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"title": "California Utilities and Solar Companies Battle Over Electricity Prices",
"headTitle": "California Utilities and Solar Companies Battle Over Electricity Prices | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/11/20141124science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24195\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/solar.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/solar.jpg\" alt=\"Solar companies worry that newly proposed electricity rates from California utilities will make it less appealing for Californians to install solar panels. (Dennis Schroeder/Department of Energy)\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24195\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar companies worry that newly proposed electricity rates from California utilities will make it less appealing for Californians to install solar panels.\u003cbr>(Dennis Schroeder/Department of Energy)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Electricity bills could be going up for millions of Californians under a new proposal from the state’s major utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric is proposing an overhaul of the way customers are charged for electricity, which the utility says would be more fair for many customers. But solar companies see it as a direct attack, because the changes could make installing solar panels less appealing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate is just one more battle in a slow-simmering war between electric utilities and solar companies. The front lines are in the homes of average Californians – like Elmore Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s working great,” Williams says, looking up at the solar panels on his four-bedroom Vacaville home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just six months ago, Williams was a solid PG&E customer — his household used more electricity than average for its size. His bill would hit $300 during the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had the air conditioner running all thet time,” he says. With the panels, Williams pays a set amount for solar power and much less to PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, my wife is just so happy!” He says she tells him, “‘Look how much we’re paying this time. Our PG&E bill is just sixteen dollars this time.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One customer may not be a big loss to PG&E, but solar is growing fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘There’s no question – the fixed charge is the worst nightmare of the solar installers.’\u003ccite>— Severin Borenstein\u003cbr>UC Berkeley\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We have far and away the most customer solar,” says Jonathan Marshall, a spokesman for PG&E. One-quarter of all rooftop solar systems in the country are found in PG&E’s service area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshall says PG&E isn’t \u003cem>against \u003c/em>solar. The problem, as he sees it, is that solar customers aren’t paying their share of keeping up the electric grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In fact, they use the grid more than almost anyone,” he says, “because they’re selling power back into it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Households with solar still use PG&E’s electricity after the sun goes down, but \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/could-rooftop-solar-kill-utilities-california-grapples-with-solars-success-2/\">they also make money back\u003c/a> by selling PG&E the extra solar power they generate during the day, giving them lower bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Electricity Price Overhaul\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the newly proposed electric rates, solar customers, along with everyone else, would pay a fixed monthly charge: $10 per month, adding up to $120 a year. Customers with Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric would pay the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s to help share the cost of basic infrastructure that we all use and depend on – lines, poles, meters and so forth,” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second change is to the price of electricity itself. Today, there are four electricity rates for PG&E customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cheapest rate is for “baseline” power use – a certain amount of electricity that PG&E allocates based on where you live. Currently, it costs 15 cents per kilowatt hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But use electricity beyond that amount and the prices go up, all the way to 32 cents per kilowatt hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Electric-rates-11212014.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Electric-rates-11212014.jpg\" alt=\"(David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"2300\" height=\"1644\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24146\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Utilities call this \u003ca href=\"http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/saveenergymoney/plans/tiers/index.page\">“tiered” pricing\u003c/a>. Since California’s electricity crisis hit in 2000, the two lower tiers have stayed basically fixed and the higher tiers have been raised. Marshall says the system penalizes heavy users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s as if going to the grocery store, they had to pay more per gallon of milk just because they have more mouths to feed at the table,” Marshall says. “That doesn’t make much sense. But it is how we today charge for electricity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new system, PG&E would charge two prices for electricity. By 2018, 74 percent of customers would see their bills go up by an average of $12 a month compared to today. About a quarter of customers, the heaviest power users, would see their bills decrease by $31 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harming Conservation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups say those changes will send an anti-conservation message to California consumers. High electricity prices are meant to be painful, they say, so the heaviest users are encouraged to conserve or invest in energy efficient appliances and home upgrades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others say the tiered pricing system as it is today is too complicated for consumers to track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people were really aware of which tier they were on, you would get some conservation,” says Severin Borenstein, an economist at UC Berkeley. “But I think it’s unlikely that many people other than electricity nerds actually know what tier their consumption is on. Most people just think there’s some price for electricity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since PG&E customers with historically lower bills would have higher bills under the new rate structure, it could also encourage conservation among a new group of customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar Companies Cry Foul\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes in electricity rates would have a major impact on PG&E’s biggest competitor: the solar industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Investor-owned utilities across the country are fighting rooftop solar,” says Sanjay Ranchod of SolarCity, the largest solar company in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch5>How Would Electric Bills Change?\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/11/Five-Bill.jpg\" alt=\"Five Bill\" width=\"537\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24183\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>It varies by region. Here’s a sample for customers in the East Bay in 2018:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>400 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes up by $17 — from $58 to $75.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>800 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes down by $16 — from $172 to $156.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>1,200 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes down by $66 — from $302 to $236.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Source: PG&E\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Ranchod says if utilities are changing electricity prices, there’s no need to add the $10 monthly charge on top of it. The only thing that does is make solar less attractive at a time when California’s trying to encourage renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A higher and higher fixed charge that customers can’t escape,” he says, “is designed to undermine the value that solar customers can get from their investment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ranchod says it’s a sign that utilities like PG&E see solar as threat. “For a company that has depended on a monopoly, competition from SolarCity or any other solar company is scary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Death Spiral\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no question – the fixed charge is the worst nightmare of the solar installers,” says Severin Borenstein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the monthly fee will make it harder for solar companies to compete, though the cost of solar panels still falling. But in the bigger picture, Borenstein says, this debate is just one more sign that solar is a disruptive technology, somewhat like cell phones versus land lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analysts even have a name for the way solar is cutting into the utility business model: the “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/could-rooftop-solar-kill-utilities-california-grapples-with-solars-success-2/\">death spiral\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a big question in electricity industry right now about what will happen to utilities,” Borenstein says, “and what their business model will be 10 or 20 or 30 years from now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of being power companies, he says, utilities could become electric grid companies, “where they don’t actually bring electricity in, they just shuffle it around between one house and another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With such a large solar market, California could be one of the first places this plays out. In the meantime, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to decide on the new pricing structure in the spring. The rates could go into effect next summer.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Solar companies in California have long been able to tell homeowners they can save a lot of money on power bills by going solar. Now PG&E is proposing a rate change the company says will be more fair for everyone. But solar companies say it’s simply an attack on their industry.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24195\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/solar.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/solar.jpg\" alt=\"Solar companies worry that newly proposed electricity rates from California utilities will make it less appealing for Californians to install solar panels. (Dennis Schroeder/Department of Energy)\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24195\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar companies worry that newly proposed electricity rates from California utilities will make it less appealing for Californians to install solar panels.\u003cbr>(Dennis Schroeder/Department of Energy)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Electricity bills could be going up for millions of Californians under a new proposal from the state’s major utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric is proposing an overhaul of the way customers are charged for electricity, which the utility says would be more fair for many customers. But solar companies see it as a direct attack, because the changes could make installing solar panels less appealing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate is just one more battle in a slow-simmering war between electric utilities and solar companies. The front lines are in the homes of average Californians – like Elmore Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s working great,” Williams says, looking up at the solar panels on his four-bedroom Vacaville home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just six months ago, Williams was a solid PG&E customer — his household used more electricity than average for its size. His bill would hit $300 during the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had the air conditioner running all thet time,” he says. With the panels, Williams pays a set amount for solar power and much less to PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, my wife is just so happy!” He says she tells him, “‘Look how much we’re paying this time. Our PG&E bill is just sixteen dollars this time.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One customer may not be a big loss to PG&E, but solar is growing fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘There’s no question – the fixed charge is the worst nightmare of the solar installers.’\u003ccite>— Severin Borenstein\u003cbr>UC Berkeley\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We have far and away the most customer solar,” says Jonathan Marshall, a spokesman for PG&E. One-quarter of all rooftop solar systems in the country are found in PG&E’s service area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshall says PG&E isn’t \u003cem>against \u003c/em>solar. The problem, as he sees it, is that solar customers aren’t paying their share of keeping up the electric grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In fact, they use the grid more than almost anyone,” he says, “because they’re selling power back into it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Households with solar still use PG&E’s electricity after the sun goes down, but \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/could-rooftop-solar-kill-utilities-california-grapples-with-solars-success-2/\">they also make money back\u003c/a> by selling PG&E the extra solar power they generate during the day, giving them lower bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Electricity Price Overhaul\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the newly proposed electric rates, solar customers, along with everyone else, would pay a fixed monthly charge: $10 per month, adding up to $120 a year. Customers with Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric would pay the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s to help share the cost of basic infrastructure that we all use and depend on – lines, poles, meters and so forth,” Marshall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second change is to the price of electricity itself. Today, there are four electricity rates for PG&E customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cheapest rate is for “baseline” power use – a certain amount of electricity that PG&E allocates based on where you live. Currently, it costs 15 cents per kilowatt hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But use electricity beyond that amount and the prices go up, all the way to 32 cents per kilowatt hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Electric-rates-11212014.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Electric-rates-11212014.jpg\" alt=\"(David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"2300\" height=\"1644\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24146\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Utilities call this \u003ca href=\"http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/saveenergymoney/plans/tiers/index.page\">“tiered” pricing\u003c/a>. Since California’s electricity crisis hit in 2000, the two lower tiers have stayed basically fixed and the higher tiers have been raised. Marshall says the system penalizes heavy users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s as if going to the grocery store, they had to pay more per gallon of milk just because they have more mouths to feed at the table,” Marshall says. “That doesn’t make much sense. But it is how we today charge for electricity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the new system, PG&E would charge two prices for electricity. By 2018, 74 percent of customers would see their bills go up by an average of $12 a month compared to today. About a quarter of customers, the heaviest power users, would see their bills decrease by $31 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harming Conservation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups say those changes will send an anti-conservation message to California consumers. High electricity prices are meant to be painful, they say, so the heaviest users are encouraged to conserve or invest in energy efficient appliances and home upgrades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others say the tiered pricing system as it is today is too complicated for consumers to track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people were really aware of which tier they were on, you would get some conservation,” says Severin Borenstein, an economist at UC Berkeley. “But I think it’s unlikely that many people other than electricity nerds actually know what tier their consumption is on. Most people just think there’s some price for electricity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since PG&E customers with historically lower bills would have higher bills under the new rate structure, it could also encourage conservation among a new group of customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar Companies Cry Foul\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes in electricity rates would have a major impact on PG&E’s biggest competitor: the solar industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Investor-owned utilities across the country are fighting rooftop solar,” says Sanjay Ranchod of SolarCity, the largest solar company in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch5>How Would Electric Bills Change?\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/11/Five-Bill.jpg\" alt=\"Five Bill\" width=\"537\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24183\">\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>It varies by region. Here’s a sample for customers in the East Bay in 2018:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>400 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes up by $17 — from $58 to $75.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>800 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes down by $16 — from $172 to $156.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>1,200 kilowatt hours per month: Your bill goes down by $66 — from $302 to $236.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Source: PG&E\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Ranchod says if utilities are changing electricity prices, there’s no need to add the $10 monthly charge on top of it. The only thing that does is make solar less attractive at a time when California’s trying to encourage renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A higher and higher fixed charge that customers can’t escape,” he says, “is designed to undermine the value that solar customers can get from their investment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ranchod says it’s a sign that utilities like PG&E see solar as threat. “For a company that has depended on a monopoly, competition from SolarCity or any other solar company is scary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Death Spiral\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no question – the fixed charge is the worst nightmare of the solar installers,” says Severin Borenstein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the monthly fee will make it harder for solar companies to compete, though the cost of solar panels still falling. But in the bigger picture, Borenstein says, this debate is just one more sign that solar is a disruptive technology, somewhat like cell phones versus land lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analysts even have a name for the way solar is cutting into the utility business model: the “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/could-rooftop-solar-kill-utilities-california-grapples-with-solars-success-2/\">death spiral\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a big question in electricity industry right now about what will happen to utilities,” Borenstein says, “and what their business model will be 10 or 20 or 30 years from now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of being power companies, he says, utilities could become electric grid companies, “where they don’t actually bring electricity in, they just shuffle it around between one house and another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With such a large solar market, California could be one of the first places this plays out. In the meantime, the California Public Utilities Commission is expected to decide on the new pricing structure in the spring. The rates could go into effect next summer.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "AT&T Could Pay $50 Million for Illegal E-Waste Dumping",
"headTitle": "AT&T Could Pay $50 Million for Illegal E-Waste Dumping | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24110\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/E-Waste_Recycling_7027059003-1024x682.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24110\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/E-Waste_Recycling_7027059003-1024x682.jpg\" alt='E-waste recycling (Alex Proimos/ <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\">Wikimedia Commons</a>)' width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California law requires e-waste to be recycled at designated collection centers. (Alex Proimos/ \u003ca href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the nation’s largest telecom companies may be paying significant penalties for dumping of electronic waste in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Attorney General’s Office and the Alameda County District Attorney announced a preliminary settlement agreement with AT&T today covering nine years in which the company allegedly discarded hazardous electronic waste illegally, sending it to landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement, if approved by the Alameda County Superior Court, will require the telecommunications giant to pay $21.8 million in penalties and another $28 million to update environmental compliance over the next five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AT&T was allegedly throwing away Internet routers, as well as cable splitters, batteries, aerosol cans and some liquid hazardous materials, prosecutors said. The primary violation was electronic waste going to landfills, in the millions of items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This actually is the first enforcement action where the primary hazardous waste was electronic waste in the state of California,” said assistant Alameda County district attorney Ken Mifsud, who heads the office’s environmental unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil enforcement action brought by state and local prosecutors alleges that more than 235 AT&T warehouses and dispatch facilities, at which technicians installing commercial and residential phone, Internet and cable services are based, were routinely throwing e-waste into general trash bins. Electronic circuit boards often contain heavy metals like lead and other materials defined as hazardous waste under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mifsud said investigators became aware there could be violations three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we decided to take a look at their waste dumpsters to see if in fact that was true, and we determined through dozens of waste inspections for facilities in northern California that they were systematically disposing of hazardous e-waste items.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said AT&T was extremely compliant as soon as the company was informed of the investigation. The company is voluntarily spending $28 million to upgrade environmental compliance, what Mifsud called “above and beyond” what a normal business would spend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take environmental stewardship seriously, and we’ve cooperated closely with the state and Alameda County to resolve this issue in a way that is in the best interests of the environment, our customers and all Californians,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter wrote in an emailed response to KQED’s inquiry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter wrote that AT&T is now screening and sorting “all waste materials originating from our facilities in California to ensure proper handling, recycling and disposal of all materials — hazardous and non-hazardous.” Contractors inspect “staging bins” before waste is put into the general stream, and AT&T can also expect hundreds of unannounced inspections from environmental regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, Richter wrote, AT&T added more than a dozen supervisors whose principal focus is California waste regulation requirements. The company revised employee and contractor training and instituted a color-coded system, with pictures, delineating what trash goes where.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They know we could check at any time to make sure that the program’s still working,” Mifsud said. “They’ve agreed to a number of unannounced inspections of their facilities, hundreds of them, every year for the next five years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the $21.8 million in penalties, $3 million will fund Supplemental Environmental Projects throughout the state. The State Department of Toxic Substances Control, which performed field inspections at AT&T sites as part of the investigation, is expecting to get $1.5 million for upgraded lab equipment to test for hazardous materials. The remaining $18.8 million is earmarked for prosecution of environmental and consumer cases at the Attorney General’s Office and more than 40 county prosecutors’ offices throughout the state, including Alameda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can’t be used for anything else,” Mifsud said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he couldn’t comment on potentially ongoing investigations involving other companies that may be unlawfully disposing of hazardous materials, but the Associated Press reports that five other telecommunications companies have disclosed in financial filings with regulators that they are the targets of similar investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read the proposed final judgement below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[scribd id=247434057 key=key-9ulc62waEGZONkFbUGfx mode=scroll]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24110\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/E-Waste_Recycling_7027059003-1024x682.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24110\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/E-Waste_Recycling_7027059003-1024x682.jpg\" alt='E-waste recycling (Alex Proimos/ <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\">Wikimedia Commons</a>)' width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California law requires e-waste to be recycled at designated collection centers. (Alex Proimos/ \u003ca href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the nation’s largest telecom companies may be paying significant penalties for dumping of electronic waste in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Attorney General’s Office and the Alameda County District Attorney announced a preliminary settlement agreement with AT&T today covering nine years in which the company allegedly discarded hazardous electronic waste illegally, sending it to landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement, if approved by the Alameda County Superior Court, will require the telecommunications giant to pay $21.8 million in penalties and another $28 million to update environmental compliance over the next five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AT&T was allegedly throwing away Internet routers, as well as cable splitters, batteries, aerosol cans and some liquid hazardous materials, prosecutors said. The primary violation was electronic waste going to landfills, in the millions of items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This actually is the first enforcement action where the primary hazardous waste was electronic waste in the state of California,” said assistant Alameda County district attorney Ken Mifsud, who heads the office’s environmental unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The civil enforcement action brought by state and local prosecutors alleges that more than 235 AT&T warehouses and dispatch facilities, at which technicians installing commercial and residential phone, Internet and cable services are based, were routinely throwing e-waste into general trash bins. Electronic circuit boards often contain heavy metals like lead and other materials defined as hazardous waste under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mifsud said investigators became aware there could be violations three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we decided to take a look at their waste dumpsters to see if in fact that was true, and we determined through dozens of waste inspections for facilities in northern California that they were systematically disposing of hazardous e-waste items.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said AT&T was extremely compliant as soon as the company was informed of the investigation. The company is voluntarily spending $28 million to upgrade environmental compliance, what Mifsud called “above and beyond” what a normal business would spend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take environmental stewardship seriously, and we’ve cooperated closely with the state and Alameda County to resolve this issue in a way that is in the best interests of the environment, our customers and all Californians,” AT&T spokesman Marty Richter wrote in an emailed response to KQED’s inquiry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter wrote that AT&T is now screening and sorting “all waste materials originating from our facilities in California to ensure proper handling, recycling and disposal of all materials — hazardous and non-hazardous.” Contractors inspect “staging bins” before waste is put into the general stream, and AT&T can also expect hundreds of unannounced inspections from environmental regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, Richter wrote, AT&T added more than a dozen supervisors whose principal focus is California waste regulation requirements. The company revised employee and contractor training and instituted a color-coded system, with pictures, delineating what trash goes where.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They know we could check at any time to make sure that the program’s still working,” Mifsud said. “They’ve agreed to a number of unannounced inspections of their facilities, hundreds of them, every year for the next five years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the $21.8 million in penalties, $3 million will fund Supplemental Environmental Projects throughout the state. The State Department of Toxic Substances Control, which performed field inspections at AT&T sites as part of the investigation, is expecting to get $1.5 million for upgraded lab equipment to test for hazardous materials. The remaining $18.8 million is earmarked for prosecution of environmental and consumer cases at the Attorney General’s Office and more than 40 county prosecutors’ offices throughout the state, including Alameda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can’t be used for anything else,” Mifsud said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he couldn’t comment on potentially ongoing investigations involving other companies that may be unlawfully disposing of hazardous materials, but the Associated Press reports that five other telecommunications companies have disclosed in financial filings with regulators that they are the targets of similar investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read the proposed final judgement below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ciframe\n class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\"\n src=\"//www.scribd.com/embeds/247434057/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-9ulc62waEGZONkFbUGfx\"\n title=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/247434057\"\n data-auto-height=\"true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"scribd_247434057\"\n width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n \u003ca class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__scribdShortcode__scribd_footer\"\n href=\"http://www.scribd.com/doc/247434057\"\n target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">View this document on Scribd\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003ch3> Parched Produce\u003c/h3>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv>\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice1.jpg\"> View as slideshow\u003c/a>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cp>\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice3/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice4/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice4-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice5/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice5-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice6_typocorrection/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice6_typocorrection-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice7/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice7-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/03/26/parched-produce/water_agriculture_slice8/\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_slice8-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/files/2014/03/Water_Agriculture_typocorrection.jpg\" alt=\"Water_Agriculture_typocorrection\" width=\"620\" height=\"3418\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- end div.wp-tab-content -->\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3> \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/11/20/dry-times-two-comics-explaining-californias-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"rssmi_more\">…Read More\u003c/a> \n\u003c/h3>\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/11/20/dry-times-two-comics-explaining-californias-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Dry Times: Two Comics Explaining California’s Drought\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Lowdown – Green Space\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/div>\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pge.com/en/safety/systemworks/dcpp/index.page\">Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant\u003c/a>, located near San Luis Obispo on California's Central Coast, pulls in 2½ billion gallons of seawater every day, and then lets it out, 20 degrees warmer, back into the ocean. The system is known to cause marine damage, harming billions of fish larvae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swrcb.ca.gov%2Fpublications_forms%2Fpublications%2Ffactsheets%2Fdocs%2Foncethroughcooling.pdf&ei=YAFtVK31F866ogTUvYKwAw&usg=AFQjCNH8ziOmSv_3hKrAOL59bW03eYYieA&sig2=BHaEDC6JkeBIQinjm2pPzw\">California’s water board \u003c/a>required all coastal power plants in the state to phase out this type of system, called once-through-cooling, bringing the state in line with part of the \u003ca href=\"http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act\">federal Clean Water Act.\u003c/a> The \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/\">State Water Resources Board\u003c/a> held a hearing Tuesday afternoon to discuss whether PG&E should have to comply with that policy at Diablo Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=\"https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177692698\" params=\"color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" iframe=\"true\" /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two nuclear power plants in operation on the California coast when the policy was adopted were given until 2015 to show how or if they could comply. \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/songs/decommissioning-plans.html\">San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station\u003c/a> has since ceased to operate. PG&E is arguing that the cost to phase out once-through-cooling at Diablo Canyon is too high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"And due to the fact that Diablo Canyon is a significant contributor of clean energy to the state and is helping the state reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, it’s important that alternative compliance measures are considered,\" said Blair Jones, a spokesman for PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing centered around a study by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bechtel.com/\">Bechtel Corp\u003c/a>., commissioned by PG&E, to show compliance options. It included possibilities from mesh screens to the tall cooling towers that many people think would be the best solution. Part of the rub lies in the cost. Bechtel says it could be somewhere between $6.5 billion and $11.5 billion to build the towers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental advocates argued for the cooling towers, citing other studies with much lower costs, in the $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion range. Damon Moglen is with \u003ca href=\"http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/nuclear-reactors\">Friends of the Earth\u003c/a>, an environmental group that opposes nuclear power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question that we face here with Diablo Canyon is, does PG&E deserve to be excluded from two of the key environmental protection policies that the state of California has set up? And the answer is no! If they say they can generate energy safely and cleanly, then they need to comply with the law,” said Moglen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/cwa316/rcnfpp/\">review committee\u003c/a>, including the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission, say there is no basis for exempting Diablo Canyon from phasing out once-through cooling. They recommend making compliance a minimum condition for relicensing the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water board staff say they received 7,000 public written comments calling for full compliance. They hope to make recommendations regarding the nuclear power plant early next year.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\" alt='Monarchs gather on a \"daisy tree\" for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24021\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarchs gather on a “daisy tree” for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Humans have not been kind to animal migrations. Relentless hunting over a century ago ensured that we will never watch billions of passenger pigeons turn day to night as they pass overhead or hundreds of thousands of bison disappear in clouds of dust as they thunder across the prairie. Today, we risk losing what some consider the most spectacular journey of all – the mutigenerational migration of the monarch butterfly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many eastern monarchs once congregated in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter that observers likened the sound of their fluttering wings to a rippling stream. Even the much smaller western monarch population once clustered in masses dense enough to break branches on California’s coastal trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the past 20 years, both populations have declined by over 90 percent. And in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing threats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deforestation in Mexico and development along California’s coast have destroyed much of the monarch’s winter habitat. But the widespread loss of breeding habitat — which for monarchs means milkweed, the only thing their caterpillars eat — poses a much bigger threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Midwest, where half of Mexico’s overwintering monarchs are born, nearly 60 percent of native milkweeds disappeared, \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x/abstract\">a 2012 study in Insect Conservation and Diversity\u003c/a> found, coinciding with increased use of glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, on expanded plantings of crops genetically altered to tolerate the weed killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLItUuuMGiY\u003cbr>\n \u003cbr>\nGlyphosate is also widely used in the West. In California, it ranked among the top 10 most used pesticides in 2012 (the last year reported). Its use will likely increase as growers plant more Roundup-ready cotton and alfalfa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When conservation groups launched campaigns to plant milkweed in gardens, along roadsides and anywhere monarchs might find it, butterfly lovers responded in droves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing how many people have milkweed gardens,” says Francis X. Villablanca, a professor of biology at California Polytechnic University who studies overwintering monarchs. “Whole networks of people will go by the nursery and let all the people in the network know when the milkweed comes in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24011\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 658px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24011\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\" alt=\"Overwintering monarchs populations along California's coasts declined by 90 percent since a high of 1.2 million in 1997. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\" width=\"658\" height=\"351\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Overwintering monarch populations along California’s coasts have collapsed since 1997. Estimates for fall 2013 represent 50 percent of the 17-year average. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists fear that some of these good-hearted efforts may be doing more harm than good. That’s because not all milkweed is created equal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law of unintended consequences\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs that migrate are the\u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchbutterflyfund.org/node/148\"> final generation\u003c/a> of summer breeders. Those born before them have one job: reproduce. They lay about 400 eggs within a month, then die. The last generation has a job too: travel thousands of miles to overwintering sites. They’re born in a nonreproductive state to conserve energy for the flight and the five-month wait until spring returns to their breeding grounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs coevolved with perennial natives that emerge in spring when monarchs are ready to breed and die back in fall when it’s time to migrate. Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not native to California and doesn’t act like its native counterpart: it’s still going strong when the natives disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24012\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 216px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\" alt=\"Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it's pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"216\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it’s pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because it’s pretty, easy to grow and the most widely available milkweed species in commercial nurseries, it’s become the go-to plant in butterfly gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if butterflies find it out of season and start breeding, recent research shows, they’re giving an old foe – a debilitating protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) – the chance to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults infected with OE can drop millions of spores on milkweed, which caterpillars ingest along with leaves. Mildly infected monarchs may look fine but can’t fly or reproduce well and die early. Infested larvae may fail to emerge from their chrysalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work by Sonia Altizer, a disease ecologist at the University of Georgia, has shown that when generation after generation of monarchs breed on the same plants along the Gulf Coast, parasite levels can skyrocket. Continuous breeding risks losing what Altizer calls a key benefit of migration: limiting parasite numbers by allowing monarchs to escape contaminated plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that monarchs tend to lay far more eggs on tropical milkweed — typically grown in dense clusters — thereby exposing more caterpillars. Beyond falling prey to parasites, caterpillars born in winter could freeze during a cold snap. And with females laying so many eggs, caterpillars may starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villablanca first saw winter-breeding butterflies in California last December. “It’s very surprising to see them breeding when they should be overwintering,” he says. “They’ve done the migration, so that part has clicked in. But why they’re reproductive is not really clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24023\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\" alt='A monarch draws nectar from a \"daisy tree\" in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)' width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24023\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch draws nectar from a “daisy tree” in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 90 percent of the unseasonal breeding is happening on tropical milkweed in backyard gardens, Villablanca says. He’s trying to figure out if the breeders belong to a previously undetected non-migratory population or if they’re overwintering migrants that cluster in colonies to stay warm at night and then breed during the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re breeding year-round, disease could pose a dangerous threat to the West’s monarchs, already in serious decline. In preliminary work, Villablanca found higher OE levels in butterflies collected from tropical milkweed gardens than from those sampled at overwintering sites. He worries that monarchs could emerge from these gardens infested and then fly to overwintering sites and spread disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drastic declines in milkweed remain the monarch’s biggest threat and scientists are grateful that so many people want to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have tropical milkweed in your garden, help it behave like a native: cut it back during the fall and winter. Better yet, ask your local native plant society which species are native to your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing scientists want to do is discourage monarch enthusiasts from helping the imperiled butterflies. “We have concerns but we don’t want to spook people,” Villablanca says. “We’re really trying to help them figure out what’s the right thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What you can do to help monarchs:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plant native milkweed\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Contact the\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> to find milkweeds native to your area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Provide nectar plants\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pollinator Partnership\u003c/a> locates native plants by zip code.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Avoid pesticides\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPesticides kill monarchs throughout the life cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Become a citizen scientist \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need data to understand all stages of the monarch’s annual cycle. Contact \u003ca href=\"http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-monarchs-citizen-science-opportunities/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Joint Venture\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchparasites.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Health\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.xerces.org/western-monarchs/\">The Xerces Society\u003c/a> to find out how you can contribute.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You can view overwintering monarchs at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/index.aspx?page=251\">Monarch Grove Sanctuary\u003c/a> in Pacific Grove. For more information, see \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/science/monarchs-may-be-loved-to-death.html\">For the Monarch Butterfly, a Long Road Back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Migratory monarch butterfly populations have fallen into a tailspin in recent years. Scientists fear that in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.",
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"description": "Migratory monarch butterfly populations have fallen into a tailspin in recent years. Scientists fear that in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.",
"title": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies' Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good | KQED",
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"headline": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies' Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\" alt='Monarchs gather on a \"daisy tree\" for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24021\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarchs gather on a “daisy tree” for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Humans have not been kind to animal migrations. Relentless hunting over a century ago ensured that we will never watch billions of passenger pigeons turn day to night as they pass overhead or hundreds of thousands of bison disappear in clouds of dust as they thunder across the prairie. Today, we risk losing what some consider the most spectacular journey of all – the mutigenerational migration of the monarch butterfly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many eastern monarchs once congregated in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter that observers likened the sound of their fluttering wings to a rippling stream. Even the much smaller western monarch population once clustered in masses dense enough to break branches on California’s coastal trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the past 20 years, both populations have declined by over 90 percent. And in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing threats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deforestation in Mexico and development along California’s coast have destroyed much of the monarch’s winter habitat. But the widespread loss of breeding habitat — which for monarchs means milkweed, the only thing their caterpillars eat — poses a much bigger threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Midwest, where half of Mexico’s overwintering monarchs are born, nearly 60 percent of native milkweeds disappeared, \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x/abstract\">a 2012 study in Insect Conservation and Diversity\u003c/a> found, coinciding with increased use of glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, on expanded plantings of crops genetically altered to tolerate the weed killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLItUuuMGiY\u003cbr>\n \u003cbr>\nGlyphosate is also widely used in the West. In California, it ranked among the top 10 most used pesticides in 2012 (the last year reported). Its use will likely increase as growers plant more Roundup-ready cotton and alfalfa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When conservation groups launched campaigns to plant milkweed in gardens, along roadsides and anywhere monarchs might find it, butterfly lovers responded in droves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing how many people have milkweed gardens,” says Francis X. Villablanca, a professor of biology at California Polytechnic University who studies overwintering monarchs. “Whole networks of people will go by the nursery and let all the people in the network know when the milkweed comes in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24011\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 658px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24011\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\" alt=\"Overwintering monarchs populations along California's coasts declined by 90 percent since a high of 1.2 million in 1997. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\" width=\"658\" height=\"351\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Overwintering monarch populations along California’s coasts have collapsed since 1997. Estimates for fall 2013 represent 50 percent of the 17-year average. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists fear that some of these good-hearted efforts may be doing more harm than good. That’s because not all milkweed is created equal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law of unintended consequences\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs that migrate are the\u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchbutterflyfund.org/node/148\"> final generation\u003c/a> of summer breeders. Those born before them have one job: reproduce. They lay about 400 eggs within a month, then die. The last generation has a job too: travel thousands of miles to overwintering sites. They’re born in a nonreproductive state to conserve energy for the flight and the five-month wait until spring returns to their breeding grounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs coevolved with perennial natives that emerge in spring when monarchs are ready to breed and die back in fall when it’s time to migrate. Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not native to California and doesn’t act like its native counterpart: it’s still going strong when the natives disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24012\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 216px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\" alt=\"Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it's pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"216\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it’s pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because it’s pretty, easy to grow and the most widely available milkweed species in commercial nurseries, it’s become the go-to plant in butterfly gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if butterflies find it out of season and start breeding, recent research shows, they’re giving an old foe – a debilitating protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) – the chance to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults infected with OE can drop millions of spores on milkweed, which caterpillars ingest along with leaves. Mildly infected monarchs may look fine but can’t fly or reproduce well and die early. Infested larvae may fail to emerge from their chrysalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work by Sonia Altizer, a disease ecologist at the University of Georgia, has shown that when generation after generation of monarchs breed on the same plants along the Gulf Coast, parasite levels can skyrocket. Continuous breeding risks losing what Altizer calls a key benefit of migration: limiting parasite numbers by allowing monarchs to escape contaminated plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that monarchs tend to lay far more eggs on tropical milkweed — typically grown in dense clusters — thereby exposing more caterpillars. Beyond falling prey to parasites, caterpillars born in winter could freeze during a cold snap. And with females laying so many eggs, caterpillars may starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villablanca first saw winter-breeding butterflies in California last December. “It’s very surprising to see them breeding when they should be overwintering,” he says. “They’ve done the migration, so that part has clicked in. But why they’re reproductive is not really clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24023\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\" alt='A monarch draws nectar from a \"daisy tree\" in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)' width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24023\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch draws nectar from a “daisy tree” in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 90 percent of the unseasonal breeding is happening on tropical milkweed in backyard gardens, Villablanca says. He’s trying to figure out if the breeders belong to a previously undetected non-migratory population or if they’re overwintering migrants that cluster in colonies to stay warm at night and then breed during the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re breeding year-round, disease could pose a dangerous threat to the West’s monarchs, already in serious decline. In preliminary work, Villablanca found higher OE levels in butterflies collected from tropical milkweed gardens than from those sampled at overwintering sites. He worries that monarchs could emerge from these gardens infested and then fly to overwintering sites and spread disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drastic declines in milkweed remain the monarch’s biggest threat and scientists are grateful that so many people want to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have tropical milkweed in your garden, help it behave like a native: cut it back during the fall and winter. Better yet, ask your local native plant society which species are native to your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing scientists want to do is discourage monarch enthusiasts from helping the imperiled butterflies. “We have concerns but we don’t want to spook people,” Villablanca says. “We’re really trying to help them figure out what’s the right thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What you can do to help monarchs:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plant native milkweed\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Contact the\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> to find milkweeds native to your area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Provide nectar plants\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pollinator Partnership\u003c/a> locates native plants by zip code.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Avoid pesticides\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPesticides kill monarchs throughout the life cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Become a citizen scientist \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need data to understand all stages of the monarch’s annual cycle. Contact \u003ca href=\"http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-monarchs-citizen-science-opportunities/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Joint Venture\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchparasites.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Health\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.xerces.org/western-monarchs/\">The Xerces Society\u003c/a> to find out how you can contribute.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You can view overwintering monarchs at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/index.aspx?page=251\">Monarch Grove Sanctuary\u003c/a> in Pacific Grove. For more information, see \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/science/monarchs-may-be-loved-to-death.html\">For the Monarch Butterfly, a Long Road Back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. The wasps are called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion that the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever spent a Summer or Fall around oak trees – such as the stalwart Valley Oak – \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_lobata\">Quercus lobata\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, or the stately Blue Oak, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_douglasii\">Quercus douglasii\u003c/a>\u003c/em> – you may be familiar with the large, vaguely fruity-looking objects clinging to the branches and leaves. Commonly called oak apples, these growths are the last thing you’d want to put in your mouth. They are intensely bitter, loaded with tannin compounds – the same compounds that in modest amounts give red wine its pleasant dryness, and tea its refreshing earthy tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23972\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\" alt=\"Oak apple galls, from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak apple gall from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That said, the oak apple’s powerful astringency has been prized for millennia. Tanning leather, making \u003ca href=\"http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Iron-Gall-Ink/\">ink\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://wooltribulations.blogspot.com/2013/11/dyeing-wool-with-galls-acorns-and-oak.html\">dye\u003c/a>, and cleaning wounds have been but a few of the gall’s historical uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But on closer inspection of these oaks – and many other plants and trees such as willows, alders, manzanitas, or pines – you can find a rogue’s gallery of smaller galls. Carefully peeking under leaves, along the stems and branches, or around the flower buds and acorns will likely lead you to unexpected finds. Smooth ones. Spiky ones. Long skinny ones, flat ones, lumpy, boxy ones. From the size of a golf ball down to that of a poppy seed. \u003ca href=\"http://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php\">These structures wear shades of yellow, green, brown, purple, pink and red\u003c/a> – and sometimes all of the above. A single tree may be host to dozens of types of gall, each one caused by a specific organism. And their shapes range from the sublime to the downright creepy. One tree may be encrusted with them, like a Christmas tree laden with ornaments and tinsel; and the next tree over may be almost completely free of galls. Why? It’s a mystery, like many other aspects of Cecidology, the study of plant galls and their inducers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\" alt=\"A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who causes galls? Lots of creatures; midges, mites, aphids, flies, even bacteria and viruses. But the undisputed champs are a big family of little wasps called \u003ca href=\"http://leftcoastnatty.blogspot.com/2010/09/oak-gall-wasps-cynipids.html\">Cynipids\u003c/a>– rarely exceeding the size of a mosquito, a quarter of an inch in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These tiny wasps cannot sting,” says Dr. Kathy Schick, Assistant Specialist/Curatorial Assistant at the \u003ca href=\"http://essig.berkeley.edu/\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “Gall-inducers are fascinating in that they are very specialized to their organ of the host plant.” Galls are generally formed when an insect, or its larvae, introduce chemicals into a specific location, to push the plant’s growth hormones into overdrive. This can result in a great profusion of normal cells, increased size of existing cells, or the alteration of entire plant structures into new, alien forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23969\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\" alt=\"The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). This member of the Cynipid family is on the larger side – about 1/4″ long.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These wasp houses are not homes exactly, but more akin to nurseries. The galls serve as an ideal environment for wasp larvae, whether it is a single offspring, or dozens. The tree is tricked into generating outsize amounts of soft, pillowy tissue inside each gall, on which the larvae gladly gorge themselves as they grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gall-inducers are not the only wasps who come to the party. All the free eats and nice digs attract uninvited guests. These other wasps – called inquilines – invade other galls to steal the food from the larvae. Yet another kind of wasp — a parasitoid — injects its eggs into the first wasp’s gall, so its offspring can eat the plant tissue eating the food and even the residents. And the parasitoids, they have to watch out for other Johnny-come-lately wasps called hyper-parasitoids, which go after their larvae or even the parasitoids themselves. And on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23960\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\" alt=\"Left to right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED's Deep Look series.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to Right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED’s Deep Look series.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But assuming the original offspring survive, the larvae pupate and as new adult wasps chew their way out – weeks, months, or even years later depending on the species and environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then off to find a mate. Or not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The life cycle of gall-inducers can be exceedingly complex, especially among Cynipids.There can be both sexual (male and female get together, eggs are fertilized) and asexual (no males = parthenogenic) phases at different times of year, which result in different types of galls, even on different parts of the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the California Gall Wasp in our video, \u003cem>Andricus quercuscalifornicus\u003c/em>? Researchers are still searching for a male specimen. To date, not a single one has been found. It is debated whether they even exist at all. Yet another unsolved mystery, in the under appreciated realm of plant galls and their iinhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. The wasps are called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion that the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever spent a Summer or Fall around oak trees – such as the stalwart Valley Oak – \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_lobata\">Quercus lobata\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, or the stately Blue Oak, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_douglasii\">Quercus douglasii\u003c/a>\u003c/em> – you may be familiar with the large, vaguely fruity-looking objects clinging to the branches and leaves. Commonly called oak apples, these growths are the last thing you’d want to put in your mouth. They are intensely bitter, loaded with tannin compounds – the same compounds that in modest amounts give red wine its pleasant dryness, and tea its refreshing earthy tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23972\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\" alt=\"Oak apple galls, from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak apple gall from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That said, the oak apple’s powerful astringency has been prized for millennia. Tanning leather, making \u003ca href=\"http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Iron-Gall-Ink/\">ink\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://wooltribulations.blogspot.com/2013/11/dyeing-wool-with-galls-acorns-and-oak.html\">dye\u003c/a>, and cleaning wounds have been but a few of the gall’s historical uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But on closer inspection of these oaks – and many other plants and trees such as willows, alders, manzanitas, or pines – you can find a rogue’s gallery of smaller galls. Carefully peeking under leaves, along the stems and branches, or around the flower buds and acorns will likely lead you to unexpected finds. Smooth ones. Spiky ones. Long skinny ones, flat ones, lumpy, boxy ones. From the size of a golf ball down to that of a poppy seed. \u003ca href=\"http://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php\">These structures wear shades of yellow, green, brown, purple, pink and red\u003c/a> – and sometimes all of the above. A single tree may be host to dozens of types of gall, each one caused by a specific organism. And their shapes range from the sublime to the downright creepy. One tree may be encrusted with them, like a Christmas tree laden with ornaments and tinsel; and the next tree over may be almost completely free of galls. Why? It’s a mystery, like many other aspects of Cecidology, the study of plant galls and their inducers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\" alt=\"A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who causes galls? Lots of creatures; midges, mites, aphids, flies, even bacteria and viruses. But the undisputed champs are a big family of little wasps called \u003ca href=\"http://leftcoastnatty.blogspot.com/2010/09/oak-gall-wasps-cynipids.html\">Cynipids\u003c/a>– rarely exceeding the size of a mosquito, a quarter of an inch in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These tiny wasps cannot sting,” says Dr. Kathy Schick, Assistant Specialist/Curatorial Assistant at the \u003ca href=\"http://essig.berkeley.edu/\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “Gall-inducers are fascinating in that they are very specialized to their organ of the host plant.” Galls are generally formed when an insect, or its larvae, introduce chemicals into a specific location, to push the plant’s growth hormones into overdrive. This can result in a great profusion of normal cells, increased size of existing cells, or the alteration of entire plant structures into new, alien forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23969\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\" alt=\"The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). This member of the Cynipid family is on the larger side – about 1/4″ long.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These wasp houses are not homes exactly, but more akin to nurseries. The galls serve as an ideal environment for wasp larvae, whether it is a single offspring, or dozens. The tree is tricked into generating outsize amounts of soft, pillowy tissue inside each gall, on which the larvae gladly gorge themselves as they grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gall-inducers are not the only wasps who come to the party. All the free eats and nice digs attract uninvited guests. These other wasps – called inquilines – invade other galls to steal the food from the larvae. Yet another kind of wasp — a parasitoid — injects its eggs into the first wasp’s gall, so its offspring can eat the plant tissue eating the food and even the residents. And the parasitoids, they have to watch out for other Johnny-come-lately wasps called hyper-parasitoids, which go after their larvae or even the parasitoids themselves. And on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23960\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\" alt=\"Left to right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED's Deep Look series.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to Right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED’s Deep Look series.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But assuming the original offspring survive, the larvae pupate and as new adult wasps chew their way out – weeks, months, or even years later depending on the species and environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then off to find a mate. Or not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The life cycle of gall-inducers can be exceedingly complex, especially among Cynipids.There can be both sexual (male and female get together, eggs are fertilized) and asexual (no males = parthenogenic) phases at different times of year, which result in different types of galls, even on different parts of the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the California Gall Wasp in our video, \u003cem>Andricus quercuscalifornicus\u003c/em>? Researchers are still searching for a male specimen. To date, not a single one has been found. It is debated whether they even exist at all. Yet another unsolved mystery, in the under appreciated realm of plant galls and their iinhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scientists Suspect a Virus is Causing Sea Star Die-Off",
"headTitle": "Scientists Suspect a Virus is Causing Sea Star Die-Off | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23912 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\" alt=\"diseased-davenport big\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wasting disease affecting sea stars causes some, like this ochre star in Santa Cruz, to lose their legs. (Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz) \u003ccite>(Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-image-23896 size-full\">Scientists have identified the top suspect in the mysterious die-off of millions of sea stars along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of starfish from Mexico to Alaska have lost their legs and turned to mush, confounding and alarming scientists and beachgoers. In affected areas, the mortality rate has been as high as 70 to 99 percent. The phenomenon is known as “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/03/07/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-the-sea-star-die-off/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>” but the cause has remained unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Cornell University and other institutions now have strong evidence that links the disease to a densovirus, a type of parvovirus commonly found in invertebrates. In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/11/12/1416625111.full.pdf+html\">paper published\u003c/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that densovirus is also present in museum specimens of sea stars as far back as the 1940s. That means that while the virus has long been present in sea star populations, something has triggered the recent outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass sea star die-offs have occurred before, says Peter Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. But they all corresponded with El Niño years that brought warmer waters to the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key difference with other outbreaks is that in other ones it was unambiguously associated with warm water,” Raimondi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual.’\u003ccite>— Dr. Peter Raimondi, UC Santa Cruz\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This latest die-off doesn’t follow the same pattern. Previous outbreaks spread north as warm waters moved up the coast, but the current outbreak has occurred as a series of individual incidents, popping up all over the west coast, first in the north and then further south and then back in the north. Some of the affected areas saw warmer temperatures but some didn’t, Raimondi says. This outbreak has also lasted longer and affected a larger area than ever before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and his colleagues are still researching what’s driving the current outbreak. They haven’t ruled out warmer water entirely, but they’re investigating a variety of other environmental factors, from pollution to ocean acidification to a decrease in oxygen in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if it’s an isolated example taking root and spreading, and doesn’t portend anything in future,” Raimondi says, “or if this is a portent of things that will become more common in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prospects for Recovery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers aren’t sure whether the sea star population is going to be able to rebound from this die-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news of the study is that, besides sea stars, the virus is found in sediment and in sea urchins, although the urchins don’t show symptoms of the virus. Raimondi says the sediments and urchins are acting as a reservoir for the virus and might infect new generations of sea stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23909 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\" alt=\"p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg BIG\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists are now seeing large numbers of juvenile sea stars in areas that were affected by the virus outbreak. (Maya George/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beautiful and brightly colored, starfish are a charismatic species and a favorite of beach goers. They’re also voracious predators. Starfish are called a keystone species, meaning they’re at the top of the food chain and have a major effect on the ecosystem. A significant decline in sea star species could have profound ecological consequences, Raimondi says, changing marine ecosystems along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that researchers are finding huge populations of baby starfish in some of their monitoring areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When animals get stressed they tend to reproduce,” Raimondi says. The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual. The baby sea stars then drift away from their birthplace on ocean currents. “Because babies tend to go somewhere else, they can repopulate other areas, so recovery can be quicker than we thought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi encourages beachgoers, boaters, and divers to visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/index.html\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a> to see pictures of diseased and baby sea stars and to submit information about their own sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We welcome observation,” Raimondi says. “The public can help immensely in our understanding of what’s causing this and what the recovery prospects are like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can see scientists at work trying to solve the mystery of sea star wasting disease, in this QUEST TV story, filmed earlier this year.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcseyLU1Rs?feature=player_detailpage\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23912 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\" alt=\"diseased-davenport big\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wasting disease affecting sea stars causes some, like this ochre star in Santa Cruz, to lose their legs. (Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz) \u003ccite>(Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-image-23896 size-full\">Scientists have identified the top suspect in the mysterious die-off of millions of sea stars along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of starfish from Mexico to Alaska have lost their legs and turned to mush, confounding and alarming scientists and beachgoers. In affected areas, the mortality rate has been as high as 70 to 99 percent. The phenomenon is known as “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/03/07/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-the-sea-star-die-off/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>” but the cause has remained unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Cornell University and other institutions now have strong evidence that links the disease to a densovirus, a type of parvovirus commonly found in invertebrates. In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/11/12/1416625111.full.pdf+html\">paper published\u003c/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that densovirus is also present in museum specimens of sea stars as far back as the 1940s. That means that while the virus has long been present in sea star populations, something has triggered the recent outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass sea star die-offs have occurred before, says Peter Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. But they all corresponded with El Niño years that brought warmer waters to the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key difference with other outbreaks is that in other ones it was unambiguously associated with warm water,” Raimondi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual.’\u003ccite>— Dr. Peter Raimondi, UC Santa Cruz\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This latest die-off doesn’t follow the same pattern. Previous outbreaks spread north as warm waters moved up the coast, but the current outbreak has occurred as a series of individual incidents, popping up all over the west coast, first in the north and then further south and then back in the north. Some of the affected areas saw warmer temperatures but some didn’t, Raimondi says. This outbreak has also lasted longer and affected a larger area than ever before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and his colleagues are still researching what’s driving the current outbreak. They haven’t ruled out warmer water entirely, but they’re investigating a variety of other environmental factors, from pollution to ocean acidification to a decrease in oxygen in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if it’s an isolated example taking root and spreading, and doesn’t portend anything in future,” Raimondi says, “or if this is a portent of things that will become more common in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prospects for Recovery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers aren’t sure whether the sea star population is going to be able to rebound from this die-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news of the study is that, besides sea stars, the virus is found in sediment and in sea urchins, although the urchins don’t show symptoms of the virus. Raimondi says the sediments and urchins are acting as a reservoir for the virus and might infect new generations of sea stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23909 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\" alt=\"p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg BIG\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists are now seeing large numbers of juvenile sea stars in areas that were affected by the virus outbreak. (Maya George/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beautiful and brightly colored, starfish are a charismatic species and a favorite of beach goers. They’re also voracious predators. Starfish are called a keystone species, meaning they’re at the top of the food chain and have a major effect on the ecosystem. A significant decline in sea star species could have profound ecological consequences, Raimondi says, changing marine ecosystems along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that researchers are finding huge populations of baby starfish in some of their monitoring areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When animals get stressed they tend to reproduce,” Raimondi says. The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual. The baby sea stars then drift away from their birthplace on ocean currents. “Because babies tend to go somewhere else, they can repopulate other areas, so recovery can be quicker than we thought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi encourages beachgoers, boaters, and divers to visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/index.html\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a> to see pictures of diseased and baby sea stars and to submit information about their own sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We welcome observation,” Raimondi says. “The public can help immensely in our understanding of what’s causing this and what the recovery prospects are like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can see scientists at work trying to solve the mystery of sea star wasting disease, in this QUEST TV story, filmed earlier this year.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcseyLU1Rs?feature=player_detailpage\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s the dead of autumn and there’s no sign that the California drought will ease up. When wells run dry the immediate answer is to dig a new one, but they’re expensive. In some parts of the state there’s been an uptick in water theft, but in Central California many \u003ca class=\"rssmi_more\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/11/17/california-drought-water-delivery-trucks/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">…Read More\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca title=\"Drought Brings Boom for Water Delivery Trucks\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/11/17/california-drought-water-delivery-trucks/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Newsfix – Science\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/11/20141104_CA_trd.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignright wp-image-14987 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/11/20141104_CA_trd-300x231.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"231\">\u003c/a>Despite a few recent downpours, California remains stuck in one of the most severe statewide droughts on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it's far from just California's problem. The state produces a huge percentage of the nation's agriculture -- nearly half of all fruits, vegetables and nuts, by some estimates. And that requires a massive amount of water: farms here use about 80 percent of the state's developed water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much is riding on the upcoming rainy season. Because if not enough water remains valuable for farmers to adequately irrigate their land, the impact will likely be felt far beyond the state's borders.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this audio slideshow, part of a photo essay project in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/dry-land\" target=\"_blank\">New Yorker\u003c/a>, photographer Matt Black captures powerful images from the thirsty Central Valley, California's breadbasket, and the farmers struggling to keep their crops alive. The excellent infographics below that, by Alex Park and Julia Lurie of \u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-going\" target=\"_blank\">Mother Jones\u003c/a> (and re-posted with permission), give a glimpse of just how much agriculture is produced here and the amount of water required to grow it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWpubxgkUk]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignright wp-image-14849 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/10/Final-Crop-Map_1.gif\" alt=\"Final-Crop-Map_1\" width=\"630\" height=\"981\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14988\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/11/Final-gallons-per-food_2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"1204\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/11/20141104_CA_trd.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"alignright wp-image-14987 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/11/20141104_CA_trd-300x231.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"231\">\u003c/a>Despite a few recent downpours, California remains stuck in one of the most severe statewide droughts on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it's far from just California's problem. The state produces a huge percentage of the nation's agriculture -- nearly half of all fruits, vegetables and nuts, by some estimates. And that requires a massive amount of water: farms here use about 80 percent of the state's developed water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much is riding on the upcoming rainy season. Because if not enough water remains valuable for farmers to adequately irrigate their land, the impact will likely be felt far beyond the state's borders.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this audio slideshow, part of a photo essay project in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/dry-land\" target=\"_blank\">New Yorker\u003c/a>, photographer Matt Black captures powerful images from the thirsty Central Valley, California's breadbasket, and the farmers struggling to keep their crops alive. The excellent infographics below that, by Alex Park and Julia Lurie of \u003ca href=\"http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-going\" target=\"_blank\">Mother Jones\u003c/a> (and re-posted with permission), give a glimpse of just how much agriculture is produced here and the amount of water required to grow it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\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/7hWpubxgkUk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/7hWpubxgkUk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg class=\"alignright wp-image-14849 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2014/10/Final-Crop-Map_1.gif\" alt=\"Final-Crop-Map_1\" width=\"630\" height=\"981\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "U.S. and China Greenhouse Gas Deal: Landmark Move or More Hot Air?",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23674\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Obama-Jinping.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Obama-Jinping.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a joint press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 12, 2014. Obama began a one-day state visit after the closing of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"837\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23674\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a joint press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 12, 2014. Obama began a one-day state visit after the closing of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The world woke up to excited buzz Wednesday announcing a tentative emission-cutting deal between the U.S. and China, the world’s worst two polluters that together account for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The White House trumpteted the agreement that by 2025 would cut U.S. CO2 emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels. For its part, China agreed to cap its growth in emissions by 2030 or earlier, and to increase the share of renewable fuels to 20 percent by 2030. The rest of the world today began wondering how, exactly, the non-binding pact would be realized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at cross-purposes,” said former U.S. Security Official Jamie Metzl, speaking on KQED’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/forum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a>\u003c/em> today. “President Obama and Xi Jinping are today saying that this climate pre-agreement — because nothing has been put down on paper — shows what’s possible when we work together. But at the same time, both countries are very aggressively working to advance their position relative to the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Metzl said, the U.S. is moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that doesn’t currently include China. And China is pursuing its own free trade agreements in the region, while building up its military presence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s scaring the bejesus, if that’s a San Francisco word, out of its neighbors — Japan, others in the South China Sea,” Metzl said. “And the U.S. is having its so-called pivot to Asia, where we’re talking about trade but also increasing our military presence in the region. So there’s a huge amount of competition and potential room for conflict, and there’s this other story of trying to find a means of cooperation. So climate change — this is certainly very positive, but it doesn’t erase the overall framework, which is one that’s quite concerning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brinksmanship is also playing out domestically, with Republican leaders in the House and Senate decrying the climate deal as a “continuation of the president’s job-crushing policies” and an “unrealistic plan the president would dump on his successor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their ire is directed at the pace of emission reductions that would be required to reach the goal. The U.S. is currently aiming for a 17 percent reduction by 2020, a goal that will have taken 15 years. The deal with China calls for an additional reduction of 10 percent in five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From 2020 to 2025, for the United States to achieve the goals that the President put forward, we would need to double the pace of the reductions to greenhouse gas emissions that we’re currently on track to do,” L.A. Times reporter Neela Banerjee said on \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em>. “There’s going to be a political backlash, and it’ll probably take the form of legislation that will be introduced, lawsuits, and — like anything else that’s put forward by this administration — it’s somewhat of a gamble. Will it survive those challenges?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banerjee said it’s not just Republicans who may try to stall the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of Democrats from fossil fuel states who may accept that climate change is happening,” she said. “They just don’t want to act on it anytime soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the effort to reduce greenhouse gases also has allies, and Banerjee some may be found in big business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are more and more companies, including major Fortune 500 multinationals, that are seeing their bottom lines affected by climate change and by threats that are expected from climate change,” she said. “So they might find support in unexpected quarters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also a bit a of damper buried in the announcement for anyone celebrating the news as landmark international environmental progress on a subject that’s been intractable. That is, what will replace the coal plants currently generating energy, and pollution, in the two global powers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this ‘agreement,’ when [China] talks about going to 20 percent renewables by 2030, the only way they’re going to do that, it’s not by composting, it’s by nuclear,” Metzl said. “We’re also moving, shifting our energy use away from coal a little bit, and towards natural gas – fracking [hydraulic fracturing]. In China, nuclear’s a big part of this story. In the United States, fracking is a part of this story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listen to the \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> segment below:\u003cbr>\n[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176622110″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23674\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Obama-Jinping.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Obama-Jinping.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a joint press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 12, 2014. Obama began a one-day state visit after the closing of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"837\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23674\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a joint press conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 12, 2014. Obama began a one-day state visit after the closing of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The world woke up to excited buzz Wednesday announcing a tentative emission-cutting deal between the U.S. and China, the world’s worst two polluters that together account for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The White House trumpteted the agreement that by 2025 would cut U.S. CO2 emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels. For its part, China agreed to cap its growth in emissions by 2030 or earlier, and to increase the share of renewable fuels to 20 percent by 2030. The rest of the world today began wondering how, exactly, the non-binding pact would be realized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are at cross-purposes,” said former U.S. Security Official Jamie Metzl, speaking on KQED’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/forum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a>\u003c/em> today. “President Obama and Xi Jinping are today saying that this climate pre-agreement — because nothing has been put down on paper — shows what’s possible when we work together. But at the same time, both countries are very aggressively working to advance their position relative to the other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Metzl said, the U.S. is moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that doesn’t currently include China. And China is pursuing its own free trade agreements in the region, while building up its military presence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s scaring the bejesus, if that’s a San Francisco word, out of its neighbors — Japan, others in the South China Sea,” Metzl said. “And the U.S. is having its so-called pivot to Asia, where we’re talking about trade but also increasing our military presence in the region. So there’s a huge amount of competition and potential room for conflict, and there’s this other story of trying to find a means of cooperation. So climate change — this is certainly very positive, but it doesn’t erase the overall framework, which is one that’s quite concerning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The brinksmanship is also playing out domestically, with Republican leaders in the House and Senate decrying the climate deal as a “continuation of the president’s job-crushing policies” and an “unrealistic plan the president would dump on his successor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their ire is directed at the pace of emission reductions that would be required to reach the goal. The U.S. is currently aiming for a 17 percent reduction by 2020, a goal that will have taken 15 years. The deal with China calls for an additional reduction of 10 percent in five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From 2020 to 2025, for the United States to achieve the goals that the President put forward, we would need to double the pace of the reductions to greenhouse gas emissions that we’re currently on track to do,” L.A. Times reporter Neela Banerjee said on \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em>. “There’s going to be a political backlash, and it’ll probably take the form of legislation that will be introduced, lawsuits, and — like anything else that’s put forward by this administration — it’s somewhat of a gamble. Will it survive those challenges?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banerjee said it’s not just Republicans who may try to stall the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of Democrats from fossil fuel states who may accept that climate change is happening,” she said. “They just don’t want to act on it anytime soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the effort to reduce greenhouse gases also has allies, and Banerjee some may be found in big business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are more and more companies, including major Fortune 500 multinationals, that are seeing their bottom lines affected by climate change and by threats that are expected from climate change,” she said. “So they might find support in unexpected quarters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also a bit a of damper buried in the announcement for anyone celebrating the news as landmark international environmental progress on a subject that’s been intractable. That is, what will replace the coal plants currently generating energy, and pollution, in the two global powers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this ‘agreement,’ when [China] talks about going to 20 percent renewables by 2030, the only way they’re going to do that, it’s not by composting, it’s by nuclear,” Metzl said. “We’re also moving, shifting our energy use away from coal a little bit, and towards natural gas – fracking [hydraulic fracturing]. In China, nuclear’s a big part of this story. In the United States, fracking is a part of this story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listen to the \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> segment below:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176622110″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176622110″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New California County Fracking Bans Likely to Face Challenges",
"headTitle": "New California County Fracking Bans Likely to Face Challenges | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23478\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/sanbenito-fracking.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23478\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/sanbenito-fracking.jpg\" alt=\"San Benito County voters approved a fracking ban, but it's likely to face challenges. (Gabriela Quiros/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Benito County voters approved a fracking ban, but it’s likely to face challenges. (Gabriela Quiros/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the first major test of how California voters would react to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/fracking-california/\">hydraulic fracturing\u003c/a> on the ballot, two counties in California approved fracking bans on Tuesday. Opponents of fracking are hoping the movement will spread to other counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a measure to bar the controversial oil production technique in Santa Barbara County — where the oil industry is well-established — fell short. And in San Benito and Mendocino Counties, where the bans passed, they are likely to face court challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was incredibly exciting,” says organizer Andy Hsia-Coron, who rallied support for the San Benito fracking ban by raising environmental concerns, like possible risks to groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it sets a model for how you do these initiatives,” he says. “We’ve already been contacted by other counties making inquiries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”HS3lmwEtvxtUvFY4tQglZEHsaS46E95y”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bans are pre-emptive. Currently, fracking doesn’t occur in San Benito or Mendocino Counties. But both measures also ban a more common oil extraction technique where steam is injected underground to induce oil flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While San Benito County’s oil industry is small, the change could be significant for the producers who work there, some of whom regard the law as a confiscation of property rights, also known as a “taking” in legal parlance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a regulatory taking because it’s the regulation which is depriving property owners of the ability to extract value from their minerals or property,” says Armen Nahabedian of Citadel Exploration, a company that’s developing an oil project in San Benito.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s the duty of the county at this point to either allow people to continue to extract value from their property and not enforce the initiative or to compensate them accordingly with the fair market value of what they’ve been deprived of,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, Nahabedian\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/10/10/anti-fracking-activists-in-california-take-fight-to-county-ballots/\"> described the use of steam injection\u003c/a> in a KQED report:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nahabedian’s company doesn’t use fracking, but it does use another oil extraction technique that the initiatives would ban, called cyclic steam injection. Oil in California is heavy, so producers inject steam underground to loosen it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Steam injection is an old technique,” he says. “We’ve been using it in the industry since the early 1960s. It’s not much different than cleaning a dirty engine block.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 60 percent of oil produced in California is extracted with steam injection and similar methods, making it more common than fracking. Nahabedian says banning steam injection would mean the state’s refineries would have to look at importing oil from outside the state.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The oil industry went all-out to head off a ban in Santa Barbara County, where oil production is a larger part of the local economy. The “No on P” campaign raised more than $7 million to defeat it, largely from the oil industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The battles over fracking on the local level are far from over. Butte County is set to vote on a fracking ban in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Bay Area Votes in Favor of Open Space and 'Smart' Growth",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23462\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Doolan-Canyon-Scott-Hein-courtesy-of-Greenbelt-Alliance-1024x680.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23462 size-large\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Doolan-Canyon-Scott-Hein-courtesy-of-Greenbelt-Alliance-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dublin voters defeated a ballot measure that would have opened up Doolan Canyon to development. (Scott Hein, courtesy of Greenbelt Alliance)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A local environmental group is declaring victories for open space preservation and smart growth in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.greenbelt.org/\">Greenbelt Alliance\u003c/a> took positions on six measures on Bay Area ballots. While official results have yet to be declared on one of the measures, executive director Jeremy Madsen says signs are good that all the positions he supported came out on top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it really shows the voters here in the Bay Area have a very strong commitment to open space conservation and to growing the Bay Area in a smart and sustainable fashion,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two measures protected open space from development:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>In Dublin, voters defeated \u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/rov/elections/20141104/documents/MeasureT-V4.pdf\">Measure T\u003c/a> which would have permitted the development of \u003ca href=\"http://www.friendsoflivermore.org/issue_5.html\">Doolan Canyon\u003c/a> between Dublin and Livermore.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Union City residents rejected \u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/rov/elections/20141104/documents/MeasureKK-V2.pdf\">Measure KK\u003c/a> which would have allowed the city council to change the zoning for agricultural land off \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Union+City,+CA+94587/@37.6061801,-122.0201176,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x808f956b410f5297:0xe6a2cdabca05bb6\">Mission Boulevard\u003c/a>, opening it up for homes and businesses.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>One measure approved continued funding for open space:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>In Santa Clara Valley, 67 percent of voters supported \u003ca href=\"http://www.sccgov.org/sites/rov/Info/Nov2014Info/Documents/E101%20List%20of%20Local%20Measures.pdf\">Measure Q\u003c/a>, a parcel tax that will increase funding to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.openspaceauthority.org/\">Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority\u003c/a>. (The measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass, and the results have not yet officially been called.)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>And three concerned sustainable development in cities:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Berkeley voters defeated \u003ca href=\"http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Elections/Election__2014_Ballot_Measure_Page.aspx\">Measure R\u003c/a>, which would have enacted stricter development requirements in downtown Berkeley. Madsen said the changes set standards so high, they made development impossible and would have defeated the goal of urban growth in Berkeley.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Alameda County voters approved the \u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/rov/elections/20141104/documents/MeasureBB-v5.pdf\">Measure BB\u003c/a> transportation tax, which includes funding for public transit, cyclists and pedestrians.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>San Bruno residents approved \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanbruno.ca.gov/comdev_election.html\">Measure N\u003c/a> which will raise the limits on building heights, making denser development possible.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Madsen says the election results show that “there’s a growing consensus that the Bay Area wants to protect the lands that are special and wants to support the kind of sustainable, smart development that will make our communities better places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"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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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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},
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"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
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},
"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>",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"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",
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"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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
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"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
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},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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