always used gas,” Bucci said. She remembers her mom’s big pot of tomato sauce simmering above a low flame; Bucci and her two siblings would eat it with pasta every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bucci long believed the industry standard, that only gas provided the precision “top chefs” require. But, as an adult, Bucci grew curious about induction as she considered replacing her gas stove as part of a home electrification project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had heard professional chefs still relied on gas in restaurants, but that some used induction at home because it was faster and easier to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she was skeptical. Bucci, who works at the Stanford School of Medicine helping biomedical research labs apply for federal funding, has lived in San Mateo County for nearly 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She didn’t know anyone personally who used induction cooking. So she checked one out from San Mateo City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An induction stove available for check out at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within days, her doubts faded. Water boiled faster than she expected. The stove’s surface didn’t remain too hot for too long. And the temperature control felt more precise. “The induction made things easier,” Bucci said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That mattered to Bucci, whose cooking is deeply tied to her family’s heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cooks seafood risotto, squid-ink pasta, lobster macaroni, scallops with wedges of grapefruit, and other seafood dishes for the Italian-American “Feast of Seven Fishes” Christmas Eve traditional meal. For years, she believed those meals required cooking over a flame.[aside postID=science_2000835 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-62-BL_qed.jpg']“You can cook something really hot and get those grill lines on your meat or your vegetables,” Bucci said. “That’s kind of an advantage too, with the induction, is that it gets really hot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the Bay Area, libraries and other civic institutions now offer induction cooktop kits like the one Bucci borrowed, giving residents a free, low-risk way to try an alternative to gas cooking. The loaner programs are part of a broader push by Bay Area municipalities and climate advocates to reduce household emissions from gas appliances and improve indoor air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas and propane stoves are a major source of pollution in U.S. households. A \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/12/pgaf341/8361964?login=false\">2025 study\u003c/a> found that for homes using these fuels, cooking accounts for a quarter of their total exposure to nitrogen dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a serious health concern because nitrogen dioxide is a well-known trigger for asthma, meaning that simply preparing meals can contribute to a person’s long-term health risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many households, switching isn’t simple. Full stove replacements can cost thousands of dollars, and even portable units, typically between $50 and $200, can feel like a financial risk if people aren’t sure they’ll like the technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The library as a climate outreach space\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The induction cooktop loaner program in San Mateo that Bucci participated in began at City Hall but moved into the public library’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/4621/Technology-Lending\">technology lending program\u003c/a> in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Jung, a supervising library assistant in San Mateo, said the induction cooktops are a natural extension of the library’s mission. “Libraries are a well-respected pillar of knowledge in the community,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000971\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000971\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Jung, supervising library assistant, poses for a portrait at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lending program includes everything from keyboards and synthesizers for musicians to microcontrollers for hobbyists. Jung said the program’s two induction cooktops are in high demand. “Patrons have given me positive feedback. They’re really happy that they can test it out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civic groups offer the cooktops as part of their local climate goals, said Andrea Chow, a sustainability analyst with the city. In San Mateo, buildings account for a portion \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcsustainability.org/greenhouse-gas-reduction/ccap/building-energy/\">of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>, which come primarily from the use of gas in residential and commercial buildings. Especially in unincorporated areas, where they are the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions at 32%. “Decarbonizing existing buildings is a huge priority for our city,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyvale Public Library started a similar program in 2019. The library has 14 cooktops available and averages 100 checkouts per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000972\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People use the communal spaces at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Madeline Khair, environmental programs manager within Sunnyvale’s environmental services department, said the library is expanding its sustainability section to include solar panels, rechargeable batteries and emergency kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partners at the library have always been really supportive of the climate action plan and sustainability goals,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city of Sunnyvale aims to reduce overall community greenhouse gas emissions by \u003ca href=\"https://sunnyvaleclimateaction.org/scoreboard\">56% from 1990 levels by 2030\u003c/a>, according to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/1066/638606111674670000\">climate action playbook\u003c/a>. This target is more aggressive than \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/climate-dashboard/\">California’s 40% reduction goal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the loaner program offers a pathway for people interested in trying induction cooktops for free, some libraries carry only a handful of kits and have waitlists to check them out. And replacing a stove can still be expensive. Costs can range from $2,000 to $8,000, or even more. Some households may need electrical upgrades to switch completely away from gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the research says about gas stoves and indoor air\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About a year and a half after trying a loaner, San Mateo resident Mike Driscoll and his wife made the switch. They discovered one benefit they did not expect: a cleaner home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With gas, there was always a little layer of grease on nearby surfaces,” he said. “After switching, that just disappeared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooking itself produces grease particles and ultrafine aerosols. With gas, the open flame can intensify how those particles spread, carrying them onto nearby counters, cabinets and furniture, something households like Driscoll’s may notice as residue over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000975\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000975\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mirella Bucci’s induction stove at her home in San Mateo on April 29, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves also emit pollutants, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935117300750\">nitrogen dioxide\u003c/a>, and fine particulate matter, which can linger in indoor air or settle on surfaces. Exposure has been linked to increased asthma symptoms in children and can worsen other respiratory conditions, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9819315/\">2023 study published in the \u003c/a>International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those health considerations are becoming a key driver behind programs like these, alongside climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves contribute to climate change by emitting carbon dioxide during combustion and methane, which is present in unburned natural gas that leaks from gas stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These greenhouse gases trap atmospheric heat. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35081712/\">2022 study\u003c/a> in Environmental Science and Technology, annual methane leaks from U.S. stoves alone create a climate impact comparable to that of half a million cars, highlighting a significant environmental footprint beyond active cooking.[aside postID=science_2000695 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Buildings account for a significant share of California’s emissions, much of it from gas appliances, making reductions in heating, hot water and cooking a key part of the state’s climate strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long-term studies indicate that switching from gas stoves to induction cooking significantly improves indoor air quality, reducing nitrogen dioxide exposure by over 50%, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/12/gas-propane-stoves-nitrogen-dioxide-exposure-health-risks-switching-electric\">2025 study by Stanford researchers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Induction cooktops use electromagnetic energy to heat cookware directly, with no combustion and no combustion-related indoor air pollution. That can improve indoor air quality, especially in smaller or poorly ventilated spaces, while also reducing excess heat in the kitchen. “Gas heats the air to thousands of degrees; electric doesn’t,” said Rob Jackson, the study’s senior author and professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said these programs also help people who cannot swap all of their gas appliances — furnaces, water heaters — at once. They can start by using their gas stove less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We sample many homes in Bakersfield and elsewhere where people rent and can’t change their appliances, or convince their landlord to, and can’t afford to pay for the transition themselves,” he said. “In this case, the best thing you can do to improve indoor air quality is to burn less gas indoors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where to borrow an induction cooktop in the Bay Area\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Programs have expanded across the region, including Santa Cruz, Milpitas, Burlingame, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Oakland, Marin County and Hayward. In some cities, kits are available through libraries; in others, through sustainability departments or community programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regional energy providers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.peninsulacleanenergy.com/\">Peninsula Clean Energy\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://svcleanenergy.org/home-rebates/\">Silicon Valley Clean Energy\u003c/a>, have supported these efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley Clean Energy also offers \u003ca href=\"https://svcleanenergy.org/home-rebates/\">rebates\u003c/a> of up to $750 for upgrading to induction cooktops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000973\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000973\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Mateo Public Library stands on 55 W 3rd Ave., in San Mateo, on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayren.org/ease-home\">Bay Area Regional Energy Network\u003c/a> assists moderate-income households with home improvements, including electrical upgrades for cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loaner programs are also available through \u003ca href=\"https://pge-induction.myturn.com/library/\">PG&E\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://acterra.org/electrification/greenhome/induction-cooktop-loan/\">Acterra\u003c/a> in the East Bay, and \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosecleanenergy.org/electric-cooking/\">San Jose Clean Energy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Milpitas, sustainability coordinator Grace Chan said the goal is to make the gas-to-induction transition as easy as possible. “It’s a very low-commitment way for residents to test out a new type of equipment that they may never have used before,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, the appeal isn’t even about replacing a stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jessica Egbert, a renter in San Bruno, borrowed a cooktop for a backyard-style Korean barbecue with friends. “It was my first time using induction,” she said. “It heated up really fast, and I liked that I could use it outside without worrying about an open flame.”[aside postID=news_12077055 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/GavinNewsomRobBontaGetty.jpg']Still, awareness remains a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a very strong, sometimes cultural or personal connection to gas cooking. There’s a lot of hesitancy,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once people try induction, perceptions can shift. Borrowers frequently mention that water boils faster, that the controls feel precise, and that the surface is safe, cooling quickly and reducing the risk of burns or fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are still trade-offs. Induction requires compatible cookware like stainless steel and cast iron, and some cooks miss the visual cue of a flame or worry about techniques like stir-frying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Bucci, the loaner program made all the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a little over two years ago when she borrowed a single-burner induction cooktop from city hall to try out for two weeks at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What started out as a more climate-conscious decision, Bucci said, turned out to be better for her cooking overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she wonders if there will ever be a situation where she would prefer gas. “I mean, if you were making a flambé and you were trying to light your alcohol on fire in the pan, that would be one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from that rare occurrence, Bucci doesn’t miss the flame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You realize the point is to heat your food quickly and with control,” she said. “And induction does that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "How Bay Area Libraries Are Helping Residents Switch From Gas to Induction Cooking | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>California is transitioning to clean energy. KQED is reporting on what that means for you. What works? What doesn’t? How much does it cost? Help us find these answers and more by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://donate.kqed.org/sojo?ms=W2510EANXXXX22\">\u003cem>donating today\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mirella Bucci cooked on a gas stove her whole life. She connected it to her family’s Italian cooking traditions and the way she grew up. Bucci thought its heat control was unmatched. Until she tried an induction cooktop for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom and these influential people in my cooking world have always used gas,” Bucci said. She remembers her mom’s big pot of tomato sauce simmering above a low flame; Bucci and her two siblings would eat it with pasta every week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bucci long believed the industry standard, that only gas provided the precision “top chefs” require. But, as an adult, Bucci grew curious about induction as she considered replacing her gas stove as part of a home electrification project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She had heard professional chefs still relied on gas in restaurants, but that some used induction at home because it was faster and easier to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she was skeptical. Bucci, who works at the Stanford School of Medicine helping biomedical research labs apply for federal funding, has lived in San Mateo County for nearly 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She didn’t know anyone personally who used induction cooking. So she checked one out from San Mateo City Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02262_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An induction stove available for check out at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within days, her doubts faded. Water boiled faster than she expected. The stove’s surface didn’t remain too hot for too long. And the temperature control felt more precise. “The induction made things easier,” Bucci said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That mattered to Bucci, whose cooking is deeply tied to her family’s heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cooks seafood risotto, squid-ink pasta, lobster macaroni, scallops with wedges of grapefruit, and other seafood dishes for the Italian-American “Feast of Seven Fishes” Christmas Eve traditional meal. For years, she believed those meals required cooking over a flame.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“You can cook something really hot and get those grill lines on your meat or your vegetables,” Bucci said. “That’s kind of an advantage too, with the induction, is that it gets really hot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the Bay Area, libraries and other civic institutions now offer induction cooktop kits like the one Bucci borrowed, giving residents a free, low-risk way to try an alternative to gas cooking. The loaner programs are part of a broader push by Bay Area municipalities and climate advocates to reduce household emissions from gas appliances and improve indoor air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas and propane stoves are a major source of pollution in U.S. households. A \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/12/pgaf341/8361964?login=false\">2025 study\u003c/a> found that for homes using these fuels, cooking accounts for a quarter of their total exposure to nitrogen dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a serious health concern because nitrogen dioxide is a well-known trigger for asthma, meaning that simply preparing meals can contribute to a person’s long-term health risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for many households, switching isn’t simple. Full stove replacements can cost thousands of dollars, and even portable units, typically between $50 and $200, can feel like a financial risk if people aren’t sure they’ll like the technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The library as a climate outreach space\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The induction cooktop loaner program in San Mateo that Bucci participated in began at City Hall but moved into the public library’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/4621/Technology-Lending\">technology lending program\u003c/a> in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Jung, a supervising library assistant in San Mateo, said the induction cooktops are a natural extension of the library’s mission. “Libraries are a well-respected pillar of knowledge in the community,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000971\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000971\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02413_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Jung, supervising library assistant, poses for a portrait at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lending program includes everything from keyboards and synthesizers for musicians to microcontrollers for hobbyists. Jung said the program’s two induction cooktops are in high demand. “Patrons have given me positive feedback. They’re really happy that they can test it out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civic groups offer the cooktops as part of their local climate goals, said Andrea Chow, a sustainability analyst with the city. In San Mateo, buildings account for a portion \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcsustainability.org/greenhouse-gas-reduction/ccap/building-energy/\">of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>, which come primarily from the use of gas in residential and commercial buildings. Especially in unincorporated areas, where they are the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions at 32%. “Decarbonizing existing buildings is a huge priority for our city,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyvale Public Library started a similar program in 2019. The library has 14 cooktops available and averages 100 checkouts per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000972\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02564_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People use the communal spaces at the San Mateo Public Library in San Mateo on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Madeline Khair, environmental programs manager within Sunnyvale’s environmental services department, said the library is expanding its sustainability section to include solar panels, rechargeable batteries and emergency kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partners at the library have always been really supportive of the climate action plan and sustainability goals,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city of Sunnyvale aims to reduce overall community greenhouse gas emissions by \u003ca href=\"https://sunnyvaleclimateaction.org/scoreboard\">56% from 1990 levels by 2030\u003c/a>, according to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/1066/638606111674670000\">climate action playbook\u003c/a>. This target is more aggressive than \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/climate-dashboard/\">California’s 40% reduction goal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the loaner program offers a pathway for people interested in trying induction cooktops for free, some libraries carry only a handful of kits and have waitlists to check them out. And replacing a stove can still be expensive. Costs can range from $2,000 to $8,000, or even more. Some households may need electrical upgrades to switch completely away from gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the research says about gas stoves and indoor air\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About a year and a half after trying a loaner, San Mateo resident Mike Driscoll and his wife made the switch. They discovered one benefit they did not expect: a cleaner home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With gas, there was always a little layer of grease on nearby surfaces,” he said. “After switching, that just disappeared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cooking itself produces grease particles and ultrafine aerosols. With gas, the open flame can intensify how those particles spread, carrying them onto nearby counters, cabinets and furniture, something households like Driscoll’s may notice as residue over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000975\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000975\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260429-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION00150_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mirella Bucci’s induction stove at her home in San Mateo on April 29, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves also emit pollutants, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935117300750\">nitrogen dioxide\u003c/a>, and fine particulate matter, which can linger in indoor air or settle on surfaces. Exposure has been linked to increased asthma symptoms in children and can worsen other respiratory conditions, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9819315/\">2023 study published in the \u003c/a>International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those health considerations are becoming a key driver behind programs like these, alongside climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas stoves contribute to climate change by emitting carbon dioxide during combustion and methane, which is present in unburned natural gas that leaks from gas stoves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These greenhouse gases trap atmospheric heat. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35081712/\">2022 study\u003c/a> in Environmental Science and Technology, annual methane leaks from U.S. stoves alone create a climate impact comparable to that of half a million cars, highlighting a significant environmental footprint beyond active cooking.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Buildings account for a significant share of California’s emissions, much of it from gas appliances, making reductions in heating, hot water and cooking a key part of the state’s climate strategy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long-term studies indicate that switching from gas stoves to induction cooking significantly improves indoor air quality, reducing nitrogen dioxide exposure by over 50%, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/12/gas-propane-stoves-nitrogen-dioxide-exposure-health-risks-switching-electric\">2025 study by Stanford researchers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Induction cooktops use electromagnetic energy to heat cookware directly, with no combustion and no combustion-related indoor air pollution. That can improve indoor air quality, especially in smaller or poorly ventilated spaces, while also reducing excess heat in the kitchen. “Gas heats the air to thousands of degrees; electric doesn’t,” said Rob Jackson, the study’s senior author and professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said these programs also help people who cannot swap all of their gas appliances — furnaces, water heaters — at once. They can start by using their gas stove less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We sample many homes in Bakersfield and elsewhere where people rent and can’t change their appliances, or convince their landlord to, and can’t afford to pay for the transition themselves,” he said. “In this case, the best thing you can do to improve indoor air quality is to burn less gas indoors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where to borrow an induction cooktop in the Bay Area\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Programs have expanded across the region, including Santa Cruz, Milpitas, Burlingame, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Oakland, Marin County and Hayward. In some cities, kits are available through libraries; in others, through sustainability departments or community programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regional energy providers, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.peninsulacleanenergy.com/\">Peninsula Clean Energy\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://svcleanenergy.org/home-rebates/\">Silicon Valley Clean Energy\u003c/a>, have supported these efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley Clean Energy also offers \u003ca href=\"https://svcleanenergy.org/home-rebates/\">rebates\u003c/a> of up to $750 for upgrading to induction cooktops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000973\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000973\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/05/260417-CLIMATESOLUTIONSINDUCTION02861_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Mateo Public Library stands on 55 W 3rd Ave., in San Mateo, on April 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayren.org/ease-home\">Bay Area Regional Energy Network\u003c/a> assists moderate-income households with home improvements, including electrical upgrades for cooking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loaner programs are also available through \u003ca href=\"https://pge-induction.myturn.com/library/\">PG&E\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://acterra.org/electrification/greenhome/induction-cooktop-loan/\">Acterra\u003c/a> in the East Bay, and \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosecleanenergy.org/electric-cooking/\">San Jose Clean Energy\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Milpitas, sustainability coordinator Grace Chan said the goal is to make the gas-to-induction transition as easy as possible. “It’s a very low-commitment way for residents to test out a new type of equipment that they may never have used before,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, the appeal isn’t even about replacing a stove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jessica Egbert, a renter in San Bruno, borrowed a cooktop for a backyard-style Korean barbecue with friends. “It was my first time using induction,” she said. “It heated up really fast, and I liked that I could use it outside without worrying about an open flame.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, awareness remains a challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a very strong, sometimes cultural or personal connection to gas cooking. There’s a lot of hesitancy,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But once people try induction, perceptions can shift. Borrowers frequently mention that water boils faster, that the controls feel precise, and that the surface is safe, cooling quickly and reducing the risk of burns or fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are still trade-offs. Induction requires compatible cookware like stainless steel and cast iron, and some cooks miss the visual cue of a flame or worry about techniques like stir-frying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Bucci, the loaner program made all the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a little over two years ago when she borrowed a single-burner induction cooktop from city hall to try out for two weeks at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What started out as a more climate-conscious decision, Bucci said, turned out to be better for her cooking overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she wonders if there will ever be a situation where she would prefer gas. “I mean, if you were making a flambé and you were trying to light your alcohol on fire in the pan, that would be one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from that rare occurrence, Bucci doesn’t miss the flame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You realize the point is to heat your food quickly and with control,” she said. “And induction does that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "californias-fuel-fears-threaten-benicias-just-transition-to-green-economy",
"title": "California’s Fuel Fears Threaten Benicia’s ‘Just Transition’ to Green Economy",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the city of Benicia on the bank of the Carquinez Strait, the view has fundamentally changed: smoke, steam, and black soot no longer spiral from the stacks of the Valero refinery, which stopped refining crude oil in April. So why are residents holding their breath?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the shuttering of the refinery, Benicia became the latest test case for California’s promise of a “just transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy that protects workers’wages and livelihoods, invests in economically disadvantaged communities and reduces pollution impacts on the most vulnerable communities. Many Benicians are optimistic they have the assets and the know-how to succeed. But in a politically charged environment where gasoline prices are spiraling higher, California’s shifting interests threaten to delay any rebirth of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders negotiated an agreement with Valero this year to use its idled Benicia facility to store and transport imported fuel, which brings little economic activity while freezing redevelopment plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than half a century, Benicia’s economy and identity have depended on oil production. Valero’s 400-plus employees, a quarter of whom lived in town, spent some of their paychecks at First Street’s bars and restaurants, which also served hundreds more workers contracted for maintenance each year. Local businesses provided equipment, parts and services to Valero and must find a new market — or pivot to make a new product. Benicia businesses expect the ripple effects of the refinery closure to devastate livelihoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure was expected. California established its goal to completely phase out fossil fuels to combat global warming more than a decade ago. But Benicia is losing its largest taxpayer much sooner than the city can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero’s refinery shutdown will cost Benicia an estimated $10.8 million annually in tax revenues, about 13% of the city’s general fund budget. The city manager reassured residents at a packed February town hall that they could still count on city services funded by $3 million in cash reserves. The city planned to sell water that Valero used, half the city’s supply, to other businesses, and applied for millions of dollars worth of community grants from the Bay Area Air District to sustain staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000867\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000867\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Martinez Refining Company is seen across the Carquinez Strait from Benicia, on April 13, 2026, as regional refining operations face uncertainty amid California’s transition away from fossil fuels. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the long term, Benecia’s leaders are banking on redevelopment of Valero’s 900 acres to bring new tax revenue and vitalize the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 500 of those acres were a buffer to mitigate risks of explosions, fires, emissions and other pollution. The land could be developed sooner than the land under the refinery itself, which state regulators expect could take ten years to clean up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanna see dismantling and movement into our future,” said Kari Birdseye, a Benicia city council member, “I’m not sure that’s the vision that the state has right now because of the precarious nature of our petroleum situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state leaders have primarily focused on stabilizing fuel supply and keeping gas prices from spiraling out of control.[aside postID=news_12036695 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-01_qed-1020x680.jpg']On April 16, 2025, Valero announced it planned to idle, restructure, or cease refining operations in Benicia. This came six months after Phillips 66 declared its plans to stop refining in Wilmington, Los Angeles, by the year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, these facilities comprised nearly 20% of California’s refining capacity. The closures threatened to push oil prices higher — a political and economic disaster in a state where gasoline historically costs $0.90 more per gallon than the national average, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65184#:~:text=Data%20source:%20AAA,all%20states%20is%20%240.28/gal.\">U.S. Energy and Information Administration\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Valero’s announcement with a letter dated April 21 to the California Energy Commission, directing the state agency responsible for sustaining fuel supply to “redouble its efforts” with “high-level immediate engagement, to help ensure that Californians continue to have access to a safe, affordable, and reliable supply of transportation fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month later, Siva Gunda, vice chair of the energy commission, recommended easing regulations to increase fuel imports and local production. Many of the suggestions were enacted with the passage of SB 237 in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists criticized the legislative changes as an oil industry wish list. They waived California’s requirement to switch to a lower emission fuel in summer months, exempted some oil and gas well permits from final environmental review, and paused penalties on excessive oil profits that lawmakers created to prevent price gouging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the changes persuaded Valero to keep refining in Benicia. However, in January, the company agreed to import gasoline to meet its obligations to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000874\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero refinery in Benicia on Sept. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benicia officials said they have not been in negotiations between the state and Valero. But Lauren Bird, the facilities general manager, told the Citizens’ Advisory Panel on April 17 that the refinery will import, store and transport gas and diesel for about two years, though it will no longer import jet fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using Valero’s facility for imports provides little economic benefit to Benicia and delays redevelopment of 900 acres of prime real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It basically eliminates our ability to have any new development on the property,” said Christina Gilpin-Hayes, a resident who serves on with the city’s planning commission. “Nobody’s gonna want it. Even the land that’s the buffer acres, nobody’s gonna want to develop there if [Valero] is still using it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An energy commission spokesperson could not discuss the talks due to industry confidentiality rules, but said in an email that the agency is working with Benicia and stakeholders on alternatives for the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural depicting historic downtown Benicia is seen along First Street on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some residents have called it a back-door deal and said they worry imported gasoline is a fire safety risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is the state gonna do for us given that they’re imposing this?” said Marilyn Bardet, a member of the community advisory panel, at the February town hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gunda declined KQED’s request for an interview. But said at a state Senate committee hearing on Feb. 18 that much of the energy commission’s work in the last year was aimed at keeping gasoline costs from rising above $5 a gallon, which worked until the U.S. war with Iran pushed up prices globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gunda urged lawmakers to turn to mitigating the economic impacts of refinery closures.[aside postID=news_12059271 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-32-BL_qed-1.jpg']“These unplanned, disruptive closures could have incredible impacts on the workers and the communities,” Gunda said. “It’s really important … to make sure we have the policies in place to support the transition in a way that we protect Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I’d like to think that some of these strategies are forthcoming,” said \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/people/josh-sonnenfeld/\">Josh Sonnenfeld\u003c/a>, a senior researcher at UC Berkeley Labor Center. “Given this is the sixth refinery closure or conversion [in six years], I think we need to pick up our pace here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonnenfeld previously worked for the Blue Green Alliance, which helped Contra Costa County mitigate the 2020 conversion of the Marathon Refinery to renewable diesel. That change cost 700 refinery workers well-paid union jobs. In response, state lawmakers established the Displaced Oil and Gas Workers Fund to help pay for training and job searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Workforce Development Board of Solano County received $3 million from the fund last year to help laid-off Valero workers, and is offering up to $25,000 in \u003ca href=\"https://solanoemployment.org/funding/\">grants\u003c/a> to small businesses affected by the closure. Advocates have lobbied to extend and expand the fund, as its authorization sunsets in 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonnefeld thinks California leaders should look to other states as examples. For instance, New York created a tax stabilization fund for refinery towns and cities to make up for the sudden loss of refinery dollars, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/economic-transition\">Michigan \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/energy-transition/\">Minnesota\u003c/a> each established a community transition office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We haven’t set up that infrastructure yet in California around whose job is it to make sure that workers and communities are successfully transitioning,” Sonnenfeld said. “In California, we don’t want to acknowledge that they’re actually folks that are being hurt by the energy transition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A visitor walks along First Street near the waterfront on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sonnenfeld said regional governments have shouldered more of the responsibility for mitigating the impact of refinery closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air District launched a first-of-a-kind program this year where regulatory fines against polluters will be passed on to affected communities in the form of grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air regulator issued $82 million in fines against Valero in 2024 for over a decade of excess emissions at the Benicia refinery, which will provide some $60 million in funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benicia plans to seek up to $43 million of the grants, which are also open to local businesses. \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/en/community-health/community-investments-office\">Applications are due in May\u003c/a>, and the awards are expected to be announced in September. That’s the same month that Signature Development, the company Valero hired to manage the sale of refinery land, is expected to present plans to repurpose the property to the city council for approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The waterfront in Benicia on April 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until then, Benicia is on a white-knuckle transition trying to jumpstart a new, green economy without knowing when Valero will leave, or how long it will take to decontaminate and repurpose the refinery site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state legislature is considering a bill to help California’s eight remaining refinery towns plan better. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb1259\">SB 1259\u003c/a> would require refineries to plan for decommissioning and estimate the costs and timeline for cleaning up after a closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Birdseye said the legislation wouldn’t benefit Benicia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a very precarious moment,” Birdseye said. “ But I’m filled with hope because of what we have here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kari Birdseye, a Benicia City Council member, stands overlooking Benicia’s marine oil terminal near the site of the Benicia Clocktower, on April 13, 2026, in Benicia, as the city prepares for the closure of the Valero refinery and the loss of roughly 10 percent of its annual tax revenue. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Birdseye said businesses have inquired about moving to Benicia for its central location between two interstate highways, with a rail line and port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the city’s old clock tower, Birdseye gestured to a berth below, where Valero had exported petroleum coke, a black dust that’s a refining byproduct and a health hazard. She said a federal agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has identified the port as a possible supply chain and manufacturing site for the nascent offshore wind industry in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can put these large pieces of equipment on ships that go out the Golden Gate and either go down to the Port of Long Beach, Morro Bay or up to Humboldt, where they can be assembled into wind turbines,” Birdseye said. “That’s the perfect scenario for a just transition away from fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent afternoon at Benicia’s waterfront, resident Stephen Golub said one thing lost in the economic discussions about Valero’s departure is the gains in environmental and public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000868\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Golub, a Benicia resident, poses for a portrait along the waterfront on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They were polluting our air again and again, sometimes secretly, sometimes more openly,” Golub said. “They were poisoning our politics by pouring massive funds into political campaigns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golub said without a refinery, it’s easier to enjoy all that Benicia has to offer, including 28 public parks, stable political leadership, a vibrant art scene, good schools and safe streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Down the line, maybe 10 or 20 years, people will talk about this thriving community with all it has to offer, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, did you know that there was once a refinery here?’” Golub said.“I really think that’s what’s in the city’s future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "State leaders negotiated an agreement with Valero this year to use its idled Benicia facility to store and transport imported fuel, which brings little economic activity while freezing redevelopment plans.",
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"title": "California’s Fuel Fears Threaten Benicia’s ‘Just Transition’ to Green Economy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the city of Benicia on the bank of the Carquinez Strait, the view has fundamentally changed: smoke, steam, and black soot no longer spiral from the stacks of the Valero refinery, which stopped refining crude oil in April. So why are residents holding their breath?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the shuttering of the refinery, Benicia became the latest test case for California’s promise of a “just transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy that protects workers’wages and livelihoods, invests in economically disadvantaged communities and reduces pollution impacts on the most vulnerable communities. Many Benicians are optimistic they have the assets and the know-how to succeed. But in a politically charged environment where gasoline prices are spiraling higher, California’s shifting interests threaten to delay any rebirth of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders negotiated an agreement with Valero this year to use its idled Benicia facility to store and transport imported fuel, which brings little economic activity while freezing redevelopment plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than half a century, Benicia’s economy and identity have depended on oil production. Valero’s 400-plus employees, a quarter of whom lived in town, spent some of their paychecks at First Street’s bars and restaurants, which also served hundreds more workers contracted for maintenance each year. Local businesses provided equipment, parts and services to Valero and must find a new market — or pivot to make a new product. Benicia businesses expect the ripple effects of the refinery closure to devastate livelihoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure was expected. California established its goal to completely phase out fossil fuels to combat global warming more than a decade ago. But Benicia is losing its largest taxpayer much sooner than the city can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero’s refinery shutdown will cost Benicia an estimated $10.8 million annually in tax revenues, about 13% of the city’s general fund budget. The city manager reassured residents at a packed February town hall that they could still count on city services funded by $3 million in cash reserves. The city planned to sell water that Valero used, half the city’s supply, to other businesses, and applied for millions of dollars worth of community grants from the Bay Area Air District to sustain staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000867\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000867\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Martinez Refining Company is seen across the Carquinez Strait from Benicia, on April 13, 2026, as regional refining operations face uncertainty amid California’s transition away from fossil fuels. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the long term, Benecia’s leaders are banking on redevelopment of Valero’s 900 acres to bring new tax revenue and vitalize the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 500 of those acres were a buffer to mitigate risks of explosions, fires, emissions and other pollution. The land could be developed sooner than the land under the refinery itself, which state regulators expect could take ten years to clean up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanna see dismantling and movement into our future,” said Kari Birdseye, a Benicia city council member, “I’m not sure that’s the vision that the state has right now because of the precarious nature of our petroleum situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state leaders have primarily focused on stabilizing fuel supply and keeping gas prices from spiraling out of control.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On April 16, 2025, Valero announced it planned to idle, restructure, or cease refining operations in Benicia. This came six months after Phillips 66 declared its plans to stop refining in Wilmington, Los Angeles, by the year’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, these facilities comprised nearly 20% of California’s refining capacity. The closures threatened to push oil prices higher — a political and economic disaster in a state where gasoline historically costs $0.90 more per gallon than the national average, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65184#:~:text=Data%20source:%20AAA,all%20states%20is%20%240.28/gal.\">U.S. Energy and Information Administration\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Valero’s announcement with a letter dated April 21 to the California Energy Commission, directing the state agency responsible for sustaining fuel supply to “redouble its efforts” with “high-level immediate engagement, to help ensure that Californians continue to have access to a safe, affordable, and reliable supply of transportation fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A month later, Siva Gunda, vice chair of the energy commission, recommended easing regulations to increase fuel imports and local production. Many of the suggestions were enacted with the passage of SB 237 in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists criticized the legislative changes as an oil industry wish list. They waived California’s requirement to switch to a lower emission fuel in summer months, exempted some oil and gas well permits from final environmental review, and paused penalties on excessive oil profits that lawmakers created to prevent price gouging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the changes persuaded Valero to keep refining in Benicia. However, in January, the company agreed to import gasoline to meet its obligations to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000874\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/230921-VALERO-BENICIA-REFINERY-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero refinery in Benicia on Sept. 21, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benicia officials said they have not been in negotiations between the state and Valero. But Lauren Bird, the facilities general manager, told the Citizens’ Advisory Panel on April 17 that the refinery will import, store and transport gas and diesel for about two years, though it will no longer import jet fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using Valero’s facility for imports provides little economic benefit to Benicia and delays redevelopment of 900 acres of prime real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It basically eliminates our ability to have any new development on the property,” said Christina Gilpin-Hayes, a resident who serves on with the city’s planning commission. “Nobody’s gonna want it. Even the land that’s the buffer acres, nobody’s gonna want to develop there if [Valero] is still using it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An energy commission spokesperson could not discuss the talks due to industry confidentiality rules, but said in an email that the agency is working with Benicia and stakeholders on alternatives for the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000871\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_009-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural depicting historic downtown Benicia is seen along First Street on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some residents have called it a back-door deal and said they worry imported gasoline is a fire safety risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is the state gonna do for us given that they’re imposing this?” said Marilyn Bardet, a member of the community advisory panel, at the February town hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gunda declined KQED’s request for an interview. But said at a state Senate committee hearing on Feb. 18 that much of the energy commission’s work in the last year was aimed at keeping gasoline costs from rising above $5 a gallon, which worked until the U.S. war with Iran pushed up prices globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gunda urged lawmakers to turn to mitigating the economic impacts of refinery closures.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“These unplanned, disruptive closures could have incredible impacts on the workers and the communities,” Gunda said. “It’s really important … to make sure we have the policies in place to support the transition in a way that we protect Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I’d like to think that some of these strategies are forthcoming,” said \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/people/josh-sonnenfeld/\">Josh Sonnenfeld\u003c/a>, a senior researcher at UC Berkeley Labor Center. “Given this is the sixth refinery closure or conversion [in six years], I think we need to pick up our pace here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonnenfeld previously worked for the Blue Green Alliance, which helped Contra Costa County mitigate the 2020 conversion of the Marathon Refinery to renewable diesel. That change cost 700 refinery workers well-paid union jobs. In response, state lawmakers established the Displaced Oil and Gas Workers Fund to help pay for training and job searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Workforce Development Board of Solano County received $3 million from the fund last year to help laid-off Valero workers, and is offering up to $25,000 in \u003ca href=\"https://solanoemployment.org/funding/\">grants\u003c/a> to small businesses affected by the closure. Advocates have lobbied to extend and expand the fund, as its authorization sunsets in 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sonnefeld thinks California leaders should look to other states as examples. For instance, New York created a tax stabilization fund for refinery towns and cities to make up for the sudden loss of refinery dollars, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/economic-transition\">Michigan \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/energy-transition/\">Minnesota\u003c/a> each established a community transition office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We haven’t set up that infrastructure yet in California around whose job is it to make sure that workers and communities are successfully transitioning,” Sonnenfeld said. “In California, we don’t want to acknowledge that they’re actually folks that are being hurt by the energy transition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A visitor walks along First Street near the waterfront on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sonnenfeld said regional governments have shouldered more of the responsibility for mitigating the impact of refinery closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Air District launched a first-of-a-kind program this year where regulatory fines against polluters will be passed on to affected communities in the form of grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The air regulator issued $82 million in fines against Valero in 2024 for over a decade of excess emissions at the Benicia refinery, which will provide some $60 million in funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benicia plans to seek up to $43 million of the grants, which are also open to local businesses. \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/en/community-health/community-investments-office\">Applications are due in May\u003c/a>, and the awards are expected to be announced in September. That’s the same month that Signature Development, the company Valero hired to manage the sale of refinery land, is expected to present plans to repurpose the property to the city council for approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000875\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260424-BENICIA-DRONE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The waterfront in Benicia on April 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until then, Benicia is on a white-knuckle transition trying to jumpstart a new, green economy without knowing when Valero will leave, or how long it will take to decontaminate and repurpose the refinery site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state legislature is considering a bill to help California’s eight remaining refinery towns plan better. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb1259\">SB 1259\u003c/a> would require refineries to plan for decommissioning and estimate the costs and timeline for cleaning up after a closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Birdseye said the legislation wouldn’t benefit Benicia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a very precarious moment,” Birdseye said. “ But I’m filled with hope because of what we have here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/041326BENICIAVALERO_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kari Birdseye, a Benicia City Council member, stands overlooking Benicia’s marine oil terminal near the site of the Benicia Clocktower, on April 13, 2026, in Benicia, as the city prepares for the closure of the Valero refinery and the loss of roughly 10 percent of its annual tax revenue. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Birdseye said businesses have inquired about moving to Benicia for its central location between two interstate highways, with a rail line and port.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the city’s old clock tower, Birdseye gestured to a berth below, where Valero had exported petroleum coke, a black dust that’s a refining byproduct and a health hazard. She said a federal agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has identified the port as a possible supply chain and manufacturing site for the nascent offshore wind industry in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can put these large pieces of equipment on ships that go out the Golden Gate and either go down to the Port of Long Beach, Morro Bay or up to Humboldt, where they can be assembled into wind turbines,” Birdseye said. “That’s the perfect scenario for a just transition away from fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent afternoon at Benicia’s waterfront, resident Stephen Golub said one thing lost in the economic discussions about Valero’s departure is the gains in environmental and public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000868\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000868\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/042806BENICIA-AFTER-VALERO-PT.-2_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Golub, a Benicia resident, poses for a portrait along the waterfront on April 28, 2026, in Benicia. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They were polluting our air again and again, sometimes secretly, sometimes more openly,” Golub said. “They were poisoning our politics by pouring massive funds into political campaigns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Golub said without a refinery, it’s easier to enjoy all that Benicia has to offer, including 28 public parks, stable political leadership, a vibrant art scene, good schools and safe streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Down the line, maybe 10 or 20 years, people will talk about this thriving community with all it has to offer, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, did you know that there was once a refinery here?’” Golub said.“I really think that’s what’s in the city’s future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "In June, San Francisco Will Vote on a $535M Earthquake Bond. Here’s What’s in It",
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"content": "\u003cp>Experts have long agreed that San Francisco is due for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080455/san-franciscos-skyline-shines-but-earthquake-risk-remains-120-years-after-1906\">big earthquake\u003c/a> at any moment on any day. But the city isn’t quite ready for a massive shaking, like the 1989 Loma Prieta or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983182/stunning-archival-photos-of-the-1906-earthquake-and-fire\">1906 earthquake\u003c/a> that leveled much of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City leaders have asked residents to approve a \u003ca href=\"https://sfpublicworks.org/eser-2026\">$535 million \u003c/a>earthquake bond in June, which would fund major seismic upgrades to public infrastructure. The goal is to improve the city’s capacity to respond quickly after a major earthquake and to aid in the aftermath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal seismologists said back in 2014 that there’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20Bay%20area%3A,an%20earthquake%20measuring%20magnitude%207.5\">nearly a three-in-four chance\u003c/a> of a 6.7-magnitude quake by 2044, and we’re already more than a decade into that timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By passing this bond, we are taking steps to keep San Francisco safe by giving our neighborhoods the tools they need to withstand emergency events and ensuring our city is ready to respond quickly when disaster strikes,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-and-president-mandelman-announce-2026-earthquake-safety-and-emergency-response-bond-to-modernize-infrastructure-and-support-public-safety\">press release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entire Bay Area rests on multiple faultlines — including the San Andreas and the Hayward faults. Earthquake impacts could “cascade across shared infrastructure, housing, and lifelines” throughout San Francisco, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/publications/policy-brief/2026-04-09/120-years-after-1906\">recent report\u003c/a> from the nonprofit think tank SPUR. The report concludes that large portions of the city are potentially ill-prepared for a major earthquake. Namely, some 3,700 concrete buildings that could potentially pancake in a tremor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000800\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000800\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks to the press after giving a State of the City address at Rossi Park Ball Field in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco on Jan. 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brian Strong, the city’s chief resilience officer, said San Francisco spent more than $20 billion on seismic upgrades over the past several decades, but more needs to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve touched every neighborhood in the city, and we still have a lot of work to do, which is why another bond is coming up,” Strong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters approved similar bonds in 2010, 2014, and 2020 as part of a so-called phased approach in shoring up the city’s seismic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, said the bond would pay for “big ticket items” that need updating. That includes making the city’s 911 call center “secure from a seismic perspective, so we’re functioning after an emergency,” Carroll said.[aside postID=news_12080455 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-SPUREARTHQUAKE-06-BL-KQED.jpg']The bond will focus on five areas: renovating the city’s aging emergency firefighting water system, potentially repairing five unsafe fire stations, updating police stations and support facilities and updating public safety buildings\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At $200 million, the largest pot of funds would go to retrofitting and replacing Muni’s more-than-a-century-old Potrero Bus Yard with a seismically safe facility. Some \u003ca href=\"https://westsideobserver.com/26/4-prop-a-eser-bond-slush-fund-no-vote-george-wooding.php\">criticized\u003c/a> the move as a transportation spending item. But city officials said Potrero Yard is important for “enabling evacuation services following an earthquake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Potrero Yard is at serious risk in a major earthquake,” said Julie Kirschbaum, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director of transportation, in a release. “We have to protect our buses and, more importantly, the lives of the staff who maintain and operate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second-highest dollar amount is $130 million to expand the city’s emergency firefighting water system “into underserved areas on the west side,” which, city officials said, “lack adequate firefighting water infrastructure.” The updates could include extending high-pressure water pipelines, adding fire hydrants, and other infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/forum/expand-the-city-s-emergency-water-system-before-its-too-late/article_19b70ccb-99e6-4dac-928d-297996a80939.html\">suggested\u003c/a> that relying on the Pacific Ocean’s copious water would be a better use of the funds. The plan would also update infrastructure at Fort Mason to pump water from the bay during an event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many west side facilities, including fire stations, the Taraval Police Station, and our emergency water system, are older and more vulnerable in a major quake,” District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong said in a release. “This bond is an important step toward making sure the Sunset is not an afterthought and that our communities have the infrastructure they need to stay safe and recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Over the years, San Francisco has made progress toward earthquake-safe buildings. But the city still isn’t fully prepared for the next big one, experts said. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Experts have long agreed that San Francisco is due for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080455/san-franciscos-skyline-shines-but-earthquake-risk-remains-120-years-after-1906\">big earthquake\u003c/a> at any moment on any day. But the city isn’t quite ready for a massive shaking, like the 1989 Loma Prieta or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983182/stunning-archival-photos-of-the-1906-earthquake-and-fire\">1906 earthquake\u003c/a> that leveled much of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City leaders have asked residents to approve a \u003ca href=\"https://sfpublicworks.org/eser-2026\">$535 million \u003c/a>earthquake bond in June, which would fund major seismic upgrades to public infrastructure. The goal is to improve the city’s capacity to respond quickly after a major earthquake and to aid in the aftermath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal seismologists said back in 2014 that there’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20Bay%20area%3A,an%20earthquake%20measuring%20magnitude%207.5\">nearly a three-in-four chance\u003c/a> of a 6.7-magnitude quake by 2044, and we’re already more than a decade into that timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By passing this bond, we are taking steps to keep San Francisco safe by giving our neighborhoods the tools they need to withstand emergency events and ensuring our city is ready to respond quickly when disaster strikes,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news-mayor-lurie-and-president-mandelman-announce-2026-earthquake-safety-and-emergency-response-bond-to-modernize-infrastructure-and-support-public-safety\">press release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entire Bay Area rests on multiple faultlines — including the San Andreas and the Hayward faults. Earthquake impacts could “cascade across shared infrastructure, housing, and lifelines” throughout San Francisco, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/publications/policy-brief/2026-04-09/120-years-after-1906\">recent report\u003c/a> from the nonprofit think tank SPUR. The report concludes that large portions of the city are potentially ill-prepared for a major earthquake. Namely, some 3,700 concrete buildings that could potentially pancake in a tremor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000800\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000800\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260115-SOTC-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks to the press after giving a State of the City address at Rossi Park Ball Field in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco on Jan. 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brian Strong, the city’s chief resilience officer, said San Francisco spent more than $20 billion on seismic upgrades over the past several decades, but more needs to be done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve touched every neighborhood in the city, and we still have a lot of work to do, which is why another bond is coming up,” Strong said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters approved similar bonds in 2010, 2014, and 2020 as part of a so-called phased approach in shoring up the city’s seismic risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, said the bond would pay for “big ticket items” that need updating. That includes making the city’s 911 call center “secure from a seismic perspective, so we’re functioning after an emergency,” Carroll said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The bond will focus on five areas: renovating the city’s aging emergency firefighting water system, potentially repairing five unsafe fire stations, updating police stations and support facilities and updating public safety buildings\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At $200 million, the largest pot of funds would go to retrofitting and replacing Muni’s more-than-a-century-old Potrero Bus Yard with a seismically safe facility. Some \u003ca href=\"https://westsideobserver.com/26/4-prop-a-eser-bond-slush-fund-no-vote-george-wooding.php\">criticized\u003c/a> the move as a transportation spending item. But city officials said Potrero Yard is important for “enabling evacuation services following an earthquake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Potrero Yard is at serious risk in a major earthquake,” said Julie Kirschbaum, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director of transportation, in a release. “We have to protect our buses and, more importantly, the lives of the staff who maintain and operate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second-highest dollar amount is $130 million to expand the city’s emergency firefighting water system “into underserved areas on the west side,” which, city officials said, “lack adequate firefighting water infrastructure.” The updates could include extending high-pressure water pipelines, adding fire hydrants, and other infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/forum/expand-the-city-s-emergency-water-system-before-its-too-late/article_19b70ccb-99e6-4dac-928d-297996a80939.html\">suggested\u003c/a> that relying on the Pacific Ocean’s copious water would be a better use of the funds. The plan would also update infrastructure at Fort Mason to pump water from the bay during an event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many west side facilities, including fire stations, the Taraval Police Station, and our emergency water system, are older and more vulnerable in a major quake,” District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong said in a release. “This bond is an important step toward making sure the Sunset is not an afterthought and that our communities have the infrastructure they need to stay safe and recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "after-4-6-earthquake-jolts-santa-cruz-seismologists-double-down-on-myshake-alerts",
"title": "After 4.6 Earthquake Jolts Santa Cruz, Seismologists Double Down on MyShake Alerts",
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"headTitle": "After 4.6 Earthquake Jolts Santa Cruz, Seismologists Double Down on MyShake Alerts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A blaring alarm woke Cian Dawson early Thursday morning. It was the MyShake phone app, alerting him to a 5.1 magnitude \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078438/4-6-magnitude-earthquake-in-santa-cruz-mountains-shakes-bay-area-awake\">earthquake\u003c/a> about to rock the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson stayed in bed, thinking he wouldn’t have enough time to get under a table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds later, the Berkeley resident’s room began to shake. “It made more sense to me to stay where I was,” Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tremor \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75337442/dyfi/responses\">near Boulder Creek\u003c/a> prompted the \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">MyShake phone app\u003c/a> and local agencies to alert hundreds of thousands of residents across the greater Bay Area and Central Coast. The USGS later downgraded the quake to a 4.6. More than 10,000 people reported the quake in the app, saying they felt light to moderate shaking, and there were two reports of destroyed buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the relatively moderate-sized quake and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066087/the-m5-9-earthquake-alert-that-startled-the-bay-area-this-morning-was-a-false-alarm\">false alarm issued by the app\u003c/a> last year, some Bay Area residents have questioned whether agencies issue too many warnings and whether these alerts really make us safer. But seismologists argue they are important for protecting the public in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson said there needs to be more outreach about how seriously to take the messaging, because people are beginning to train themselves to ignore the alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ‘boy who cries wolf’ is a great way to describe people’s response when they don’t understand what the alert actually means,” Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000581 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Nov. 5, 2020. \u003ccite>(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Angie Lux, a scientist specializing in earthquake early warnings at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, said she thought the alert worked well, as it reached its ultimate goal of protecting lives and reducing injuries. Lux said the alert is sent to everyone at once, and the further you are away from the epicenter, the longer you will have to act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the people that are right next to the epicenter, they’re not going to receive much warning,” Lux said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evan Hirakawa lives in Scott’s Valley, just a few miles away from the source of Thursday’s quake. The USGS research geophysicist said he felt the quake first, then his phone pinged.[aside postID=news_11999982 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/MyShakeUCBerkeley-1020x679.jpg']“It was pretty intense at my house,” Hirakawa said. “The shake alert kind of worked, but it was too close for it to really benefit me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hirakawa said there’s evidence that indicates the earthquake likely took place on a fault that hasn’t ruptured in a long time — the Zayante Fault in Santa Cruz County, which sits roughly between two major fault systems: the San Andreas and the San Gregorio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have [Zayante] labeled in our databases as maybe it’s inactive now,” Hirakawa said. “It was active thousands of years ago, but we haven’t seen a lot of historical earthquakes on it.\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this shaking may seem like an outlier, Hirakawa said he doesn’t think Thursday’s quake “is a foreshock to something bigger.” But, he said, it’s still worth paying attention to early warning messages, because doing so might just be “life-saving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that so many people who felt the earthquake got the alert this morning is a good sign that the early warning stuff is at least working,” Hirakwa said. “It will be unfortunate when it happens, but the system will only be tested when there’s a large, destructive earthquake. That’s when it’s going to matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco resident Anthony Costello slept through the alert but woke to the jostling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just like, ‘Oh, girl, shut up, and just rolled over,’” Costello said, who has lived in the region for eight years. “I think my sensitivity to quakes is starting to increase a little bit and also my general anxiety with quakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_524199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1373px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-524199 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured.png\" alt=\"U.C. Berkeley's MyShake app could be the first step toward earthquake warnings on your phone.\" width=\"1373\" height=\"795\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured.png 1373w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-400x232.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-800x463.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-768x445.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-1180x683.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-960x556.png 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1373px) 100vw, 1373px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MyShake alerts users to earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or higher, though residents in places like San Ramon have reported feeling smaller quakes during a swarm that has persisted for months. \u003ccite>(Berkeley Seismological Laboratory)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even still, Costello said early warnings are so important because the larger the quake, the more time you’re going to need to make sure you’re safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menlo Park resident Stephanie Lucianovic also went back to sleep after a local warning prompted her phone to go off. In the morning, she discussed the quakes with her kids. She’s considering downloading the MyShake app, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m interested in knowing all the information, but I don’t think I’d want to have it be a loud warning every time there was some minor earthquake,” Lucianovic said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, MyShake alerts users when there’s a 4.5-magnitude earthquake or higher, which doesn’t discount the experience of people who feel smaller quakes, like in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000505/new-web-of-sensors-aims-to-pinpoint-san-ramon-earthquake-source\">San Ramon\u003c/a>, where a swarm of smaller quakes has been occurring for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t make everybody happy,” Lux said. “Some people are going to feel it, some people may not, but we’re there to help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A blaring alarm woke Cian Dawson early Thursday morning. It was the MyShake phone app, alerting him to a 5.1 magnitude \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078438/4-6-magnitude-earthquake-in-santa-cruz-mountains-shakes-bay-area-awake\">earthquake\u003c/a> about to rock the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson stayed in bed, thinking he wouldn’t have enough time to get under a table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds later, the Berkeley resident’s room began to shake. “It made more sense to me to stay where I was,” Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tremor \u003ca href=\"https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75337442/dyfi/responses\">near Boulder Creek\u003c/a> prompted the \u003ca href=\"https://myshake.berkeley.edu/\">MyShake phone app\u003c/a> and local agencies to alert hundreds of thousands of residents across the greater Bay Area and Central Coast. The USGS later downgraded the quake to a 4.6. More than 10,000 people reported the quake in the app, saying they felt light to moderate shaking, and there were two reports of destroyed buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the relatively moderate-sized quake and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066087/the-m5-9-earthquake-alert-that-startled-the-bay-area-this-morning-was-a-false-alarm\">false alarm issued by the app\u003c/a> last year, some Bay Area residents have questioned whether agencies issue too many warnings and whether these alerts really make us safer. But seismologists argue they are important for protecting the public in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson said there needs to be more outreach about how seriously to take the messaging, because people are beginning to train themselves to ignore the alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ‘boy who cries wolf’ is a great way to describe people’s response when they don’t understand what the alert actually means,” Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000581 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/BoulderCreekSantaCruzGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Nov. 5, 2020. \u003ccite>(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Angie Lux, a scientist specializing in earthquake early warnings at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, said she thought the alert worked well, as it reached its ultimate goal of protecting lives and reducing injuries. Lux said the alert is sent to everyone at once, and the further you are away from the epicenter, the longer you will have to act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the people that are right next to the epicenter, they’re not going to receive much warning,” Lux said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evan Hirakawa lives in Scott’s Valley, just a few miles away from the source of Thursday’s quake. The USGS research geophysicist said he felt the quake first, then his phone pinged.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It was pretty intense at my house,” Hirakawa said. “The shake alert kind of worked, but it was too close for it to really benefit me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hirakawa said there’s evidence that indicates the earthquake likely took place on a fault that hasn’t ruptured in a long time — the Zayante Fault in Santa Cruz County, which sits roughly between two major fault systems: the San Andreas and the San Gregorio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have [Zayante] labeled in our databases as maybe it’s inactive now,” Hirakawa said. “It was active thousands of years ago, but we haven’t seen a lot of historical earthquakes on it.\u003cem>”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this shaking may seem like an outlier, Hirakawa said he doesn’t think Thursday’s quake “is a foreshock to something bigger.” But, he said, it’s still worth paying attention to early warning messages, because doing so might just be “life-saving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that so many people who felt the earthquake got the alert this morning is a good sign that the early warning stuff is at least working,” Hirakwa said. “It will be unfortunate when it happens, but the system will only be tested when there’s a large, destructive earthquake. That’s when it’s going to matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco resident Anthony Costello slept through the alert but woke to the jostling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just like, ‘Oh, girl, shut up, and just rolled over,’” Costello said, who has lived in the region for eight years. “I think my sensitivity to quakes is starting to increase a little bit and also my general anxiety with quakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_524199\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1373px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-524199 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured.png\" alt=\"U.C. Berkeley's MyShake app could be the first step toward earthquake warnings on your phone.\" width=\"1373\" height=\"795\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured.png 1373w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-400x232.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-800x463.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-768x445.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-1180x683.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/02/MyShake_scrgrab_featured-960x556.png 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1373px) 100vw, 1373px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MyShake alerts users to earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or higher, though residents in places like San Ramon have reported feeling smaller quakes during a swarm that has persisted for months. \u003ccite>(Berkeley Seismological Laboratory)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even still, Costello said early warnings are so important because the larger the quake, the more time you’re going to need to make sure you’re safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Menlo Park resident Stephanie Lucianovic also went back to sleep after a local warning prompted her phone to go off. In the morning, she discussed the quakes with her kids. She’s considering downloading the MyShake app, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m interested in knowing all the information, but I don’t think I’d want to have it be a loud warning every time there was some minor earthquake,” Lucianovic said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, MyShake alerts users when there’s a 4.5-magnitude earthquake or higher, which doesn’t discount the experience of people who feel smaller quakes, like in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000505/new-web-of-sensors-aims-to-pinpoint-san-ramon-earthquake-source\">San Ramon\u003c/a>, where a swarm of smaller quakes has been occurring for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t make everybody happy,” Lux said. “Some people are going to feel it, some people may not, but we’re there to help.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000354/read-with-kqed-the-book-that-changed-how-we-see-nature\">\u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em>\u003c/a> is one of those books where many people think they know what it says, have opinions about it, even if they haven’t read it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a science book that, when you sit down and crack it open, surprises you with its technical, but compelling, depth. Carson is an extremely skilled writer. And the book changed the world, opening eyes to patterns and consequences that had been hidden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re now in a time when its lessons are more important than ever: the Make America Healthy Again movement has swept to power in this country with calls for less chemical use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superficially, MAHA and its figurehead Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — whose uncle John F. Kennedy, as president, used his administration to defend Carson against the chemical industry’s attacks — appear to share intellectual tenets with \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em>: a skepticism of corporate power, concern over environmental toxins, and industrial influence over public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But RFK., Jr. has attacked vaccines. And the Trump administration has taken a soft line on regulating pesticides. It’s hard to imagine that Carson would agree, and a close reading of her book can remind us: chemical impacts travel far beyond their intended use, and what the data actually says matters enormously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000547\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000547\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley Environmental Law professor Claudia Polsky will join KQED to talk about Silent Spring at the Night of Ideas on April 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of UC Berkeley Law)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Join KQED for a discussion of \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em> and its legacy and lessons for us on April 11 at the San Francisco Public Library as part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/6104\">Night of Ideas\u003c/a>, at 7:30 p.m. inside the Periodical Room. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the book yet. Come just as you are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussion will shine a spotlight on the work of Claudia Polsky, the founding director of the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Berkeley, who is a guest for the discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rachel Carson’s book pointed at ways to engage people,” Polsky said, “how you engage people who care about pets, people who are bird watchers, people who care about what’s in breast milk they’re feeding to their children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carson explored how manufactured chemicals found in the environment were appearing in wildlife, in household pets and in our bodies, like no other writer had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polsky, in her own work, partly inspired by Carson, has spent years protecting vulnerable people and communities from harmful chemicals. She has represented communities contaminated by PFAs, stubborn “forever chemicals” used to make food packaging, nonstick pans, waterproof materials that don’t break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a deputy attorney general for California, she helped get formaldehyde-laden Brazilian blowout chemicals – which leave hair with a glossy sheen – off the market here by demonstrating the carcinogen was sickening and disabling salon workers. She worked on policies to reduce the risks associated with pesticides and industrial chemicals at the Department of Toxic Substances Control in Sacramento. Most recently, she successfully \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-25/trump-lawsuit-university-of-california-researchers\">led a legal fight against the Trump administration\u003c/a> to restore hundreds of millions in canceled research funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite her differences with the Trump administration, Polsky has compassion for some of the MAHA movement’s concerns. She said it has a “good intuition” for the ways in which the public lacks health protections, as well as the government’s “insufficient focus” on broad-level public health and prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although she points out that the level of skepticism about vaccine safety backed by RFK Jr. lacks empirical support and is unjustified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Polsky’s work, however, she seeks to find ways to connect people across political divides. She has a book project in her sights that would focus on how environmental concerns can be detected within human bodies, such as in breast milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to write for Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris voters,” she said. “I actually want to write something that speaks to the incredible political horseshoe I’ve seen around issues of human exposure to chemicals … I feel there’s a huge opportunity here once we can get past this hyperpartisan moment.”[aside postID=science_2000234 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/Condors1.jpg'] Some people have criticized \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em> and Rachel Carson for fostering intense fear of chemicals in a way that has partially led to our anti-science moment. People attribute to her a call for a ban on all pesticides. Polsky said \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/crazy-lies-haters-threw-at-rachel-carson-25183450/\">laying these critiques at Carson’s door\u003c/a> is unfounded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we can attribute to her the fact that people have over-read what she said and what she testified in Congress. She actually did not call for a ban on pesticides. She said they have their place. It’s much narrower than how they’re deployed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carson encouraged saving DDT – the pesticide she’s most associated with – to control malarial outbreaks. That doesn’t stop her detractors from attributing malarial deaths to her, and by extension, seeking to undermine the case for environmental regulations altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women, especially, who raise concerns about environmental chemicals are criticized and called hysterical or emotional or over-invested in the issue. This was true of Carson, too, who died of breast cancer in 1964, two years after the book was published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She testified about pesticides in front of Congress after a double mastectomy, which I find incredibly poignant,” Polsky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She wore a wig to hide the fact that she had cancer so that [her testimony] wouldn’t be seen as a personal vendetta, which is just so heartbreaking. The idea that if you’re personally affected, you’re seen as unable to make sense of the data rather than as having the highest possible stake in ensuring that people understand the data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A more serious issue than people being over-worried about what manufactured chemicals are doing to themselves and their surroundings, Polsky said, is that they don’t seem to be worried enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superficially, MAHA and its figurehead Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — whose uncle John F. Kennedy, as president, used his administration to defend Carson against the chemical industry’s attacks — appear to share intellectual tenets with \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em>: a skepticism of corporate power, concern over environmental toxins, and industrial influence over public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But RFK., Jr. has attacked vaccines. And the Trump administration has taken a soft line on regulating pesticides. It’s hard to imagine that Carson would agree, and a close reading of her book can remind us: chemical impacts travel far beyond their intended use, and what the data actually says matters enormously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000547\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000547\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/polsky_claudia_2019-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley Environmental Law professor Claudia Polsky will join KQED to talk about Silent Spring at the Night of Ideas on April 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of UC Berkeley Law)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Join KQED for a discussion of \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em> and its legacy and lessons for us on April 11 at the San Francisco Public Library as part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/6104\">Night of Ideas\u003c/a>, at 7:30 p.m. inside the Periodical Room. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the book yet. Come just as you are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discussion will shine a spotlight on the work of Claudia Polsky, the founding director of the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Berkeley, who is a guest for the discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rachel Carson’s book pointed at ways to engage people,” Polsky said, “how you engage people who care about pets, people who are bird watchers, people who care about what’s in breast milk they’re feeding to their children.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carson explored how manufactured chemicals found in the environment were appearing in wildlife, in household pets and in our bodies, like no other writer had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polsky, in her own work, partly inspired by Carson, has spent years protecting vulnerable people and communities from harmful chemicals. She has represented communities contaminated by PFAs, stubborn “forever chemicals” used to make food packaging, nonstick pans, waterproof materials that don’t break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a deputy attorney general for California, she helped get formaldehyde-laden Brazilian blowout chemicals – which leave hair with a glossy sheen – off the market here by demonstrating the carcinogen was sickening and disabling salon workers. She worked on policies to reduce the risks associated with pesticides and industrial chemicals at the Department of Toxic Substances Control in Sacramento. Most recently, she successfully \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-25/trump-lawsuit-university-of-california-researchers\">led a legal fight against the Trump administration\u003c/a> to restore hundreds of millions in canceled research funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite her differences with the Trump administration, Polsky has compassion for some of the MAHA movement’s concerns. She said it has a “good intuition” for the ways in which the public lacks health protections, as well as the government’s “insufficient focus” on broad-level public health and prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although she points out that the level of skepticism about vaccine safety backed by RFK Jr. lacks empirical support and is unjustified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Polsky’s work, however, she seeks to find ways to connect people across political divides. She has a book project in her sights that would focus on how environmental concerns can be detected within human bodies, such as in breast milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to write for Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris voters,” she said. “I actually want to write something that speaks to the incredible political horseshoe I’ve seen around issues of human exposure to chemicals … I feel there’s a huge opportunity here once we can get past this hyperpartisan moment.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Some people have criticized \u003cem>Silent Spring\u003c/em> and Rachel Carson for fostering intense fear of chemicals in a way that has partially led to our anti-science moment. People attribute to her a call for a ban on all pesticides. Polsky said \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/crazy-lies-haters-threw-at-rachel-carson-25183450/\">laying these critiques at Carson’s door\u003c/a> is unfounded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think we can attribute to her the fact that people have over-read what she said and what she testified in Congress. She actually did not call for a ban on pesticides. She said they have their place. It’s much narrower than how they’re deployed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carson encouraged saving DDT – the pesticide she’s most associated with – to control malarial outbreaks. That doesn’t stop her detractors from attributing malarial deaths to her, and by extension, seeking to undermine the case for environmental regulations altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women, especially, who raise concerns about environmental chemicals are criticized and called hysterical or emotional or over-invested in the issue. This was true of Carson, too, who died of breast cancer in 1964, two years after the book was published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She testified about pesticides in front of Congress after a double mastectomy, which I find incredibly poignant,” Polsky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She wore a wig to hide the fact that she had cancer so that [her testimony] wouldn’t be seen as a personal vendetta, which is just so heartbreaking. The idea that if you’re personally affected, you’re seen as unable to make sense of the data rather than as having the highest possible stake in ensuring that people understand the data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A more serious issue than people being over-worried about what manufactured chemicals are doing to themselves and their surroundings, Polsky said, is that they don’t seem to be worried enough.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
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},
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"order": 1
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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 />",
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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.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"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. ",
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"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. ",
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"order": 18
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},
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"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/",
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},
"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"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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