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"content": "\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rare-forktail-damselflies-introduced-at-9973051.php\">Read more\u003c/a> about how the Presidio Trust is working with the San Francisco Zoo in their attempt to reestablish the San Francisco forktail damselfly in its hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find out more about the damselfly’s fascinating life cycle \u003ca href=\"http://lifeinfreshwater.net/damselfly-nymphs-odonata-zygoptera/\">here\u003c/a>.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t afraid to show some flair — they’re decked out in turquoise. Young females sport a soft pink. Down in the reeds, the courtship begins. The male flies up to the female. He then uses claspers at the end of his blue body to hold the female just behind her head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the female curves her entire body forward. She hooks the tip of her abdomen to his midsection. The male leaves nothing to chance. Inside her body, he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any previous partners. Then he deposits his own. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the mating is over, the pair stays connected, sometimes for more than an hour. This keeps the other males at bay, and gives time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs. When the female’s ready to lay her eggs, the pair moves close to the water. She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs. She tucks them just under the plant’s surface — one at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks later, the eggs hatch into voracious nymphs called naiads. They’ll spend a few months like this in the water. Naiads breathe through caudal gills, these leafy things on their backside. Just like these dragonfly naiads, they’ll climb out of the water, shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are thousands of species of damselflies, but the San Francisco forktail is special — it’s one of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal climate. Researchers think their darker, more robust bodies may better absorb heat and help them stay warm in cool places. But a warming world is diminishing the fog that blankets this city. Plus, the wetlands they lay their eggs in are disappearing. San Francisco forktail damselflies are now one of the rarest species of odonates in North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are stepping in. They’ve figured out how to breed the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and are releasing and monitoring their populations. The number of these insects in the wild is increasing. But will their efforts be enough? It’s too early to tell. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco has long been home to dreamers, misfits, lovers. The work of these scientists is not just for biodiversity — it’s an attempt to save another colorful resident that calls this City by the Bay its home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Firefighters From Mexico Battle California Fires, One After the Other",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a big wildfire sweeps through a rugged corner of California, fire crews come from all over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the incident command center for the Caldor Fire in South Lake Tahoe, red engines emblazoned with the seals of municipal fire departments across California, as well as green Forest Service engines with license plates from other states, sit side by side.\u003cbr>\nBut some of the firefighters who have come from farthest away are migrant workers from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working these dangerous jobs on temporary work visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodrigo Rangel Aguilar is working his third year as a wildland firefighter for Franco’s Fire Service outside Salem, Oregon. His crew spent 28 days on the Dixie Fire, got two days off, then headed out to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s 25 years old, from a small town in Morelia, and the second youngest of seven siblings. Three of his brothers also are working as firefighters in the U.S. Two are heading to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know exactly which crew, but they’re … arriving soon,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on where they’re assigned on the sprawling fire, he plans on tracking them down. Otherwise, he’ll see them back in his hometown in Morelia, a ranchito of only 800 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work there is mostly in the fields, growing corn, avocados, sawmills,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entry-level contract firefighters on hand crews typically make about $15-$16 per hour, plus lots of overtime. Hand crews do the hard work of containment, hiking the steep hillsides to cut fire lines with hoses and Pulaski axes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lounging on a tailgate next to Aguilar was Casimiro Calvario Dominguez, who’s working his first season as a firefighter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work in Mexico is harder and pays less,” he said. “I’m not saying we make money sitting around here. We’re working, but it’s more relaxed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvario Dominguez used a choice Mexican curse word to sum up his dilemma: Leave his family to earn wages paid in dollars so he can provide for them, or stay and work himself into the ground while still earning too little to feed them. Firefighting is tough, he said, but the dollars he makes here support four kids, a wife and his parents.\u003cbr>\nDespite the risks, he’s grateful for the steady work. So far, he’s been able to stay safe, healthy and ready to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the nature of fighting a major wildfire. People converge from all over the continent to engage in perilous labor: contractors, pilots and thousands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the crew’s bosses, Manuel Carrillo, is from Porterville, in the Central Valley, and he had to brush up on his Spanish to communicate with the 20 men who work for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My crew is very strong, passionate — very good men, hard workers,” he said. “They’ve taught me a lot, how to work hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the boss on the ground, his responsibility is to keep his crew members safe. That was hard in Greenville, when the Dixie Fire blasted through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always looking out for them as they’re working, looking up above for trees, buildings and dangerous things that could explode, like propane tanks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks his crew had to take and the losses that the town of Greenville suffered stick with him. Firefighters, no matter what their citizenship, should be paid more for the risks they take to defend homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s exhausting. You’re dirty, sweaty — grease, oils, smoke. You got to keep your mental coolness, and direct the crew in the right path and make sure we’re all going home to our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrillo is half Mexican American, half Native American from the Santa Inez band of Chumash Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’ve been told is that I’m Mother Earth’s protector. I’m helping calm these fires down, stop them from burning our lands,” he said, adding that his company does forest restoration work in the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help build these forests all over again, from the ground up until these trees are hundreds of feet tall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He relishes not only the adventure of firefighting, but also his role as protector of the wildlands. While his job is to save homes, those same dwellings are encroaching on the land that he loves, and that his crew members have come to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having these cities in the heart of these forests. That’s where it hurts, because we see animals, once in a while we’ll run into them, burned alive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone on his crew is curious to see which will end sooner, their work visas or this ferocious fire season.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a big wildfire sweeps through a rugged corner of California, fire crews come from all over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the incident command center for the Caldor Fire in South Lake Tahoe, red engines emblazoned with the seals of municipal fire departments across California, as well as green Forest Service engines with license plates from other states, sit side by side.\u003cbr>\nBut some of the firefighters who have come from farthest away are migrant workers from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working these dangerous jobs on temporary work visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodrigo Rangel Aguilar is working his third year as a wildland firefighter for Franco’s Fire Service outside Salem, Oregon. His crew spent 28 days on the Dixie Fire, got two days off, then headed out to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s 25 years old, from a small town in Morelia, and the second youngest of seven siblings. Three of his brothers also are working as firefighters in the U.S. Two are heading to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know exactly which crew, but they’re … arriving soon,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on where they’re assigned on the sprawling fire, he plans on tracking them down. Otherwise, he’ll see them back in his hometown in Morelia, a ranchito of only 800 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work there is mostly in the fields, growing corn, avocados, sawmills,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entry-level contract firefighters on hand crews typically make about $15-$16 per hour, plus lots of overtime. Hand crews do the hard work of containment, hiking the steep hillsides to cut fire lines with hoses and Pulaski axes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lounging on a tailgate next to Aguilar was Casimiro Calvario Dominguez, who’s working his first season as a firefighter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work in Mexico is harder and pays less,” he said. “I’m not saying we make money sitting around here. We’re working, but it’s more relaxed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvario Dominguez used a choice Mexican curse word to sum up his dilemma: Leave his family to earn wages paid in dollars so he can provide for them, or stay and work himself into the ground while still earning too little to feed them. Firefighting is tough, he said, but the dollars he makes here support four kids, a wife and his parents.\u003cbr>\nDespite the risks, he’s grateful for the steady work. So far, he’s been able to stay safe, healthy and ready to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the nature of fighting a major wildfire. People converge from all over the continent to engage in perilous labor: contractors, pilots and thousands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the crew’s bosses, Manuel Carrillo, is from Porterville, in the Central Valley, and he had to brush up on his Spanish to communicate with the 20 men who work for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My crew is very strong, passionate — very good men, hard workers,” he said. “They’ve taught me a lot, how to work hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the boss on the ground, his responsibility is to keep his crew members safe. That was hard in Greenville, when the Dixie Fire blasted through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always looking out for them as they’re working, looking up above for trees, buildings and dangerous things that could explode, like propane tanks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks his crew had to take and the losses that the town of Greenville suffered stick with him. Firefighters, no matter what their citizenship, should be paid more for the risks they take to defend homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s exhausting. You’re dirty, sweaty — grease, oils, smoke. You got to keep your mental coolness, and direct the crew in the right path and make sure we’re all going home to our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrillo is half Mexican American, half Native American from the Santa Inez band of Chumash Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’ve been told is that I’m Mother Earth’s protector. I’m helping calm these fires down, stop them from burning our lands,” he said, adding that his company does forest restoration work in the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help build these forests all over again, from the ground up until these trees are hundreds of feet tall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He relishes not only the adventure of firefighting, but also his role as protector of the wildlands. While his job is to save homes, those same dwellings are encroaching on the land that he loves, and that his crew members have come to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having these cities in the heart of these forests. That’s where it hurts, because we see animals, once in a while we’ll run into them, burned alive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone on his crew is curious to see which will end sooner, their work visas or this ferocious fire season.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-to-get-or-make-a-free-low-cost-air-purifier-for-your-home",
"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KQEDscience/status/1432805403394519040?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jrodriguez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez\u003c/a> contributed reporting to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Bay Area air regulators offer free purifiers for wildfire smoke. Here's how to qualify, or make a DIY filter at home.",
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"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jrodriguez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez\u003c/a> contributed reporting to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003cem>Horseshoe crabs may look scary, but when it’s springtime in Delaware Bay, millions of these arthropods show they’re lovers, not fighters. They lay masses of blue-green eggs up on the shore. At just the right time, they pop and release the larvae within to the sea.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>These delicate, otherworldly creatures are just starting their lives —twitching and twirling inside their translucent homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re baby horseshoe crabs, preparing for the moment they can break free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all started two weeks ago, when the tides were at their highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs emerge from the briny deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And head for the shore with only one thing on their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A springtime spawning spree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atlantic horseshoe crabs gather, by the millions, along the East Coast of North America — from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crowds here in Delaware are some of the biggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The males show up first, hanging out on the beach and in the shallows of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They scramble to latch on to the backs of passing females.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females can be the size of dinner plates, way bigger than the males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Success!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They take advantage of the fleeting high tides to haul their precious cargo as high up the beach as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females muscle their way up the beach, with the males in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greatest danger for these horseshoe crabs is flipping over, exposing their vulnerable underside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it only takes a small wave to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the hood, horseshoe crabs’ legs end in pincers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mature males have something special on their front legs …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “clasper” that looks like a little boxing glove with a hooked finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s perfect for gripping the back of a female’s shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To flip back over, the animals use their long, spiky tail, called a telson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It looks a little scary, but horseshoe crabs don’t sting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs have been making these high-tide treks under the glow of the full moon since before the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s more than 400 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone finds a date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Especially those younger males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they hike up the beach anyway in hopes of getting in on the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This female is dragging around two admirers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a female finds a good spot, she digs and digs into the wet sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The female lays roughly 4,000 eggs in one go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The male that clung to her all this time is in the best position to fertilize the most eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those single dudes crowd around too, vying to fertilize the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the party winds down, the grown-ups start heading back to sea,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’ll return for more of these high-tide soirees throughout the season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They leave their fertilized eggs behind, buried in the damp sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each one is smaller than a pea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of weeks the embryos inside develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the high tides return — these larvae are ready to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jostling of the waves stimulates them to break out of their shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have just a few hours to scramble into the turbulent surf, before the high tide recedes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll mature beneath the waves for roughly a decade before they’re ready to return as adults themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Where they’ll take their turn in this ancient dance of the moon, tides and sand.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And head for the shore with only one thing on their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A springtime spawning spree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atlantic horseshoe crabs gather, by the millions, along the East Coast of North America — from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crowds here in Delaware are some of the biggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The males show up first, hanging out on the beach and in the shallows of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They scramble to latch on to the backs of passing females.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females can be the size of dinner plates, way bigger than the males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Success!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They take advantage of the fleeting high tides to haul their precious cargo as high up the beach as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females muscle their way up the beach, with the males in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greatest danger for these horseshoe crabs is flipping over, exposing their vulnerable underside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it only takes a small wave to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the hood, horseshoe crabs’ legs end in pincers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mature males have something special on their front legs …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “clasper” that looks like a little boxing glove with a hooked finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s perfect for gripping the back of a female’s shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To flip back over, the animals use their long, spiky tail, called a telson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It looks a little scary, but horseshoe crabs don’t sting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs have been making these high-tide treks under the glow of the full moon since before the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s more than 400 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone finds a date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Especially those younger males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they hike up the beach anyway in hopes of getting in on the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This female is dragging around two admirers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a female finds a good spot, she digs and digs into the wet sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The female lays roughly 4,000 eggs in one go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The male that clung to her all this time is in the best position to fertilize the most eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those single dudes crowd around too, vying to fertilize the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the party winds down, the grown-ups start heading back to sea,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’ll return for more of these high-tide soirees throughout the season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They leave their fertilized eggs behind, buried in the damp sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each one is smaller than a pea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of weeks the embryos inside develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the high tides return — these larvae are ready to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jostling of the waves stimulates them to break out of their shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have just a few hours to scramble into the turbulent surf, before the high tide recedes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll mature beneath the waves for roughly a decade before they’re ready to return as adults themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Where they’ll take their turn in this ancient dance of the moon, tides and sand.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Showing Climate Change as it Happens': A Veteran Photojournalist on Capturing California's Intensifying Wildfires",
"headTitle": "‘Showing Climate Change as it Happens’: A Veteran Photojournalist on Capturing California’s Intensifying Wildfires | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Kent Porter’s specialty as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is capturing images of wildfires, but he broke format to write an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kent-porter-capturing-climate-change-on-the-front-lines-of-the-dixie-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essay\u003c/a> about how he sees reporting on fire as documenting climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve just passed my 34th year as a photojournalist with The Press Democrat,” he writes. “Every year I think fire season can’t get worse, and it does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porter writes about a “wake-up moment” in 2015, when the Valley Fire and two other wildfires torched Lake County, where he grew up. He describes it as “a preview of the new era of catastrophic wildfire in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976495\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1023px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976495 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1023\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg 1023w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-800x457.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-1020x582.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-160x91.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke from the Dixie Fire hangs in the air as television lights eerily illuminate a burned hotel and restaurant in downtown Greenville. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter recalls fire racing through “bug-killed and parched forest atop Cobb Mountain before storming into Middletown, destroying more than 1,300 homes in all and killing four people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since then, Porter writes, he has felt a sense of responsibility to show how that “threat is escalating amid the onslaught of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Porter spoke with KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon about what it has been like covering this summer’s Dixie Fire, the largest single fire in California history, and the first recorded blaze to burn clear across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg\" alt=\"A fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-1020x773.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-160x121.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-768x582.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tehachapi Valley 11 fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon, July 25, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has it been like on the lines of the Dixie Fire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went up to the Dixie Fire twice, once on my own and once for the newspaper. I realized that it was going to be one of the biggest fires that we’ve covered.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Kent Porter, photojournalist\"]‘The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.’[/pullquote]It was amazing to see the amount of damage that was there. You never really get used to it, even after covering all these fires. One part of the fire blew up and burned 13,000 acres in an afternoon. There was a fire tornado. It’s amazing how dry everything is. The part of the fire that I was on had burned in 2009 and it went through there like it had not burned before, like a virgin forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Describe how you do this, because I don’t think people realize what an individual photographer has to do.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the advent of these climate change-induced fires, I prepare very carefully. I have all the things firefighters need to get on the line except for the firefighting tools. We carry fire shelters. We wear helmets, goggles, and gloves. When you’re in the fire, you’re pretty much there with the firefighters, documenting what they do. And that’s the reason I do it. I want to show people that fighting a fire is not all dropping fire retardant from airplanes and water from helicopters. It’s about the man hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with a fire like the Dixie Fire, you can only manage it. It’s hard to put it out, there’s just no way. The fire does what it wants to do on any given day. All the fires that we’ve experienced within the last six years since the Valley Fire, they just run until they want to stop running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976500\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg\" alt=\"United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-1020x643.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-160x101.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-768x484.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire as it enters Indian Valley, Monday night, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mentioned the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County. What changed then when it comes to wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed changes around 2012. Almost every wildland fire that I went to was involving structures, which was odd because the first several years that I did this job, I covered grass fires, but they were in unincorporated areas and there were no structures around. I just did it as part of my job, even though it was becoming a little bit more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"wildfires\"]In September of 2015, the Valley Fire went off. That was my wake up call, seeing the rates of spread and the flame lengths and how fast the fire moved in one afternoon, it just blew me away. I realized, we’re in a different era now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We keep hearing this from veteran firefighters. Fire behavior is off the charts, extreme this year and in recent years. But they often attribute it to forest management practices as opposed to climate change. What do you think?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s both. The forest management could be stronger. Climate change definitely has something to do with it. But with forest management, we’re so far behind right now, it’s going to take a long time to catch up. Climate change has exacerbated the problem. After you burn, you’ve got to go back every couple of years and retreat to that area. It’s a constant cycle to go on forever, really. If we want these fires to become under control, it’s something that we’re going to have to do. We have to face it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When do you really get scared? How do you decide that it’s too dangerous, that the photos aren’t worth it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good rule of thumb — if I drive down a road and I see the fire laying over the road and the wind has caught it, I don’t go in there. I will go in after the fire burns all the brush. I’m really careful about where I drive my vehicle. I always make sure I have two exit points. These big fires, they create pyrocumulous columns that go up 40,000 feet, dropping embers behind you, everywhere. Spot fires start in front of you, behind you, on the side. I’m very cautious about that. If the firefighters leave, it’s a good idea for me to leave, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg\" alt=\"Garth Foster, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-1020x1090.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-160x171.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-768x821.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garth Foster, who fells trees for the Barry Mickleburgh Tree Company, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You have quite a following on Twitter, and Santa Rosa newspaper readers, locals, they know you and your work. Why did you write that essay now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our communities in California suffer a great deal of PTSD when the wind blows, when it gets hot. We’re very fire aware in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. I felt like I owed it to the readers of the Press Democrat, to go out there and to kind of show them what it’s like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We photograph and report on things that go on in Sonoma County about our fires, but this is a statewide problem. Whether you agree if there’s climate change or not, fire behavior has changed within the last six years, in our region. It’s worse, much worse, off the charts, worse. We’re showing climate change as it happens, witnessing history. We’re witnessing climate change on a daily basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976499 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman in shorts, tank top and pink hair sits in front seat of truck cuddling a dog while another dog sits in passenger seat\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-160x100.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-768x480.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With most of her personal possessions packed in the truck bed, Chester resident Regina Rutledge takes comfort in Allie and Sally Sue, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You talk about a sense of camaraderie and an obligation to the firefighters that you see out in the field that you take pictures of?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They really work hard on the front lines. Imagine being on a fire for 24 hours and breathing the smoke for 24 hours. Think about last year when we had our orange sunrise in the Bay Area. That’s what firefighters live with every single day on a campaign fire. If you’re on a strike team, you’re up there for 15 or 21 days, and you’re breathing that smoke all day long. All night long. When you sleep, when you eat. I want to show people the kind of conditions that firefighters must work in to save communities. I just want to tell these human stories.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Kent Porter’s specialty as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is capturing images of wildfires, but he broke format to write an \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kent-porter-capturing-climate-change-on-the-front-lines-of-the-dixie-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">essay\u003c/a> about how he sees reporting on fire as documenting climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve just passed my 34th year as a photojournalist with The Press Democrat,” he writes. “Every year I think fire season can’t get worse, and it does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porter writes about a “wake-up moment” in 2015, when the Valley Fire and two other wildfires torched Lake County, where he grew up. He describes it as “a preview of the new era of catastrophic wildfire in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976495\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1023px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976495 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1023\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1.jpeg 1023w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-800x457.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-1020x582.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-160x91.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-1-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smoke from the Dixie Fire hangs in the air as television lights eerily illuminate a burned hotel and restaurant in downtown Greenville. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter recalls fire racing through “bug-killed and parched forest atop Cobb Mountain before storming into Middletown, destroying more than 1,300 homes in all and killing four people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since then, Porter writes, he has felt a sense of responsibility to show how that “threat is escalating amid the onslaught of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The daily record is important, but I also feel compelled to help chronicle this for history, to show just how dominant a force wildfire has become in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Porter spoke with KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon about what it has been like covering this summer’s Dixie Fire, the largest single fire in California history, and the first recorded blaze to burn clear across the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976498\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg\" alt=\"A fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon.\" width=\"800\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-800x606.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-1020x773.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-160x121.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3-768x582.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-3.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Tehachapi Valley 11 fire crew uses teamwork to refresh, rest and maintain equipment after cutting miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon, July 25, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What has it been like on the lines of the Dixie Fire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went up to the Dixie Fire twice, once on my own and once for the newspaper. I realized that it was going to be one of the biggest fires that we’ve covered.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It was amazing to see the amount of damage that was there. You never really get used to it, even after covering all these fires. One part of the fire blew up and burned 13,000 acres in an afternoon. There was a fire tornado. It’s amazing how dry everything is. The part of the fire that I was on had burned in 2009 and it went through there like it had not burned before, like a virgin forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Describe how you do this, because I don’t think people realize what an individual photographer has to do.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the advent of these climate change-induced fires, I prepare very carefully. I have all the things firefighters need to get on the line except for the firefighting tools. We carry fire shelters. We wear helmets, goggles, and gloves. When you’re in the fire, you’re pretty much there with the firefighters, documenting what they do. And that’s the reason I do it. I want to show people that fighting a fire is not all dropping fire retardant from airplanes and water from helicopters. It’s about the man hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with a fire like the Dixie Fire, you can only manage it. It’s hard to put it out, there’s just no way. The fire does what it wants to do on any given day. All the fires that we’ve experienced within the last six years since the Valley Fire, they just run until they want to stop running.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976500\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg\" alt=\"United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire.\" width=\"800\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-800x504.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-1020x643.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-160x101.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6-768x484.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-6.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">United States Forest Service firefighters from the Los Padres National Forest turn away from wind driven embers and smoke as they protect a structure from the Dixie fire as it enters Indian Valley, Monday night, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mentioned the 2015 Valley Fire in Lake County. What changed then when it comes to wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I noticed changes around 2012. Almost every wildland fire that I went to was involving structures, which was odd because the first several years that I did this job, I covered grass fires, but they were in unincorporated areas and there were no structures around. I just did it as part of my job, even though it was becoming a little bit more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In September of 2015, the Valley Fire went off. That was my wake up call, seeing the rates of spread and the flame lengths and how fast the fire moved in one afternoon, it just blew me away. I realized, we’re in a different era now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We keep hearing this from veteran firefighters. Fire behavior is off the charts, extreme this year and in recent years. But they often attribute it to forest management practices as opposed to climate change. What do you think?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s both. The forest management could be stronger. Climate change definitely has something to do with it. But with forest management, we’re so far behind right now, it’s going to take a long time to catch up. Climate change has exacerbated the problem. After you burn, you’ve got to go back every couple of years and retreat to that area. It’s a constant cycle to go on forever, really. If we want these fires to become under control, it’s something that we’re going to have to do. We have to face it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When do you really get scared? How do you decide that it’s too dangerous, that the photos aren’t worth it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A good rule of thumb — if I drive down a road and I see the fire laying over the road and the wind has caught it, I don’t go in there. I will go in after the fire burns all the brush. I’m really careful about where I drive my vehicle. I always make sure I have two exit points. These big fires, they create pyrocumulous columns that go up 40,000 feet, dropping embers behind you, everywhere. Spot fires start in front of you, behind you, on the side. I’m very cautious about that. If the firefighters leave, it’s a good idea for me to leave, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976502\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg\" alt=\"Garth Foster, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor.\" width=\"800\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-800x855.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-1020x1090.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-160x171.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4-768x821.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-4.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garth Foster, who fells trees for the Barry Mickleburgh Tree Company, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You have quite a following on Twitter, and Santa Rosa newspaper readers, locals, they know you and your work. Why did you write that essay now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our communities in California suffer a great deal of PTSD when the wind blows, when it gets hot. We’re very fire aware in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. I felt like I owed it to the readers of the Press Democrat, to go out there and to kind of show them what it’s like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We photograph and report on things that go on in Sonoma County about our fires, but this is a statewide problem. Whether you agree if there’s climate change or not, fire behavior has changed within the last six years, in our region. It’s worse, much worse, off the charts, worse. We’re showing climate change as it happens, witnessing history. We’re witnessing climate change on a daily basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976499 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman in shorts, tank top and pink hair sits in front seat of truck cuddling a dog while another dog sits in passenger seat\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-800x500.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-1020x638.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-160x100.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5-768x480.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/download-5.jpeg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With most of her personal possessions packed in the truck bed, Chester resident Regina Rutledge takes comfort in Allie and Sally Sue, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. \u003ccite>(Kent Porter/Press Democrat)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You talk about a sense of camaraderie and an obligation to the firefighters that you see out in the field that you take pictures of?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They really work hard on the front lines. Imagine being on a fire for 24 hours and breathing the smoke for 24 hours. Think about last year when we had our orange sunrise in the Bay Area. That’s what firefighters live with every single day on a campaign fire. If you’re on a strike team, you’re up there for 15 or 21 days, and you’re breathing that smoke all day long. All night long. When you sleep, when you eat. I want to show people the kind of conditions that firefighters must work in to save communities. I just want to tell these human stories.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In August 2013, Ron and Cheryl Harms were eagerly anticipating the third harvest from their boutique vineyard in the Sierra Foothills when the massive, fast-moving Rim Fire zigzagged perilously close to their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple’s four-acre Yosemite Cellars vineyard sits on a rocky hillside surrounded by forest about 20 miles west of Yosemite National Park. From their perch high above the valley, the Harms watched helplessly as planes released flame retardant around the gathering firestorm and thick clouds of smoke settled on their ripening grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we convinced ourselves that we were probably going to be okay, personally, and that our property was going to be okay, it was fascinating to just see where the fire was going and how it was being fought,” said Ron Harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fascinating yet terrifying, said Cheryl Harms, fighting back tears. “I have PTSD from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rim Fire, at the time California’s third-largest wildfire, torched more than a quarter of a million acres of Sierra forestland, including nearly 80,000 acres in Yosemite. The inferno spared the Harms’ home and vineyard. But it left the couple grappling with a grape affliction that has emerged as the West Coast wine industry’s latest scourge: smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our grapes were very smoky,” said Cheryl Harms. When they had juice from their grapes analyzed, she said, “it was smokier than anything they’d ever tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there was little they could do to remove the taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause extensive damage throughout the agricultural industry, destroying crops and killing livestock. But grapes appear to be the only commodity affected by smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winemakers intentionally add subtle smoky notes to increase the complexity of wines by aging them in toasted oak barrels. But wildfire smoke can make wines undrinkable. Smoke-tainted wines have unpleasant aromas often described as disinfectant or burnt rubber and taste “like licking an ashtray,” experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine being a 5-year-old who thinks it’s fun to put dad’s old cigarette in their mouth,” said Anita Oberholster, an enology extension specialist who studies smoke taint at the University of California, Davis. Smoke taint, like sucking on a cigarette butt, assaults the back of your throat with a trademark campfire smoke or ashtray quality, she said. “The only thing I’ve ever seen that gives you that character is smoke exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke taint can ruin a wine as surely as a bad cork. And as climate change increases the likelihood of drought-fueled conflagrations in fire-prone California, wildfire’s effects on grape quality have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the state’s $43 billion wine industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic was an enormous challenge,” said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. “But now, without question, I think the threat of wildfire in many different ways is the greatest challenge of the day for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising global temperatures have made droughts and heatwaves more common and intense, fueling ever more devastating wildfires. Last year, thousands of drought-primed fires scorched more than 4 million acres in California—close to 40% of the national total—making 2020 the state’s largest wildfire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still in the throes of severe drought, nearly a million and a half acres have already burned in the state this year, according to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After several devastating fire seasons, many California vintners and wineries found themselves either \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/denied-property-insurance-napa-valley-wineries-extremely-vulnerable-this-fire-season/article_709a9690-11bf-54aa-b603-6a6a09fbc147.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denied fire insurance\u003c/a> because they were too risky or priced out of coverage as rates skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause serious economic losses through direct damage to vineyards and wineries. But vineyards tend to be fairly resistant to the flames, Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In wine country vineyards have demonstrated themselves to be good fire breaks. They can really help prevent the movement of fire,” he said. “But the smoke is a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losses incurred from smoke drifting into vineyards before harvest \u003ca href=\"https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/07c52619-2f6a-44a6-8502-2a67f238abd7/Krstic_et_al-2015-Australian_Journal_of_Grape_and_Wine_Research.pdf\">far outweigh\u003c/a> direct losses from fires, industry analysts say\u003cstrong>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With fire season already in high gear, scientists are scrambling to help growers figure out how to protect their harvests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Adapting to smoke\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Scientists first recognized wildfire smoke’s growing threat to wine grapes less than two decades ago, around the same time \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change was driving\u003c/a> more and more destructive fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires in southeastern Australia followed one of the most severe droughts on record, and left winegrowing regions shrouded in smoke for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inundated by inquiries for help from wineries and grape growers, the Australian Wine Research Institute ran experimental trials to understand the nature and extent of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few vineyards sustained fire damage, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2003_AWRI_Annual_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">institute found\u003c/a>, but damage from smoke exposure was widespread. Institute scientists identified compounds associated with smoke taint’s hallmark ashtray qualities. But solutions, they concluded, “remain elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, Australia had the brunt of the wildfires,” said Oberholster, of UC Davis. “And now since 2017, the West Coast is in the same boat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California endured “one of the deadliest and most destructive fire seasons in modern history,” according to Cal Fire. Fewer fires burned the following year, but they tore through hundreds of thousands more acres to cause some of the worst destruction ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Harms and Eric Harms stand in front of big oak wine barrels. \" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of the Harms’ sons, Ryan (left) and Eric Harms, took over management of Yosemite Cellars in June. \u003ccite>(Yosemite Cellars/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Devastating firestorms were no longer an anomaly in wine country, but the new norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ron Harms looked out his window in early July, he could see smoke on the horizon. “It’s from the Dixie Fire, I presume, though there are also some fires in Yosemite that might be contributing to that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dixie Fire, now California’s second-largest fire on record, incinerated most of the small Sierra Nevada town of Greenville a few weeks ago, and has barely slowed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s little Harms can do about the smoke, he said. “Our reality as a grower and wine producer is that we just have to roll with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After yet another record-breaking fire season in 2020, wine grape growers suffered substantial economic losses due to concerns about smoke exposure. An estimated 165,000 to 325,000 tons of California wine grapes went unharvested last year, contributing to more than $600 million in losses from wildfire and smoke, according to an analysis \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/07/08/cawg-legal-analysis-2020-winegrape-rejections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">released in July\u003c/a> by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Allied Grape Growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many wineries rejected growers’ wine grapes, the analysis found, “often with little evidence to support the rejection and without basis in the grape purchase contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major problem stemmed from fuzzy language in contracts about “quality standards.” Contracts drawn up before severe wildfires had become a recurring wine country hazard did not mention smoke exposure. More recent contracts referenced “smoke taint” or “smoke compounds,” without clear definitions or evaluation criteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lack of understanding and science around smoke issues has meant that people are acting very conservatively and rejecting grapes,” Aguirre said. “The purpose of our report is to highlight that, regrettably, some of these actions by wineries were just inconsistent with contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires are contributing in a substantial way to economic losses in the industry, Aguirre added. “And we’ve got to change the way we’re doing things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, Aguirre and other industry leaders from California, Oregon and Washington formed the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force to advocate for federal funding for research on managing smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force won a $2 million grant to support smoke exposure research last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, and expects an additional $5 million for research when the 2022 federal appropriations bill passes. The hope is to find ways to predict the risk of smoke taint in the vineyard and mitigate its effects in the winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re optimistic that funding for research will help a great deal,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Dissecting smoke’s effects\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Oberholster is among the scientists leading that research. One of her top priorities will be to identify objective markers of smoke-affected grapes. The task is complicated by the fact that some of the same chemical compounds associated with taint occur naturally in berries at levels that vary among grape varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the growers’ contracts talk about “elevated” levels, Oberholster said. But to know what’s elevated, you need to know what’s normal. “We need to figure out a baseline for each variety to figure out what’s normal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations of the compounds vary seasonally, so it will take multiple seasons to get an accurate picture of what’s normal. Australian scientists identified markers for their top 12 varieties, but it took them seven years because wildfire smoke kept interfering with their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oberholster had been studying a grapevine virus in an experimental Napa vineyard when the 2017 firestorms broke out. She couldn’t get to her plot for 10 days, as wildfire smoke settled on her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when my smoke exposure research started,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In August 2013, Ron and Cheryl Harms were eagerly anticipating the third harvest from their boutique vineyard in the Sierra Foothills when the massive, fast-moving Rim Fire zigzagged perilously close to their property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple’s four-acre Yosemite Cellars vineyard sits on a rocky hillside surrounded by forest about 20 miles west of Yosemite National Park. From their perch high above the valley, the Harms watched helplessly as planes released flame retardant around the gathering firestorm and thick clouds of smoke settled on their ripening grapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we convinced ourselves that we were probably going to be okay, personally, and that our property was going to be okay, it was fascinating to just see where the fire was going and how it was being fought,” said Ron Harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fascinating yet terrifying, said Cheryl Harms, fighting back tears. “I have PTSD from it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Rim Fire, at the time California’s third-largest wildfire, torched more than a quarter of a million acres of Sierra forestland, including nearly 80,000 acres in Yosemite. The inferno spared the Harms’ home and vineyard. But it left the couple grappling with a grape affliction that has emerged as the West Coast wine industry’s latest scourge: smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our grapes were very smoky,” said Cheryl Harms. When they had juice from their grapes analyzed, she said, “it was smokier than anything they’d ever tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there was little they could do to remove the taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause extensive damage throughout the agricultural industry, destroying crops and killing livestock. But grapes appear to be the only commodity affected by smoke taint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Winemakers intentionally add subtle smoky notes to increase the complexity of wines by aging them in toasted oak barrels. But wildfire smoke can make wines undrinkable. Smoke-tainted wines have unpleasant aromas often described as disinfectant or burnt rubber and taste “like licking an ashtray,” experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine being a 5-year-old who thinks it’s fun to put dad’s old cigarette in their mouth,” said Anita Oberholster, an enology extension specialist who studies smoke taint at the University of California, Davis. Smoke taint, like sucking on a cigarette butt, assaults the back of your throat with a trademark campfire smoke or ashtray quality, she said. “The only thing I’ve ever seen that gives you that character is smoke exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoke taint can ruin a wine as surely as a bad cork. And as climate change increases the likelihood of drought-fueled conflagrations in fire-prone California, wildfire’s effects on grape quality have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the state’s $43 billion wine industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pandemic was an enormous challenge,” said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. “But now, without question, I think the threat of wildfire in many different ways is the greatest challenge of the day for the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rising global temperatures have made droughts and heatwaves more common and intense, fueling ever more devastating wildfires. Last year, thousands of drought-primed fires scorched more than 4 million acres in California—close to 40% of the national total—making 2020 the state’s largest wildfire season on record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still in the throes of severe drought, nearly a million and a half acres have already burned in the state this year, according to Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After several devastating fire seasons, many California vintners and wineries found themselves either \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/denied-property-insurance-napa-valley-wineries-extremely-vulnerable-this-fire-season/article_709a9690-11bf-54aa-b603-6a6a09fbc147.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denied fire insurance\u003c/a> because they were too risky or priced out of coverage as rates skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires can cause serious economic losses through direct damage to vineyards and wineries. But vineyards tend to be fairly resistant to the flames, Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In wine country vineyards have demonstrated themselves to be good fire breaks. They can really help prevent the movement of fire,” he said. “But the smoke is a problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losses incurred from smoke drifting into vineyards before harvest \u003ca href=\"https://www.wineaustralia.com/getmedia/07c52619-2f6a-44a6-8502-2a67f238abd7/Krstic_et_al-2015-Australian_Journal_of_Grape_and_Wine_Research.pdf\">far outweigh\u003c/a> direct losses from fires, industry analysts say\u003cstrong>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With fire season already in high gear, scientists are scrambling to help growers figure out how to protect their harvests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Adapting to smoke\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Scientists first recognized wildfire smoke’s growing threat to wine grapes less than two decades ago, around the same time \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/113/42/11770\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change was driving\u003c/a> more and more destructive fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires in southeastern Australia followed one of the most severe droughts on record, and left winegrowing regions shrouded in smoke for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inundated by inquiries for help from wineries and grape growers, the Australian Wine Research Institute ran experimental trials to understand the nature and extent of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few vineyards sustained fire damage, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2003_AWRI_Annual_Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">institute found\u003c/a>, but damage from smoke exposure was widespread. Institute scientists identified compounds associated with smoke taint’s hallmark ashtray qualities. But solutions, they concluded, “remain elusive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, Australia had the brunt of the wildfires,” said Oberholster, of UC Davis. “And now since 2017, the West Coast is in the same boat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, California endured “one of the deadliest and most destructive fire seasons in modern history,” according to Cal Fire. Fewer fires burned the following year, but they tore through hundreds of thousands more acres to cause some of the worst destruction ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Harms and Eric Harms stand in front of big oak wine barrels. \" width=\"800\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-1020x685.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/RyanleftEricright.Harms_.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of the Harms’ sons, Ryan (left) and Eric Harms, took over management of Yosemite Cellars in June. \u003ccite>(Yosemite Cellars/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Devastating firestorms were no longer an anomaly in wine country, but the new norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Ron Harms looked out his window in early July, he could see smoke on the horizon. “It’s from the Dixie Fire, I presume, though there are also some fires in Yosemite that might be contributing to that,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dixie Fire, now California’s second-largest fire on record, incinerated most of the small Sierra Nevada town of Greenville a few weeks ago, and has barely slowed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s little Harms can do about the smoke, he said. “Our reality as a grower and wine producer is that we just have to roll with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After yet another record-breaking fire season in 2020, wine grape growers suffered substantial economic losses due to concerns about smoke exposure. An estimated 165,000 to 325,000 tons of California wine grapes went unharvested last year, contributing to more than $600 million in losses from wildfire and smoke, according to an analysis \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/07/08/cawg-legal-analysis-2020-winegrape-rejections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">released in July\u003c/a> by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Allied Grape Growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many wineries rejected growers’ wine grapes, the analysis found, “often with little evidence to support the rejection and without basis in the grape purchase contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major problem stemmed from fuzzy language in contracts about “quality standards.” Contracts drawn up before severe wildfires had become a recurring wine country hazard did not mention smoke exposure. More recent contracts referenced “smoke taint” or “smoke compounds,” without clear definitions or evaluation criteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lack of understanding and science around smoke issues has meant that people are acting very conservatively and rejecting grapes,” Aguirre said. “The purpose of our report is to highlight that, regrettably, some of these actions by wineries were just inconsistent with contracts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires are contributing in a substantial way to economic losses in the industry, Aguirre added. “And we’ve got to change the way we’re doing things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toward that end, Aguirre and other industry leaders from California, Oregon and Washington formed the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force to advocate for federal funding for research on managing smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force won a $2 million grant to support smoke exposure research last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, and expects an additional $5 million for research when the 2022 federal appropriations bill passes. The hope is to find ways to predict the risk of smoke taint in the vineyard and mitigate its effects in the winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re optimistic that funding for research will help a great deal,” Aguirre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Dissecting smoke’s effects\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Oberholster is among the scientists leading that research. One of her top priorities will be to identify objective markers of smoke-affected grapes. The task is complicated by the fact that some of the same chemical compounds associated with taint occur naturally in berries at levels that vary among grape varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the growers’ contracts talk about “elevated” levels, Oberholster said. But to know what’s elevated, you need to know what’s normal. “We need to figure out a baseline for each variety to figure out what’s normal,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations of the compounds vary seasonally, so it will take multiple seasons to get an accurate picture of what’s normal. Australian scientists identified markers for their top 12 varieties, but it took them seven years because wildfire smoke kept interfering with their efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oberholster had been studying a grapevine virus in an experimental Napa vineyard when the 2017 firestorms broke out. She couldn’t get to her plot for 10 days, as wildfire smoke settled on her vineyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when my smoke exposure research started,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "with-a-deepening-drought-california-has-few-protections-for-depleted-groundwater",
"title": "With a Deepening Drought, California Has Few Protections for Depleted Groundwater",
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"headTitle": "With a Deepening Drought, California Has Few Protections for Depleted Groundwater | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Kelly O’Brien’s drinking water well had been in its death throes for days before its pump finally gave out over Memorial Day weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t a quiet death at O’Brien’s home in Glenn County, about 100 miles north of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spigots rattled. Faucets sputtered. The drinking water turned rusty with sediment. In the end, two houses, three adults, three children, two horses, four dogs and a couple of cats on her 5 acres of land were all left with no water for their sinks, showers, laundry, troughs and water bowls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extreme drought spread\u003c/a> across the state, O’Brien feared that the water underneath her property had sunk so low that it was out of the reach of her well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole time you’re going, ‘Oh please, let it be something else. Let it be a switch. Let it be the pump — let it be anything but being out of water,’” O’Brien said. She worried that she might have to take out a second mortgage to afford the thousands of dollars if her well had to be drilled deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon O’Brien learned that other wells were failing around her. She heard about one neighbor to the north, another to the east. The list kept growing: She started a Facebook group for owners of dry wells to share their woes and resources, and it grew to more than 665 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a way, you’re kind of relieved it’s not just you,” O’Brien said. “However, it’s really terrifying at the same time to think that it’s not just us — it is everybody around us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the height of the state’s last drought, thousands of Californians in the Central Valley \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ran out of water\u003c/a> as their wells went dry. So much water was pumped from underground, mostly by growers, that the earth collapsed, sinking up to 2 feet per year \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-data-show-californias-san-joaquin-valley-still-sinking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in parts of the San Joaquin Valley\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alarmed, the California Legislature in 2014 enacted \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a package of new laws\u003c/a> that aimed to stop the over-pumping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But seven years later, little has changed for Californians relying on drinking water wells: Depletion of their groundwater continues. Pumping is \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely unrestricted\u003c/a>, and there are few, if any, protections in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after two dry years, \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywatersupply.water.ca.gov/report/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports of dry wells\u003c/a> are worsening and spreading in many new areas, leaving more families like O’Brien’s with no drinking water. Despite the law, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/commentary-how-better-data-can-help-california-avoid-a-drinking-water-crisis/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2,700 wells across the state\u003c/a> are projected to go dry this year, and if the drought continues, 1,000 more next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Called the Sustainable Management Groundwater Act or SGMA, the laws gave local groundwater agencies in critically overdrafted basins 26 years — until 2040 — to achieve sustainability and stop impacts of overdraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/sgma/docs/sgma/sgma_20190101.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">from worsening\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those managing less-depleted water supplies, like the ones underlying Glenn County, have until 2042.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, somewhat predictably, this drought arrived much sooner than the laws’ safeguards: As a result, echoes of the last drought are now sputtering from people’s faucets and knocking through their empty pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like we’re in a very similar place to where we were in the last drought,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcy-bostic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darcy Bostic\u003c/a>, who \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/publication/at_risk_wells_sgma/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analyzed groundwater sustainability plans\u003c/a> at the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank. “Everyone talks about how it’s different, and how it will take time, but people are still going to lose access to drinking water. And we don’t really have a new plan for addressing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the last drought, dry wells were \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely in the San Joaquin Valley\u003c/a>, but Northern California is being hit hard this time. Well outages are creeping north through \u003ca href=\"https://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/sacramento-valley.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Sacramento Valley\u003c/a>, where Glenn, Tehama and Colusa residents reported more than 250 well outages to county officials by mid-August, more than were reported during the last drought. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Data-and-Tools/Files/Maps/Groundwater-Level-Change/DOTMAP_Reports/Spring-2020-Groundwater-DOTMAP-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Almost half of measurements\u003c/a> showed groundwater levels dropped last year compared to the previous three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scope is much larger than I think anything we heard about before,” said \u003ca href=\"https://agency.calepa.ca.gov/StaffDirectory/detail.asp?UID=6250&BDO=7&VW=DET\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Karkoski\u003c/a>, the State Water Resources Control Board’s deputy director of the division of financial assistance. “We’re hearing from counties that we didn’t hear from during the last drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now former state Sen. Fran Pavley, a Democrat and an author of the bills that became the act, says it may be time for the California Legislature and state agencies to accelerate its implementation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know when the next drought will come. So when this passed in 2014, I think most of us thought it would probably be plenty of time,” Pavley said. And was it? “Apparently not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A changing landscape, fast forward\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Interstate 5 through the Sacramento Valley offers a fast-forward view of a changing landscape. Jade green \u003ca href=\"https://gis.water.ca.gov/app/CADWRLandUseViewer/\">rice fields give way\u003c/a> to the stop-motion blur of orchards. “Let the good times grow!” declares a peeling sign along the highway to Glenn County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers hiss in the hot summer sun in orchards near O’Brien’s home, but she still has no water. It’s been longer than a month since her pump gave out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s had only two real showers, one that cost $15 at a health club, and bucket-washes with water from a neighbor’s well heated on the stove most days. She tries to avoid outdoor work that would soil her clothes and make her sweat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day was consumed with the next step on how to live your life without water,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her dishes simmer in a slow cooker all day before O’Brien washes them at night with boiled bottled water. With no water to rinse rags, the dust that kicks up from dirt roads and is dragged inside by her two dogs builds up on her furniture. “It just keeps getting thicker, and thicker — and pretty soon you can write your name in it,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price tag of waterless life is adding up. She’s had to purchase drinking water and a hastily acquired storage tank, and her weekly laundromat visits cost $30 each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the little extras that you really can’t afford to be without,” O’Brien says. “Honestly, this is the last set of clothes I have before I have to do laundry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>California’s groundwater is a precious resource\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For all of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\">California’s grand engineering feats to shunt the flow \u003c/a>of rivers from one part of the state to another, most of its \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/bulletin-118\">more than 7,400 public water systems\u003c/a> rely on water sucked from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For 6 million people, it’s their only source. In a good year, groundwater makes up about 40% of California’s water supply. In a bad one, like this year, it’s close to 60%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976431\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976431 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-800x542.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-800x542.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-1020x691.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-160x108.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-768x520.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-1536x1040.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers at the Orland Fire Department in Glenn County distribute bottled water to people with dry wells on July 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Rachel Becker/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fed by rain, snow and streams, groundwater is one of California’s most precious resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In dry years, when the flows from surface waterways dwindle, growers — who account for about 80% of all groundwater used in the state — tap into more of the underground supply to irrigate their parched crops. In 2015, growers pumped more than twice what they did in 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a limited store that’s slow to refill — a hydrological savings account overdrawn by up to 2.5 million acre-feet statewide every year, according to a state groundwater report. That’s enough water to supply about 7.5 million Southern California households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reported 2,600 household water shortages through January 2019, largely in low-income Latino communities in the San Joaquin Valley — a number that state officials acknowledge is certainly an underestimate because most people don’t report their dry wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers were among those who struggled, fallowing an estimated half-a-million acres of land. Matt Angell, a Madera County almond and grape grower who also drills and repairs wells, still remembers the trauma of the last drought. He couldn’t sleep, and developed diabetes that he blames in part on the stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three years, desperate farmers and well owners kept calling Angell for help. “The stress of knowing people were going to lose their farm was overwhelming. The stress of people calling me and going, ‘I don’t have any water in my house’ was overwhelming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In O’Brien’s Glenn County, the Board of Supervisors enacted a drilling moratorium for new agricultural wells through the end of next June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s farmers are feeling the pain of the overdrafted groundwater. But they urged a more targeted approach to a ban, only in the areas suffering severe depletion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This county would not really exist if it wasn’t for ag,” said Matt Lohse, who told the Board of Supervisors he’s proud to be a Glenn County farmer. “My dad is actually going to have to drill a new house well, currently he’s fighting to be able to irrigate. … I get it. I understand the impact in Glenn County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Vereschagin, who grows almonds and prunes around Orland and Artois, told CalMatters that he doesn’t have enough surface water and his wells are producing less during the drought, so he had to start buying water from other growers and irrigation districts. Without it, “I wouldn’t have enough to irrigate all my orchards after harvest, do some of the post-harvest irrigation, which is critical for setting next year’s crop,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ritta Martin, a sixth-generation rancher and president of the Glenn County Farm Bureau, worries about California’s endless cycles of drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just seems like there’s been more dry years than not, in recent memory,” she said. In dry years, “the groundwater can’t sustain all of the orchards and other irrigated crops that we have in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s scary to think about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving down county roads in her Ford F-150, O’Brien can tell which of her neighbors are out of water by the plastic storage tanks erupting from their yards. She points out rows of trees where there had once been a dairy or a hayfield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien lives on the same lot on the outskirts of Orland that her parents bought in the late 1960s, when she was a child. She’s worked as a hairstylist and bartender and raised four children, and she now lives in a mobile home on her land while her son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren occupy the main house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her parents moved to the Sacramento Valley from Chicago, drawn by the slower pace of a community created by irrigated agriculture. In the early 1900s, enticed by advertisements promising “Water available and in abundance at all seasons of the year,” farmers transformed Glenn County, contributing more than $1 billion a year to the economy and providing one in three jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The promise of abundant water, though, has now become more precarious\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Increasingly unreliable surface water supplies have led to more reliance on groundwater and less water seeping into the subterranean stores. Many dry wells, like O’Brien’s, cluster near Stony Creek. The creek, which soaks into the soil and replenishes groundwater in wet years, has slowed to a trickle, edged by green scum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien had to lower her well’s pump once already to reach water during the last drought. But she is relieved to learn that the diagnosis this time isn’t as bad as she originally feared. The groundwater has again sunk below the reach of her pump, but not below the depth of her well. So she needs to lower a new pump, not a new well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien noticed that her well’s problems began when nut orchards began replacing hayfields. She’s reluctant to point fingers in her small community, but the facts illustrate the problem. Orchards in the area create a double whammy: They are often irrigated by groundwater but don’t feed underground stores like other crops do when flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agriculture is Glenn County’s biggest water user, according to the county, and orchards bearing fruit and nuts have almost doubled in acreage from 2009 to 2019. More than 650 permits for agricultural wells were issued over the last 10 years, compared to 380 for households. (Not all of them may have been drilled.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had the rains and the snowfall and everything else that we needed in order to fill our reservoirs … we wouldn’t be talking today,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she asks, “How many acres of almonds are we going to actually put in this county before people say uncle?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As O’Brien drives past an orchard, the mechanical whine of an agricultural well hums through the truck’s window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can hear them screaming,” she says, “and it goes on, and on and on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California was the last in the nation to regulate groundwater statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There had been limited attempts to tackle it before 2014: Grant funding for local governments dangled in exchange for developing groundwater management plans. A monitoring program tracked groundwater levels. Some regions, like Orange County, managed their groundwater themselves for decades, charging pumpers to pay for water to replenish aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1970s, on the heels of a historic drought, then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s Water Rights Commission called for a strong state policy to protect groundwater, and recommended that local agencies take the lead in adopting management plans. If they failed, the state water board could bring in the attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort led to further study but little meaningful change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the last drought gained steam, so did the legislation — and to Brown, it must have sounded familiar. The act tasked local groundwater agencies with developing plans to avoid worsening the major aftershocks of groundwater depletion, including “significant and unreasonable“ seawater intrusion, land subsidence, and degradation of water quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s mandate, though, is still two decades away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law is “not geared for today’s drought. It’s geared for future droughts, which are going to be much worse,” said Felicia Marcus, who chaired the State Water Resources Control Board under Brown during the last drought. “They were meant as a climate change hedge and a way to assure that folks can farm off into the future. They weren’t an instant Band-Aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcus and lawmakers involved at the time said the 20-year deadline was set because of the time needed to create new local agencies and let streams and other sources gradually recharge groundwater depleted over decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was something of a marriage between what could be done both practically and politically, along with what had to be done from an environmental standpoint,” said former Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Democrat from Sacramento and lead author of one of the act’s bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, given the pace of climate change, the timeline gives “them maybe longer than — now looking back — (it) should have been,” Pavley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a state like California that prides itself on being environmentally oriented and sensitive, we have a long way to go when it comes to managing our groundwater and protecting access to clean drinking water for all Californians,” Pavley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Farm Bureau opposed the legislation, saying it \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-groundwater-20140908-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was too far-reaching\u003c/a>. By some estimates, between \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley-february-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">500,000\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e56f3cdb4c0de1f3af59166/t/5ebd753c879bb66cc1b0c74e/1589474628077/Blueprint.EIA.PhaseOne.2.28-v4+%281%29.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a million acres\u003c/a> of farmland would have to be fallowed to end the San Joaquin Valley’s overdraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the focus is on helping growers participate in the local planning process, said Chris Scheuring, the California Farm Bureau’s water lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sooner or later, we were going to have to reckon with declining groundwater levels in some of the places,” he said. “Farmers didn’t necessarily embrace (the law) at the outset but they are surely trying to figure out how to deal with it now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the local agencies — \u003ca href=\"https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/pub/2021/02/18/v24n3_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely run by agricultural interests\u003c/a> — have two decades to reduce overpumping to sustainable levels, their efforts to figure out how to do it are ongoing. January 2020 was the deadline for agencies \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/basin-prioritization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">responsible for the most critically overdrafted basins\u003c/a> to submit plans to manage their groundwater; the rest have until 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Anagnoson, director of water and natural resources for Madera County, where \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/bulletin-118/critically-overdrafted-basins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">groundwater is critically overdrafted\u003c/a>, said she feels deeply conflicted about the timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are working so hard, and I often feel like half of the world is like ‘Why aren’t you doing this at twice the speed?’ And the other half is like ‘Why are you going so fast? You have 20 years!’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far the Department of Water Resources has approved plans \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for a Salinas Valley basin\u003c/a> and another \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>, and sent plans in \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/35\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paso Robles\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cuyama Valley\u003c/a> back for more work. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2021/July/Facts-from-Groundwater-Plan-Assessments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A common theme\u003c/a> was that the water agencies needed to consider impacts to drinking water wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a problem, if we now have only reviewed four plans,” said groundwater act architect Pavley, who said there might be a need for more funding or staff to accelerate the review. “That’s a red flag right there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Gosselin, California’s deputy director of statewide groundwater management, said the agency is tasked with reviewing plans that are thousands of pages apiece and coming up with “specific and actionable” input on each one. But he said the local agencies can start implementing them now, even while they’re still being assessed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some residents with dry wells blame local and state officials for not controlling pumping. “Who’s supposedly watching our groundwater?” said Mario Bringetto, a Madera County homeowner whose pump now sucks dirt into his pipes as the water table falls. “The people who are in charge are doing a terrible job, in my opinion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If local agencies fail to develop or implement satisfactory plans, \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Sustainable-Groundwater-Management/Groundwater-Sustainability-Plans/Files/GSP/Overview-of-COD-GSPs.pdf?la=en&hash=79DB286C10345CFAE9AEA25EF3084351EDCA6C78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the state water board can step in\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former water board chair, Marcus, said “people can’t wait the 20 years,” so \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Sustainable-Groundwater-Management/Groundwater-Sustainability-Plans/Files/GSP/Overview-of-COD-GSPs.pdf?la=en&hash=79DB286C10345CFAE9AEA25EF3084351EDCA6C78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> must take strong steps to ensure that the plans “are based on real stuff, not wishful thinking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In O’Brien’s Glenn County, the local agencies responsible for monitoring the groundwater underneath her home haven’t submitted their plans yet. The water there is not considered “critically overdrafted” so the plans aren’t due until January 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve heard recently from quite a few folks that (the act) is about 10 years too late,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.countyofglenn.net/water-resources-contact-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lisa Hunter\u003c/a>, who is leading the county’s effort to draft the plan. “The ones that are having issues right now, there’s nothing in place currently to help ease their fears.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some researchers predict that the new plans will fail to protect shallow drinking water wells that serve households, many of them \u003ca href=\"https://environmentalpolicy.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk6866/files/files/person/Research%20Brief%20June%202018%20-%20English.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in disadvantaged communities\u003c/a>. Thousands of domestic and hundreds of community drinking water wells could fail under the current sustainability goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Joaquin Valley’s plans, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://waterfdn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Groundwater-Management-and-Safe-Drinking-Water-in-the-San-Joaquin-Valley-Brief-6-2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">could allow up to 12,000 drinking water\u003c/a> wells to go partially or completely dry by 2040, according to the Water Foundation. From 46,000 to 127,000 people could lose access to at least some drinking water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2015, Jay Famiglietti, then a senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and CalTech, \u003ca href=\"http://www.livingrivers.org/pdfs/Press/CaliforniaHasAboutOneYearOfWaterLeftWillYouRationNow.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warned that the new law\u003c/a> would allow “nearly 30 years before we even know what is working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By then, there may be no groundwater left to sustain,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the rate of depletion has accelerated: It’s about 1.5 times higher now than measured during previous droughts, according to preliminary satellite data, Famiglietti said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things have only gotten worse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘You don’t know how good that feels’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>On a hot July day, O’Brien is leaving the dry lakebed of \u003ca href=\"https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stony Gorge Reservoir\u003c/a> when her daughter-in-law texts her: The water is finally back, after five long weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing O’Brien does when she gets home is turn on the hose. “I’ll be damned,” O’Brien says, running her fingers through the stream. Her two pit bulls, delighted by the spray, snap at water belching from the spigot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976432\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976432 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelly O’Brien and her dog, Louie, enjoy water flowing through a hose for the first time in more than a month after a new pump was installed in her well to reach the sinking groundwater on July 2, 2021. \u003ccite>(Rachel Becker/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, O’Brien holds her hands under the tap and wipes the water across her face. “You don’t know how good that feels,” she says. “To be able to put it on your face, I mean —” she grabs a packet of baby wipes off the counter, “they just don’t cut it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of her neighbors, though, are still waiting without water. Some report wait times to drill their new wells or lower their pumps are stretching out for months, leaving entire households, their pets and their livestock living on tanker truck deliveries, bottled water supplies and hoses connected to neighbors’ spigots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But O’Brien still doesn’t feel safe even now that her water is flowing again. As endless cycles of drought grip California, the groundwater underneath her home is dropping lower and lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how long this is going to last,” she says, standing in her parched yard across the street from lush, green, irrigated orchards. “We just hope it lasts for a while. And we get some rain.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A state law gave local agencies at least 26 years — until 2040 — to stop the impacts of over-pumping.",
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"title": "With a Deepening Drought, California Has Few Protections for Depleted Groundwater | KQED",
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"headline": "With a Deepening Drought, California Has Few Protections for Depleted Groundwater",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Kelly O’Brien’s drinking water well had been in its death throes for days before its pump finally gave out over Memorial Day weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t a quiet death at O’Brien’s home in Glenn County, about 100 miles north of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spigots rattled. Faucets sputtered. The drinking water turned rusty with sediment. In the end, two houses, three adults, three children, two horses, four dogs and a couple of cats on her 5 acres of land were all left with no water for their sinks, showers, laundry, troughs and water bowls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extreme drought spread\u003c/a> across the state, O’Brien feared that the water underneath her property had sunk so low that it was out of the reach of her well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole time you’re going, ‘Oh please, let it be something else. Let it be a switch. Let it be the pump — let it be anything but being out of water,’” O’Brien said. She worried that she might have to take out a second mortgage to afford the thousands of dollars if her well had to be drilled deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon O’Brien learned that other wells were failing around her. She heard about one neighbor to the north, another to the east. The list kept growing: She started a Facebook group for owners of dry wells to share their woes and resources, and it grew to more than 665 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a way, you’re kind of relieved it’s not just you,” O’Brien said. “However, it’s really terrifying at the same time to think that it’s not just us — it is everybody around us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the height of the state’s last drought, thousands of Californians in the Central Valley \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ran out of water\u003c/a> as their wells went dry. So much water was pumped from underground, mostly by growers, that the earth collapsed, sinking up to 2 feet per year \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-data-show-californias-san-joaquin-valley-still-sinking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in parts of the San Joaquin Valley\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alarmed, the California Legislature in 2014 enacted \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a package of new laws\u003c/a> that aimed to stop the over-pumping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But seven years later, little has changed for Californians relying on drinking water wells: Depletion of their groundwater continues. Pumping is \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-review-of-groundwater-sustainability-plans-in-the-san-joaquin-valley.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely unrestricted\u003c/a>, and there are few, if any, protections in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after two dry years, \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywatersupply.water.ca.gov/report/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports of dry wells\u003c/a> are worsening and spreading in many new areas, leaving more families like O’Brien’s with no drinking water. Despite the law, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/commentary-how-better-data-can-help-california-avoid-a-drinking-water-crisis/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2,700 wells across the state\u003c/a> are projected to go dry this year, and if the drought continues, 1,000 more next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Called the Sustainable Management Groundwater Act or SGMA, the laws gave local groundwater agencies in critically overdrafted basins 26 years — until 2040 — to achieve sustainability and stop impacts of overdraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/sgma/docs/sgma/sgma_20190101.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">from worsening\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those managing less-depleted water supplies, like the ones underlying Glenn County, have until 2042.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, somewhat predictably, this drought arrived much sooner than the laws’ safeguards: As a result, echoes of the last drought are now sputtering from people’s faucets and knocking through their empty pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like we’re in a very similar place to where we were in the last drought,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcy-bostic/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darcy Bostic\u003c/a>, who \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/publication/at_risk_wells_sgma/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analyzed groundwater sustainability plans\u003c/a> at the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank. “Everyone talks about how it’s different, and how it will take time, but people are still going to lose access to drinking water. And we don’t really have a new plan for addressing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the last drought, dry wells were \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/CNRA-Drought-Report-final-March-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely in the San Joaquin Valley\u003c/a>, but Northern California is being hit hard this time. Well outages are creeping north through \u003ca href=\"https://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/sacramento-valley.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Sacramento Valley\u003c/a>, where Glenn, Tehama and Colusa residents reported more than 250 well outages to county officials by mid-August, more than were reported during the last drought. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Data-and-Tools/Files/Maps/Groundwater-Level-Change/DOTMAP_Reports/Spring-2020-Groundwater-DOTMAP-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Almost half of measurements\u003c/a> showed groundwater levels dropped last year compared to the previous three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scope is much larger than I think anything we heard about before,” said \u003ca href=\"https://agency.calepa.ca.gov/StaffDirectory/detail.asp?UID=6250&BDO=7&VW=DET\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Karkoski\u003c/a>, the State Water Resources Control Board’s deputy director of the division of financial assistance. “We’re hearing from counties that we didn’t hear from during the last drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now former state Sen. Fran Pavley, a Democrat and an author of the bills that became the act, says it may be time for the California Legislature and state agencies to accelerate its implementation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know when the next drought will come. So when this passed in 2014, I think most of us thought it would probably be plenty of time,” Pavley said. And was it? “Apparently not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A changing landscape, fast forward\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Interstate 5 through the Sacramento Valley offers a fast-forward view of a changing landscape. Jade green \u003ca href=\"https://gis.water.ca.gov/app/CADWRLandUseViewer/\">rice fields give way\u003c/a> to the stop-motion blur of orchards. “Let the good times grow!” declares a peeling sign along the highway to Glenn County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprinklers hiss in the hot summer sun in orchards near O’Brien’s home, but she still has no water. It’s been longer than a month since her pump gave out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s had only two real showers, one that cost $15 at a health club, and bucket-washes with water from a neighbor’s well heated on the stove most days. She tries to avoid outdoor work that would soil her clothes and make her sweat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every day was consumed with the next step on how to live your life without water,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her dishes simmer in a slow cooker all day before O’Brien washes them at night with boiled bottled water. With no water to rinse rags, the dust that kicks up from dirt roads and is dragged inside by her two dogs builds up on her furniture. “It just keeps getting thicker, and thicker — and pretty soon you can write your name in it,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price tag of waterless life is adding up. She’s had to purchase drinking water and a hastily acquired storage tank, and her weekly laundromat visits cost $30 each.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the little extras that you really can’t afford to be without,” O’Brien says. “Honestly, this is the last set of clothes I have before I have to do laundry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>California’s groundwater is a precious resource\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For all of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\">California’s grand engineering feats to shunt the flow \u003c/a>of rivers from one part of the state to another, most of its \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/bulletin-118\">more than 7,400 public water systems\u003c/a> rely on water sucked from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For 6 million people, it’s their only source. In a good year, groundwater makes up about 40% of California’s water supply. In a bad one, like this year, it’s close to 60%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976431\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976431 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-800x542.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-800x542.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-1020x691.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-160x108.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-768x520.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08-1536x1040.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_08.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers at the Orland Fire Department in Glenn County distribute bottled water to people with dry wells on July 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Rachel Becker/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fed by rain, snow and streams, groundwater is one of California’s most precious resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In dry years, when the flows from surface waterways dwindle, growers — who account for about 80% of all groundwater used in the state — tap into more of the underground supply to irrigate their parched crops. In 2015, growers pumped more than twice what they did in 2005.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a limited store that’s slow to refill — a hydrological savings account overdrawn by up to 2.5 million acre-feet statewide every year, according to a state groundwater report. That’s enough water to supply about 7.5 million Southern California households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reported 2,600 household water shortages through January 2019, largely in low-income Latino communities in the San Joaquin Valley — a number that state officials acknowledge is certainly an underestimate because most people don’t report their dry wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers were among those who struggled, fallowing an estimated half-a-million acres of land. Matt Angell, a Madera County almond and grape grower who also drills and repairs wells, still remembers the trauma of the last drought. He couldn’t sleep, and developed diabetes that he blames in part on the stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For three years, desperate farmers and well owners kept calling Angell for help. “The stress of knowing people were going to lose their farm was overwhelming. The stress of people calling me and going, ‘I don’t have any water in my house’ was overwhelming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In O’Brien’s Glenn County, the Board of Supervisors enacted a drilling moratorium for new agricultural wells through the end of next June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s farmers are feeling the pain of the overdrafted groundwater. But they urged a more targeted approach to a ban, only in the areas suffering severe depletion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This county would not really exist if it wasn’t for ag,” said Matt Lohse, who told the Board of Supervisors he’s proud to be a Glenn County farmer. “My dad is actually going to have to drill a new house well, currently he’s fighting to be able to irrigate. … I get it. I understand the impact in Glenn County.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Vereschagin, who grows almonds and prunes around Orland and Artois, told CalMatters that he doesn’t have enough surface water and his wells are producing less during the drought, so he had to start buying water from other growers and irrigation districts. Without it, “I wouldn’t have enough to irrigate all my orchards after harvest, do some of the post-harvest irrigation, which is critical for setting next year’s crop,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ritta Martin, a sixth-generation rancher and president of the Glenn County Farm Bureau, worries about California’s endless cycles of drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just seems like there’s been more dry years than not, in recent memory,” she said. In dry years, “the groundwater can’t sustain all of the orchards and other irrigated crops that we have in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s scary to think about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving down county roads in her Ford F-150, O’Brien can tell which of her neighbors are out of water by the plastic storage tanks erupting from their yards. She points out rows of trees where there had once been a dairy or a hayfield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien lives on the same lot on the outskirts of Orland that her parents bought in the late 1960s, when she was a child. She’s worked as a hairstylist and bartender and raised four children, and she now lives in a mobile home on her land while her son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren occupy the main house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her parents moved to the Sacramento Valley from Chicago, drawn by the slower pace of a community created by irrigated agriculture. In the early 1900s, enticed by advertisements promising “Water available and in abundance at all seasons of the year,” farmers transformed Glenn County, contributing more than $1 billion a year to the economy and providing one in three jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The promise of abundant water, though, has now become more precarious\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Increasingly unreliable surface water supplies have led to more reliance on groundwater and less water seeping into the subterranean stores. Many dry wells, like O’Brien’s, cluster near Stony Creek. The creek, which soaks into the soil and replenishes groundwater in wet years, has slowed to a trickle, edged by green scum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien had to lower her well’s pump once already to reach water during the last drought. But she is relieved to learn that the diagnosis this time isn’t as bad as she originally feared. The groundwater has again sunk below the reach of her pump, but not below the depth of her well. So she needs to lower a new pump, not a new well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>O’Brien noticed that her well’s problems began when nut orchards began replacing hayfields. She’s reluctant to point fingers in her small community, but the facts illustrate the problem. Orchards in the area create a double whammy: They are often irrigated by groundwater but don’t feed underground stores like other crops do when flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agriculture is Glenn County’s biggest water user, according to the county, and orchards bearing fruit and nuts have almost doubled in acreage from 2009 to 2019. More than 650 permits for agricultural wells were issued over the last 10 years, compared to 380 for households. (Not all of them may have been drilled.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had the rains and the snowfall and everything else that we needed in order to fill our reservoirs … we wouldn’t be talking today,” O’Brien says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, she asks, “How many acres of almonds are we going to actually put in this county before people say uncle?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As O’Brien drives past an orchard, the mechanical whine of an agricultural well hums through the truck’s window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can hear them screaming,” she says, “and it goes on, and on and on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California was the last in the nation to regulate groundwater statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There had been limited attempts to tackle it before 2014: Grant funding for local governments dangled in exchange for developing groundwater management plans. A monitoring program tracked groundwater levels. Some regions, like Orange County, managed their groundwater themselves for decades, charging pumpers to pay for water to replenish aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1970s, on the heels of a historic drought, then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s Water Rights Commission called for a strong state policy to protect groundwater, and recommended that local agencies take the lead in adopting management plans. If they failed, the state water board could bring in the attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort led to further study but little meaningful change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the last drought gained steam, so did the legislation — and to Brown, it must have sounded familiar. The act tasked local groundwater agencies with developing plans to avoid worsening the major aftershocks of groundwater depletion, including “significant and unreasonable“ seawater intrusion, land subsidence, and degradation of water quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s mandate, though, is still two decades away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law is “not geared for today’s drought. It’s geared for future droughts, which are going to be much worse,” said Felicia Marcus, who chaired the State Water Resources Control Board under Brown during the last drought. “They were meant as a climate change hedge and a way to assure that folks can farm off into the future. They weren’t an instant Band-Aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcus and lawmakers involved at the time said the 20-year deadline was set because of the time needed to create new local agencies and let streams and other sources gradually recharge groundwater depleted over decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was something of a marriage between what could be done both practically and politically, along with what had to be done from an environmental standpoint,” said former Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Democrat from Sacramento and lead author of one of the act’s bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, given the pace of climate change, the timeline gives “them maybe longer than — now looking back — (it) should have been,” Pavley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a state like California that prides itself on being environmentally oriented and sensitive, we have a long way to go when it comes to managing our groundwater and protecting access to clean drinking water for all Californians,” Pavley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Farm Bureau opposed the legislation, saying it \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-groundwater-20140908-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was too far-reaching\u003c/a>. By some estimates, between \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley-february-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">500,000\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e56f3cdb4c0de1f3af59166/t/5ebd753c879bb66cc1b0c74e/1589474628077/Blueprint.EIA.PhaseOne.2.28-v4+%281%29.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a million acres\u003c/a> of farmland would have to be fallowed to end the San Joaquin Valley’s overdraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the focus is on helping growers participate in the local planning process, said Chris Scheuring, the California Farm Bureau’s water lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sooner or later, we were going to have to reckon with declining groundwater levels in some of the places,” he said. “Farmers didn’t necessarily embrace (the law) at the outset but they are surely trying to figure out how to deal with it now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the local agencies — \u003ca href=\"https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/pub/2021/02/18/v24n3_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely run by agricultural interests\u003c/a> — have two decades to reduce overpumping to sustainable levels, their efforts to figure out how to do it are ongoing. January 2020 was the deadline for agencies \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/basin-prioritization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">responsible for the most critically overdrafted basins\u003c/a> to submit plans to manage their groundwater; the rest have until 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Anagnoson, director of water and natural resources for Madera County, where \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/bulletin-118/critically-overdrafted-basins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">groundwater is critically overdrafted\u003c/a>, said she feels deeply conflicted about the timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are working so hard, and I often feel like half of the world is like ‘Why aren’t you doing this at twice the speed?’ And the other half is like ‘Why are you going so fast? You have 20 years!’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far the Department of Water Resources has approved plans \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for a Salinas Valley basin\u003c/a> and another \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>, and sent plans in \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/35\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paso Robles\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/assessments/32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cuyama Valley\u003c/a> back for more work. \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2021/July/Facts-from-Groundwater-Plan-Assessments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A common theme\u003c/a> was that the water agencies needed to consider impacts to drinking water wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a problem, if we now have only reviewed four plans,” said groundwater act architect Pavley, who said there might be a need for more funding or staff to accelerate the review. “That’s a red flag right there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paul Gosselin, California’s deputy director of statewide groundwater management, said the agency is tasked with reviewing plans that are thousands of pages apiece and coming up with “specific and actionable” input on each one. But he said the local agencies can start implementing them now, even while they’re still being assessed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some residents with dry wells blame local and state officials for not controlling pumping. “Who’s supposedly watching our groundwater?” said Mario Bringetto, a Madera County homeowner whose pump now sucks dirt into his pipes as the water table falls. “The people who are in charge are doing a terrible job, in my opinion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If local agencies fail to develop or implement satisfactory plans, \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Sustainable-Groundwater-Management/Groundwater-Sustainability-Plans/Files/GSP/Overview-of-COD-GSPs.pdf?la=en&hash=79DB286C10345CFAE9AEA25EF3084351EDCA6C78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the state water board can step in\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former water board chair, Marcus, said “people can’t wait the 20 years,” so \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Sustainable-Groundwater-Management/Groundwater-Sustainability-Plans/Files/GSP/Overview-of-COD-GSPs.pdf?la=en&hash=79DB286C10345CFAE9AEA25EF3084351EDCA6C78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> must take strong steps to ensure that the plans “are based on real stuff, not wishful thinking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In O’Brien’s Glenn County, the local agencies responsible for monitoring the groundwater underneath her home haven’t submitted their plans yet. The water there is not considered “critically overdrafted” so the plans aren’t due until January 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve heard recently from quite a few folks that (the act) is about 10 years too late,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.countyofglenn.net/water-resources-contact-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lisa Hunter\u003c/a>, who is leading the county’s effort to draft the plan. “The ones that are having issues right now, there’s nothing in place currently to help ease their fears.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some researchers predict that the new plans will fail to protect shallow drinking water wells that serve households, many of them \u003ca href=\"https://environmentalpolicy.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk6866/files/files/person/Research%20Brief%20June%202018%20-%20English.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in disadvantaged communities\u003c/a>. Thousands of domestic and hundreds of community drinking water wells could fail under the current sustainability goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Joaquin Valley’s plans, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://waterfdn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Groundwater-Management-and-Safe-Drinking-Water-in-the-San-Joaquin-Valley-Brief-6-2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">could allow up to 12,000 drinking water\u003c/a> wells to go partially or completely dry by 2040, according to the Water Foundation. From 46,000 to 127,000 people could lose access to at least some drinking water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2015, Jay Famiglietti, then a senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and CalTech, \u003ca href=\"http://www.livingrivers.org/pdfs/Press/CaliforniaHasAboutOneYearOfWaterLeftWillYouRationNow.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warned that the new law\u003c/a> would allow “nearly 30 years before we even know what is working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By then, there may be no groundwater left to sustain,” he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the rate of depletion has accelerated: It’s about 1.5 times higher now than measured during previous droughts, according to preliminary satellite data, Famiglietti said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things have only gotten worse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘You don’t know how good that feels’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>On a hot July day, O’Brien is leaving the dry lakebed of \u003ca href=\"https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stony Gorge Reservoir\u003c/a> when her daughter-in-law texts her: The water is finally back, after five long weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing O’Brien does when she gets home is turn on the hose. “I’ll be damned,” O’Brien says, running her fingers through the stream. Her two pit bulls, delighted by the spray, snap at water belching from the spigot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976432\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976432 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/070221_GlennCounty_RB_04.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kelly O’Brien and her dog, Louie, enjoy water flowing through a hose for the first time in more than a month after a new pump was installed in her well to reach the sinking groundwater on July 2, 2021. \u003ccite>(Rachel Becker/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, O’Brien holds her hands under the tap and wipes the water across her face. “You don’t know how good that feels,” she says. “To be able to put it on your face, I mean —” she grabs a packet of baby wipes off the counter, “they just don’t cut it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of her neighbors, though, are still waiting without water. Some report wait times to drill their new wells or lower their pumps are stretching out for months, leaving entire households, their pets and their livestock living on tanker truck deliveries, bottled water supplies and hoses connected to neighbors’ spigots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But O’Brien still doesn’t feel safe even now that her water is flowing again. As endless cycles of drought grip California, the groundwater underneath her home is dropping lower and lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know how long this is going to last,” she says, standing in her parched yard across the street from lush, green, irrigated orchards. “We just hope it lasts for a while. And we get some rain.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Calls Intensify For Stronger Worker Protections As Heat Deaths Rise In Calif. and U.S.",
"headTitle": "Calls Intensify For Stronger Worker Protections As Heat Deaths Rise In Calif. and U.S. | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As the temperature in Grand Island, Nebraska, soared to 91 degrees that July day in 2018, two dozen farmworkers tunneled for nine hours into a thicket of cornstalks, snapping off tassels while they crossed a sunbaked field that spanned 206 acres — the equivalent of 156 football fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they emerged at the end of the day to board a bus that would transport them to a nearby motel to sleep, one of the workers, Cruz Urias Beltran, didn’t make it back. Searchers found the 52-year-old farmworker’s body 20 hours later amid the cornhusks, “as if he’d simply collapsed,” recalled a funeral home employee. An empty water bottle was stuffed in his jeans pocket. An autopsy report confirmed that Beltran died from heatstroke. It was his third day on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beltran is one of at least 384 workers who died from environmental heat exposure in the U.S. in the last decade, according to an investigation by NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations, the investigative reporting unit of the Columbia Journalism School. The count includes people toiling in essential, yet often, invisible jobs in 37 states across the country: farm laborers in California, construction and trash-collection workers in Texas and tree trimmers in North Carolina and Virginia. An analysis of federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the three-year average of worker heat deaths has doubled since the early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976348\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976348\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family photo of Cruz Urias Beltran taken during the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Paty Espinoza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including workplace inspection reports, death investigation files, depositions, court records and police reports, and interviewed victims’ families, former and current officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workers, employers, workers’ advocates, lawyers and experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR also analyzed two federal data sets on worker heat deaths: one from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the other from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both are divisions within the U.S. Labor Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the findings:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose primary responsibility is to protect workers from hazards, has failed to adopt a national heat standard to safeguard workers against rapidly rising temperatures, resulting in an enforcement system rife with problems.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least a dozen companies, it wasn’t the first time their workers succumbed to heat. One worker collapsed and died after repeatedly complaining about the heat; another died after hauling 20 tons of trash for nearly 10 hours. In some instances, employees died after not having ample water and scheduled shade breaks. Many died within their first week on the job.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>OSHA officials often decide not to penalize companies for worker deaths. When they do, they routinely negotiate with business owners and reduce violations and fines.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In some cases, OSHA doesn’t follow up after a worker’s death from heat exposure to ensure that the company is complying with the measures the agency imposed to prevent future fatalities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Workers of color have borne the brunt: Since 2010, Hispanics have accounted for a third of all heat fatalities, yet they represent a fraction — 17% — of the U.S. workforce. Health and safety experts attribute this unequal toll to Hispanics’ overrepresentation in industries vulnerable to dangerous heat, such as construction and agriculture.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>OSHA’s record-keeping on heat fatalities is so poor that there’s no way to know exactly how many workers have died from heat.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Current and former OSHA officials acknowledge that the known death tally is a vast undercount. The agency mostly relies on companies to report worker fatalities after they occur, but not all do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR reporters analyzed worker heat deaths recorded by OSHA between 2010 and 2020 and compared each incident day’s high temperature with historical averages over 40 years. Most of the deaths happened on days that were unusually hot for that date. More than two-thirds occurred on days when the temperature reached at least 90 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet no worker should die from heat, said Ronda McCarthy, an occupational health specialist who directs medical services at the health care provider Concentra, in Waco, Texas. McCarthy spent seven years educating her home state’s municipal workers about heat, which reduced cases of worker heat exhaustion and similar conditions there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat illness should be considered a preventable illness,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>No federal heat standard\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>OSHA has known about the dangers of heat — and how to prevent deaths — for decades. In 1972, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studied the effects of heat stress on workers in the U.S. and recommended criteria for an OSHA heat standard. Under the proposal, employers would have had to give employees one break every hour and offer ready access to water. New workers would have received extra breaks so they could acclimate to strenuous activity in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIOSH has refined these safety measures — first in 1986 and, again, in 2016 — but OSHA has not acted on them because of other regulatory priorities. This year, for the first time, OSHA is officially considering a heat standard by putting it on its regulatory agenda. James Frederick, OSHA’s acting director, said it’s a “priority” for the Biden administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Occupational exposure to heat remains a very important topic,” Frederick said in an interview with CJI and NPR. “We’re focused on improving our efforts to protect workers moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976349\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976349 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, stands in the national office of OSHA in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2021. \u003ccite>(Ian Morton/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Absent a heat standard, OSHA must rely on a 50-year-old regulation guaranteeing workers a “hazard-free workplace.” OSHA does require companies to provide adequate water, but not other heat-safety measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA’s own research shows relying on this general rule hasn’t worked. A 2016 study by agency scientists found that some employers whose workers got sick or died from heat hadn’t met basic water provisions. Most companies never offered rest breaks. Only one out of 84 total employers had a plan for building up its workers’ tolerance for laboring in heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, four labor and public interest organizations, including Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group, petitioned OSHA to issue a heat standard. They asked the agency for an emergency temporary standard because a new rule, the petition stated, “could potentially take many years before it’s finalized and implemented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Michaels, then the assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health, who oversaw OSHA, denied the petition, arguing in a January 2012 letter to petitioners that workers weren’t dying from heat at a rate that would justify a legal standard. Recognizing extreme heat’s threat, he said most workers can “recover fairly quickly when the appropriate measures are taken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Michaels launched a voluntary awareness campaign distributing posters and flyers that instructed employees on how to protect themselves. OSHA incorporated these precautions into a free bilingual phone app featuring government-issued heat alerts and advisories. The agency continued this campaign through 2013. Its principle message remains on \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/heat\">OSHA’s website today\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976351\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976351 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, attends a full committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2010. The hearing was on “Worker Health and Safety from the Oil Rig to the Shoreline,” focusing on how worker health and safety is regulated and enforced by various parties, from oil rig workers to post-accident cleanup operations. \u003ccite>(Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Michaels touted the campaign as a success at the time. The numbers are less clear. The number of workers who succumbed to heat topped 61 cases during the campaign’s inaugural year, in 2011 — an all-time high. An additional 65 workers would die from heat exposure in the ensuing two years, closer to the annual average for the decade, while the campaign remained an agency priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six years after his petition denial letter, and after leaving OSHA’s top post, Michaels changed his approach. In 2018, he joined Public Citizen and 131 additional groups in a second petition asking the agency to enact a heat standard. This time, petitioners cited NIOSH’s updated guidelines and warned that “this warming trend will not only continue but accelerate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Michaels, now a public health professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said the agencywide consensus was that climate change would worsen the problem. But the rule-making process at OSHA is “so difficult” and the industry opposition so formidable that adopting a heat standard “became a bridge too far,” he said. He has come to believe a standard is essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that heat kills,” Michaels said. “And if we don’t have requirements, heat will kill more workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Search and rescue\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A standard that included water, rest, shade and acclimatization could have saved Beltran, an experienced farmworker who traveled more than 1,300 miles from San Luis, Arizona, to the heart of America’s Corn Belt to pull tassels off corn plants for Rivera Agri Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day he went missing in the fields on the outskirts of Grand Island, the temperature — with humidity — felt like 100 degrees. Joseph Rivera, the company’s owner, placed an emergency call to authorities shortly after 5 p.m. Beltran was in the field but didn’t come out with the other workers, he told the 911 operator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976374\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976374 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-2048x1638.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cornfield where Cruz Urias Beltran’s body was found near Cairo, Neb., on July 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Walker Pickering/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The call set off an elaborate search-and-rescue mission in the central Nebraska city of 51,000. One volunteer flew a Piper Cub airplane low and slow, on the lookout for the orange safety hat atop Beltran’s salt-and-pepper hair. Another manned a helicopter circling the sea of stalks until the chopper ran low on fuel. At sunset, a Nebraska State Patrol plane with thermal-imaging equipment scanned for a sign of Beltran’s body temperature, but since the plants and soil also were emanating heat, he went undetected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following morning, as the temperature hovered in the 90s, the Red Cross opened a temporary cooling station with air conditioning for the 100 volunteers who joined the search. Shortly after noon, someone spotted Beltran’s body, facedown in the husks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two months after Beltran’s body was shipped to his family’s home in Mexico’s Sonora state, an OSHA inspector visited Rivera Agri as part of the agency’s investigation into the death. OSHA inspection records show the company didn’t deploy the kind of preventive measures that a heat standard would have required. Rivera Agri did not ensure that employees took enough rest breaks in the shade, drank sufficient amounts of water and adapted to their grueling work, the records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976357\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976357\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-800x600.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-768x576.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1.png 952w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beltran hugs his son, Jesus Adrian Urias Machado. Beltran was an experienced farmworker and traveled from Arizona to work in Nebraska. \u003ccite>(Paty Espinoza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These actions were left to the employees to manage themselves,” the inspector wrote in a nine-page citation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA found that the “moderate lifting and bending” and “pushing and pulling” that Beltran had performed in the heat had contributed to his death. It cited Rivera Agri for a violation and proposed fines totaling $11,641. The agency also ordered the company to train employees on the symptoms of heat illness, among other safety measures. Rivera Agri agreed to OSHA’s conditions, and the fines were reduced to $9,500, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angela Rivera, who runs the farm labor contracting business with her father, Joseph, said the company has worked to fulfill the agreement. Today, it contracts with a farmworker-rights group to educate employees on how to respond to heat emergencies. Near the cornfield, it sets up extra water stations and has canopies for emergency shade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been in this business for a long time,” said Angela Rivera, who calls Beltran’s death “an unfortunate thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year we try to step it up,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Rivera said supervisors now monitor the heat on their cellphones and pull detasselers from the cornfields whenever it gets too hot — part of a heat-stress plan the Riveras created after Beltran’s death. They hand out brochures explaining the new policy to every farmworker on their bus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not the first death\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Beltran was not Rivera Agri’s first heat-related fatality. In July 1997, a 39-year-old detasseler died of heatstroke under similar circumstances. Like Beltran, it was his third day on the job, and the temperature had spiked to 95 degrees. When he collapsed, the crew found him within two hours. But his core body temperature was 108 degrees — hot enough for the brain, liver and kidneys to shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA investigated his death but didn’t impose penalties because then-OSHA Area Director Ben Bare determined there was no applicable standard. The lack of a standard leaves individual OSHA officials to decide whether a general violation applies to each death, creating a pattern of uneven enforcement in worker heat-death cases, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR’s analysis of worker heat deaths shows that, like Rivera Agri, 11 other companies have lost more than one employee. In five of the cases, OSHA investigated the first fatality and issued citations, only for another employee to die from heat. One of those cited was Texas-based Hellas Construction, which builds publicly and privately funded stadiums and other sports infrastructure projects across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July 2018, the week before Beltran died in a Nebraska cornfield, Karl Simmons signed on as a laborer for Hellas. At 30, with long braided hair and a shoulder tattoo bearing his mother’s name, Simmons arrived at the sprawling Gateway Park in Fort Worth, Texas, ready to install turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his second day on the job, Simmons, who had served in the U.S. Navy, took a lunch break and fielded a call from his wife, Precious. “It’s just hot,” he complained, according to a deposition she gave in a lawsuit filed by the family against Hellas. The five-person crew had already drunk all the water. Simmons returned to preparing the mixture to attach to the turf, shoveling gravel and adhesive chemicals into a mixer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That afternoon — as the temperature topped 96 degrees — Simmons told his supervisor he felt hot, according to OSHA records. He complained about the heat two more times that day. Each time, he said he felt sick. At one point, he sought shade under a tree while his supervisor drove to a store to get water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A passerby eventually spotted Simmons sprawled on the ground, facedown, and alerted the crew. His brother-in-law, Michael Spriggins, who worked alongside Simmons as a Hellas laborer, sprinted to his aid. He found Simmons gasping for breath, bleeding from his nose and mouth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976359\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976359 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karl Simmons was installing turf at Gateway Park in Fort Worth, Texas, when he felt ill. Later, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The official cause of death was heatstroke. \u003ccite>(JerSean Golatt/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was a sight I ain’t going to never forget,” Spriggins said in an interview with CJI and NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called 911 and then placed a cool towel under Simmons’ neck at the dispatcher’s instructions. Simmons opened his eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looked like he’s gonna pull through this,” Spriggins recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two hours later, Simmons was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Heatstroke, the autopsy report confirmed. He was one of at least 53 workers who have been fatally stricken by heat in Texas since 2010, CJI and NPR’s analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day, Jason Davidson, Hellas’ chief safety officer, emailed more than 340 company employees, addressing the perils of laboring in extreme heat. It was at least the fourth written warning he sent in the summer of 2018, when 11 additional Hellas employees were diagnosed with heat-related illnesses requiring medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dean Wingo, who oversaw the OSHA regional office that includes Texas from 2007 to 2012, said Hellas’ hospitalization numbers suggest a worrying pattern. Serious heat-related illness involves everything from a heat rash to uncontrolled bleeding, according to medical experts. In its most severe form, heatstroke can cause multisystem organ failure that has lasting adverse effects. Wingo said he believes Hellas’ record on workplace heat safety shows “poor” company management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976360\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976360\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dean Wingo, who formerly oversaw the OSHA regional office that includes Texas, says he believes Hellas Construction’s record on workplace heat safety shows “poor” company management. \u003ccite>(Michael Cirlos III/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellas officials declined a dozen interview requests for this story and didn’t respond to a list of 20 written questions from CJI and NPR. In its response to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in July 2019 by Simmons’ wife, the company denied that its conduct “rose to a level of gross neglect” or that it failed to provide a safe workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in December 2018, OSHA found that Hellas hadn’t provided Simmons a workplace “free from recognized hazards” and cited the company for two violations, including failing to record Simmons’ death in OSHA logs, records show. OSHA proposed a fine of $14,782 against Hellas for Simmons’ death. The company earned more than $150 million in revenue that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a settlement, Hellas agreed to implement “a more robust/detailed training program … to prevent heat exhaustion and heat stress injuries.” OSHA lowered the fine by nearly $2,000, to $12,934. That’s higher than the national average fine of $7,314 for employers in such cases, according to a CJI and NPR analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellas executives did not carry out the safety measures, records show. And OSHA never showed up at a work site to see whether the company was following the terms of the settlement agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA’s regional office in Dallas, which investigated Simmons’ death, declined to discuss the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA data shows the agency reduced heat-related sanctions nationally by 31%, on average, after settlements. It cut the penalties in more than half of the 246 heat-death cases in which OSHA had proposed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wingo said the only way OSHA can ensure that companies like Hellas keep their promises is to conduct follow-up inspections in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s excusable,” he said. “When you’ve had a fatality, you go back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 19, 2019, a year after Simmons’ death, a second Hellas worker succumbed to heat — this time in Hondo, Texas, 42 miles west of San Antonio. At 6 a.m. that day, forecasters were promising a scorcher. The temperature would soar to 99 degrees, 3 degrees hotter than the 40-year average, the CJI and NPR data analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pedro Martinez Sr., 49, had been employed by Hellas for more than a year when he arrived for work at McDowell Middle School with his 22-year-old namesake. The father had gotten the son a summer job. At the time, Pedro Jr., also known as “Bruno,” was between semesters at a college in his home state of Zacatecas, Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third day, the pair did cement work on the school’s athletic field. They pulled out vertical rebar stakes using a device called a JackJaw, pumping a handle to wrench the stakes from the ground. As in the Simmons case, an OSHA inspection would later confirm that the area had little shade. Records show that the younger Martinez toiled for 10 hours before taking a lunch break at 4 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two hours later, he was working beside his father when he became overheated and ran off, hit a fence and collapsed. The father rushed his son to a local hospital’s emergency room, where nurses placed ice packs around his body. But his core temperature was already 108 degrees, according to a police report. The official cause of death was heatstroke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976365\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976365 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The former construction site where Pedro Martinez Jr., died of heatstroke. The athletic field and track is adjacent to McDowell Middle School in Hondo, Texas. \u003ccite>(Michael Cirlos III/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In December 2019, OSHA cited Hellas for a willful violation, the most serious category. The citation would have placed Hellas on a public list of “severe violators,” reserved for repeat offenders. The agency proposed a penalty of $132,598 — the maximum amount OSHA could levy at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One month later, Hellas challenged the citation, arguing it should be dismissed because OSHA didn’t prove “the necessary elements of its claims.” The Labor Department settled with Hellas in April 2020, cutting the fine in half and reclassifying the willful violation as five “serious” ones. This kept Hellas off the severe violators list. A revised settlement agreement required the company to create a heat-illness prevention plan, among other things. It’s unclear whether Hellas followed through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May of last year, Hellas had paid the fine, and OSHA resolved the case. The agency’s regional office in San Antonio, which investigated Martinez’s death, declined two requests to discuss the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A state standard falls short\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Besides Texas, the states of California, Florida and Arkansas have each recorded at least 14 worker heat deaths since 2010, according to CJI and NPR’s analysis. Unlike most states, however, California has its own heat standard. Passed in 2005, the standard was later named after a 17-year-old pregnant farmworker, Maria Jimenez, who died from heat exposure while pruning grapes. The standard was the first to uphold the pillars of heat safety: water, rest, shade and acclimatization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, after the United Farm Workers sued California’s state version of OSHA, the agency tightened its standard. Cal/OSHA lowered the heat safety limit from 85 to 80 degrees and required companies to prepare for extreme heat threats on days hotter than 95 degrees. It also allocated more money and staff to enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, California’s rule is widely viewed as the gold standard. The Labor Department should emulate it, said John Newquist, who served as assistant administrator in OSHA Region 5 in the Upper Midwest from 2005 to 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy with California already adopting this thing for years,” he said. “If you follow these guidelines, that works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But OSHA data on worker heat deaths suggests the state’s standard can fall short. The rule has led to a rise in heat-related enforcement actions by the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, every year but 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic affected such activities across the board. In 2019, for instance, the agency conducted more than 4,000 heat inspections and cited workplaces in nearly half of them. Still, the CJI and NPR analysis shows that California’s yearly tally of worker heat deaths has remained steady over the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some critics say the agency has yet to curb worker heat illnesses and deaths because of lax and uneven enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garrett Brown, a Cal/OSHA inspector from 1994 to 2014, has investigated dozens of heat deaths and worked as a special adviser for a former Cal/OSHA secretary and as a part-time inspector until this year. He believes the agency can’t “do what it needs to do” to protect the state’s workers because of its chronic understaffing. Brown has documented staffing levels for years, charting the data on his blog, \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/\">\u003cem>Inside Cal/OSHA\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. The figures reveal a tiny workforce — about 190 inspectors for 1 million employers responsible for 18 million workers. That’s one inspector for roughly every 5,200 companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown said mismanagement and the state’s inability to fill inspector positions have exacerbated the problem. As of July 31, at least 25% of nearly 250 Cal/OSHA inspector positions remained vacant. And that can make for dire consequences on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A firefighter’s death\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In California, where fires have been raging, the victims of heat-related deaths are sometimes firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2015, just two months before California’s standard was tightened, Raymond Araujo, one of 4,000 inmates who then served as firefighters for the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — known as Cal Fire — was on a 2-mile hike in Banning, California, about 30 miles from Palm Springs. Winding through steep, often shadeless hills, the trail was part of the department’s required cardiovascular training. On that day, the temperature climbed to 81 degrees, 10 degrees hotter than the 40-year average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976372\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976372 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fire station warning sign is shown down the road from Cal Fire’s De Luz Fire Station 16 in Fallbrook, Calif., where firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkovwas was assigned. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the 12-member group neared the end of the exercise, Araujo stumbled and fell to his knees. His supervisor told his colleagues to help Araujo stand up and remove his fire gear so he could finish the hike. He walked 30 feet more and eventually collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire captain called for medical assistance, and a helicopter transported Araujo back to a nearby base camp, where he was pronounced dead, the records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Cal/OSHA inspection report named heat as a contributing factor in Araujo’s death, the cause was “hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” according to the autopsy report. As a result, Cal/OSHA deemed his death an accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown, the former Cal/OSHA inspector, reviewed the agency’s report and said it was impossible for him to know why officials declined to investigate. He said the incident resembled many cases he had investigated — where workers suffered heart attacks because of the heat. Were he leading the charge, Brown said, he would have wanted to talk to eyewitnesses because the incident had all the hallmarks of a heat illness violation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to invalidate a fatality report is to decide that it’s natural causes,” he said, explaining that Cal/OSHA managers can look for ways to lessen understaffed inspectors’ workloads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA declined CJI and NPR’s requests to interview key officials for this story. But an agency spokesman defended Cal/OSHA’s handling of Araujo’s death, noting that the agency followed the Cal/OSHA medical unit’s assessment in determining a cause of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about the effectiveness of the heat standard, the agency said it regularly looks to enhance enforcement activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We continue to evaluate the effectiveness of our programs and consult with various subject matter experts to determine what changes, if any, are necessary to improve health and safety,” spokesman Frank Polizzi said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It pays not to comply’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Just before 8 a.m. on July 28, 2019, Cal Fire firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov set out with a fellow employee and a fire captain on a hike similar to the one that Araujo had made. The 28-year-old Ukrainian immigrant, who lived in Murrieta, California, a bedroom community near San Diego, had served as a reserve firefighter before being hired by Cal Fire in a seasonal role a year earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976371\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 395px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1976371\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2.jpe 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2-160x120.jpe 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov was on a routine training exercise when he stumbled and felt exhausted shortly before he collapsed. \u003ccite>(Ashley Vallario)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a standard training exercise, Katkov was asked to complete a 1.45-mile loop at Cal Fire’s rural Station 16 in Fallbrook, a remote mountainous area halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. As they traversed the loop, the captain and the co-worker noticed Katkov lagging behind the required 30-minute deadline to finish the hike. The two stopped on several occasions to allow Katkov to catch up, delaying their end time by 10 minutes. The temperature would climb to 88 degrees that day — 5 degrees hotter than the 40-year average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The captain, Joe Ekblad, recognized that Katkov hadn’t given his body enough of a rest yet, but ordered the firefighters to repeat the exercise, according to the Cal/OSHA records. On the way up the steepest incline of the loop, Katkov stumbled and told his supervisor he felt exhausted — two telltale signs of heat stress. He collapsed on the hilltop, was airlifted to a hospital nearly two hours later and died of heat illness the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He loved the idea of being like a wildland firefighter,” said Ashley Vallario, Katkov’s fiancée. “It made him happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, Cal/OSHA investigated Katkov’s death, interviewing eyewitnesses. The inspector detailed extensive failures by the captain, which led to his demotion. The agency found that Cal Fire had failed to stop the hike and seek emergency medical treatment even after Katkov had exhibited heat-related symptoms. Regulators levied a fine of $80,000 — almost five times the average Cal/OSHA fine of $17,000 in these cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither Cal Fire nor Ekblad responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976401\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976401 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov was asked to complete a 1.45-mile loop at Cal Fire’s rural Station 16 in Fallbrook, a remote mountainous area halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Such a large penalty shows what a fully enforceable heat standard can do, some experts say. But Cal/OSHA records suggest the regulators’ stick has not come soon enough. Since 2012, at least four other firefighters have died during Cal Fire training hikes. All the firefighters but Katkov were inmates. No other case yielded sanctions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s training processes, meanwhile, continue to put firefighters at risk. In 2020, almost a year after Katkov’s death, another department firefighter was sickened by heat during a hike. That firefighter was rushed to the hospital and survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellen Widess, head of Cal/OSHA from 2011 to 2013, said she sees an unsettling pattern: Employers can brush off the cost of an agency fine. In many cases, she said, penalties have no effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve seen that the costs of [non]compliance are so cheap,” Widess said. “It pays not to comply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It’s going to be like this every year’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the three years since Public Citizen renewed its petition for an OSHA heat standard, political pressure for such action has grown. In March, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., authored legislation that would require OSHA to create a national heat standard based on NIOSH criteria and mandate employer training “to prevent and respond” to heat illnesses. The bill, co-sponsored by at least 57 House Democrats, is pending in committee. It marks the second attempt by federal lawmakers to establish a rule since 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA, meanwhile, said it will take the first step toward issuing a rule this fall. In October, the agency plans to publish a request for information from employers, occupational health specialists, climate scientists and workers on the viability of a standard. Frederick, OSHA’s acting director, said the input could help the agency develop a regulation that applies to any industry in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat hazards exist in many, many industries,” he said. “We know that we have work to do with almost every industry to understand … what the effect of heat hazards in their workplace is and how best they are putting in practices and controls to mitigate those hazards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, former OSHA officials are anticipating industry pushback, particularly from construction groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976404\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976404 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-2048x1638.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The body of farmworker Cruz Urias Beltran was found in this cornfield near Cairo, Neb. \u003ccite>(Walker Pickering/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every time OSHA proposes a standard, [the] industry accuses OSHA of killing jobs and destroying whatever industry is going to be regulated,” said Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant labor secretary who helped shepherd two chemical-exposure standards through protracted rule-making processes. “That would probably follow with a heat standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states have decided not to wait. In June, as an unprecedented heat wave blanketed the Pacific Northwest, Sebastian Francisco Perez moved irrigation pipes at a nursery in Willamette Valley, Oregon. Perez was found dead at the end of his shift. Preliminary information suggests the incident was heat related, but Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) has yet to make a determination, according to Aaron Corvin, a spokesman for Oregon OSHA. Ten days later, the state enacted an emergency heat standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Grand Island, Nebraska, where the average high temperature has increased 2 degrees since the 1990s, the intensifying heat is not lost on Joseph Rivera. As a younger man in the fields, he remembers there were hot and humid days. But now the heat is so extreme, he said, “you get these hot days that just come up over you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With climate change, you hit 112 in Nebraska the other day,” Rivera said, explaining why he’s amenable to a federal heat standard. “It’s going to be like this every year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Christina Stella, a reporter with Nebraska Public Media; Jacob Margolis, a reporter with KPCC in Los Angeles; Allison Mollenkamp, an intern on NPR’s investigative team; and The Texas Newsroom contributed to this story. Julia Shipley, Brian Edwards and David Nickerson reported this story as fellows for Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School in New York. Cascade Tuholske, a climate impact scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, contributed to the data analysis. Public Health Watch, an independent investigative nonprofit, helped edit this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Heat+Is+Killing+Workers+In+The+U.S.+%E2%80%94+And+There+Are+No+Federal+Rules+To+Protect+Them&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the temperature in Grand Island, Nebraska, soared to 91 degrees that July day in 2018, two dozen farmworkers tunneled for nine hours into a thicket of cornstalks, snapping off tassels while they crossed a sunbaked field that spanned 206 acres — the equivalent of 156 football fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they emerged at the end of the day to board a bus that would transport them to a nearby motel to sleep, one of the workers, Cruz Urias Beltran, didn’t make it back. Searchers found the 52-year-old farmworker’s body 20 hours later amid the cornhusks, “as if he’d simply collapsed,” recalled a funeral home employee. An empty water bottle was stuffed in his jeans pocket. An autopsy report confirmed that Beltran died from heatstroke. It was his third day on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beltran is one of at least 384 workers who died from environmental heat exposure in the U.S. in the last decade, according to an investigation by NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations, the investigative reporting unit of the Columbia Journalism School. The count includes people toiling in essential, yet often, invisible jobs in 37 states across the country: farm laborers in California, construction and trash-collection workers in Texas and tree trimmers in North Carolina and Virginia. An analysis of federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the three-year average of worker heat deaths has doubled since the early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976348\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976348\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_in_the_1990s-edit-d66a1ab99079af2d799ed3c53e9aa916dbe96937-3.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A family photo of Cruz Urias Beltran taken during the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Paty Espinoza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including workplace inspection reports, death investigation files, depositions, court records and police reports, and interviewed victims’ families, former and current officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workers, employers, workers’ advocates, lawyers and experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR also analyzed two federal data sets on worker heat deaths: one from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the other from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both are divisions within the U.S. Labor Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the findings:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose primary responsibility is to protect workers from hazards, has failed to adopt a national heat standard to safeguard workers against rapidly rising temperatures, resulting in an enforcement system rife with problems.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For at least a dozen companies, it wasn’t the first time their workers succumbed to heat. One worker collapsed and died after repeatedly complaining about the heat; another died after hauling 20 tons of trash for nearly 10 hours. In some instances, employees died after not having ample water and scheduled shade breaks. Many died within their first week on the job.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>OSHA officials often decide not to penalize companies for worker deaths. When they do, they routinely negotiate with business owners and reduce violations and fines.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>In some cases, OSHA doesn’t follow up after a worker’s death from heat exposure to ensure that the company is complying with the measures the agency imposed to prevent future fatalities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Workers of color have borne the brunt: Since 2010, Hispanics have accounted for a third of all heat fatalities, yet they represent a fraction — 17% — of the U.S. workforce. Health and safety experts attribute this unequal toll to Hispanics’ overrepresentation in industries vulnerable to dangerous heat, such as construction and agriculture.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>OSHA’s record-keeping on heat fatalities is so poor that there’s no way to know exactly how many workers have died from heat.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Current and former OSHA officials acknowledge that the known death tally is a vast undercount. The agency mostly relies on companies to report worker fatalities after they occur, but not all do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR reporters analyzed worker heat deaths recorded by OSHA between 2010 and 2020 and compared each incident day’s high temperature with historical averages over 40 years. Most of the deaths happened on days that were unusually hot for that date. More than two-thirds occurred on days when the temperature reached at least 90 degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet no worker should die from heat, said Ronda McCarthy, an occupational health specialist who directs medical services at the health care provider Concentra, in Waco, Texas. McCarthy spent seven years educating her home state’s municipal workers about heat, which reduced cases of worker heat exhaustion and similar conditions there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat illness should be considered a preventable illness,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>No federal heat standard\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>OSHA has known about the dangers of heat — and how to prevent deaths — for decades. In 1972, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studied the effects of heat stress on workers in the U.S. and recommended criteria for an OSHA heat standard. Under the proposal, employers would have had to give employees one break every hour and offer ready access to water. New workers would have received extra breaks so they could acclimate to strenuous activity in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIOSH has refined these safety measures — first in 1986 and, again, in 2016 — but OSHA has not acted on them because of other regulatory priorities. This year, for the first time, OSHA is officially considering a heat standard by putting it on its regulatory agenda. James Frederick, OSHA’s acting director, said it’s a “priority” for the Biden administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Occupational exposure to heat remains a very important topic,” Frederick said in an interview with CJI and NPR. “We’re focused on improving our efforts to protect workers moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976349\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976349 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/morton_jfrederick_osha_210716_06-edit_custom-4b483ec03879252f9584a0f9d955dc119e38b782-2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, stands in the national office of OSHA in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2021. \u003ccite>(Ian Morton/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Absent a heat standard, OSHA must rely on a 50-year-old regulation guaranteeing workers a “hazard-free workplace.” OSHA does require companies to provide adequate water, but not other heat-safety measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA’s own research shows relying on this general rule hasn’t worked. A 2016 study by agency scientists found that some employers whose workers got sick or died from heat hadn’t met basic water provisions. Most companies never offered rest breaks. Only one out of 84 total employers had a plan for building up its workers’ tolerance for laboring in heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, four labor and public interest organizations, including Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group, petitioned OSHA to issue a heat standard. They asked the agency for an emergency temporary standard because a new rule, the petition stated, “could potentially take many years before it’s finalized and implemented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Michaels, then the assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health, who oversaw OSHA, denied the petition, arguing in a January 2012 letter to petitioners that workers weren’t dying from heat at a rate that would justify a legal standard. Recognizing extreme heat’s threat, he said most workers can “recover fairly quickly when the appropriate measures are taken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Michaels launched a voluntary awareness campaign distributing posters and flyers that instructed employees on how to protect themselves. OSHA incorporated these precautions into a free bilingual phone app featuring government-issued heat alerts and advisories. The agency continued this campaign through 2013. Its principle message remains on \u003ca href=\"https://www.osha.gov/heat\">OSHA’s website today\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976351\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976351 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/gettyimages-102342163_custom-6b6018a90245a086253584a9f5b3992a88d2faa1-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, attends a full committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2010. The hearing was on “Worker Health and Safety from the Oil Rig to the Shoreline,” focusing on how worker health and safety is regulated and enforced by various parties, from oil rig workers to post-accident cleanup operations. \u003ccite>(Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Michaels touted the campaign as a success at the time. The numbers are less clear. The number of workers who succumbed to heat topped 61 cases during the campaign’s inaugural year, in 2011 — an all-time high. An additional 65 workers would die from heat exposure in the ensuing two years, closer to the annual average for the decade, while the campaign remained an agency priority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six years after his petition denial letter, and after leaving OSHA’s top post, Michaels changed his approach. In 2018, he joined Public Citizen and 131 additional groups in a second petition asking the agency to enact a heat standard. This time, petitioners cited NIOSH’s updated guidelines and warned that “this warming trend will not only continue but accelerate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview, Michaels, now a public health professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said the agencywide consensus was that climate change would worsen the problem. But the rule-making process at OSHA is “so difficult” and the industry opposition so formidable that adopting a heat standard “became a bridge too far,” he said. He has come to believe a standard is essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that heat kills,” Michaels said. “And if we don’t have requirements, heat will kill more workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Search and rescue\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A standard that included water, rest, shade and acclimatization could have saved Beltran, an experienced farmworker who traveled more than 1,300 miles from San Luis, Arizona, to the heart of America’s Corn Belt to pull tassels off corn plants for Rivera Agri Inc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day he went missing in the fields on the outskirts of Grand Island, the temperature — with humidity — felt like 100 degrees. Joseph Rivera, the company’s owner, placed an emergency call to authorities shortly after 5 p.m. Beltran was in the field but didn’t come out with the other workers, he told the 911 operator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976374\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976374 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-2048x1638.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/nw-2021-07-28-wpick-4376_custom-7e2b8be8b7126e888b7cf0cca98ee3cad4e4cb2c-1-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cornfield where Cruz Urias Beltran’s body was found near Cairo, Neb., on July 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Walker Pickering/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The call set off an elaborate search-and-rescue mission in the central Nebraska city of 51,000. One volunteer flew a Piper Cub airplane low and slow, on the lookout for the orange safety hat atop Beltran’s salt-and-pepper hair. Another manned a helicopter circling the sea of stalks until the chopper ran low on fuel. At sunset, a Nebraska State Patrol plane with thermal-imaging equipment scanned for a sign of Beltran’s body temperature, but since the plants and soil also were emanating heat, he went undetected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following morning, as the temperature hovered in the 90s, the Red Cross opened a temporary cooling station with air conditioning for the 100 volunteers who joined the search. Shortly after noon, someone spotted Beltran’s body, facedown in the husks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two months after Beltran’s body was shipped to his family’s home in Mexico’s Sonora state, an OSHA inspector visited Rivera Agri as part of the agency’s investigation into the death. OSHA inspection records show the company didn’t deploy the kind of preventive measures that a heat standard would have required. Rivera Agri did not ensure that employees took enough rest breaks in the shade, drank sufficient amounts of water and adapted to their grueling work, the records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976357\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976357\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-800x600.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1-768x576.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/cruz_urias_beltran_hugging_his_son_jesus_adrian_urias_machado-edit-40cf5ef60a1dc6e3723a63d2c216ceb3af5f9477-1.png 952w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beltran hugs his son, Jesus Adrian Urias Machado. Beltran was an experienced farmworker and traveled from Arizona to work in Nebraska. \u003ccite>(Paty Espinoza)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These actions were left to the employees to manage themselves,” the inspector wrote in a nine-page citation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA found that the “moderate lifting and bending” and “pushing and pulling” that Beltran had performed in the heat had contributed to his death. It cited Rivera Agri for a violation and proposed fines totaling $11,641. The agency also ordered the company to train employees on the symptoms of heat illness, among other safety measures. Rivera Agri agreed to OSHA’s conditions, and the fines were reduced to $9,500, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angela Rivera, who runs the farm labor contracting business with her father, Joseph, said the company has worked to fulfill the agreement. Today, it contracts with a farmworker-rights group to educate employees on how to respond to heat emergencies. Near the cornfield, it sets up extra water stations and has canopies for emergency shade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been in this business for a long time,” said Angela Rivera, who calls Beltran’s death “an unfortunate thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year we try to step it up,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Rivera said supervisors now monitor the heat on their cellphones and pull detasselers from the cornfields whenever it gets too hot — part of a heat-stress plan the Riveras created after Beltran’s death. They hand out brochures explaining the new policy to every farmworker on their bus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Not the first death\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Beltran was not Rivera Agri’s first heat-related fatality. In July 1997, a 39-year-old detasseler died of heatstroke under similar circumstances. Like Beltran, it was his third day on the job, and the temperature had spiked to 95 degrees. When he collapsed, the crew found him within two hours. But his core body temperature was 108 degrees — hot enough for the brain, liver and kidneys to shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA investigated his death but didn’t impose penalties because then-OSHA Area Director Ben Bare determined there was no applicable standard. The lack of a standard leaves individual OSHA officials to decide whether a general violation applies to each death, creating a pattern of uneven enforcement in worker heat-death cases, records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CJI and NPR’s analysis of worker heat deaths shows that, like Rivera Agri, 11 other companies have lost more than one employee. In five of the cases, OSHA investigated the first fatality and issued citations, only for another employee to die from heat. One of those cited was Texas-based Hellas Construction, which builds publicly and privately funded stadiums and other sports infrastructure projects across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July 2018, the week before Beltran died in a Nebraska cornfield, Karl Simmons signed on as a laborer for Hellas. At 30, with long braided hair and a shoulder tattoo bearing his mother’s name, Simmons arrived at the sprawling Gateway Park in Fort Worth, Texas, ready to install turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On his second day on the job, Simmons, who had served in the U.S. Navy, took a lunch break and fielded a call from his wife, Precious. “It’s just hot,” he complained, according to a deposition she gave in a lawsuit filed by the family against Hellas. The five-person crew had already drunk all the water. Simmons returned to preparing the mixture to attach to the turf, shoveling gravel and adhesive chemicals into a mixer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That afternoon — as the temperature topped 96 degrees — Simmons told his supervisor he felt hot, according to OSHA records. He complained about the heat two more times that day. Each time, he said he felt sick. At one point, he sought shade under a tree while his supervisor drove to a store to get water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A passerby eventually spotted Simmons sprawled on the ground, facedown, and alerted the crew. His brother-in-law, Michael Spriggins, who worked alongside Simmons as a Hellas laborer, sprinted to his aid. He found Simmons gasping for breath, bleeding from his nose and mouth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976359\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976359 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/npr-jul-31-2021-1_custom-884b15aa0b305a577c37107e8a1a8d8cbe1f2a62-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karl Simmons was installing turf at Gateway Park in Fort Worth, Texas, when he felt ill. Later, he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The official cause of death was heatstroke. \u003ccite>(JerSean Golatt/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It was a sight I ain’t going to never forget,” Spriggins said in an interview with CJI and NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called 911 and then placed a cool towel under Simmons’ neck at the dispatcher’s instructions. Simmons opened his eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It looked like he’s gonna pull through this,” Spriggins recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two hours later, Simmons was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Heatstroke, the autopsy report confirmed. He was one of at least 53 workers who have been fatally stricken by heat in Texas since 2010, CJI and NPR’s analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day, Jason Davidson, Hellas’ chief safety officer, emailed more than 340 company employees, addressing the perils of laboring in extreme heat. It was at least the fourth written warning he sent in the summer of 2018, when 11 additional Hellas employees were diagnosed with heat-related illnesses requiring medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dean Wingo, who oversaw the OSHA regional office that includes Texas from 2007 to 2012, said Hellas’ hospitalization numbers suggest a worrying pattern. Serious heat-related illness involves everything from a heat rash to uncontrolled bleeding, according to medical experts. In its most severe form, heatstroke can cause multisystem organ failure that has lasting adverse effects. Wingo said he believes Hellas’ record on workplace heat safety shows “poor” company management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976360\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976360\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/a13i9995-edit_custom-17545930d6db6e5937a8834fbcc78ea9b70c6442-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dean Wingo, who formerly oversaw the OSHA regional office that includes Texas, says he believes Hellas Construction’s record on workplace heat safety shows “poor” company management. \u003ccite>(Michael Cirlos III/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hellas officials declined a dozen interview requests for this story and didn’t respond to a list of 20 written questions from CJI and NPR. In its response to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in July 2019 by Simmons’ wife, the company denied that its conduct “rose to a level of gross neglect” or that it failed to provide a safe workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in December 2018, OSHA found that Hellas hadn’t provided Simmons a workplace “free from recognized hazards” and cited the company for two violations, including failing to record Simmons’ death in OSHA logs, records show. OSHA proposed a fine of $14,782 against Hellas for Simmons’ death. The company earned more than $150 million in revenue that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a settlement, Hellas agreed to implement “a more robust/detailed training program … to prevent heat exhaustion and heat stress injuries.” OSHA lowered the fine by nearly $2,000, to $12,934. That’s higher than the national average fine of $7,314 for employers in such cases, according to a CJI and NPR analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hellas executives did not carry out the safety measures, records show. And OSHA never showed up at a work site to see whether the company was following the terms of the settlement agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA’s regional office in Dallas, which investigated Simmons’ death, declined to discuss the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA data shows the agency reduced heat-related sanctions nationally by 31%, on average, after settlements. It cut the penalties in more than half of the 246 heat-death cases in which OSHA had proposed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wingo said the only way OSHA can ensure that companies like Hellas keep their promises is to conduct follow-up inspections in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s excusable,” he said. “When you’ve had a fatality, you go back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 19, 2019, a year after Simmons’ death, a second Hellas worker succumbed to heat — this time in Hondo, Texas, 42 miles west of San Antonio. At 6 a.m. that day, forecasters were promising a scorcher. The temperature would soar to 99 degrees, 3 degrees hotter than the 40-year average, the CJI and NPR data analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pedro Martinez Sr., 49, had been employed by Hellas for more than a year when he arrived for work at McDowell Middle School with his 22-year-old namesake. The father had gotten the son a summer job. At the time, Pedro Jr., also known as “Bruno,” was between semesters at a college in his home state of Zacatecas, Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third day, the pair did cement work on the school’s athletic field. They pulled out vertical rebar stakes using a device called a JackJaw, pumping a handle to wrench the stakes from the ground. As in the Simmons case, an OSHA inspection would later confirm that the area had little shade. Records show that the younger Martinez toiled for 10 hours before taking a lunch break at 4 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two hours later, he was working beside his father when he became overheated and ran off, hit a fence and collapsed. The father rushed his son to a local hospital’s emergency room, where nurses placed ice packs around his body. But his core temperature was already 108 degrees, according to a police report. The official cause of death was heatstroke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976365\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976365 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/dji_0790-edit_custom-a75e19bdefb32b549549a243ec99508e6fadab64-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The former construction site where Pedro Martinez Jr., died of heatstroke. The athletic field and track is adjacent to McDowell Middle School in Hondo, Texas. \u003ccite>(Michael Cirlos III/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In December 2019, OSHA cited Hellas for a willful violation, the most serious category. The citation would have placed Hellas on a public list of “severe violators,” reserved for repeat offenders. The agency proposed a penalty of $132,598 — the maximum amount OSHA could levy at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One month later, Hellas challenged the citation, arguing it should be dismissed because OSHA didn’t prove “the necessary elements of its claims.” The Labor Department settled with Hellas in April 2020, cutting the fine in half and reclassifying the willful violation as five “serious” ones. This kept Hellas off the severe violators list. A revised settlement agreement required the company to create a heat-illness prevention plan, among other things. It’s unclear whether Hellas followed through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May of last year, Hellas had paid the fine, and OSHA resolved the case. The agency’s regional office in San Antonio, which investigated Martinez’s death, declined two requests to discuss the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A state standard falls short\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Besides Texas, the states of California, Florida and Arkansas have each recorded at least 14 worker heat deaths since 2010, according to CJI and NPR’s analysis. Unlike most states, however, California has its own heat standard. Passed in 2005, the standard was later named after a 17-year-old pregnant farmworker, Maria Jimenez, who died from heat exposure while pruning grapes. The standard was the first to uphold the pillars of heat safety: water, rest, shade and acclimatization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, after the United Farm Workers sued California’s state version of OSHA, the agency tightened its standard. Cal/OSHA lowered the heat safety limit from 85 to 80 degrees and required companies to prepare for extreme heat threats on days hotter than 95 degrees. It also allocated more money and staff to enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, California’s rule is widely viewed as the gold standard. The Labor Department should emulate it, said John Newquist, who served as assistant administrator in OSHA Region 5 in the Upper Midwest from 2005 to 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy with California already adopting this thing for years,” he said. “If you follow these guidelines, that works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But OSHA data on worker heat deaths suggests the state’s standard can fall short. The rule has led to a rise in heat-related enforcement actions by the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, every year but 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic affected such activities across the board. In 2019, for instance, the agency conducted more than 4,000 heat inspections and cited workplaces in nearly half of them. Still, the CJI and NPR analysis shows that California’s yearly tally of worker heat deaths has remained steady over the past decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some critics say the agency has yet to curb worker heat illnesses and deaths because of lax and uneven enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garrett Brown, a Cal/OSHA inspector from 1994 to 2014, has investigated dozens of heat deaths and worked as a special adviser for a former Cal/OSHA secretary and as a part-time inspector until this year. He believes the agency can’t “do what it needs to do” to protect the state’s workers because of its chronic understaffing. Brown has documented staffing levels for years, charting the data on his blog, \u003ca href=\"https://insidecalosha.org/\">\u003cem>Inside Cal/OSHA\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. The figures reveal a tiny workforce — about 190 inspectors for 1 million employers responsible for 18 million workers. That’s one inspector for roughly every 5,200 companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown said mismanagement and the state’s inability to fill inspector positions have exacerbated the problem. As of July 31, at least 25% of nearly 250 Cal/OSHA inspector positions remained vacant. And that can make for dire consequences on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A firefighter’s death\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In California, where fires have been raging, the victims of heat-related deaths are sometimes firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2015, just two months before California’s standard was tightened, Raymond Araujo, one of 4,000 inmates who then served as firefighters for the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — known as Cal Fire — was on a 2-mile hike in Banning, California, about 30 miles from Palm Springs. Winding through steep, often shadeless hills, the trail was part of the department’s required cardiovascular training. On that day, the temperature climbed to 81 degrees, 10 degrees hotter than the 40-year average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976372\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976372 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0005-edit1_custom-38f23e78cad4ff96eef14fea9e92015d4c26beaa-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fire station warning sign is shown down the road from Cal Fire’s De Luz Fire Station 16 in Fallbrook, Calif., where firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkovwas was assigned. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the 12-member group neared the end of the exercise, Araujo stumbled and fell to his knees. His supervisor told his colleagues to help Araujo stand up and remove his fire gear so he could finish the hike. He walked 30 feet more and eventually collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire captain called for medical assistance, and a helicopter transported Araujo back to a nearby base camp, where he was pronounced dead, the records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Cal/OSHA inspection report named heat as a contributing factor in Araujo’s death, the cause was “hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” according to the autopsy report. As a result, Cal/OSHA deemed his death an accident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown, the former Cal/OSHA inspector, reviewed the agency’s report and said it was impossible for him to know why officials declined to investigate. He said the incident resembled many cases he had investigated — where workers suffered heart attacks because of the heat. Were he leading the charge, Brown said, he would have wanted to talk to eyewitnesses because the incident had all the hallmarks of a heat illness violation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to invalidate a fatality report is to decide that it’s natural causes,” he said, explaining that Cal/OSHA managers can look for ways to lessen understaffed inspectors’ workloads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA declined CJI and NPR’s requests to interview key officials for this story. But an agency spokesman defended Cal/OSHA’s handling of Araujo’s death, noting that the agency followed the Cal/OSHA medical unit’s assessment in determining a cause of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about the effectiveness of the heat standard, the agency said it regularly looks to enhance enforcement activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We continue to evaluate the effectiveness of our programs and consult with various subject matter experts to determine what changes, if any, are necessary to improve health and safety,” spokesman Frank Polizzi said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It pays not to comply’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Just before 8 a.m. on July 28, 2019, Cal Fire firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov set out with a fellow employee and a fire captain on a hike similar to the one that Araujo had made. The 28-year-old Ukrainian immigrant, who lived in Murrieta, California, a bedroom community near San Diego, had served as a reserve firefighter before being hired by Cal Fire in a seasonal role a year earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976371\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 395px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1976371\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2.jpe 395w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/yaro3-c6336f214f435a3aeeca34908eac8a5749d38604-2-160x120.jpe 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire firefighter Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov was on a routine training exercise when he stumbled and felt exhausted shortly before he collapsed. \u003ccite>(Ashley Vallario)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a standard training exercise, Katkov was asked to complete a 1.45-mile loop at Cal Fire’s rural Station 16 in Fallbrook, a remote mountainous area halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. As they traversed the loop, the captain and the co-worker noticed Katkov lagging behind the required 30-minute deadline to finish the hike. The two stopped on several occasions to allow Katkov to catch up, delaying their end time by 10 minutes. The temperature would climb to 88 degrees that day — 5 degrees hotter than the 40-year average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The captain, Joe Ekblad, recognized that Katkov hadn’t given his body enough of a rest yet, but ordered the firefighters to repeat the exercise, according to the Cal/OSHA records. On the way up the steepest incline of the loop, Katkov stumbled and told his supervisor he felt exhausted — two telltale signs of heat stress. He collapsed on the hilltop, was airlifted to a hospital nearly two hours later and died of heat illness the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He loved the idea of being like a wildland firefighter,” said Ashley Vallario, Katkov’s fiancée. “It made him happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, Cal/OSHA investigated Katkov’s death, interviewing eyewitnesses. The inspector detailed extensive failures by the captain, which led to his demotion. The agency found that Cal Fire had failed to stop the hike and seek emergency medical treatment even after Katkov had exhibited heat-related symptoms. Regulators levied a fine of $80,000 — almost five times the average Cal/OSHA fine of $17,000 in these cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither Cal Fire nor Ekblad responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976401\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976401 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/0017-edit1_custom-f7526141e0da5514521d7a2ee20044bccb4c63d7-2-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yaroslav “Yaro” Katkov was asked to complete a 1.45-mile loop at Cal Fire’s rural Station 16 in Fallbrook, a remote mountainous area halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Such a large penalty shows what a fully enforceable heat standard can do, some experts say. But Cal/OSHA records suggest the regulators’ stick has not come soon enough. Since 2012, at least four other firefighters have died during Cal Fire training hikes. All the firefighters but Katkov were inmates. No other case yielded sanctions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire’s training processes, meanwhile, continue to put firefighters at risk. In 2020, almost a year after Katkov’s death, another department firefighter was sickened by heat during a hike. That firefighter was rushed to the hospital and survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellen Widess, head of Cal/OSHA from 2011 to 2013, said she sees an unsettling pattern: Employers can brush off the cost of an agency fine. In many cases, she said, penalties have no effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve seen that the costs of [non]compliance are so cheap,” Widess said. “It pays not to comply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘It’s going to be like this every year’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the three years since Public Citizen renewed its petition for an OSHA heat standard, political pressure for such action has grown. In March, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., authored legislation that would require OSHA to create a national heat standard based on NIOSH criteria and mandate employer training “to prevent and respond” to heat illnesses. The bill, co-sponsored by at least 57 House Democrats, is pending in committee. It marks the second attempt by federal lawmakers to establish a rule since 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OSHA, meanwhile, said it will take the first step toward issuing a rule this fall. In October, the agency plans to publish a request for information from employers, occupational health specialists, climate scientists and workers on the viability of a standard. Frederick, OSHA’s acting director, said the input could help the agency develop a regulation that applies to any industry in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heat hazards exist in many, many industries,” he said. “We know that we have work to do with almost every industry to understand … what the effect of heat hazards in their workplace is and how best they are putting in practices and controls to mitigate those hazards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, former OSHA officials are anticipating industry pushback, particularly from construction groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976404\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976404 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-2048x1638.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/se-2021-07-28-wpick-4427-edit_custom-c315a8531fef94c182a9d3c09fb7398ee7c3f664-2-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The body of farmworker Cruz Urias Beltran was found in this cornfield near Cairo, Neb. \u003ccite>(Walker Pickering/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Every time OSHA proposes a standard, [the] industry accuses OSHA of killing jobs and destroying whatever industry is going to be regulated,” said Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant labor secretary who helped shepherd two chemical-exposure standards through protracted rule-making processes. “That would probably follow with a heat standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states have decided not to wait. In June, as an unprecedented heat wave blanketed the Pacific Northwest, Sebastian Francisco Perez moved irrigation pipes at a nursery in Willamette Valley, Oregon. Perez was found dead at the end of his shift. Preliminary information suggests the incident was heat related, but Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) has yet to make a determination, according to Aaron Corvin, a spokesman for Oregon OSHA. Ten days later, the state enacted an emergency heat standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Grand Island, Nebraska, where the average high temperature has increased 2 degrees since the 1990s, the intensifying heat is not lost on Joseph Rivera. As a younger man in the fields, he remembers there were hot and humid days. But now the heat is so extreme, he said, “you get these hot days that just come up over you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With climate change, you hit 112 in Nebraska the other day,” Rivera said, explaining why he’s amenable to a federal heat standard. “It’s going to be like this every year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Christina Stella, a reporter with Nebraska Public Media; Jacob Margolis, a reporter with KPCC in Los Angeles; Allison Mollenkamp, an intern on NPR’s investigative team; and The Texas Newsroom contributed to this story. Julia Shipley, Brian Edwards and David Nickerson reported this story as fellows for Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School in New York. Cascade Tuholske, a climate impact scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, contributed to the data analysis. Public Health Watch, an independent investigative nonprofit, helped edit this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Heat+Is+Killing+Workers+In+The+U.S.+%E2%80%94+And+There+Are+No+Federal+Rules+To+Protect+Them&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "making-sense-of-purple-air-vs-airnow-and-a-new-map-to-rule-them-all",
"title": "From PurpleAir to AirNow, Your Air Quality Maps for Wildfire Smoke",
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"headTitle": "From PurpleAir to AirNow, Your Air Quality Maps for Wildfire Smoke | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area residents have become used to the ritual of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\">checking online maps for local air quality\u003c/a> amid burning forests and chaparral near and far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2018 Camp Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.airnow.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">AirNow\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, an air quality website maintained by a partnership of states, the federal government, Canada and Mexico, crashed because it could not handle so many people flocking online to put numbers to what their noses were telling them: The air seemed really bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">The failure sent web users \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950648/californians-turn-to-low-cost-sensors-for-highly-local-air-quality-info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">rushing\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to alternative, unofficial websites like the interactive, crowdsourced map maintained by \u003ca href=\"https://www.purpleair.com/map?mylocation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">PurpleAir\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, a manufacturer of low-cost air monitors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But users have noticed a discrepancy between what official sites are reporting and the readings displayed on PurpleAir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So, what’s the deal?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly put, PurpleAir provides more localized, more current and less accurate readings than AirNow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA and the U.S. Forest Service have a \u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.768719999999995&lng=-122.4454258&zoom=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">project\u003c/a> of what some may consider to be the Holy Grail of air quality maps: combined readings taken from PurpleAir’s low-cost sensors and those from official government monitoring devices, all in a single map. Click \u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.7576497&lng=-122.4353884&zoom=10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a> or on the image below to access the map; the circles represent official government monitors, the squares indicate PurpleAir sensors, and the triangles show temporary monitors set up by government agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1969281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.7576497&lng=-122.4353884&zoom=10\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1969281 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1020x544.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1020x544.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-800x427.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-160x85.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-768x410.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1536x819.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-2048x1092.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1920x1024.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from AirNow Fire and Smoke map, a pilot project, on Sept. 4, 2020.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“While these [unofficial] sensors don’t meet the rigorous standards required for regulatory monitors, they can help you get a picture of air quality nearest you, especially when wildfire smoke is in your area,” the website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PurpleAir readings and those from government sensors like the ones maintained by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District differ in several key ways: speed, accuracy and placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername='science' align='right']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">\u003cspan class=\"s3\">Users of PurpleAir can toggle between real-time data and readings averaged over the last 10 or 30 minutes. The data comes from the commercial sensors the company sells, which members of the public install on porches, yards and other neighborhood sites. The readings can be helpful for people deciding whether to go for a walk or engage in other outdoor activity. (Remember to deselect “indoor sensors” to see outdoors-only readings.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The AirNow site displays hourly, not real-time, readings. \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The government sensors that send data to AirNow are very expensive, state-regulated and regularly calibrated by scientists to accurately measure the density of wildfire ash and other particles in the air. But they are more sparsely located than PurpleAir’s network of hundreds of monitors in the region. In contrast, PurpleAir’s devices rely on a laser to count the particles in the air, and use an average density to determine air quality at the monitor’s location. The calculation is an estimate, however, especially during fire season, as woodsmoke particles have a different density from gravel dust or other pollutants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To try to remedy the situation, we’ve had a whole bunch of different groups, different scientists, different universities, different agencies look at the data and convert it into a calibrated reading that more accurately compares to the EPA’s data,” PurpleAir founder Adrian Dybwad said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">PurpleAir users can now toggle among several conversions — one listed as “US EPA” developed by the U.S. government; “LRAPA,” developed by the Lane Regional Air Pollution Agency in Oregon; “AQandU,” developed by the University of Utah; and another labeled “WOODSMOKE,” developed by researchers in Australia. These readings will align more closely with those from official sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">\u003cem>An earlier version of this story was published on Sept. 4, 2020. Jon Brooks contributed.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Here's how to make sense of PurpleAir vs. AirNow air quality maps. Plus, a look at one map that rules them all.",
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"title": "From PurpleAir to AirNow, Your Air Quality Maps for Wildfire Smoke | KQED",
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"headline": "From PurpleAir to AirNow, Your Air Quality Maps for Wildfire Smoke",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area residents have become used to the ritual of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930023/map-heres-your-daily-air-quality-report-for-the-bay-area\">checking online maps for local air quality\u003c/a> amid burning forests and chaparral near and far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2018 Camp Fire, \u003ca href=\"https://www.airnow.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">AirNow\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, an air quality website maintained by a partnership of states, the federal government, Canada and Mexico, crashed because it could not handle so many people flocking online to put numbers to what their noses were telling them: The air seemed really bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">The failure sent web users \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1950648/californians-turn-to-low-cost-sensors-for-highly-local-air-quality-info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">rushing\u003c/span>\u003c/a> to alternative, unofficial websites like the interactive, crowdsourced map maintained by \u003ca href=\"https://www.purpleair.com/map?mylocation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s4\">PurpleAir\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, a manufacturer of low-cost air monitors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But users have noticed a discrepancy between what official sites are reporting and the readings displayed on PurpleAir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So, what’s the deal?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly put, PurpleAir provides more localized, more current and less accurate readings than AirNow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA and the U.S. Forest Service have a \u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.768719999999995&lng=-122.4454258&zoom=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">project\u003c/a> of what some may consider to be the Holy Grail of air quality maps: combined readings taken from PurpleAir’s low-cost sensors and those from official government monitoring devices, all in a single map. Click \u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.7576497&lng=-122.4353884&zoom=10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a> or on the image below to access the map; the circles represent official government monitors, the squares indicate PurpleAir sensors, and the triangles show temporary monitors set up by government agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1969281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://fire.airnow.gov/?lat=37.7576497&lng=-122.4353884&zoom=10\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1969281 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1020x544.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1020x544.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-800x427.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-160x85.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-768x410.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1536x819.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-2048x1092.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/09/Air-quality-map-purple-air-airnow-1920x1024.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from AirNow Fire and Smoke map, a pilot project, on Sept. 4, 2020.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“While these [unofficial] sensors don’t meet the rigorous standards required for regulatory monitors, they can help you get a picture of air quality nearest you, especially when wildfire smoke is in your area,” the website states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PurpleAir readings and those from government sensors like the ones maintained by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District differ in several key ways: speed, accuracy and placement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">\u003cspan class=\"s3\">Users of PurpleAir can toggle between real-time data and readings averaged over the last 10 or 30 minutes. The data comes from the commercial sensors the company sells, which members of the public install on porches, yards and other neighborhood sites. The readings can be helpful for people deciding whether to go for a walk or engage in other outdoor activity. (Remember to deselect “indoor sensors” to see outdoors-only readings.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The AirNow site displays hourly, not real-time, readings. \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s3\">The government sensors that send data to AirNow are very expensive, state-regulated and regularly calibrated by scientists to accurately measure the density of wildfire ash and other particles in the air. But they are more sparsely located than PurpleAir’s network of hundreds of monitors in the region. In contrast, PurpleAir’s devices rely on a laser to count the particles in the air, and use an average density to determine air quality at the monitor’s location. The calculation is an estimate, however, especially during fire season, as woodsmoke particles have a different density from gravel dust or other pollutants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To try to remedy the situation, we’ve had a whole bunch of different groups, different scientists, different universities, different agencies look at the data and convert it into a calibrated reading that more accurately compares to the EPA’s data,” PurpleAir founder Adrian Dybwad said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">PurpleAir users can now toggle among several conversions — one listed as “US EPA” developed by the U.S. government; “LRAPA,” developed by the Lane Regional Air Pollution Agency in Oregon; “AQandU,” developed by the University of Utah; and another labeled “WOODSMOKE,” developed by researchers in Australia. These readings will align more closely with those from official sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p6\">\u003cem>An earlier version of this story was published on Sept. 4, 2020. Jon Brooks contributed.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "The Oakland Latina Who's Leading Newsom's Climate Agenda at 31",
"headTitle": "The Oakland Latina Who’s Leading Newsom’s Climate Agenda at 31 | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/a> has worked on climate change issues for about a decade. But the stakes of the crisis became a little more real for her when she received a call from her parents a few months ago during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/11/climate/deaths-pacific-northwest-heat-wave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">deadly Pacific Northwest heat wave\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temperature in their Seattle home rose so high that, in order to find respite from the baking heat, they slept outside on their deck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was over 105 degrees,” she said. “When I was growing up it was barely ever over 80 . It really pulled me back to what I consider the front lines of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez, 31, has been an Oakland resident since 2017. At the time of the phone call, she was serving as an adviser to John Kerry, who President Biden tapped to be the top U.S. climate diplomat and serve in a newly created Cabinet position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/katenrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kate Gordon\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, had recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.opr.ca.gov/news/2021/06-17.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stepped down in June\u003c/a> to work in the U.S. Department of Energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez says she saw an opportunity to make change at the state level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] told the president, thank you. But I needed to come back and work for the governor,” she said. “We are experiencing climate impacts at an accelerating rate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon, her predecessor, spent two decades working on climate, energy and economic policy, championing the idea that bold climate action is good for the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worked with Michael Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and California philanthropist Tom Steyer, to found the \u003ca href=\"https://riskybusiness.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Risky Business Project.\u003c/a> An initiative that quantifies the economic impacts of climate change on things like crop yields, energy demands and human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Newsom’s advisor, Gordon helped establish a \u003ca href=\"https://opr.ca.gov/wildfire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commission\u003c/a> on the catastrophic cost of wildfires. She also helped create the $12.5 billion “climate budget” Newsom proposed in 2020, which later was scaled back because of the COVID-19 crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez is bringing something different, her global experience to California — which is often touted for its climate targets, rules and influential nature — and a focus on heavily impacted communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[We are] already seeing how the most vulnerable are disproportionately impacted here in California,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976309\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976309 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lauren Sanchez. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lauren Sanchez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She has worked in climate policy roles with the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. She also served on the Paris Agreement negotiation team with former President Barack Obama’s State Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state very much is the tip of the spear,” Sanchez said. “My heart is more energized, by sharpening the tip of that spear and continuing to push forward toward a climate safe future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero spoke with Sanchez about how she plans to advise the governor. This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California has a spectrum of climate policies and big goals, but the state is a major producer of oil. What are you saying to the governor? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s clear that the world is not doing enough on this issue. We’ve also reached this inflection point. Californians are looking outside their window, and they know climate change is already happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has formed targets and ambitious goals, informed by the latest science. We are getting new science almost daily about the state of the climate and just how much more we all need to do collectively. It’s why the governor sent letters last month asking our agencies to turn over every rock [and] to look at what it would mean to accelerate our \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/carbon-neutrality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">big carbon neutrality target\u003c/a> and our \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2021-03/california-releases-report-charting-path-100-percent-clean-electricity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clean energy targets\u003c/a> forward. Targets are incredibly important, but what really matters for Californians is what we’re doing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The climate crisis is brought on by carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. How are you advising on the phaseout of fossil fuels?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, it’s critical to actually saving the planet. We’ve known for a long time sources of carbon pollution and how we need to tackle them. The governor put out a bold end date for oil production here in the state by 2045. We’ve heard from a number of communities that that’s too late. And so we’re very much looking at a path towards ending extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A really key and critical part of that, which we take very seriously here in California, is the jobs of our clean energy future. For people in Kern County and in L.A. who are currently working at refineries, we know that there is a clean job for them in our carbon neutral future here in the state. We’re working very closely with industry and with communities to make sure that this just transition is something we can very much embrace here in California and model for the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>As a Latina with one of the highest profile climate positions in California, how do you plan to represent the state’s communities of color?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I come at this from a personal angle. My \u003cem>abuelos\u003c/em> came here from Mexico and lived in L.A., where my father was stuck inside during recess because of smog issues. They lived in a redlined community, a front-line community next to sources of pollution. The fight for environmental justice, and climate justice is not something that I think about how I will check a box, but rather how I want to embody every single decision that I’m making, and every phone call and every interview and every budget line item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re working with the California Legislature on climate investments. We have a statutory minimum that a certain amount of [that spending] be in disadvantaged communities. And I’m very proud that the state has exceeded that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We know we need to not only right historical wrongs across the state and across the nation. But empowering communities of color to craft solutions and lead at the local level, may be our best chance for solving this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your top goals as senior climate adviser to the governor? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ninety percent of Californians connect wildfire and drought to climate change. They know climate change is happening, and it’s impacting them today. It’s not a 2045 or 2050 issue. One of my primary goals for this job is to help Californians feel like they are a part of our agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a number of very concrete programs that we need to move forward towards on implementation so that we hit those ambitious targets. Simultaneously looking at if those targets are even enough, knowing what 2021 is, and what 2022 will bring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a planning exercise, called the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scoping plan\u003c/a>, which will very much chart out how the state will become carbon neutral by 2045. And one of my primary goals is to make sure that we don’t drive up electricity rates or gas prices, or ask Californians to make economic and social trade-offs. But we’re centering equity, and moving to carbon neutrality, or net zero as quickly as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California emits 1% of global climate emissions. [Even if we were] carbon negative tomorrow, we would still have to be preparing for drought and we would still be burning every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do we build our climate agenda in a way that is a model for other states, countries and other big global emitters, so that they’re continuing to follow California’s lead?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is your advice to the governor about equitably dealing with the impacts of climate change upon the state — heat waves, drought, and wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we look at the data from across the country, Americans and Californians want the government to take care of climate change. We too often put the communities of color in an impossible trade-off between their health, their work and where their housing is. The role of government is to ensure environmental health; safe and affordable access to drinking water; and protections that create climate resilient communities in a way that isn’t asking them to sacrifice anything economically or socially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a lot of long-term planning that we need to do to make sure we’re protecting the most vulnerable. In the context of the infrastructure plan and the influx of money; the feds set the target at 40% in disadvantaged communities, but here in California [it should be] as high as we possibly can set it. So that those communities that can’t afford an air filter when the air is [polluted with wildfire smoke] are still protected.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Lauren Sanchez left the Biden administration to advise Gov. Newsom on climate change. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/lsanchez020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lauren Sanchez\u003c/a> has worked on climate change issues for about a decade. But the stakes of the crisis became a little more real for her when she received a call from her parents a few months ago during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/11/climate/deaths-pacific-northwest-heat-wave.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">deadly Pacific Northwest heat wave\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The temperature in their Seattle home rose so high that, in order to find respite from the baking heat, they slept outside on their deck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was over 105 degrees,” she said. “When I was growing up it was barely ever over 80 . It really pulled me back to what I consider the front lines of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez, 31, has been an Oakland resident since 2017. At the time of the phone call, she was serving as an adviser to John Kerry, who President Biden tapped to be the top U.S. climate diplomat and serve in a newly created Cabinet position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/katenrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kate Gordon\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s senior adviser on climate, had recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.opr.ca.gov/news/2021/06-17.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stepped down in June\u003c/a> to work in the U.S. Department of Energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez says she saw an opportunity to make change at the state level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[I] told the president, thank you. But I needed to come back and work for the governor,” she said. “We are experiencing climate impacts at an accelerating rate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon, her predecessor, spent two decades working on climate, energy and economic policy, championing the idea that bold climate action is good for the economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worked with Michael Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and California philanthropist Tom Steyer, to found the \u003ca href=\"https://riskybusiness.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Risky Business Project.\u003c/a> An initiative that quantifies the economic impacts of climate change on things like crop yields, energy demands and human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Newsom’s advisor, Gordon helped establish a \u003ca href=\"https://opr.ca.gov/wildfire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">commission\u003c/a> on the catastrophic cost of wildfires. She also helped create the $12.5 billion “climate budget” Newsom proposed in 2020, which later was scaled back because of the COVID-19 crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez is bringing something different, her global experience to California — which is often touted for its climate targets, rules and influential nature — and a focus on heavily impacted communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[We are] already seeing how the most vulnerable are disproportionately impacted here in California,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976309\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1976309 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/lauren-sanchez-at-capital-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lauren Sanchez. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lauren Sanchez)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She has worked in climate policy roles with the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. She also served on the Paris Agreement negotiation team with former President Barack Obama’s State Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state very much is the tip of the spear,” Sanchez said. “My heart is more energized, by sharpening the tip of that spear and continuing to push forward toward a climate safe future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED climate reporter Ezra David Romero spoke with Sanchez about how she plans to advise the governor. This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California has a spectrum of climate policies and big goals, but the state is a major producer of oil. What are you saying to the governor? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s clear that the world is not doing enough on this issue. We’ve also reached this inflection point. Californians are looking outside their window, and they know climate change is already happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has formed targets and ambitious goals, informed by the latest science. We are getting new science almost daily about the state of the climate and just how much more we all need to do collectively. It’s why the governor sent letters last month asking our agencies to turn over every rock [and] to look at what it would mean to accelerate our \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/carbon-neutrality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">big carbon neutrality target\u003c/a> and our \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2021-03/california-releases-report-charting-path-100-percent-clean-electricity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clean energy targets\u003c/a> forward. Targets are incredibly important, but what really matters for Californians is what we’re doing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The climate crisis is brought on by carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. How are you advising on the phaseout of fossil fuels?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First off, it’s critical to actually saving the planet. We’ve known for a long time sources of carbon pollution and how we need to tackle them. The governor put out a bold end date for oil production here in the state by 2045. We’ve heard from a number of communities that that’s too late. And so we’re very much looking at a path towards ending extraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A really key and critical part of that, which we take very seriously here in California, is the jobs of our clean energy future. For people in Kern County and in L.A. who are currently working at refineries, we know that there is a clean job for them in our carbon neutral future here in the state. We’re working very closely with industry and with communities to make sure that this just transition is something we can very much embrace here in California and model for the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>As a Latina with one of the highest profile climate positions in California, how do you plan to represent the state’s communities of color?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I come at this from a personal angle. My \u003cem>abuelos\u003c/em> came here from Mexico and lived in L.A., where my father was stuck inside during recess because of smog issues. They lived in a redlined community, a front-line community next to sources of pollution. The fight for environmental justice, and climate justice is not something that I think about how I will check a box, but rather how I want to embody every single decision that I’m making, and every phone call and every interview and every budget line item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re working with the California Legislature on climate investments. We have a statutory minimum that a certain amount of [that spending] be in disadvantaged communities. And I’m very proud that the state has exceeded that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We know we need to not only right historical wrongs across the state and across the nation. But empowering communities of color to craft solutions and lead at the local level, may be our best chance for solving this issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your top goals as senior climate adviser to the governor? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ninety percent of Californians connect wildfire and drought to climate change. They know climate change is happening, and it’s impacting them today. It’s not a 2045 or 2050 issue. One of my primary goals for this job is to help Californians feel like they are a part of our agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a number of very concrete programs that we need to move forward towards on implementation so that we hit those ambitious targets. Simultaneously looking at if those targets are even enough, knowing what 2021 is, and what 2022 will bring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a planning exercise, called the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/ab-32-climate-change-scoping-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scoping plan\u003c/a>, which will very much chart out how the state will become carbon neutral by 2045. And one of my primary goals is to make sure that we don’t drive up electricity rates or gas prices, or ask Californians to make economic and social trade-offs. But we’re centering equity, and moving to carbon neutrality, or net zero as quickly as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California emits 1% of global climate emissions. [Even if we were] carbon negative tomorrow, we would still have to be preparing for drought and we would still be burning every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do we build our climate agenda in a way that is a model for other states, countries and other big global emitters, so that they’re continuing to follow California’s lead?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is your advice to the governor about equitably dealing with the impacts of climate change upon the state — heat waves, drought, and wildfire?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we look at the data from across the country, Americans and Californians want the government to take care of climate change. We too often put the communities of color in an impossible trade-off between their health, their work and where their housing is. The role of government is to ensure environmental health; safe and affordable access to drinking water; and protections that create climate resilient communities in a way that isn’t asking them to sacrifice anything economically or socially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a lot of long-term planning that we need to do to make sure we’re protecting the most vulnerable. In the context of the infrastructure plan and the influx of money; the feds set the target at 40% in disadvantaged communities, but here in California [it should be] as high as we possibly can set it. So that those communities that can’t afford an air filter when the air is [polluted with wildfire smoke] are still protected.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests",
"headTitle": "Trapping Millions of ‘Zombie’ Urchins Could Restore California’s Once Mighty Kelp Forests | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Grant Downie is cruising through Caspar Bay, a small cove 150 miles north of San Francisco on the rugged Mendocino County coast. From the helm of his 18-foot fishing boat, The Rose, Downie steers along the jagged cliffs that surround a pristine beach at the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sea in this protected inlet appears peaceful and calm. But below the surface, all is not well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='right' citation='Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz']‘Let there be no question. These forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Down in the dark green water, hundreds of thousands of spiny purple sea urchins are scavenging the few remaining scraps of bull kelp, a leafy seaweed that once canopied California’s coastal waters from San Francisco to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kelp provides habitat for countless marine species and captures carbon from the water and the atmosphere. But scientists say climate change is threatening kelp forests around the globe. In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins, aided by a temporary spike in ocean temperatures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was one of the first areas we saw the \u003ci>purps\u003c/i> really taking over,” says Downie, a 33-year-old second-generation commercial urchin fisherman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By “purps,” he means purple sea urchins. Of course, it could also be “perps,” as in \u003ci>perpetrators\u003c/i>. These ping pong-ball sized critters sprout sharp, violet purple spines, in all directions, and have voracious appetites for kelp and other algae. (They’ve also been known to devour jelly fish and even bird carcasses.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976054\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976054\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit, is studying different ways to remove purple sea urchins so kelp forests can rebound. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Downie kills the engine and we drift up to a buoy that’s connected by 20 feet of rope to a flat, hula hoop-shaped mesh trap. For two days, it’s been lying on the craggy ocean bottom, baited with strips of bull kelp, quietly attracting the purple urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelp once thrived in places like Caspar Bay. Now, Downie says the ocean floor is lined with bare rock and purple urchins. “There are reefs where it’s like a carpet of purple urchin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hoists up the line, yelping with pleasure as a mound of urchins spill onto the deck. Urchins on top of urchins, some weren’t even able to reach the kelp, but “were just on the trap because the kelp was there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s left of the bull kelp is a ragged green mass, covered in bite marks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hammered it,” Downie says, describing the amount of kelp eaten by the urchin as “insane.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick count reveals the trap brought up more than 300 of the spiny invertebrates — a new personal record for Downie with a single trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Collapse of a Forest\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downie’s trapping work is part of a research project spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit in search of solutions to pave the way for kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> collapse of California’s kelp forests\u003c/a> is complicated, but goes something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 2014, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/looking-back-blob-record-warming-drives-unprecedented-ocean-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warm water blob \u003c/a> from the Pacific Northwest combined with an El Niño pulse from the south to create a large, prolonged \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/03/kelp-forests-norcal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> ocean heat wave\u003c/a>. Water temperatures spiked nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average in spots along the West Coast. Kelp thrives in colder waters, which have more of the nutrients it needs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hardy kelp may have recovered naturally after the heat wave passed. But a second ecological disaster, potentially related to the warm waters, struck. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> disease\u003c/a> killed most of the sea stars on the West Coast, including the 24-limbed, bicycle-wheel-sized sunflower star that feasts on purple sea urchins. Without these predators around, the urchin population swelled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The urchins, typically concealed in protective, rocky crevasses where they patiently wait for fallen kelp leaves, came out of hiding and mowed down the forest, stalks and all. The state’s North Coast got hit the hardest. The kelp in Central and Southern California waters fared somewhat better because other predators there, like sea otters and lobsters, also eat urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For kelp to rebound, scientists first need to figure out how to remove millions of urchins from California waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N7APOWQkWs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A pile of purple sea urchins collects on a underwater trap in Caspar Bay. (Colin McHugh)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let there be no question,” says Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz marine ecology professor not affiliated with the Nature Conservancy project, “these forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Solution\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, scientists and wildlife managers have begun testing different solutions for solving the purple urchin problem. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2019-10-31/california-divers-fight-to-turn-the-tide-on-a-collapsing-ecosystem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> well-documented approach\u003c/a> has been to deploy scuba divers to harvest urchins by hand-plucking them off reefs. But diving is expensive and potentially dangerous in strong currents or bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchin trapping has been proposed as a comparatively safe and cost-effective way to cull a ton of urchin and safeguard kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got these cleared areas in the harbor where we want the kelp to grow back,” Downie says, “Let’s just set traps all around it so that when the urchins come, they’re going to be in the traps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since no one’s ever tried using traps to catch urchins along the West Coast, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife granted the Nature Conservancy project a special permit to test out the method. Downie designed the traps himself: the flat-as-a-pancake version and another with collapsible walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grant Downie rigs an urchin trap with bull kelp and a GoPro camera. A single trap can capture more than 300 purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You might think so many urchins would be good news for an urchin fisherman. But Downie makes a living scuba diving for the larger and meatier red sea urchins, the kind you pay $8 a piece for at sushi bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only a fraction of purple urchins grow big enough to eat. When they moved in, he says the red ones died or moved on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since this whole disaster, I’m hardly making a quarter of what I used to,” Downie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disappearance of kelp has crippled other marine ecosystems, like the rockfish and red abalone fisheries that were once staples of the Northern California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just hurting the urchin divers,” Downie says. “That was a huge income for so many people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the ecological and economic collapse, Downie decided to use his knowledge of urchins to help scientists find a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had heard about the trapping project and I said, ‘Hey, I think it should stay urchin-based,’’’ he says. “We’re not trappers per se, and this [contract] could have gone to a crabber or somebody like that. But our industry is in decline, we’re looking for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy pays Downie for his work, and he now represents the North Coast region on a state commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Zombie Urchins Survive for Decades Without Eating\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without much kelp left to eat, most of the urchins Downie pulls from the water are starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the outside they look fine, on the inside they’re everything but fine,” says Tristin McHugh, an ecologist who directs the kelp recovery project for the Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that doesn’t mean they’ll die-off naturally. These zombie urchins, as scientists call them, can survive for decades, biding their time until more kelp grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some places in the world known to have them for 70-plus years in that state,” McHugh says. Which means it may be up to humans to tip the scales back in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The inside of what scientists call a “zombie urchin.” Urchins can survive decades in this state. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other methods scientists are exploring for urchin removal include reintroducing natural predators, like sea stars or sea otters. Researchers at the University of Washington have begun the first-ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgcCjpXt7Ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">captive breeding program\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for sunflower stars, which still haven’t bounced back in California since the disease wiped them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each method has potential benefits and challenges, which include cost, safety, feasibility and regulatory hurdles, to name just a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973217/in-central-california-sea-otters-feast-on-purple-urchins-and-thats-good-for-kelp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> research shows \u003c/a> that sea otters eat urchins along the Central Coast, helping maintain patches of healthy kelp forest, Mark Carr from UC Santa Cruz, says it’s unlikely they would go after the zombies that blanket large areas of ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The otters are not going to go out and waste their time and energy feeding on urchins that have very low nutritional value,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it pans out, urchin trapping has the potential to do some heavy lifting for conservation, especially when diving isn’t practical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By using traps, you may be able to extend your season for getting into the water,” says James Ray, a kelp specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And you can target specific areas on a more constant basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By creating strongholds for kelp along the coast, he says, the forest may be better equipped to withstand future threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trapping has its limitations, too. Divers can swim right up to urchins, but dropping traps requires some guesswork. Trappers must hope that the urchins will be in expected locations. While trapping is less expensive than diving, it’s still costly and requires continual effort, whereas introducing predators may eventually sustain itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976056\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy’s kelp project director Tristin McHugh points out the spore packet on a healthy bull kelp frond in Caspar Bay. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray, who’s been collaborating with the Nature Conservancy’s kelp recovery research, says no one method will be the “silver bullet answer.” He says trapping and diving could potentially work together, in tandem with other methods, as wildlife managers try to scale up solutions from small patches to the entire coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any solution,” he says, “is likely going to be a sort of a mosaic of smaller solutions that all work, ultimately, towards trying to increase resiliency in our kelp forest ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McHugh agrees with the kitchen sink approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We almost want these very simple, singular solutions,” she says, “But the really key piece right now is figuring out how many different methods we can utilize and facilitate this shift back into a kelp forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy currently donates the urchin carcasses to a company for composting. But McHugh says the long-term goal is to find a commercial market for the calcium-rich shells, like fertilizer or even road building materials, to help fund urchin removals on a larger scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone needs to buy the urchin because we can’t necessarily rely on grant funds or philanthropic funds,” she says. “We need to figure out how we can utilize purple urchin, whether it’s for soil additives or for pavement or whatever it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Golden Tendrils’ of Hope\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there hasn’t been significant recovery of bull kelp in Northern California since the marine heat wave, there is some reason for hope. Ocean temperatures have normalized, restoring nutrients to a level “that can sustain kelp growth and productivity,” Ray says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While climate change increases the likelihood of warming events, kelp is known for its resiliency, replenishing itself every year from new spores and growing up to 2 feet a day. Along the North Coast, there have recently beens some \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/Northern-California-kelp-forest-shows-signs-of-16375965.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preliminary reports\u003c/a> of kelp beginning to reemerge in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Back in Caspar Bay, McHugh kayaks close to the beach, where the sandy bottom prevents urchins from moving in. Surrounding her on all sides is a healthy canopy of bull kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just these glorious golden tendrils of kelp just floating, creating this wonderful canopy that houses tons of marine life, turns over carbon for us, just does everything that you would possibly want a canopy forming species to do,” McHugh says, “It’s currently doing for us right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hasn’t seen kelp in this cove in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can actually see the spore packets on the blades of the kelp getting ready to drop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single packet holds millions of spores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they reach the seafloor, McHugh says, “male and female will find each other and they’ll wait for the next opportune ocean conditions to start growing and begin their life cycle again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a sign, she says, that if scientists can get rid of the urchins, California’s underwater forests will have a chance to return.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins.",
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"title": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests | KQED",
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"headline": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Grant Downie is cruising through Caspar Bay, a small cove 150 miles north of San Francisco on the rugged Mendocino County coast. From the helm of his 18-foot fishing boat, The Rose, Downie steers along the jagged cliffs that surround a pristine beach at the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sea in this protected inlet appears peaceful and calm. But below the surface, all is not well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Let there be no question. These forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Down in the dark green water, hundreds of thousands of spiny purple sea urchins are scavenging the few remaining scraps of bull kelp, a leafy seaweed that once canopied California’s coastal waters from San Francisco to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kelp provides habitat for countless marine species and captures carbon from the water and the atmosphere. But scientists say climate change is threatening kelp forests around the globe. In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins, aided by a temporary spike in ocean temperatures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was one of the first areas we saw the \u003ci>purps\u003c/i> really taking over,” says Downie, a 33-year-old second-generation commercial urchin fisherman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By “purps,” he means purple sea urchins. Of course, it could also be “perps,” as in \u003ci>perpetrators\u003c/i>. These ping pong-ball sized critters sprout sharp, violet purple spines, in all directions, and have voracious appetites for kelp and other algae. (They’ve also been known to devour jelly fish and even bird carcasses.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976054\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976054\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit, is studying different ways to remove purple sea urchins so kelp forests can rebound. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Downie kills the engine and we drift up to a buoy that’s connected by 20 feet of rope to a flat, hula hoop-shaped mesh trap. For two days, it’s been lying on the craggy ocean bottom, baited with strips of bull kelp, quietly attracting the purple urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelp once thrived in places like Caspar Bay. Now, Downie says the ocean floor is lined with bare rock and purple urchins. “There are reefs where it’s like a carpet of purple urchin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hoists up the line, yelping with pleasure as a mound of urchins spill onto the deck. Urchins on top of urchins, some weren’t even able to reach the kelp, but “were just on the trap because the kelp was there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s left of the bull kelp is a ragged green mass, covered in bite marks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hammered it,” Downie says, describing the amount of kelp eaten by the urchin as “insane.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick count reveals the trap brought up more than 300 of the spiny invertebrates — a new personal record for Downie with a single trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Collapse of a Forest\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downie’s trapping work is part of a research project spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit in search of solutions to pave the way for kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> collapse of California’s kelp forests\u003c/a> is complicated, but goes something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 2014, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/looking-back-blob-record-warming-drives-unprecedented-ocean-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warm water blob \u003c/a> from the Pacific Northwest combined with an El Niño pulse from the south to create a large, prolonged \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/03/kelp-forests-norcal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> ocean heat wave\u003c/a>. Water temperatures spiked nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average in spots along the West Coast. Kelp thrives in colder waters, which have more of the nutrients it needs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hardy kelp may have recovered naturally after the heat wave passed. But a second ecological disaster, potentially related to the warm waters, struck. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> disease\u003c/a> killed most of the sea stars on the West Coast, including the 24-limbed, bicycle-wheel-sized sunflower star that feasts on purple sea urchins. Without these predators around, the urchin population swelled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The urchins, typically concealed in protective, rocky crevasses where they patiently wait for fallen kelp leaves, came out of hiding and mowed down the forest, stalks and all. The state’s North Coast got hit the hardest. The kelp in Central and Southern California waters fared somewhat better because other predators there, like sea otters and lobsters, also eat urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For kelp to rebound, scientists first need to figure out how to remove millions of urchins from California waters.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2N7APOWQkWs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2N7APOWQkWs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>A pile of purple sea urchins collects on a underwater trap in Caspar Bay. (Colin McHugh)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let there be no question,” says Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz marine ecology professor not affiliated with the Nature Conservancy project, “these forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Solution\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, scientists and wildlife managers have begun testing different solutions for solving the purple urchin problem. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2019-10-31/california-divers-fight-to-turn-the-tide-on-a-collapsing-ecosystem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> well-documented approach\u003c/a> has been to deploy scuba divers to harvest urchins by hand-plucking them off reefs. But diving is expensive and potentially dangerous in strong currents or bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchin trapping has been proposed as a comparatively safe and cost-effective way to cull a ton of urchin and safeguard kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got these cleared areas in the harbor where we want the kelp to grow back,” Downie says, “Let’s just set traps all around it so that when the urchins come, they’re going to be in the traps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since no one’s ever tried using traps to catch urchins along the West Coast, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife granted the Nature Conservancy project a special permit to test out the method. Downie designed the traps himself: the flat-as-a-pancake version and another with collapsible walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grant Downie rigs an urchin trap with bull kelp and a GoPro camera. A single trap can capture more than 300 purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You might think so many urchins would be good news for an urchin fisherman. But Downie makes a living scuba diving for the larger and meatier red sea urchins, the kind you pay $8 a piece for at sushi bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only a fraction of purple urchins grow big enough to eat. When they moved in, he says the red ones died or moved on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since this whole disaster, I’m hardly making a quarter of what I used to,” Downie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disappearance of kelp has crippled other marine ecosystems, like the rockfish and red abalone fisheries that were once staples of the Northern California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just hurting the urchin divers,” Downie says. “That was a huge income for so many people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the ecological and economic collapse, Downie decided to use his knowledge of urchins to help scientists find a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had heard about the trapping project and I said, ‘Hey, I think it should stay urchin-based,’’’ he says. “We’re not trappers per se, and this [contract] could have gone to a crabber or somebody like that. But our industry is in decline, we’re looking for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy pays Downie for his work, and he now represents the North Coast region on a state commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Zombie Urchins Survive for Decades Without Eating\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without much kelp left to eat, most of the urchins Downie pulls from the water are starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the outside they look fine, on the inside they’re everything but fine,” says Tristin McHugh, an ecologist who directs the kelp recovery project for the Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that doesn’t mean they’ll die-off naturally. These zombie urchins, as scientists call them, can survive for decades, biding their time until more kelp grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some places in the world known to have them for 70-plus years in that state,” McHugh says. Which means it may be up to humans to tip the scales back in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The inside of what scientists call a “zombie urchin.” Urchins can survive decades in this state. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other methods scientists are exploring for urchin removal include reintroducing natural predators, like sea stars or sea otters. Researchers at the University of Washington have begun the first-ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgcCjpXt7Ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">captive breeding program\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for sunflower stars, which still haven’t bounced back in California since the disease wiped them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each method has potential benefits and challenges, which include cost, safety, feasibility and regulatory hurdles, to name just a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973217/in-central-california-sea-otters-feast-on-purple-urchins-and-thats-good-for-kelp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> research shows \u003c/a> that sea otters eat urchins along the Central Coast, helping maintain patches of healthy kelp forest, Mark Carr from UC Santa Cruz, says it’s unlikely they would go after the zombies that blanket large areas of ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The otters are not going to go out and waste their time and energy feeding on urchins that have very low nutritional value,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it pans out, urchin trapping has the potential to do some heavy lifting for conservation, especially when diving isn’t practical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By using traps, you may be able to extend your season for getting into the water,” says James Ray, a kelp specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And you can target specific areas on a more constant basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By creating strongholds for kelp along the coast, he says, the forest may be better equipped to withstand future threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trapping has its limitations, too. Divers can swim right up to urchins, but dropping traps requires some guesswork. Trappers must hope that the urchins will be in expected locations. While trapping is less expensive than diving, it’s still costly and requires continual effort, whereas introducing predators may eventually sustain itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976056\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy’s kelp project director Tristin McHugh points out the spore packet on a healthy bull kelp frond in Caspar Bay. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray, who’s been collaborating with the Nature Conservancy’s kelp recovery research, says no one method will be the “silver bullet answer.” He says trapping and diving could potentially work together, in tandem with other methods, as wildlife managers try to scale up solutions from small patches to the entire coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any solution,” he says, “is likely going to be a sort of a mosaic of smaller solutions that all work, ultimately, towards trying to increase resiliency in our kelp forest ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McHugh agrees with the kitchen sink approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We almost want these very simple, singular solutions,” she says, “But the really key piece right now is figuring out how many different methods we can utilize and facilitate this shift back into a kelp forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy currently donates the urchin carcasses to a company for composting. But McHugh says the long-term goal is to find a commercial market for the calcium-rich shells, like fertilizer or even road building materials, to help fund urchin removals on a larger scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone needs to buy the urchin because we can’t necessarily rely on grant funds or philanthropic funds,” she says. “We need to figure out how we can utilize purple urchin, whether it’s for soil additives or for pavement or whatever it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Golden Tendrils’ of Hope\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there hasn’t been significant recovery of bull kelp in Northern California since the marine heat wave, there is some reason for hope. Ocean temperatures have normalized, restoring nutrients to a level “that can sustain kelp growth and productivity,” Ray says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While climate change increases the likelihood of warming events, kelp is known for its resiliency, replenishing itself every year from new spores and growing up to 2 feet a day. Along the North Coast, there have recently beens some \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/Northern-California-kelp-forest-shows-signs-of-16375965.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preliminary reports\u003c/a> of kelp beginning to reemerge in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Back in Caspar Bay, McHugh kayaks close to the beach, where the sandy bottom prevents urchins from moving in. Surrounding her on all sides is a healthy canopy of bull kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just these glorious golden tendrils of kelp just floating, creating this wonderful canopy that houses tons of marine life, turns over carbon for us, just does everything that you would possibly want a canopy forming species to do,” McHugh says, “It’s currently doing for us right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hasn’t seen kelp in this cove in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can actually see the spore packets on the blades of the kelp getting ready to drop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single packet holds millions of spores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they reach the seafloor, McHugh says, “male and female will find each other and they’ll wait for the next opportune ocean conditions to start growing and begin their life cycle again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a sign, she says, that if scientists can get rid of the urchins, California’s underwater forests will have a chance to return.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California's Forests Are at a Turning Point. Why Aren't We Committing to 'Good Fire'?",
"headTitle": "California’s Forests Are at a Turning Point. Why Aren’t We Committing to ‘Good Fire’? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Year after year, California wildfires shock us with their relentlessness. The 2017 North Bay fires stunned us with their speed and death toll. Then the 2018 Camp Fire became the most destructive on record in the state, nearly wiping out the entire town of Paradise and claiming 85 lives. Last year’s unusual lightning storms led to what officials called a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/hsviuuv3/cal-fire-2020-fire-siege.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire siege\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer, as I see \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-06/dixie-fire-destroys-much-of-greenville-california-threatens-other-towns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">towns\u003c/a> ravaged, \u003ca href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2021/07/13/new-details-arizona-plane-crash-killing-2-arizona-wildfire-officials/7942189002/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lives\u003c/a> lost and the second largest fire on record in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026078606/dixie-fire-california-only-21-percent-contained?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">continue to expand,\u003c/a> I keep asking myself: When will preventing catastrophic fires feel as urgent as fighting them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians have formed a grim routine. Readying “go bags,” shutting windows to guard against fire smoke, and increasingly, evacuating neighborhoods to escape encroaching flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the aftermath of the Camp Fire and other big fires — block after block of torched buildings, recovery teams looking for the remains of fire victims — have left me hoping I never have to report on the incineration of another town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That feeling inspired a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">series\u003c/a> I did this spring examining systemic solutions to the state’s fire problem, and the realization that while wildfire is a natural part of California’s landscape, these megafires do not have to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the thing: we know what to do to help. We need to return the land to an older state — the state it was in when native peoples were its stewards. They used fire to their advantage, instead of quickly extinguishing every possible fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Karuk people have always lived on the Klamath River, and they used fire to manage resources,” Kathy McCovey, a Karuk tribal member and former longtime Forest Service employee, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can’t learn to live with fire and learn how to work with what it is and what it does to help maintain all the things needed for survival in a place like this, then basically you’re working against it, and if enough time goes by, it will work against you,” Bill Tripp, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.karuk.us/index.php/departments/natural-resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Natural Resources\u003c/a> for the Karuk, \u003ca href=\"https://bioneers.org/good-fire-indigenous-cultural-burns-renew-life-zmbz2108/?fbclid=IwAR2qO6SsqbmKxsQMqgOEO71KABEUPod-HJOCeUUIFw6TXeeIycHtqEmhzA4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> in a recent interview. “Things in nature have a tendency to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Putting ‘Good Fire’ to Work\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/08/09/how-wildfire-restored-a-yosemite-watershed/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research published this week \u003c/a>from fire scientists at UC Berkeley underscores the truth that “good fire” in a forest protects against “bad fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors examined half a century of data from areas of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National parks, where — starting back in the Nixon administration — most naturally sparked fires have been allowed to burn. The authors found that in these basins fires are “self-limiting,” — burning themselves out before they get too big — meanwhile, the streams have more water in them and plant life is more diverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers characterize this as a “triple win,” not the sort of language you typically find in research about wildfire and warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, we are in a terrifying age of climate change, which is lengthening the fire season and drying plants to the point where they are primed to burn. But the researchers point out that in Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek Basin, fires have not increased in size and severity, thanks to the allowance of natural fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So there are some places in California where we can look at and say, ‘Wow, it does work,’” says senior author Scott Stephens. But, he says, these fires have been allowed to burn in these areas since the ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, in 2020, the rest of California’s forests have had an extra half century to transform, becoming even more overgrown, with loads of extra wood to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/A52JGCm12Bg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Changes at the Forest Service\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer the Forest Service, which oversees 20 million acres of California’s forested lands, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026137249/with-extreme-fires-burning-forest-service-stops-good-fires-too\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ditched\u003c/a> this approach of “managed fire” — allowing fires to burn that don’t seem to pose a threat to people and infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After pressure from politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, the agency’s new chief, Randy Moore, said in an \u003ca href=\"https://forestpolicypub.com/2021/08/05/the-chiefs-wildland-fire-direction-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aug. 2 letter to staff \u003c/a>that they will not use managed fire to improve forest health and will make any prescribed burnings subject to additional approval until further notice. This would normally be decided, not at the national level, but district by district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Partially this is a staffing issue. The Forest Service is overstretched this season. As of July, 800 fire jobs the agency describes dryly as “forest technicians” \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/14/forest-services-california-region-had-not-filled-800-of-4620-planned-fire-positions-in-early-july/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">went unfilled in California.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all available people are fighting fires, no one can attend to prescribed fires that are so vital for preventing future conflagrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is we are resource limited,” wrote Moore in his Aug. 2 letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">reporting\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">from\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">the\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">Chronicle\u003c/a>, the agency already was not using managed fire to improve forest health this season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tamarack Fire, which ignited on July 4 in a remote region south of Lake Tahoe, thrust this obscure policy into the spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Forest Service originally chose \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2955306648085725\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not to send firefighters \u003c/a>because of safety concerns. But days later winds changed, and the fire exploded and moved toward the town of Markleeville, destroying homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Seeing Beyond this Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 10, more than 40 fire and forest scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.hurteaulab.org/uploads/3/8/7/3/38731639/chief_moore_letter_10aug2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent a letter to Moore,\u003c/a> expressing dismay over the blanket announcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/pyrogeog/status/1425124175631421441?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter reads in part: “Given the challenges associated with increasing the pace and scale of restoration thinning and prescribed burning, managing natural ignitions is one of the only ways to accomplish the needed work, especially on steeper ground and in remote areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dismay is widespread within both the fire science and \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2G-HMStRfZDB9OlTlPtllH5fhuslZc9/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire management \u003c/a>community, with many viewing the decision as grossly shortsighted, prompted by political interference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, representing California’s 4th Congressional District, recently described firefighters as “\u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/25/in-case-you-missed-the-congressman-calling-firefighters-unskilled-labor\">unskilled\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/25/in-case-you-missed-the-congressman-calling-firefighters-unskilled-labor\">labor\u003c/a>,” and said in remarks on the House floor that the Forest Service doesn’t know what it’s doing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/RepMcClintock/status/1421164572480839686\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many places around the country where managed wildfire and prescribed fire could be beneficial right now, and every year that we keep fire out of those fire-adapted landscapes, the problem worsens,” wrote fire scientist Lenya Quinn-Davidson in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if managed fire is removed as an available tool in some parts of California, she says, that shouldn’t limit opportunities elsewhere, such as in areas of the Southwest where monsoon rains could make low-intensity fires safe and effective right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These general statements by national and state leaders show how little they understand the complexity of the problem, and the nuanced approaches that are going to be essential for moving forward with fire,” Quinn-Davidson, the author of the recent essay titled “\u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/renewing-and-radicalizing-our-relationship-with-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Renewing — and Radicalizing — Our Relationship with Fire,”\u003c/a> wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problems we have now are a culmination of 100 years of bad decision-making, and span all jurisdictions and agencies — public and private. [Firefighters] have the hardest, most dangerous and underpaid jobs, and they are grappling with problems that we all have created. We need to have their backs.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Year after year, California wildfires shock us with their relentlessness. The 2017 North Bay fires stunned us with their speed and death toll. Then the 2018 Camp Fire became the most destructive on record in the state, nearly wiping out the entire town of Paradise and claiming 85 lives. Last year’s unusual lightning storms led to what officials called a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/hsviuuv3/cal-fire-2020-fire-siege.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire siege\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer, as I see \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-06/dixie-fire-destroys-much-of-greenville-california-threatens-other-towns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">towns\u003c/a> ravaged, \u003ca href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2021/07/13/new-details-arizona-plane-crash-killing-2-arizona-wildfire-officials/7942189002/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lives\u003c/a> lost and the second largest fire on record in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026078606/dixie-fire-california-only-21-percent-contained?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">continue to expand,\u003c/a> I keep asking myself: When will preventing catastrophic fires feel as urgent as fighting them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians have formed a grim routine. Readying “go bags,” shutting windows to guard against fire smoke, and increasingly, evacuating neighborhoods to escape encroaching flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the aftermath of the Camp Fire and other big fires — block after block of torched buildings, recovery teams looking for the remains of fire victims — have left me hoping I never have to report on the incineration of another town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That feeling inspired a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/dventon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">series\u003c/a> I did this spring examining systemic solutions to the state’s fire problem, and the realization that while wildfire is a natural part of California’s landscape, these megafires do not have to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the thing: we know what to do to help. We need to return the land to an older state — the state it was in when native peoples were its stewards. They used fire to their advantage, instead of quickly extinguishing every possible fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Karuk people have always lived on the Klamath River, and they used fire to manage resources,” Kathy McCovey, a Karuk tribal member and former longtime Forest Service employee, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can’t learn to live with fire and learn how to work with what it is and what it does to help maintain all the things needed for survival in a place like this, then basically you’re working against it, and if enough time goes by, it will work against you,” Bill Tripp, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.karuk.us/index.php/departments/natural-resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Natural Resources\u003c/a> for the Karuk, \u003ca href=\"https://bioneers.org/good-fire-indigenous-cultural-burns-renew-life-zmbz2108/?fbclid=IwAR2qO6SsqbmKxsQMqgOEO71KABEUPod-HJOCeUUIFw6TXeeIycHtqEmhzA4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> in a recent interview. “Things in nature have a tendency to win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Putting ‘Good Fire’ to Work\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/08/09/how-wildfire-restored-a-yosemite-watershed/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research published this week \u003c/a>from fire scientists at UC Berkeley underscores the truth that “good fire” in a forest protects against “bad fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors examined half a century of data from areas of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National parks, where — starting back in the Nixon administration — most naturally sparked fires have been allowed to burn. The authors found that in these basins fires are “self-limiting,” — burning themselves out before they get too big — meanwhile, the streams have more water in them and plant life is more diverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers characterize this as a “triple win,” not the sort of language you typically find in research about wildfire and warming temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, we are in a terrifying age of climate change, which is lengthening the fire season and drying plants to the point where they are primed to burn. But the researchers point out that in Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek Basin, fires have not increased in size and severity, thanks to the allowance of natural fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So there are some places in California where we can look at and say, ‘Wow, it does work,’” says senior author Scott Stephens. 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Gavin Newsom, the agency’s new chief, Randy Moore, said in an \u003ca href=\"https://forestpolicypub.com/2021/08/05/the-chiefs-wildland-fire-direction-letter/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aug. 2 letter to staff \u003c/a>that they will not use managed fire to improve forest health and will make any prescribed burnings subject to additional approval until further notice. This would normally be decided, not at the national level, but district by district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Partially this is a staffing issue. The Forest Service is overstretched this season. As of July, 800 fire jobs the agency describes dryly as “forest technicians” \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/14/forest-services-california-region-had-not-filled-800-of-4620-planned-fire-positions-in-early-july/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">went unfilled in California.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all available people are fighting fires, no one can attend to prescribed fires that are so vital for preventing future conflagrations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is we are resource limited,” wrote Moore in his Aug. 2 letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">reporting\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">from\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">the\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Let-it-burn-Forest-Service-s-new-all-out-fire-16372130.php\">Chronicle\u003c/a>, the agency already was not using managed fire to improve forest health this season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Tamarack Fire, which ignited on July 4 in a remote region south of Lake Tahoe, thrust this obscure policy into the spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Forest Service originally chose \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2955306648085725\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">not to send firefighters \u003c/a>because of safety concerns. But days later winds changed, and the fire exploded and moved toward the town of Markleeville, destroying homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Seeing Beyond this Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 10, more than 40 fire and forest scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.hurteaulab.org/uploads/3/8/7/3/38731639/chief_moore_letter_10aug2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent a letter to Moore,\u003c/a> expressing dismay over the blanket announcement.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The letter reads in part: “Given the challenges associated with increasing the pace and scale of restoration thinning and prescribed burning, managing natural ignitions is one of the only ways to accomplish the needed work, especially on steeper ground and in remote areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dismay is widespread within both the fire science and \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2G-HMStRfZDB9OlTlPtllH5fhuslZc9/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fire management \u003c/a>community, with many viewing the decision as grossly shortsighted, prompted by political interference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, representing California’s 4th Congressional District, recently described firefighters as “\u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/25/in-case-you-missed-the-congressman-calling-firefighters-unskilled-labor\">unskilled\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://wildfiretoday.com/2021/07/25/in-case-you-missed-the-congressman-calling-firefighters-unskilled-labor\">labor\u003c/a>,” and said in remarks on the House floor that the Forest Service doesn’t know what it’s doing.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“There are many places around the country where managed wildfire and prescribed fire could be beneficial right now, and every year that we keep fire out of those fire-adapted landscapes, the problem worsens,” wrote fire scientist Lenya Quinn-Davidson in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if managed fire is removed as an available tool in some parts of California, she says, that shouldn’t limit opportunities elsewhere, such as in areas of the Southwest where monsoon rains could make low-intensity fires safe and effective right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These general statements by national and state leaders show how little they understand the complexity of the problem, and the nuanced approaches that are going to be essential for moving forward with fire,” Quinn-Davidson, the author of the recent essay titled “\u003ca href=\"https://fireadaptednetwork.org/renewing-and-radicalizing-our-relationship-with-fire/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Renewing — and Radicalizing — Our Relationship with Fire,”\u003c/a> wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problems we have now are a culmination of 100 years of bad decision-making, and span all jurisdictions and agencies — public and private. [Firefighters] have the hardest, most dangerous and underpaid jobs, and they are grappling with problems that we all have created. We need to have their backs.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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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"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.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"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?",
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"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.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
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