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"content": "\u003cp>There are enormous costs to doing nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond threats to public health and the environment, climate change poses a danger to the economy, especially for those who have the least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those are the findings of a new analysis from the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Institute\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">for\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Economic\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Policy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Research\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Hamilton\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Project\u003c/a>, a centrist economic think tank of the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949772\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png 346w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase-160x136.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Economic Damages from Climate Change in 2080-99 by Temperature Increase \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two factors will determine just how disruptive climate change will be, according to the study. One is the extent of the warming; the other is the effectiveness of any mitigating technology and policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, an increase in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels could trim .5% off of U.S. gross domestic product, the economists found. At 4 degrees of warming the decline would hit 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the damage would increase exponentially as warming continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. counties with the weakest economies, will be hit hardest, the report says. Similarly, around the world, the countries with the lowest incomes will face the most hardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lower Emissions But Economic Growth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers point out that lower emissions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between 2007 and 2017, U.S. planet-warming gas emissions dropped by 14%, while economic output grew 16%. E\u003c/span>nergy use fell, as did the price of developing renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind. (\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. emissions rose again in 2018.)\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949774\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17.-160x63.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Change in Levelized Cost of Energy for Solar and Wind. 2010-17. \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>Economic impacts from climate change unmitigated would be very, very large,” said Jay Shambough, a study author and former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. But there are clearly things that can be done. We’ve been making progress. Not enough, but some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing for us is to be clear that different policy approaches have different costs and benefits. Some ways to reduce carbon emissions can be pretty expensive, while other ways are more flexible and not actually that expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study estimates the average cost of a host of climate policies; the researchers found that replanting forests and flaring methane gas are on the less-expensive end, along with the regulation of emissions from power plants and cars in former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration replaced those regulations with significantly weaker rules that could end up increasing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More expensive climate solutions include weatherization assistance and vehicle trade-in programs like “Cash-for-Clunkers,” although these offer benefits beyond carbon reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carbon Tax\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, economists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/4/22/11446232/price-on-carbon-fine\">argued\u003c/a> that the most potent tool for fighting climate change is a tax on carbon emissions. A price on carbon, they maintain, lets the market determine the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. The researchers corroborated that view, finding that a price on carbon can reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of governments across the world have introduced carbon pricing initiatives, with varying results. Many programs have set prices below what economists have identified as carbon’s “social cost,” a sweet spot that provides the most benefit at the lowest expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 709px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png 709w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives-160x65.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prices for Selected Carbon Initiatives \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The study says that in 2020, based on policy that’s planned or in effect, 80% of the world’s emissions will remain unpriced. The U.S. will be pricing just 1% of global emissions, Europe 5.5% and China 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solutions outlined in the paper are much less sweeping than what is being called for by some of the current Democratic candidates for president. Proponents of a Green New Deal-style climate program, they are calling for a price on carbon, but also more aggressive action, including regulations to promote rapid decarbonization and investment in clean-energy jobs by the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors released the study Wednesday, timed to coincide with a Brookings and Stanford policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\">forum\u003c/a> on economic policy innovations to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There are enormous costs to doing nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond threats to public health and the environment, climate change poses a danger to the economy, especially for those who have the least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those are the findings of a new analysis from the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Institute\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">for\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Economic\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Policy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Research\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Hamilton\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/\">Project\u003c/a>, a centrist economic think tank of the Brookings Institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949772\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 346px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase.png 346w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/U.S.-Economic-Damages-from-Climate-Change-in-2080-99-by-Temperature-Increase-160x136.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Economic Damages from Climate Change in 2080-99 by Temperature Increase \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two factors will determine just how disruptive climate change will be, according to the study. One is the extent of the warming; the other is the effectiveness of any mitigating technology and policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of the century, an increase in temperature of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels could trim .5% off of U.S. gross domestic product, the economists found. At 4 degrees of warming the decline would hit 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, the damage would increase exponentially as warming continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. counties with the weakest economies, will be hit hardest, the report says. Similarly, around the world, the countries with the lowest incomes will face the most hardship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lower Emissions But Economic Growth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers point out that lower emissions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between 2007 and 2017, U.S. planet-warming gas emissions dropped by 14%, while economic output grew 16%. E\u003c/span>nergy use fell, as did the price of developing renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind. (\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. emissions rose again in 2018.)\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 731px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949774\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17..png 731w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Change-in-Levelized-Cost-of-Energy-for-Solar-and-Wind.-2010-17.-160x63.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Change in Levelized Cost of Energy for Solar and Wind. 2010-17. \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“\u003c/em>Economic impacts from climate change unmitigated would be very, very large,” said Jay Shambough, a study author and former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. But there are clearly things that can be done. We’ve been making progress. Not enough, but some.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing for us is to be clear that different policy approaches have different costs and benefits. Some ways to reduce carbon emissions can be pretty expensive, while other ways are more flexible and not actually that expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study estimates the average cost of a host of climate policies; the researchers found that replanting forests and flaring methane gas are on the less-expensive end, along with the regulation of emissions from power plants and cars in former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Trump administration replaced those regulations with significantly weaker rules that could end up increasing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More expensive climate solutions include weatherization assistance and vehicle trade-in programs like “Cash-for-Clunkers,” although these offer benefits beyond carbon reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Carbon Tax\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, economists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/4/22/11446232/price-on-carbon-fine\">argued\u003c/a> that the most potent tool for fighting climate change is a tax on carbon emissions. A price on carbon, they maintain, lets the market determine the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. The researchers corroborated that view, finding that a price on carbon can reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of governments across the world have introduced carbon pricing initiatives, with varying results. Many programs have set prices below what economists have identified as carbon’s “social cost,” a sweet spot that provides the most benefit at the lowest expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 709px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives.png 709w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Prices-for-Selected-Carbon-Pricing-Initiatives-160x65.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Prices for Selected Carbon Initiatives \u003ccite>(Hamilton Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The study says that in 2020, based on policy that’s planned or in effect, 80% of the world’s emissions will remain unpriced. The U.S. will be pricing just 1% of global emissions, Europe 5.5% and China 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The solutions outlined in the paper are much less sweeping than what is being called for by some of the current Democratic candidates for president. Proponents of a Green New Deal-style climate program, they are calling for a price on carbon, but also more aggressive action, including regulations to promote rapid decarbonization and investment in clean-energy jobs by the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors released the study Wednesday, timed to coincide with a Brookings and Stanford policy \u003ca href=\"https://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/economic_policy_innovations_to_combat_climate_change\">forum\u003c/a> on economic policy innovations to fight climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins",
"headTitle": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Envision California’s lush forests from San Francisco to the Oregon border. Now imagine that 90 percent of those forests disappear within two years. Laura Rogers-Bennett, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, says that’s exactly what happened to underwater kelp forests off Northern California’s coastline from 2014-16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51114-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis published this week\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em> documents the rapid decline of California’s bull kelp. The study links the reduction in the seaweed’s population to a confluence of environmental and ecological stressors, including a marine heat wave, a sea star die-off and the emergence of an “urchin barrens,” large swaths of subtidal zones overtaken by kelp-hungry purple sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1949763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Katie-Sowul-CDFW-Urchin-Barren-surrounds-Red-Abalone-800x462.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins have overtaken California waters, grazing down forests of bull kelp. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/California Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett, who monitors kelp forests in partnership with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, says taken together, these strains on the kelp population threaten the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are finding out,” she says, “that if we cross some of these thresholds, that the system will collapse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers are now noting kelp deforestation off the Oregon coast and in California south of San Francisco to Monterey Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ripple Effects \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published Monday, points to \u003ca href=\"https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intense ocean warming\u003c/a> recorded in Northern California waters from 2014-17 as a major cause for the decline of the kelp forest. Kelp relies on nitrogen to thrive, but that element decreases as the ocean heats up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says as temperatures cooled back down, bull kelp, a resilient species, would normally have recovered. But warmer ocean temperatures created other conditions that accelerated the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690003678/massive-starfish-die-off-is-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a> linked to the warm ocean “blob” led to the mass die-off of 20 starfish species along the West Coast. In California, the disease decimated sea stars from San Mateo to Mendocino counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary food source for sea stars is urchins, which in turn feed on kelp. Without starfish to keep urchin populations in check, the number of purple sea urchins swelled beginning in 2014. The following year, says the analysis in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, “purple sea urchins shifted to a more aggressive feeding behavior,” devouring more layers of the kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Other Species Affected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deforestation of Northern California’s kelp affects other species that rely on it for sustenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, in 2017, abalone stocks in the region were down by 80 percent. That led the recreational red abalone fishery to shut down in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you envision the land … without the forest, there’d be many animals that would be starving, and that’s what we’re seeing,” Rogers-Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are picking up and detecting what’s happening with the abalone, but they’re just an indicator species of that whole suite of organisms that depend on the kelp forest, that are all starving or have no homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restoring the Forest\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to help restore the kelp forest, Rogers-Bennett says, is to harvest urchins for human consumption. Uni, or sea urchin gonads, is a premium menu item at many sushi restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says that while the scarcity of kelp harms the health and harvestability of wild urchins, relocating them to designated urchin farms, where they could be fed algae and other nutrients, could be a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This goes beyond sustainable farming, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re actually having a restorative seafood product because the more you eat of urchin, the better it is for the kelp forest,” she said. “So you’re restoring the kelp forest by eliminating that grazing pressure from those urchin that are just eating everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett and colleagues are in the process of \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bull-Kelp-Recovery-Plan-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identifying pockets of coastal waters\u003c/a> off Sonoma and Mendocino counties where harvesters could remove urchins to bolster the recovery of California’s kelp forests.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A new study link the underwater deforestation of Northern California's kelp canopy to a deadly combination of environmental factors, including an ocean heat wave and the swell of purple sea urchin populations.",
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"description": "A new study link the underwater deforestation of Northern California's kelp canopy to a deadly combination of environmental factors, including an ocean heat wave and the swell of purple sea urchin populations.",
"title": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins | KQED",
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"headline": "Massive California Kelp Decline Linked to Ocean Heat, Voracious Sea Urchins",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Envision California’s lush forests from San Francisco to the Oregon border. Now imagine that 90 percent of those forests disappear within two years. Laura Rogers-Bennett, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, says that’s exactly what happened to underwater kelp forests off Northern California’s coastline from 2014-16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51114-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis published this week\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em> documents the rapid decline of California’s bull kelp. The study links the reduction in the seaweed’s population to a confluence of environmental and ecological stressors, including a marine heat wave, a sea star die-off and the emergence of an “urchin barrens,” large swaths of subtidal zones overtaken by kelp-hungry purple sea urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949763\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1949763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Katie-Sowul-CDFW-Urchin-Barren-surrounds-Red-Abalone-800x462.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"462\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Purple sea urchins have overtaken California waters, grazing down forests of bull kelp. \u003ccite>(Katie Sowul/California Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett, who monitors kelp forests in partnership with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, says taken together, these strains on the kelp population threaten the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are finding out,” she says, “that if we cross some of these thresholds, that the system will collapse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers are now noting kelp deforestation off the Oregon coast and in California south of San Francisco to Monterey Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ripple Effects \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper, published Monday, points to \u003ca href=\"https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/unprecedented-number-of-warm-water-species-moved-northward-during-marine-heatwave/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intense ocean warming\u003c/a> recorded in Northern California waters from 2014-17 as a major cause for the decline of the kelp forest. Kelp relies on nitrogen to thrive, but that element decreases as the ocean heats up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says as temperatures cooled back down, bull kelp, a resilient species, would normally have recovered. But warmer ocean temperatures created other conditions that accelerated the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690003678/massive-starfish-die-off-is-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a> linked to the warm ocean “blob” led to the mass die-off of 20 starfish species along the West Coast. In California, the disease decimated sea stars from San Mateo to Mendocino counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary food source for sea stars is urchins, which in turn feed on kelp. Without starfish to keep urchin populations in check, the number of purple sea urchins swelled beginning in 2014. The following year, says the analysis in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, “purple sea urchins shifted to a more aggressive feeding behavior,” devouring more layers of the kelp forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Other Species Affected\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deforestation of Northern California’s kelp affects other species that rely on it for sustenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, in 2017, abalone stocks in the region were down by 80 percent. That led the recreational red abalone fishery to shut down in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you envision the land … without the forest, there’d be many animals that would be starving, and that’s what we’re seeing,” Rogers-Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are picking up and detecting what’s happening with the abalone, but they’re just an indicator species of that whole suite of organisms that depend on the kelp forest, that are all starving or have no homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restoring the Forest\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to help restore the kelp forest, Rogers-Bennett says, is to harvest urchins for human consumption. Uni, or sea urchin gonads, is a premium menu item at many sushi restaurants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett says that while the scarcity of kelp harms the health and harvestability of wild urchins, relocating them to designated urchin farms, where they could be fed algae and other nutrients, could be a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This goes beyond sustainable farming, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re actually having a restorative seafood product because the more you eat of urchin, the better it is for the kelp forest,” she said. “So you’re restoring the kelp forest by eliminating that grazing pressure from those urchin that are just eating everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers-Bennett and colleagues are in the process of \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bull-Kelp-Recovery-Plan-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identifying pockets of coastal waters\u003c/a> off Sonoma and Mendocino counties where harvesters could remove urchins to bolster the recovery of California’s kelp forests.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "For Berkeley Planners, Wildfire Is Matter of When, Not If",
"headTitle": "For Berkeley Planners, Wildfire Is Matter of When, Not If | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For city officials and many residents, a wildfire igniting in the hills is not a matter of “if” but “when.” Berkeley Fire Chief David Brannigan says wildfires hit every three decades or so “and the conditions haven’t changed” since the last big blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland Hills Fire was 30 years ago,” Brannigan said. “We have a heavy, dense dry fuel load that can go off at any time. We have done some measures to reduce the risk but not enough to completely eliminate it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A wildfire in the Berkeley Hills would endanger 10-15,000 residents, who would be forced to evacuate down century-old roads toward the firefighters’ defense line on Shattuck Avenue. Brannigan says the area is much like Paradise, California when it went up in flames in 2018. Helped by 40-knot winds, the Camp Fire in Paradise burned the equivalent of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/california-wildfires-superlatives-wcx/index.html\">football field every second\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Berkeley Vice Mayor Susan Wengraf is taking the unprecedented step of asking the city to prioritize wildfire prevention and safety. Her resolution, which passed the city council Tuesday night without discussion, will ensure the issue is reflected in city planning and “hopefully influence funding priorities in the future,” Wengraf said, “to clear dead vegetation, improve the safety of our pathways, and launch the Safe Passages program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A wildfire was always thought of as a ‘Hills problem,’ but it’s everybody’s problem,” Wengraf said. “If they lose their homes, where are they going to go?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of studies on the hills’ wildfire danger, the issues the city faces aren’t just known, they’re blatantly apparent. The area’s vegetation is like kindling when dried out and there’s lots of it. It needs to be cleared completely, but Brannigan says there hasn’t been enough funding for upkeep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding the danger in the hills are its curvy, narrow roads. They’re difficult to navigate, especially for today’s emergency vehicles. Also, on many sections of road, a parked vehicle jutting out into the road could prevent an ambulance from reaching its destination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”Our emergency vehicles have difficulty accessing areas on a daily basis,” said Brannigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with the studies came plans to address the issues in the hills; some are already in place. This fall the city starts its Safe Passages Program, which creates new fire lanes on blocks identified as being problematic for emergency vehicles. The program will prohibit cars from parking there, ensuring there’s enough space for an ambulance or fire truck to pass through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wengraf expects resistance to the expansion of no parking zones in the area. Despite the program proceeding slowly on just three streets (Alvarado, Bridge, and Vicente roads) and assurances that the program would maintain “\u003ca href=\"https://www.loridroste.com/october_4_2019\">some parking for the neighborhoods\u003c/a>,” residents are already warning Wengraf that they plan to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One woman on Tamalpais told me she’d lay down in the street and block our trucks,” said Wengraf. “Some people think they own the street in front of their houses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another battle is brewing over the plans to clear vegetation. Last month, the Claremont Canyon Conservancy published a \u003ca href=\"http://www.claremontcanyon.org/fuel-management-proposal\">wildfire fuel management plan\u003c/a> for the University of California, Berkeley. The school received funding to make its campus and the surrounding area safe in the event there’s a wildfire so the conservancy commissioned a plan from \u003ca href=\"https://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/joe-mcbride\">Joe McBride\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture and environmental planning. McBride’s been studying the fuel management in the Berkeley Hills since the early ‘70s and has written four reports on the subject.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fuel management is a high priority for the area,” said McBride. “Past fires like the 1923 Berkeley Fire started in wildland vegetation and burned into the city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first of McBride’s recommendations in his new plan is to replace the area’s eucalyptus trees and conifers with native vegetation and grass. McBride says trees release more energy during fires than grasses and tree fires are harder for firefighters to control — a claim Brannigan supports. The trees can also fall on roads and block evacuation routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the Oakland Hills fire in 1991, people died because one-way roads were blocked by trees,” said McBride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this plan also reignites the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-great-eucalyptus-debate/509069/\">Great Eucalyptus Debate\u003c/a>,” a battle that’s been going on for over a decade between the Claremont Canyon Conservancy and Hills Conservation Network, a collection of local residents who want to keep the trees. Network representative Dan Grassetti said McBride’s new proposal offers “no wildfire risk mitigation benefit” and “is yet another attempt by a small group of native plant fanatics to attempt to influence the University to do their bidding.” Grassetti said the network would be willing to fight this new plan in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grassetti, the president and CEO of the tech company \u003ca href=\"https://www.neutrinoblackbox.com/about-us\">Arboreal Systems\u003c/a>, defers to FEMA officials on fuel management. They agree that the tree canopy is good for the area, providing shade and other benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in better shape than Paradise because we have these forests. It’s wetter. The tall trees catch the fog and they drip water on the floor. That’s inherently safer than not having the overstory,” said Grassetti. “But if CCC gets its way, it will be more like Paradise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brannigan also agrees with the need to keep a tree canopy. His concern is ladder fuels, which are debris on the ground that could send fires up into the trees. He advocates for funding more inspections and maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People talk about species but we’re looking at our fire code and that’s about maintaining them,” said Brannigan. “Good maintenance of existing trees will go a long way to prevent the spread of a wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing that everyone who spoke to Berkeleyside agrees on is that responsibility ultimately falls on the shoulders of residents. While these issues are hashed out, Wengraf, Brannigan and others feel the best plan for residents to stay safe in a wildfire is to be proactive and stay out of the area when fire conditions are at their worst. Residents shouldn’t wait for evacuation orders to leave because by then, it could be too late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea that the fire department is going to help you during a wildfire is a myth,” said Wengraf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read the original post from Berkeleyside \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/10/17/the-berkeley-hills-are-kindling-city-takes-steps-to-tackle-wildfire-dangers-safety-issues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Berkeley passed a resolution last week to ensure the city prioritizes wildfire prevention. \r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For city officials and many residents, a wildfire igniting in the hills is not a matter of “if” but “when.” Berkeley Fire Chief David Brannigan says wildfires hit every three decades or so “and the conditions haven’t changed” since the last big blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland Hills Fire was 30 years ago,” Brannigan said. “We have a heavy, dense dry fuel load that can go off at any time. We have done some measures to reduce the risk but not enough to completely eliminate it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A wildfire in the Berkeley Hills would endanger 10-15,000 residents, who would be forced to evacuate down century-old roads toward the firefighters’ defense line on Shattuck Avenue. Brannigan says the area is much like Paradise, California when it went up in flames in 2018. Helped by 40-knot winds, the Camp Fire in Paradise burned the equivalent of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/california-wildfires-superlatives-wcx/index.html\">football field every second\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Berkeley Vice Mayor Susan Wengraf is taking the unprecedented step of asking the city to prioritize wildfire prevention and safety. Her resolution, which passed the city council Tuesday night without discussion, will ensure the issue is reflected in city planning and “hopefully influence funding priorities in the future,” Wengraf said, “to clear dead vegetation, improve the safety of our pathways, and launch the Safe Passages program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A wildfire was always thought of as a ‘Hills problem,’ but it’s everybody’s problem,” Wengraf said. “If they lose their homes, where are they going to go?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After years of studies on the hills’ wildfire danger, the issues the city faces aren’t just known, they’re blatantly apparent. The area’s vegetation is like kindling when dried out and there’s lots of it. It needs to be cleared completely, but Brannigan says there hasn’t been enough funding for upkeep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding the danger in the hills are its curvy, narrow roads. They’re difficult to navigate, especially for today’s emergency vehicles. Also, on many sections of road, a parked vehicle jutting out into the road could prevent an ambulance from reaching its destination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”Our emergency vehicles have difficulty accessing areas on a daily basis,” said Brannigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with the studies came plans to address the issues in the hills; some are already in place. This fall the city starts its Safe Passages Program, which creates new fire lanes on blocks identified as being problematic for emergency vehicles. The program will prohibit cars from parking there, ensuring there’s enough space for an ambulance or fire truck to pass through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wengraf expects resistance to the expansion of no parking zones in the area. Despite the program proceeding slowly on just three streets (Alvarado, Bridge, and Vicente roads) and assurances that the program would maintain “\u003ca href=\"https://www.loridroste.com/october_4_2019\">some parking for the neighborhoods\u003c/a>,” residents are already warning Wengraf that they plan to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One woman on Tamalpais told me she’d lay down in the street and block our trucks,” said Wengraf. “Some people think they own the street in front of their houses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another battle is brewing over the plans to clear vegetation. Last month, the Claremont Canyon Conservancy published a \u003ca href=\"http://www.claremontcanyon.org/fuel-management-proposal\">wildfire fuel management plan\u003c/a> for the University of California, Berkeley. The school received funding to make its campus and the surrounding area safe in the event there’s a wildfire so the conservancy commissioned a plan from \u003ca href=\"https://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/joe-mcbride\">Joe McBride\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture and environmental planning. McBride’s been studying the fuel management in the Berkeley Hills since the early ‘70s and has written four reports on the subject.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fuel management is a high priority for the area,” said McBride. “Past fires like the 1923 Berkeley Fire started in wildland vegetation and burned into the city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first of McBride’s recommendations in his new plan is to replace the area’s eucalyptus trees and conifers with native vegetation and grass. McBride says trees release more energy during fires than grasses and tree fires are harder for firefighters to control — a claim Brannigan supports. The trees can also fall on roads and block evacuation routes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During the Oakland Hills fire in 1991, people died because one-way roads were blocked by trees,” said McBride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this plan also reignites the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-great-eucalyptus-debate/509069/\">Great Eucalyptus Debate\u003c/a>,” a battle that’s been going on for over a decade between the Claremont Canyon Conservancy and Hills Conservation Network, a collection of local residents who want to keep the trees. Network representative Dan Grassetti said McBride’s new proposal offers “no wildfire risk mitigation benefit” and “is yet another attempt by a small group of native plant fanatics to attempt to influence the University to do their bidding.” Grassetti said the network would be willing to fight this new plan in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grassetti, the president and CEO of the tech company \u003ca href=\"https://www.neutrinoblackbox.com/about-us\">Arboreal Systems\u003c/a>, defers to FEMA officials on fuel management. They agree that the tree canopy is good for the area, providing shade and other benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in better shape than Paradise because we have these forests. It’s wetter. The tall trees catch the fog and they drip water on the floor. That’s inherently safer than not having the overstory,” said Grassetti. “But if CCC gets its way, it will be more like Paradise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brannigan also agrees with the need to keep a tree canopy. His concern is ladder fuels, which are debris on the ground that could send fires up into the trees. He advocates for funding more inspections and maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People talk about species but we’re looking at our fire code and that’s about maintaining them,” said Brannigan. “Good maintenance of existing trees will go a long way to prevent the spread of a wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing that everyone who spoke to Berkeleyside agrees on is that responsibility ultimately falls on the shoulders of residents. While these issues are hashed out, Wengraf, Brannigan and others feel the best plan for residents to stay safe in a wildfire is to be proactive and stay out of the area when fire conditions are at their worst. Residents shouldn’t wait for evacuation orders to leave because by then, it could be too late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea that the fire department is going to help you during a wildfire is a myth,” said Wengraf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read the original post from Berkeleyside \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/10/17/the-berkeley-hills-are-kindling-city-takes-steps-to-tackle-wildfire-dangers-safety-issues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Exxon's Trial Begins in New York Climate Fraud Case",
"headTitle": "Exxon’s Trial Begins in New York Climate Fraud Case | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2013, ExxonMobil faced increasing pressure from investors to disclose more about the risks the company faced as governments began limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many costs climate change will impose, oil companies face a particularly acute one: the demand for their product will have to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Exxon had been using something called a proxy cost of carbon to estimate what stricter climate policies might mean for its bottom line. But as pressure from shareholders grew, a problem came sharply into focus: An\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> internal presentation warned\u003c/a> top executives that the way the company had been applying this proxy cost was potentially misleading. That’s because Exxon didn’t have one projected cost of carbon. It had two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contents of that presentation are at the heart of a trial set to start next week in a civil case brought against the company by the New York attorney general. Exxon is accused of disclosing one set of these projected carbon costs while planners used an entirely different set internally for evaluating investments. The public set projected that climate policies would be more stringent, while the internal one assumed more modest attempts to limit emissions. The effect of using these dueling estimates,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/BqoDCR6LWDurvBj9hPnMtP?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the attorney general says\u003c/a>, was that Exxon hid tens of billions of dollars in potential costs, downplaying the risk to investors and inflating the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the company is found guilty of defrauding stockholders, it could face substantial penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Exxon has denied wrongdoing, it does not dispute the core fact of the case: that for years it disclosed a proxy cost that was higher than what it applied to its investment evaluations. Its lawyers have argued these different sets of figures did not mislead investors. But this only highlights another side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy Exxon produces today is more polluting, according to the attorney general’s complaint, because the company took the potential costs of climate change less seriously than it represented to investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applying a lower estimate for carbon costs made high-polluting projects look more attractive, and it undermined the investment case for any project that would reduce emissions. Nowhere is this clearer than in Canada’s oil sands, a vast expanse of low-grade hydrocarbons that now make up about 30 percent of Exxon’s oil reserves, far more than any of its peer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil sands tick all the boxes when it comes to a carbon-risky asset,” \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949663 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px-160x171.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">said Andrew Logan, who runs the oil and gas program at Ceres, a sustainable investment advocacy group. Because they require enormous amounts of energy to exploit, the oil sands are among the world’s most expensive and carbon-polluting sources of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The oil sands are this very concrete, specific example—and very big example—of the kind of asset you wouldn’t invest in,” he said, “if you actually believed the rhetoric of Exxon and others about climate risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the trial may prove to be about much more than Exxon’s risky investments. Climate change has abruptly shifted in the public consciousness from a future threat to a present danger. In the United States alone, more than a dozen local and state governments\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/DwLFCVON1KClx9NrfJ36zu?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> have sued energy companies\u003c/a> seeking damages. Exxon is a defendant in many of these cases, and the New York attorney general’s case would be the first to go to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story behind the trial begins in the 1990s, when Lee Raymond took control of Exxon as chief executive. State-owned energy companies were on the rise, and while Exxon was still a giant in the industry, it was struggling to replace the oil it pumped each year. At least through this lens, Exxon was shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon enough, Raymond began boasting the opposite—that the company was actually increasing its reserves, as Steve Coll details in his history of Exxon, Private Empire, thanks to new investments in an obscure resource in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil sands, or tar sands, lie beneath a swath of northern Alberta about the size of New York State. They are a viscous mix of sand and bitumen that’s generally strip-mined and then heated and treated to produce an oil that can be refined into fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Exxon was increasing its stakes in the oil sands, it was also confronting what a carbon-constrained future might look like. In its 2010 Outlook for Energy report, Exxon projected carbon prices would reach $60 per ton in 2030. But it turns out that, at the time, Exxon had a second estimate for carbon pricing—it called this one a “greenhouse gas cost” rather than a proxy cost—which company strategists used to evaluate investments and which was not disclosed publicly. This internal greenhouse gas cost estimate did not rise above $40 per ton, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2011 email exchange cited in the lawsuit, Robert Bailes, the company’s greenhouse gas manager,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/JRmwCW682Xuj5GR7CmCAGj?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> proposed aligning the two cost estimates\u003c/a> by using the higher set of figures only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rex has seemed happy with the difference previously,” replied Tom Eizember, a planning manager, referring to then-chief executive Rex Tillerson. Apparently, he wrote, Tillerson liked that the lower greenhouse gas costs didn’t give as much incentive to invest in efforts to cut emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June deposition, Tillerson said\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KgUJCXDM32FnX0Vvh9-hVU?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> he didn’t recall discussing\u003c/a> the issue with Eizember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2011, the complaint says, an internal presentation by Exxon’s vice president of environmental policy and planning warned that high carbon costs would present a “major concern” for energy-intensive operations like oil sands, which would be “vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2014, after management was given \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the presentation about the potentially misleading\u003c/a> internal carbon cost, however, that executives ordered that the lower greenhouse gas cost be revised to match the proxy cost contained in the Outlook reports. (In a\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/t50ZCYEM4Nt3LOERs3hYYc?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> pre-trial memorandum\u003c/a>, Exxon asserts that it aligned the costs in response to shifting climate policies.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, New York prosecutors working for then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued their first subpoenas, provoked by investigative reports\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/a2dUCZ6W5NuM52rZhNVO2k?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> published by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/B-3oC1w95PSpM52yImplIX?domain=graphics.latimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>. A tumbling oil market abruptly halted new investment in Canada’s tar sands, but Exxon had already spent $33 billion on a new project there, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general’s allegations go beyond Alberta, too. The complaint says Exxon understated greenhouse gas costs at operations around the world, including natural gas assets in the U.S., a refinery in Belgium and a liquid natural gas terminal in Cyprus. All told, the attorney general claims, these practices cost investors as much as $1.6 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon declined to comment for this article. But the company has asserted in filings that it was appropriate to use different estimates. It’s public facing proxy cost, it said, was used to estimate global demand for fossil fuels and reflected a collection of policies Exxon expected to see enacted internationally. While this would affect how much oil Exxon would sell, it wouldn’t necessarily reflect the direct costs at company projects scattered around the globe. Instead, the internal “greenhouse gas costs” were meant to estimate these direct costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to prevail, prosecutors do not have to prove that Exxon executives intentionally misled investors. But they will have to show that the company’s policies had a “material” effect on its stock price, said David Shapiro, a financial crimes specialist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” he said. “Conceptually they have a great case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon’s stock is still widely held by investment giants like Vanguard, and most Wall Street analysts give it a hold rating, rather than buy or sell. But these financial trends have led some of the industry’s critics to warn that the company is facing a reckoning.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2013, ExxonMobil faced increasing pressure from investors to disclose more about the risks the company faced as governments began limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many costs climate change will impose, oil companies face a particularly acute one: the demand for their product will have to shrink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Exxon had been using something called a proxy cost of carbon to estimate what stricter climate policies might mean for its bottom line. But as pressure from shareholders grew, a problem came sharply into focus: An\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> internal presentation warned\u003c/a> top executives that the way the company had been applying this proxy cost was potentially misleading. That’s because Exxon didn’t have one projected cost of carbon. It had two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contents of that presentation are at the heart of a trial set to start next week in a civil case brought against the company by the New York attorney general. Exxon is accused of disclosing one set of these projected carbon costs while planners used an entirely different set internally for evaluating investments. The public set projected that climate policies would be more stringent, while the internal one assumed more modest attempts to limit emissions. The effect of using these dueling estimates,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/BqoDCR6LWDurvBj9hPnMtP?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the attorney general says\u003c/a>, was that Exxon hid tens of billions of dollars in potential costs, downplaying the risk to investors and inflating the company’s value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the company is found guilty of defrauding stockholders, it could face substantial penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Exxon has denied wrongdoing, it does not dispute the core fact of the case: that for years it disclosed a proxy cost that was higher than what it applied to its investment evaluations. Its lawyers have argued these different sets of figures did not mislead investors. But this only highlights another side of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy Exxon produces today is more polluting, according to the attorney general’s complaint, because the company took the potential costs of climate change less seriously than it represented to investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applying a lower estimate for carbon costs made high-polluting projects look more attractive, and it undermined the investment case for any project that would reduce emissions. Nowhere is this clearer than in Canada’s oil sands, a vast expanse of low-grade hydrocarbons that now make up about 30 percent of Exxon’s oil reserves, far more than any of its peer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oil sands tick all the boxes when it comes to a carbon-risky asset,” \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949663 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/ExxonTarSandsReserves529px-160x171.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">said Andrew Logan, who runs the oil and gas program at Ceres, a sustainable investment advocacy group. Because they require enormous amounts of energy to exploit, the oil sands are among the world’s most expensive and carbon-polluting sources of oil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The oil sands are this very concrete, specific example—and very big example—of the kind of asset you wouldn’t invest in,” he said, “if you actually believed the rhetoric of Exxon and others about climate risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the trial may prove to be about much more than Exxon’s risky investments. Climate change has abruptly shifted in the public consciousness from a future threat to a present danger. In the United States alone, more than a dozen local and state governments\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/DwLFCVON1KClx9NrfJ36zu?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> have sued energy companies\u003c/a> seeking damages. Exxon is a defendant in many of these cases, and the New York attorney general’s case would be the first to go to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story behind the trial begins in the 1990s, when Lee Raymond took control of Exxon as chief executive. State-owned energy companies were on the rise, and while Exxon was still a giant in the industry, it was struggling to replace the oil it pumped each year. At least through this lens, Exxon was shrinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon enough, Raymond began boasting the opposite—that the company was actually increasing its reserves, as Steve Coll details in his history of Exxon, Private Empire, thanks to new investments in an obscure resource in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oil sands, or tar sands, lie beneath a swath of northern Alberta about the size of New York State. They are a viscous mix of sand and bitumen that’s generally strip-mined and then heated and treated to produce an oil that can be refined into fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as Exxon was increasing its stakes in the oil sands, it was also confronting what a carbon-constrained future might look like. In its 2010 Outlook for Energy report, Exxon projected carbon prices would reach $60 per ton in 2030. But it turns out that, at the time, Exxon had a second estimate for carbon pricing—it called this one a “greenhouse gas cost” rather than a proxy cost—which company strategists used to evaluate investments and which was not disclosed publicly. This internal greenhouse gas cost estimate did not rise above $40 per ton, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2011 email exchange cited in the lawsuit, Robert Bailes, the company’s greenhouse gas manager,\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/JRmwCW682Xuj5GR7CmCAGj?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> proposed aligning the two cost estimates\u003c/a> by using the higher set of figures only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rex has seemed happy with the difference previously,” replied Tom Eizember, a planning manager, referring to then-chief executive Rex Tillerson. Apparently, he wrote, Tillerson liked that the lower greenhouse gas costs didn’t give as much incentive to invest in efforts to cut emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June deposition, Tillerson said\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KgUJCXDM32FnX0Vvh9-hVU?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> he didn’t recall discussing\u003c/a> the issue with Eizember.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2011, the complaint says, an internal presentation by Exxon’s vice president of environmental policy and planning warned that high carbon costs would present a “major concern” for energy-intensive operations like oil sands, which would be “vulnerable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2014, after management was given \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/puqHCQWOVBT6krMGTPuk1D?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the presentation about the potentially misleading\u003c/a> internal carbon cost, however, that executives ordered that the lower greenhouse gas cost be revised to match the proxy cost contained in the Outlook reports. (In a\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/t50ZCYEM4Nt3LOERs3hYYc?domain=documentcloud.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> pre-trial memorandum\u003c/a>, Exxon asserts that it aligned the costs in response to shifting climate policies.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, New York prosecutors working for then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued their first subpoenas, provoked by investigative reports\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/a2dUCZ6W5NuM52rZhNVO2k?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> published by InsideClimate News\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/B-3oC1w95PSpM52yImplIX?domain=graphics.latimes.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> the Los Angeles Times\u003c/a>. A tumbling oil market abruptly halted new investment in Canada’s tar sands, but Exxon had already spent $33 billion on a new project there, according to the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attorney general’s allegations go beyond Alberta, too. The complaint says Exxon understated greenhouse gas costs at operations around the world, including natural gas assets in the U.S., a refinery in Belgium and a liquid natural gas terminal in Cyprus. All told, the attorney general claims, these practices cost investors as much as $1.6 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exxon declined to comment for this article. But the company has asserted in filings that it was appropriate to use different estimates. It’s public facing proxy cost, it said, was used to estimate global demand for fossil fuels and reflected a collection of policies Exxon expected to see enacted internationally. While this would affect how much oil Exxon would sell, it wouldn’t necessarily reflect the direct costs at company projects scattered around the globe. Instead, the internal “greenhouse gas costs” were meant to estimate these direct costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to prevail, prosecutors do not have to prove that Exxon executives intentionally misled investors. But they will have to show that the company’s policies had a “material” effect on its stock price, said David Shapiro, a financial crimes specialist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” he said. “Conceptually they have a great case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A brainless, bright-yellow organism that can solve mazes and heal itself is making its debut at a Paris zoo this weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least so far, “the blob” is more benevolent than the ravenous star of its 1950s sci-fi film classic namesake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.parczoologiquedeparis.fr/en/media-video/4092\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time-lapsed videos\u003c/a> of the blob show a slimy organism rapidly multiplying in size. How fast exactly? The blob can sprint about \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/zoodeparis/status/1182661446750167041?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">four centimeters per hour\u003c/a>, according to the Paris Zoological Park\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blob is neither animal, nor plant. And although \u003cem>Physarum polycephalum\u003c/em> — Latin for “many-headed slime” — is classified as a type of slime mold, scientists now consider the creature unrelated to fungi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This species has been around for as many as 1 billion years, but its mysterious nature has attracted new fame thanks to the unveiling on Saturday of an exhibit dedicated to the single-cell organism at the Paris zoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite having no mouth or stomach, the blob can detect and digest food. Oats, in particular, are a blob delicacy. It also boasts more than 700 different sexual types, a reproductive strategy to prevent the organisms from mating with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The slime mold, which lacks a nervous system, is capable of advanced decision-making, learning and long-term memory storage, according to Audrey Dussutour, who studies unicellular organisms with the French National Center for Scientific Research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can find its way through a maze, it can construct efficient transport networks, sometimes better than us, actually,” Dussutour said in an interview with NPR’s \u003cem>Weekend Edition\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/01/ride-slime-mold-express\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one remarkable experiment\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em>, researchers in Japan found that a slime mold managed to configure itself into a near-replica of the meticulously designed Tokyo rail system when introduced with an oat-flake model of Tokyo and its surrounding metropolis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cut the blob into two, and it can regenerate itself within two minutes,\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/zoodeparis/status/1183667598472466432?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> according to the zoo\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through fusion, two blobs with the same genetic makeup can merge into one organism, and share their respective knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its enemies include light, drought, salt and caffeine. But, Dussutour said, “If you train a slime mold to ignore caffeine for example, it can transfer this knowledge to another clone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NPR’s Will Jarvis and Melissa Gray produced and edited the audio version of the story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A brainless, bright-yellow organism that can solve mazes and heal itself is making its debut at a Paris zoo this weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least so far, “the blob” is more benevolent than the ravenous star of its 1950s sci-fi film classic namesake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.parczoologiquedeparis.fr/en/media-video/4092\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time-lapsed videos\u003c/a> of the blob show a slimy organism rapidly multiplying in size. How fast exactly? The blob can sprint about \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/zoodeparis/status/1182661446750167041?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">four centimeters per hour\u003c/a>, according to the Paris Zoological Park\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blob is neither animal, nor plant. And although \u003cem>Physarum polycephalum\u003c/em> — Latin for “many-headed slime” — is classified as a type of slime mold, scientists now consider the creature unrelated to fungi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This species has been around for as many as 1 billion years, but its mysterious nature has attracted new fame thanks to the unveiling on Saturday of an exhibit dedicated to the single-cell organism at the Paris zoo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite having no mouth or stomach, the blob can detect and digest food. Oats, in particular, are a blob delicacy. It also boasts more than 700 different sexual types, a reproductive strategy to prevent the organisms from mating with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The slime mold, which lacks a nervous system, is capable of advanced decision-making, learning and long-term memory storage, according to Audrey Dussutour, who studies unicellular organisms with the French National Center for Scientific Research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can find its way through a maze, it can construct efficient transport networks, sometimes better than us, actually,” Dussutour said in an interview with NPR’s \u003cem>Weekend Edition\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/01/ride-slime-mold-express\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one remarkable experiment\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em>, researchers in Japan found that a slime mold managed to configure itself into a near-replica of the meticulously designed Tokyo rail system when introduced with an oat-flake model of Tokyo and its surrounding metropolis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cut the blob into two, and it can regenerate itself within two minutes,\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/zoodeparis/status/1183667598472466432?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> according to the zoo\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through fusion, two blobs with the same genetic makeup can merge into one organism, and share their respective knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its enemies include light, drought, salt and caffeine. But, Dussutour said, “If you train a slime mold to ignore caffeine for example, it can transfer this knowledge to another clone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NPR’s Will Jarvis and Melissa Gray produced and edited the audio version of the story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\">NPR\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Micro Power Grids Emerge as Way to Keep Electricity on During Shutoffs",
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"content": "\u003cp>For two days, life in Northern and Central California was completely upended by PG&E’s power shutdowns, affecting hundreds of thousands of customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom called a primetime press conference to publicly dress down the state’s largest investor-owned utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom placed the blame for the chaos squarely on the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation=\"Fremont Sustainabiity Coordinator Rachel DiFranco, speaking about city fire stations with small-scale power grids\"]‘There, we don’t have anything to worry about.’[/pullquote]“This is not, from my perspective, a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades,” he said. “Neglect. A desire to advance not public safety, but profits. Over the course of years and years and years, the kind of hardening of the grid was not done. Those were decisions made by Pacific Gas and Electric.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rewind to 8 a.m., Wednesday, when Rachel DiFranco, Fremont’s sustainability coordinator, drove to work expecting PG&E’s blackouts to roll across the city within hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local officials and first responders were stressed about the potential impacts. But one key aspect of public safety they could scratch off their list of anxieties: three Fremont fire stations outfitted with a sophisticated power system designed to keep running when the grid goes down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There, we don’t have anything to worry about,” DiFranco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Fremont is one of the first cities in the U.S. to install a microgrid, a small, self-contained electrical system, around a fire station. Fremont’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/startup-microgrids-fire-stations#gs.9d2sl3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">microgrid\u003c/a> includes solar panels, batteries and a generator. Control software allows the stations to operate independently from PG&E’s grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The controller cuts over and pulls that power from the solar and battery,” DiFranco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, PG&E invested billions of dollars to inspect its lines, build \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942292/pge-wants-to-make-a-massive-investment-in-weather-stations-heres-why\">weather stations\u003c/a> to monitor fire conditions, and take other measures to protect it from liability in connection with sparking another fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the shutoffs that disrupted life throughout the Bay Area this week underscored, once again, that PG&E’s grid technology is old and lacks flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t take long for lawmakers to \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jump\u003c/a> on PG&E. They accused the investor-owned utility of applying a jackhammer approach to a precision problem. The outages renewed questions about why the company did not include resilient grid technology like Fremont’s in its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener said in an interview with \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\">KPIX\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\"> 5\u003c/a> that the shutdowns need to be as focused as possible. State Sen. Jerry Hill \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11779285/life-in-pges-blackout-outrage-and-optimism-on-day-2-of-outages\">sent\u003c/a> a letter to regulators on Wednesday pushing them to review the shutoffs and regulate them more aggressively in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sumeet Singh, the executive in charge of PG&E’s wildfire response, explained in a press conference that the utility cut power as a “last resort” to ensure the safety of its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said that one reason the shutoffs were impacting so many people is that regulators expanded guidelines for power shutoffs to include high-voltage lines. The utility complied, affecting many more customers than otherwise would have occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utility Commission is examining how projects like the one in Fremont can help shore up the system and make power shutoffs less disruptive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, similar projects are at the Santa Rita \u003ca href=\"https://building-microgrid.lbl.gov/santa-rita-jail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jail\u003c/a> in Alameda County and a Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://lookinside.kaiserpermanente.org/powering-up-for-health/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hospital\u003c/a> in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one Bay Area microgrid deployed during the outages last week. Stone Edge Farm, an organic farm and vineyard, is located in an area of Sonoma affected by the shutdowns. The farm’s solar and battery system kept power to three households, a woodworking shop, two car storage barns, trailers, a spa, and a refrigeration van that stored food for local restaurants, according to an email on Friday afternoon from the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, California lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1339\">SB 1339\u003c/a>, which required the California Public Utilities Commission to support the commercialization of more systems by Dec. 1, 2020. Last month, the power regulator opened a \u003ca href=\"https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:56:0::NO:RP,57,RIR:P5_PROCEEDING_SELECT:R1909009\">proceeding\u003c/a> to coordinate microgrids in high fire-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Renewable energy advocates say that the outages should refocus PG&E on newer technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going to see more microgrids as part of the overall strategy,” Michael Colvin, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s California Energy program said. “The shutoffs will drive these investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego Gas and Electric operates a microgrid at \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/more-information/environment/smart-grid/microgrids\">Borrego\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/more-information/environment/smart-grid/microgrids\">Springs\u003c/a>, and the utility has submitted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/sites/default/files/S1950020-0519_poster4_.jpg?nid=12796\">plan\u003c/a> to regulators to build more throughout San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom praised the company, calling it “arguably one of the nation’s most effective and efficient” investor-owned utilities. For years, SDG&E has been turning off power lines when the wildfire risk is high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fremont’s $2.4 million project was developed by Gridscape Solutions, a renewable-energy-project developer based in the city itself. The California Energy Commission chipped in $1.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the solar panels and batteries offer a consistent source of power, the city estimates that the system will save $250,000 in power costs over a 10-year period, and that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80,000 pounds each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Personal Systems\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks ago, when Derek Krause, a retired firefighter, was at home in the Oakland foothills, he looked out the window and saw that the rest of the neighborhood, unlike in his house, was black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grid was down, Krause, realized. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrun.com/solar-battery-storage\">battery\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrun.com/solar-battery-storage\">pack\u003c/a> and solar panels he’d installed were keeping his lights on. Most of the time, his system is dormant, quietly feeding power back to PG&E’s grid, and giving Krause a break on his electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with exploring commercial microgrids, commission officials expanded \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M312/K684/312684664.PDF\">incentives\u003c/a> for residential solar and battery systems like the one Krause owns. This \u003ca href=\"https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/pge-puts-its-widescale-fire-prevention-power-outage-plan-into-effect#gs.9gi2zv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">includes\u003c/a> $100 million for fire-prone districts, the money designated for low-income households and homes with people with chronic medical conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elon Musk, CEO of automaker Tesla, and Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun, a solar energy company, were quick to promote their products as a consumer solution for the recent power outages on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/LynnJurich/status/1182391894740877313?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1182089226826813440?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with manufacturing cars, Tesla also makes solar roofs and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/18/474346868/a-rare-look-inside-the-gigafactory-tesla-hopes-will-revolutionize-energy-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">batteries\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, as he struggled to find out whether his home would be one of the hundreds of thousands affected by PG&E’s shutoff, Krause’s memory of the last shutoff provided peace of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no luck using the PG&E website,” he said. “There was some kind of a map, but I plugged my address in and it said the system was down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Audrey Lee, an executive at Sunrun, the residential solar and battery company that made Krause’s system, said the company’s products can allow consumers to keep the power on even when the grid is down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s real for customers right now,” Lee said of the shutoffs. “We knew this was coming but it doesn’t rise to top of mind until it really happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent report, her company argued for a mass deployment of batteries and residential solar power across neighborhoods. Sunrun described this as a \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">virtual\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">power\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">plant\u003c/a> that operates like a neighborhood version of Fremont’s fire stations. The company is \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/185/sunrun-solar-and-battery-systems-to-help-replace-retiring\">piloting\u003c/a> a project in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunrun expects the tailwind of the shutoff events to drive homeowners’ interest in backup power systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its pitch to customers is that the solar-and-battery systems are cleaner than diesel generators in emergencies and save customers money on their energy bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scary story to me is that if people invest in fossil fuel generators en masse,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local officials and first responders were stressed about the potential impacts. But one key aspect of public safety they could scratch off their list of anxieties: three Fremont fire stations outfitted with a sophisticated power system designed to keep running when the grid goes down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There, we don’t have anything to worry about,” DiFranco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Fremont is one of the first cities in the U.S. to install a microgrid, a small, self-contained electrical system, around a fire station. Fremont’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/startup-microgrids-fire-stations#gs.9d2sl3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">microgrid\u003c/a> includes solar panels, batteries and a generator. Control software allows the stations to operate independently from PG&E’s grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The controller cuts over and pulls that power from the solar and battery,” DiFranco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, PG&E invested billions of dollars to inspect its lines, build \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1942292/pge-wants-to-make-a-massive-investment-in-weather-stations-heres-why\">weather stations\u003c/a> to monitor fire conditions, and take other measures to protect it from liability in connection with sparking another fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the shutoffs that disrupted life throughout the Bay Area this week underscored, once again, that PG&E’s grid technology is old and lacks flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It didn’t take long for lawmakers to \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jump\u003c/a> on PG&E. They accused the investor-owned utility of applying a jackhammer approach to a precision problem. The outages renewed questions about why the company did not include resilient grid technology like Fremont’s in its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener said in an interview with \u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\">KPIX\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/10/pge-power-shutoffs-state-sen-scott-wiener-proposes-clear-standards/\"> 5\u003c/a> that the shutdowns need to be as focused as possible. State Sen. Jerry Hill \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11779285/life-in-pges-blackout-outrage-and-optimism-on-day-2-of-outages\">sent\u003c/a> a letter to regulators on Wednesday pushing them to review the shutoffs and regulate them more aggressively in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sumeet Singh, the executive in charge of PG&E’s wildfire response, explained in a press conference that the utility cut power as a “last resort” to ensure the safety of its customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh said that one reason the shutoffs were impacting so many people is that regulators expanded guidelines for power shutoffs to include high-voltage lines. The utility complied, affecting many more customers than otherwise would have occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utility Commission is examining how projects like the one in Fremont can help shore up the system and make power shutoffs less disruptive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, similar projects are at the Santa Rita \u003ca href=\"https://building-microgrid.lbl.gov/santa-rita-jail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">jail\u003c/a> in Alameda County and a Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://lookinside.kaiserpermanente.org/powering-up-for-health/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hospital\u003c/a> in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one Bay Area microgrid deployed during the outages last week. Stone Edge Farm, an organic farm and vineyard, is located in an area of Sonoma affected by the shutdowns. The farm’s solar and battery system kept power to three households, a woodworking shop, two car storage barns, trailers, a spa, and a refrigeration van that stored food for local restaurants, according to an email on Friday afternoon from the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, California lawmakers passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1339\">SB 1339\u003c/a>, which required the California Public Utilities Commission to support the commercialization of more systems by Dec. 1, 2020. Last month, the power regulator opened a \u003ca href=\"https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:56:0::NO:RP,57,RIR:P5_PROCEEDING_SELECT:R1909009\">proceeding\u003c/a> to coordinate microgrids in high fire-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Renewable energy advocates say that the outages should refocus PG&E on newer technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are going to see more microgrids as part of the overall strategy,” Michael Colvin, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s California Energy program said. “The shutoffs will drive these investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Diego Gas and Electric operates a microgrid at \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/more-information/environment/smart-grid/microgrids\">Borrego\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/more-information/environment/smart-grid/microgrids\">Springs\u003c/a>, and the utility has submitted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sdge.com/sites/default/files/S1950020-0519_poster4_.jpg?nid=12796\">plan\u003c/a> to regulators to build more throughout San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom praised the company, calling it “arguably one of the nation’s most effective and efficient” investor-owned utilities. For years, SDG&E has been turning off power lines when the wildfire risk is high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fremont’s $2.4 million project was developed by Gridscape Solutions, a renewable-energy-project developer based in the city itself. The California Energy Commission chipped in $1.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the solar panels and batteries offer a consistent source of power, the city estimates that the system will save $250,000 in power costs over a 10-year period, and that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80,000 pounds each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Personal Systems\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few weeks ago, when Derek Krause, a retired firefighter, was at home in the Oakland foothills, he looked out the window and saw that the rest of the neighborhood, unlike in his house, was black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grid was down, Krause, realized. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrun.com/solar-battery-storage\">battery\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunrun.com/solar-battery-storage\">pack\u003c/a> and solar panels he’d installed were keeping his lights on. Most of the time, his system is dormant, quietly feeding power back to PG&E’s grid, and giving Krause a break on his electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with exploring commercial microgrids, commission officials expanded \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M312/K684/312684664.PDF\">incentives\u003c/a> for residential solar and battery systems like the one Krause owns. This \u003ca href=\"https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/pge-puts-its-widescale-fire-prevention-power-outage-plan-into-effect#gs.9gi2zv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">includes\u003c/a> $100 million for fire-prone districts, the money designated for low-income households and homes with people with chronic medical conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elon Musk, CEO of automaker Tesla, and Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun, a solar energy company, were quick to promote their products as a consumer solution for the recent power outages on social media.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Along with manufacturing cars, Tesla also makes solar roofs and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/18/474346868/a-rare-look-inside-the-gigafactory-tesla-hopes-will-revolutionize-energy-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">batteries\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, as he struggled to find out whether his home would be one of the hundreds of thousands affected by PG&E’s shutoff, Krause’s memory of the last shutoff provided peace of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no luck using the PG&E website,” he said. “There was some kind of a map, but I plugged my address in and it said the system was down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Audrey Lee, an executive at Sunrun, the residential solar and battery company that made Krause’s system, said the company’s products can allow consumers to keep the power on even when the grid is down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s real for customers right now,” Lee said of the shutoffs. “We knew this was coming but it doesn’t rise to top of mind until it really happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent report, her company argued for a mass deployment of batteries and residential solar power across neighborhoods. Sunrun described this as a \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">virtual\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">power\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/126/sunrun-illustrates-potential-for-home-solar-and-batteries\">plant\u003c/a> that operates like a neighborhood version of Fremont’s fire stations. The company is \u003ca href=\"https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/185/sunrun-solar-and-battery-systems-to-help-replace-retiring\">piloting\u003c/a> a project in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunrun expects the tailwind of the shutoff events to drive homeowners’ interest in backup power systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its pitch to customers is that the solar-and-battery systems are cleaner than diesel generators in emergencies and save customers money on their energy bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scary story to me is that if people invest in fossil fuel generators en masse,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown",
"headTitle": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric has generated confusion — not to mention outrage — with its power grid shutdowns. The situation continues for a second day in 34 California counties. On social media and phone calls to KQED’s Forum radio program, people throughout PG&E’s service area have asked how and why the investor-owned utility took this step. KQED reporters have some answers to some of the questions that have come in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Is PG&E Turning the Power Off? Is This PG&E’s Fault?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, PG&E doesn’t want to risk having its power lines start another fire, so it is pre-emptively turning the power off during this week’s dry, windy weather. The company made the decision based on information from its wildfire center, where meteorologists keep watch on fire conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s power lines have sparked many catastrophic wildfires in California, including last year’s Camp Fire in Butte County that caused 85 deaths, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in 100 years. PG&E lines started more than a dozen fires in 2017. Less than a month ago, the company agreed to pay billion in a settlement with victims of the recent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs are part of its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\">plan\u003c/a>, mandated by the state and agreed to by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s top power regulator. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who Made This Decision and When?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If past practice tells us anything, PG&E has been making and remaking this decision, with the help of its meteorological team, over several days. The utility says it considers weather, fuel and other conditions and observations, as well as the need for notice by state and local parties, when it decides to implement shutoffs. As we’ve seen over the last few days, the planned outage times can change with shifting conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact is, there’s nothing new about turning off power lines when conditions get risky: San Diego Gas and Electric, with the permission of the CPUC, has mitigated fire risk this way since 2012. What is new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/News_Room/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff-Policies-and-Procedures-September-2018.pdf\">are the guidelines PG&E filed\u003c/a> just a year ago for its public safety power shutoff procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last couple of years, the CPUC has required investor-owned utilities to describe their processes for arriving at decisions like the one affecting nearly three dozen California counties right now. PG&E shut off power two times last year; the last time PG&E called a public safety power shutoff, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Energy_-_Electricity_and_Natural_Gas/PGE%20PSPS%20Report%20Letter_06-21-19.pdf\">for two days in June\u003c/a>, it affected about 22,000 customers in the North Bay and the Sierra foothills, including Butte County and Paradise. — \u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are the Shutoffs So Widespread?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essentially, PG&E says that current conditions warrant extreme caution. The utility does its own predictive analysis, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-weather-map.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_weather\">dedicated page\u003c/a> offering a 7-day forecast of the possibility of a public safety power shutoff. As a rationale for the current outages, members of PG&E’s meteorological team have pointed out that Diablo and Santa Ana winds, along with low humidity and dry surface fuels, are making the state vulnerable to wildfire. Apart from PG&E’s in-house operation, the National Weather Service has issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mqt/redflagtips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Flag Warnings\u003c/a> for large chunks of California, and PG&E says these are “in alignment” with its own analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, says these dangerous winds, though occurring annually, haven’t been this widespread in the state since the Wine Country Fires of 2017, before PG&E had instituted its de-energization protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara also says PG&E may have had to cast a wide net because the energy infrastructure of California wasn’t built to accommodate the kind of fire risk we’re now experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll have a power line that will serve one valley and then go up and over a ridge to serve the next valley,” Wara told KQED’s Miranda Leitsinger. “And that means that if you have to turn that light off, you could black out both valleys in addition to the ridgetop — even though the risk is only on the ridgetop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is a longtime critic of the company who is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TedrickG/status/1182312963090182145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questioning\u003c/a> the widespread nature of the outage. In a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission Wednesday, he wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I strongly disagree with the binary position currently offered by PG&E – they can turn the power off and shut down the economy and livelihoods of millions in California, an action which may protect us from wildfire, or they can roll the dice and continue with the lights on, and risk an enormous fire starting from their power lines. This situation is not acceptable nor sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill wrote that a public safety power shutoff must be a surgical, last resort measure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, PG&E will have to say more about the choices it made: The utility must file a CPUC report with information related to its decisionmaking 10 days after the shutoff event ends. —\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This Is Intolerable. Why Can’t PG&E Just Bury The Lines?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For new construction, PG&E places most power lines underground, so its main issue is dealing with 81,000 miles of existing overhead lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no small feat. A little back-of-the-envelope math: Strung together, the lines could extend there and back from San Francisco to Buenos Aires about four times. Burying lines is very expensive. On its website, PG&E estimates it would cost $3 million per mile to puts its lines underground. So $3 million x 81,000 miles = $243 billion, which is more than California’s entire 2019 budget. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf\">report\u003c/a> suggests that burying lines in urban places can be even more expensive — up to $5 million a mile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, consumer safety advocates \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article222387335.html\">argue\u003c/a> that leaders in Sacramento should require the utility to bury lines in heavily populated, high-risk fire areas. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Can’t the State Take Over PG&E and Solve This Mess?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, though there’s no real model for a state taking over a publicly traded utility of this size. We also have yet to see the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">political\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">will\u003c/a> for this to occur. One reason is that taxpayers would have to take on the financial responsibility that just bankrupted PG&E — liability for its aging, unsafe electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a way to untangle PG&E’s many stakeholders and its various functions — don’t forget, it’s a gas company, too — other challenges would emerge: For one, figuring out how to value its massive assets and sorting out how the state would foot the bill for them, especially since ratepayers have already been paying for the system. Also, the main wildfire problems of aging, poorly maintained electrical transmission lines in rural, fire-prone areas, as well as more frequently occurring climate change-driven severe weather, are not going away, no matter who is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public power \u003cem>does \u003c/em>exist in California — Sacramento and Los Angeles both have it, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">offering\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">to\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">buy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">E\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">’\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">s\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">assets\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">within\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">city\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">limits\u003c/a>. But that’s different than completely ending PG&E as we know it and making it a public, state-run power company. It’s worth mentioning that PG&E workers largely oppose this option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One idea that’s been floated: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">Breaking\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">up\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">E\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">into\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">smaller\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">companies\u003c/a>. — \u003ci> Marisa Lagos\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are These Winds So Dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are known as “Diablo winds,” although they’re not necessarily hot. They are, however, pretty typical for this time of year. Their speed and dryness make them especially good at fanning and spreading flames. That can turn a potentially manageable wildfire into an out-of-control inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These winds that are so good at driving wildfires actually start out cold\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Early autumn’s big, cold air masses, brought by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet\"> jet stream\u003c/a>, first move over Washington and Oregon then head to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. This cold air is drier because it holds less moisture, and it has relatively higher pressure than the warmer air sitting over California. The meeting of these air currents propels the winds over the Sierra. As the winds move downslope, they speed up, the air compresses and warms, and the humidity plummets. This removes moisture from the landscape, and makes any spark more likely to start a wildfire. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will Any Good Come Of This Shutdown?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, one thing is that the outages are testing the region’s emergency response system. They could expose weaknesses that can be fixed before the next major earthquake hits — for example, Caltrans administrators realized they needed to install a backup generator at the Caldecott Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs underscore another fact: PG&E’s grid technology is outdated and clunky. The utility proactively shut off power on Wednesday morning, only to have people wake up to no electricity, less-than-gusty wind conditions, and warnings that the lights could remain off for days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disruption could serve as a focusing event for California to invest in local wind, solar, battery storage and other technologies that would turn neighborhoods into small power islands, called microgrids, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Peter\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Asmus\u003c/a>, a director at Navigant Research, a market research firm for the power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forecasts are often wrong,” he said. “In an ideal situation, you would have the flexibility to make real-time adjustments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Ricans lived without electricity for months after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in 2017. Now its main utility \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#4c0e345755fc\">plans\u003c/a> to divide the entire island into a series of microgrids that could offer resiliency and flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E has not widely adopted that technology. But, Asmus suggested, “the shutoffs are going to drive California to be the leader in microgrids in the U.S.” — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will These Power Shutoffs Work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait and see. There are many other ways fires can start: discarded cigarette butts, overheated cars idling over dry vegetation, chains dragging on the ground and sparking. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "You've called into Forum. You've commented on our Facebook page. You want to understand what's happening with PG&E. We answer your most common questions.",
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"title": "Why Is This Happening? Answers to Your Questions on the PG&E Shutdown | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric has generated confusion — not to mention outrage — with its power grid shutdowns. The situation continues for a second day in 34 California counties. On social media and phone calls to KQED’s Forum radio program, people throughout PG&E’s service area have asked how and why the investor-owned utility took this step. KQED reporters have some answers to some of the questions that have come in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Is PG&E Turning the Power Off? Is This PG&E’s Fault?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, PG&E doesn’t want to risk having its power lines start another fire, so it is pre-emptively turning the power off during this week’s dry, windy weather. The company made the decision based on information from its wildfire center, where meteorologists keep watch on fire conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s power lines have sparked many catastrophic wildfires in California, including last year’s Camp Fire in Butte County that caused 85 deaths, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in 100 years. PG&E lines started more than a dozen fires in 2017. Less than a month ago, the company agreed to pay billion in a settlement with victims of the recent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs are part of its wildfire mitigation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11750896/cpuc-pge-deenergization-wildfire-safety-power-shutoffs\">plan\u003c/a>, mandated by the state and agreed to by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s top power regulator. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who Made This Decision and When?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If past practice tells us anything, PG&E has been making and remaking this decision, with the help of its meteorological team, over several days. The utility says it considers weather, fuel and other conditions and observations, as well as the need for notice by state and local parties, when it decides to implement shutoffs. As we’ve seen over the last few days, the planned outage times can change with shifting conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact is, there’s nothing new about turning off power lines when conditions get risky: San Diego Gas and Electric, with the permission of the CPUC, has mitigated fire risk this way since 2012. What is new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/News_Room/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff-Policies-and-Procedures-September-2018.pdf\">are the guidelines PG&E filed\u003c/a> just a year ago for its public safety power shutoff procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last couple of years, the CPUC has required investor-owned utilities to describe their processes for arriving at decisions like the one affecting nearly three dozen California counties right now. PG&E shut off power two times last year; the last time PG&E called a public safety power shutoff, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Energy_-_Electricity_and_Natural_Gas/PGE%20PSPS%20Report%20Letter_06-21-19.pdf\">for two days in June\u003c/a>, it affected about 22,000 customers in the North Bay and the Sierra foothills, including Butte County and Paradise. — \u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are the Shutoffs So Widespread?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essentially, PG&E says that current conditions warrant extreme caution. The utility does its own predictive analysis, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-weather-map.page?WT.mc_id=Vanity_weather\">dedicated page\u003c/a> offering a 7-day forecast of the possibility of a public safety power shutoff. As a rationale for the current outages, members of PG&E’s meteorological team have pointed out that Diablo and Santa Ana winds, along with low humidity and dry surface fuels, are making the state vulnerable to wildfire. Apart from PG&E’s in-house operation, the National Weather Service has issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mqt/redflagtips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Flag Warnings\u003c/a> for large chunks of California, and PG&E says these are “in alignment” with its own analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, says these dangerous winds, though occurring annually, haven’t been this widespread in the state since the Wine Country Fires of 2017, before PG&E had instituted its de-energization protocol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wara also says PG&E may have had to cast a wide net because the energy infrastructure of California wasn’t built to accommodate the kind of fire risk we’re now experiencing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll have a power line that will serve one valley and then go up and over a ridge to serve the next valley,” Wara told KQED’s Miranda Leitsinger. “And that means that if you have to turn that light off, you could black out both valleys in addition to the ridgetop — even though the risk is only on the ridgetop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is a longtime critic of the company who is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TedrickG/status/1182312963090182145\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">questioning\u003c/a> the widespread nature of the outage. In a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission Wednesday, he wrote:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I strongly disagree with the binary position currently offered by PG&E – they can turn the power off and shut down the economy and livelihoods of millions in California, an action which may protect us from wildfire, or they can roll the dice and continue with the lights on, and risk an enormous fire starting from their power lines. This situation is not acceptable nor sustainable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hill wrote that a public safety power shutoff must be a surgical, last resort measure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In any event, PG&E will have to say more about the choices it made: The utility must file a CPUC report with information related to its decisionmaking 10 days after the shutoff event ends. —\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>This Is Intolerable. Why Can’t PG&E Just Bury The Lines?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For new construction, PG&E places most power lines underground, so its main issue is dealing with 81,000 miles of existing overhead lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no small feat. A little back-of-the-envelope math: Strung together, the lines could extend there and back from San Francisco to Buenos Aires about four times. Burying lines is very expensive. On its website, PG&E estimates it would cost $3 million per mile to puts its lines underground. So $3 million x 81,000 miles = $243 billion, which is more than California’s entire 2019 budget. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf\">report\u003c/a> suggests that burying lines in urban places can be even more expensive — up to $5 million a mile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, consumer safety advocates \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article222387335.html\">argue\u003c/a> that leaders in Sacramento should require the utility to bury lines in heavily populated, high-risk fire areas. — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Can’t the State Take Over PG&E and Solve This Mess?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, though there’s no real model for a state taking over a publicly traded utility of this size. We also have yet to see the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">political\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11718683/pge-bankruptcy-filing-poses-big-questions-challenges-for-gov-newsom\">will\u003c/a> for this to occur. One reason is that taxpayers would have to take on the financial responsibility that just bankrupted PG&E — liability for its aging, unsafe electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there were a way to untangle PG&E’s many stakeholders and its various functions — don’t forget, it’s a gas company, too — other challenges would emerge: For one, figuring out how to value its massive assets and sorting out how the state would foot the bill for them, especially since ratepayers have already been paying for the system. Also, the main wildfire problems of aging, poorly maintained electrical transmission lines in rural, fire-prone areas, as well as more frequently occurring climate change-driven severe weather, are not going away, no matter who is in charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public power \u003cem>does \u003c/em>exist in California — Sacramento and Los Angeles both have it, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">San\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">Francisco\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">is\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">offering\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">to\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">buy\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">E\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">’\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">s\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">assets\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">within\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">city\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11773007/san-francisco-offers-to-buy-pge-electric-grid-in-the-city-for-2-5-billion\">limits\u003c/a>. But that’s different than completely ending PG&E as we know it and making it a public, state-run power company. It’s worth mentioning that PG&E workers largely oppose this option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One idea that’s been floated: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">Breaking\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">up\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">PG\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">&\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">E\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">into\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">smaller\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11739802/money-for-victims-uncertainty-for-pge-everythings-on-the-table-in-newsoms-new-wildfire-plan\">companies\u003c/a>. — \u003ci> Marisa Lagos\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are These Winds So Dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are known as “Diablo winds,” although they’re not necessarily hot. They are, however, pretty typical for this time of year. Their speed and dryness make them especially good at fanning and spreading flames. That can turn a potentially manageable wildfire into an out-of-control inferno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These winds that are so good at driving wildfires actually start out cold\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Early autumn’s big, cold air masses, brought by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet\"> jet stream\u003c/a>, first move over Washington and Oregon then head to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. This cold air is drier because it holds less moisture, and it has relatively higher pressure than the warmer air sitting over California. The meeting of these air currents propels the winds over the Sierra. As the winds move downslope, they speed up, the air compresses and warms, and the humidity plummets. This removes moisture from the landscape, and makes any spark more likely to start a wildfire. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will Any Good Come Of This Shutdown?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, one thing is that the outages are testing the region’s emergency response system. They could expose weaknesses that can be fixed before the next major earthquake hits — for example, Caltrans administrators realized they needed to install a backup generator at the Caldecott Tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutoffs underscore another fact: PG&E’s grid technology is outdated and clunky. The utility proactively shut off power on Wednesday morning, only to have people wake up to no electricity, less-than-gusty wind conditions, and warnings that the lights could remain off for days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disruption could serve as a focusing event for California to invest in local wind, solar, battery storage and other technologies that would turn neighborhoods into small power islands, called microgrids, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Peter\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.navigantresearch.com/team/peter-asmus\">Asmus\u003c/a>, a director at Navigant Research, a market research firm for the power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forecasts are often wrong,” he said. “In an ideal situation, you would have the flexibility to make real-time adjustments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Puerto Ricans lived without electricity for months after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in 2017. Now its main utility \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#4c0e345755fc\">plans\u003c/a> to divide the entire island into a series of microgrids that could offer resiliency and flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E has not widely adopted that technology. But, Asmus suggested, “the shutoffs are going to drive California to be the leader in microgrids in the U.S.” — \u003cem>Kevin Stark\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Will These Power Shutoffs Work?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait and see. There are many other ways fires can start: discarded cigarette butts, overheated cars idling over dry vegetation, chains dragging on the ground and sparking. — \u003cem>Danielle Venton\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Wednesday, Oct 9\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we even need to say it? Was it ever in doubt? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The winner of Fat Bear Week, a contest held by Katmai National Park in Alaska to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River, is …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKatmaiNPP%2Fphotos%2Fa.569562089735260%2F2750828098275304%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"430\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s Holly before the competition began, immersed in her rigorous training regime…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/exploreorg/status/1178765565273559041?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did she do it? Well, in October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can-eat buffet of big, delicious fish, and Holly, apparently, went at it like the ursine glutton she is. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll be back in October 2020 for another round of coverage, when Lefty, Grazer, Chunk and the gang will all be looking to supplant Holly as the salmon-chomping champion of Fat Bear Week. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See you then, everybody!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Tuesday, Oct 8\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are still waiting for a resolution to the one question that has riveted the nation over the last week:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who is the fattest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The finalists in the annual March Madness-style \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/posts/2748312638526850?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARC_ECXhZDhm2OZXg5-nrubXF1Jzi8TRm8TSfBiIuvK0p5OrEkC57_wUXNugG6QmVscpRYs2Nlc3Oogpug5oQBVkGJyNfZ6H28h12BQfDJXrS6iuL92jTmfVPzGOjomAmHASoI6p8JUvCfbZ30T4_H99zorMwqmdaGaR-P2bv-ayzT7glkrjmP25IHQ-rnivWYOaRrE8bDVTs95JgBg5bd1bM2AHLIQaU6hSQ-r_eZtDho-9q1zN8QqZTarrvSZqfZToSXYOjw8Ng605libqorXQB7g3jsi6sqIwloO4dfUYoht4Agf0V52uPlpiTrVCQdfpv_xy55e9kmqboHOOJI71Mg&__tn__=-R\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">competition\u003c/a> to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River are Lefty and Holly. Peruse the paunchy pair’s before-and-after and decide for yourself …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1948744\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-160x51.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-800x257.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-768x246.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1948742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-160x51.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-800x257.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-768x246.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underdog Lefty had to go through 32 Chunk and Bear 747 to win the right to face off against fan favorite Holly, who got a bye in the first round because she is “really fat,” according to the National Park Service. But Katmai has also assessed her opponent Lefty as “astonishingly obese,” so it’s going to be a barn-burner, folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did the bears get so portly? Well, in October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can-eat buffet of big, delicious fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have devoted the entire resources of the KQED Science unit to following the competition. Who will be this year’s top Alaskan ursine glutton? Stay tuned …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4C1c4z8hTQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Park Service on Wednesday began its annual March Madness-style competition to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are many worthy contenders, there can be only one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will it be Otis? Good technique, and a strong social media presence…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/exploreorg/status/1179454843313934336?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the fifth time the bear has competed, and the park describes him as a “zen-master” whose strategy is to “move less, eat more.” Yep, smart bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Ursine Glutton, however, is facing massive competition. Katmai National Park has one of the largest concentrations of brown bears in the world. Adult male brown bears in the park routinely weigh more than 1,000 pounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like, there’s Holly — she’s gonna be tough…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/exploreorg/status/1178765565273559041?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can eat buffet of big, delicious fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucky for us — and if you’ve put money on the tourney, this goes double — the park also has sophisticated live streaming \u003ca href=\"https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brooks-falls-brown-bears-low\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">webcams\u003c/a> pointed at the river’s best fishing spots, where you’ll frequently see multiple bears wrestling, doing belly flops and gorging on sweet, sweet salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They even have a camera underwater, so you can see the fish without whose participation “Fat Bear Week” would need a name change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0aI0kMwZMs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s go the highlight reel …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SC_htZ0afI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The competition’s first round pits 480 Otis against 775 Lefty. Meanwhile, 854 Divot goes up against Bear 402.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bears that received byes into Friday’s second round are 32 Chunk, Bear 747, Bear 503 and Holly\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> (Some bears only get a number, apparently — that’s gotta be emotionally hurtful.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why do some bears get a bye?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bears got a bye into the second round because they are really fat,” said Naomi Boak, a spokeswoman for the park whose job seems really cool. “They worked hard for their fatness. Plus, they are fan favorites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s winning bear was 409 Beadnose, who “declined to participate by not showing up this year,” Boak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pretty lame, 409 Beadnose. Pret-ty pret-ty, lame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKatmaiNPP%2Fposts%2F2733044030053711&\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its fifth year, the competition is decided by bearcam viewers who choose the bear that looks the heaviest, an indication of “good health and strong chances of survival,” according to a Park Service release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During winter hibernation, which can last for up to half of the year in their den, a bear could lose up to one third of its body mass,” the release said. “In preparation, the bears are entering hyperphagia this time of year, a state in which they eat nearly nonstop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can — nay, should — cast your vote on the park’s Facebook \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">page\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bear with the most likes advances to the next round, and the winner will be announced on Oct. 8, which the Park Service calls “Fat Bear Tuesday,” and we call “Check to See Who Won Fat Bear Tuesday Tuesday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coverage to ensue …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1948442\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-800x556.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"556\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-800x556.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Wednesday, Oct 9\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we even need to say it? Was it ever in doubt? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The winner of Fat Bear Week, a contest held by Katmai National Park in Alaska to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River, is …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKatmaiNPP%2Fphotos%2Fa.569562089735260%2F2750828098275304%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"430\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s Holly before the competition began, immersed in her rigorous training regime…\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>How did she do it? Well, in October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can-eat buffet of big, delicious fish, and Holly, apparently, went at it like the ursine glutton she is. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll be back in October 2020 for another round of coverage, when Lefty, Grazer, Chunk and the gang will all be looking to supplant Holly as the salmon-chomping champion of Fat Bear Week. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See you then, everybody!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Tuesday, Oct 8\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are still waiting for a resolution to the one question that has riveted the nation over the last week:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who is the fattest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The finalists in the annual March Madness-style \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/posts/2748312638526850?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARC_ECXhZDhm2OZXg5-nrubXF1Jzi8TRm8TSfBiIuvK0p5OrEkC57_wUXNugG6QmVscpRYs2Nlc3Oogpug5oQBVkGJyNfZ6H28h12BQfDJXrS6iuL92jTmfVPzGOjomAmHASoI6p8JUvCfbZ30T4_H99zorMwqmdaGaR-P2bv-ayzT7glkrjmP25IHQ-rnivWYOaRrE8bDVTs95JgBg5bd1bM2AHLIQaU6hSQ-r_eZtDho-9q1zN8QqZTarrvSZqfZToSXYOjw8Ng605libqorXQB7g3jsi6sqIwloO4dfUYoht4Agf0V52uPlpiTrVCQdfpv_xy55e9kmqboHOOJI71Mg&__tn__=-R\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">competition\u003c/a> to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River are Lefty and Holly. Peruse the paunchy pair’s before-and-after and decide for yourself …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1948744\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-160x51.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-800x257.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Fat-Bear-Lefty-768x246.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1948742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-160x51.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-800x257.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Holly-Fat-Bear-768x246.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Underdog Lefty had to go through 32 Chunk and Bear 747 to win the right to face off against fan favorite Holly, who got a bye in the first round because she is “really fat,” according to the National Park Service. But Katmai has also assessed her opponent Lefty as “astonishingly obese,” so it’s going to be a barn-burner, folks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did the bears get so portly? Well, in October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can-eat buffet of big, delicious fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have devoted the entire resources of the KQED Science unit to following the competition. Who will be this year’s top Alaskan ursine glutton? Stay tuned …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post:\u003c/strong>\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/c4C1c4z8hTQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/c4C1c4z8hTQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The National Park Service on Wednesday began its annual March Madness-style competition to find the fattest-looking brown bear on the Brooks River in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are many worthy contenders, there can be only one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will it be Otis? Good technique, and a strong social media presence…\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>This is the fifth time the bear has competed, and the park describes him as a “zen-master” whose strategy is to “move less, eat more.” Yep, smart bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Ursine Glutton, however, is facing massive competition. Katmai National Park has one of the largest concentrations of brown bears in the world. Adult male brown bears in the park routinely weigh more than 1,000 pounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like, there’s Holly — she’s gonna be tough…\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In October, Brooks Falls acts as a temporary barrier for migrating sockeye salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. That means the river is like a veritable brown bear all-you-can eat buffet of big, delicious fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucky for us — and if you’ve put money on the tourney, this goes double — the park also has sophisticated live streaming \u003ca href=\"https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brooks-falls-brown-bears-low\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">webcams\u003c/a> pointed at the river’s best fishing spots, where you’ll frequently see multiple bears wrestling, doing belly flops and gorging on sweet, sweet salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They even have a camera underwater, so you can see the fish without whose participation “Fat Bear Week” would need a name change.\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/d0aI0kMwZMs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/d0aI0kMwZMs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Let’s go the highlight reel …\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/3SC_htZ0afI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/3SC_htZ0afI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The competition’s first round pits 480 Otis against 775 Lefty. Meanwhile, 854 Divot goes up against Bear 402.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bears that received byes into Friday’s second round are 32 Chunk, Bear 747, Bear 503 and Holly\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> (Some bears only get a number, apparently — that’s gotta be emotionally hurtful.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But why do some bears get a bye?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bears got a bye into the second round because they are really fat,” said Naomi Boak, a spokeswoman for the park whose job seems really cool. “They worked hard for their fatness. Plus, they are fan favorites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s winning bear was 409 Beadnose, who “declined to participate by not showing up this year,” Boak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pretty lame, 409 Beadnose. Pret-ty pret-ty, lame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKatmaiNPP%2Fposts%2F2733044030053711&\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its fifth year, the competition is decided by bearcam viewers who choose the bear that looks the heaviest, an indication of “good health and strong chances of survival,” according to a Park Service release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During winter hibernation, which can last for up to half of the year in their den, a bear could lose up to one third of its body mass,” the release said. “In preparation, the bears are entering hyperphagia this time of year, a state in which they eat nearly nonstop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can — nay, should — cast your vote on the park’s Facebook \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">page\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bear with the most likes advances to the next round, and the winner will be announced on Oct. 8, which the Park Service calls “Fat Bear Tuesday,” and we call “Check to See Who Won Fat Bear Tuesday Tuesday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coverage to ensue …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1948442\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-800x556.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"556\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-800x556.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-Fat-Bear-Bracket-6-960px.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Shake-up at BLM Could Lead to More Drilling, Deregulation",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe changes underway at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management might not seem like much: A few hundred employees are being relocated from offices near the White House and dispersed throughout the West, while agency leaders move in next door to energy companies in newly leased headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But along with the appointment of a self-described \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/8/william-perry-pendley-sagebrush-rebel-embraces-rol/\">Sagebrush Rebe\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/8/william-perry-pendley-sagebrush-rebel-embraces-rol/\">l\u003c/a> as acting director, the shuffling of staff could help position conservatives to accomplish substantial political goals: expanding fossil fuel development, easing national environmental protections, and shifting more power to state governments for managing federal forests and energy development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many environmental advocates are watching warily in light of what the changes could mean for environmental policy, including actions related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their steps threaten to set back efforts to manage our public lands as part of a national climate solution,” said Chase Huntley of the Wilderness Society’s energy and climate program. The extraction and use of fossil fuels from public lands accounts for \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5131/sir20185131.pdf\">nearly a quarter \u003c/a>of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, and the BLM oversees more than 245 million acres of that land as well as 700 million acres of minerals underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving nearly 300 staff members from Washington to the West will give states’ rights advocates something they have been clamoring for: more state influence over day-to-day federal land decisions, as well as potential increases in revenue tied to fossil-fuel development. That’s already happening as the Trump administration grants western state and local leaders bigger roles in managing public lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration and its supporters say reorganizing the BLM will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of natural resource programs, including grazing, logging and managing federal coal, oil and gas development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau is tasked under the Federal Land Planning and Management Act with balancing that resource extraction with recreational and environmental values, including wildlife conservation and cultural resource protection. The changes could tilt that balance further toward industry interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jayson O’Neill, deputy director of the left-leaning public lands advocacy group the Western Values Project, described the BLM reorganization as “lands-transfer lite.” Some Westerners have demanded that the federal government hand over title to public land to the states. The Trump administration rejected that idea early on, but “transfer-lite” amounts to a compromise that gives states more control over natural resources on federal lands, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The states’ mandate “is to generate revenue, which is a lot different than the mandate of the Bureau of Land Management … to balance uses,” O’Neill said. He sees the reorganization as an “attack on our public lands so that extractive resource industries and the oil and gas industry can control public lands without public input.”\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1948771 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px.png 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px-160x132.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The BLM did not respond to requests for comment. But Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) articulated the thinking behind the move in a video posted on\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenCoryGardner/status/1150866191604420608\"> Twitter \u003c/a>in July after the BLM announced its new Grand Junction headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This means that people will be able to have greater say, greater impact on public lands decisions that affect their community,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The BLM had considered climate change impacts in its decisions until the Trump administration shifted its focus toward “energy dominance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“American energy production is soaring to new heights thanks to President Trump’s policies,” proclaimed a White House\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-unleashing-american-energy-dominance/\"> fact sheet\u003c/a> touting a record $1.1 billion in revenue from onshore oil and gas lease sales last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A ‘Sage Brush Rebel’ in Charge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shifting more BLM resources to western states is a boon for states’ rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So was the appointment of William Perry Pendley to lead the reorganization as acting director of BLM. Pendley, who calls himself @Sagebrush_Rebel on Twitter, has authored five books arguing for limiting federal control of public lands, including, most recently, Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Reagan Interior Department, Pendley was Secretary James Watt’s deputy. He later followed Watt as head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Under his leadership, MSLF became a staunch advocate for private-property rights, federal-lands transfer and the New Sagebrush Rebellion—ideas that resurfaced in the public consciousness in recent years by extremists in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2015/04/14/399397139/year-after-denying-federal-control-bundy-still-runs-his-bit-of-nevada\">Cliven Bundy armed standoff\u003c/a> with the BLM and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/oregon-rancher-protest-federal-agencies-out-control/\">Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the reorganization as an effort to get the land managers closer to the lands they’re managing,” said Jennifer Fielder, a GOP state senator in Montana and director of the conservative American Lands Council, a nonprofit that’s led the “lands transfer” movement to have states assume ownership of most federal lands. “It’s good to have somebody at the agency who’s looking out for the citizens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeff Ruch, western director for the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said having Pendley at the BLM “is all about an extractive agenda, an industry agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isolated BLM Staff\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at BLM headquarters work closely with other federal agencies, and they are responsible for briefing Congress and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). They also convey the policy goals of agency leaders at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/bureaus\">Interior Department\u003c/a>, which oversees BLM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the relocated headquarters staff is being dispersed to 11 state offices in the West that 97 percent of BLM’s approximately \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/careers/working-at-blm\">10,000\u003c/a> employees already report to. Just over two dozen will relocate to the new Colorado\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/new-blm-headquarters-are-next-door-to-a-chevron-corporate-office/2019/09/20/a46a06d8-dbd7-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html\"> headquarters,\u003c/a> where co-tenants include Chevron USA, an oil and gas company, and the local branch of an energy-industry trade group. The site is midway between Denver and Salt Lake City and a four hour drive to the nearest major airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That isolation is a concern, said Elaine Zielinski, a member of the Public Lands Foundation, a nonpartisan association of former BLM managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries that locating the agency so far from Washington will undermine BLM’s communications with national decision makers, including Congress, White House budget-makers and partner agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many important conversations about policies, budget and congressional oversight are “on D.C. time,” said Zielinski, who led BLM’s Oregon and Arizona state offices and worked at Washington headquarters. Staffers were expected to brief national decision makers at a moment’s notice, and if knowledgeable staffers didn’t get there within an hour, she said, “Don’t bother. They’ve moved on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With Congress, you have a short window to answer these questions, and also with OMB,” she said. With the reorganization, “all the people who have the answers are scattered all over the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Staff to Quit\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council have been advocating for shifting power out of Washington and for shrinking the federal government, and the BLM reorganization can be seen as another move toward those goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BLM headquarters employees began receiving relocation notices a few weeks ago, and some are likely to decline new postings rather than uproot their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When two Agriculture Department agencies were reassigned from Washington to Kansas City, two-thirds of the staff \u003ca href=\"https://federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2019/08/usda-afge-agree-to-terms-designed-to-make-upcoming-relocation-easier-on-employees/\">refused to relocate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney, acting chief of staff to the president, \u003ca href=\"https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4811601/mick-mulvaney-speech&start=2442\">described relocating staff\u003c/a> like that as “a wonderful way to sort of streamline government” by getting federal employees to quit.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1948772 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"897\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px-160x271.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shifting power to the states is also a longtime goal of some conservative groups. The Trump administration has moved in that direction with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.fed.us/managing-land/shared-stewardship\">Shared Stewardship \u003c/a>forest program, for instance, and beefing up the presence of local government on the Bears Ears National Monument management council. Recent proposals in Congress would also put state and local government in charge of energy management and law enforcement on federal lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martin Nie, director of the University of Montana’s Bolle Center for People and Forests, said the BLM reorganization is the administration’s latest nod to Sagebrush Rebels and states’ rights conservatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have seen an unprecedented transfer of management authority from the federal government to the states,” he said, counting the BLM reorganization as the latest example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Western Voters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Empowering states, reducing the role of the federal government, expanding public lands energy development—while those ideas resonate in western states, what might be even more important to conservatives is the role the BLM reorganization can play in shoring up the conservative vote in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/12/senate-seats-most-likely-flip/\">Republicans\u003c/a> stand to lose Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona if their voters don’t turn out. In the U.S. House, the GOP sees winnable Democratic seats in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Montana’s sole House seat, held by a Republican now, is considered a tossup. Meanwhile, Nevada and Arizona are both considered swing states in 2020 presidential race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the reorganization shifting BLM headquarters and staff to their states, it could appear to conservative voters that the Trump administration is listening to their pleas to give states more influence over federal land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe changes underway at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management might not seem like much: A few hundred employees are being relocated from offices near the White House and dispersed throughout the West, while agency leaders move in next door to energy companies in newly leased headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But along with the appointment of a self-described \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/8/william-perry-pendley-sagebrush-rebel-embraces-rol/\">Sagebrush Rebe\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/8/william-perry-pendley-sagebrush-rebel-embraces-rol/\">l\u003c/a> as acting director, the shuffling of staff could help position conservatives to accomplish substantial political goals: expanding fossil fuel development, easing national environmental protections, and shifting more power to state governments for managing federal forests and energy development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many environmental advocates are watching warily in light of what the changes could mean for environmental policy, including actions related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their steps threaten to set back efforts to manage our public lands as part of a national climate solution,” said Chase Huntley of the Wilderness Society’s energy and climate program. The extraction and use of fossil fuels from public lands accounts for \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5131/sir20185131.pdf\">nearly a quarter \u003c/a>of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, and the BLM oversees more than 245 million acres of that land as well as 700 million acres of minerals underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving nearly 300 staff members from Washington to the West will give states’ rights advocates something they have been clamoring for: more state influence over day-to-day federal land decisions, as well as potential increases in revenue tied to fossil-fuel development. That’s already happening as the Trump administration grants western state and local leaders bigger roles in managing public lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration and its supporters say reorganizing the BLM will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of natural resource programs, including grazing, logging and managing federal coal, oil and gas development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau is tasked under the Federal Land Planning and Management Act with balancing that resource extraction with recreational and environmental values, including wildlife conservation and cultural resource protection. The changes could tilt that balance further toward industry interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jayson O’Neill, deputy director of the left-leaning public lands advocacy group the Western Values Project, described the BLM reorganization as “lands-transfer lite.” Some Westerners have demanded that the federal government hand over title to public land to the states. The Trump administration rejected that idea early on, but “transfer-lite” amounts to a compromise that gives states more control over natural resources on federal lands, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The states’ mandate “is to generate revenue, which is a lot different than the mandate of the Bureau of Land Management … to balance uses,” O’Neill said. He sees the reorganization as an “attack on our public lands so that extractive resource industries and the oil and gas industry can control public lands without public input.”\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1948771 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px.png 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLM-Ownership700px-160x132.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The BLM did not respond to requests for comment. But Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) articulated the thinking behind the move in a video posted on\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenCoryGardner/status/1150866191604420608\"> Twitter \u003c/a>in July after the BLM announced its new Grand Junction headquarters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This means that people will be able to have greater say, greater impact on public lands decisions that affect their community,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The BLM had considered climate change impacts in its decisions until the Trump administration shifted its focus toward “energy dominance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“American energy production is soaring to new heights thanks to President Trump’s policies,” proclaimed a White House\u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-unleashing-american-energy-dominance/\"> fact sheet\u003c/a> touting a record $1.1 billion in revenue from onshore oil and gas lease sales last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A ‘Sage Brush Rebel’ in Charge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shifting more BLM resources to western states is a boon for states’ rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So was the appointment of William Perry Pendley to lead the reorganization as acting director of BLM. Pendley, who calls himself @Sagebrush_Rebel on Twitter, has authored five books arguing for limiting federal control of public lands, including, most recently, Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Reagan Interior Department, Pendley was Secretary James Watt’s deputy. He later followed Watt as head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Under his leadership, MSLF became a staunch advocate for private-property rights, federal-lands transfer and the New Sagebrush Rebellion—ideas that resurfaced in the public consciousness in recent years by extremists in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2015/04/14/399397139/year-after-denying-federal-control-bundy-still-runs-his-bit-of-nevada\">Cliven Bundy armed standoff\u003c/a> with the BLM and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/oregon-rancher-protest-federal-agencies-out-control/\">Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the reorganization as an effort to get the land managers closer to the lands they’re managing,” said Jennifer Fielder, a GOP state senator in Montana and director of the conservative American Lands Council, a nonprofit that’s led the “lands transfer” movement to have states assume ownership of most federal lands. “It’s good to have somebody at the agency who’s looking out for the citizens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeff Ruch, western director for the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said having Pendley at the BLM “is all about an extractive agenda, an industry agenda.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Isolated BLM Staff\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at BLM headquarters work closely with other federal agencies, and they are responsible for briefing Congress and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). They also convey the policy goals of agency leaders at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/bureaus\">Interior Department\u003c/a>, which oversees BLM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the relocated headquarters staff is being dispersed to 11 state offices in the West that 97 percent of BLM’s approximately \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/careers/working-at-blm\">10,000\u003c/a> employees already report to. Just over two dozen will relocate to the new Colorado\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/new-blm-headquarters-are-next-door-to-a-chevron-corporate-office/2019/09/20/a46a06d8-dbd7-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html\"> headquarters,\u003c/a> where co-tenants include Chevron USA, an oil and gas company, and the local branch of an energy-industry trade group. The site is midway between Denver and Salt Lake City and a four hour drive to the nearest major airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That isolation is a concern, said Elaine Zielinski, a member of the Public Lands Foundation, a nonpartisan association of former BLM managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She worries that locating the agency so far from Washington will undermine BLM’s communications with national decision makers, including Congress, White House budget-makers and partner agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many important conversations about policies, budget and congressional oversight are “on D.C. time,” said Zielinski, who led BLM’s Oregon and Arizona state offices and worked at Washington headquarters. Staffers were expected to brief national decision makers at a moment’s notice, and if knowledgeable staffers didn’t get there within an hour, she said, “Don’t bother. They’ve moved on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With Congress, you have a short window to answer these questions, and also with OMB,” she said. With the reorganization, “all the people who have the answers are scattered all over the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Staff to Quit\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council have been advocating for shifting power out of Washington and for shrinking the federal government, and the BLM reorganization can be seen as another move toward those goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BLM headquarters employees began receiving relocation notices a few weeks ago, and some are likely to decline new postings rather than uproot their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When two Agriculture Department agencies were reassigned from Washington to Kansas City, two-thirds of the staff \u003ca href=\"https://federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2019/08/usda-afge-agree-to-terms-designed-to-make-upcoming-relocation-easier-on-employees/\">refused to relocate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney, acting chief of staff to the president, \u003ca href=\"https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4811601/mick-mulvaney-speech&start=2442\">described relocating staff\u003c/a> like that as “a wonderful way to sort of streamline government” by getting federal employees to quit.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1948772 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"897\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/BLMReshuffle529px-160x271.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shifting power to the states is also a longtime goal of some conservative groups. The Trump administration has moved in that direction with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.fed.us/managing-land/shared-stewardship\">Shared Stewardship \u003c/a>forest program, for instance, and beefing up the presence of local government on the Bears Ears National Monument management council. Recent proposals in Congress would also put state and local government in charge of energy management and law enforcement on federal lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martin Nie, director of the University of Montana’s Bolle Center for People and Forests, said the BLM reorganization is the administration’s latest nod to Sagebrush Rebels and states’ rights conservatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have seen an unprecedented transfer of management authority from the federal government to the states,” he said, counting the BLM reorganization as the latest example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Western Voters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Empowering states, reducing the role of the federal government, expanding public lands energy development—while those ideas resonate in western states, what might be even more important to conservatives is the role the BLM reorganization can play in shoring up the conservative vote in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/12/senate-seats-most-likely-flip/\">Republicans\u003c/a> stand to lose Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona if their voters don’t turn out. In the U.S. House, the GOP sees winnable Democratic seats in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Montana’s sole House seat, held by a Republican now, is considered a tossup. Meanwhile, Nevada and Arizona are both considered swing states in 2020 presidential race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the reorganization shifting BLM headquarters and staff to their states, it could appear to conservative voters that the Trump administration is listening to their pleas to give states more influence over federal land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Hotter-burning wildfires are transforming California’s forests, and not for the better. A new \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> from UC Davis finds high-intensity fires leave fewer trees and a less diverse population of plants behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re finding that high intensity, really dangerous fires … are becoming more frequent,” said Clark Richter, a graduate student in ecology at UC Davis. “They’re burning a larger area than was typical historically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation=\"Clark Richter, UC Davis\"]‘We’re finding that high intensity, really dangerous fires … are becoming more frequent.’[/pullquote]Richter and a team sampled plants across patches of land in the Sierra Nevada that were burned in at least eight fires over the last 20 years. Their goal was to get a better picture of what happened to plants in the forest understory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter calls the current pattern of fire in California, one where fires burn intensely hot, “novel.” He and a research team saw that “when fire climbs up into the canopy, it often kills the adult trees,” he said. “And that causes a dramatic change to the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those intense fires transform forest into shrubland. And according to Richter, the more frequent and the larger the area burned at these high-severity sites, the larger the shrub fields left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Less Diversity\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Field sampling by the researchers found less plant diversity on the landscape after high-intensity fires, especially in shrublands. And when fire returns to that landscape, it’s more likely “that system is going to continue to be a high-severity site, that’s going to continue to be a shrub field potentially indefinitely,” Richter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t always this way in California’s yellow pine mixed-conifer forests, Richter says. Historically, the fires that burned these forests at elevation were low- and moderate-intensity. “These weren’t really fierce, fierce fires with really tall flame lengths in the canopies of trees,” Richter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter thinks of these less-intense fires as recurring events that “chew up” but don’t destroy understory fuels on the ground, thus preserving an array of plants after the fire is out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study supports the idea that active management of forests, including reducing tree density and managing understory growth with prescribed fire and mechanical means, promotes ecosystem health. The study’s authors acknowledged the challenges to managing forests this way, including increased costs and legal opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Richter said, “Our concern is that if these shrub fields continue to burn, that there will be an overall loss of understory plant diversity in these sites at a landscape level.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Hotter-burning wildfires are transforming California’s forests, and not for the better. A new \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> from UC Davis finds high-intensity fires leave fewer trees and a less diverse population of plants behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re finding that high intensity, really dangerous fires … are becoming more frequent,” said Clark Richter, a graduate student in ecology at UC Davis. “They’re burning a larger area than was typical historically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Richter and a team sampled plants across patches of land in the Sierra Nevada that were burned in at least eight fires over the last 20 years. Their goal was to get a better picture of what happened to plants in the forest understory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter calls the current pattern of fire in California, one where fires burn intensely hot, “novel.” He and a research team saw that “when fire climbs up into the canopy, it often kills the adult trees,” he said. “And that causes a dramatic change to the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those intense fires transform forest into shrubland. And according to Richter, the more frequent and the larger the area burned at these high-severity sites, the larger the shrub fields left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Less Diversity\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Field sampling by the researchers found less plant diversity on the landscape after high-intensity fires, especially in shrublands. And when fire returns to that landscape, it’s more likely “that system is going to continue to be a high-severity site, that’s going to continue to be a shrub field potentially indefinitely,” Richter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t always this way in California’s yellow pine mixed-conifer forests, Richter says. Historically, the fires that burned these forests at elevation were low- and moderate-intensity. “These weren’t really fierce, fierce fires with really tall flame lengths in the canopies of trees,” Richter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richter thinks of these less-intense fires as recurring events that “chew up” but don’t destroy understory fuels on the ground, thus preserving an array of plants after the fire is out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study supports the idea that active management of forests, including reducing tree density and managing understory growth with prescribed fire and mechanical means, promotes ecosystem health. The study’s authors acknowledged the challenges to managing forests this way, including increased costs and legal opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Richter said, “Our concern is that if these shrub fields continue to burn, that there will be an overall loss of understory plant diversity in these sites at a landscape level.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Fire, Rock Slides, and Floods: UN Report Details Growing Warming Threat in the Mountains",
"headTitle": "Fire, Rock Slides, and Floods: UN Report Details Growing Warming Threat in the Mountains | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>With ominous orange-gray smoke clouds seething on the western horizon, it’s easy to understand how Colorado’s highest city and other mountain communities are directly threatened by global warming. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote align='right' citation='Heidi Steltzer, biologist at Fort Lewis College']‘Concern, commitment and action on climate change should not depend on which places, species or people are impacted. Instead, they should be motivated by compassion.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain snowpack is shrinking and melting earlier in the spring. Warmer and longer summers dry out vegetation and increase the threat of wildfires in western mountain forests, where the fire season has \u003ca href=\"https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86268/longer-more-frequent-fire-seasons\">lengthened\u003c/a> by at least a month since 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing wildfire risk is just part of an accelerating cycle of global warming impacts in the world’s mountain regions, according to a new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25092019/ipcc-cryosphere-ocean-report-climate-change-sea-level-rise-greenland-antarctica\">report\u003c/a> that includes a \u003ca href=\"https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_FinalDraft_Chapter2.pdf\">section\u003c/a> focused on mountains for the first time in more than 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow cover duration has declined in nearly all regions, especially at lower elevations, on average by five days per decade,” the mountain chapter of the IPCC report says. On average across Western North America, the European Alps and High Mountain Asia, temperatures are warming by 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s melting glaciers and changing mountain river flows, disrupting plants and wildlife, and increasing the risk of extreme \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming\">rockslides\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08032019/avalanche-climate-change-risk-snow-storm-forecast-colorado-switzerland\">avalanches\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06082018/global-warming-climate-change-floods-california-oroville-dam-scientists\">mountain floods\u003c/a> caused by rain falling on snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, global warming impacts represent an existential threat to millions of people in the Andes, the Himalaya, the European Alps, and the U.S. Mountain West including Alaska, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/heidimountains\">Heidi Steltzer\u003c/a>, a biologist at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and a lead author of the mountain chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shrinking glaciers and snow harm Indigenous Peoples and rural communities greatly. Concern, commitment and action on climate change should not depend on which places, species or people are impacted. Instead, they should be motivated by compassion,” Steltzer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water Reliability \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Crested Butte, about 100 miles southwest of Leadville, hydrologist and physicist Rosemary Carroll studies how \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/unabated-global-warming-threatens-west-snowpack-water-rocky-mountains-sierra-nevada-drought\">disruptions\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/unabated-global-warming-threatens-west-snowpack-water-rocky-mountains-sierra-nevada-drought\">to the water cycle\u003c/a> will affect local ranchers and ski areas, as well as drinking and agricultural water supplies hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC assessment found that global warming will change the timing and amount of runoff, “affecting water storage and delivery infrastructure around the world,” a finding backed by research focusing on the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016GL068798\">study\u003c/a> in six Western mountain ranges showed rising temperatures will shift the snow accumulation zone and runoff timing enough to have significant impacts on water cycles. And some towns in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada are at risk from \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06082018/global-warming-climate-change-floods-california-oroville-dam-scientists\">dangerous flash floods\u003c/a> as global warming brings rain, rather than snow, to some mountain regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carroll pointed out her living room window to a craggy ridgeline where she measures how water from melted snow trickles through rocks and meadows down to the East River, on to the Gunnison River and finally into the mighty Colorado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new normal is that the snowpack is melting earlier and we have earlier runoff, and that’s a fact. There’s going to be less water for a given snowpack,” she said. Even in average snowfall years, global warming is reducing the amount of available water for irrigation and storage, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research for the University of Nevada’s Desert Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy will help communities adapt as global warming disrupts flows from mountain streams. Around Crested Butte, the ski industry and local ranchers will feel the changes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But addressing those impacts isn’t as easy as just throwing a new report on the table. Translating science into action requires working with stakeholders from the start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ranchers know what’s happening, they know that things are shifting, but they’re afraid the policy will shift in a way that they will carry the burden of the change. Since they have most of the water, they fear they will have to give up the most, and that it won’t be equitable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The states that get their water from the Colorado River are already restructuring \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31012019/colorado-river-water-crisis-climate-science-state-conservation-plans\">water-sharing agreements\u003c/a> to stave off shortages and trying to develop new storage plans to account for extreme wet and dry years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Goodbye to Glaciers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Global warming will change nearly every mountain ecosystem, starting with the very visible meltdown of glaciers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the European Alps, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alpenverein.at/portal/news/aktuelle_news/2018/2018_04_06_gletscherbericht.php\">some glaciers retreated by as much 410 feet\u003c/a> last year — imagine the Empire State Building shrinking by a third. Globally, the world’s glaciers have lost 9 trillion tons of ice since 1961, raising sea level by about 1 inch, according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Glaciers_lose_nine_trillion_tonnes_of_ice_in_half_a_century\">European Space Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As glaciers melt, they create a series of risks: newly formed meltwater lakes can burst through their banks, flooding towns and farms below. And as the ice dwindles, that will significantly change the timing and amount of water available for hydropower production and agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with disrupting ecosystems and downstream communities that rely on glacier meltwater, global warming in the mountains will cause emotional and cultural loss as cherished landscapes vanish. In Switzerland, people recently held a memorial service for the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/matthias_huss/status/1176117412997062656\">disappearing Pizol Glacier\u003c/a> as a way of dealing with that grief, a sometimes overlooked component of climate resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_full\">\n\u003cp>The physical threats are real and growing, said Swiss glaciologist Matthias Huss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If greenhouse gas emissions peak in the next few years and then start to decline, glaciers in the European Alps will lose two-thirds of their current ice. With continued high emissions, the glaciers will all but vanish, with only 5 percent of the current ice remaining, Huss and colleagues found in recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1125/2019/\">study\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming\">An increase in rockfall events\u003c/a>, and flooding from glacier lakes, also due to more extreme weather events, is likely,” Huss said. “I think European countries are prepared, and they have the financial means to adapt. It will be much more difficult for developing countries to adapt to the challenges in mountain regions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme storms that destroy forests and damage roads and railroad lines could also become more frequent in the world’s mountains, although climate models aren’t yet localized enough to project such changes accurately, the IPCC assessment concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It won’t be cheap to redesign and rebuild water infrastructure, Huss said. In some snow-dependent communities, the meltdown will also drive wrenching cultural and economic changes. But “one could also see this as a chance for major development toward a more sustainable way to live on our planet,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adapting Food Crops\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what University of Colorado researcher Tsegay Wolde-Georgis was thinking when he led a \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/news-events/instaar-news/apple-trees-in-atebes-cultivating-climate-resilience-in-an-ethiopian-villag/\">project\u003c/a> in the early 2000s to cultivate apple trees around Atebe, in the dry highlands of Ethiopia where he grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diversifying local food supplies will help make the region more resilient to global warming, he said. The new IPCC assessment affirms that global warming is driving dangerous changes in mountain environments that threaten food supplies. But along with warnings, the world needs action, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is getting more extreme, and there is seasonal confusion,” he said. But there is enough scientific and traditional knowledge to find on-the-ground projects and do them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the apple orchard, he adapted a traditional permaculture technique, using water-filled clay pots to efficiently irrigate the young trees. At the same time, residents enhanced the water-holding capacity of deforested hillsides by building terraces and planting vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such regenerative agriculture is crucial for food security in developing countries, said Wolde-Georgis, who works with the \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/research/programs/consortium-for-capacity-building/\">Consortium for Capacity Building\u003c/a>, part of the University of Colorado’s \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/\">Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of academic research and projects, he radiates the kind of practical wisdom that can help shape resilience to global warming. His eyes gleam as he recalls the look on a local priest’s face during the first apple harvest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the first time in his life he tasted an apple. When we plant apples, it’s mitigation [of the climate impact], but at the same time, we are solving problems. We have to find something that’s doable on the ground,” he said. In four years, the farmers planted 1,400 apple trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, communities worked to restore watersheds by building terraces and replanting clear-cut hillsides. Wolde-Georgis said the work was successful. Streams that had been dry by the end of December now hold water through the end of May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a larger scale, Wolde-Georgis helps build physical and information infrastructure to boost resilience, including new roads and railroads to help transport food when climate extremes cause crop failures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethiopia and other developing countries also need more institutional science-based infrastructure to inform good governance across jurisdictional boundaries, he said. To meet the challenges ahead requires working in an atmosphere of trust and a spirit of collaboration, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Disrupting Plants\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic, Colorado, David Inouye’s cabin near a patch of shimmering gold aspens is marked by wisps of chimney smoke. For nearly 50 years, he’s been recording plant and animal activity while other observers tally snowfall and snowmelt data day by day — a scientific deep dive into time and space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to the 1970s, spring is coming earlier. There is more winter rain, and summers are longer and drier. It all adds up to disruption for mountain ecosystems, where most plants only have a few weeks to bloom. And the plants are tightly linked with pollinating insects in \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062018/climate-change-impacts-pollen-pollination-flowers-bees-butterflies-europe-heat-wave-global-warming-research\">a delicately timed cycle\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ecology of this altitude is driven largely by how much snow we get in the winter and when that snow melts,” Inouye said. “As the climate changes, we’re tending to get less snow and warmer and earlier springs. A paradoxical consequence is that we’re getting more frost damage,” he said. The effects ripple through the ecosystem as global warming disrupts plants and seed production, which, in turn, means less food for small mammals and birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graceful yellow glacier lilies are \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/12-0255.1\">blooming 17 days earlier\u003c/a> than they did in the 1970s, but migrating hummingbirds that depend on the flower nectar aren’t keeping up. By the time they arrive, many of the plants have withered away, and if current trends continue, in two decades the hummingbirds will miss the first flowers entirely. Ecosystems could collapse as global warming continues to decouple \u003ca href=\"https://www.rmbl.org/article/science-story-june-2019/\">complex ecological relationships\u003c/a>, showing why global warming is a threat to biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01766.x\">study\u003c/a> documented how earlier spring snowmelt makes mountain daisies bloom earlier, when they are more susceptible to frost. The research showed how the frost damage reduces the amount of nectar for a species of butterfly that depends on that particular flower for feeding during the egg-laying season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they don’t get nectar, they can’t make eggs, and the population declines,” Inouye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tipping Points\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab helps connect the dots in complex ecosystems and how global warming can make them unravel, said lab executive director Ian Billick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What people don’t realize is that we’re changing multiple things at the same time. People don’t realize how drastically things are going to change,” he said. Massive disturbance events linked with global warming like the early 2000s bark beetle outbreak that killed trees across millions of acres will happen again and again. Multiple stressors are driving mountain ecosystems past tipping points, leading to fundamental change, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our agricultural productivity depends on these ecosystems functioning in a highly integrated way, so it’s like if you throw a screwdriver in the middle of an engine, the whole thing falls apart, and I think it’s like with ag, where these finely tuned things are going to fall apart.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC report represents only the tiny tip of a “massive global change iceberg,” said Steltzer, the Colorado biologist and lead author of the mountain chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nine-tenths is what we haven’t seen, measured and documented. We know things are changing for which we have no peer-reviewed scientific articles, and things are changing too fast to keep up,” she said. “There’s no reason to wait to act. We know enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just this past winter, both Europe and parts of the Rockies experienced \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08032019/avalanche-climate-change-risk-snow-storm-forecast-colorado-switzerland\">unprecedented avalanche cycles\u003c/a> after record snowfalls, surprising scientists as well as public safety managers charged with keeping mountain roads open. Recently, mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus have been appearing in the high mountains but remain largely untracked, along with other invasive species. And there are likely scores of other ecological cycles being disrupted that haven’t been studied at all, Inouye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC assessment also concluded that forest fires are likely to increase in mountain areas where summers become warmer and drier. “Coastal ranges of California, the Blue Mountains of Australia, Mt. Kenya, and mountains on the fringes of the Mediterranean Sea, already subject to frequent fire episodes, would be severely affected,” the assessment said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019EF001210\">study\u003c/a> showed that the fivefold increase in the extent of California’s wildfires since the 1970s was “very likely driven by drying of fuels promoted by human‐induced warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow is decreasing, temperatures are warming, and mountains are changing in ways I never expected I’d live to see,” Steltzer said. “Policy-makers ask for data to show how bad it is. … Instead, they could ask how do we preserve the benefits of nature for each of us and all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_full\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With ominous orange-gray smoke clouds seething on the western horizon, it’s easy to understand how Colorado’s highest city and other mountain communities are directly threatened by global warming. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Concern, commitment and action on climate change should not depend on which places, species or people are impacted. Instead, they should be motivated by compassion.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain snowpack is shrinking and melting earlier in the spring. Warmer and longer summers dry out vegetation and increase the threat of wildfires in western mountain forests, where the fire season has \u003ca href=\"https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86268/longer-more-frequent-fire-seasons\">lengthened\u003c/a> by at least a month since 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growing wildfire risk is just part of an accelerating cycle of global warming impacts in the world’s mountain regions, according to a new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25092019/ipcc-cryosphere-ocean-report-climate-change-sea-level-rise-greenland-antarctica\">report\u003c/a> that includes a \u003ca href=\"https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_FinalDraft_Chapter2.pdf\">section\u003c/a> focused on mountains for the first time in more than 20 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow cover duration has declined in nearly all regions, especially at lower elevations, on average by five days per decade,” the mountain chapter of the IPCC report says. On average across Western North America, the European Alps and High Mountain Asia, temperatures are warming by 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s melting glaciers and changing mountain river flows, disrupting plants and wildlife, and increasing the risk of extreme \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming\">rockslides\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08032019/avalanche-climate-change-risk-snow-storm-forecast-colorado-switzerland\">avalanches\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06082018/global-warming-climate-change-floods-california-oroville-dam-scientists\">mountain floods\u003c/a> caused by rain falling on snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, global warming impacts represent an existential threat to millions of people in the Andes, the Himalaya, the European Alps, and the U.S. Mountain West including Alaska, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/heidimountains\">Heidi Steltzer\u003c/a>, a biologist at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and a lead author of the mountain chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shrinking glaciers and snow harm Indigenous Peoples and rural communities greatly. Concern, commitment and action on climate change should not depend on which places, species or people are impacted. Instead, they should be motivated by compassion,” Steltzer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water Reliability \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Crested Butte, about 100 miles southwest of Leadville, hydrologist and physicist Rosemary Carroll studies how \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/unabated-global-warming-threatens-west-snowpack-water-rocky-mountains-sierra-nevada-drought\">disruptions\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/unabated-global-warming-threatens-west-snowpack-water-rocky-mountains-sierra-nevada-drought\">to the water cycle\u003c/a> will affect local ranchers and ski areas, as well as drinking and agricultural water supplies hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC assessment found that global warming will change the timing and amount of runoff, “affecting water storage and delivery infrastructure around the world,” a finding backed by research focusing on the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016GL068798\">study\u003c/a> in six Western mountain ranges showed rising temperatures will shift the snow accumulation zone and runoff timing enough to have significant impacts on water cycles. And some towns in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada are at risk from \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06082018/global-warming-climate-change-floods-california-oroville-dam-scientists\">dangerous flash floods\u003c/a> as global warming brings rain, rather than snow, to some mountain regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carroll pointed out her living room window to a craggy ridgeline where she measures how water from melted snow trickles through rocks and meadows down to the East River, on to the Gunnison River and finally into the mighty Colorado.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new normal is that the snowpack is melting earlier and we have earlier runoff, and that’s a fact. There’s going to be less water for a given snowpack,” she said. Even in average snowfall years, global warming is reducing the amount of available water for irrigation and storage, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research for the University of Nevada’s Desert Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy will help communities adapt as global warming disrupts flows from mountain streams. Around Crested Butte, the ski industry and local ranchers will feel the changes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But addressing those impacts isn’t as easy as just throwing a new report on the table. Translating science into action requires working with stakeholders from the start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ranchers know what’s happening, they know that things are shifting, but they’re afraid the policy will shift in a way that they will carry the burden of the change. Since they have most of the water, they fear they will have to give up the most, and that it won’t be equitable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The states that get their water from the Colorado River are already restructuring \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31012019/colorado-river-water-crisis-climate-science-state-conservation-plans\">water-sharing agreements\u003c/a> to stave off shortages and trying to develop new storage plans to account for extreme wet and dry years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Goodbye to Glaciers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Global warming will change nearly every mountain ecosystem, starting with the very visible meltdown of glaciers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the European Alps, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alpenverein.at/portal/news/aktuelle_news/2018/2018_04_06_gletscherbericht.php\">some glaciers retreated by as much 410 feet\u003c/a> last year — imagine the Empire State Building shrinking by a third. Globally, the world’s glaciers have lost 9 trillion tons of ice since 1961, raising sea level by about 1 inch, according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Glaciers_lose_nine_trillion_tonnes_of_ice_in_half_a_century\">European Space Agency\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As glaciers melt, they create a series of risks: newly formed meltwater lakes can burst through their banks, flooding towns and farms below. And as the ice dwindles, that will significantly change the timing and amount of water available for hydropower production and agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with disrupting ecosystems and downstream communities that rely on glacier meltwater, global warming in the mountains will cause emotional and cultural loss as cherished landscapes vanish. In Switzerland, people recently held a memorial service for the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/matthias_huss/status/1176117412997062656\">disappearing Pizol Glacier\u003c/a> as a way of dealing with that grief, a sometimes overlooked component of climate resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_full\">\n\u003cp>The physical threats are real and growing, said Swiss glaciologist Matthias Huss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If greenhouse gas emissions peak in the next few years and then start to decline, glaciers in the European Alps will lose two-thirds of their current ice. With continued high emissions, the glaciers will all but vanish, with only 5 percent of the current ice remaining, Huss and colleagues found in recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/1125/2019/\">study\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming\">An increase in rockfall events\u003c/a>, and flooding from glacier lakes, also due to more extreme weather events, is likely,” Huss said. “I think European countries are prepared, and they have the financial means to adapt. It will be much more difficult for developing countries to adapt to the challenges in mountain regions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme storms that destroy forests and damage roads and railroad lines could also become more frequent in the world’s mountains, although climate models aren’t yet localized enough to project such changes accurately, the IPCC assessment concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It won’t be cheap to redesign and rebuild water infrastructure, Huss said. In some snow-dependent communities, the meltdown will also drive wrenching cultural and economic changes. But “one could also see this as a chance for major development toward a more sustainable way to live on our planet,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adapting Food Crops\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what University of Colorado researcher Tsegay Wolde-Georgis was thinking when he led a \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/news-events/instaar-news/apple-trees-in-atebes-cultivating-climate-resilience-in-an-ethiopian-villag/\">project\u003c/a> in the early 2000s to cultivate apple trees around Atebe, in the dry highlands of Ethiopia where he grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diversifying local food supplies will help make the region more resilient to global warming, he said. The new IPCC assessment affirms that global warming is driving dangerous changes in mountain environments that threaten food supplies. But along with warnings, the world needs action, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is getting more extreme, and there is seasonal confusion,” he said. But there is enough scientific and traditional knowledge to find on-the-ground projects and do them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the apple orchard, he adapted a traditional permaculture technique, using water-filled clay pots to efficiently irrigate the young trees. At the same time, residents enhanced the water-holding capacity of deforested hillsides by building terraces and planting vegetation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such regenerative agriculture is crucial for food security in developing countries, said Wolde-Georgis, who works with the \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/research/programs/consortium-for-capacity-building/\">Consortium for Capacity Building\u003c/a>, part of the University of Colorado’s \u003ca href=\"https://instaar.colorado.edu/\">Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After decades of academic research and projects, he radiates the kind of practical wisdom that can help shape resilience to global warming. His eyes gleam as he recalls the look on a local priest’s face during the first apple harvest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the first time in his life he tasted an apple. When we plant apples, it’s mitigation [of the climate impact], but at the same time, we are solving problems. We have to find something that’s doable on the ground,” he said. In four years, the farmers planted 1,400 apple trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, communities worked to restore watersheds by building terraces and replanting clear-cut hillsides. Wolde-Georgis said the work was successful. Streams that had been dry by the end of December now hold water through the end of May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a larger scale, Wolde-Georgis helps build physical and information infrastructure to boost resilience, including new roads and railroads to help transport food when climate extremes cause crop failures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethiopia and other developing countries also need more institutional science-based infrastructure to inform good governance across jurisdictional boundaries, he said. To meet the challenges ahead requires working in an atmosphere of trust and a spirit of collaboration, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Disrupting Plants\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Gothic, Colorado, David Inouye’s cabin near a patch of shimmering gold aspens is marked by wisps of chimney smoke. For nearly 50 years, he’s been recording plant and animal activity while other observers tally snowfall and snowmelt data day by day — a scientific deep dive into time and space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compared to the 1970s, spring is coming earlier. There is more winter rain, and summers are longer and drier. It all adds up to disruption for mountain ecosystems, where most plants only have a few weeks to bloom. And the plants are tightly linked with pollinating insects in \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062018/climate-change-impacts-pollen-pollination-flowers-bees-butterflies-europe-heat-wave-global-warming-research\">a delicately timed cycle\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ecology of this altitude is driven largely by how much snow we get in the winter and when that snow melts,” Inouye said. “As the climate changes, we’re tending to get less snow and warmer and earlier springs. A paradoxical consequence is that we’re getting more frost damage,” he said. The effects ripple through the ecosystem as global warming disrupts plants and seed production, which, in turn, means less food for small mammals and birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graceful yellow glacier lilies are \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/12-0255.1\">blooming 17 days earlier\u003c/a> than they did in the 1970s, but migrating hummingbirds that depend on the flower nectar aren’t keeping up. By the time they arrive, many of the plants have withered away, and if current trends continue, in two decades the hummingbirds will miss the first flowers entirely. Ecosystems could collapse as global warming continues to decouple \u003ca href=\"https://www.rmbl.org/article/science-story-june-2019/\">complex ecological relationships\u003c/a>, showing why global warming is a threat to biodiversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01766.x\">study\u003c/a> documented how earlier spring snowmelt makes mountain daisies bloom earlier, when they are more susceptible to frost. The research showed how the frost damage reduces the amount of nectar for a species of butterfly that depends on that particular flower for feeding during the egg-laying season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they don’t get nectar, they can’t make eggs, and the population declines,” Inouye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tipping Points\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab helps connect the dots in complex ecosystems and how global warming can make them unravel, said lab executive director Ian Billick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What people don’t realize is that we’re changing multiple things at the same time. People don’t realize how drastically things are going to change,” he said. Massive disturbance events linked with global warming like the early 2000s bark beetle outbreak that killed trees across millions of acres will happen again and again. Multiple stressors are driving mountain ecosystems past tipping points, leading to fundamental change, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our agricultural productivity depends on these ecosystems functioning in a highly integrated way, so it’s like if you throw a screwdriver in the middle of an engine, the whole thing falls apart, and I think it’s like with ag, where these finely tuned things are going to fall apart.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC report represents only the tiny tip of a “massive global change iceberg,” said Steltzer, the Colorado biologist and lead author of the mountain chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nine-tenths is what we haven’t seen, measured and documented. We know things are changing for which we have no peer-reviewed scientific articles, and things are changing too fast to keep up,” she said. “There’s no reason to wait to act. We know enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just this past winter, both Europe and parts of the Rockies experienced \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08032019/avalanche-climate-change-risk-snow-storm-forecast-colorado-switzerland\">unprecedented avalanche cycles\u003c/a> after record snowfalls, surprising scientists as well as public safety managers charged with keeping mountain roads open. Recently, mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus have been appearing in the high mountains but remain largely untracked, along with other invasive species. And there are likely scores of other ecological cycles being disrupted that haven’t been studied at all, Inouye said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The IPCC assessment also concluded that forest fires are likely to increase in mountain areas where summers become warmer and drier. “Coastal ranges of California, the Blue Mountains of Australia, Mt. Kenya, and mountains on the fringes of the Mediterranean Sea, already subject to frequent fire episodes, would be severely affected,” the assessment said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2019 \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019EF001210\">study\u003c/a> showed that the fivefold increase in the extent of California’s wildfires since the 1970s was “very likely driven by drying of fuels promoted by human‐induced warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow is decreasing, temperatures are warming, and mountains are changing in ways I never expected I’d live to see,” Steltzer said. “Policy-makers ask for data to show how bad it is. … Instead, they could ask how do we preserve the benefits of nature for each of us and all of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_full\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of KQED Science’s ongoing coverage of the health impacts of extreme heat, which, driven by climate change, is increasingly impacting Californians. \u003c/em>\u003cem>Last year, reporter Molly Peterson gave sensors to 16 employees in order to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1934110/rising-heat-is-making-workers-sick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">measure temperature and humidity inside their workplaces\u003c/a>. Here is an update on one of the workers, a man we’re identifying as “Brandon.” employer we haven’t named due to fear of retaliation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His mornings all start the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An hour before daybreak, he makes himself a green juice: pineapple, celery, cactus. He’s 51, and lately, he’s been trying to get healthier. He gets behind the wheel of an old compact car for a quick commute to the warehouse where he drives a forklift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A thin band of windows wraps around one corner of the building. That’s where the managers sit. Where Brandon works, it’s uninsulated, with plenty of metal — and there are no windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation=\"'Brandon,' Inland Empire warehouse worker\"]‘It’s an inferno. It’s like hell. The people that are cool work inside the offices. But us, we work with the devil.’[/pullquote]He’s done this kind of work for almost a decade; it’s getting harder, and not just because of his age. “Yo pienso que mas caliente, mas caliente,” he says — “I think it’s getting hotter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in September, as summer fades into fall, the Inland Empire hits a hundred degrees. Since dawn the sun has pounded Brandon’s warehouse, with the metal containers at hundreds of loading docks, locked around the building like nursing piglets. They feed goods like kitchen mixers and patio furniture from overseas to consumers in California and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he works, out at the parking lot the heat bakes his car; there’s no air conditioning in there, either. When he clocks out, he drives another 20 minutes back home with the windows down, and he’s back where he started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s only at that point, 10 or 12 hours after his green juice, that he finds respite. In a darkened corner of his apartment, he stands under a fan mounted on the wall, with a big grin on his face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right here. Oh, it’s fresh. It’s my cool area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this tiny, tidy apartment, he knows the enemy. He and his wife keep the window shades pulled down tight against the sun. He sways under the fan, then falls back onto the bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel the difference,” he says. “I even tell my wife, don’t bother me, I’m grabbing some fresh air now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘It’s Like Hell’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon’s right: It is getting hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://cal-adapt.org/tools/extreme-heat/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal-Adapt\u003c/a>, which provides access to state scientific data, the temperature has hit 95 degrees about 50 days a year, on average, in the Inland Empire. In a couple of decades, even if greenhouse gas emissions level off, that number could almost double. If we keep dragging our feet on global warming, hot days in the Inland Empire could add up to more than four months a year by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]‘The heat is not asking people for their papers.’[/pullquote]For Brandon, heat’s already a real threat. Last year, when at the request of KQED he wore a sensor to work during July and August, he experienced heat above 90 degrees about 40% of the time, enough to make him sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt bad twice a week, I got headaches,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that Brandon has high blood pressure, a condition that makes it harder to sweat. Other chronic conditions people have also make sweating more difficult: asthma, heart and lung problems. So do some medications taken for those illnesses. Brandon himself takes a pill each morning for hypertension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s really bad, his company will give out bottles of water, he says. When the temperature spiked above 100 degrees last month, the company offered workers gum; Brandon’s head was aching, so he asked for aspirin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers are supposed to protect workers’ health and safety. But no federal rules limit heat indoors. There are no regulations, yet, in California either — no required rest breaks, water, or places to cool down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers only have to report the very worst cases of heat sickness, when someone dies or goes to the hospital for more than a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health researchers and workers like Brandon say falling ill from the heat is a lot more common, and more punishing, than the numbers show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The heat is ugly,” Brandon says. “It’s an inferno. It’s like hell. The people that are cool work inside the offices. But us, we work with the devil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers agree it’s too hot. Three years ago, the governor signed a law that requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to make a rule protecting workers from indoor heat. Under a proposal circulating now, if it’s not feasible to prevent hot conditions, employers have to limit workers’ exposure or offer them protective cooling gear to wear on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule was due in January, but state regulators may not finish it until next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All employees are covered by worker’s compensation insurance, according to Dr. Robert Harrison, who founded UC San Francisco’s occupational health clinic and formerly served on the state’s Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> That means if workers get heat-sick, they can report their illness and go to a health care provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, though, workers fear that if they get sick on the job, the boss might see them as a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last October, Brandon had made it through most of the day, driving his forklift in and out of steel containers, moving pallets of electronics and boxes of kitchen goods. But he recognized that familiar feeling of heat building up in his body, and he knew he would soon be sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He asked if he could leave to see his doctor. But a manager said no, the company’s policy was to call an ambulance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a situation workers often try to avoid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Expensive Ambulance Ride\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ambulance trips like the one offered Brandon can cost workers money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors underdiagnose heat sickness. When workers report symptoms like headaches and nausea, a doctor might pin them on a pre-existing condition, with no linkage to heat. As a result, the diagnosis code might indicate an old ailment had simply flared up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"alignnone\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1934253\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-674x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-674x1200.jpg 674w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-160x285.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-240x427.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-375x668.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-520x926.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\">An emergency room doctor blamed Brandon’s symptoms on hypertension. That ER visit cost him $300, and his health insurance didn’t cover the rest of the bill: $3,000 more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says he talked with his employers about the bill, and he asked them to cover it. “It wasn’t my idea [to go to the ER], I was going to go to my doctor,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They turned him down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of now, he hasn’t filed for worker’s compensation. From Brandon’s perspective, it’s a gamble. Insurers might deny his claim that heat sickness was a work-related injury, especially because the paperwork attributes it to a pre-existing condition. So he might not get paid. Meanwhile, he worries that the claim itself would put a target on his back, identifying him as a troublemaker with the bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pledging Allegiance, Feeling the Heat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The business of moving goods through the Inland Empire keeps growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost a century ago, this area was famous for oranges. Chinese, Japanese and Mexican workers earned pennies and breathed oily smoke from fires that kept the trees from freezing. During World War II, the Kaiser steel plant in Fontana where Brandon lives, employed thousands of union workers. It closed in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nowadays the Inland Empire is rich in warehouse jobs. But they’re almost all nonunion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles together were the nation’s busiest; most of their cargo heads to Riverside and San Bernardino counties. On average, the region adds about a football field’s worth of warehouse space a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jobs grow fast, here, too. Eighty-five thousand men and women now work in warehouses in the Inland Empire — mostly Latino, like Brandon. Some make as little as $12 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says his company can always find someone to take his place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What can we do?” he says. “They tell us: ‘If you don’t like it here, there’s the door, you can walk out.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-wage and immigrant workers say they fear retaliation. When they complain about heat, when they get sick, when they ask for aspirin, and definitely when they file for worker’s compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small American flag is clipped to the wall in Brandon’s kitchen, above the microwave. He’s a U.S. citizen; his naturalization ceremony was last year. For a long time he hoped pledging allegiance might help him get better conditions at work. He doesn’t think that anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If there are people who were born here, people who, because they were born here, know all their rights, maybe someone can listen to them,” he says. “If I put myself next to that person, they will listen more to him than to me. A hundred percent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon stands well over 6 feet, and during heat season, he loses weight. What’s left is muscle — he’s a bear of a man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You might see me like a bear, but there, they ignore you, they make you smaller than you are, they don’t pay attention,” Brandon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving a forklift pays Brandon around $18 an hour, just about a \u003ca href=\"https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/40140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">living wage in this region\u003c/a>. The warehouse was sold last year, and the new owners cut his salary a buck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How long have I been working in the warehouse? Years. How long have I been in this country? Years. And it’s always the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon has also worked as a warehouse lumper, moving boxes by hand. He’s been a mover and worked in manufacturing. He knows heavy labor. He came to California from Michoacán, in Mexico, so he knows hot weather. Familiarity with heat and work isn’t enough. There are limits to how fast the human body can acclimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before people reach those limits, these conditions make work more dangerous. Heat makes people irritable. It causes more mistakes and accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best insulation against heat is money. Money can buy air conditioning, or medical care. But as heat intensifies, that protection starts to thin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The heat is not asking people for their papers,” says Brandon. “The heat reaches everyone the same. Do you hear me? The heat is fucking us all over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says nobody has to tell workers when heat becomes unsafe. They’ve been trying to tell anyone who would listen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look at the climate,” he says. “It’s changing, it’s getting hotter. But what are they doing about it? The people at the top, the people in charge, they’re not looking for a solution for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He’s done this kind of work for almost a decade; it’s getting harder, and not just because of his age. “Yo pienso que mas caliente, mas caliente,” he says — “I think it’s getting hotter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in September, as summer fades into fall, the Inland Empire hits a hundred degrees. Since dawn the sun has pounded Brandon’s warehouse, with the metal containers at hundreds of loading docks, locked around the building like nursing piglets. They feed goods like kitchen mixers and patio furniture from overseas to consumers in California and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he works, out at the parking lot the heat bakes his car; there’s no air conditioning in there, either. When he clocks out, he drives another 20 minutes back home with the windows down, and he’s back where he started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s only at that point, 10 or 12 hours after his green juice, that he finds respite. In a darkened corner of his apartment, he stands under a fan mounted on the wall, with a big grin on his face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right here. Oh, it’s fresh. It’s my cool area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this tiny, tidy apartment, he knows the enemy. He and his wife keep the window shades pulled down tight against the sun. He sways under the fan, then falls back onto the bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel the difference,” he says. “I even tell my wife, don’t bother me, I’m grabbing some fresh air now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘It’s Like Hell’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon’s right: It is getting hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://cal-adapt.org/tools/extreme-heat/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal-Adapt\u003c/a>, which provides access to state scientific data, the temperature has hit 95 degrees about 50 days a year, on average, in the Inland Empire. In a couple of decades, even if greenhouse gas emissions level off, that number could almost double. If we keep dragging our feet on global warming, hot days in the Inland Empire could add up to more than four months a year by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For Brandon, heat’s already a real threat. Last year, when at the request of KQED he wore a sensor to work during July and August, he experienced heat above 90 degrees about 40% of the time, enough to make him sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt bad twice a week, I got headaches,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that Brandon has high blood pressure, a condition that makes it harder to sweat. Other chronic conditions people have also make sweating more difficult: asthma, heart and lung problems. So do some medications taken for those illnesses. Brandon himself takes a pill each morning for hypertension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s really bad, his company will give out bottles of water, he says. When the temperature spiked above 100 degrees last month, the company offered workers gum; Brandon’s head was aching, so he asked for aspirin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers are supposed to protect workers’ health and safety. But no federal rules limit heat indoors. There are no regulations, yet, in California either — no required rest breaks, water, or places to cool down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers only have to report the very worst cases of heat sickness, when someone dies or goes to the hospital for more than a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health researchers and workers like Brandon say falling ill from the heat is a lot more common, and more punishing, than the numbers show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The heat is ugly,” Brandon says. “It’s an inferno. It’s like hell. The people that are cool work inside the offices. But us, we work with the devil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers agree it’s too hot. Three years ago, the governor signed a law that requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to make a rule protecting workers from indoor heat. Under a proposal circulating now, if it’s not feasible to prevent hot conditions, employers have to limit workers’ exposure or offer them protective cooling gear to wear on the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule was due in January, but state regulators may not finish it until next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All employees are covered by worker’s compensation insurance, according to Dr. Robert Harrison, who founded UC San Francisco’s occupational health clinic and formerly served on the state’s Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> That means if workers get heat-sick, they can report their illness and go to a health care provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, though, workers fear that if they get sick on the job, the boss might see them as a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last October, Brandon had made it through most of the day, driving his forklift in and out of steel containers, moving pallets of electronics and boxes of kitchen goods. But he recognized that familiar feeling of heat building up in his body, and he knew he would soon be sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He asked if he could leave to see his doctor. But a manager said no, the company’s policy was to call an ambulance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a situation workers often try to avoid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Expensive Ambulance Ride\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ambulance trips like the one offered Brandon can cost workers money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors underdiagnose heat sickness. When workers report symptoms like headaches and nausea, a doctor might pin them on a pre-existing condition, with no linkage to heat. As a result, the diagnosis code might indicate an old ailment had simply flared up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"alignnone\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1934253\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-674x1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-674x1200.jpg 674w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-160x285.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-240x427.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-375x668.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic-520x926.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/11/KQED_Heat_graphic.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\">An emergency room doctor blamed Brandon’s symptoms on hypertension. That ER visit cost him $300, and his health insurance didn’t cover the rest of the bill: $3,000 more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says he talked with his employers about the bill, and he asked them to cover it. “It wasn’t my idea [to go to the ER], I was going to go to my doctor,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They turned him down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of now, he hasn’t filed for worker’s compensation. From Brandon’s perspective, it’s a gamble. Insurers might deny his claim that heat sickness was a work-related injury, especially because the paperwork attributes it to a pre-existing condition. So he might not get paid. Meanwhile, he worries that the claim itself would put a target on his back, identifying him as a troublemaker with the bosses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pledging Allegiance, Feeling the Heat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The business of moving goods through the Inland Empire keeps growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost a century ago, this area was famous for oranges. Chinese, Japanese and Mexican workers earned pennies and breathed oily smoke from fires that kept the trees from freezing. During World War II, the Kaiser steel plant in Fontana where Brandon lives, employed thousands of union workers. It closed in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nowadays the Inland Empire is rich in warehouse jobs. But they’re almost all nonunion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles together were the nation’s busiest; most of their cargo heads to Riverside and San Bernardino counties. On average, the region adds about a football field’s worth of warehouse space a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jobs grow fast, here, too. Eighty-five thousand men and women now work in warehouses in the Inland Empire — mostly Latino, like Brandon. Some make as little as $12 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says his company can always find someone to take his place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What can we do?” he says. “They tell us: ‘If you don’t like it here, there’s the door, you can walk out.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low-wage and immigrant workers say they fear retaliation. When they complain about heat, when they get sick, when they ask for aspirin, and definitely when they file for worker’s compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small American flag is clipped to the wall in Brandon’s kitchen, above the microwave. He’s a U.S. citizen; his naturalization ceremony was last year. For a long time he hoped pledging allegiance might help him get better conditions at work. He doesn’t think that anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If there are people who were born here, people who, because they were born here, know all their rights, maybe someone can listen to them,” he says. “If I put myself next to that person, they will listen more to him than to me. A hundred percent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon stands well over 6 feet, and during heat season, he loses weight. What’s left is muscle — he’s a bear of a man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You might see me like a bear, but there, they ignore you, they make you smaller than you are, they don’t pay attention,” Brandon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driving a forklift pays Brandon around $18 an hour, just about a \u003ca href=\"https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/40140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">living wage in this region\u003c/a>. The warehouse was sold last year, and the new owners cut his salary a buck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How long have I been working in the warehouse? Years. How long have I been in this country? Years. And it’s always the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon has also worked as a warehouse lumper, moving boxes by hand. He’s been a mover and worked in manufacturing. He knows heavy labor. He came to California from Michoacán, in Mexico, so he knows hot weather. Familiarity with heat and work isn’t enough. There are limits to how fast the human body can acclimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before people reach those limits, these conditions make work more dangerous. Heat makes people irritable. It causes more mistakes and accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best insulation against heat is money. Money can buy air conditioning, or medical care. But as heat intensifies, that protection starts to thin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The heat is not asking people for their papers,” says Brandon. “The heat reaches everyone the same. Do you hear me? The heat is fucking us all over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandon says nobody has to tell workers when heat becomes unsafe. They’ve been trying to tell anyone who would listen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look at the climate,” he says. “It’s changing, it’s getting hotter. But what are they doing about it? The people at the top, the people in charge, they’re not looking for a solution for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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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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"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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"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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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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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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"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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"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": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"science-friday": {
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