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"slug": "cal-fire-fumbles-key-responsibilities-to-prevent-catastrophic-wildfires-despite-historic-budget",
"title": "Cal Fire Fumbles Key Responsibilities to Prevent Catastrophic Wildfires Despite Historic Budget",
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"content": "\u003cp>Richard A. Wilson is worried about wildfires this summer, amid dry conditions, extreme temperatures, punishing winds and the amplification of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are very vulnerable,” the 90-year-old said while looking out the window of his house on Buck Mountain, part of a 3,000-acre cattle ranch spanning Mendocino and Trinity counties that has been in his family for 80 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson estimates about 70% of his land — the whole northern end, including grassland, and pine and Douglas fir timberland — has burned in recent years. It was hit by the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and the 2020 August Complex Fire, both among the largest fires in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scale of the fires covered the country in a way we hadn’t seen, in size or intensity,” Wilson recalled.[pullquote align='right' citation='Richard Wilson, former head of Cal Fire']‘Their business [now] is putting fires out. The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires in California have burned nearly 7 million acres in the last two years alone. It is not only the size of the fires but also the destruction that’s breathtaking. In just the 2021 fire season, the Dixie Fire destroyed the town of Greenville and the Caldor Fire devastated the foothills community of Grizzly Flats. Both were the first fires in modern state history to burn across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Wilson fears, will be dangerous, as well: “We are headed into a tenuous time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson is not just any worried landowner: He’s the former head of Cal Fire, the state department responsible for fighting wildfires and managing forestland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Cal Fire is broadly recognized as a leader in firefighting, Wilson says it is also partly to blame for the looming danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he led the department in the 1990s, he claims it viewed caring for forest health as a primary mission. Foresters are trained to see wooded areas as living ecosystems, and know how to make them more fire-resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years after his tenure, he says the culture changed. Firefighting, not forestry, became the route to advancement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it’s now a fire department. A very good fire department. But it’s not a forestry department,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cal Fire is at an inflection point: trying to return to a greater emphasis on fire mitigation and forest health, while still working to protect communities from historic and deadly wildfires. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature lavished the department with record amounts of money for prescribed burns, brush clearing and cutting fuel breaks. But money alone does not solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has publicly signaled a commitment to rebalancing its priorities. But a monthslong investigation by The California Newsroom, a public media collaboration, found that the department continues to fumble key responsibilities related to forest management and wildfire mitigation, potentially leaving the state at greater risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state set aside a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. However, Cal Fire’s forest management hiring remains stagnant, while its firefighting staffing has ballooned.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire is struggling to track wildfire prevention projects that experts say are desperately needed to protect communities from destructive wildfires. The department still can’t determine how many acres of work it completed and funded through grants in the fiscal year ending in June 2021.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire has taken years to implement laws passed by the state Legislature. A program, required under state law to bolster the prescribed-burn workforce, suffered nearly a year of delay. So far, only two burn bosses have been certified, slowing the pace of protective projects. Experts say this delay has caused a loss of opportunities to enact community-protecting work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least four years, Cal Fire has failed to send its annual report to the Legislature detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts. The report, required by law, is an inventory of Cal Fire’s efforts and helps lawmakers understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has increased its output during the past five years. It completed fire prevention work — directly or through grants — on 105,000 acres in the fiscal year that ended in June 2020. The department could not provide a more current total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tasked\u003c/a> Cal Fire, along with partners that control state and private land, with performing 500,000 acres of forest management and fire mitigation work every year by 2025. But progress toward that goal has been slow, in part because a key state program \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/04/12/newsom-hailed-this-critical-wildfire-prevention-program-two-years-on-it-hasnt-completed-a-single-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed to increase project completions\u003c/a>. [pullquote align='right' citation='Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler']‘Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Cal Fire’s Joe Tyler, who was appointed chief in March, said the department is making progress on improving forest health and protecting communities in advance of catastrophic fires by “investing in community preparedness and mitigation” and “continuing to do those fuels projects across the board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to this year’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/p24fmjyg/cwpm-news-release_2022.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division\u003c/a>, which aims to “develop, prioritize and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tyler said the longer, more extreme wildfire seasons — coupled with the pandemic — have left the department’s workforce “fatigued.” That has affected Cal Fire’s administrative, forest management and fire suppression capabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also acknowledged the need to change Cal Fire’s culture so it focuses more on prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire practitioners like Margo Robbins, executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, argue this change at Cal Fire is long overdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they have forgotten that forestry is part of their responsibility, quite frankly,” said Robbins, whose expertise is in setting intentional fires that benefit the landscape and can protect communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She noted that Cal Fire is “moving in the right direction” by boosting investment in fire mitigation and fuel reduction. And the department has helped accommodate cultural prescribed burning led by Native American communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “they have a ways to go,” Robbins added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they would focus more on that management piece, I think we would be seeing a very different scenario on our landscapes and a very different scenario in terms of wildfires,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rebranding the department, changing the culture\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979580\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979580\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in orange and yellow uniforms stand in front of a burning hillside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-800x604.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1020x770.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters from the State of California and the Orange County Fire Authority on a controlled burn in Crystal Cove State Park, June 27, 1998. \u003ccite>(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back when Wilson ran Cal Fire in the 1990s, it was known by its official name: the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He says during those years he made sure foresters — who are trained in managing forest health — had a lot of say. He feels their voice has disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo lineup of Cal Fire’s past executive roster\u003c/a> , Wilson is the last chief wearing a suit and tie. All subsequent chiefs are wearing uniforms with badges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their business [now] is putting fires out,” Wilson said. “The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new chief, Tyler, is a 30-year veteran of the department who previously oversaw aspects of Cal Fire’s firefighting and emergency response. He said he witnessed the culture change, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I recall far ago in my career, in the ’90s, where fuels treatment, fuels reduction, vegetation management was an extremely high priority of the department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979575\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1020x818.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-160x128.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-768x616.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1536x1232.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM.png 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photoline up of Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive roster\u003c/a> from 1990 to the present. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But then, with the onset of larger and more damaging fires, the department’s focus increasingly shifted to suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name “Cal Fire” embodies this tension. In 2006, the Legislature passed a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200520060AB1423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">law\u003c/a> allowing The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to rebrand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the bill — including the department’s firefighters union — argued the change was “\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22015888-ab-1423-assembly-bill-bill-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">necessary to reflect [the department’s] primary role as a fire-fighting agency.\u003c/a> ” But the department itself had opposed the legislation, worried that the new moniker would obscure its forest management mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tensions are once again at the fore as California faces a new wildfire reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Record investment, few new fire-prevention hires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Last year, Newsom and lawmakers allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest management, with the bulk of it going to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a record amount. As of April, about half of the $1.5 billion had been “committed” to specific projects and initiatives, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program/2022-04-29-Wildfire-Resilience-Budget-Report.pdf\">according\u003c/a> to a recent report from the Natural Resources Agency, which oversees Cal Fire. The state has up to seven years to spend the bulk of the investment; some money may have to be spent sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says the committed money is going to good use. “We’ve launched over 550 new projects with that funding,” said Jessica Morse, deputy secretary for forest and wildland resilience with the Natural Resources Agency. “Which is pretty fast — for bureaucracy, from appropriation — within less than a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of these projects are specific wildfire prevention and forest health efforts, according to a chart on the agency’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a>. For example, the Tuolumne County Resource Conservation District is planning a 641-acre fuel break to protect the communities of Groveland and Big Oak Flat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of projects don’t turn dirt or remove dangerous brush. Some fund studies of mitigation techniques and vegetation types. Another pays a consulting firm half-a-million dollars to develop a communications strategy for the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of other projects are related to climate change resilience, but have no immediate connection to wildfires. For example, a $600,000 allocation will help the city of Glendale, in Los Angeles County, plant 500 trees within the most “tree-poor area of the City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of that money would go to distributing pamphlets to urban property owners on “the benefits of trees and tree care,” the project description reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979578\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979578 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png\" alt=\"Chart showing rising costs of responding to wildfires.\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-1020x690.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State spending on firefighting has more than tripled since 2005, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Legislative Analyst’s Office\u003c/a>. Despite recent increases, spending on resource management and fire prevention is still a small fraction of the total. \u003ccite>(LAO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In spite of last year’s investment, the bulk of Cal Fire’s overall spending remains focused on fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last three fiscal years, Cal Fire allocated nearly $8 billion for “fire protection,” according to figures provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO. That money is used “to attack fires quickly and aggressively … until the fire is under control,” according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/3000/3540.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the department’s budget\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those three years, the department allocated about $1.5 billion for “resource management,” which according to the department’s budget is for the “regulation of timber harvesting,” “coordination of climate and forest restoration” and “vegetation management projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing and new hires also heavily favor fire suppression. In the last three years, “fire protection” positions jumped from 7,076 to 8,187, according to figures provided by the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials noted that some positions in the department’s “fire protection” division focus on fire prevention work. About 3% of the division’s staff are described as “fire prevention” positions, according to Department of Finance figures.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that same time period, Cal Fire’s “resource management” division increased by 31 positions to a total of 518 — despite the massive investment in forest health and wildfire mitigation last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Note: Every department’s budget includes staffing figures, but the Department of Finance cautioned that some of the numbers for Cal Fire in recent years needed to be updated. The Department of Finance provided updated, accurate figures in response to a request from The California Newsroom.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts acknowledge the need to ramp up fire suppression forces in the face of extreme wildfires. But they argue there needs to be a complementary increase in resource management hiring to prevent catastrophic wildfires in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robbins, with the Cultural Fire Management Council, called the hiring disparity “startling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking at these numbers,” she said, “it is very obvious to me that they’re not putting as much focus as they should be on prevention as opposed to reactionary suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Mason, vice president of policy and incentives with Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group focused on sustainable forests, said the need for more resource management staffing is “substantial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire needs dozens, if not hundreds, of additional people working on the resource management side of the organization,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that Cal Fire can’t achieve forest sustainability alone, and should build up its workforce alongside other agencies focused on water resources, climate resilience and biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge, according to Morse with the Natural Resources Agency, is that last year’s historic investment in wildfire resilience is mostly one-time spending, meaning the agency cannot count on it in future budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s not permanent funding, it’s hard to get permanent positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the money can be spent for up to seven years, Morse said. Some might have to be spent sooner. That would put a time limit on any positions created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Robbins and Mason are pushing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacificforest.org/wildfire-resiliency-group-budget-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least $1 billion in annual\u003c/a> for the next five years — totaling a minimum of $5 billion — for wildfire resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979582 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A firefighter in a yellow uniform drips flame from a torch onto a pile of brush. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews conduct a prescribed burn as part of its vegetation management program in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Struggling to track progress\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>An overarching initiative driving the state’s fire prevention efforts is an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreement\u003c/a> Newsom forged with the federal government in the summer of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the plan, California and the U.S. Forest Service each committed to completing 500,000 acres of forest management work annually in the state by 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after signing the agreement, Newsom held a press conference in Butte County amid ruins of the North Complex Fire. Peering through the smoky air and clad in a vintage-style military jacket, he called the plan “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXga8CM_uuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a significant milestone, a significant step forward\u003c/a> .”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In 2018, in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5.10.18-Forest-EO.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive order\u003c/a>, former Gov. Jerry Brown set an annual 500,000-acre goal for California agencies, with a deadline of 2023, but Newsom’s agreement with the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/29/gov-gavin-newsom-retreats-on-1-billion-wildfire-prevention-plan-ahead-of-meeting-with-president-biden/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pushed \u003c/a>the target back two years.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measuring progress toward this goal is murky at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom requested data on the number of fire prevention acres Cal Fire itself completed, or funded through grants, in recent years. The department provided a chart showing a steady increase in total acreage, reaching over 105,000 acres in the fiscal year ending in June 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is still figuring out the total number it completed and funded through grants between July 2020 and June 2021. And the department did not provide any data on the current fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve its 500,000-acre goal, the state will count wildfire prevention work performed by Cal Fire, its grantees and private landowners, which can include large properties such as logging companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, Cal Fire does not have a way to track work completed by many private landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It highlights something pretty basic, which is we need an accounting system that works,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He notes that tabulating total fire mitigation acres is a limited method of measuring risk reduction. He and other experts advocate for a system that takes into consideration factors like proximity to vulnerable communities and topography. But quantifying total acres of completed work is a basic step toward a more sophisticated assessment system, according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is aiming to develop an online dashboard to track progress on forest management and fire prevention work. The goal is to show “the public where these projects are occurring” by putting “all this data at their fingertips,” said Daniel Berlant, deputy director of the department’s newly created Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has come under \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">criticism in the past for overstating the state’s wildfire prevention accomplishments,\u003c/a> first uncovered in an investigation by The California Newsroom last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has teased the new system — an upgrade of its existing, inconsistent \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fegis.fire.ca.gov%2Farcgis%2Frest%2Fservices%2FCalMapper%2FCalMAPPER_Public%2FMapServer&source=sd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CalMAPPER\u003c/a> database — since last summer. But it hasn’t committed to a release date. At a meeting of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force last month, director Patrick Wright said it would offer “an initial flavor” of the dashboard in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional challenge stands in the way of measuring progress toward the 1 million acre goal. While the target seems straightforward, Cal Fire and the federal government haven’t arrived at an agreed-upon definition of what counts as an “acre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are differing perspectives over which types of fuel reduction should be eligible. For example, if an area has to be hand-thinned prior to a prescribed burn, should that area be tallied twice? Is salvage-logging, the process of removing damaged trees after a fire, eligible? What if the federal and state governments work together on the same project — could they both count it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire says it has internal definitions of how to measure and count acres of forest management work. But an agreed-upon definition with the Forest Service remains elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials told The California Newsroom that the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is taking the lead on crafting this definition. The task force is made up of representatives from the state and federal governments, tribal leaders and other groups that do forest health projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure that we’re talking apples to apples,” Berlant said. When pressed, he and other senior officials did not provide a timeline for when that definition would be finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979583 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a helmet tosses a dead branch down a dry, yellow hill. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews cleared brush to create a fuel break in San Diego County. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A ‘messy, confusing process’ to certify ‘burn bosses’ and expand prescribed fire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s prescribed fire guidebook says setting controlled, beneficial fire “is a key tool for the Department and its cooperators to use in reducing fuels at a landscape scale while improving ecosystem health in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the workforce needed to meaningfully scale up prescribed fire, and protect forests and communities, is still largely lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually “burn bosses” — those qualified to plan and lead controlled burns — need to work for many years for fire suppression agencies, such as Cal Fire or the U.S. Forest Service, to get enough experience for certification. But being so busy fighting fires for much of the year, they struggle to get many burns done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, burns remain a key strategy, and the state’s goal has been to increase the workforce. To that end, the Legislature passed a bill in 2018 meant to increase the number of people trained to run burns. The law created a state-led training and certification program called State-Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss, or CA-RX. It signaled a shift in direction — and a hope that burn bosses who do not work for government agencies in suppression, but may work for nonprofits, will have more freedom to conduct burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it took four years — until mid-April 2022 — for the first burn boss to be certified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails obtained through a Public Records Act request make it clear that some Cal Fire unit chiefs, whose signoff was required to advance the certification process, did not fully support the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays in issuing and signing paperwork prevented the certification of trainees for the better part of a year. For example, course participants were not issued training checklists known as “task books,” which are used to evaluate their abilities. And trainees suggest these delays may have come at a cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply concerned that I have still not been issued a task book to finalize my CARX certification,” wrote trainee Will Harling, director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, in an early January 2022 email to Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division. “This sense of urgency is shared by myself and others who have seen first-hand towns nearly wiped off the map in the time we have been waiting for this CARX certification process to be finalized, and have the skills and knowledge to safely implement prescribed burns that can help save homes and protect resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harling wasn’t the only one to write in frustration to the division. In response to a December 2021 email from another trainee, Battalion Chief Mark Bisbee within Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division acknowledged the program’s problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess the best way to characterize this entire process is messy, confusing,” Bisbee wrote. “The next step is in flux because […] not all Unit Chiefs are on board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bisbee acknowledged in his email that the certification program “has been a very long, drawn out process,” but said he would continue to advocate for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview in April, Bisbee said the slow start was partially due to only a few people being authorized to teach the program, but also to “bottlenecks within the bureaucracy.” While he said he saw progress within the department of accepting prescribed fire — which can be a hard adjustment for those trained only to put out fire — the paradigm shift was like a huge ship moving sideways: slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the push from lawmakers to take a new direction: “Whether Cal Fire is ready or not, the legislation is saying this is what we need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a legislative oversight hearing last December, Lenya Quinn-Davidson — a fire adviser with the University of California who helped write the legislation and the curriculum and who hosted the first course — told lawmakers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve missed a ton of opportunities for project implementation. There is a huge need for qualified burn bosses to plan and implement projects and to partner with the state and to partner with landowners. But without the state certification and the protections that it can provide, many of those folks are not willing to go out and do that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quinn-Davidson wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/california-burn-boss-program-new-path-forward-or-dead-end-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post \u003c/a>in mid-January about the delays in the certification process. Soon after it published, Cal Fire issued task books to almost all participants, according to a blog update. Will Harling confirmed receiving his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see this work happen more quickly,” Quinn-Davidson told The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Reischman, Cal Fire’s deputy director of resource management, said he believes the program will prove a success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a new course for us, so there’s a lot of changes and things that we had to do to get it up and running,” he said. “It’s a process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Missing reports and safety inspections\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In some instances, The California Newsroom discovered, Cal Fire is altogether neglecting oversight requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For over a decade, the Legislature has mandated that the department file an annual report detailing its fire prevention activities for the previous year, and its plans for improving prevention efforts moving forward. The report is an inventory of the department’s accomplishments, and lawmakers rely on it to understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an exhaustive search by the State Library, carried out at The California Newsroom’s request, found that the department has not filed this report in at least four years. The library’s most recent copy covers fiscal year 2014-15. The state’s website for \u003ca href=\"https://agencyreports.ca.gov/rep13922308081004\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agency reports\u003c/a> indicates the department may have filed a report for 2017, but the library does not have a copy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last two state budgets, the Legislature also required Cal Fire to file reports on grants awarded to local governments and nonprofits for fire prevention, including the number of applications received and grants awarded. The reports were due in February of this year, according to the state’s website for agency reports. A search by the State Library turned up no copies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire did not provide copies of the reports in response to an email request. In an interview, Berlant said “the reports are in the works,” adding the department took its responsibilities seriously but had been delayed by the pandemic and that “fighting fire in the middle of December, January, February — that becomes a bit of our priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief Tyler said the department is actively working on completing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I myself learned about those reports to the Legislature that are due, I put a task in my own calendar to start checking up on those to ensure that those are getting submitted timely,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some legislation lays out clear mandates for Cal Fire, other bills establish goals for the department to meet. For example, a law passed in 2019 set a goal for Cal Fire to inspect homes within its responsibility area once every three years. These inspections are designed to educate homeowners about dangers with vegetation near the home and structural vulnerabilities to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is struggling to hit its inspection targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 report\u003c/a> from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, “CalFire was not able to provide data on how many unique properties were inspected each year or how many properties had not been inspected within the past three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the LAO concluded, “[I]t is unclear what share of properties have received recent inspections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department provided some information, and indicated some local Cal Fire units inspected 10% or fewer of their parcels each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said the department is working to hit its goals and plans to hire more defensible space inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be working to not only increase those [inspection] numbers, but to make sure that those numbers are being reported to the public to see exactly where that work is being done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moritz, the wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension, said the inspections are essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clearly if Cal Fire was able to follow through and inspect 100% of the parcels that need it,” said Moritz, “presumably those inspections would lead to a great benefit, a great reduction in risk for both the firefighters and for the homeowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire also is supposed to update fire hazard severity maps every five years, but they were last updated in 2007. The agency told CapRadio in December that \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/12/20/after-years-of-delays-calfire-says-updated-and-expanded-wildfire-hazard-maps-are-on-their-way/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the new ones would be released in the next few months\u003c/a> — at that time, ostensibly February or March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Cal Fire staff now says the new maps likely will roll out in the summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps are “a really important tool that we have for smarter building and design of our communities, because the building codes are attached to those maps,” according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delaying the map updates, Moritz said, could lead to places still being identified at a lower hazard level than they should be. “You could have building going on that would not be at the building codes that are necessary for the hazard in that location,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department’s modeling has struggled to keep pace with the conditions feeding California’s extreme wildfires. Berlant says the department is now using science that “tracks extreme wind events at a much smaller scale, so that we can better mirror conditions that we’ve been experiencing in these last couple of fire seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cal Fire’s chief responds\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom presented Chief Tyler with its findings, and he expounded on ways he plans to change the culture and structure of Cal Fire. He also reiterated his belief that Cal Fire can — and under his leadership will — balance its firefighting and forestry responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979588\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979588\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue uniform stands at a podium in front of a bulldozer. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler speaks in Santa Rosa for Wildfire Preparedness Week, May 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For example, experts and practitioners in the world of fire resilience have told The California Newsroom they feel an inability to publicly criticize or offer scrutiny of Cal Fire for fear of damaging their relationship with the department, being cut out of grants or not getting their permits signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler acknowledged this fear is a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That disappoints me,” he said. “I have heard that in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his short time as chief, Tyler said he has been working to create an environment that welcomes open communication and collaboration. He said in his first weeks as the head of Cal Fire, he spent about six days a week soliciting input from stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse, with the state’s Natural Resources Agency, added that Cal Fire’s participation in the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force brought the department to the table with representatives from nongovernment organizations, tribes and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s open to some changes, Tyler stopped short of advocating for radical overhauls to the department’s structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire uses a top-down organizational structure called the “incident command system.” This organizational model is often used by public agencies to manage emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler believes this structure is effective for fighting fires — and planning to prevent them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire is a very paramilitary organization,” the chief said. “You can use that system for applying anything to this organization, whether that be fuels reduction, vegetation management, prescribed fire or full suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also pushed back on \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handing over fire prevention responsibilities\u003c/a> , such as prescribed burns and other mitigation efforts, to a cabinet-level position appointed by the governor — a proposal floated by one lawmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not believe that there is a need to split this department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized his expectation that, when firefighters “are not actively suppressing fires and going to emergencies, they are doing defensible space inspections, they are doing fuels reduction [and] they are investing in prescribed fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is important that these employees are doing the entire mission of the department,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The California Newsroom is a collaboration of public radio stations, NPR and CalMatters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Richard A. Wilson is worried about wildfires this summer, amid dry conditions, extreme temperatures, punishing winds and the amplification of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are very vulnerable,” the 90-year-old said while looking out the window of his house on Buck Mountain, part of a 3,000-acre cattle ranch spanning Mendocino and Trinity counties that has been in his family for 80 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson estimates about 70% of his land — the whole northern end, including grassland, and pine and Douglas fir timberland — has burned in recent years. It was hit by the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and the 2020 August Complex Fire, both among the largest fires in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scale of the fires covered the country in a way we hadn’t seen, in size or intensity,” Wilson recalled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Their business [now] is putting fires out. The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires in California have burned nearly 7 million acres in the last two years alone. It is not only the size of the fires but also the destruction that’s breathtaking. In just the 2021 fire season, the Dixie Fire destroyed the town of Greenville and the Caldor Fire devastated the foothills community of Grizzly Flats. Both were the first fires in modern state history to burn across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Wilson fears, will be dangerous, as well: “We are headed into a tenuous time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson is not just any worried landowner: He’s the former head of Cal Fire, the state department responsible for fighting wildfires and managing forestland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Cal Fire is broadly recognized as a leader in firefighting, Wilson says it is also partly to blame for the looming danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he led the department in the 1990s, he claims it viewed caring for forest health as a primary mission. Foresters are trained to see wooded areas as living ecosystems, and know how to make them more fire-resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the years after his tenure, he says the culture changed. Firefighting, not forestry, became the route to advancement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And it’s now a fire department. A very good fire department. But it’s not a forestry department,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cal Fire is at an inflection point: trying to return to a greater emphasis on fire mitigation and forest health, while still working to protect communities from historic and deadly wildfires. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature lavished the department with record amounts of money for prescribed burns, brush clearing and cutting fuel breaks. But money alone does not solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has publicly signaled a commitment to rebalancing its priorities. But a monthslong investigation by The California Newsroom, a public media collaboration, found that the department continues to fumble key responsibilities related to forest management and wildfire mitigation, potentially leaving the state at greater risk of catastrophic fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation found:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The state set aside a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest health in 2021. However, Cal Fire’s forest management hiring remains stagnant, while its firefighting staffing has ballooned.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire is struggling to track wildfire prevention projects that experts say are desperately needed to protect communities from destructive wildfires. The department still can’t determine how many acres of work it completed and funded through grants in the fiscal year ending in June 2021.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Cal Fire has taken years to implement laws passed by the state Legislature. A program, required under state law to bolster the prescribed-burn workforce, suffered nearly a year of delay. So far, only two burn bosses have been certified, slowing the pace of protective projects. Experts say this delay has caused a loss of opportunities to enact community-protecting work.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least four years, Cal Fire has failed to send its annual report to the Legislature detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts. The report, required by law, is an inventory of Cal Fire’s efforts and helps lawmakers understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire has increased its output during the past five years. It completed fire prevention work — directly or through grants — on 105,000 acres in the fiscal year that ended in June 2020. The department could not provide a more current total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tasked\u003c/a> Cal Fire, along with partners that control state and private land, with performing 500,000 acres of forest management and fire mitigation work every year by 2025. But progress toward that goal has been slow, in part because a key state program \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2022/04/12/newsom-hailed-this-critical-wildfire-prevention-program-two-years-on-it-hasnt-completed-a-single-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed to increase project completions\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, Cal Fire’s Joe Tyler, who was appointed chief in March, said the department is making progress on improving forest health and protecting communities in advance of catastrophic fires by “investing in community preparedness and mitigation” and “continuing to do those fuels projects across the board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to this year’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/p24fmjyg/cwpm-news-release_2022.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division\u003c/a>, which aims to “develop, prioritize and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tyler said the longer, more extreme wildfire seasons — coupled with the pandemic — have left the department’s workforce “fatigued.” That has affected Cal Fire’s administrative, forest management and fire suppression capabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also acknowledged the need to change Cal Fire’s culture so it focuses more on prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Watching these fires get larger and more damaging since 2014, I sincerely recognize the need to change the way we do — and have changed the way that we do — business,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire practitioners like Margo Robbins, executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, argue this change at Cal Fire is long overdue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they have forgotten that forestry is part of their responsibility, quite frankly,” said Robbins, whose expertise is in setting intentional fires that benefit the landscape and can protect communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She noted that Cal Fire is “moving in the right direction” by boosting investment in fire mitigation and fuel reduction. And the department has helped accommodate cultural prescribed burning led by Native American communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “they have a ways to go,” Robbins added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they would focus more on that management piece, I think we would be seeing a very different scenario on our landscapes and a very different scenario in terms of wildfires,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Rebranding the department, changing the culture\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979580\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979580\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters in orange and yellow uniforms stand in front of a burning hillside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-800x604.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1020x770.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56650_GettyImages-567393319-qut-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firefighters from the State of California and the Orange County Fire Authority on a controlled burn in Crystal Cove State Park, June 27, 1998. \u003ccite>(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back when Wilson ran Cal Fire in the 1990s, it was known by its official name: the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. He says during those years he made sure foresters — who are trained in managing forest health — had a lot of say. He feels their voice has disappeared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">photo lineup of Cal Fire’s past executive roster\u003c/a> , Wilson is the last chief wearing a suit and tie. All subsequent chiefs are wearing uniforms with badges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their business [now] is putting fires out,” Wilson said. “The bigger the fires, the more people they need to put the fires out. That’s a complete reverse of somebody trying to deal with the forest so if there is a fire, it doesn’t get out of control and burn the whole thing down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new chief, Tyler, is a 30-year veteran of the department who previously oversaw aspects of Cal Fire’s firefighting and emergency response. He said he witnessed the culture change, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I recall far ago in my career, in the ’90s, where fuels treatment, fuels reduction, vegetation management was an extremely high priority of the department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979575\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-800x642.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1020x818.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-160x128.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-768x616.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM-1536x1232.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-12.49.08-PM.png 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photoline up of Cal Fire’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/jwpajqnx/foresters-and-directors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive roster\u003c/a> from 1990 to the present. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But then, with the onset of larger and more damaging fires, the department’s focus increasingly shifted to suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name “Cal Fire” embodies this tension. In 2006, the Legislature passed a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=200520060AB1423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">law\u003c/a> allowing The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to rebrand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the bill — including the department’s firefighters union — argued the change was “\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22015888-ab-1423-assembly-bill-bill-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">necessary to reflect [the department’s] primary role as a fire-fighting agency.\u003c/a> ” But the department itself had opposed the legislation, worried that the new moniker would obscure its forest management mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tensions are once again at the fore as California faces a new wildfire reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Record investment, few new fire-prevention hires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Last year, Newsom and lawmakers allocated a record $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest management, with the bulk of it going to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a record amount. As of April, about half of the $1.5 billion had been “committed” to specific projects and initiatives, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program/2022-04-29-Wildfire-Resilience-Budget-Report.pdf\">according\u003c/a> to a recent report from the Natural Resources Agency, which oversees Cal Fire. The state has up to seven years to spend the bulk of the investment; some money may have to be spent sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says the committed money is going to good use. “We’ve launched over 550 new projects with that funding,” said Jessica Morse, deputy secretary for forest and wildland resilience with the Natural Resources Agency. “Which is pretty fast — for bureaucracy, from appropriation — within less than a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of these projects are specific wildfire prevention and forest health efforts, according to a chart on the agency’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Forest-Stewardship/Wildfire-Resilience-Program?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a>. For example, the Tuolumne County Resource Conservation District is planning a 641-acre fuel break to protect the communities of Groveland and Big Oak Flat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A number of projects don’t turn dirt or remove dangerous brush. Some fund studies of mitigation techniques and vegetation types. Another pays a consulting firm half-a-million dollars to develop a communications strategy for the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of other projects are related to climate change resilience, but have no immediate connection to wildfires. For example, a $600,000 allocation will help the city of Glendale, in Los Angeles County, plant 500 trees within the most “tree-poor area of the City.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of that money would go to distributing pamphlets to urban property owners on “the benefits of trees and tree care,” the project description reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979578\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979578 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png\" alt=\"Chart showing rising costs of responding to wildfires.\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-800x541.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-1020x690.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM-768x520.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-20-at-1.14.20-PM.png 1076w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State spending on firefighting has more than tripled since 2005, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Legislative Analyst’s Office\u003c/a>. Despite recent increases, spending on resource management and fire prevention is still a small fraction of the total. \u003ccite>(LAO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In spite of last year’s investment, the bulk of Cal Fire’s overall spending remains focused on fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last three fiscal years, Cal Fire allocated nearly $8 billion for “fire protection,” according to figures provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO. That money is used “to attack fires quickly and aggressively … until the fire is under control,” according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2022-23/pdf/GovernorsBudget/3000/3540.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the department’s budget\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During those three years, the department allocated about $1.5 billion for “resource management,” which according to the department’s budget is for the “regulation of timber harvesting,” “coordination of climate and forest restoration” and “vegetation management projects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staffing and new hires also heavily favor fire suppression. In the last three years, “fire protection” positions jumped from 7,076 to 8,187, according to figures provided by the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials noted that some positions in the department’s “fire protection” division focus on fire prevention work. About 3% of the division’s staff are described as “fire prevention” positions, according to Department of Finance figures.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that same time period, Cal Fire’s “resource management” division increased by 31 positions to a total of 518 — despite the massive investment in forest health and wildfire mitigation last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Note: Every department’s budget includes staffing figures, but the Department of Finance cautioned that some of the numbers for Cal Fire in recent years needed to be updated. The Department of Finance provided updated, accurate figures in response to a request from The California Newsroom.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts acknowledge the need to ramp up fire suppression forces in the face of extreme wildfires. But they argue there needs to be a complementary increase in resource management hiring to prevent catastrophic wildfires in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robbins, with the Cultural Fire Management Council, called the hiring disparity “startling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking at these numbers,” she said, “it is very obvious to me that they’re not putting as much focus as they should be on prevention as opposed to reactionary suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Mason, vice president of policy and incentives with Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation group focused on sustainable forests, said the need for more resource management staffing is “substantial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire needs dozens, if not hundreds, of additional people working on the resource management side of the organization,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that Cal Fire can’t achieve forest sustainability alone, and should build up its workforce alongside other agencies focused on water resources, climate resilience and biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge, according to Morse with the Natural Resources Agency, is that last year’s historic investment in wildfire resilience is mostly one-time spending, meaning the agency cannot count on it in future budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because it’s not permanent funding, it’s hard to get permanent positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the money can be spent for up to seven years, Morse said. Some might have to be spent sooner. That would put a time limit on any positions created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates like Robbins and Mason are pushing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacificforest.org/wildfire-resiliency-group-budget-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at least $1 billion in annual\u003c/a> for the next five years — totaling a minimum of $5 billion — for wildfire resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979582 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A firefighter in a yellow uniform drips flame from a torch onto a pile of brush. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56652_51207660423_ab9176b089_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews conduct a prescribed burn as part of its vegetation management program in February 2020. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Struggling to track progress\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>An overarching initiative driving the state’s fire prevention efforts is an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/8.12.20-CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreement\u003c/a> Newsom forged with the federal government in the summer of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the plan, California and the U.S. Forest Service each committed to completing 500,000 acres of forest management work annually in the state by 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after signing the agreement, Newsom held a press conference in Butte County amid ruins of the North Complex Fire. Peering through the smoky air and clad in a vintage-style military jacket, he called the plan “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXga8CM_uuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a significant milestone, a significant step forward\u003c/a> .”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In 2018, in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/5.10.18-Forest-EO.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive order\u003c/a>, former Gov. Jerry Brown set an annual 500,000-acre goal for California agencies, with a deadline of 2023, but Newsom’s agreement with the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/29/gov-gavin-newsom-retreats-on-1-billion-wildfire-prevention-plan-ahead-of-meeting-with-president-biden/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pushed \u003c/a>the target back two years.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measuring progress toward this goal is murky at best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom requested data on the number of fire prevention acres Cal Fire itself completed, or funded through grants, in recent years. The department provided a chart showing a steady increase in total acreage, reaching over 105,000 acres in the fiscal year ending in June 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is still figuring out the total number it completed and funded through grants between July 2020 and June 2021. And the department did not provide any data on the current fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve its 500,000-acre goal, the state will count wildfire prevention work performed by Cal Fire, its grantees and private landowners, which can include large properties such as logging companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But currently, Cal Fire does not have a way to track work completed by many private landowners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It highlights something pretty basic, which is we need an accounting system that works,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He notes that tabulating total fire mitigation acres is a limited method of measuring risk reduction. He and other experts advocate for a system that takes into consideration factors like proximity to vulnerable communities and topography. But quantifying total acres of completed work is a basic step toward a more sophisticated assessment system, according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is aiming to develop an online dashboard to track progress on forest management and fire prevention work. The goal is to show “the public where these projects are occurring” by putting “all this data at their fingertips,” said Daniel Berlant, deputy director of the department’s newly created Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration has come under \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/\">criticism in the past for overstating the state’s wildfire prevention accomplishments,\u003c/a> first uncovered in an investigation by The California Newsroom last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has teased the new system — an upgrade of its existing, inconsistent \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fegis.fire.ca.gov%2Farcgis%2Frest%2Fservices%2FCalMapper%2FCalMAPPER_Public%2FMapServer&source=sd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CalMAPPER\u003c/a> database — since last summer. But it hasn’t committed to a release date. At a meeting of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force last month, director Patrick Wright said it would offer “an initial flavor” of the dashboard in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional challenge stands in the way of measuring progress toward the 1 million acre goal. While the target seems straightforward, Cal Fire and the federal government haven’t arrived at an agreed-upon definition of what counts as an “acre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are differing perspectives over which types of fuel reduction should be eligible. For example, if an area has to be hand-thinned prior to a prescribed burn, should that area be tallied twice? Is salvage-logging, the process of removing damaged trees after a fire, eligible? What if the federal and state governments work together on the same project — could they both count it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire says it has internal definitions of how to measure and count acres of forest management work. But an agreed-upon definition with the Forest Service remains elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview, senior Cal Fire officials told The California Newsroom that the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is taking the lead on crafting this definition. The task force is made up of representatives from the state and federal governments, tribal leaders and other groups that do forest health projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure that we’re talking apples to apples,” Berlant said. When pressed, he and other senior officials did not provide a timeline for when that definition would be finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979583 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a helmet tosses a dead branch down a dry, yellow hill. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56653_51342881697_e3f59cf6dd_o-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire crews cleared brush to create a fuel break in San Diego County. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A ‘messy, confusing process’ to certify ‘burn bosses’ and expand prescribed fire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s prescribed fire guidebook says setting controlled, beneficial fire “is a key tool for the Department and its cooperators to use in reducing fuels at a landscape scale while improving ecosystem health in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the workforce needed to meaningfully scale up prescribed fire, and protect forests and communities, is still largely lacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually “burn bosses” — those qualified to plan and lead controlled burns — need to work for many years for fire suppression agencies, such as Cal Fire or the U.S. Forest Service, to get enough experience for certification. But being so busy fighting fires for much of the year, they struggle to get many burns done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, burns remain a key strategy, and the state’s goal has been to increase the workforce. To that end, the Legislature passed a bill in 2018 meant to increase the number of people trained to run burns. The law created a state-led training and certification program called State-Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss, or CA-RX. It signaled a shift in direction — and a hope that burn bosses who do not work for government agencies in suppression, but may work for nonprofits, will have more freedom to conduct burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, it took four years — until mid-April 2022 — for the first burn boss to be certified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emails obtained through a Public Records Act request make it clear that some Cal Fire unit chiefs, whose signoff was required to advance the certification process, did not fully support the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delays in issuing and signing paperwork prevented the certification of trainees for the better part of a year. For example, course participants were not issued training checklists known as “task books,” which are used to evaluate their abilities. And trainees suggest these delays may have come at a cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply concerned that I have still not been issued a task book to finalize my CARX certification,” wrote trainee Will Harling, director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, in an early January 2022 email to Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division. “This sense of urgency is shared by myself and others who have seen first-hand towns nearly wiped off the map in the time we have been waiting for this CARX certification process to be finalized, and have the skills and knowledge to safely implement prescribed burns that can help save homes and protect resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harling wasn’t the only one to write in frustration to the division. In response to a December 2021 email from another trainee, Battalion Chief Mark Bisbee within Cal Fire’s State Fire Training division acknowledged the program’s problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I guess the best way to characterize this entire process is messy, confusing,” Bisbee wrote. “The next step is in flux because […] not all Unit Chiefs are on board.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bisbee acknowledged in his email that the certification program “has been a very long, drawn out process,” but said he would continue to advocate for the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview in April, Bisbee said the slow start was partially due to only a few people being authorized to teach the program, but also to “bottlenecks within the bureaucracy.” While he said he saw progress within the department of accepting prescribed fire — which can be a hard adjustment for those trained only to put out fire — the paradigm shift was like a huge ship moving sideways: slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the push from lawmakers to take a new direction: “Whether Cal Fire is ready or not, the legislation is saying this is what we need to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a legislative oversight hearing last December, Lenya Quinn-Davidson — a fire adviser with the University of California who helped write the legislation and the curriculum and who hosted the first course — told lawmakers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve missed a ton of opportunities for project implementation. There is a huge need for qualified burn bosses to plan and implement projects and to partner with the state and to partner with landowners. But without the state certification and the protections that it can provide, many of those folks are not willing to go out and do that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quinn-Davidson wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/california-burn-boss-program-new-path-forward-or-dead-end-street/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog post \u003c/a>in mid-January about the delays in the certification process. Soon after it published, Cal Fire issued task books to almost all participants, according to a blog update. Will Harling confirmed receiving his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to see this work happen more quickly,” Quinn-Davidson told The California Newsroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Reischman, Cal Fire’s deputy director of resource management, said he believes the program will prove a success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a new course for us, so there’s a lot of changes and things that we had to do to get it up and running,” he said. “It’s a process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Missing reports and safety inspections\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In some instances, The California Newsroom discovered, Cal Fire is altogether neglecting oversight requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For over a decade, the Legislature has mandated that the department file an annual report detailing its fire prevention activities for the previous year, and its plans for improving prevention efforts moving forward. The report is an inventory of the department’s accomplishments, and lawmakers rely on it to understand the state’s progress on protecting vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an exhaustive search by the State Library, carried out at The California Newsroom’s request, found that the department has not filed this report in at least four years. The library’s most recent copy covers fiscal year 2014-15. The state’s website for \u003ca href=\"https://agencyreports.ca.gov/rep13922308081004\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agency reports\u003c/a> indicates the department may have filed a report for 2017, but the library does not have a copy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last two state budgets, the Legislature also required Cal Fire to file reports on grants awarded to local governments and nonprofits for fire prevention, including the number of applications received and grants awarded. The reports were due in February of this year, according to the state’s website for agency reports. A search by the State Library turned up no copies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire did not provide copies of the reports in response to an email request. In an interview, Berlant said “the reports are in the works,” adding the department took its responsibilities seriously but had been delayed by the pandemic and that “fighting fire in the middle of December, January, February — that becomes a bit of our priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chief Tyler said the department is actively working on completing them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I myself learned about those reports to the Legislature that are due, I put a task in my own calendar to start checking up on those to ensure that those are getting submitted timely,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some legislation lays out clear mandates for Cal Fire, other bills establish goals for the department to meet. For example, a law passed in 2019 set a goal for Cal Fire to inspect homes within its responsibility area once every three years. These inspections are designed to educate homeowners about dangers with vegetation near the home and structural vulnerabilities to wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal Fire is struggling to hit its inspection targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2021 report\u003c/a> from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, “CalFire was not able to provide data on how many unique properties were inspected each year or how many properties had not been inspected within the past three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the LAO concluded, “[I]t is unclear what share of properties have received recent inspections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department provided some information, and indicated some local Cal Fire units inspected 10% or fewer of their parcels each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berlant said the department is working to hit its goals and plans to hire more defensible space inspectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will be working to not only increase those [inspection] numbers, but to make sure that those numbers are being reported to the public to see exactly where that work is being done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moritz, the wildfire specialist with University of California Cooperative Extension, said the inspections are essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clearly if Cal Fire was able to follow through and inspect 100% of the parcels that need it,” said Moritz, “presumably those inspections would lead to a great benefit, a great reduction in risk for both the firefighters and for the homeowners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire also is supposed to update fire hazard severity maps every five years, but they were last updated in 2007. The agency told CapRadio in December that \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/12/20/after-years-of-delays-calfire-says-updated-and-expanded-wildfire-hazard-maps-are-on-their-way/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the new ones would be released in the next few months\u003c/a> — at that time, ostensibly February or March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Cal Fire staff now says the new maps likely will roll out in the summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The maps are “a really important tool that we have for smarter building and design of our communities, because the building codes are attached to those maps,” according to Moritz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delaying the map updates, Moritz said, could lead to places still being identified at a lower hazard level than they should be. “You could have building going on that would not be at the building codes that are necessary for the hazard in that location,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department’s modeling has struggled to keep pace with the conditions feeding California’s extreme wildfires. Berlant says the department is now using science that “tracks extreme wind events at a much smaller scale, so that we can better mirror conditions that we’ve been experiencing in these last couple of fire seasons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Cal Fire’s chief responds\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The California Newsroom presented Chief Tyler with its findings, and he expounded on ways he plans to change the culture and structure of Cal Fire. He also reiterated his belief that Cal Fire can — and under his leadership will — balance its firefighting and forestry responsibilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979588\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979588\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue uniform stands at a podium in front of a bulldozer. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56654_52052067027_34755aed5d_o-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler speaks in Santa Rosa for Wildfire Preparedness Week, May 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For example, experts and practitioners in the world of fire resilience have told The California Newsroom they feel an inability to publicly criticize or offer scrutiny of Cal Fire for fear of damaging their relationship with the department, being cut out of grants or not getting their permits signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler acknowledged this fear is a real problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That disappoints me,” he said. “I have heard that in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his short time as chief, Tyler said he has been working to create an environment that welcomes open communication and collaboration. He said in his first weeks as the head of Cal Fire, he spent about six days a week soliciting input from stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse, with the state’s Natural Resources Agency, added that Cal Fire’s participation in the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force brought the department to the table with representatives from nongovernment organizations, tribes and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he’s open to some changes, Tyler stopped short of advocating for radical overhauls to the department’s structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire uses a top-down organizational structure called the “incident command system.” This organizational model is often used by public agencies to manage emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler believes this structure is effective for fighting fires — and planning to prevent them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cal Fire is a very paramilitary organization,” the chief said. “You can use that system for applying anything to this organization, whether that be fuels reduction, vegetation management, prescribed fire or full suppression.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler also pushed back on \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2377\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handing over fire prevention responsibilities\u003c/a> , such as prescribed burns and other mitigation efforts, to a cabinet-level position appointed by the governor — a proposal floated by one lawmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not believe that there is a need to split this department,” Tyler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized his expectation that, when firefighters “are not actively suppressing fires and going to emergencies, they are doing defensible space inspections, they are doing fuels reduction [and] they are investing in prescribed fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is important that these employees are doing the entire mission of the department,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "From Mountain Lions to California Condors, Oakland Zoo Celebrates 100 Years",
"headTitle": "From Mountain Lions to California Condors, Oakland Zoo Celebrates 100 Years | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/centennial\">The Oakland Zoo is celebrating its 100th birthday \u003c/a>— a milestone the East Bay institution that houses 850 animals is marking with \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/centennial/events\">centennial celebrations for the public throughout the year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Nik Dehejia, president and CEO of the Oakland Zoo, the zoo’s longevity has extra meaning in the context of conservation in the United States. “It was only 50 years ago that the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States started,” he says. “It was only 50 years ago that the Endangered Species Act started the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, a multinational governmental agency committed to protecting the species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we are constantly learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for more on the Oakland Zoo’s most recent wildlife conservation efforts — including the April rescue of mountain lion cub Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[gallery type=\"slideshow\" size=\"medium\" columns=\"2\" link=\"file\" ids=\"1979426,1979427,1979428,1979430,1979429\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rescuing mountain lions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may have heard about Rose, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeFA0b-MoV3/\">the rescued mountain lion cub \u003c/a>that hikers spotted in San Mateo in early April. She was only 5 or 6 months old when, critically ill, she was sent to the Oakland Zoo for rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She literally was skin and bones,” said the zoo’s vice president of veterinary services, Dr. Alex Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman and her team provide preventive, emergency, reproductive and geriatric care for all the animals in the zoo, focusing not just on their medical needs but on an animal’s emotional and social welfare. Her team also provides care for a lot of rescued wildlife in California, like Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979392\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Rose, the rescued mountain lion during her initial check-up at the Oakland Zoo. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of Rose, the rescued mountain lion during her initial checkup at the Oakland Zoo. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oakland Zoo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rose is the 18th orphaned mountain lion to be treated at the Oakland Zoo. When she first arrived, Rose was anemic, meaning she had a very low red blood cell count. So Herman gave Rose a blood transfusion, using blood from one of the zoo’s healthier mountain lions, Silverado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like the red blood cell count to be between 30 and 40%. She was at 9%, which is not consistent with life,” said Herman. But “she jumped up to 23, and went up from there after the transfusion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swH9qGX6aDk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While saving her life by providing intensive care was the priority for the veterinary team, after that “we really needed to work on her well-being and her welfare, so that she could exist with humans in a comfortable way,” said Herman. Because Rose is still too young to go back into the wild, especially without a mother, the current focus for Herman and her team is to ensure she’s less fearful of interacting with people — and can grow to see it as a positive experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At some point, we’d like to develop a re-wilding system so that we can send these baby mountain lions back out into the wild,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979406\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979406\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Alex Herman, VP of Veterinary Services at the Oakland Zoo and her team examine Rose, the rescued mountain lion.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Alex Herman, vie president of veterinary services at the Oakland Zoo, and her team examine Rose, the rescued mountain lion. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oakland Zoo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mountain-lion-wanders-classroom-california-high-school-officials-say-rcna31484\">The most recent rescued mountain lion\u003c/a> was discovered in a classroom at Pescadero High School on Wednesday and, like Rose, was sent to the Oakland Zoo for health evaluations. Although a little older than Rose, that mountain lion is still too young to be able to survive on his own in the wild. (\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1532172043659014144\">Follow the Oakland Zoo’s updates about this mountain lion on Twitter.\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We just received another rescued mountain lion. This 6-8 month old male was discovered at Pescadero High School. (Students and staff were safe and had been dismissed from school at the time). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(thread) \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/fo5ZSXO0HT\">pic.twitter.com/fo5ZSXO0HT\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1532172043659014144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2022\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>In California, these intelligent alpha predators frequently get struck by cars. Most mountain lion cubs that lose their mothers when they’re less than 1 1/2 years old can’t survive on their own. “The adult cats don’t abandon a baby mountain lion. Their parent wouldn’t do that unless they were killed,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman encourages the public to support any efforts for \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/wildlife-conservation-board-funds-environmental-improvement-and-acquisition-projects2\">wildlife corridors being created \u003c/a>in order to protect these animals. Read more from the Oakland Zoo \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-lions-2\">about conservation efforts for mountain lions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Releasing California condors\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Zoo currently has two resident condors on its campus — and they’re part of the California Condor Recovery Program, in which the zoo is a key veterinarian partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the mid-’80s, only a couple dozen condors were left in the wild. Their population crashed catastrophically due to habitat loss, the use of the insecticide DDT, and the most significant cause: lead toxicity. Condors end up consuming lead ammunition pellets when they eat the carcass of an animal that someone hunted and left behind. The ammunition causes devastating lead poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979403\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979403\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A California Condor sits in a tree at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California condor sits in a tree at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After pulling the last remaining condors into captivity, an alliance of zoos and other organizations in 1986 started \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/condors\">a captive breeding program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of this program, these condors are tracked and checked for blood lead levels, and if they show signs of lead toxicity, they’re treated through chelation — a process that removes lead from their bloodstream. These efforts have proved to be a success. There are now more than 500 California condors currently in the wild or in captivity. The Oakland Zoo says that since 2014, it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/condors\">treated and released 45 California condors\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 27, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third California condor was released\u003c/a> at the new Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP). The program is a collaborative effort between the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Yurok Tribe to \u003ca href=\"https://www.yuroktribe.org/yurok-condor-restoration-program\">restore condors to Yurok ancestral territory and the Pacific Northwest\u003c/a>. The California condor is sacred to the Yurok Tribe and their territory in Redwood National Park. The tribe has been working for years to get a new release site in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the first condor release site that’s really looking at not just the ecological impact of having condors gone from the diverse ecosystem, but the cultural impact of having them gone, too,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\">https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Soaring with joy as a third condor was released into the wild from the new Northern California Condor Restoration Program facility in the Yurok territory north of Eureka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the first female condor to fly free in Yurok Country since 1892! \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/qB1sn0aIXW\">https://t.co/qB1sn0aIXW\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1530241362737606656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 27, 2022\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>You can support the protection of California condors by refraining from littering, picking up trash when you’re in nature and switching to non-lead bullets when hunting. You can also go condor spotting and spread the word about these spectacular animals. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/species/california-condor-gymnogyps-californianus\">Read more about ways to help California condors.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Caring for endangered rabbits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Riparian brush rabbits — or, as Herman calls them, the “gardeners of the ecosystem” — do a lot for the native plants around the San Joaquin River, in addition to being a protein source for alpha predators higher up in the food chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman and her team have been vaccinating these endangered rabbits against the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV2).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really glad that we had this two-year window of time to prepare these endangered rabbits for this, because the virus has been slowly creeping north in California — but now it’s been found in their locale,” said Herman. “So we’re hoping that they can weather the storm with the help of the vaccine that we trialed and then really helped administer as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more from the Oakland Zoo \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/riparian-brush-rabbit\">about how to support efforts to conserve these cottontail rabbits\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oakland Zoo at 100\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Zoo is an accredited member of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aza.org/\">Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)\u003c/a>, the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare for zoos and aquariums. And Dehejia, president of the Oakland Zoo, says he’s also grateful for the zoo’s partnership with medical facilities at UC Davis and other locations, which allows the zoo to provide the best care possible to its animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that interdependency and that connection that allows us to collectively be successful,” he said. “The future of animals and people: It’s in our hands, so we have to do it together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979389\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979389\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia speaks with KQED reporter Sarah Khalida Mohamad at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia speaks with KQED reporter Sarah Mohamad at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dehejia is also focused on the Oakland Zoo’s outreach and educational programs to create awareness, action and future stewards of the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of our visitors haven’t had a chance to come up to the zoo [before],” said Dehejia. “So we’re trying to expand that opportunity, make the zoo accessible to all.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/school-programs\">Learn more about the zoo’s school programs.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The zoo spends approximately $2 million per month to run its operations, and the care provided to animals is critical. The zoo serves a thousand meals a day, with some animals receiving two or three meals each day, and then there’s medications and dietary plans to keep track of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s a very complicated and complex operation to run just from an animal care standpoint,” Dehejia said. “That’s something that we will never compromise on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking to the future, Dehejia says there’s “a lot that we’re looking forward to in the next hundred years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On future goals, Dehejia said “certainly, continuing to create a thriving environment for people to come and experience here at the zoo. But [also] how we can help protect land, protect our waters and give people continued hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979391\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979391\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Alex Herman, vice president of veterinary services, sits outside the veterinary hospital at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Alex Herman, a lot of the Oakland Zoo’s work remains less visible to the public. “Some people aren’t aware of the real boots-on-the-ground conservation work that we do,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not just saving individual animals like the mountain lions, but field-testing a vaccine that might save an endangered species, like with the riparian brush rabbits,” Herman said. “And also a real commitment to community education.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman hopes people will continue to appreciate these animals — or, as she calls them, “charismatic demigods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world that they inhabit is different from ours. And equally — if not more — important, we need them so much to be,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To join in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/programs-and-events/centennial-birthday-celebration-at-snow-park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Zoo’s centennial birthday celebration\u003c/a>, you can head down to Snow Park in downtown Oakland on Sunday, June 5, for free family-friendly entertainment and interactive activities.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "On the centennial of the Oakland Zoo, we look at its latest wildlife conservation efforts.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/centennial\">The Oakland Zoo is celebrating its 100th birthday \u003c/a>— a milestone the East Bay institution that houses 850 animals is marking with \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/centennial/events\">centennial celebrations for the public throughout the year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Nik Dehejia, president and CEO of the Oakland Zoo, the zoo’s longevity has extra meaning in the context of conservation in the United States. “It was only 50 years ago that the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States started,” he says. “It was only 50 years ago that the Endangered Species Act started the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, a multinational governmental agency committed to protecting the species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we are constantly learning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for more on the Oakland Zoo’s most recent wildlife conservation efforts — including the April rescue of mountain lion cub Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rescuing mountain lions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may have heard about Rose, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeFA0b-MoV3/\">the rescued mountain lion cub \u003c/a>that hikers spotted in San Mateo in early April. She was only 5 or 6 months old when, critically ill, she was sent to the Oakland Zoo for rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She literally was skin and bones,” said the zoo’s vice president of veterinary services, Dr. Alex Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman and her team provide preventive, emergency, reproductive and geriatric care for all the animals in the zoo, focusing not just on their medical needs but on an animal’s emotional and social welfare. Her team also provides care for a lot of rescued wildlife in California, like Rose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979392\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Rose, the rescued mountain lion during her initial check-up at the Oakland Zoo. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam2-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photo of Rose, the rescued mountain lion during her initial checkup at the Oakland Zoo. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oakland Zoo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rose is the 18th orphaned mountain lion to be treated at the Oakland Zoo. When she first arrived, Rose was anemic, meaning she had a very low red blood cell count. So Herman gave Rose a blood transfusion, using blood from one of the zoo’s healthier mountain lions, Silverado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like the red blood cell count to be between 30 and 40%. She was at 9%, which is not consistent with life,” said Herman. But “she jumped up to 23, and went up from there after the transfusion.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/swH9qGX6aDk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/swH9qGX6aDk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>While saving her life by providing intensive care was the priority for the veterinary team, after that “we really needed to work on her well-being and her welfare, so that she could exist with humans in a comfortable way,” said Herman. Because Rose is still too young to go back into the wild, especially without a mother, the current focus for Herman and her team is to ensure she’s less fearful of interacting with people — and can grow to see it as a positive experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At some point, we’d like to develop a re-wilding system so that we can send these baby mountain lions back out into the wild,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979406\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979406\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Alex Herman, VP of Veterinary Services at the Oakland Zoo and her team examine Rose, the rescued mountain lion.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/OaklandZooInitialExam-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Alex Herman, vie president of veterinary services at the Oakland Zoo, and her team examine Rose, the rescued mountain lion. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oakland Zoo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mountain-lion-wanders-classroom-california-high-school-officials-say-rcna31484\">The most recent rescued mountain lion\u003c/a> was discovered in a classroom at Pescadero High School on Wednesday and, like Rose, was sent to the Oakland Zoo for health evaluations. Although a little older than Rose, that mountain lion is still too young to be able to survive on his own in the wild. (\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1532172043659014144\">Follow the Oakland Zoo’s updates about this mountain lion on Twitter.\u003c/a>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We just received another rescued mountain lion. This 6-8 month old male was discovered at Pescadero High School. (Students and staff were safe and had been dismissed from school at the time). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(thread) \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/fo5ZSXO0HT\">pic.twitter.com/fo5ZSXO0HT\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1532172043659014144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2022\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>In California, these intelligent alpha predators frequently get struck by cars. Most mountain lion cubs that lose their mothers when they’re less than 1 1/2 years old can’t survive on their own. “The adult cats don’t abandon a baby mountain lion. Their parent wouldn’t do that unless they were killed,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman encourages the public to support any efforts for \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/wildlife-conservation-board-funds-environmental-improvement-and-acquisition-projects2\">wildlife corridors being created \u003c/a>in order to protect these animals. Read more from the Oakland Zoo \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/mountain-lions-2\">about conservation efforts for mountain lions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Releasing California condors\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Zoo currently has two resident condors on its campus — and they’re part of the California Condor Recovery Program, in which the zoo is a key veterinarian partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the mid-’80s, only a couple dozen condors were left in the wild. Their population crashed catastrophically due to habitat loss, the use of the insecticide DDT, and the most significant cause: lead toxicity. Condors end up consuming lead ammunition pellets when they eat the carcass of an animal that someone hunted and left behind. The ammunition causes devastating lead poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979403\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979403\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A California Condor sits in a tree at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56242_023_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California condor sits in a tree at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After pulling the last remaining condors into captivity, an alliance of zoos and other organizations in 1986 started \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/condors\">a captive breeding program\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of this program, these condors are tracked and checked for blood lead levels, and if they show signs of lead toxicity, they’re treated through chelation — a process that removes lead from their bloodstream. These efforts have proved to be a success. There are now more than 500 California condors currently in the wild or in captivity. The Oakland Zoo says that since 2014, it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/condors\">treated and released 45 California condors\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On May 27, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third California condor was released\u003c/a> at the new Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP). The program is a collaborative effort between the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Yurok Tribe to \u003ca href=\"https://www.yuroktribe.org/yurok-condor-restoration-program\">restore condors to Yurok ancestral territory and the Pacific Northwest\u003c/a>. The California condor is sacred to the Yurok Tribe and their territory in Redwood National Park. The tribe has been working for years to get a new release site in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the first condor release site that’s really looking at not just the ecological impact of having condors gone from the diverse ecosystem, but the cultural impact of having them gone, too,” said Herman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\">https://www.instagram.com/p/CeEfu_2FH2J/\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n\u003cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Soaring with joy as a third condor was released into the wild from the new Northern California Condor Restoration Program facility in the Yurok territory north of Eureka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the first female condor to fly free in Yurok Country since 1892! \u003ca href=\"https://t.co/qB1sn0aIXW\">https://t.co/qB1sn0aIXW\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oakzoo/status/1530241362737606656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 27, 2022\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>You can support the protection of California condors by refraining from littering, picking up trash when you’re in nature and switching to non-lead bullets when hunting. You can also go condor spotting and spread the word about these spectacular animals. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/species/california-condor-gymnogyps-californianus\">Read more about ways to help California condors.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Caring for endangered rabbits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Riparian brush rabbits — or, as Herman calls them, the “gardeners of the ecosystem” — do a lot for the native plants around the San Joaquin River, in addition to being a protein source for alpha predators higher up in the food chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman and her team have been vaccinating these endangered rabbits against the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV2).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really glad that we had this two-year window of time to prepare these endangered rabbits for this, because the virus has been slowly creeping north in California — but now it’s been found in their locale,” said Herman. “So we’re hoping that they can weather the storm with the help of the vaccine that we trialed and then really helped administer as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more from the Oakland Zoo \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/wildlife-conservation/riparian-brush-rabbit\">about how to support efforts to conserve these cottontail rabbits\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oakland Zoo at 100\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Zoo is an accredited member of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.aza.org/\">Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)\u003c/a>, the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare for zoos and aquariums. And Dehejia, president of the Oakland Zoo, says he’s also grateful for the zoo’s partnership with medical facilities at UC Davis and other locations, which allows the zoo to provide the best care possible to its animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that interdependency and that connection that allows us to collectively be successful,” he said. “The future of animals and people: It’s in our hands, so we have to do it together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979389\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979389\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia speaks with KQED reporter Sarah Khalida Mohamad at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56225_006_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia speaks with KQED reporter Sarah Mohamad at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dehejia is also focused on the Oakland Zoo’s outreach and educational programs to create awareness, action and future stewards of the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of our visitors haven’t had a chance to come up to the zoo [before],” said Dehejia. “So we’re trying to expand that opportunity, make the zoo accessible to all.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/school-programs\">Learn more about the zoo’s school programs.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The zoo spends approximately $2 million per month to run its operations, and the care provided to animals is critical. The zoo serves a thousand meals a day, with some animals receiving two or three meals each day, and then there’s medications and dietary plans to keep track of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s a very complicated and complex operation to run just from an animal care standpoint,” Dehejia said. “That’s something that we will never compromise on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking to the future, Dehejia says there’s “a lot that we’re looking forward to in the next hundred years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On future goals, Dehejia said “certainly, continuing to create a thriving environment for people to come and experience here at the zoo. But [also] how we can help protect land, protect our waters and give people continued hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979391\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979391\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS56236_016_KQED_OaklandZoo_05252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Alex Herman, vice president of veterinary services, sits outside the veterinary hospital at the Oakland Zoo on May 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Alex Herman, a lot of the Oakland Zoo’s work remains less visible to the public. “Some people aren’t aware of the real boots-on-the-ground conservation work that we do,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not just saving individual animals like the mountain lions, but field-testing a vaccine that might save an endangered species, like with the riparian brush rabbits,” Herman said. “And also a real commitment to community education.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herman hopes people will continue to appreciate these animals — or, as she calls them, “charismatic demigods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world that they inhabit is different from ours. And equally — if not more — important, we need them so much to be,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To join in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandzoo.org/programs-and-events/centennial-birthday-celebration-at-snow-park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Zoo’s centennial birthday celebration\u003c/a>, you can head down to Snow Park in downtown Oakland on Sunday, June 5, for free family-friendly entertainment and interactive activities.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Rising Sea Levels Could Push Up a 'Toxic Soup' Into Bay Area Neighborhoods",
"headTitle": "How Rising Sea Levels Could Push Up a ‘Toxic Soup’ Into Bay Area Neighborhoods | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Phoenix Armenta is worried about the future of neighborhoods along the edge of San Francisco Bay. Contaminated sites litter shoreline communities like West Oakland, where Armenta works as a community organizer. As climate change pushes bay water higher, floodwaters could mix with toxic pollution and threaten people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Phoenix Armenta']‘I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes. They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes,” said Armenta, regional resilience manager for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two separate science groups have released updates to ongoing research exploring this threat for the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and the state have well documented the potential impact of sea level rise on the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers are examining an under-studied threat: rising ocean water driving fresh water up from the ground, which could move as far as three miles inland from the edge of the bay, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Pathways.SFEI_.Rising.Groundwater.pdf\">summary of ongoing work shared with KQED\u003c/a>.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1971660 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/12/KQEDSCIENCE_GRNDWTR.gif\" alt=\"An animated graphic shows how sea level rise will push groundwater up, with toxic results. The rising seawater pushes against salty groundwater, then fresh groundwater, then sewer, until it reaches basements and foundations.\" width=\"400\" height=\"720\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute forecast that groundwater will move into low-lying areas of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Marin counties, potentially s\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eeping past seawalls, flooding basements, overwhelming sewers and damaging building foundations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study is slated to be released in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from UC Berkeley and UCLA are concerned that the groundwater will steep in toxic pollution before spreading into neighborhoods and the bay itself. They found that more than \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">900 toxic sites\u003c/a> could be affected by both sea level rise and groundwater rise across the state by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities like West Oakland — which abuts one of the West Coast’s busiest ports and is bound by busy freeways — already are dealing with high levels of air pollution and other adverse health outcomes because of their proximity to industry and its waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armenta, who uses they pronouns, heads the \u003ca href=\"https://woeip.org/featured-work/oakland-shoreline-leadership-academy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy\u003c/a>, teaching students of all ages about the issues for shoreline communities — including sea level rise and contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to give the students “who want to be part of the solution” an understanding of local shoreline issues, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there was redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are. And exactly where all the sea level rise is going to happen,” Armenta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979181 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A black woman with green glasses and a black and white striped shirt sorts landscaping material using gloves and flanked by two young people.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta, program manager of the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy and an environmental justice organizer, leads interns on a shoreline restoration trip in partnership with Save the Bay on March 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Nicole Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate justice red flags\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch and UCLA’s Lara Cushing are the scientists behind the \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a> interactive tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, they released a stunning finding: About 400 sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup sites and others — across the state are at risk of inundation, based on various sea-level-rise scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their latest analysis found more than double that could be affected statewide, if more extreme scenarios and additional groundwater are considered. The scientists say they don’t see signs that greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The global] response to reducing emissions is quite underwhelming,” Morello-Frosch said of international efforts to limit warming. “Some scientists in the climate change community may feel like that’s too much of a severe estimate, 10 feet of sea level rise, but it’s important to show when we’re thinking about land-use planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The take-home message of their work is that climate change is presenting new risks that could lead to human exposure to hazardous materials all along the California coastline, with a high Bay Area concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Use your mouse to move different directions on the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the magnifying glass at the bottom to search for a specific site. Click on each site for details. Click on the down arrow top right of the legend to remove it. Sources: UC Berkeley, UCLA\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://yangj90.carto.com/builder/0a968569-b1f7-4798-960a-a0998e0589e2/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a historical central hub for commerce, the region has a legacy of contaminated sites from shipbuilding, computer chip manufacturing and other industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pair’s work raises major red flags regarding climate justice. Many of these places are neighborhoods of color, where residents are increasingly at risk from the effects of warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities or communities where English is not the primary language that’s spoken,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is innovative because it uses groundwater depth data from the U.S. Geological Survey alongside climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morello-Frosch says sea level rise will push groundwater up, “particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re concerned that as seas rise, sites where contamination has been capped, partially cleaned up or never addressed could be disturbed, threatening Bay Area shoreline communities already fighting for pollution cleanups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists say that local groundwater mapping and “deep assessments” are crucial steps to understand specific local threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities can use this information to develop their own strategies at the local, county and statewide scales to begin to respond,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added, “unlike a hurricane, which is happening right away, this is a very slow-moving storm that we do have time to respond to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling a data gap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are partnering with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Pathways Climate Institute, San Francisco Estuary Institute']‘Failure to acknowledge the threats, especially in underserved communities, could undermine the success of adapting to sea level rise adaptation plans.’\u003c/span>[/pullquote]The authors note that flooding has the “potential to damage building foundations, flood basements and other below grade structures, and to infiltrate and overwhelm sewers. Ultimately it may emerge aboveground as an urban flood hazard even before coastal floodwaters overtop the shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also warn of “contaminants in the soil” entering buildings through sewer lines or other pathways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While they released the two-page document describing the work, they are not commenting until the research is finished later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists are compiling and sorting through multiple datasets to understand the risk to infrastructure in low-lying areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They want to expand their work to all Bay Area counties, if they can find funding for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The memo says a “failure to acknowledge” the threats, especially in underserved communities, “could undermine the success of adapting to sea level rise and potentially threaten public health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Phoenix Armenta is worried about the future of neighborhoods along the edge of San Francisco Bay. Contaminated sites litter shoreline communities like West Oakland, where Armenta works as a community organizer. As climate change pushes bay water higher, floodwaters could mix with toxic pollution and threaten people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes. They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.\u003c/span>‘",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that water is going to get into people’s homes,” said Armenta, regional resilience manager for the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “They’ll be polluted with a toxic soup.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two separate science groups have released updates to ongoing research exploring this threat for the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and the state have well documented the potential impact of sea level rise on the California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers are examining an under-studied threat: rising ocean water driving fresh water up from the ground, which could move as far as three miles inland from the edge of the bay, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Pathways.SFEI_.Rising.Groundwater.pdf\">summary of ongoing work shared with KQED\u003c/a>.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1971660 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/12/KQEDSCIENCE_GRNDWTR.gif\" alt=\"An animated graphic shows how sea level rise will push groundwater up, with toxic results. The rising seawater pushes against salty groundwater, then fresh groundwater, then sewer, until it reaches basements and foundations.\" width=\"400\" height=\"720\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute forecast that groundwater will move into low-lying areas of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Marin counties, potentially s\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">eeping past seawalls, flooding basements, overwhelming sewers and damaging building foundations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study is slated to be released in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from UC Berkeley and UCLA are concerned that the groundwater will steep in toxic pollution before spreading into neighborhoods and the bay itself. They found that more than \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">900 toxic sites\u003c/a> could be affected by both sea level rise and groundwater rise across the state by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities like West Oakland — which abuts one of the West Coast’s busiest ports and is bound by busy freeways — already are dealing with high levels of air pollution and other adverse health outcomes because of their proximity to industry and its waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armenta, who uses they pronouns, heads the \u003ca href=\"https://woeip.org/featured-work/oakland-shoreline-leadership-academy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy\u003c/a>, teaching students of all ages about the issues for shoreline communities — including sea level rise and contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to give the students “who want to be part of the solution” an understanding of local shoreline issues, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there was redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are. And exactly where all the sea level rise is going to happen,” Armenta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979181 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A black woman with green glasses and a black and white striped shirt sorts landscaping material using gloves and flanked by two young people.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta, program manager of the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy and an environmental justice organizer, leads interns on a shoreline restoration trip in partnership with Save the Bay on March 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Nicole Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Climate justice red flags\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch and UCLA’s Lara Cushing are the scientists behind the \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a> interactive tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, they released a stunning finding: About 400 sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup sites and others — across the state are at risk of inundation, based on various sea-level-rise scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their latest analysis found more than double that could be affected statewide, if more extreme scenarios and additional groundwater are considered. The scientists say they don’t see signs that greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The global] response to reducing emissions is quite underwhelming,” Morello-Frosch said of international efforts to limit warming. “Some scientists in the climate change community may feel like that’s too much of a severe estimate, 10 feet of sea level rise, but it’s important to show when we’re thinking about land-use planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The take-home message of their work is that climate change is presenting new risks that could lead to human exposure to hazardous materials all along the California coastline, with a high Bay Area concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Use your mouse to move different directions on the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the magnifying glass at the bottom to search for a specific site. Click on each site for details. Click on the down arrow top right of the legend to remove it. Sources: UC Berkeley, UCLA\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://yangj90.carto.com/builder/0a968569-b1f7-4798-960a-a0998e0589e2/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a historical central hub for commerce, the region has a legacy of contaminated sites from shipbuilding, computer chip manufacturing and other industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pair’s work raises major red flags regarding climate justice. Many of these places are neighborhoods of color, where residents are increasingly at risk from the effects of warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities or communities where English is not the primary language that’s spoken,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is innovative because it uses groundwater depth data from the U.S. Geological Survey alongside climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morello-Frosch says sea level rise will push groundwater up, “particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re concerned that as seas rise, sites where contamination has been capped, partially cleaned up or never addressed could be disturbed, threatening Bay Area shoreline communities already fighting for pollution cleanups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists say that local groundwater mapping and “deep assessments” are crucial steps to understand specific local threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communities can use this information to develop their own strategies at the local, county and statewide scales to begin to respond,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added, “unlike a hurricane, which is happening right away, this is a very slow-moving storm that we do have time to respond to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling a data gap\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are partnering with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The authors note that flooding has the “potential to damage building foundations, flood basements and other below grade structures, and to infiltrate and overwhelm sewers. Ultimately it may emerge aboveground as an urban flood hazard even before coastal floodwaters overtop the shoreline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also warn of “contaminants in the soil” entering buildings through sewer lines or other pathways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While they released the two-page document describing the work, they are not commenting until the research is finished later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists are compiling and sorting through multiple datasets to understand the risk to infrastructure in low-lying areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They want to expand their work to all Bay Area counties, if they can find funding for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Punishing Bay Area Drought Prompts Calls for Major Water Rethink",
"headTitle": "Punishing Bay Area Drought Prompts Calls for Major Water Rethink | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke from wildfires can ruin a year’s worth of wine and is harmful to the health of harvesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cejavineyards.com/about/amelia-moran-ceja\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ceja\u003c/a> is banking that last October and December’s heavy storms filled aquifers below her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nonetheless, we’re still conserving,” she said. “We literally only water the vines when they need it, and it’s barely a couple of gallons of water at most.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja is just one example of the millions of Bay Area residents learning to live with seemingly perpetual dry times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Brian Garcia, NWS Bay Area']‘We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s snowpack is far below average again this year. Less than 31% of the snowpack remains, and state reservoirs are about 48% full. Millions of Bay Area residents rely on this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have less snow than we did last year,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting section. “California’s only received about half the amount of rainfall recorded in comparison to 2013, which ended up turning into the driest calendar year on record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s traditional rainy season is over, and California’s summer forecast looks to be hotter than average. Meteorologists expect a heat wave this week, which poses a critical threat to what’s left of the snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Weather_West/status/1511040977628110849\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The odds of any rain or snow making a dent in the drought are “slim to none,” said Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service located in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history,” he said, referring to records that date back to the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Megadrought bakes the West\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Regionally, the American Southwest is in the grips of a \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22-year megadrought\u003c/a>, the worst in recorded history and the driest since at least the year 800, according to a new analysis of tree ring records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take several wet years to end the drought cycle, said UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without climate change, \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\">the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years\u003c/a>,” Williams noted in a release. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s, or 1100s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The burning of fossil fuels — the lead driver of climate change — must be stopped, or quickly shifted away from, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090577162/climate-change-un-ipcc-report\">UN climate report\u003c/a>, in order for the world to reach its goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming beyond that point will mean even more severe droughts, water scarcity and increased wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area drought deepens\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With around 8 million residents across nine counties, each part of the Bay Area is grappling with the drought differently. To the south and north, Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties are similarly affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the multiyear drought ending in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that all residents curb water use by 25% — a goal that Californians nearly met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, people are less adherent. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked for a 15% water reduction, but urban water users saved less than half of that from June to January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977229/healdsburg-cut-its-water-use-in-half-whats-in-the-citys-secret-water-saving-sauce\">some cities, like Healdsburg, saved more than 50%\u003c/a> last summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration is entrusting local water agencies to impose restrictions, compelling them to save water through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">late\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">March\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">executive\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">order\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979001 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds a hollow blue pole that when pierces the ground tells how much water is in snow in a certain spot. Blue skies and green mountains in the distance. A patch of snow in view. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting unit uses a tape measure to pinpoint the next measuring location during the fourth media snow survey of the 2022 season. \u003ccite>(Kenneth James / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we learned from the last drought is, it’s really important to listen to locals,” said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, on a recent press call. “We live in a state that has many different hydrological zones, many different water usage scenarios, and that the one-size-fits-all doesn’t really work in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order presses major water retailers and agencies to conserve an average of 10%-20% come June. More than half of the state’s urban water providers don’t yet have restrictions to provide this kind of savings, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, state leaders are touting efforts to build new dams, reinstalling the drought salinity barrier in the delta — literally a pile of rocks blocking saltwater from tainting the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They also are granting millions of dollars in drought aid and using innovative climate forecasting models to inform how they manage reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to expand the time horizon of our decision-making,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the San Francisco District of the Army Corps of Engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When there are two weeks of dry weather, and we got a lot of water coming into the lake, we don’t need to make space for the next storm because there isn’t one,” he added of efforts to better manage reservoirs in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Digging out of a hole. Again.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local water leaders will decide how deep restrictions should cut in the upcoming weeks. At 10%, San Francisco and parts of the East Bay have the lowest conservation targets in the Bay Area. Cities in the North Bay like Sonoma and Healdsburg are at 20% or higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Pauli, who co-manages the water district at the eastern headwaters of the Russian River in Mendocino County — which is reliant on rain — says the creeks that feed into the river are already dry. Valley pastures are browning and fire-scarred trees on the hills surround the agriculture basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauli says it looked similar last year when crops “were dramatically impacted — pears and vineyards,” she said. “We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south in Sonoma County, the region’s largest reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\">Lake Sonoma, is 60% full\u003c/a> but has less water than last April.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Janet Pauli, co-chair, Potter Valley Irrigation District']‘We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.\u003c/span>‘[/pullquote]“We have a huge hole we got to dig out of,” said Brad Sherwood, spokesperson for Sonoma Water. “It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day in the situation that we’re facing in Sonoma County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South of Sonoma, Marin County got a stroke of luck this past rainy season when two atmospheric rivers parked themselves over the county, dumping more than 40 inches of rain, said Adriane Mertens, spokesperson for Marin Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired woman in blue flannel and blue jeans leans on a cement bridge with a river and greenery behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli, with the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says farmers are already feeling the impacts of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before those two brief, very wet storms, the county was contemplating emergency desalination or piping water from elsewhere over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Now their reservoirs are filled to 91%, a two-year water supply, Mertens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were projecting to deplete our local reservoir supplies by summer of this year,” she said. “The rain was a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 miles south of Marin in Santa Clara County, the drought scenario is more dire — and a lot dryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water supplies for the South Bay are particularly precarious because local reservoirs are only a quarter full — the largest, Anderson Reservoir, is out of commission for seismic retrofitting for the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect that Valley Water, which supplies water to around 2 million people, won’t receive any of the imports it typically relies on, except for what’s absolutely necessary for health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, more than half of the county’s water originates from the Sierra Nevada snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valley Water put in place a 15% mandatory water restriction last June, but residents have not met the target, said John Varela, Valley Water chief pro tem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since then, through January 2022, residents, businesses and farmers reduced overall water usage by only 8%,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost no measurable rain has landed on San Jose this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water restrictions could intensify in Santa Clara County, said the water supplier’s spokesperson Matt Keller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can hope for rain, but you know hope is not enough — we have to take action,” he said. “Everything is on the table heading into the summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could mean boosting mandatory water restrictions or increasing penalties for water wasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose Water already charges residential customers $7.13 for each 748-gallon unit of water used over their limit, but the restrictions don’t apply to businesses. Ninety percent of the agency’s customers are residential, said Liann Walborsky, director of corporate communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mother Nature has not been very helpful,” she said of the lack of rain this winter. Customers used 2% more water in February than before the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going in the wrong direction,” she said. “We’ve had people focus on outside irrigation. It’s very hard to cut water use inside your house because that starts to affect your quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nibbling around the edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Restricting water and limiting flows to farms, parks or golf courses are quick ways to deal with the drought, but they are not long-term solutions. If restrictions are overused, they can lose their desired effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water experts like Susan Leal say we need to stop nibbling around the edges and rethink how California and the Bay Area use water. Twelve years ago, she co-authored the book “\u003ca href=\"https://www.susanleal.com/books/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Running Out of Water\u003c/a>,” and raised remedies for the very crisis the state is in today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe we will still be able to deliver water to people, but they’ll have to use less of it,” she said. The climate whiplash the state experienced this past year — flooding rains followed by months of dry conditions — stresses the state’s water system, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may get to the point where we have to start subsidizing water because the cost of recycled water is going to be much more expensive,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979019 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian man in a white polo shirt holds a beaker full of water that's been filtered. A system of tubes behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Engineer Zachary Helsley holds a beaker of treated wastewater at the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center in San Jose on Sept. 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leal was once the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She wants the state to invest billions in cleaning wastewater for drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recycled water encompasses only a small fraction of the state’s water supply; the majority is in Southern California. Valley Water pledged to double the amount of water it recycles over the next decade, but even that would only augment 10% of its supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t actually put some dough into it now, it won’t happen,” Leal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can take decades to change or build infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Close the loop so we don’t depend on snowpack\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Newsha\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Ajami\u003c/a> studies water in the West as the chief development officer for research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She says water agencies will have to start valuing people over a revenue based model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities [will] survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change,” she said. “If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart. Because every drought leads to a reduction in demand.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Newsha Ajami, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory']‘If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities can become an entity that can survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change. If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart.’\u003c/span>[/pullquote]Ajami would like to see agencies split operational costs among all customers equally, while having people cover the energy costs necessary to get their water to them. This would make the price of water more equitable, she says, and allow water agencies to flourish instead of merely remaining afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It separates people who are actually mindful from the people who use more and put a lot more pressure on the system,” she said. “If you and I live in the same building, and I’m using 10 units of water, and you’re using two, I’m putting a lot more demand on the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, co-authored a bill that aims to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1469\">decouple California water agency sales and revenue\u003c/a>. He wants to incentivize water conservation and force water utilities to restructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we’re decoupling water use from profits, because otherwise, we get perverse incentives,” he said. “We want people to use less water. And so decoupling helps us achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the bill doesn’t pass this year, Becker and Ajami believe it’s doing something good: It’s rethinking how California uses water. Their hope is that these ideas become reality.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke from wildfires can ruin a year’s worth of wine and is harmful to the health of harvesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cejavineyards.com/about/amelia-moran-ceja\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ceja\u003c/a> is banking that last October and December’s heavy storms filled aquifers below her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nonetheless, we’re still conserving,” she said. “We literally only water the vines when they need it, and it’s barely a couple of gallons of water at most.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceja is just one example of the millions of Bay Area residents learning to live with seemingly perpetual dry times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history.\u003c/span>‘",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s snowpack is far below average again this year. Less than 31% of the snowpack remains, and state reservoirs are about 48% full. Millions of Bay Area residents rely on this water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have less snow than we did last year,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting section. “California’s only received about half the amount of rainfall recorded in comparison to 2013, which ended up turning into the driest calendar year on record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s traditional rainy season is over, and California’s summer forecast looks to be hotter than average. Meteorologists expect a heat wave this week, which poses a critical threat to what’s left of the snowpack.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The odds of any rain or snow making a dent in the drought are “slim to none,” said Brian Garcia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service located in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are looking at the driest start to a calendar year in recorded history,” he said, referring to records that date back to the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Megadrought bakes the West\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Regionally, the American Southwest is in the grips of a \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22-year megadrought\u003c/a>, the worst in recorded history and the driest since at least the year 800, according to a new analysis of tree ring records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will take several wet years to end the drought cycle, said UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without climate change, \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/megadrought-southwestern-north-america\">the past 22 years would have probably still been the driest period in 300 years\u003c/a>,” Williams noted in a release. “But it wouldn’t be holding a candle to the megadroughts of the 1500s, 1200s, or 1100s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The burning of fossil fuels — the lead driver of climate change — must be stopped, or quickly shifted away from, according to the most recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/04/1090577162/climate-change-un-ipcc-report\">UN climate report\u003c/a>, in order for the world to reach its goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warming beyond that point will mean even more severe droughts, water scarcity and increased wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bay Area drought deepens\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With around 8 million residents across nine counties, each part of the Bay Area is grappling with the drought differently. To the south and north, Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties are similarly affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the multiyear drought ending in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that all residents curb water use by 25% — a goal that Californians nearly met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, people are less adherent. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked for a 15% water reduction, but urban water users saved less than half of that from June to January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977229/healdsburg-cut-its-water-use-in-half-whats-in-the-citys-secret-water-saving-sauce\">some cities, like Healdsburg, saved more than 50%\u003c/a> last summer and fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration is entrusting local water agencies to impose restrictions, compelling them to save water through a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">late\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">March\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">executive\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/03/28/as-western-drought-worsens-governor-newsom-moves-to-bolster-regional-conservation-efforts/\">order\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979001 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds a hollow blue pole that when pierces the ground tells how much water is in snow in a certain spot. Blue skies and green mountains in the distance. A patch of snow in view. \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/KJ2_0563-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting unit uses a tape measure to pinpoint the next measuring location during the fourth media snow survey of the 2022 season. \u003ccite>(Kenneth James / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“What we learned from the last drought is, it’s really important to listen to locals,” said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, on a recent press call. “We live in a state that has many different hydrological zones, many different water usage scenarios, and that the one-size-fits-all doesn’t really work in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order presses major water retailers and agencies to conserve an average of 10%-20% come June. More than half of the state’s urban water providers don’t yet have restrictions to provide this kind of savings, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, state leaders are touting efforts to build new dams, reinstalling the drought salinity barrier in the delta — literally a pile of rocks blocking saltwater from tainting the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They also are granting millions of dollars in drought aid and using innovative climate forecasting models to inform how they manage reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to expand the time horizon of our decision-making,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the San Francisco District of the Army Corps of Engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When there are two weeks of dry weather, and we got a lot of water coming into the lake, we don’t need to make space for the next storm because there isn’t one,” he added of efforts to better manage reservoirs in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Digging out of a hole. Again.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Local water leaders will decide how deep restrictions should cut in the upcoming weeks. At 10%, San Francisco and parts of the East Bay have the lowest conservation targets in the Bay Area. Cities in the North Bay like Sonoma and Healdsburg are at 20% or higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Pauli, who co-manages the water district at the eastern headwaters of the Russian River in Mendocino County — which is reliant on rain — says the creeks that feed into the river are already dry. Valley pastures are browning and fire-scarred trees on the hills surround the agriculture basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauli says it looked similar last year when crops “were dramatically impacted — pears and vineyards,” she said. “We’re certainly not looking forward to going through this again this year. But it looks as if we’re moving in that direction pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south in Sonoma County, the region’s largest reservoir, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\">Lake Sonoma, is 60% full\u003c/a> but has less water than last April.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We have a huge hole we got to dig out of,” said Brad Sherwood, spokesperson for Sonoma Water. “It’s almost like Groundhog’s Day in the situation that we’re facing in Sonoma County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>South of Sonoma, Marin County got a stroke of luck this past rainy season when two atmospheric rivers parked themselves over the county, dumping more than 40 inches of rain, said Adriane Mertens, spokesperson for Marin Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975556\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white-haired woman in blue flannel and blue jeans leans on a cement bridge with a river and greenery behind her. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG_3530-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janet Pauli, with the Potter Valley Irrigation District, says farmers are already feeling the impacts of drought. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before those two brief, very wet storms, the county was contemplating emergency desalination or piping water from elsewhere over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Now their reservoirs are filled to 91%, a two-year water supply, Mertens said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were projecting to deplete our local reservoir supplies by summer of this year,” she said. “The rain was a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 70 miles south of Marin in Santa Clara County, the drought scenario is more dire — and a lot dryer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water supplies for the South Bay are particularly precarious because local reservoirs are only a quarter full — the largest, Anderson Reservoir, is out of commission for seismic retrofitting for the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials expect that Valley Water, which supplies water to around 2 million people, won’t receive any of the imports it typically relies on, except for what’s absolutely necessary for health and safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, more than half of the county’s water originates from the Sierra Nevada snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valley Water put in place a 15% mandatory water restriction last June, but residents have not met the target, said John Varela, Valley Water chief pro tem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since then, through January 2022, residents, businesses and farmers reduced overall water usage by only 8%,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost no measurable rain has landed on San Jose this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water restrictions could intensify in Santa Clara County, said the water supplier’s spokesperson Matt Keller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can hope for rain, but you know hope is not enough — we have to take action,” he said. “Everything is on the table heading into the summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could mean boosting mandatory water restrictions or increasing penalties for water wasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Jose Water already charges residential customers $7.13 for each 748-gallon unit of water used over their limit, but the restrictions don’t apply to businesses. Ninety percent of the agency’s customers are residential, said Liann Walborsky, director of corporate communications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mother Nature has not been very helpful,” she said of the lack of rain this winter. Customers used 2% more water in February than before the drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going in the wrong direction,” she said. “We’ve had people focus on outside irrigation. It’s very hard to cut water use inside your house because that starts to affect your quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Nibbling around the edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Restricting water and limiting flows to farms, parks or golf courses are quick ways to deal with the drought, but they are not long-term solutions. If restrictions are overused, they can lose their desired effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water experts like Susan Leal say we need to stop nibbling around the edges and rethink how California and the Bay Area use water. Twelve years ago, she co-authored the book “\u003ca href=\"https://www.susanleal.com/books/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Running Out of Water\u003c/a>,” and raised remedies for the very crisis the state is in today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe we will still be able to deliver water to people, but they’ll have to use less of it,” she said. The climate whiplash the state experienced this past year — flooding rains followed by months of dry conditions — stresses the state’s water system, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may get to the point where we have to start subsidizing water because the cost of recycled water is going to be much more expensive,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979019\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979019 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian man in a white polo shirt holds a beaker full of water that's been filtered. A system of tubes behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/RS51686_038_SanJose_WaterPurificationCenter_09232021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Associate Engineer Zachary Helsley holds a beaker of treated wastewater at the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center in San Jose on Sept. 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Leal was once the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She wants the state to invest billions in cleaning wastewater for drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recycled water encompasses only a small fraction of the state’s water supply; the majority is in Southern California. Valley Water pledged to double the amount of water it recycles over the next decade, but even that would only augment 10% of its supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t actually put some dough into it now, it won’t happen,” Leal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can take decades to change or build infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Close the loop so we don’t depend on snowpack\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Newsha\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/newshaajami\">Ajami\u003c/a> studies water in the West as the chief development officer for research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She says water agencies will have to start valuing people over a revenue based model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities [will] survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change,” she said. “If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart. Because every drought leads to a reduction in demand.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If we shift this mindset, eventually these utilities can become an entity that can survive these new realities they’re facing with climate change. If they don’t, then eventually they will fall apart.’\u003c/span>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ajami would like to see agencies split operational costs among all customers equally, while having people cover the energy costs necessary to get their water to them. This would make the price of water more equitable, she says, and allow water agencies to flourish instead of merely remaining afloat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It separates people who are actually mindful from the people who use more and put a lot more pressure on the system,” she said. “If you and I live in the same building, and I’m using 10 units of water, and you’re using two, I’m putting a lot more demand on the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, co-authored a bill that aims to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1469\">decouple California water agency sales and revenue\u003c/a>. He wants to incentivize water conservation and force water utilities to restructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we’re decoupling water use from profits, because otherwise, we get perverse incentives,” he said. “We want people to use less water. And so decoupling helps us achieve that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the bill doesn’t pass this year, Becker and Ajami believe it’s doing something good: It’s rethinking how California uses water. Their hope is that these ideas become reality.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Berkeley's Cherished Peregrine Falcon Grinnell Dies — but His Mate May Have Found a New Match",
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"content": "\u003cp>Grinnell, one of a beloved pair of peregrine falcons who made their longtime home atop the bell tower at UC Berkeley, has died, it was announced Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grinnell was found dead Thursday afternoon, according to a tweet on the CalFalconCam Twitter account, run by Cal Falcons, a group that monitors the birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CalFalconCam/status/1509650552904466447?s=20&t=S5VZ780o5b7-oMrGhOwfZQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grinnell and Annie had been nesting atop the university’s 307-foot-tall campanile since late 2016 and produced 13 chicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the timing of this within the breeding season, it is doubtful that this nest will succeed with Annie alone,” Cal Falcons’ Twitter account said on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Friday, the account reported another falcon spotted in the nest with Annie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CalFalconCam/status/1509929265772568641?s=20&t=S5VZ780o5b7-oMrGhOwfZQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peregrine falcons typically mate for life, although survivors will seek a replacement after a mate dies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grinnell was attacked by other falcons last fall and spent nearly three weeks in a wildlife hospital recuperating, while other rivals courted Annie. But he returned and observers felt that the couple was bonding again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in February, Annie vanished from her gravel nest and was briefly presumed injured or dead before returning nearly a week later. Her disappearance made local headlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The falcon researchers said they had never seen a female vanish suddenly during peak breeding season and then suddenly return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peregrine falcons are considered the world’s fastest birds. They can reach speeds of 200 mph during a hunting dive known as a stoop. The American birds were declared endangered in 1970 because of ingesting prey poisoned by DDT and other pesticides; the chemical caused the falcons to produce thin-shelled eggs that couldn’t survive until hatching. However, recovery programs brought the bird back from potential extinction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTNZmnD27is\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003cspan class=\"c-message__sender c-message_kit__sender\" data-qa=\"message_sender\" data-stringify-type=\"replace\" data-stringify-text=\"María Fernanda Bernal\">María Fernanda Bernal and Kevin Stark contributed to this report.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Peregrine falcons typically mate for life, although survivors will seek a replacement after a mate dies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grinnell was attacked by other falcons last fall and spent nearly three weeks in a wildlife hospital recuperating, while other rivals courted Annie. But he returned and observers felt that the couple was bonding again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in February, Annie vanished from her gravel nest and was briefly presumed injured or dead before returning nearly a week later. Her disappearance made local headlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The falcon researchers said they had never seen a female vanish suddenly during peak breeding season and then suddenly return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peregrine falcons are considered the world’s fastest birds. They can reach speeds of 200 mph during a hunting dive known as a stoop. The American birds were declared endangered in 1970 because of ingesting prey poisoned by DDT and other pesticides; the chemical caused the falcons to produce thin-shelled eggs that couldn’t survive until hatching. However, recovery programs brought the bird back from potential extinction.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/RTNZmnD27is'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/RTNZmnD27is'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003cspan class=\"c-message__sender c-message_kit__sender\" data-qa=\"message_sender\" data-stringify-type=\"replace\" data-stringify-text=\"María Fernanda Bernal\">María Fernanda Bernal and Kevin Stark contributed to this report.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Now Requires You to Compost Food Waste to Reduce Potent Greenhouse Gas",
"headTitle": "California Now Requires You to Compost Food Waste to Reduce Potent Greenhouse Gas | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>California has set an ambitious goal: reduce scraps and yard waste that go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landfills by 75% by 2025\u003c/a>. The new state composting regulation means waste haulers will handle a lot more moldy leftovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some are ready, because they’ve been collecting and processing organic waste for years. Others will need to invest in new infrastructure, which will push up garbage rates. The state plans to help in the form of financial grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane emissions is the state’s main goal. Its composting regulation requires residents, municipalities and soon more businesses to compost or divert food waste and scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sprawling facility in Tracy, food scraps and yard clippings get turned into something useful. Here, an 18-wheeler backs up onto a ramp, dumping a load of waste into a huge hopper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of coffee grounds and eggshells and banana peels and things of that nature in there,” said Robert Reed, spokesperson for Recology, the company that hauls away San Francisco’s waste. “All of those materials are natural. Particularly the food scraps are very rich in nutrients, very rich in carbon. They all came from a farm and are to go back to a farm in the form of compost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Municipal solid waste landfills are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third-largest source of human-related methane emissions\u003c/a> in the country, accounting for about 15% in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and engineers see an opportunity to capture methane and use it to create energy. They’re also studying how it can lock carbon in the ground and \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincarbonproject.org/science/land-management-carbon-sequestration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">enhance the soil\u003c/a> in fields, orchards and rangelands to help farmers grow crops and livestock more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge for the state: building enough facilities like Recology’s, especially in Southern California, where composting is less common. Commercial-scale manufacturing businesses are expensive, and require land and heavy machinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978944\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man with a red hard hat holds a handful of rich, brown compost as a crane dumps more in a large pile behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Reed, compost hype man, in Tracy on Jan. 31, 2022. ‘This is what helps grow healthy plants,’ Reed said. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recology began composting decades ago, and Reed argues it keeps greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is what helps grow healthy plants,” he said, plunging his hands into a steaming pile. “We’ve got food to eat and it gets carbon back into the soil where it belongs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage, the compost is sorted and dried to a fine dust; it has a rich brown color and smells sweet, like a wet forest floor. But it’s not fully cooked yet. It will sit in windrows, long piles that workers will aerate for weeks while bacteria break the “material down into finished compost,” Reed said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These piles are eight- to 10-feet tall and chock-full of microbial colonies that are breaking the material down into smaller and smaller pieces,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers add water to make a perfect, spa-like environment for the right microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New compost rules ‘biggest change’ to CA trash since ’80s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bacteria are key to the state’s new composting standards, which require all municipalities to collect green waste separately, to keep it out of the landfill. When food waste “cooks” under the right conditions, the bacteria give off less methane, a potent greenhouse gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diverting our organic waste is the single fastest and easiest thing that every single Californian and every American can do to fight climate change,” said Rachel Machi Wagoner, CalRecycle’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called the state’s composting mandate “the biggest change to our trash since we started recycling in the 1980s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state will require businesses to compost and donate edible food to food banks and charities. First, large grocery stores and food wholesalers will have to comply or face fines. Later, that list will include restaurants and cafeterias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California hits its composting goal, the state estimates it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road each year in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To go after food waste that aggressively is unprecedented, and it’s a big deal,” said Matthew Cotton, an independent \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattcotton.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commercial composting consultant\u003c/a>. “We have a lot of infrastructure, maybe not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of this new infrastructure will be offset by a $90 million infusion from this year’s state budget. But Cotton said it’s hard to get permits for composting at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a popular piece of infrastructure,” he said. “No one says, ‘Hey, let’s put in a composting site.’ It serves a lot of people, but nobody really wants to live by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting past the ‘yuck factor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The other big hurdle is getting people to sort their food waste correctly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a big yuck factor,” said Sally Brown, a soil scientist at the University of Washington. “The slimy stuff is slimy and it can smell bad and look gross and then you don’t want to touch it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Composting can be a hard sell, when you’ve been throwing stuff away your whole life, Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’ll always be a market for high-quality compost, especially in California, where agriculture is such a big business, she said. But if the final compost product is contaminated, it becomes less desirable to farmers and landscapers. Think plastic bags, rocks and those annoying little stickers on fruits and veggies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The top lid on your Häagen-Dazs container — it feels like cardboard, but is that plastic on the edge?” she said, noting that many people might not care enough to investigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s golden age of compost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is in a golden age of compost research and policy, Brown said. Farmers have always known that compost adds nutrients to their fields and orchards. Now scientists are trying to measure how much carbon it locks into soil and how that benefits the climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had 16-inch carrots in my garden this year, and that’s because of the healthier, lighter and fluffier soil from years of compost use,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t require genius cold-fusion tech. It requires you to put your broccoli stems into a different bucket. We can handle that — in theory,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California has set an ambitious goal: reduce scraps and yard waste that go to \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/slcp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">landfills by 75% by 2025\u003c/a>. The new state composting regulation means waste haulers will handle a lot more moldy leftovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some are ready, because they’ve been collecting and processing organic waste for years. Others will need to invest in new infrastructure, which will push up garbage rates. The state plans to help in the form of financial grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reducing methane emissions is the state’s main goal. Its composting regulation requires residents, municipalities and soon more businesses to compost or divert food waste and scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a sprawling facility in Tracy, food scraps and yard clippings get turned into something useful. Here, an 18-wheeler backs up onto a ramp, dumping a load of waste into a huge hopper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of coffee grounds and eggshells and banana peels and things of that nature in there,” said Robert Reed, spokesperson for Recology, the company that hauls away San Francisco’s waste. “All of those materials are natural. Particularly the food scraps are very rich in nutrients, very rich in carbon. They all came from a farm and are to go back to a farm in the form of compost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Municipal solid waste landfills are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/lmop/basic-information-about-landfill-gas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">third-largest source of human-related methane emissions\u003c/a> in the country, accounting for about 15% in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists and engineers see an opportunity to capture methane and use it to create energy. They’re also studying how it can lock carbon in the ground and \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincarbonproject.org/science/land-management-carbon-sequestration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">enhance the soil\u003c/a> in fields, orchards and rangelands to help farmers grow crops and livestock more efficiently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One challenge for the state: building enough facilities like Recology’s, especially in Southern California, where composting is less common. Commercial-scale manufacturing businesses are expensive, and require land and heavy machinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978944\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978944\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling man with a red hard hat holds a handful of rich, brown compost as a crane dumps more in a large pile behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54893_IMG_7280-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Reed, compost hype man, in Tracy on Jan. 31, 2022. ‘This is what helps grow healthy plants,’ Reed said. \u003ccite>(Raquel Maria Dillon/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Recology began composting decades ago, and Reed argues it keeps greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is what helps grow healthy plants,” he said, plunging his hands into a steaming pile. “We’ve got food to eat and it gets carbon back into the soil where it belongs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage, the compost is sorted and dried to a fine dust; it has a rich brown color and smells sweet, like a wet forest floor. But it’s not fully cooked yet. It will sit in windrows, long piles that workers will aerate for weeks while bacteria break the “material down into finished compost,” Reed said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These piles are eight- to 10-feet tall and chock-full of microbial colonies that are breaking the material down into smaller and smaller pieces,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers add water to make a perfect, spa-like environment for the right microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New compost rules ‘biggest change’ to CA trash since ’80s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bacteria are key to the state’s new composting standards, which require all municipalities to collect green waste separately, to keep it out of the landfill. When food waste “cooks” under the right conditions, the bacteria give off less methane, a potent greenhouse gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diverting our organic waste is the single fastest and easiest thing that every single Californian and every American can do to fight climate change,” said Rachel Machi Wagoner, CalRecycle’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called the state’s composting mandate “the biggest change to our trash since we started recycling in the 1980s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state will require businesses to compost and donate edible food to food banks and charities. First, large grocery stores and food wholesalers will have to comply or face fines. Later, that list will include restaurants and cafeterias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California hits its composting goal, the state estimates it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road each year in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To go after food waste that aggressively is unprecedented, and it’s a big deal,” said Matthew Cotton, an independent \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattcotton.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commercial composting consultant\u003c/a>. “We have a lot of infrastructure, maybe not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of this new infrastructure will be offset by a $90 million infusion from this year’s state budget. But Cotton said it’s hard to get permits for composting at this scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a popular piece of infrastructure,” he said. “No one says, ‘Hey, let’s put in a composting site.’ It serves a lot of people, but nobody really wants to live by it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Getting past the ‘yuck factor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The other big hurdle is getting people to sort their food waste correctly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a big yuck factor,” said Sally Brown, a soil scientist at the University of Washington. “The slimy stuff is slimy and it can smell bad and look gross and then you don’t want to touch it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Composting can be a hard sell, when you’ve been throwing stuff away your whole life, Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’ll always be a market for high-quality compost, especially in California, where agriculture is such a big business, she said. But if the final compost product is contaminated, it becomes less desirable to farmers and landscapers. Think plastic bags, rocks and those annoying little stickers on fruits and veggies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The top lid on your Häagen-Dazs container — it feels like cardboard, but is that plastic on the edge?” she said, noting that many people might not care enough to investigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s golden age of compost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is in a golden age of compost research and policy, Brown said. Farmers have always known that compost adds nutrients to their fields and orchards. Now scientists are trying to measure how much carbon it locks into soil and how that benefits the climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had 16-inch carrots in my garden this year, and that’s because of the healthier, lighter and fluffier soil from years of compost use,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Youth Vs. Apocalypse Joins Global Day of Action for Climate March",
"headTitle": "Youth Vs. Apocalypse Joins Global Day of Action for Climate March | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Hundreds of Bay Area students marched across San Francisco’s Financial District on Friday, as part of a global day of demonstrations tied to the \u003ca href=\"https://fridaysforfuture.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fridays for Future\u003c/a> youth movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand at the center with several protest signs in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofia Palau and Simon Singh, YVA leaders, pose for a portrait outside the BlackRock building on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. ‘We’re protesting against BlackRock because of their violation of Native land rights and their heavy investment in fossil fuels. They’re also managing the California Teachers Association’s money and they’re investing it in fossil fuels and destroying the futures of their students without most of the teachers’ knowledge,’ Palau said. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a> organized high schoolers and other young kids from across the region. The students walked from Embarcadero Plaza to the headquarters of the investment management company BlackRock on Howard St. and to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Sansome St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The protestors painted their hands red and marked the pavement to symbolize how these groups are failing to protect their lives and futures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg\" alt=\"A person with red hands poses for the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kendal Erving poses for a portrait on March 25, 2022. Her hands are covered in red paint, which was provided to students so they could leave handprints at the BlackRock building. This symbolizes the blood advocates say BlackRock has on their hands as a fossil fuel investor. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The world is in a state of crisis,” organizers said in a statement. “The climate crisis threatens the sake of all life on earth. We recognize that the climate crisis does not impact people equally and disproportionately severely impacts communities of color as well as low income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BlackRock directly funds the climate crisis and ICE is displacing and committing violence against climate refugees and people seeking safety,” they said. “We demand change now so that we can have a tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978861\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978861\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young man with an orange beanie speaks into a mic with the background of protest signs.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez speaks during a Youth Vs. Apocalypse climate strike at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco on March 25, 2022. Hernandez, 18, is an environmental justice organizer in Richmond. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal spoke with one youth organizer, Richmond’s Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez, who said the cause is personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my uncle and aunt to chronic respiratory disease,” he said. “And that’s my story, [but] there’s millions of stories like it in Richmond. Thousands of stories of students affected by fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The youth group called on BlackRock to divest the California state teachers pension system from the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Y_Vs_A/status/1507412460289941509?s=20&t=UJlnha6rvos5LAJQwrosTw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calstrs.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">CalSTRS\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978865\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A youth organizer points a microphone to the crowd.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simon Singh, a youth organizer with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, leads the crowd in chants calling for climate and migrant justice on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ICE building, the group also rallied for a “pathway to citizenship and a respect of people’s right to seek asylum from within the U.S.” and asked “for a livable and equitable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student organizer with YVA leads chants and a large group of student demonstrators during a climate strike in San Francisco on March 25, 2022.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Hundreds of Bay Area students marched across San Francisco’s Financial District on Friday, as part of a global day of demonstrations tied to the \u003ca href=\"https://fridaysforfuture.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fridays for Future\u003c/a> youth movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978869\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand at the center with several protest signs in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1020x691.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut-1536x1040.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54739_20220325-IMG_7953-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sofia Palau and Simon Singh, YVA leaders, pose for a portrait outside the BlackRock building on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. ‘We’re protesting against BlackRock because of their violation of Native land rights and their heavy investment in fossil fuels. They’re also managing the California Teachers Association’s money and they’re investing it in fossil fuels and destroying the futures of their students without most of the teachers’ knowledge,’ Palau said. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youthvsapocalypse.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youth Vs. Apocalypse\u003c/a> organized high schoolers and other young kids from across the region. The students walked from Embarcadero Plaza to the headquarters of the investment management company BlackRock on Howard St. and to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Sansome St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The protestors painted their hands red and marked the pavement to symbolize how these groups are failing to protect their lives and futures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg\" alt=\"A person with red hands poses for the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54742_20220325-IMG_7968-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kendal Erving poses for a portrait on March 25, 2022. Her hands are covered in red paint, which was provided to students so they could leave handprints at the BlackRock building. This symbolizes the blood advocates say BlackRock has on their hands as a fossil fuel investor. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The world is in a state of crisis,” organizers said in a statement. “The climate crisis threatens the sake of all life on earth. We recognize that the climate crisis does not impact people equally and disproportionately severely impacts communities of color as well as low income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“BlackRock directly funds the climate crisis and ICE is displacing and committing violence against climate refugees and people seeking safety,” they said. “We demand change now so that we can have a tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978861\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978861\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A young man with an orange beanie speaks into a mic with the background of protest signs.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54707_20220325-IMG_7518-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez speaks during a Youth Vs. Apocalypse climate strike at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco on March 25, 2022. Hernandez, 18, is an environmental justice organizer in Richmond. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal spoke with one youth organizer, Richmond’s Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez, who said the cause is personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost my uncle and aunt to chronic respiratory disease,” he said. “And that’s my story, [but] there’s millions of stories like it in Richmond. Thousands of stories of students affected by fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The youth group called on BlackRock to divest the California state teachers pension system from the fossil fuel industry.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calstrs.com/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">CalSTRS\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978865\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A youth organizer points a microphone to the crowd.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54709_20220325-IMG_7542-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simon Singh, a youth organizer with Youth Vs. Apocalypse, leads the crowd in chants calling for climate and migrant justice on March 25, 2022, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ICE building, the group also rallied for a “pathway to citizenship and a respect of people’s right to seek asylum from within the U.S.” and asked “for a livable and equitable future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/03/RS54751_20220325-IMG_7801-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student organizer with YVA leads chants and a large group of student demonstrators during a climate strike in San Francisco on March 25, 2022.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Writing Music About Climate Change, Oakland Artist Reclaims Feminine Power",
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"content": "\u003cp>To address climate change, experts say we \u003cem>all\u003c/em> need to get to work. So how do you do that, as just one, busy person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one idea: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977320 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like musician and writer \u003ca href=\"https://www.madlinesinfo.com/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maddy “MADlines” Clifford\u003c/a>. She’s penned an entire album about climate change, finding it to be surprisingly … fun, which is not a word most people associate with climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Clifford about her latest creative venture and how it intersects with injustices affecting so much more than the natural world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MADDY CLIFFORD\u003c/strong>: That day that we all woke up in 2020 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\">the sky was like this apocalyptic ashen color\u003c/a> for the whole entire day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think that was a really big moment for a lot of people, especially on the West Coast. And it really cemented in my mind how dire the situation is and has been.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt a lot of despair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m from Seattle, born and raised in the city of Seattle and in the northwest. Environmentalism is a really big topic that we talked about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when I was in elementary school, they even had us in different “orca pods,” but [environmentalism] was still largely seen as a white, hippie, upper-middle-class issue, and it wasn’t really talked about in the Black community in particular or the community that I was in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I just didn’t really see myself reflected in a lot of the environmental movements until more recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to research and learn a bit about Indigenous stewardship around fires — how that related to colonization and the ways in which we’ve lost a lot of really vital information about how to protect the planet because of racism and colonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last year, I was lucky enough to find this really cool project called \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Creative Wildfire\u003c/a>, and it’s a collective action involving \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/artists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">different artists\u003c/a> from across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their purpose was to educate artists on how to really amplify issues around the climate emergency and push back against this idea of returning to normal. I really liked that concept because I was just experiencing such profound change over 2020 and 2021, and I was like, I really don’t want to go back to some of the things that were problematic, especially as it relates to pollution and the destruction of our climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had to attend classes. We learned about all types of different things, from \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2022/02/14/queer-communities-often-left-out-of-disaster-planning-research-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">solidarity economies\u003c/a> [economies \u003ca href=\"https://doughnuteconomics.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prioritizing people and the planet over endless growth and profit\u003c/a>] to different grassroots organizing that was going on in different parts of the country around climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to feel really excited about how to draw connections in my arts practice. I was able to reach out to one of my colleagues and friends, \u003ca href=\"http://charlesburchell.com/\">Charles Burchell\u003c/a>, and he created these instrumentals and I wrote songs to the instrumentals, and we put out this project called “downCHANTS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell me a bit about “downCHANTS.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s inspired by the Bob Marley and the Wailers song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZAsarTZHo&ab_channel=BobMarley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chant Down Babylon\u003c/a>.” [Chanting down] is a spiritual pushing back against all this negativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going through a lot of these different workshops as part of the Creative Wildfire cohort, I realized everything is connected to the climate emergency. Women are going to be more disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Immigrants, Indigenous folks, all the people that are actually the ones that can make a difference. I really got inspired by that and invigorated by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are some of your favorite songs [on the album]? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/1PHvy8vNSdNrK73B0nPLQr?si=07f666019cba4823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Imagination\u003c/a>” is one song where I bring up the fact that the Black imagination is so rich, even though there is a serious racial wealth gap in our country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I begin the song with, “The end is near, but also the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has to do with this balance between pessimism and optimism that I see a lot of Black writers and Black intellectuals bring up. It’s this balance between being really clear and aware of the obstacles that we’re facing, but at the same time having a healthy dose of joy and excitement about the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/229B8qFmcrtdr9C5Lt3m3n?si=3f5ca6b84a2b4138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Femme Future\u003c/a>,” I thought a lot about the way the Earth is gendered feminine, and how this degradation of anything that’s non-male really contributes to people not caring about the climate crisis, or thinking that it’s inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Woman wearing a red and gold shirt throws back her head; her dark golden hair flies up behind her and around her face.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maddy Clifford was surprised when writing songs about climate change: It was actually fun. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Wong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I wanted to reclaim femininity as something that was powerful. In a lot of ways, I felt almost a sense of pride in the fact that the Earth is seen as feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do love “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/5WrcmSdUPB2SJe1lsQnfvI?si=8707106a3d624efe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bike Life\u003c/a>.” I love riding a bike: It gives me the ability to exercise, it’s really fun, and biking culture is a huge part of the culture in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11879641' label='Trucks Are Banned on Oakland's I-580. These Sixth Graders Wondered Why']I don’t think people realize — in their cars all the time — the fact that the city was literally built for cars and that it didn’t have to be built that way. I also think about the ways that freeways, for example, desecrated and destroyed a lot of thriving Black communities in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do I make these issues around climate and social justice visceral? How do I make them poetic? Because you want to show people, you don’t want to just tell them these things. That’s what makes these topics really resonate with wider amounts of people at the end of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always been a politicized artist because I believe art is innately political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this is a way to strengthen the work that I’ve already been doing around intersectional feminism and empowerment. It really actually complimented my work in a lot of ways, and it felt really exciting to go in this direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had such a good time just writing about climate, I didn’t realize how much fun I would have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the discussions around the climate crisis become really apocalyptic and really depressing, and I think that can often cause people to just ignore it. And for me, it wasn’t so much that I was ignoring the issues, it’s just I felt I didn’t know where to get in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then I thought back to rappers that I admire and a lot of them actually have written songs about the climate, like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU7HhWoQgi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New World Water\u003c/a>” by Yasiin Bey. I was like, “Wow, that’s one of my favorite songs of all time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to realize this is not something that’s so outside of me, but it’s part of a tradition within the hip-hop community, within my practice and my medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was surprised how much I actually fit perfectly into this idea of a climate activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: Maddy Clifford has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881399/why-we-must-center-healing-in-the-movement-for-black-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">written for KQED Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>To address climate change, experts say we \u003cem>all\u003c/em> need to get to work. So how do you do that, as just one, busy person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one idea: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977320 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like musician and writer \u003ca href=\"https://www.madlinesinfo.com/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maddy “MADlines” Clifford\u003c/a>. She’s penned an entire album about climate change, finding it to be surprisingly … fun, which is not a word most people associate with climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Clifford about her latest creative venture and how it intersects with injustices affecting so much more than the natural world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MADDY CLIFFORD\u003c/strong>: That day that we all woke up in 2020 and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969409/no-you-didnt-wake-up-to-the-apocalypse-wildfire-smoke-turns-bay-area-sky-orange-and-dark\">the sky was like this apocalyptic ashen color\u003c/a> for the whole entire day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think that was a really big moment for a lot of people, especially on the West Coast. And it really cemented in my mind how dire the situation is and has been.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I felt a lot of despair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m from Seattle, born and raised in the city of Seattle and in the northwest. Environmentalism is a really big topic that we talked about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when I was in elementary school, they even had us in different “orca pods,” but [environmentalism] was still largely seen as a white, hippie, upper-middle-class issue, and it wasn’t really talked about in the Black community in particular or the community that I was in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I just didn’t really see myself reflected in a lot of the environmental movements until more recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to research and learn a bit about Indigenous stewardship around fires — how that related to colonization and the ways in which we’ve lost a lot of really vital information about how to protect the planet because of racism and colonization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then last year, I was lucky enough to find this really cool project called \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Creative Wildfire\u003c/a>, and it’s a collective action involving \u003ca href=\"https://creativewildfire.org/artists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">different artists\u003c/a> from across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their purpose was to educate artists on how to really amplify issues around the climate emergency and push back against this idea of returning to normal. I really liked that concept because I was just experiencing such profound change over 2020 and 2021, and I was like, I really don’t want to go back to some of the things that were problematic, especially as it relates to pollution and the destruction of our climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had to attend classes. We learned about all types of different things, from \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2022/02/14/queer-communities-often-left-out-of-disaster-planning-research-shows/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">solidarity economies\u003c/a> [economies \u003ca href=\"https://doughnuteconomics.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">prioritizing people and the planet over endless growth and profit\u003c/a>] to different grassroots organizing that was going on in different parts of the country around climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to feel really excited about how to draw connections in my arts practice. I was able to reach out to one of my colleagues and friends, \u003ca href=\"http://charlesburchell.com/\">Charles Burchell\u003c/a>, and he created these instrumentals and I wrote songs to the instrumentals, and we put out this project called “downCHANTS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tell me a bit about “downCHANTS.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s inspired by the Bob Marley and the Wailers song “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZAsarTZHo&ab_channel=BobMarley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chant Down Babylon\u003c/a>.” [Chanting down] is a spiritual pushing back against all this negativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going through a lot of these different workshops as part of the Creative Wildfire cohort, I realized everything is connected to the climate emergency. Women are going to be more disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Immigrants, Indigenous folks, all the people that are actually the ones that can make a difference. I really got inspired by that and invigorated by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are some of your favorite songs [on the album]? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/1PHvy8vNSdNrK73B0nPLQr?si=07f666019cba4823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Imagination\u003c/a>” is one song where I bring up the fact that the Black imagination is so rich, even though there is a serious racial wealth gap in our country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I begin the song with, “The end is near, but also the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has to do with this balance between pessimism and optimism that I see a lot of Black writers and Black intellectuals bring up. It’s this balance between being really clear and aware of the obstacles that we’re facing, but at the same time having a healthy dose of joy and excitement about the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/229B8qFmcrtdr9C5Lt3m3n?si=3f5ca6b84a2b4138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Femme Future\u003c/a>,” I thought a lot about the way the Earth is gendered feminine, and how this degradation of anything that’s non-male really contributes to people not caring about the climate crisis, or thinking that it’s inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978554 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Woman wearing a red and gold shirt throws back her head; her dark golden hair flies up behind her and around her face.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/37.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maddy Clifford was surprised when writing songs about climate change: It was actually fun. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Wong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I wanted to reclaim femininity as something that was powerful. In a lot of ways, I felt almost a sense of pride in the fact that the Earth is seen as feminine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do love “\u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/5WrcmSdUPB2SJe1lsQnfvI?si=8707106a3d624efe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bike Life\u003c/a>.” I love riding a bike: It gives me the ability to exercise, it’s really fun, and biking culture is a huge part of the culture in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I don’t think people realize — in their cars all the time — the fact that the city was literally built for cars and that it didn’t have to be built that way. I also think about the ways that freeways, for example, desecrated and destroyed a lot of thriving Black communities in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do I make these issues around climate and social justice visceral? How do I make them poetic? Because you want to show people, you don’t want to just tell them these things. That’s what makes these topics really resonate with wider amounts of people at the end of the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always been a politicized artist because I believe art is innately political.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this is a way to strengthen the work that I’ve already been doing around intersectional feminism and empowerment. It really actually complimented my work in a lot of ways, and it felt really exciting to go in this direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had such a good time just writing about climate, I didn’t realize how much fun I would have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the discussions around the climate crisis become really apocalyptic and really depressing, and I think that can often cause people to just ignore it. And for me, it wasn’t so much that I was ignoring the issues, it’s just I felt I didn’t know where to get in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then I thought back to rappers that I admire and a lot of them actually have written songs about the climate, like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU7HhWoQgi8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New World Water\u003c/a>” by Yasiin Bey. I was like, “Wow, that’s one of my favorite songs of all time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started to realize this is not something that’s so outside of me, but it’s part of a tradition within the hip-hop community, within my practice and my medium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was surprised how much I actually fit perfectly into this idea of a climate activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: Maddy Clifford has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881399/why-we-must-center-healing-in-the-movement-for-black-lives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">written for KQED Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">No surprise, but now it’s official: The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it has restored California’s authority to set tailpipe emissions standards more strict than the federal government’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move allows California to once again set its own strict clean car rules, something the state had done for nearly a half century in an effort to combat smog and, more recently, fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA announcement is a reversal of a contentious decision by the Trump administration to revoke the waiver, which teed off years of fighting and lawsuits between the country’s top environmental agency and the leaders of its most populous state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration said in a press release that Trump’s policy was “decided in error” and is now “entirely rescinded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partnership with states to confront the climate crisis has never been more important,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement, adding that the action would “advance clean technologies and cut air pollution for people not just in California, but for the U.S. as a whole.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation sector is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “a major victory for the environment, our economy, and the health of families across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/mslianeran/status/1501640062731120641?s=20&t=9yR3gRqc1DuELbbJX_oFtg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, California has sought and obtained dozens of waivers that provide the state special authority to set tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks more stringent than those adopted federally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/177_states_12062021_nada_sales.pdf\">The District of Columbia and 15 other states\u003c/a> have adopted California’s strict emissions standards, momentum that steered the U.S. car market overall toward cleaner cars. Now that California’s waiver has been restored, other states can once again choose to adopt these more stringent standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much has changed in the few years since the Trump administration moved to pull California’s waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, Newsom issued an \u003cspan class=\"s1\">executive order\u003c/span> requiring that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/\">all new cars sold in California after 2035 must be electric\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following that announcement, major carmakers committed \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">billions of dollars in \u003cspan class=\"s1\">investments\u003c/span> in new electric car models\u003c/a>, and President Biden set the goal of 50% clean car sales by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California getting its waiver back sends a signal that the federal government is counting on innovation at the state level, said \u003ca href=\"https://erg.berkeley.edu/people/kammen-daniel-m/\">Dan Kammen\u003c/a>, who directs a \u003ca href=\"https://rael.berkeley.edu/\">renewable energy lab\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley and advises the Biden administration on energy and international development issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">“\u003c/b>California has traditionally been that leader, but we need more,” he said. “We need more creative policies to build the market and to build energy justice into those markets, so that would reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, said during an \u003ca href=\"https://www.veloz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/220224_March-Summit-Agenda_FINAL.pdf?mc_cid=6b887d011c&mc_eid\">electric vehicle \u003cspan class=\"s1\">summit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> this morning that California’s electric vehicle policies created “the market and will continue to drive it globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omar Vargas, head of global policy for GM, said in an emailed statement that the company is “proud to share California’s vision of an all-electric future with zero emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe everyone should have access to affordable, long-range electric vehicle options, and we are committed to working in collaboration with California to achieve an equitable transportation future,” he said. “We’re all in on putting everybody in an EV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a coalition group of health, labor and justice organizations thinks the state can be moving even faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the EPA’s announcement, the American Lung Association in California, IBEW Local 569, the Greenlining Institute, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others called on California to set even stronger electric vehicle sales targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California and the U.S. government charging toward an electric vehicle future, and major automakers like GM, Ford, Honda, and Volvo\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">investing\u003c/span> billions into new electric models\u003c/a>, California’s waiver continues to be important, said Richard Frank, director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“While we are in the process of seeing a transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, that transition is going to take a considerable amount of time,” he said. “California has adopted an ambitious timeline for that transition. But it will take a while. And the state has a huge number of vehicles on the road, including personal vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever California can do to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks is “important and indeed critical” to the state reaching its climate targets, Frank said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">No surprise, but now it’s official: The Environmental Protection Agency announced today it has restored California’s authority to set tailpipe emissions standards more strict than the federal government’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move allows California to once again set its own strict clean car rules, something the state had done for nearly a half century in an effort to combat smog and, more recently, fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA announcement is a reversal of a contentious decision by the Trump administration to revoke the waiver, which teed off years of fighting and lawsuits between the country’s top environmental agency and the leaders of its most populous state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration said in a press release that Trump’s policy was “decided in error” and is now “entirely rescinded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our partnership with states to confront the climate crisis has never been more important,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a statement, adding that the action would “advance clean technologies and cut air pollution for people not just in California, but for the U.S. as a whole.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation sector is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “a major victory for the environment, our economy, and the health of families across the country.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, California has sought and obtained dozens of waivers that provide the state special authority to set tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks more stringent than those adopted federally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/177_states_12062021_nada_sales.pdf\">The District of Columbia and 15 other states\u003c/a> have adopted California’s strict emissions standards, momentum that steered the U.S. car market overall toward cleaner cars. Now that California’s waiver has been restored, other states can once again choose to adopt these more stringent standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much has changed in the few years since the Trump administration moved to pull California’s waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, Newsom issued an \u003cspan class=\"s1\">executive order\u003c/span> requiring that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/09/23/governor-newsom-announces-california-will-phase-out-gasoline-powered-cars-drastically-reduce-demand-for-fossil-fuel-in-californias-fight-against-climate-change/\">all new cars sold in California after 2035 must be electric\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following that announcement, major carmakers committed \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">billions of dollars in \u003cspan class=\"s1\">investments\u003c/span> in new electric car models\u003c/a>, and President Biden set the goal of 50% clean car sales by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California getting its waiver back sends a signal that the federal government is counting on innovation at the state level, said \u003ca href=\"https://erg.berkeley.edu/people/kammen-daniel-m/\">Dan Kammen\u003c/a>, who directs a \u003ca href=\"https://rael.berkeley.edu/\">renewable energy lab\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley and advises the Biden administration on energy and international development issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">“\u003c/b>California has traditionally been that leader, but we need more,” he said. “We need more creative policies to build the market and to build energy justice into those markets, so that would reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, said during an \u003ca href=\"https://www.veloz.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/220224_March-Summit-Agenda_FINAL.pdf?mc_cid=6b887d011c&mc_eid\">electric vehicle \u003cspan class=\"s1\">summit\u003c/span>\u003c/a> this morning that California’s electric vehicle policies created “the market and will continue to drive it globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omar Vargas, head of global policy for GM, said in an emailed statement that the company is “proud to share California’s vision of an all-electric future with zero emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe everyone should have access to affordable, long-range electric vehicle options, and we are committed to working in collaboration with California to achieve an equitable transportation future,” he said. “We’re all in on putting everybody in an EV.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a coalition group of health, labor and justice organizations thinks the state can be moving even faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the EPA’s announcement, the American Lung Association in California, IBEW Local 569, the Greenlining Institute, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others called on California to set even stronger electric vehicle sales targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California and the U.S. government charging toward an electric vehicle future, and major automakers like GM, Ford, Honda, and Volvo\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069739399/2022-is-promising-to-be-big-year-for-electric-vehicles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">investing\u003c/span> billions into new electric models\u003c/a>, California’s waiver continues to be important, said Richard Frank, director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“While we are in the process of seeing a transition from fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, that transition is going to take a considerable amount of time,” he said. “California has adopted an ambitious timeline for that transition. But it will take a while. And the state has a huge number of vehicles on the road, including personal vehicles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever California can do to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks is “important and indeed critical” to the state reaching its climate targets, Frank said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A California Water Board Assures the Public That Oil Wastewater Is Safe for Irrigation, but Experts Say the Evidence Is Scant ",
"headTitle": "A California Water Board Assures the Public That Oil Wastewater Is Safe for Irrigation, but Experts Say the Evidence Is Scant | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>After years of controversy, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board assured the public in the fall that eating California crops grown with oil field wastewater “creates no identifiable increased health risks,” based on studies commissioned as part of an extensive Food Safety Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a review of the science and interviews with a public health scientist affiliated with the project and other experts show that there is scant evidence to support the board’s safety claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='right' citation='Clay Rodgers, assistant executive officer, Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board']‘The commitment I made to our board was that if we ever discovered that there was an effect on people consuming crops grown with this, we would stop it immediately.’[/pullquote]The “neutral, third-party consultant” the board retained to conduct the studies, GSI Environmental, has regularly worked for the oil industry. That work includes marshaling evidence to help Chevron, Kern County’s biggest provider of produced water, and other oil giants defend their interests in high-stakes lawsuits around the country and globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GSI did not tell water board officials about its ties to the oil industry, which shared the roughly $3.4 million in costs for the firm’s studies and related work with the water districts that benefit from the distribution of wastewater from oil extraction, known as “produced water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One member of the board’s Food Safety Expert Panel that reviewed GSI’s studies was nominated by Chevron and initially paid by the oil industry, and a second panel member worked as a consultant for an oil company selling produced water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the expert panel’s own review concluded that GSI’s studies could not answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with produced water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='left' citation='Hollin Kretzmann, senior attorney, Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Law Institute']‘This is an industry from top to bottom that’s used to getting its way, whether that’s drilling in neighborhoods, or disposing of the wastewater in unlined pits, or using that wastewater for unsafe purposes.’[/pullquote]Thomas Borch of Colorado State University, a leading expert on treating and reusing produced water for crop irrigation who was not involved in the project, said that based on the data GSI had and the way they designed the experiments, “they were not able to draw the conclusions they did. Period.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Scofield, who led the work for GSI, said in a statement via email that his firm agreed with the water board that the studies were performed in “the most technically sound manner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clay Rodgers, the water board official who oversaw the Food Safety Project, said he promised the board that if any evidence were ever discovered that produced water was harming people consuming crops, “we would stop it immediately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the water board’s direction, GSI compiled a list of hundreds of chemicals used in oil operations, then focused on those that might pose health risks. But an absence of information to assess safety dogged the project from the start. Many of the chemicals had never been studied before, or lacked critical details about their use, the board’s panel of experts noted, because the oil companies said doing so would reveal trade secrets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Already there was a data gap there because some of those chemicals don’t have reliable toxicity information,” said John Fleming, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings of the board and its expert panel found no food safety or public health concern, said David Ansolabehere, general manager of the Cawelo Water District, which has taken produced water from Chevron for decades. “Cawelo will continue to test the water based on the regional board’s permit requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978392\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"White steam rises off gray water at a Cawelo Water District reservoir filled with wastewater from Chevron's Kern River Oil Field. In the foreground and behind the oval reservoir are brown fields. A long pipeline extends from the far right of the photo to the edge of the reservoir.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steam rises from a Cawelo Water District reservoir filled with wastewater from Chevron’s Kern River Oil Field. Chevron treats the wastewater, then transfers it via pipeline to the reservoir, where it’s blended with surface water and/or groundwater and sent to irrigation canals. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chevron tested for all additives used in the Kern River field for which a testing method approved by the Environmental Protection Agency exists, said Jonathan Harshman, communications advisor for Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley Business Unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet more than a fifth of the chemicals GSI identified — and 60% of those deemed most likely to pose a health risk — lacked both toxicity information and approved testing methods. The water board conceded that the data gaps left “potentially significant unknowns” about the chemicals’ safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they say this is safe,” Fleming said, “it’s based on what chemicals they were able to test.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means the “no identifiable increased health risks” assertion applies to just a fraction of potential chemicals in produced water applied to crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Oil’s profligate water use\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In early August, during one of the driest summers on record, Wasco farmer Nate Siemens received a troubling notice from his irrigation district, which is regulated by the Central Valley water board. “Please be aware that this water includes some amount of reclaimed oilfield production water,” it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978401\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"Almond farmer Nate Siemens stands in front of a large tree on his farm. He's wearing a red and black plaid shirt over a black hoodie, and a silver and gold ball cap. Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant for the Rodale Institute, is moving his family's Fat Uncle Farms away from thirsty crops like almonds and has no interest in taking the oil industry's wastewater.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant for the Rodale Institute, is moving his family’s Fat Uncle Farms away from thirsty crops like almonds and has no interest in taking the oil industry’s wastewater. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross, Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant with the Rodale Institute, was shocked. Siemens needed that water. But he’s transitioning his family’s Fat Uncle Farms to organic and wasn’t keen on using the oil industry’s wastewater to irrigate his almonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens’s farming roots in the region predate the rise of Kern County’s oil industry, which produces more than 70% of the state’s oil. He was well aware that climate-polluting pump jacks operate among corporate farms growing miles of water-intensive almonds and pistachios, California’s most valuable export crops. But he had no idea just how entrenched oil operations had become in \u003ca href=\"http://www.kernag.com/caap/crop-reports/crop20_29/crop2020.pdf\">the county’s $7.6 billion agricultural industry\u003c/a> until he received that notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 30 miles southeast of Siemens’s farm, thousands of densely packed pump jacks stretch as far as the eye can see toward the horizon, bobbing robotically as they suck oil and water from wells carved into the denuded landscape of the Kern River Oil Field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pump jacks have pried more than 2 billion barrels from the field since oil was discovered here in 1899. But wresting Kern’s notoriously viscous crude from receding oil reserves requires injecting ever increasing amounts of water and hot steam underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1978382\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"690\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png 650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst-160x170.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThat water returns to the surface along with groundwater. The mixture contains arsenic, uranium and other naturally occurring toxic elements, along with potentially hundreds of chemicals used in the extraction process. Since 1985, the ratio of water to oil recovered has more than doubled, from seven barrels of water per barrel of oil to 18 barrels today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a region with less than nine inches of rain in a normal year — the definition of a desert — getting enough water is a perennial concern. Nearly 30 years ago, Chevron struck what a former Cawelo Water District manager called a “win-win” deal to deliver some of the massive amounts of wastewater produced every day to farmers’ fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, more than 38,000 acre-feet of produced water from Chevron and other oil companies hydrates California farmland, including roughly 11% of Kern County’s irrigated farmland. That’s enough to cover about 38,000 football fields with a foot of water, or more than 12.4 billion gallons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1978379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"627\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater-160x143.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nChevron treats produced water from its Kern River Oil Field by removing oil from water through gravity separation, then skimming off solids and residual oil before filtering it through walnut hulls. The water then travels several miles by pipeline to a Cawelo holding pond, where it’s blended with surface and groundwater and sent to irrigation canals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first time Seth Shonkoff, a public health scientist with the nonprofit Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers (PSE) for Healthy Energy and a member of the expert panel, visited the Cawelo holding pond several years ago, he smelled an “extraordinarily strong” whiff of asphalt and crude oil. The same odors were much less offensive when he visited the pond with the panel a few years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Either there’s natural variability in the water, Shonkoff said, or someone did something different before experts came to evaluate the operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='right' citation='Thomas Borch, Colorado State University']‘We could have done some much more impressive and well-designed studies to either conclude that we can continue to use this water or that we should maybe improve the way we treat the water before we reuse it. We certainly don’t know enough to evaluate whether we need to be worried or not.’[/pullquote]Chevron claims that recycling produced water for irrigation allows the company to operate in a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.chevron.com/stories/protecting-the-environment\">sustainable manner\u003c/a>,” by minimizing reliance on fresh water. Yet the massive energy requirements of the extraction process make Kern’s oil one of the world’s most climate-polluting fossil fuels, and Chevron one of California’s top greenhouse gas emitters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has this green reputation, but if you scratch the surface on the oil industry in the state, you quickly discover that that’s not the case at all,” said Hollin Kretzmann, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an industry from top to bottom that’s used to getting its way, whether that’s drilling in neighborhoods, or disposing of the wastewater in unlined pits, or using that wastewater for unsafe purposes,” Kretzmann said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Unfit for purpose \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Central Valley water board said it focused on crops grown in oil wastewater to address public concerns, which included petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures, protests outside the state Capitol and a bill to label food grown with the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then-Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) introduced the bill in 2015, after learning that farmers could get organic certification for shunning pesticides while using produced water, and consumers would never know. “I thought that was a real problem,” said Gatto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same year, \u003ca href=\"https://sd10.senate.ca.gov/news/2015-03-06-threat-groundwater-posed-improperly-sited-oil-injection-wells-be-explored-senate\">legislators called hearings\u003c/a> to increase scrutiny of oil companies after learning their practices posed risks to protected groundwater, including potential drinking water and irrigation supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The commitment I made to our board was that if we ever discovered that there was an effect on people consuming crops grown with this, we would stop it immediately,” said Clay Rodgers, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, who oversaw the Food Safety Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testing crops for harmful chemicals to figure out whether they’re safe to eat may seem logical, but techniques to analyze food for oil-related chemicals are “light years” behind those for detecting the compounds in water and soil, Shonkoff said. He raised the problem repeatedly at panel meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, the panel agreed. Its first recommendation to the board was to discontinue crop sampling. It would be far more productive to focus on produced water and irrigated soil, the panel said, using approaches that can reveal the toxicity of the water and soil itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Shonkoff said, “most of the work that was done to test things for chemicals was done in food. Unfortunately, that was, in my professional opinion, a pretty big waste of time and resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The data GSI compiled — including the list of chemicals and their hazard profiles — was “way too limited” to draw conclusions about lack of toxicity, said Borch, the Colorado State University professor and produced water expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That doesn’t mean it’s toxic,” said Borch. But there was no way they could conclude that produced water posed no identifiable health risks based on the data they had and their experimental approach, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978406\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978406\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-800x534.jpg\" alt='A sign is posted behind a chain link fence, protected with strands of barbed wire. The sign, in Spanish and English, reads \"Danger. Hot Water. Keep Away.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chevron relies on steam injections to extract Kern County’s tarry crude oil from aging formations, then sends the hot wastewater north to the Cawelo Water District via pipeline. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That leaves Siemens, who’s transitioning to organic, in a tough spot. Although produced water isn’t specifically defined under organic standards, organic farmers can’t use water that contains arsenic, a constituent of Kern’s produced water, and most synthetic compounds, like those used in oil and gas operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens stopped watering his orchard for a few weeks after his district notified him about the produced water. “And the trees suffered,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the almond harvest approached, Siemens couldn’t risk losing the trees. He used just enough of the water to keep them alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t know what we were getting into,” he said. “We just didn’t have time to do the research.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if Siemens had done the research, it might not have mattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could have done some much more impressive and well-designed studies to either conclude that we can continue to use this water or that we should maybe improve the way we treat the water before we reuse it,” said Borch. “We certainly don’t know enough to evaluate whether we need to be worried or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A failure to disclose\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest hurdles to evaluating the safety of produced water has been oil companies’ unwillingness to reveal key details about the chemicals they put down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before joining the panel, Shonkoff was working on an independent study of fracking for the California Council on Science and Technology, or CCST, when he discovered a dataset he’d never seen before: a list of chemicals used in conventional oil development, from fields in Southern California. At the time, no other location in the country, and maybe the world, required chemical disclosure for conventional operations. The CCST assessment, commissioned by the state, revealed that \u003ca href=\"https://ccst.us/wp-content/uploads/2015SB4-v2ES.pdf\">testing and treatment of produced water used for irrigation might not remove or even detect chemical\u003c/a>s used in fracking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During fracking, operators inject a high-pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand deep underground to break and then prop open surrounding rock to extract oil or gas. Conventional operations, by contrast, inject high-pressure steam to loosen gooey oil. Wastewater from both conventional and fracking operations falls under the heading of “produced water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Shonkoff dug into the newfound data, and read the permits and regulations for Kern County’s produced water, he realized Chevron and other oil companies could put nearly any additives they wanted down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the water board prohibits using water from fracked wells for irrigation, fracking and conventional operations employ many of the same chemicals, Shonkoff told the board at the panel’s first public meeting. And most compounds used in conventional extraction processes in Kern County, he said, lack the information needed to assess safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s imperative that oil companies disclose not just which chemicals they use in oil and gas production but also the volume and frequency of their use, Shonkoff said. Until then, he said, “I’m not quite sure that we can say with any real level of certainty that this is safe or unsafe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodgers of the water board said he’d obtained a list of all the chemical compounds oil companies use. But to avoid trade secret information, he said, the board could not get the recipe, which details how often a chemical is used and how much goes down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodgers said he felt the highest priority was to get a list he could share with the panel members and the public and compensated for not getting the recipe by assuming all the chemicals were used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But knowing the hazard associated with a chemical depends on knowing that recipe, the panel concluded. It also requires knowing chemicals’ breakdown products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemicals are injected under intense heat and pressure into oil reservoirs, where they interact with scores of other compounds, before they’re pulled back to the surface and exposed to air. All these conditions can affect a chemical’s toxicity. And scientists have no good tools to understand how chemical interactions increase toxicity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This assumption that we should be looking for the chemicals that were added to oil and gas operations, and the assumption that they will continue to be those same chemicals after all the processes that they go through, is too big of a leap to make,” Shonkoff said. “Of course, you’re not going to find them, because they most certainly have transformed into other types of chemical constituents by the time things are being monitored and tested for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some chemical additives might degrade into harmless substances, but others can prove more toxic. Shonkoff pointed to glutaraldehyde, a chemical widely used to kill microorganisms that gum up oil and gas extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glutaraldehyde is toxic to people, he said. Some of its breakdown products are even more toxic, some are less toxic and others are completely unknown because they haven’t been studied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we’re talking about hundreds of chemicals, many of which we don’t have good toxicological information on,” Shonkoff said, “the idea that you can really understand the toxicological dimensions of their daughter products, and their transformation products in the presence of other chemicals, is outstripping what we know scientifically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even a plant’s own metabolism can affect a chemical’s toxicity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plants could take up chemicals in one form and turn them into something else that’s more harmful, said Fleming of the Center for Biological Diversity. But if you’re just testing for a list of chemicals added to the well, he said, you’re testing for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Scofield, who led the work for GSI, agreed to answer questions only by email. Asked about the focus on testing crops, Scofield offered a carefully worded statement that ended: “We agree with the Water Board and their scientific advisor that this direct testing was the most technically sound manner to address the questions posed in the study.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the failure to address chemicals’ breakdown products, he responded with the exact same statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a really big assumption baked into the GSI work,” said Shonkoff. The studies assume that the chemicals remain in the same form from the oil field to a consumer’s plate and that it’s sufficient to monitor those particular chemicals, he said. “And that’s obviously incorrect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Still waiting for answers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California supplies 99% of the world’s almonds and pistachios, mostly from Kern County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water board regulators say nothing has received more scrutiny than the oil field water that irrigates those crops. “We know more about that produced water than probably any other produced water in the world,” said Rodgers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the evidence is still so scarce, said Colorado State’s Borch, “you can argue both sides.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no established tools to do a “real toxicity analysis,” Borch said, and there’s “not a good framework” to evaluate risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a study of treated produced water released into a stream for irrigation in Wyoming, Borch and his colleagues found that most of the chemicals they detected had no health safety standard. There were likely other chemicals and breakdown products “with unknown impacts” that had escaped detection, they noted in the 2020 study, \u003ca href=\"https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S0048969720301170\">published in Science of the Total Environment\u003c/a>. In a related study published later that year, Borch’s team \u003ca href=\"https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S004896972030454X\">assessed the potential of treated produced water to cause cancer\u003c/a>. Several different tests showed that the water caused increased mutation rates — an indication of cancer risk — even though most chemicals were present in low concentrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many stakeholders stand to benefit if produced water can be reused safely, the scientists wrote. But if the practice is expanded prematurely, they warned, it could harm water quality as well as the health of soil, livestock, and crops and people who eat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are still using benchmarks for water quality that were not developed with oil field wastewater in mind, Borch said, even though the complexity and chemical makeup of produced water is very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And simply looking to see whether chemicals are present, as the GSI studies did, doesn’t say anything about toxicity. Many compounds in the wastewater may be present in concentrations low enough to escape detection, said Borch. But that doesn’t mean they’re not toxic, he said: “It just means you don’t have the method that allows for extraction and analysis of the compounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a paper published in December, Borch and his colleagues presented a model for taking a holistic \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestengg.1c00248\">approach that exposes cells and lab organisms to produced water to detect harmful responses\u003c/a>, along the lines Shonkoff had recommended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borch’s “adverse outcome” approach is also likely to catch the breakdown products the Food Safety Panel identified as a major testing inadequacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a similar approach, led by its Region 8 office in Colorado, as part of a national program to study the safety of produced water, said Tricia Pfeiffer, an environmental engineer in Region 8’s Technical Assistance Branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort is addressing the need to harness cutting-edge approaches for evaluating oil-related contaminants, and their byproducts, in produced water intended for reuse. That includes enlisting tools to analyze human cells to identify any worrisome changes caused by chemicals in produced water while applying complementary approaches to detect toxic constituents in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is actual research,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s way more complicated than doing something that already has an analytical method.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we grapple with climate change issues, she said, “we’re looking for alternative water sources. And as a researcher, my biggest goal with this project is to help fill data gaps and make sure that we’re protective of human health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borch said the technology exists to remove all sorts of contaminants from water, but it’s far more expensive than the low-cost methods used by Kern County oil companies. If people aren’t willing to pay the real costs of growing crops in a water-scarce region, he said, “maybe we shouldn’t even produce almonds because they use so much water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choosing less water-intensive crops is critical to keeping land productive, said Siemens, the Wasco farmer who was shocked to learn that his water district was sending him oil field wastewater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens is moving away from thirsty almonds to dry-farming olives, mulberries and figs, focusing on farming in ways that suit the region. Like raising goats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Goats would be happy to eat all these weeds out there,” Siemens said, pointing to the field behind his house. And lots of people in the valley would be happy to eat goat meat, he said. “You can go to any taqueria in the area and buy \u003cem>carne de cabra\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens’s vision of sustainable farming does not include taking the wastewater of an industry whose greenhouse gas emissions have helped fuel California’s relentless droughts and contaminated its precious groundwater supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not just trying to meet a USDA organic standard,” Siemens said. “We’re trying to increase the vitality of this land for the future. Our kids live here, and I hope my grandkids will live here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means protecting the soil and aquifers that helped turn Kern County into one of the richest agricultural regions in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the results of a truly independent analysis of whether oil field-produced water is fit to irrigate crops sent around the world, Pfeiffer said, is still years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Anne Marshall-Chalmers, an Inside Climate News fellow, contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Studies in Kern County, performed by oil industry consultants, cannot answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with 'produced water,' the board's own panel of experts concedes.",
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"description": "Studies in Kern County, performed by oil industry consultants, cannot answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with 'produced water,' the board's own panel of experts concedes.",
"title": "A California Water Board Assures the Public That Oil Wastewater Is Safe for Irrigation, but Experts Say the Evidence Is Scant | KQED",
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"headline": "A California Water Board Assures the Public That Oil Wastewater Is Safe for Irrigation, but Experts Say the Evidence Is Scant ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After years of controversy, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board assured the public in the fall that eating California crops grown with oil field wastewater “creates no identifiable increased health risks,” based on studies commissioned as part of an extensive Food Safety Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a review of the science and interviews with a public health scientist affiliated with the project and other experts show that there is scant evidence to support the board’s safety claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The commitment I made to our board was that if we ever discovered that there was an effect on people consuming crops grown with this, we would stop it immediately.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The “neutral, third-party consultant” the board retained to conduct the studies, GSI Environmental, has regularly worked for the oil industry. That work includes marshaling evidence to help Chevron, Kern County’s biggest provider of produced water, and other oil giants defend their interests in high-stakes lawsuits around the country and globe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GSI did not tell water board officials about its ties to the oil industry, which shared the roughly $3.4 million in costs for the firm’s studies and related work with the water districts that benefit from the distribution of wastewater from oil extraction, known as “produced water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One member of the board’s Food Safety Expert Panel that reviewed GSI’s studies was nominated by Chevron and initially paid by the oil industry, and a second panel member worked as a consultant for an oil company selling produced water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the expert panel’s own review concluded that GSI’s studies could not answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with produced water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This is an industry from top to bottom that’s used to getting its way, whether that’s drilling in neighborhoods, or disposing of the wastewater in unlined pits, or using that wastewater for unsafe purposes.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Thomas Borch of Colorado State University, a leading expert on treating and reusing produced water for crop irrigation who was not involved in the project, said that based on the data GSI had and the way they designed the experiments, “they were not able to draw the conclusions they did. Period.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Scofield, who led the work for GSI, said in a statement via email that his firm agreed with the water board that the studies were performed in “the most technically sound manner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clay Rodgers, the water board official who oversaw the Food Safety Project, said he promised the board that if any evidence were ever discovered that produced water was harming people consuming crops, “we would stop it immediately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the water board’s direction, GSI compiled a list of hundreds of chemicals used in oil operations, then focused on those that might pose health risks. But an absence of information to assess safety dogged the project from the start. Many of the chemicals had never been studied before, or lacked critical details about their use, the board’s panel of experts noted, because the oil companies said doing so would reveal trade secrets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Already there was a data gap there because some of those chemicals don’t have reliable toxicity information,” said John Fleming, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings of the board and its expert panel found no food safety or public health concern, said David Ansolabehere, general manager of the Cawelo Water District, which has taken produced water from Chevron for decades. “Cawelo will continue to test the water based on the regional board’s permit requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978392\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"White steam rises off gray water at a Cawelo Water District reservoir filled with wastewater from Chevron's Kern River Oil Field. In the foreground and behind the oval reservoir are brown fields. A long pipeline extends from the far right of the photo to the edge of the reservoir.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100035.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steam rises from a Cawelo Water District reservoir filled with wastewater from Chevron’s Kern River Oil Field. Chevron treats the wastewater, then transfers it via pipeline to the reservoir, where it’s blended with surface water and/or groundwater and sent to irrigation canals. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chevron tested for all additives used in the Kern River field for which a testing method approved by the Environmental Protection Agency exists, said Jonathan Harshman, communications advisor for Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley Business Unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet more than a fifth of the chemicals GSI identified — and 60% of those deemed most likely to pose a health risk — lacked both toxicity information and approved testing methods. The water board conceded that the data gaps left “potentially significant unknowns” about the chemicals’ safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they say this is safe,” Fleming said, “it’s based on what chemicals they were able to test.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means the “no identifiable increased health risks” assertion applies to just a fraction of potential chemicals in produced water applied to crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Oil’s profligate water use\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In early August, during one of the driest summers on record, Wasco farmer Nate Siemens received a troubling notice from his irrigation district, which is regulated by the Central Valley water board. “Please be aware that this water includes some amount of reclaimed oilfield production water,” it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978401\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"Almond farmer Nate Siemens stands in front of a large tree on his farm. He's wearing a red and black plaid shirt over a black hoodie, and a silver and gold ball cap. Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant for the Rodale Institute, is moving his family's Fat Uncle Farms away from thirsty crops like almonds and has no interest in taking the oil industry's wastewater.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1090930.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant for the Rodale Institute, is moving his family’s Fat Uncle Farms away from thirsty crops like almonds and has no interest in taking the oil industry’s wastewater. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross, Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Siemens, an organic agriculture consultant with the Rodale Institute, was shocked. Siemens needed that water. But he’s transitioning his family’s Fat Uncle Farms to organic and wasn’t keen on using the oil industry’s wastewater to irrigate his almonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens’s farming roots in the region predate the rise of Kern County’s oil industry, which produces more than 70% of the state’s oil. He was well aware that climate-polluting pump jacks operate among corporate farms growing miles of water-intensive almonds and pistachios, California’s most valuable export crops. But he had no idea just how entrenched oil operations had become in \u003ca href=\"http://www.kernag.com/caap/crop-reports/crop20_29/crop2020.pdf\">the county’s $7.6 billion agricultural industry\u003c/a> until he received that notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 30 miles southeast of Siemens’s farm, thousands of densely packed pump jacks stretch as far as the eye can see toward the horizon, bobbing robotically as they suck oil and water from wells carved into the denuded landscape of the Kern River Oil Field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pump jacks have pried more than 2 billion barrels from the field since oil was discovered here in 1899. But wresting Kern’s notoriously viscous crude from receding oil reserves requires injecting ever increasing amounts of water and hot steam underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1978382\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"690\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst.png 650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Oils-unquenchable-thirst-160x170.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThat water returns to the surface along with groundwater. The mixture contains arsenic, uranium and other naturally occurring toxic elements, along with potentially hundreds of chemicals used in the extraction process. Since 1985, the ratio of water to oil recovered has more than doubled, from seven barrels of water per barrel of oil to 18 barrels today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a region with less than nine inches of rain in a normal year — the definition of a desert — getting enough water is a perennial concern. Nearly 30 years ago, Chevron struck what a former Cawelo Water District manager called a “win-win” deal to deliver some of the massive amounts of wastewater produced every day to farmers’ fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every year, more than 38,000 acre-feet of produced water from Chevron and other oil companies hydrates California farmland, including roughly 11% of Kern County’s irrigated farmland. That’s enough to cover about 38,000 football fields with a foot of water, or more than 12.4 billion gallons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1978379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"627\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater.png 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/Treating-Oil-Wastewater-160x143.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nChevron treats produced water from its Kern River Oil Field by removing oil from water through gravity separation, then skimming off solids and residual oil before filtering it through walnut hulls. The water then travels several miles by pipeline to a Cawelo holding pond, where it’s blended with surface and groundwater and sent to irrigation canals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first time Seth Shonkoff, a public health scientist with the nonprofit Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers (PSE) for Healthy Energy and a member of the expert panel, visited the Cawelo holding pond several years ago, he smelled an “extraordinarily strong” whiff of asphalt and crude oil. The same odors were much less offensive when he visited the pond with the panel a few years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Either there’s natural variability in the water, Shonkoff said, or someone did something different before experts came to evaluate the operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We could have done some much more impressive and well-designed studies to either conclude that we can continue to use this water or that we should maybe improve the way we treat the water before we reuse it. We certainly don’t know enough to evaluate whether we need to be worried or not.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Chevron claims that recycling produced water for irrigation allows the company to operate in a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.chevron.com/stories/protecting-the-environment\">sustainable manner\u003c/a>,” by minimizing reliance on fresh water. Yet the massive energy requirements of the extraction process make Kern’s oil one of the world’s most climate-polluting fossil fuels, and Chevron one of California’s top greenhouse gas emitters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has this green reputation, but if you scratch the surface on the oil industry in the state, you quickly discover that that’s not the case at all,” said Hollin Kretzmann, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an industry from top to bottom that’s used to getting its way, whether that’s drilling in neighborhoods, or disposing of the wastewater in unlined pits, or using that wastewater for unsafe purposes,” Kretzmann said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Unfit for purpose \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Central Valley water board said it focused on crops grown in oil wastewater to address public concerns, which included petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures, protests outside the state Capitol and a bill to label food grown with the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then-Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) introduced the bill in 2015, after learning that farmers could get organic certification for shunning pesticides while using produced water, and consumers would never know. “I thought that was a real problem,” said Gatto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same year, \u003ca href=\"https://sd10.senate.ca.gov/news/2015-03-06-threat-groundwater-posed-improperly-sited-oil-injection-wells-be-explored-senate\">legislators called hearings\u003c/a> to increase scrutiny of oil companies after learning their practices posed risks to protected groundwater, including potential drinking water and irrigation supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The commitment I made to our board was that if we ever discovered that there was an effect on people consuming crops grown with this, we would stop it immediately,” said Clay Rodgers, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, who oversaw the Food Safety Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testing crops for harmful chemicals to figure out whether they’re safe to eat may seem logical, but techniques to analyze food for oil-related chemicals are “light years” behind those for detecting the compounds in water and soil, Shonkoff said. He raised the problem repeatedly at panel meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, the panel agreed. Its first recommendation to the board was to discontinue crop sampling. It would be far more productive to focus on produced water and irrigated soil, the panel said, using approaches that can reveal the toxicity of the water and soil itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Shonkoff said, “most of the work that was done to test things for chemicals was done in food. Unfortunately, that was, in my professional opinion, a pretty big waste of time and resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The data GSI compiled — including the list of chemicals and their hazard profiles — was “way too limited” to draw conclusions about lack of toxicity, said Borch, the Colorado State University professor and produced water expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That doesn’t mean it’s toxic,” said Borch. But there was no way they could conclude that produced water posed no identifiable health risks based on the data they had and their experimental approach, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978406\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978406\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-800x534.jpg\" alt='A sign is posted behind a chain link fence, protected with strands of barbed wire. The sign, in Spanish and English, reads \"Danger. Hot Water. Keep Away.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019-1920x1283.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/P1100019.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chevron relies on steam injections to extract Kern County’s tarry crude oil from aging formations, then sends the hot wastewater north to the Cawelo Water District via pipeline. \u003ccite>(Liza Gross/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That leaves Siemens, who’s transitioning to organic, in a tough spot. Although produced water isn’t specifically defined under organic standards, organic farmers can’t use water that contains arsenic, a constituent of Kern’s produced water, and most synthetic compounds, like those used in oil and gas operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens stopped watering his orchard for a few weeks after his district notified him about the produced water. “And the trees suffered,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the almond harvest approached, Siemens couldn’t risk losing the trees. He used just enough of the water to keep them alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t know what we were getting into,” he said. “We just didn’t have time to do the research.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if Siemens had done the research, it might not have mattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could have done some much more impressive and well-designed studies to either conclude that we can continue to use this water or that we should maybe improve the way we treat the water before we reuse it,” said Borch. “We certainly don’t know enough to evaluate whether we need to be worried or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A failure to disclose\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest hurdles to evaluating the safety of produced water has been oil companies’ unwillingness to reveal key details about the chemicals they put down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before joining the panel, Shonkoff was working on an independent study of fracking for the California Council on Science and Technology, or CCST, when he discovered a dataset he’d never seen before: a list of chemicals used in conventional oil development, from fields in Southern California. At the time, no other location in the country, and maybe the world, required chemical disclosure for conventional operations. The CCST assessment, commissioned by the state, revealed that \u003ca href=\"https://ccst.us/wp-content/uploads/2015SB4-v2ES.pdf\">testing and treatment of produced water used for irrigation might not remove or even detect chemical\u003c/a>s used in fracking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During fracking, operators inject a high-pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand deep underground to break and then prop open surrounding rock to extract oil or gas. Conventional operations, by contrast, inject high-pressure steam to loosen gooey oil. Wastewater from both conventional and fracking operations falls under the heading of “produced water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Shonkoff dug into the newfound data, and read the permits and regulations for Kern County’s produced water, he realized Chevron and other oil companies could put nearly any additives they wanted down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the water board prohibits using water from fracked wells for irrigation, fracking and conventional operations employ many of the same chemicals, Shonkoff told the board at the panel’s first public meeting. And most compounds used in conventional extraction processes in Kern County, he said, lack the information needed to assess safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s imperative that oil companies disclose not just which chemicals they use in oil and gas production but also the volume and frequency of their use, Shonkoff said. Until then, he said, “I’m not quite sure that we can say with any real level of certainty that this is safe or unsafe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodgers of the water board said he’d obtained a list of all the chemical compounds oil companies use. But to avoid trade secret information, he said, the board could not get the recipe, which details how often a chemical is used and how much goes down wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodgers said he felt the highest priority was to get a list he could share with the panel members and the public and compensated for not getting the recipe by assuming all the chemicals were used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But knowing the hazard associated with a chemical depends on knowing that recipe, the panel concluded. It also requires knowing chemicals’ breakdown products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemicals are injected under intense heat and pressure into oil reservoirs, where they interact with scores of other compounds, before they’re pulled back to the surface and exposed to air. All these conditions can affect a chemical’s toxicity. And scientists have no good tools to understand how chemical interactions increase toxicity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This assumption that we should be looking for the chemicals that were added to oil and gas operations, and the assumption that they will continue to be those same chemicals after all the processes that they go through, is too big of a leap to make,” Shonkoff said. “Of course, you’re not going to find them, because they most certainly have transformed into other types of chemical constituents by the time things are being monitored and tested for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some chemical additives might degrade into harmless substances, but others can prove more toxic. Shonkoff pointed to glutaraldehyde, a chemical widely used to kill microorganisms that gum up oil and gas extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glutaraldehyde is toxic to people, he said. Some of its breakdown products are even more toxic, some are less toxic and others are completely unknown because they haven’t been studied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we’re talking about hundreds of chemicals, many of which we don’t have good toxicological information on,” Shonkoff said, “the idea that you can really understand the toxicological dimensions of their daughter products, and their transformation products in the presence of other chemicals, is outstripping what we know scientifically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even a plant’s own metabolism can affect a chemical’s toxicity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plants could take up chemicals in one form and turn them into something else that’s more harmful, said Fleming of the Center for Biological Diversity. But if you’re just testing for a list of chemicals added to the well, he said, you’re testing for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Scofield, who led the work for GSI, agreed to answer questions only by email. Asked about the focus on testing crops, Scofield offered a carefully worded statement that ended: “We agree with the Water Board and their scientific advisor that this direct testing was the most technically sound manner to address the questions posed in the study.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the failure to address chemicals’ breakdown products, he responded with the exact same statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a really big assumption baked into the GSI work,” said Shonkoff. The studies assume that the chemicals remain in the same form from the oil field to a consumer’s plate and that it’s sufficient to monitor those particular chemicals, he said. “And that’s obviously incorrect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Still waiting for answers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California supplies 99% of the world’s almonds and pistachios, mostly from Kern County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water board regulators say nothing has received more scrutiny than the oil field water that irrigates those crops. “We know more about that produced water than probably any other produced water in the world,” said Rodgers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the evidence is still so scarce, said Colorado State’s Borch, “you can argue both sides.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no established tools to do a “real toxicity analysis,” Borch said, and there’s “not a good framework” to evaluate risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a study of treated produced water released into a stream for irrigation in Wyoming, Borch and his colleagues found that most of the chemicals they detected had no health safety standard. There were likely other chemicals and breakdown products “with unknown impacts” that had escaped detection, they noted in the 2020 study, \u003ca href=\"https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S0048969720301170\">published in Science of the Total Environment\u003c/a>. In a related study published later that year, Borch’s team \u003ca href=\"https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/science/article/pii/S004896972030454X\">assessed the potential of treated produced water to cause cancer\u003c/a>. Several different tests showed that the water caused increased mutation rates — an indication of cancer risk — even though most chemicals were present in low concentrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many stakeholders stand to benefit if produced water can be reused safely, the scientists wrote. But if the practice is expanded prematurely, they warned, it could harm water quality as well as the health of soil, livestock, and crops and people who eat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are still using benchmarks for water quality that were not developed with oil field wastewater in mind, Borch said, even though the complexity and chemical makeup of produced water is very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And simply looking to see whether chemicals are present, as the GSI studies did, doesn’t say anything about toxicity. Many compounds in the wastewater may be present in concentrations low enough to escape detection, said Borch. But that doesn’t mean they’re not toxic, he said: “It just means you don’t have the method that allows for extraction and analysis of the compounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a paper published in December, Borch and his colleagues presented a model for taking a holistic \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestengg.1c00248\">approach that exposes cells and lab organisms to produced water to detect harmful responses\u003c/a>, along the lines Shonkoff had recommended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borch’s “adverse outcome” approach is also likely to catch the breakdown products the Food Safety Panel identified as a major testing inadequacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a similar approach, led by its Region 8 office in Colorado, as part of a national program to study the safety of produced water, said Tricia Pfeiffer, an environmental engineer in Region 8’s Technical Assistance Branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort is addressing the need to harness cutting-edge approaches for evaluating oil-related contaminants, and their byproducts, in produced water intended for reuse. That includes enlisting tools to analyze human cells to identify any worrisome changes caused by chemicals in produced water while applying complementary approaches to detect toxic constituents in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is actual research,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s way more complicated than doing something that already has an analytical method.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we grapple with climate change issues, she said, “we’re looking for alternative water sources. And as a researcher, my biggest goal with this project is to help fill data gaps and make sure that we’re protective of human health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borch said the technology exists to remove all sorts of contaminants from water, but it’s far more expensive than the low-cost methods used by Kern County oil companies. If people aren’t willing to pay the real costs of growing crops in a water-scarce region, he said, “maybe we shouldn’t even produce almonds because they use so much water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Choosing less water-intensive crops is critical to keeping land productive, said Siemens, the Wasco farmer who was shocked to learn that his water district was sending him oil field wastewater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens is moving away from thirsty almonds to dry-farming olives, mulberries and figs, focusing on farming in ways that suit the region. Like raising goats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Goats would be happy to eat all these weeds out there,” Siemens said, pointing to the field behind his house. And lots of people in the valley would be happy to eat goat meat, he said. “You can go to any taqueria in the area and buy \u003cem>carne de cabra\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siemens’s vision of sustainable farming does not include taking the wastewater of an industry whose greenhouse gas emissions have helped fuel California’s relentless droughts and contaminated its precious groundwater supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not just trying to meet a USDA organic standard,” Siemens said. “We’re trying to increase the vitality of this land for the future. Our kids live here, and I hope my grandkids will live here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means protecting the soil and aquifers that helped turn Kern County into one of the richest agricultural regions in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the results of a truly independent analysis of whether oil field-produced water is fit to irrigate crops sent around the world, Pfeiffer said, is still years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Anne Marshall-Chalmers, an Inside Climate News fellow, contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s an all-hands-on-deck decade for the climate — and experts say we all need to step up. But how do you manage that, as a busy person, trying to pay the rent, during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one formula from marine biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson\u003c/a>: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977319\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977319 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you stories of people who are doing that. This is the first in a series about Bay Area people new to climate action.Dr. Ashley McClure describes herself as “a mom, primary care doctor and medical community climate organizer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatehealthnow.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Health Now\u003c/a>, a group of California health professionals advocating for climate action through a lens of health and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to decarbonize health care, communicate climate change as a health emergency, and partner with community-based organizations to assist their climate justice campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with McClure about Climate Health Now, which has more than 500 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: Tell me about your climate awakening.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Ashley McClure\u003c/strong>: It was August, 2018. I was nursing my then 2-month-old daughter, Callalucia. She [had] just fallen asleep while I was sitting, so I didn’t want to move. I just happened upon the \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Sequel-Truth-Power/dp/B07481RLPH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Inconvenient Truth” sequel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at that moment, the climate crisis of 2 degrees Celsius and megatons of carbon and all these intellectual understandings — being a new mom and that fierce love and willingness to do anything — tears fell down my cheeks onto her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her life is so threatened by inaction: by my inaction, by our collective inaction. This is about the safety of everyone we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always thought the experts had the climate crisis figured out; the experts will take care of it. But my job is being a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realized the experts know what’s wrong, but they don’t have the power to make the changes that we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have a role to play in this catastrophe that threatens the safety of all of our loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been a vegetarian for decades and I recycled and stuff, but [addressing climate change] was about my personal choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I figured, if I do my part, somebody else is going to do their part and experts are going to be leading the solutions. And once I realized that no one’s really watching the store, my sense of obligation became about much more than myself and my family; it’s about the collective fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://citizensclimatelobby.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Citizens’ Climate Lobby\u003c/a> was my first climate home. But I realized in just a few months that it wasn’t using my greatest tool: being a physician.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/01/11/americas-most-least-trusted-professions-infographic/?sh=265a8ed37e94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">If people are polled\u003c/a>, they usually rate nurses as the most trusted professionals, then doctors, and then pharmacists. So that social trust is what we have to give to the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started networking and finding health professional colleagues who are also climate-concerned. Then around the youth climate strikes in September of 2019, I organized a big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We set up an urgent climate care clinic with a big banner in front of [U.S.] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s office in San Francisco. We wore our white coats and had signs that said: ‘Climate change is a health emergency.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We handed out medical excuse notes for all the students who were striking, saying as physicians, we support these children striking. The climate crisis is making asthma and heat worse. These compromise the health of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also had meetings with Speaker Pelosi’s office, then-Senator [Kamala] Harris’s office, Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And this led you and your co-founder, Dr. Amanda Millstein, to start your own organization? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did a lot of soul-searching and discussed with mentors and colleagues whether we should join other groups. After careful conversation, we decided that there was a need [to create a new one]. There wasn’t a state-level group in California for doctors and nurses to bridge into the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does Climate Health Now do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example: Environmental justice groups have been working for years to get the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to require East Bay refineries to decrease the amount of particulate matter they produce. Particulate matter is a toxin that we breathe. It increases our risk of heart attacks, strokes and all-cause mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refineries were saying that to install these retrofits would be really expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We joined in conversation with the community groups who had been leading this fight and asked them, ‘What can we do to help?’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they said, ‘Have a press conference and have meetings with as many of the 24 air district board members as you can.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have a press conference? We didn’t learn about that in medical school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But my partner, Dr. Amanda Millstein, pulled this off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really powerful because we were working with community groups and we won. This was a historic vote of the communities winning. That’s a model of what we want to do across the whole state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Editor’s note: Chevron’s Richmond refinery and the \u003c/em>\u003cem>PBF\u003c/em> \u003cem>Energy\u003c/em>\u003cem>–\u003c/em>\u003cem>owned\u003c/em> \u003cem>refinery\u003c/em> \u003cem>in\u003c/em> \u003cem>Martinez\u003c/em> — \u003cem>two refineries facing regulations — questioned the environmental benefits of the rule change, arguing it \u003c/em>\u003cem>would cost jobs and raise gas prices. The board overseeing the agency voted for the regulations last July.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876301/bay-area-refineries-must-dramatically-cut-pollution-air-district-says-in-historic-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> You can read more of KQED’s reporting on the issue\u003c/a>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get a lot of health care workers saying, ‘This isn’t in our lane.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I have a colleague who says this, I go to the science. That’s our shared language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science really clearly shows that in this moment, the greatest public health crisis is burning fossil fuels. The number of people in the world who die from fossil fuel-related air pollution every year is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487#preview-section-introduction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8 [million] to 9 million\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the chronic disease management we’ve worked so hard on pales in comparison to the consequences of burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is not exactly in most of our lanes, but it’s also going to determine the outcome of all of our lanes. So we have to all expand our lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of late nights, early mornings, and lunch hours packed with meetings. But it’s given me my way more than I’ve given it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community organizing I’m doing around climate is where I have found the most meaningful friendships I have. It’s become a new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using my voice as a physician has breathed new life into my sense of meaning as a physician. It’s not just about that one-on-one interaction in my clinics. It’s about my place as a healer in society. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s an all-hands-on-deck decade for the climate — and experts say we all need to step up. But how do you manage that, as a busy person, trying to pay the rent, during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one formula from marine biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson\u003c/a>: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977319\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977319 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you stories of people who are doing that. This is the first in a series about Bay Area people new to climate action.Dr. Ashley McClure describes herself as “a mom, primary care doctor and medical community climate organizer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatehealthnow.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Health Now\u003c/a>, a group of California health professionals advocating for climate action through a lens of health and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to decarbonize health care, communicate climate change as a health emergency, and partner with community-based organizations to assist their climate justice campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with McClure about Climate Health Now, which has more than 500 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: Tell me about your climate awakening.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Ashley McClure\u003c/strong>: It was August, 2018. I was nursing my then 2-month-old daughter, Callalucia. She [had] just fallen asleep while I was sitting, so I didn’t want to move. I just happened upon the \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Sequel-Truth-Power/dp/B07481RLPH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Inconvenient Truth” sequel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at that moment, the climate crisis of 2 degrees Celsius and megatons of carbon and all these intellectual understandings — being a new mom and that fierce love and willingness to do anything — tears fell down my cheeks onto her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her life is so threatened by inaction: by my inaction, by our collective inaction. This is about the safety of everyone we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always thought the experts had the climate crisis figured out; the experts will take care of it. But my job is being a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realized the experts know what’s wrong, but they don’t have the power to make the changes that we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have a role to play in this catastrophe that threatens the safety of all of our loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been a vegetarian for decades and I recycled and stuff, but [addressing climate change] was about my personal choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I figured, if I do my part, somebody else is going to do their part and experts are going to be leading the solutions. And once I realized that no one’s really watching the store, my sense of obligation became about much more than myself and my family; it’s about the collective fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://citizensclimatelobby.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Citizens’ Climate Lobby\u003c/a> was my first climate home. But I realized in just a few months that it wasn’t using my greatest tool: being a physician.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/01/11/americas-most-least-trusted-professions-infographic/?sh=265a8ed37e94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">If people are polled\u003c/a>, they usually rate nurses as the most trusted professionals, then doctors, and then pharmacists. So that social trust is what we have to give to the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started networking and finding health professional colleagues who are also climate-concerned. Then around the youth climate strikes in September of 2019, I organized a big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We set up an urgent climate care clinic with a big banner in front of [U.S.] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s office in San Francisco. We wore our white coats and had signs that said: ‘Climate change is a health emergency.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We handed out medical excuse notes for all the students who were striking, saying as physicians, we support these children striking. The climate crisis is making asthma and heat worse. These compromise the health of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also had meetings with Speaker Pelosi’s office, then-Senator [Kamala] Harris’s office, Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And this led you and your co-founder, Dr. Amanda Millstein, to start your own organization? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did a lot of soul-searching and discussed with mentors and colleagues whether we should join other groups. After careful conversation, we decided that there was a need [to create a new one]. There wasn’t a state-level group in California for doctors and nurses to bridge into the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does Climate Health Now do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example: Environmental justice groups have been working for years to get the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to require East Bay refineries to decrease the amount of particulate matter they produce. Particulate matter is a toxin that we breathe. It increases our risk of heart attacks, strokes and all-cause mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refineries were saying that to install these retrofits would be really expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We joined in conversation with the community groups who had been leading this fight and asked them, ‘What can we do to help?’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they said, ‘Have a press conference and have meetings with as many of the 24 air district board members as you can.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have a press conference? We didn’t learn about that in medical school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But my partner, Dr. Amanda Millstein, pulled this off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really powerful because we were working with community groups and we won. This was a historic vote of the communities winning. That’s a model of what we want to do across the whole state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Editor’s note: Chevron’s Richmond refinery and the \u003c/em>\u003cem>PBF\u003c/em> \u003cem>Energy\u003c/em>\u003cem>–\u003c/em>\u003cem>owned\u003c/em> \u003cem>refinery\u003c/em> \u003cem>in\u003c/em> \u003cem>Martinez\u003c/em> — \u003cem>two refineries facing regulations — questioned the environmental benefits of the rule change, arguing it \u003c/em>\u003cem>would cost jobs and raise gas prices. The board overseeing the agency voted for the regulations last July.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876301/bay-area-refineries-must-dramatically-cut-pollution-air-district-says-in-historic-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> You can read more of KQED’s reporting on the issue\u003c/a>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get a lot of health care workers saying, ‘This isn’t in our lane.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I have a colleague who says this, I go to the science. That’s our shared language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science really clearly shows that in this moment, the greatest public health crisis is burning fossil fuels. The number of people in the world who die from fossil fuel-related air pollution every year is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487#preview-section-introduction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8 [million] to 9 million\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the chronic disease management we’ve worked so hard on pales in comparison to the consequences of burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is not exactly in most of our lanes, but it’s also going to determine the outcome of all of our lanes. So we have to all expand our lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of late nights, early mornings, and lunch hours packed with meetings. But it’s given me my way more than I’ve given it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community organizing I’m doing around climate is where I have found the most meaningful friendships I have. It’s become a new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Court OKs Controversial Newark Housing Plan Along Its Climate-Vulnerable Wetlands",
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"content": "\u003cp>A California district court has sided with the city of Newark and developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.sobrato.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Sobrato Organization\u003c/a> in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups who challenged a plan to build hundreds of two-story tract homes along fragile wetlands in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists said the dwellings would be built in a federal flood zone and could succumb to rising seas in coming decades, arguing that the project’s environmental review was inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s 1st District Court of Appeal disagreed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/A162045.PDF\">ruled that the city and developers could move forward\u003c/a> with permitting plans for Sanctuary West: 469 single-family, market-rate homes on four elevated peninsulas close to Newark’s shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The City’s potential responses to environmental conditions between 50 and 80 years from now cannot be considered part of the current project,” the ruling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate models show this area underwater as warming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977890/the-bay-is-rising-newark-residents-wonder-why-the-city-plans-to-develop-its-shoreline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">temperatures push bay water higher\u003c/a>. After reviewing the state’s latest climate science, the developer and city now plan to raise the homes above projected floodwater levels and limit the project to areas adjacent to the wetland itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists have questioned whether the city should build in this upland area, where wetlands would naturally migrate as tides rise, and say it could rob the city of natural flood protections in the future. Environmentalists \u003ca href=\"https://snwsavenewarkwetlands.kinsta.cloud/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Activists-Redouble-Efforts-to-Protect-At-Risk-SF-Bay-Wetlands-CCCR-07-13-2021.pdf\">challenged the project with multiple lawsuits\u003c/a> in an effort to strengthen environmental mitigations — or derail the project entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The range of projections for sea levels by that time are wide and sea levels at different ends of those projections could warrant significantly different responses,” the ruling said. “Because the City currently can only dimly guess what measures will be needed to respond to conditions several generations from now, the City was not required to analyze the impacts of the adaptive pathways as part of this project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court said that “sea level rise is not an impact on the environment caused by the project,” and noted that the state’s landmark conservation law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires strict analysis of a project’s impact on the environment, and not the environment’s impact on a project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jana Sokale, with \u003ca href=\"https://savenewarkwetlands.org/about-us/\">The Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge\u003c/a>, one of the environmental groups that sued, said the decision is shortsighted and doesn’t take the threat of rising sea levels seriously. She believes building 3,000-square-foot homes in an area that climate models show could flood puts residents on the front line of climate change and leaves them on the hook for adapting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing, and Earth is telling us that every year in big ways — and we just are not listening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newark residents like Sokale say the decision to continue with a community on one of the last Bay Area wetlands — sponges that soak up floodwaters — shows that local, regional and state agencies aren’t taking climate change as the crisis it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Laws and regulations around the bay and within California are inadequate to protect these lands in the face of climate change,” she said. “The laws have not grasped what is ahead for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sobrato Organization did not respond to KQED’s request for comment. Newark officials were not immediately available.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The next step: permitting\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To avoid some state regulations, the developer positioned Sanctuary West out of the purview of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, or BCDC: 100 feet from the shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The developer looked at BCDC and said, ‘I’m going to move the project out of your jurisdiction.’ There’s nothing that [we] can do with regard to that development project,” said Larry Goldzband, executive director of BCDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/\">The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board\u003c/a> say they intend to make it difficult for developers to build along Newark’s wetlands. Last winter, the board received nearly \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bayrefuge/status/1362798232124805132?s=21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5,000 petitions\u003c/a> from residents who urged them to challenge the project. Environmental groups are still \u003ca href=\"https://savenewarkwetlands.org/take-action/\">calling for the permanent protection and restoration\u003c/a> of both the wetland and upland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ezraromero/status/1470629613311201284\">a letter to the developer\u003c/a> dated May 2020, the board said the group’s plan to raise the potential homes out of the floodplain with more than a million cubic yards of dirt will “alter the existing wetland hydrology” and that the housing would disrupt endangered species, recreation and wildlife habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview with KQED, Xavier Fernandez, planning manager for the board, said The Sobrato Organization should expect permitting to be very expensive. He says the board would like to push the project further into the existing city footprint or have the developer “not build it at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the agency official’s vocal concerns, because of their limited jurisdiction they can’t outright reject the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BCDC outlined a potential fix to the regulatory loophole in a new regional sea level rise adaptation plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Bay\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Adapt.\u003c/a> The plan would require broad regional cooperation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says there are opportunities for new policies that better interpret the future effects of climate change and rising seas. One option: expanding BCDC’s jurisdiction beyond 100 feet from the shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that would require a change to the agency’s jurisdiction, which would take years and require conversations with all the agencies, cities, counties and people involved.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A California district court has sided with the city of Newark and developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.sobrato.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Sobrato Organization\u003c/a> in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups who challenged a plan to build hundreds of two-story tract homes along fragile wetlands in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists said the dwellings would be built in a federal flood zone and could succumb to rising seas in coming decades, arguing that the project’s environmental review was inadequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s 1st District Court of Appeal disagreed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/A162045.PDF\">ruled that the city and developers could move forward\u003c/a> with permitting plans for Sanctuary West: 469 single-family, market-rate homes on four elevated peninsulas close to Newark’s shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The City’s potential responses to environmental conditions between 50 and 80 years from now cannot be considered part of the current project,” the ruling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate models show this area underwater as warming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977890/the-bay-is-rising-newark-residents-wonder-why-the-city-plans-to-develop-its-shoreline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">temperatures push bay water higher\u003c/a>. After reviewing the state’s latest climate science, the developer and city now plan to raise the homes above projected floodwater levels and limit the project to areas adjacent to the wetland itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists have questioned whether the city should build in this upland area, where wetlands would naturally migrate as tides rise, and say it could rob the city of natural flood protections in the future. Environmentalists \u003ca href=\"https://snwsavenewarkwetlands.kinsta.cloud/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Activists-Redouble-Efforts-to-Protect-At-Risk-SF-Bay-Wetlands-CCCR-07-13-2021.pdf\">challenged the project with multiple lawsuits\u003c/a> in an effort to strengthen environmental mitigations — or derail the project entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The range of projections for sea levels by that time are wide and sea levels at different ends of those projections could warrant significantly different responses,” the ruling said. “Because the City currently can only dimly guess what measures will be needed to respond to conditions several generations from now, the City was not required to analyze the impacts of the adaptive pathways as part of this project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court said that “sea level rise is not an impact on the environment caused by the project,” and noted that the state’s landmark conservation law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires strict analysis of a project’s impact on the environment, and not the environment’s impact on a project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jana Sokale, with \u003ca href=\"https://savenewarkwetlands.org/about-us/\">The Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge\u003c/a>, one of the environmental groups that sued, said the decision is shortsighted and doesn’t take the threat of rising sea levels seriously. She believes building 3,000-square-foot homes in an area that climate models show could flood puts residents on the front line of climate change and leaves them on the hook for adapting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing, and Earth is telling us that every year in big ways — and we just are not listening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newark residents like Sokale say the decision to continue with a community on one of the last Bay Area wetlands — sponges that soak up floodwaters — shows that local, regional and state agencies aren’t taking climate change as the crisis it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Laws and regulations around the bay and within California are inadequate to protect these lands in the face of climate change,” she said. “The laws have not grasped what is ahead for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sobrato Organization did not respond to KQED’s request for comment. Newark officials were not immediately available.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The next step: permitting\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>To avoid some state regulations, the developer positioned Sanctuary West out of the purview of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, or BCDC: 100 feet from the shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The developer looked at BCDC and said, ‘I’m going to move the project out of your jurisdiction.’ There’s nothing that [we] can do with regard to that development project,” said Larry Goldzband, executive director of BCDC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/\">The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board\u003c/a> say they intend to make it difficult for developers to build along Newark’s wetlands. Last winter, the board received nearly \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bayrefuge/status/1362798232124805132?s=21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5,000 petitions\u003c/a> from residents who urged them to challenge the project. Environmental groups are still \u003ca href=\"https://savenewarkwetlands.org/take-action/\">calling for the permanent protection and restoration\u003c/a> of both the wetland and upland areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ezraromero/status/1470629613311201284\">a letter to the developer\u003c/a> dated May 2020, the board said the group’s plan to raise the potential homes out of the floodplain with more than a million cubic yards of dirt will “alter the existing wetland hydrology” and that the housing would disrupt endangered species, recreation and wildlife habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview with KQED, Xavier Fernandez, planning manager for the board, said The Sobrato Organization should expect permitting to be very expensive. He says the board would like to push the project further into the existing city footprint or have the developer “not build it at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the agency official’s vocal concerns, because of their limited jurisdiction they can’t outright reject the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BCDC outlined a potential fix to the regulatory loophole in a new regional sea level rise adaptation plan, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Bay\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Adapt.\u003c/a> The plan would require broad regional cooperation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency says there are opportunities for new policies that better interpret the future effects of climate change and rising seas. One option: expanding BCDC’s jurisdiction beyond 100 feet from the shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that would require a change to the agency’s jurisdiction, which would take years and require conversations with all the agencies, cities, counties and people involved.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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