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"content": "\u003cp>The California Air Resources Board on Thursday \u003ca href=\"https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CARB/bulletins/22a833b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced \u003c/a>it’s moving forward with a plan to clean up the toxic air that plagues the San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region, which stretches from roughly Stockton to Bakersfield through the middle of the state, suffers some of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/13/california-san-joaquin-valley-porterville-pollution-poverty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> most dangerous air quality\u003c/a> in the country. \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40894933_Outdoor_air_pollution_and_uncontrolled_asthma_in_the_San_Joaquin_Valley_California\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Asthma\u003c/a> and asthma-related hospitalization rates in the San Joaquin Valley are among the highest in the state, particularly in children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major culprit is fine particulate pollution, known as PM2.5, made up of tiny particles like soot, dust or sulfates floating through the air. These particles are \u003cem>2.5 \u003c/em>or fewer micrometers in diameter and are typically produced by the burning of carbon-based fuel. Not only does the San Joaquin Valley have the \u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/state-of-the-air/2018/sota-2018-statewide-press-english.pdf\">wors\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/state-of-the-air/2018/sota-2018-statewide-press-english.pdf\">t \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/state-of-the-air/2018/sota-2018-statewide-press-english.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">particle pollution\u003c/a> in California, it’s also the among the worst nationally, failing to meet four federal standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername='science' align='right']“The San Joaquin Valley has had a longstanding challenge in meeting the federal air quality standards for fine particulate,” says Michael Benjamin, chief of CARB’s Air Quality Planning and Science Division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region is still struggling to meet PM2.5 standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1997 and since revised. Due to it’s history of noncompliance, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.valleyair.org/Home.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District\u003c/a> is required to draft a plan to meet the requirements and submit it to CARB, the state’s clean air agency, which must approve it before passing it on to the EPA for federal approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the combination of agricultural emissions as well as those from the high volume of trucks moving through the region makes it a hot spot for these pollutants. In addition, the valley’s hot, dry summers followed by cool winters trap pollutants in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roughly half of the fine particulate pollution in the region is the product of burning fuels like gasoline and diesel. The other half is primarily from wood smoke and dust, \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/planning/sip/sjvpm25/2018plan/2018pm25staffreport.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to CARB\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the American Lung Association, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/ALAC_SJV-fact-sheet_042216.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> health risks\u003c/a> associated with particle pollution include asthma attacks, heart attacks, stroke, cancer and harm to developmental and reproductive systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s new plan, which the district drafted with input from CARB and environmental advocacy groups, combines both regulations and financial incentives, with the goal of meeting federal clean air standards by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan lays outs tighter restrictions on heavy-duty truck emissions, wood-burning stoves, oil refineries and commercial charbroiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the plan will also rely heavily on the use of incentives to encourage owners of trucks and tractors to move to new, “cleaner equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re telling people, ‘Okay you need to replace your tractor maybe 10 years sooner than you would otherwise. But if you do that, we will provide 50 percent or more funding to offset the cost of that new piece of equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to turn over 12,000 tractors and 33,000 trucks in the process. But it’s still unclear where the funding will come from to pay for the incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s plan calls for the allocation of $5 billion spread across the next five years to get the San Joaquin Valley up to code by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The concern of a lot of people is that it relies on the governor and the Legislature allocating funds for this every year,” Benjamin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air, an advocacy group, says his organization is “skeptical” of the financial feasibility of the state’s plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re relying on levels of incentive money that have not been available in the past, and are unlikely to be available in the future,” Magavern says. “If that money doesn’t materialize, then there’s going to be a gap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, the Coalition for Clean Air advised CARB to reject a previous plan by the district to meet federal standards for particulate pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought what was presented in 2016 was really just a ‘business as usual’ plan,” Magavern says. “We thought that was unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the new version goes a lot further, Magavern says the coalition pushed for even tighter standards in order “to have more certainty in bringing down the emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magavern says the San Joaquin Valley’s oil and gas industry should be more heavily regulated for their contributions to the region’s pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a long effort to try to get the pollution under control and there’s been some progress,” Magavern says, “But we’re definitely not where we need to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While CARB signed off on the district’s plan on Thursday, the EPA approval process could take at least several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But CARB’s Benjamin says the state won’t wait for the federal government to weigh in before starting to implement the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to hit our target,” he says, “We’re going to need to just move forward in real-world terms—taking these actions, passing these regulations, passing out money, finding money, turning over equipment and doing all of this regardless of the bureaucratic process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the region has made significant progress in recent years. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the combination of agricultural emissions as well as those from the high volume of trucks moving through the region makes it a hot spot for these pollutants. In addition, the valley’s hot, dry summers followed by cool winters trap pollutants in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roughly half of the fine particulate pollution in the region is the product of burning fuels like gasoline and diesel. The other half is primarily from wood smoke and dust, \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/planning/sip/sjvpm25/2018plan/2018pm25staffreport.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to CARB\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the American Lung Association, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/ALAC_SJV-fact-sheet_042216.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> health risks\u003c/a> associated with particle pollution include asthma attacks, heart attacks, stroke, cancer and harm to developmental and reproductive systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s new plan, which the district drafted with input from CARB and environmental advocacy groups, combines both regulations and financial incentives, with the goal of meeting federal clean air standards by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan lays outs tighter restrictions on heavy-duty truck emissions, wood-burning stoves, oil refineries and commercial charbroiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the plan will also rely heavily on the use of incentives to encourage owners of trucks and tractors to move to new, “cleaner equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re telling people, ‘Okay you need to replace your tractor maybe 10 years sooner than you would otherwise. But if you do that, we will provide 50 percent or more funding to offset the cost of that new piece of equipment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to turn over 12,000 tractors and 33,000 trucks in the process. But it’s still unclear where the funding will come from to pay for the incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s plan calls for the allocation of $5 billion spread across the next five years to get the San Joaquin Valley up to code by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The concern of a lot of people is that it relies on the governor and the Legislature allocating funds for this every year,” Benjamin says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air, an advocacy group, says his organization is “skeptical” of the financial feasibility of the state’s plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re relying on levels of incentive money that have not been available in the past, and are unlikely to be available in the future,” Magavern says. “If that money doesn’t materialize, then there’s going to be a gap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, the Coalition for Clean Air advised CARB to reject a previous plan by the district to meet federal standards for particulate pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought what was presented in 2016 was really just a ‘business as usual’ plan,” Magavern says. “We thought that was unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the new version goes a lot further, Magavern says the coalition pushed for even tighter standards in order “to have more certainty in bringing down the emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Magavern says the San Joaquin Valley’s oil and gas industry should be more heavily regulated for their contributions to the region’s pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a long effort to try to get the pollution under control and there’s been some progress,” Magavern says, “But we’re definitely not where we need to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While CARB signed off on the district’s plan on Thursday, the EPA approval process could take at least several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But CARB’s Benjamin says the state won’t wait for the federal government to weigh in before starting to implement the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to hit our target,” he says, “We’re going to need to just move forward in real-world terms—taking these actions, passing these regulations, passing out money, finding money, turning over equipment and doing all of this regardless of the bureaucratic process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benjamin says the region has made significant progress in recent years. Many of the regulatory measures put forth in the plan have already been adopted by CARB, and others could be put into effect as early as late 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ninety percent of the emissions reductions that are going to be needed to achieve clean air has already been adopted by CARB’s board,” Benjamin says. “So what was acted on Thursday was the final 10 percent of emission reductions.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Shasta Dam Project Sets Up Another Trump-California Showdown",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update May 14:\u003c/strong> A little more than three months after this story first appeared, the State of California and more than a half-dozen fishing and conservation groups sued to stop Westlands Water District from working to advance the Shasta Dam expansion project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original post:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to enlarge California’s biggest reservoir, the iconic \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=241\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shasta Dam\u003c/a>, north of Redding, by raising its height.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a saga that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/7191/is-raising-shasta-dam-the-best-bet-for-californias-water-supply\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dragged on for decades\u003c/a>, along with the controversy surrounding it. But the latest chapter is likely to set the stage for another showdown between California and the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We’re not talking. We’re explaining what we’re losing. And they’re not listening.’\u003ccite>Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Last fall, crews already had drilling rigs in place, taking core samples from the earthen banks around the 600-foot dam. That process was part of testing to see if its World War II-era foundation can support additional bulking up of the dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Taller Dam Means a Bigger Reservoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is what the federal Bureau of Reclamation calls “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=63217\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">preliminary construction\u003c/a>” work. For now, that’s all they have funding for, but the Trump administration is keen to press on with a $1.3 billion project to add more than 18 feet to the top of the dam, which is already taller than the Washington Monument. That would increase the size of the reservoir, Shasta Lake, by 14 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1937206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124-160x285.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124-674x1200.jpeg 674w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>“We’re extremely confident that there’s a lot of momentum behind this right now,” says Don Bader, area manager for the reclamation bureau, which operates the dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that momentum is coming from Washington, not Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new administration came in and they’re looking to add storage in California,” Bader explains, “and this was the one project that was ready to go, so that’s why it’s got most of the attention right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wild & Scenic\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project has also caught the attention of California officials, who say it violates the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/california-wild-and-scenic-rivers-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wild & Scenic Rivers Act\u003c/a>, which protects one of the three major rivers that flow into Shasta Reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Legislature protected the \u003ca href=\"https://www.calwild.org/portfolio/fact-sheet-mccloud-river/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">McCloud River\u003c/a> from any construction that would expand the reservoir,” says Ron Stork, of the advocacy group \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheRiverFoundation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Friends of the River\u003c/a>. “It’s been illegal to expand this reservoir since 1989.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1937209 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: fishing on the McCloud River\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1463\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The McCloud River is a legendary trout-fishing stream and sacred grounds for the Winnemem Wintu tribe. It’s protected under state law. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists say that the $1.3 billion dollars could be better spent on more creative ways to conserve water, such as recycling, stormwater capture, and storing more water in underground aquifers. But President Trump is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1171992/trumps-pledge-to-open-up-the-water-for-valley-farms-easier-said-than-done\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on the record\u003c/a> promising Central Valley farmers more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any bean-counter would say this is crazy,” says Stork. “But this is a political dam.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional 630, 000 acre-feet of capacity would be like taking \u003ca href=\"http://bawsca.org/water/supply/hetchhetchy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hetch Hetchy Reservoir\u003c/a> — the Sierra lake that supplies San Francisco — and dumping it into Shasta … twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nature is not likely to fill that order every year. Stork says the project would likely yield only about 50,000 acre-feet of water on average, annually. That’s a drop in the bucket relative to California’s water budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacred Grounds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Stork joined about 200 others at an “open house” in Redding, designed to inform stakeholders about the project. One of them was Caleen Sisk, chief of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/8855/raising-shasta-dam-and-the-flooding-of-a-cathedral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Winnemem Wintu\u003c/a> tribe, whose sacred grounds run along the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937204\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937204\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Caleen Sisk at microphone\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At a public meeting in Redding, Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk appeals to stakeholders to oppose the expansion of Lake Shasta. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She says the tribe already lost many of its sacred sites when the original reservoir was filled, back in the 1940s. The expansion would raise the lake level by about another 20 feet, pushing it farther up the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For us, we have to be connected to those sacred places,” says Sisk. “And we’ve already lost 26 miles in the building of Shasta Dam — 26 miles have been given up.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk’s people still use numerous sites along the lower river for rituals, including rites of passage for young Wintu coming of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk says nearly all of the tribe’s remaining sites would be put permanently underwater with the reservoir’s expansion. Reclamation says it’s “talking” with the Winnemem Wintu, but Sisk has a different take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not talking,” she says, “we’re explaining what we’re losing. And they’re not listening.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Powerful Player\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk was distressed to see the meeting in Redding being run by \u003ca href=\"https://wwd.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Westlands Water District\u003c/a>, a politically powerful irrigation district based more than 300 miles away, in Fresno, which could be the chief beneficiary of any additional water from the project. It has also raised eyebrows that David Bernhardt, Trump’s acting head of the Interior Department, which includes Reclamation, is a former lobbyist for Westlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Westlands was hosting the Redding meeting because it’s preparing an environmental impact report for the project. Reclamation needs an investment “partner” to close the deal, and though there’s been no formal announcement, many assume that Westlands will put up hundreds of millions of dollars toward the project, in exchange for rights to the water it yields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That they would have the sheer boldness to do an EIR for an illegal project is still — it’s stunning to me,” says Stork.\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have reacted with similar dismay. This month, the state’s Water Resources Control Board sent Westlands a letter confirming that what they’re proposing is illegal under state law, and that as a state agency, Westlands “participation is prohibited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A consulting firm conducted the meeting on Westlands’ behalf, and while there was one Westlands official in attendance, consultants said he was “not authorized to talk to the media.” Several subsequent calls and emails to Westlands for this story went unanswered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Bureau of Reclamation has made it clear that it intends to press on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re proceeding along the federal route here,” says Bader. “If California does not participate in this process, we’ll move along forward by getting the federal approval.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might interpret that as saying they’re going through with this regardless of what California thinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s one way to say it,” says Bader.\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Bader’s standpoint, there’s a lot at stake. Shasta’s the keystone in the giant \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Central Valley Project\u003c/a>, which sends water to farms and cities in 29 California counties. But dams have consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Insult to Injury\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time you put up a dam on the Sacramento River, it’s going to be bad for wildlife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John McManus heads the Golden Gate Salmon Association, an advocate for protecting the threatened fish … and the industries they support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And right now,” he says, “what they’re talking about is adding more insult to injury by raising that dam, impounding more water behind it, and further impairing salmon runs downstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937205\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: downstream view from Shasta Dam\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal dam operators say that a deeper reservoir would allow them to send more cold water downstream, to support salmon in the Sacramento River. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Reclamation says a deeper water pool behind the dam will allow them to put more cold water downstream to support the fish. In its project description, the bureau claims it will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“…improve water supply reliability for agricultural, municipal and industrial, and environmental uses; reduce flood damage; and improve water temperatures and water quality in the Sacramento River below the dam for anadromous fish survival.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>But in 2014, the federal government’s own Fish & Wildlife Service recommended against the project, concluding that it would fail to protect endangered salmon in the Sacramento River and its tributaries. That report was later “rescinded” for further review, and has not resurfaced officially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reclamation officials hope to award a construction contract by the end of next year, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/docs/sdrep-timeline.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complete the project\u003c/a> by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McManus thinks the courts will ultimately rule against the project — if it gets that far. With Democrats now in control of the House, congressional funding to elevate Shasta Dam might be another stream that gets cut off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My view is they will ultimately be stopped,” offers McManus, “but I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update May 14:\u003c/strong> A little more than three months after this story first appeared, the State of California and more than a half-dozen fishing and conservation groups sued to stop Westlands Water District from working to advance the Shasta Dam expansion project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original post:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to enlarge California’s biggest reservoir, the iconic \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=241\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shasta Dam\u003c/a>, north of Redding, by raising its height.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a saga that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/7191/is-raising-shasta-dam-the-best-bet-for-californias-water-supply\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dragged on for decades\u003c/a>, along with the controversy surrounding it. But the latest chapter is likely to set the stage for another showdown between California and the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We’re not talking. We’re explaining what we’re losing. And they’re not listening.’\u003ccite>Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Last fall, crews already had drilling rigs in place, taking core samples from the earthen banks around the 600-foot dam. That process was part of testing to see if its World War II-era foundation can support additional bulking up of the dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Taller Dam Means a Bigger Reservoir\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is what the federal Bureau of Reclamation calls “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/newsroom/newsrelease/detail.cfm?RecordID=63217\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">preliminary construction\u003c/a>” work. For now, that’s all they have funding for, but the Trump administration is keen to press on with a $1.3 billion project to add more than 18 feet to the top of the dam, which is already taller than the Washington Monument. That would increase the size of the reservoir, Shasta Lake, by 14 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1937206\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124.jpeg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124-160x285.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/ShastaLocator_V05_190124-674x1200.jpeg 674w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>“We’re extremely confident that there’s a lot of momentum behind this right now,” says Don Bader, area manager for the reclamation bureau, which operates the dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that momentum is coming from Washington, not Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new administration came in and they’re looking to add storage in California,” Bader explains, “and this was the one project that was ready to go, so that’s why it’s got most of the attention right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wild & Scenic\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project has also caught the attention of California officials, who say it violates the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/california-wild-and-scenic-rivers-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wild & Scenic Rivers Act\u003c/a>, which protects one of the three major rivers that flow into Shasta Reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California Legislature protected the \u003ca href=\"https://www.calwild.org/portfolio/fact-sheet-mccloud-river/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">McCloud River\u003c/a> from any construction that would expand the reservoir,” says Ron Stork, of the advocacy group \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheRiverFoundation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Friends of the River\u003c/a>. “It’s been illegal to expand this reservoir since 1989.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1937209 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: fishing on the McCloud River\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1463\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/IMG_4172-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The McCloud River is a legendary trout-fishing stream and sacred grounds for the Winnemem Wintu tribe. It’s protected under state law. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists say that the $1.3 billion dollars could be better spent on more creative ways to conserve water, such as recycling, stormwater capture, and storing more water in underground aquifers. But President Trump is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1171992/trumps-pledge-to-open-up-the-water-for-valley-farms-easier-said-than-done\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on the record\u003c/a> promising Central Valley farmers more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any bean-counter would say this is crazy,” says Stork. “But this is a political dam.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional 630, 000 acre-feet of capacity would be like taking \u003ca href=\"http://bawsca.org/water/supply/hetchhetchy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hetch Hetchy Reservoir\u003c/a> — the Sierra lake that supplies San Francisco — and dumping it into Shasta … twice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But nature is not likely to fill that order every year. Stork says the project would likely yield only about 50,000 acre-feet of water on average, annually. That’s a drop in the bucket relative to California’s water budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacred Grounds\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Stork joined about 200 others at an “open house” in Redding, designed to inform stakeholders about the project. One of them was Caleen Sisk, chief of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/8855/raising-shasta-dam-and-the-flooding-of-a-cathedral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Winnemem Wintu\u003c/a> tribe, whose sacred grounds run along the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937204\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937204\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Caleen Sisk at microphone\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Speaker01-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At a public meeting in Redding, Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk appeals to stakeholders to oppose the expansion of Lake Shasta. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She says the tribe already lost many of its sacred sites when the original reservoir was filled, back in the 1940s. The expansion would raise the lake level by about another 20 feet, pushing it farther up the McCloud River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For us, we have to be connected to those sacred places,” says Sisk. “And we’ve already lost 26 miles in the building of Shasta Dam — 26 miles have been given up.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk’s people still use numerous sites along the lower river for rituals, including rites of passage for young Wintu coming of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk says nearly all of the tribe’s remaining sites would be put permanently underwater with the reservoir’s expansion. Reclamation says it’s “talking” with the Winnemem Wintu, but Sisk has a different take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not talking,” she says, “we’re explaining what we’re losing. And they’re not listening.”\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Powerful Player\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sisk was distressed to see the meeting in Redding being run by \u003ca href=\"https://wwd.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Westlands Water District\u003c/a>, a politically powerful irrigation district based more than 300 miles away, in Fresno, which could be the chief beneficiary of any additional water from the project. It has also raised eyebrows that David Bernhardt, Trump’s acting head of the Interior Department, which includes Reclamation, is a former lobbyist for Westlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Westlands was hosting the Redding meeting because it’s preparing an environmental impact report for the project. Reclamation needs an investment “partner” to close the deal, and though there’s been no formal announcement, many assume that Westlands will put up hundreds of millions of dollars toward the project, in exchange for rights to the water it yields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That they would have the sheer boldness to do an EIR for an illegal project is still — it’s stunning to me,” says Stork.\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have reacted with similar dismay. This month, the state’s Water Resources Control Board sent Westlands a letter confirming that what they’re proposing is illegal under state law, and that as a state agency, Westlands “participation is prohibited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A consulting firm conducted the meeting on Westlands’ behalf, and while there was one Westlands official in attendance, consultants said he was “not authorized to talk to the media.” Several subsequent calls and emails to Westlands for this story went unanswered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Bureau of Reclamation has made it clear that it intends to press on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re proceeding along the federal route here,” says Bader. “If California does not participate in this process, we’ll move along forward by getting the federal approval.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some might interpret that as saying they’re going through with this regardless of what California thinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s one way to say it,” says Bader.\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Bader’s standpoint, there’s a lot at stake. Shasta’s the keystone in the giant \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Central Valley Project\u003c/a>, which sends water to farms and cities in 29 California counties. But dams have consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Insult to Injury\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time you put up a dam on the Sacramento River, it’s going to be bad for wildlife.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John McManus heads the Golden Gate Salmon Association, an advocate for protecting the threatened fish … and the industries they support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And right now,” he says, “what they’re talking about is adding more insult to injury by raising that dam, impounding more water behind it, and further impairing salmon runs downstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937205\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: downstream view from Shasta Dam\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/Shasta02-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Federal dam operators say that a deeper reservoir would allow them to send more cold water downstream, to support salmon in the Sacramento River. \u003ccite>(Craig Miller/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Reclamation says a deeper water pool behind the dam will allow them to put more cold water downstream to support the fish. In its project description, the bureau claims it will:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“…improve water supply reliability for agricultural, municipal and industrial, and environmental uses; reduce flood damage; and improve water temperatures and water quality in the Sacramento River below the dam for anadromous fish survival.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>But in 2014, the federal government’s own Fish & Wildlife Service recommended against the project, concluding that it would fail to protect endangered salmon in the Sacramento River and its tributaries. That report was later “rescinded” for further review, and has not resurfaced officially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reclamation officials hope to award a construction contract by the end of next year, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/docs/sdrep-timeline.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complete the project\u003c/a> by 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McManus thinks the courts will ultimately rule against the project — if it gets that far. With Democrats now in control of the House, congressional funding to elevate Shasta Dam might be another stream that gets cut off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My view is they will ultimately be stopped,” offers McManus, “but I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The round of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936853/here-comes-the-big-bay-area-storm-dangerous-blizzard-conditions-in-sierra-nevada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">storms\u003c/a> that soaked California in recent weeks has brought a huge influx of water to the state. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/23/california-rainfall-reservoir-level-sierra-snow/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new analysis\u003c/a> by The Mercury News, California reservoirs are now holding an additional 580 billion gallons compared to the start of the year. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Sierra-snow-pack-size-percent-of-average-2019-13552288.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">snowpack\u003c/a> also got a big boost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report utilized data from 47 key reservoirs monitored by the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state\u003c/a>. Mercury News reporter and KQED Science Managing Editor Paul Rogers reported the story, which was published Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers spoke with KQED Science Editor Danielle Venton about the analysis and what it means for the state’s water supply. Here are excerpts from that conversation edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>580 billion gallons sounds like a lot of water. Is there a way to put that into context?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of water we’re talking about is enough for the needs of 9 million California residents for a year.\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does this influx signal for the state’s water supply in 2019?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is really good news for California’s summer water outlook. The amount of water that we had stored in these reservoirs was below the historical average until the January storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had kind of a lackluster November and December. Now with all this rain and snow, the the reservoir levels are brought up to normal [for this time of year].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also had a huge impact on the Sierra snowpack, which went from 69 percent of normal on New Year’s Day to 114 percent of normal today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California’s three wettest months are December through February. Given it’s still January, how important are the current totals?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the misery of the five-year drought we had recently, just getting anywhere near normal is cause for celebration for a lot of water managers and water agencies around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Danielle Venton and Peter Arcuni contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The round of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1936853/here-comes-the-big-bay-area-storm-dangerous-blizzard-conditions-in-sierra-nevada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">storms\u003c/a> that soaked California in recent weeks has brought a huge influx of water to the state. According to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/23/california-rainfall-reservoir-level-sierra-snow/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new analysis\u003c/a> by The Mercury News, California reservoirs are now holding an additional 580 billion gallons compared to the start of the year. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/Sierra-snow-pack-size-percent-of-average-2019-13552288.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">snowpack\u003c/a> also got a big boost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report utilized data from 47 key reservoirs monitored by the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state\u003c/a>. Mercury News reporter and KQED Science Managing Editor Paul Rogers reported the story, which was published Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers spoke with KQED Science Editor Danielle Venton about the analysis and what it means for the state’s water supply. Here are excerpts from that conversation edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>580 billion gallons sounds like a lot of water. Is there a way to put that into context?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The amount of water we’re talking about is enough for the needs of 9 million California residents for a year.\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does this influx signal for the state’s water supply in 2019?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is really good news for California’s summer water outlook. The amount of water that we had stored in these reservoirs was below the historical average until the January storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had kind of a lackluster November and December. Now with all this rain and snow, the the reservoir levels are brought up to normal [for this time of year].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also had a huge impact on the Sierra snowpack, which went from 69 percent of normal on New Year’s Day to 114 percent of normal today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California’s three wettest months are December through February. Given it’s still January, how important are the current totals?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the misery of the five-year drought we had recently, just getting anywhere near normal is cause for celebration for a lot of water managers and water agencies around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Danielle Venton and Peter Arcuni contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Juan Pasillas is trying to be stealthy. Roving around a quiet city, wearing a mask, looking around corners while on the lookout for mutants, changed by an airborne infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pasillas’ avatar in the video game “Last of Us” moves quickly, wary of any movement. It could be someone whose brain has been taken over by the fungus and whose body is mutating.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">Imperial County is emblematic of life for millions of people around the state who live under an umbrella of bad air quality or who have contaminated soil or lack access to clean water.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The Imperial County teenager finds some irony in his game choice. Stuck indoors whenever he is not at school or at work, Pasillas, 18, actively avoids the polluted air in his community that caused asthma attacks so bad they sent him to the hospital several times as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Pasillas family lives in the county with some of the worst air quality in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial County does not meet federal air quality standards, and state officials are working on plans to begin to decrease pollution. Only two other places in California have the same distinction: the San Joaquin Valley and the South Coast Air Basin, which includes most of Los Angeles County\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rural border county is overburdened by agricultural burning, the nearby drying Salton Sea, and emissions from factories in its border neighbor Mexicali. It’s so bad children in the county are hospitalized and visit the emergency room more often for asthma than anywhere else in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is not quite anyone’s vision of the California dream, popularly imagined as variations based on building a safe, secure and successful life. Many people arrived in Imperial County to mine their version of the dream through farming or factory work, in a rural, affordable area, that is also close to family or friends in the U.S. and just over the border in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Imperial is emblematic of life for millions of people around the state who live under an umbrella of bad air quality or who have contaminated soil or lack access to clean water. The majority of these environmental hot spots in California are concentrated in low-income communities of color, and there is often little attention paid to improving the situation, said David Pettit, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wants the same thing for their kids: a good education, a healthy place to live and clean air and water,” said Pettit. “For a lot of people it’s difficult to figure out how to do that. Families should not have to worry that if their kids go outside and play baseball or soccer…they might get sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial got an F in high ozone and particle pollution from the American Lung Association. The city of El Centro, the county seat, is ranked seventh worst city among 187 areas for particle pollution across the country, according to the lung association’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tiny invaders can embed in the lungs, enter the bloodstream and are known to cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses, including lung cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents regularly deal with a brown haze that causes their eyes to burn as smoke climbs into the air from factories and agricultural burning. In addition, toxic dust from the shrinking Salton Sea, which has been used for farm runoff for decades, permeates the air. Gasoline vapors rise from millions of idling cars and diesel trucks at the border each year. Across the border more than 180 maquiladoras, or manufacturing facilities, contribute to the bad air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials have done little to address the worsening air over the years but things are changing on that front, spurred by the work of Luis Olmedo and the social justice organization he runs, Comite Civico del Valle, which works on health and air issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, Comite Civico received $2 million in funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It partnered with the California Environmental Health Tracking Program and the University of Washington to set up 40 air monitors around the region to capture real-time data about air quality levels. The network, IVAN Air Monitoring, or Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods, uses monitors placed in the region from the Salton Sea to across the border in Mexicali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Pasillas, 18, spends a lot of his free time indoors playing video games like Last of Us. He has asthma and has to avoid being outdoors in the polluted air. \u003ccite>(Elizabeth Aguilera for CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Olmedo said the organization wanted to measure air quality in the areas where people actually live and not just rely on the few government monitors that are in the area. The state only had six monitors in the county before the IVAN network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are giving the public a resource. We communicate the data in real time, so people can register and get alerts whenever the levels are high,” Olmedo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Air quality in Imperial County has been so bad that it has been labeled a non-attainment area under the federal Clean Air Act in 2014, said Michael Benjamin, chief of air quality planning and science division for the California Air Resources Board. That means it does not meet the standards set under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very cognizant of the fact that the residents of Imperial County are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution. So we have a very robust set of actions to try to work with the agencies on both sides of the border as well as community groups to address and mitigate those sources of pollution,” said Benjamin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency adopted a plan last spring as framework for decreasing air pollution in the area over the next decade. It’s also working with Mexico to decrease pollution from its factories and unpaved roads as well as considering more regular smog check requirements and stricter rules for agricultural burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for now, residents cope with the dangers by signing up for ozone and air alerts, keeping their children indoors and minimizing their use of fireplaces or other contributors to bad air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Imperial Valley has one of California’s highest rates of childhood asthma hospitalization and emergency room visits, double that of the state, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. In Imperial County the prevalence of asthma is 15.1 percent, higher than the state average, according to state data. It is also one of the state’s poorest counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pasillas is one of those stats. He recalled going to the hospital several times throughout middle and high school after suffering terrible asthma attacks. They usually happened after he was outside during physical education class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel dizzy, everything starts getting like dark, the lights dim, the voices echo all around, you see everything in slow motion. When it’s really bad you can’t breathe, your heart feels like it’s going to pound out of your chest, your fingertips get really cold, you sweat a lot and your nails start getting really purple,” Pasillas said. “If you want to feel an asthma attack go under water and try to breathe, your inside burns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then a doctor told Pasillas’ parents that the best thing for him would be for the family to move away, said Monica Pasillas, his mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought, do we go to San Diego? But it’s very expensive there,” said Monica Pasillas, whose husband delivers furniture for a local retailer. “It wouldn’t work. We couldn’t make ends meet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pettit called the suggestion “wildly unrealistic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people working for a living and struggling to make ends meet, they are not going anywhere,” he said. “People don’t get that, especially if you are coming from a place of white economic privilege. It’s unrealistic—it’s not the way most of California works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, an Imperial Valley Democrat, said the solution is to fix the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the southern parts of California, particularly in my district, there’s a tremendous amount of room to grow,” Garcia said. “That’s why sustainable environmentally sound policies in our land use development, in our transportation systems,are extremely important to try to prevent these types of circumstances from continuing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comite’s monitors, many of them at schools, have already shown increased air pollution and found higher levels of small particulate levels that was previously known. Now the information is being used to create strategies to decrease the pollution through efforts at the state level and with Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts, and new laws, have spurred actions by the state air board to set goals for the region, sometime in the 2030s and invest resources in trying to improve the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s frustrating sometimes that it takes a while to get things up and going,” Garcia said. But he added, “It’s certainly very refreshing and gives us a tremendous amount of hope that we’re moving in the right direction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall the board launched the Community Air Protection Program to help improve air quality in some of the most impacted areas of the state, including part of Imperial County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found that Imperial County would attain the 2.5 standard if it were not for the contribution of emissions from Mexico,” said Benjamin from the air board. “Imperial County is more challenging because of Mexico and the impact from Mexico and our limited authority and the nature of the desert environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Mexicali is putting up 50 air monitors, borrowed from the state, and has already taken action to ban fireworks and pave roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Monica Pasillas and her family, who live in a double-wide home across from agricultural fields, the improvements can’t come soon enough. She lost her left eye to a bacterial infection last year after a day in the garden. Doctors, she said, blamed the contaminated air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You think about a rosy future for your children, that nothing is going to happen to them,” she said. “We spent nearly three years with Juan going to the doctors when he should have been playing outside. He couldn’t do that. He didn’t have a normal childhood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/californiadream/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The California Dream series\u003c/a> is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the James Irvine Foundation and the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11660142\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/CADreamBanner.jpg%20https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/04/CADreamBanner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1867\" height=\"512\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Imperial County is overburdened by agricultural burning, the nearby drying Salton Sea, and emissions from factories in its border neighbor Mexicali. Children in the county are hospitalized and visit the emergency room more often for asthma than anywhere else in California.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Juan Pasillas is trying to be stealthy. Roving around a quiet city, wearing a mask, looking around corners while on the lookout for mutants, changed by an airborne infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pasillas’ avatar in the video game “Last of Us” moves quickly, wary of any movement. It could be someone whose brain has been taken over by the fungus and whose body is mutating.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">Imperial County is emblematic of life for millions of people around the state who live under an umbrella of bad air quality or who have contaminated soil or lack access to clean water.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The Imperial County teenager finds some irony in his game choice. Stuck indoors whenever he is not at school or at work, Pasillas, 18, actively avoids the polluted air in his community that caused asthma attacks so bad they sent him to the hospital several times as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Pasillas family lives in the county with some of the worst air quality in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial County does not meet federal air quality standards, and state officials are working on plans to begin to decrease pollution. Only two other places in California have the same distinction: the San Joaquin Valley and the South Coast Air Basin, which includes most of Los Angeles County\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rural border county is overburdened by agricultural burning, the nearby drying Salton Sea, and emissions from factories in its border neighbor Mexicali. It’s so bad children in the county are hospitalized and visit the emergency room more often for asthma than anywhere else in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is not quite anyone’s vision of the California dream, popularly imagined as variations based on building a safe, secure and successful life. Many people arrived in Imperial County to mine their version of the dream through farming or factory work, in a rural, affordable area, that is also close to family or friends in the U.S. and just over the border in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Imperial is emblematic of life for millions of people around the state who live under an umbrella of bad air quality or who have contaminated soil or lack access to clean water. The majority of these environmental hot spots in California are concentrated in low-income communities of color, and there is often little attention paid to improving the situation, said David Pettit, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wants the same thing for their kids: a good education, a healthy place to live and clean air and water,” said Pettit. “For a lot of people it’s difficult to figure out how to do that. Families should not have to worry that if their kids go outside and play baseball or soccer…they might get sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imperial got an F in high ozone and particle pollution from the American Lung Association. The city of El Centro, the county seat, is ranked seventh worst city among 187 areas for particle pollution across the country, according to the lung association’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These tiny invaders can embed in the lungs, enter the bloodstream and are known to cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses, including lung cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents regularly deal with a brown haze that causes their eyes to burn as smoke climbs into the air from factories and agricultural burning. In addition, toxic dust from the shrinking Salton Sea, which has been used for farm runoff for decades, permeates the air. Gasoline vapors rise from millions of idling cars and diesel trucks at the border each year. Across the border more than 180 maquiladoras, or manufacturing facilities, contribute to the bad air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials have done little to address the worsening air over the years but things are changing on that front, spurred by the work of Luis Olmedo and the social justice organization he runs, Comite Civico del Valle, which works on health and air issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2013, Comite Civico received $2 million in funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It partnered with the California Environmental Health Tracking Program and the University of Washington to set up 40 air monitors around the region to capture real-time data about air quality levels. The network, IVAN Air Monitoring, or Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods, uses monitors placed in the region from the Salton Sea to across the border in Mexicali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/pollution2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Pasillas, 18, spends a lot of his free time indoors playing video games like Last of Us. He has asthma and has to avoid being outdoors in the polluted air. \u003ccite>(Elizabeth Aguilera for CALmatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Olmedo said the organization wanted to measure air quality in the areas where people actually live and not just rely on the few government monitors that are in the area. The state only had six monitors in the county before the IVAN network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are giving the public a resource. We communicate the data in real time, so people can register and get alerts whenever the levels are high,” Olmedo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Air quality in Imperial County has been so bad that it has been labeled a non-attainment area under the federal Clean Air Act in 2014, said Michael Benjamin, chief of air quality planning and science division for the California Air Resources Board. That means it does not meet the standards set under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very cognizant of the fact that the residents of Imperial County are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution. So we have a very robust set of actions to try to work with the agencies on both sides of the border as well as community groups to address and mitigate those sources of pollution,” said Benjamin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency adopted a plan last spring as framework for decreasing air pollution in the area over the next decade. It’s also working with Mexico to decrease pollution from its factories and unpaved roads as well as considering more regular smog check requirements and stricter rules for agricultural burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for now, residents cope with the dangers by signing up for ozone and air alerts, keeping their children indoors and minimizing their use of fireplaces or other contributors to bad air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Imperial Valley has one of California’s highest rates of childhood asthma hospitalization and emergency room visits, double that of the state, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. In Imperial County the prevalence of asthma is 15.1 percent, higher than the state average, according to state data. It is also one of the state’s poorest counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pasillas is one of those stats. He recalled going to the hospital several times throughout middle and high school after suffering terrible asthma attacks. They usually happened after he was outside during physical education class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You feel dizzy, everything starts getting like dark, the lights dim, the voices echo all around, you see everything in slow motion. When it’s really bad you can’t breathe, your heart feels like it’s going to pound out of your chest, your fingertips get really cold, you sweat a lot and your nails start getting really purple,” Pasillas said. “If you want to feel an asthma attack go under water and try to breathe, your inside burns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then a doctor told Pasillas’ parents that the best thing for him would be for the family to move away, said Monica Pasillas, his mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought, do we go to San Diego? But it’s very expensive there,” said Monica Pasillas, whose husband delivers furniture for a local retailer. “It wouldn’t work. We couldn’t make ends meet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pettit called the suggestion “wildly unrealistic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people working for a living and struggling to make ends meet, they are not going anywhere,” he said. “People don’t get that, especially if you are coming from a place of white economic privilege. It’s unrealistic—it’s not the way most of California works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, an Imperial Valley Democrat, said the solution is to fix the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the southern parts of California, particularly in my district, there’s a tremendous amount of room to grow,” Garcia said. “That’s why sustainable environmentally sound policies in our land use development, in our transportation systems,are extremely important to try to prevent these types of circumstances from continuing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comite’s monitors, many of them at schools, have already shown increased air pollution and found higher levels of small particulate levels that was previously known. Now the information is being used to create strategies to decrease the pollution through efforts at the state level and with Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts, and new laws, have spurred actions by the state air board to set goals for the region, sometime in the 2030s and invest resources in trying to improve the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s frustrating sometimes that it takes a while to get things up and going,” Garcia said. But he added, “It’s certainly very refreshing and gives us a tremendous amount of hope that we’re moving in the right direction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall the board launched the Community Air Protection Program to help improve air quality in some of the most impacted areas of the state, including part of Imperial County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found that Imperial County would attain the 2.5 standard if it were not for the contribution of emissions from Mexico,” said Benjamin from the air board. “Imperial County is more challenging because of Mexico and the impact from Mexico and our limited authority and the nature of the desert environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Mexicali is putting up 50 air monitors, borrowed from the state, and has already taken action to ban fireworks and pave roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Monica Pasillas and her family, who live in a double-wide home across from agricultural fields, the improvements can’t come soon enough. She lost her left eye to a bacterial infection last year after a day in the garden. Doctors, she said, blamed the contaminated air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You think about a rosy future for your children, that nothing is going to happen to them,” she said. “We spent nearly three years with Juan going to the doctors when he should have been playing outside. He couldn’t do that. He didn’t have a normal childhood.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/series/californiadream/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The California Dream series\u003c/a> is a statewide media collaboration of CALmatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the James Irvine Foundation and the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Originally published Jan. 14, 2018\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971833969X?dgcid=coauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> of compounds in San Francisco Bay is illustrating a case of chemical whack-a-mole. Fifteen years ago, California banned a class of toxic fire retardants called PBDEs, which were put in household items like furniture and electronics. A year later, PBDEs were banned nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, along with these old flame retardants, the new chemicals used to replace them can also be found in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Sutton is a senior scientist at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfei.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/a>, which conducts studies for the Regonal Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay. She talked with KQED’s Brian Watt about concerns over this new class of flame retardants. Here’s what she had to say, edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PBDEs were banned in the 2000s. What did they do and why were they banned? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, were used in really large quantities in a number of consumer products in order to meet some well-intentioned flammability standards set by California. The compounds were meant to make some products, such as couches, less flammable, so that people could escape in the event of a house fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it turns out they didn’t work so well. Plus we started to see them in the environment and building up in our bodies. They were pretty toxic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How successful was the ban on PBDEs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s actually been a huge success story for the bay. We’ve seen a one-third decline of these chemicals in the sediment at the bottom of the bay. In bay fish, we’re seeing half the levels we used to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So what’s the problem, then? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When manufacturers couldn’t use PBDEs, they still had to meet the state’s flammability standards. So they switched to other chemicals, some of which are used in really large quantities in some typical consumer goods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we went out to the bay in 2013-14, we checked the water and sediment, as well as mussels and harbor seals, for a wide array of flame retardants. The types of flame retardants we saw that really caught our eye were those that are phosphate-based. They’re really water-soluble; they can go right through a wastewater treatment plant and enter the bay. And they’re building up in our water and in our sediment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What effects does this newer class of chemicals have on people and the environment?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a number of different effects, depending on the species. One of the overarching findings that’s of particular concern is that these chemicals can have endocrine-disrupting impacts. They can affect how estrogen works or block the path of estrogen in the body of a person or a fish. There have been a number of lab studies showing this, in fish in particular. But there are definitely concerns for people, too. And this can happen at very low levels of the chemicals, because the hormones are active in our bodies at very low levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So what happens next? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, a lot of manufacturers would like to not use flame retardants at all. They’re primarily using them because of California’s flammability standards. Here in our state, we changed\u003ca href=\"https://www.bearhfti.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> one of these standards\u003c/a> a few years ago, to where it no longer requires use of these compounds. The new standard is actually more effective in terms of protecting people in house fires. So people are starting to examine the standards to figure out whether these chemicals are actually working, whether we need them in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Originally published Jan. 14, 2018\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971833969X?dgcid=coauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> of compounds in San Francisco Bay is illustrating a case of chemical whack-a-mole. Fifteen years ago, California banned a class of toxic fire retardants called PBDEs, which were put in household items like furniture and electronics. A year later, PBDEs were banned nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, along with these old flame retardants, the new chemicals used to replace them can also be found in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Sutton is a senior scientist at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfei.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/a>, which conducts studies for the Regonal Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay. She talked with KQED’s Brian Watt about concerns over this new class of flame retardants. Here’s what she had to say, edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PBDEs were banned in the 2000s. What did they do and why were they banned? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, were used in really large quantities in a number of consumer products in order to meet some well-intentioned flammability standards set by California. The compounds were meant to make some products, such as couches, less flammable, so that people could escape in the event of a house fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it turns out they didn’t work so well. Plus we started to see them in the environment and building up in our bodies. They were pretty toxic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How successful was the ban on PBDEs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s actually been a huge success story for the bay. We’ve seen a one-third decline of these chemicals in the sediment at the bottom of the bay. In bay fish, we’re seeing half the levels we used to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So what’s the problem, then? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When manufacturers couldn’t use PBDEs, they still had to meet the state’s flammability standards. So they switched to other chemicals, some of which are used in really large quantities in some typical consumer goods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we went out to the bay in 2013-14, we checked the water and sediment, as well as mussels and harbor seals, for a wide array of flame retardants. The types of flame retardants we saw that really caught our eye were those that are phosphate-based. They’re really water-soluble; they can go right through a wastewater treatment plant and enter the bay. And they’re building up in our water and in our sediment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What effects does this newer class of chemicals have on people and the environment?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a number of different effects, depending on the species. One of the overarching findings that’s of particular concern is that these chemicals can have endocrine-disrupting impacts. They can affect how estrogen works or block the path of estrogen in the body of a person or a fish. There have been a number of lab studies showing this, in fish in particular. But there are definitely concerns for people, too. And this can happen at very low levels of the chemicals, because the hormones are active in our bodies at very low levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So what happens next? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, a lot of manufacturers would like to not use flame retardants at all. They’re primarily using them because of California’s flammability standards. Here in our state, we changed\u003ca href=\"https://www.bearhfti.ca.gov/about_us/tb117_2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> one of these standards\u003c/a> a few years ago, to where it no longer requires use of these compounds. The new standard is actually more effective in terms of protecting people in house fires. So people are starting to examine the standards to figure out whether these chemicals are actually working, whether we need them in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Big, important scientific breakthroughs are built of small, incremental experiments. And the partial government shutdown is already interfering with some of that research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists often depend on the government for grant funding, expertise and — in some cases — even regulatory approval. With the shutdown, some researchers are missing those key elements of scientific collaboration. Here’s how some scientists say the shutdown is affecting their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://plantandmicrobiology.berkeley.edu/profile/tuesday-b-simmons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Tuesday Simmons\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a graduate student in microbiology at the University of California, Berkeley, \u003c/strong>writes, “I’m a grad student at Berkeley, but my PI [principal investigator] works for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usda.gov/topics/research-and-science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USDA\u003c/a> (like several PIs in my department). While the grad students continue to work, it is difficult for us without our advisers here.” She says this affects her in two primary ways. “I am trying to complete a manuscript with my adviser and I need to meet with him to discuss figures and text edits,” Simmons says. And she says she is “trying to plan a new experiment where I’m adding synthetic microbial communities to sorghum plants, and I need to iron out the details with him before starting the experiment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘The loss of support sucks away my ability to continue research.’\u003ccite>Christopher Horvat, Brown University climate scientist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Simmons points out that it’s hard to hit the pause button on plant research. “The plants continue to grow and need care (such as water and maintained growth chambers). During this time, many plants are dying, time points for experiments aren’t being collected, and plants are maturing without people to collect their seeds. This can set experiments back weeks, months or, in some cases, up to a year. Honestly, the labs with grad students are the lucky ones, because we’re allowed in to take care of plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leiferlab.princeton.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Andrew Leifer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a physicist at Princeton, \u003c/strong>says, “I’m a newer assistant professor and I’ve been trying hard to land my first federal grant, which is crucial for funding my research into how the neurons in a worm’s brain generate its behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In mid-December, he was on the cusp of hearing whether he was about to receive a grant from the NSF. He says they were going to let him know in the new year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then the shutdown happened and so for the past three weeks I have been anxiously waiting to hear if my research will get funded,” Leifer says. “It is my understanding that NSF employees are barred from even checking their email and are not allowed to discuss any NSF related business. So I will just wait. But not knowing impedes my ability to plan or to hire people, or even knowing whether I should be trying to recruit additional grad students. Admittedly, this is minor in the scheme of things, but I think it illustrates just how pervasive the negative consequences of the shutdown are for science, and it will only get worse with time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.mlml.calstate.edu_people_research-2Dfaculty_alison-2Dstimpert_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=0HyUrpwWxG39kWTmHtRQSIB3Ec6VYBySAWPG0Tjp0iw&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Alison Stimpert\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a marine biologist with California State University, \u003c/strong>writes, “Even though I am continuing to work, many of my collaborators (\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.usgs.gov_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=i2HFJF-bNWuTGhsal1os8PCvyq0dAHgqsfwdClL8FTk&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USGS\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.noaa.gov_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=jK8CaRolj7riqEo7-hd-CVop8JZ1kCPjGUcJ4v-4s9s&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NOAA\u003c/a>) are furloughed and projects we are working on together cannot move forward.” She says that means “project planning meetings are being delayed, as well as permit applications for upcoming work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stimpert studies bioacoustics — “acoustic behavior and effects of noise on marine species,” she explains — in waters off of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Alaska and Antarctica. She says that in some cases, the shutdown means she may have to reorganize some travel or wait to start a phase of research until collaborators can work. In other areas, it might have more serious implications: “We might miss an opportunity to deploy an instrument, which makes us miss collecting an entire season of data.” And Stimpert says that if she or her collaborators have future federal funding delays, it could mean that “I can’t purchase an instrument that I need, but might (and I am not alone in this) mean my other funding runs out and I can no longer fund my position, making me lose my benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.chrv.at/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Christopher Horvat\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a climate scientist at Brown University, \u003c/strong>tells NPR, “I’m a postdoc, and while I am in a lucky position to have a reasonably-paying fellowship, the loss of support sucks away my ability to continue research.” His funding comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via a contractor, and NOAA is closed during the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Already, the high relative cost of travel for research my means I must float significant amounts of money relative to my salary on credit cards,” he says. “With the shutdown, reimbursements for research and travel expenditures are not being paid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horvat researches the Arctic climate system –“aspects of its sea ice, ocean and ecology emerging as a result of the last century of rapid change, like massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms or rapid sea ice breakup events. I also do kayak-based field research in the high Arctic where we use drones to map changes to the sea ice in Arctic waterways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says his employer has provided two options: “(1) be furloughed, or (2) have subsequent pay periods at half our typical rates, with the hope that at the conclusion of the shutdown we will get back pay accounting for the drop in pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a contractor, in the case of a furlough I would not be paid for the time I did not work and so I would likely go on unemployment. I do not know how long option (2) will last, but I assume it is for at least the next few weeks before a forced furlough happens. While earning half rates seems like the best option, unemployment would pay a similar wage and have more certainty, while prolonging my appointment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Big, important scientific breakthroughs are built of small, incremental experiments. And the partial government shutdown is already interfering with some of that research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists often depend on the government for grant funding, expertise and — in some cases — even regulatory approval. With the shutdown, some researchers are missing those key elements of scientific collaboration. Here’s how some scientists say the shutdown is affecting their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://plantandmicrobiology.berkeley.edu/profile/tuesday-b-simmons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Tuesday Simmons\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a graduate student in microbiology at the University of California, Berkeley, \u003c/strong>writes, “I’m a grad student at Berkeley, but my PI [principal investigator] works for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usda.gov/topics/research-and-science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USDA\u003c/a> (like several PIs in my department). While the grad students continue to work, it is difficult for us without our advisers here.” She says this affects her in two primary ways. “I am trying to complete a manuscript with my adviser and I need to meet with him to discuss figures and text edits,” Simmons says. And she says she is “trying to plan a new experiment where I’m adding synthetic microbial communities to sorghum plants, and I need to iron out the details with him before starting the experiment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘The loss of support sucks away my ability to continue research.’\u003ccite>Christopher Horvat, Brown University climate scientist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Simmons points out that it’s hard to hit the pause button on plant research. “The plants continue to grow and need care (such as water and maintained growth chambers). During this time, many plants are dying, time points for experiments aren’t being collected, and plants are maturing without people to collect their seeds. This can set experiments back weeks, months or, in some cases, up to a year. Honestly, the labs with grad students are the lucky ones, because we’re allowed in to take care of plants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leiferlab.princeton.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Andrew Leifer\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a physicist at Princeton, \u003c/strong>says, “I’m a newer assistant professor and I’ve been trying hard to land my first federal grant, which is crucial for funding my research into how the neurons in a worm’s brain generate its behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In mid-December, he was on the cusp of hearing whether he was about to receive a grant from the NSF. He says they were going to let him know in the new year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then the shutdown happened and so for the past three weeks I have been anxiously waiting to hear if my research will get funded,” Leifer says. “It is my understanding that NSF employees are barred from even checking their email and are not allowed to discuss any NSF related business. So I will just wait. But not knowing impedes my ability to plan or to hire people, or even knowing whether I should be trying to recruit additional grad students. Admittedly, this is minor in the scheme of things, but I think it illustrates just how pervasive the negative consequences of the shutdown are for science, and it will only get worse with time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.mlml.calstate.edu_people_research-2Dfaculty_alison-2Dstimpert_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=0HyUrpwWxG39kWTmHtRQSIB3Ec6VYBySAWPG0Tjp0iw&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Alison Stimpert\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a marine biologist with California State University, \u003c/strong>writes, “Even though I am continuing to work, many of my collaborators (\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.usgs.gov_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=i2HFJF-bNWuTGhsal1os8PCvyq0dAHgqsfwdClL8FTk&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USGS\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.noaa.gov_&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=xsHAhkZXy4VnIyVKWrbYEA&m=NY92TDSc8AyfcRwAqSmo-iR4SZ4b8ilzMT15jOJq2TU&s=jK8CaRolj7riqEo7-hd-CVop8JZ1kCPjGUcJ4v-4s9s&e=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NOAA\u003c/a>) are furloughed and projects we are working on together cannot move forward.” She says that means “project planning meetings are being delayed, as well as permit applications for upcoming work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stimpert studies bioacoustics — “acoustic behavior and effects of noise on marine species,” she explains — in waters off of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Alaska and Antarctica. She says that in some cases, the shutdown means she may have to reorganize some travel or wait to start a phase of research until collaborators can work. In other areas, it might have more serious implications: “We might miss an opportunity to deploy an instrument, which makes us miss collecting an entire season of data.” And Stimpert says that if she or her collaborators have future federal funding delays, it could mean that “I can’t purchase an instrument that I need, but might (and I am not alone in this) mean my other funding runs out and I can no longer fund my position, making me lose my benefits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.chrv.at/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Christopher Horvat\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>, a climate scientist at Brown University, \u003c/strong>tells NPR, “I’m a postdoc, and while I am in a lucky position to have a reasonably-paying fellowship, the loss of support sucks away my ability to continue research.” His funding comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via a contractor, and NOAA is closed during the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Already, the high relative cost of travel for research my means I must float significant amounts of money relative to my salary on credit cards,” he says. “With the shutdown, reimbursements for research and travel expenditures are not being paid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horvat researches the Arctic climate system –“aspects of its sea ice, ocean and ecology emerging as a result of the last century of rapid change, like massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms or rapid sea ice breakup events. I also do kayak-based field research in the high Arctic where we use drones to map changes to the sea ice in Arctic waterways.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says his employer has provided two options: “(1) be furloughed, or (2) have subsequent pay periods at half our typical rates, with the hope that at the conclusion of the shutdown we will get back pay accounting for the drop in pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a contractor, in the case of a furlough I would not be paid for the time I did not work and so I would likely go on unemployment. I do not know how long option (2) will last, but I assume it is for at least the next few weeks before a forced furlough happens. While earning half rates seems like the best option, unemployment would pay a similar wage and have more certainty, while prolonging my appointment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What a Blue Speck Found in Ancient Teeth Could Reveal About Female Artists in the Middle Ages",
"headTitle": "What a Blue Speck Found in Ancient Teeth Could Reveal About Female Artists in the Middle Ages | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Tiny bits of blue pigment found in the teeth of a medieval skeleton reveal that more than 850 years ago, this seemingly ordinary woman was very likely involved in the production of lavishly illustrated sacred texts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unexpected discovery, \u003ca href=\"http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau7126\">described\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Science Advances,\u003c/em> astonished scientists who weren’t setting out to study female artists in the Middle Ages. It adds to a growing recognition that women, and not just monks, labored as the anonymous scribes who painstakingly copied manuscripts and decorated the pages to dazzle the eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular woman lived in a small religious community at Dalheim, Germany. Little is known about life there, says \u003ca href=\"http://christinawarinner.com/about-us/christina-warinner/\">Christina Warinner\u003c/a> of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically all that remains are the stone foundations. A broken comb was found, but almost nothing else,” Warinner says. “There are no books that survived. There’s no art that survives. It’s known only from a handful of scraps of text that mention it in passing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and a colleague were examining the teeth of skeletons from this community’s cemetery to see what had been preserved in the dental calculus, or tartar. Tartar forms from sticky plaque that traps remnants of food, bacteria and even pollen and then hardens over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really an extraordinary material,” Warinner says. “It’s actually the only part of your body that fossilizes while you’re still alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936652\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1936652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-520x390.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200.jpg 915w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the European Middle Ages, Afghanistan was the only known source of the rare blue stone lapis lazuli. \u003ccite>(Christina Warinner/Science Advances)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her colleague \u003ca href=\"https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/research-staff/anita-radini/\">Anita Radini\u003c/a>, of the University of York in the United Kingdom, spotted something bright blue in the dental sample from this woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was absolutely unbelievable. It almost looked like there were robins’ eggs on the microscope slide — they were such vibrant blue particles,” Warinner recalls. “I remember joking around at the time that maybe we discovered an artist painting with lapis lazuli.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea seemed absurd. After all, lapis lazuli was one of the most expensive pigments known in the Middle Ages. At the time, it came from just one source — a region of Afghanistan — and was used only by artists of exceptional skill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was rare,” Warinner says. “It’s really iconic. It’s kind of the blue that we associate with the Middles Ages that’s absent in Roman art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers turned to technologies that could analyze the elemental composition of the microscopic particles as well as the mineral structure. “And ultimately we did find that it was indeed lapis lazuli, which was really, really surprising,” Warinner says. “Once it all came together that this was lapis lazuli, and this was a woman, and she was in this kind of small, remote place, really far away from where this lapis lazuli would have come from or been traded from, it was pretty extraordinary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 639px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936647\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead.jpe 639w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-160x156.jpe 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-240x234.jpe 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-375x365.jpe 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-520x506.jpe 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-50x50.jpe 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image shows Guda, a 12th century nun, and the inscription reads, “Guda, a sinful woman, wrote and painted this book.” It’s a rare example of a manuscript signed by a female scribe. \u003ccite>(Frankfurt University Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Warinner reached out to \u003ca href=\"https://history.osu.edu/people/beach.174\">Alison Beach\u003c/a>, a professor of medieval history at Ohio State University in Columbus. “I realized this is a really sensational find,” Beach says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s quite a bit of evidence of female contributions to book production. And it’s gotten more attention in the past 20 years,” Beach says. “But I still think that image of the monk as the producer of books is very central and very resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of those books that were signed with the name of the scribe before the 12th century, less than 1 percent can be attributed to women, the researchers write in their report. But Beach says it’s just impossible to know how widespread women’s participation was, because many libraries of medieval books have been lost to history. What’s more, most of the surviving books from this period were produced by scribes who did not sign their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still trying to convince colleagues that they should immediately consider female book production or ownership or use when they encounter an anonymous manuscript in the Middles Ages,” Beach says. “Was ‘anonymous’ a man or a woman? We really just don’t know for most of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers considered various explanations for how the blue pigment ended up in the woman’s teeth. One possibility is that she wasn’t an artist but rather engaged in devotional kissing of a decorated text. “You’d have to be doing a lot of kissing of a book over a lot of time to get that much lapis lazuli pigment,” Beach says. “That one seemed, to me, to be the least plausible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another possibility was that the woman consumed the pigment as a kind of medicine. That also seems unlikely, given the lack of evidence that this was common in Germany in the 11th and 12th centuries. What’s more, the lapis lazuli residue was found more toward the front of the mouth than the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought they made a nice case that because it is up near the lips, that it was most likely related to the notion of moistening the brush,” says \u003ca href=\"https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/bio/cynthia-cyrus\">Cynthia Cyrus\u003c/a> of Vanderbilt University, who has studied medieval scribes associated with women’s convents but was not part of the research team. “As you put the tip of the brush into your mouth to bring it to a point, a little bit of the pigment residue then makes its way into the dental structure. That would explain the differential between back of mouth and front of mouth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is true that simply grinding lapis lazuli can produce fine, airborne dust that ends up on the lips and in the saliva, the researchers found — because Radini tried it herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, given the small size of this religious community — only around 15 people — it’s likely that this artist produced her own materials rather than making them for sale or for someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re going to be creating your own pigments and using your pigments,” Cyrus says. “This individual may, in fact, have been doing both of those activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cyrus’ view, this finding is extraordinary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a brand-new kind of evidence for scribal activity, and one that we haven’t been on the alert for,” she says. “We now know that evidence from teeth, and other skeletal remains, can really point towards what the daily life of a particular monastery was like. That will lead us to ask different questions when we’re doing excavations and combine different kinds of evidence to get a better understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Blue+Clue+In+Medieval+Teeth+May+Bespeak+A+Woman%27s+Artistry+Circa+A.D.+1000+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tiny bits of blue pigment found in the teeth of a medieval skeleton reveal that more than 850 years ago, this seemingly ordinary woman was very likely involved in the production of lavishly illustrated sacred texts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The unexpected discovery, \u003ca href=\"http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau7126\">described\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Science Advances,\u003c/em> astonished scientists who weren’t setting out to study female artists in the Middle Ages. It adds to a growing recognition that women, and not just monks, labored as the anonymous scribes who painstakingly copied manuscripts and decorated the pages to dazzle the eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular woman lived in a small religious community at Dalheim, Germany. Little is known about life there, says \u003ca href=\"http://christinawarinner.com/about-us/christina-warinner/\">Christina Warinner\u003c/a> of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically all that remains are the stone foundations. A broken comb was found, but almost nothing else,” Warinner says. “There are no books that survived. There’s no art that survives. It’s known only from a handful of scraps of text that mention it in passing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and a colleague were examining the teeth of skeletons from this community’s cemetery to see what had been preserved in the dental calculus, or tartar. Tartar forms from sticky plaque that traps remnants of food, bacteria and even pollen and then hardens over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really an extraordinary material,” Warinner says. “It’s actually the only part of your body that fossilizes while you’re still alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936652\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1936652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200-520x390.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/radini4hr-700e6788a93e5ef898448c2569c3ca8519910954-s1200.jpg 915w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the European Middle Ages, Afghanistan was the only known source of the rare blue stone lapis lazuli. \u003ccite>(Christina Warinner/Science Advances)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her colleague \u003ca href=\"https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/research-staff/anita-radini/\">Anita Radini\u003c/a>, of the University of York in the United Kingdom, spotted something bright blue in the dental sample from this woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was absolutely unbelievable. It almost looked like there were robins’ eggs on the microscope slide — they were such vibrant blue particles,” Warinner recalls. “I remember joking around at the time that maybe we discovered an artist painting with lapis lazuli.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea seemed absurd. After all, lapis lazuli was one of the most expensive pigments known in the Middle Ages. At the time, it came from just one source — a region of Afghanistan — and was used only by artists of exceptional skill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was rare,” Warinner says. “It’s really iconic. It’s kind of the blue that we associate with the Middles Ages that’s absent in Roman art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers turned to technologies that could analyze the elemental composition of the microscopic particles as well as the mineral structure. “And ultimately we did find that it was indeed lapis lazuli, which was really, really surprising,” Warinner says. “Once it all came together that this was lapis lazuli, and this was a woman, and she was in this kind of small, remote place, really far away from where this lapis lazuli would have come from or been traded from, it was pretty extraordinary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936647\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 639px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936647\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead.jpe\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead.jpe 639w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-160x156.jpe 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-240x234.jpe 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-375x365.jpe 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-520x506.jpe 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/lapis-1_enl-75cdb0a59fc72b4a25bd476677f69e61c92c3ead-50x50.jpe 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image shows Guda, a 12th century nun, and the inscription reads, “Guda, a sinful woman, wrote and painted this book.” It’s a rare example of a manuscript signed by a female scribe. \u003ccite>(Frankfurt University Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Warinner reached out to \u003ca href=\"https://history.osu.edu/people/beach.174\">Alison Beach\u003c/a>, a professor of medieval history at Ohio State University in Columbus. “I realized this is a really sensational find,” Beach says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s quite a bit of evidence of female contributions to book production. And it’s gotten more attention in the past 20 years,” Beach says. “But I still think that image of the monk as the producer of books is very central and very resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of those books that were signed with the name of the scribe before the 12th century, less than 1 percent can be attributed to women, the researchers write in their report. But Beach says it’s just impossible to know how widespread women’s participation was, because many libraries of medieval books have been lost to history. What’s more, most of the surviving books from this period were produced by scribes who did not sign their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still trying to convince colleagues that they should immediately consider female book production or ownership or use when they encounter an anonymous manuscript in the Middles Ages,” Beach says. “Was ‘anonymous’ a man or a woman? We really just don’t know for most of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers considered various explanations for how the blue pigment ended up in the woman’s teeth. One possibility is that she wasn’t an artist but rather engaged in devotional kissing of a decorated text. “You’d have to be doing a lot of kissing of a book over a lot of time to get that much lapis lazuli pigment,” Beach says. “That one seemed, to me, to be the least plausible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another possibility was that the woman consumed the pigment as a kind of medicine. That also seems unlikely, given the lack of evidence that this was common in Germany in the 11th and 12th centuries. What’s more, the lapis lazuli residue was found more toward the front of the mouth than the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought they made a nice case that because it is up near the lips, that it was most likely related to the notion of moistening the brush,” says \u003ca href=\"https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/bio/cynthia-cyrus\">Cynthia Cyrus\u003c/a> of Vanderbilt University, who has studied medieval scribes associated with women’s convents but was not part of the research team. “As you put the tip of the brush into your mouth to bring it to a point, a little bit of the pigment residue then makes its way into the dental structure. That would explain the differential between back of mouth and front of mouth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is true that simply grinding lapis lazuli can produce fine, airborne dust that ends up on the lips and in the saliva, the researchers found — because Radini tried it herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, given the small size of this religious community — only around 15 people — it’s likely that this artist produced her own materials rather than making them for sale or for someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re going to be creating your own pigments and using your pigments,” Cyrus says. “This individual may, in fact, have been doing both of those activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Cyrus’ view, this finding is extraordinary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a brand-new kind of evidence for scribal activity, and one that we haven’t been on the alert for,” she says. “We now know that evidence from teeth, and other skeletal remains, can really point towards what the daily life of a particular monastery was like. That will lead us to ask different questions when we’re doing excavations and combine different kinds of evidence to get a better understanding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Blue+Clue+In+Medieval+Teeth+May+Bespeak+A+Woman%27s+Artistry+Circa+A.D.+1000+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Farming insects may be more sustainable than raising meat, but so far that hasn’t been quite enough to convince most Westerners to eat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marketing them as delicious, exquisite delicacies, though? That might do the trick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global demand for meat drives environmental decline, from forest depletion and soil erosion to increased water use and the release of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insect farming is easier on the environment, says Joost Van Itterbeeck, visiting scientist at Rikkyo University in Tokyo and co-author of the book \u003ca href=\"http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e00.htm\">\u003cem>Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. And, he adds, “The nutritional benefits are very obvious in terms of proteins, minerals and vitamins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as nice as that all sounds, Westerners are just plain disgusted by bugs on the dinner plate. And save-the-planet discussions don’t seem to be changing their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current marketing tactics for eating insects tend to point out environmental and health benefits. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2018.00088/full\">new study\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Frontiers in Nutrition\u003c/em> suggests it might be better to focus on taste and experience, such as highlighting how much dragonflies taste like soft-shelled crabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hiding crickets in cookies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This doesn’t come as a surprise to Kathy Rolin, who knows something about getting people to try edible insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her husband, James, originally started their business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cowboycrickets.com/\">Cowboy Cricket Farms\u003c/a>, to sell whole frozen crickets to food manufacturers. After finding that more first-time bug eaters opt for cookies baked with cricket flour instead of a whole cricket, they decided to expand their business to sell Chocolate Chirp Cookies directly to consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Telling people to eat insects for the sake of the planet, the researchers argue, won’t convince a stomach that has already said ‘no.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>They found the Chocolate Chirps had better profit margins. “We mainly market the cookies, because who doesn’t like a chocolate cookie?” says Kathy Rolin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/27/410013224/bugs-its-not-whats-for-dinner-until-theyre-tastier-maybe\">calls to appeal to consumers’ tastes\u003c/a> before, but now there is evidence that appealing to the senses might actually work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study shows that a willingness to try edible insects — in this case, a chocolate-covered mealworm — depends on what advertisement a person reads before deciding whether to eat it. When the ad focused on taste and experience, rather than environmental or health claims, more people would try the worms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, 180 volunteers reviewed informational flyers on an edible insect start-up company. The wording differed only in one sentence: “Eating meat has never been so _______,” meat referring to the meaty part of the insect in this case. The sentence ended with either “good for the environment,” “good for the body,” “exotic” or “delicious.” The latter two were considered by the researchers as hedonic marketing that appealed to the senses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After reflecting on the ad, participants were then given the option to try a chocolate mealworm truffle, which contained whole and visible worms. Participants who read the hedonic marketing claims were more likely to try the truffle, which the researchers attributed to higher-quality expectations suggested by the advertisements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fighting disgust\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Promoting taste may convince more people to try insects because it veers our reaction away from disgust. “It’s not a rational response,” says Val Curtis, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and author of the book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Touch-Eat-Revulsion-ebook/dp/B00EYZQWOK\">Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, the Science Behind Revulsion\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. “We have an innate response to things that might make us sick by feeling disgusted and, therefore, don’t want to consume them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Disgust can be easily generalized, and bugs on the dinner plate trigger the “ick” reaction because we associate them with the cockroach scurrying across the floor. The result? A ruined appetite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Telling people to eat insects for the sake of the planet, the researchers argue, won’t convince a stomach that has already said “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Saving the planet is not something we’ve evolved to do,” notes Curtis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the researchers suggest that hedonic advertising is a better way to entice would-be diners to eat bugs, because it helps prevent the disgust response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The cockroach rises\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we can clear that hurdle, insects could potentially become as common as lobster — which was once referred to as the “cockroach of the sea” and fed to prisoners and servants. But when railways began to spread across America and lobster was served to unsuspecting travelers — who didn’t know that the crustaceans were considered “trash food” — the passengers took a liking to the taste, and lobster began to soar in popularity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A related story surrounds sushi, which didn’t start \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07409710.2017.1420353\">gaining widespread acceptance\u003c/a> in the U.S. until the mid-’60s. When high-end restaurants started serving raw fish, it went from unpalatable to popular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, both lobster and sushi are considered delicacies, a trend that was propelled by another effective form of advertising: status appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rolin thinks insects could follow the same trend. “We’ve noticed that there’s been quite a few celebrities that have endorsed the idea of [eating] insects.” Recently, actress Nicole Kidman revealed her “secret talent” of bug consumption in a \u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3UqLAtdZ04\">video\u003c/a> by eating a four-course insect meal complete with fried grasshopper dessert, and singer Justin Timberlake served up bug dishes at a recent album release party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marketing campaigns that focus on a favorable bug-eating \u003cem>experience\u003c/em>, perhaps by showing celebrities eating them, might be enough to distract people from the disgust response long enough to get them to try it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reframing the bug\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say if you’re going to market insects, you take them as far away from anything slimy or crawling or creepy or too leggy,” says Curtis. “Meat is sold as a tasty product, and all pictures of animals have been taken off the packaging. I would say just do exactly the same with insects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to do this is by changing the name of the dish. We’ve done this with other foods: We eat pork, not pig; and beef, not cow. When serving ant larvae, it may be better to use their alternative food name: escamoles, a delicacy served in Mexico City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While taste and experience may prove to be a good way to promote eating insects, that shouldn’t discount environmental claims. Eco-friendly campaigns do get people to think more about food sustainability; they’re just \u003ca href=\"http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/520272\">not quite enough\u003c/a> to get most people to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by advertising escamoles in garlic sauce with cilantro and chipotle? It just might.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Should+Hyping+Edible+Bugs+Focus+On+The+Experience+Instead+Of+The+Environment%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Berly McCoy is a freelance science writer living in Northwest Montana. Follow her on Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/travlinscientst\">@travlinscientst\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Farming insects may be more sustainable than raising meat, but so far that hasn’t been quite enough to convince most Westerners to eat them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marketing them as delicious, exquisite delicacies, though? That might do the trick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global demand for meat drives environmental decline, from forest depletion and soil erosion to increased water use and the release of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insect farming is easier on the environment, says Joost Van Itterbeeck, visiting scientist at Rikkyo University in Tokyo and co-author of the book \u003ca href=\"http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e00.htm\">\u003cem>Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. And, he adds, “The nutritional benefits are very obvious in terms of proteins, minerals and vitamins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as nice as that all sounds, Westerners are just plain disgusted by bugs on the dinner plate. And save-the-planet discussions don’t seem to be changing their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current marketing tactics for eating insects tend to point out environmental and health benefits. But a \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2018.00088/full\">new study\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Frontiers in Nutrition\u003c/em> suggests it might be better to focus on taste and experience, such as highlighting how much dragonflies taste like soft-shelled crabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hiding crickets in cookies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This doesn’t come as a surprise to Kathy Rolin, who knows something about getting people to try edible insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her husband, James, originally started their business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cowboycrickets.com/\">Cowboy Cricket Farms\u003c/a>, to sell whole frozen crickets to food manufacturers. After finding that more first-time bug eaters opt for cookies baked with cricket flour instead of a whole cricket, they decided to expand their business to sell Chocolate Chirp Cookies directly to consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Telling people to eat insects for the sake of the planet, the researchers argue, won’t convince a stomach that has already said ‘no.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>They found the Chocolate Chirps had better profit margins. “We mainly market the cookies, because who doesn’t like a chocolate cookie?” says Kathy Rolin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/27/410013224/bugs-its-not-whats-for-dinner-until-theyre-tastier-maybe\">calls to appeal to consumers’ tastes\u003c/a> before, but now there is evidence that appealing to the senses might actually work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study shows that a willingness to try edible insects — in this case, a chocolate-covered mealworm — depends on what advertisement a person reads before deciding whether to eat it. When the ad focused on taste and experience, rather than environmental or health claims, more people would try the worms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the study, 180 volunteers reviewed informational flyers on an edible insect start-up company. The wording differed only in one sentence: “Eating meat has never been so _______,” meat referring to the meaty part of the insect in this case. The sentence ended with either “good for the environment,” “good for the body,” “exotic” or “delicious.” The latter two were considered by the researchers as hedonic marketing that appealed to the senses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After reflecting on the ad, participants were then given the option to try a chocolate mealworm truffle, which contained whole and visible worms. Participants who read the hedonic marketing claims were more likely to try the truffle, which the researchers attributed to higher-quality expectations suggested by the advertisements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fighting disgust\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Promoting taste may convince more people to try insects because it veers our reaction away from disgust. “It’s not a rational response,” says Val Curtis, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and author of the book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Touch-Eat-Revulsion-ebook/dp/B00EYZQWOK\">Don’t Look, Don’t Touch, the Science Behind Revulsion\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. “We have an innate response to things that might make us sick by feeling disgusted and, therefore, don’t want to consume them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Disgust can be easily generalized, and bugs on the dinner plate trigger the “ick” reaction because we associate them with the cockroach scurrying across the floor. The result? A ruined appetite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Telling people to eat insects for the sake of the planet, the researchers argue, won’t convince a stomach that has already said “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Saving the planet is not something we’ve evolved to do,” notes Curtis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the researchers suggest that hedonic advertising is a better way to entice would-be diners to eat bugs, because it helps prevent the disgust response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The cockroach rises\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we can clear that hurdle, insects could potentially become as common as lobster — which was once referred to as the “cockroach of the sea” and fed to prisoners and servants. But when railways began to spread across America and lobster was served to unsuspecting travelers — who didn’t know that the crustaceans were considered “trash food” — the passengers took a liking to the taste, and lobster began to soar in popularity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A related story surrounds sushi, which didn’t start \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07409710.2017.1420353\">gaining widespread acceptance\u003c/a> in the U.S. until the mid-’60s. When high-end restaurants started serving raw fish, it went from unpalatable to popular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, both lobster and sushi are considered delicacies, a trend that was propelled by another effective form of advertising: status appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rolin thinks insects could follow the same trend. “We’ve noticed that there’s been quite a few celebrities that have endorsed the idea of [eating] insects.” Recently, actress Nicole Kidman revealed her “secret talent” of bug consumption in a \u003cem>Vanity Fair\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3UqLAtdZ04\">video\u003c/a> by eating a four-course insect meal complete with fried grasshopper dessert, and singer Justin Timberlake served up bug dishes at a recent album release party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marketing campaigns that focus on a favorable bug-eating \u003cem>experience\u003c/em>, perhaps by showing celebrities eating them, might be enough to distract people from the disgust response long enough to get them to try it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reframing the bug\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would say if you’re going to market insects, you take them as far away from anything slimy or crawling or creepy or too leggy,” says Curtis. “Meat is sold as a tasty product, and all pictures of animals have been taken off the packaging. I would say just do exactly the same with insects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to do this is by changing the name of the dish. We’ve done this with other foods: We eat pork, not pig; and beef, not cow. When serving ant larvae, it may be better to use their alternative food name: escamoles, a delicacy served in Mexico City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While taste and experience may prove to be a good way to promote eating insects, that shouldn’t discount environmental claims. Eco-friendly campaigns do get people to think more about food sustainability; they’re just \u003ca href=\"http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/520272\">not quite enough\u003c/a> to get most people to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But by advertising escamoles in garlic sauce with cilantro and chipotle? It just might.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Should+Hyping+Edible+Bugs+Focus+On+The+Experience+Instead+Of+The+Environment%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Berly McCoy is a freelance science writer living in Northwest Montana. Follow her on Twitter: \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/travlinscientst\">@travlinscientst\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Meet the Granary Weevil, the Tiny Bug Who Resides in Our Pantries",
"headTitle": "Meet the Granary Weevil, the Tiny Bug Who Resides in Our Pantries | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If you store grains in your pantry, you’ve probably had the unfortunate experience of opening a package or jar to find tiny bugs living inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’re not alone — there are more than 200 species of these pesky grain insects ruining dinner plans around the world on a daily basis. It’s no accident that they’ve made a home in your pantry — they’ve evolved along with humans. In a way, they contain a fascinating natural history of our own domestication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is particularly true of the granary weevil. A reddish-brown beetle that turns up in oats, rice, corn, dry pasta and more, it’s the only grain insect that has never been found outside of human food-storage situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most grain insects are equal opportunity pests — feasting on animals’ food supplies in addition to our own. But the granary weevil has outplayed the others with a special adaptation that at first appears to be a disadvantage: It can’t fly. Its wings have fused together, encasing it in a solid exoskeleton. (Imagine getting knocked around by grains the size of your own body — you’d definitely want a protective suit like the granary weevils’.) But that also makes it hard to get anywhere outside its pile of grain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, the granary weevil has managed to infest grains all over the world for thousands of years. It even slipped its way into an Egyptian tomb — eating the grain meant for a pharaoh’s afterlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We are being used\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This puzzled Rudy Plarre, a scientist who studies insect pests at Freie University in Berlin. “They need to deposit their eggs to new food sources for the next generation,” he said. “How is this done by a beetle that cannot fly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He had a suspicion: Granary weevils are using \u003cem>us\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out if he was right, Plarre decided to try to re-create the granary weevils’ natural and cultural history. He started with the idea that human trade was key to its survival. Roughly past the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution about 12,000 years ago, humans began to trade grains among settlements. Before then, Plarre said it would have been virtually impossible for granary weevils to find enough food to survive, much less spread globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beetles act like stowaways, hiding as larvae within the kernel of a grain while they develop. “People would have traded grain that was infested because they didn’t know it was infested,” Plarre said. In other words, granary weevils don’t find their way into your food \u003cem>after\u003c/em> you put it into your pantry — the larvae are already there. The weevils’ ability to remain undetected is more proof of their human-influenced natural selection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if granary weevils are entirely dependent on human trade to reproduce, that means they would have branched off from other species of its genus, \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em>, and evolved on an incredible timeline. Evolutionarily speaking, 12,000 years goes by in a flash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The granary weevil likely came from humble beginnings, on the southwestern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains. That’s where you can still find other species of \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> living off tree fruits. When nearby humans began to farm and amass sizable stores of food, some \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> populations saw an opportunity. “There are probably six to seven \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> species,” said Plarre. “Only three of them — \u003cem>sitophilius granarius\u003c/em>, the granary weevil; \u003cem>sitophilus oryzae\u003c/em>, the rice weevil; and \u003cem>sitophilius zeamais\u003c/em>, the maize weevil — were able to make the evolutionary step into human environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Cosmopolitan pests”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These weevils are now known as “cosmopolitan pests,” meaning they made it out of their small mountain habitat to spread across the world. But unlike the granary weevil, the maize and rice weevils can fly, and they’re still found roughing it outside human storage situations. Plarre believes that the granary weevil was the only insect pest to take it to the next level: Post-human contact, they lost their wings and hitched their destiny to ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Signs of the granary weevils’ success pop up throughout history. They were excavated from an Egyptian tomb dating back to 2300 B.C., as well as from stables in Amarna from mid-14th century B.C. Sumerian cuneiform tablets, one of the earliest forms of writing, mention grain-eating pests interpreted to be granary weevils. The beetles were found within volcanic ash and lava that preserved early Roman settlements in Santorini, as well as in other Roman settlements ranging from Italy up to York, England. As the Roman Empire spread throughout Europe, they unknowingly helped establish the granary weevils’ empire, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, granary weevils appeared in art and science. One specimen was depicted in a 1630 drawing by Italian scientist Francesco Stelluti, who was among the first to use a microscope to study nature. Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoeck, who is considered the first microbiologist, used granary weevils to help disprove spontaneous generation, the long-held theory that new organisms can come from dead things. People apparently thought that the grains themselves were breeding the insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The big bug battle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite granary weevils’ contributions to science and their faithful (clingy) companionship to humans through history, they have been bugging us the whole time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, we’ve been doggedly trying to annihilate the pest of our own creation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a huge industry just built around managing these insects and keeping infestations from happening. It might be surprising just how much thought and effort goes into it all the way through the chain,” said Jim Campbell, an entomologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Manhattan, Kan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans wage battles against grain insects from the fields, to silos, to packaging and shipping, even on the shelves of your local grocery store. For much of the history of our co-evolution, humans had only the tools of creating dry environments and tightly sealed storage to fight pests like the granary weevil. Today, we have insecticides, sophisticated packaging, and even an “Infestation Destroyer” that uses centrifugal force to fling insects to meet their high-impact deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort is worthwhile. Campbell said that grain insects cause the loss of 2 to 5 percent of harvested grains in developed countries. That number shoots up to 50 percent in less-developed countries. It’s difficult to quantify the economic effects, because they’re distributed so widely through the manufacturing chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While granary weevils have evolved at an extraordinary pace, human progress might be faster than even those hard-core adapters can catch up with. “It’s way more rare for people to find insects in their food than they did just a generation ago,” said Campbell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the next time you disgustedly dump an insect-infested supply of rice, oats or pasta in the trash, take a moment to reluctantly tip your hat to the tenacity and dedication of the humble granary weevil — and its extraordinary, millennia-long journey to ruin your dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lindsay Patterson is the producer and co-host of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.sciencepodcastforkids.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=Xtci2Fudeb2mFuRu4fVJZeBvP4ufVbP6taPEukEjs-s&m=WP7sw9aBa6lDn_O0wOrUc8CIKEqmSoK_6mlLrtssxOE&s=Iso5FsIFyFliZSPf8yb79tFUs--MLpKpqNLbYWnuF-4&e=\">\u003cem>Tumble\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a science podcast for kids. She lives in Barcelona with her husband and son. Follow her on Twitter: \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TumbleCast?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cem>@tumblecast\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Meet+The+Granary+Weevil%2C+The+Pantry+Monster+Of+Our+Own+Creation&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Granary weevils are different from similar species: They can't fly. That's because they figured out how to use humans to get around the globe, and we are getting tired of this clingy relationship.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you store grains in your pantry, you’ve probably had the unfortunate experience of opening a package or jar to find tiny bugs living inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’re not alone — there are more than 200 species of these pesky grain insects ruining dinner plans around the world on a daily basis. It’s no accident that they’ve made a home in your pantry — they’ve evolved along with humans. In a way, they contain a fascinating natural history of our own domestication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is particularly true of the granary weevil. A reddish-brown beetle that turns up in oats, rice, corn, dry pasta and more, it’s the only grain insect that has never been found outside of human food-storage situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most grain insects are equal opportunity pests — feasting on animals’ food supplies in addition to our own. But the granary weevil has outplayed the others with a special adaptation that at first appears to be a disadvantage: It can’t fly. Its wings have fused together, encasing it in a solid exoskeleton. (Imagine getting knocked around by grains the size of your own body — you’d definitely want a protective suit like the granary weevils’.) But that also makes it hard to get anywhere outside its pile of grain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, the granary weevil has managed to infest grains all over the world for thousands of years. It even slipped its way into an Egyptian tomb — eating the grain meant for a pharaoh’s afterlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We are being used\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This puzzled Rudy Plarre, a scientist who studies insect pests at Freie University in Berlin. “They need to deposit their eggs to new food sources for the next generation,” he said. “How is this done by a beetle that cannot fly?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He had a suspicion: Granary weevils are using \u003cem>us\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out if he was right, Plarre decided to try to re-create the granary weevils’ natural and cultural history. He started with the idea that human trade was key to its survival. Roughly past the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution about 12,000 years ago, humans began to trade grains among settlements. Before then, Plarre said it would have been virtually impossible for granary weevils to find enough food to survive, much less spread globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beetles act like stowaways, hiding as larvae within the kernel of a grain while they develop. “People would have traded grain that was infested because they didn’t know it was infested,” Plarre said. In other words, granary weevils don’t find their way into your food \u003cem>after\u003c/em> you put it into your pantry — the larvae are already there. The weevils’ ability to remain undetected is more proof of their human-influenced natural selection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if granary weevils are entirely dependent on human trade to reproduce, that means they would have branched off from other species of its genus, \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em>, and evolved on an incredible timeline. Evolutionarily speaking, 12,000 years goes by in a flash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The granary weevil likely came from humble beginnings, on the southwestern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains. That’s where you can still find other species of \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> living off tree fruits. When nearby humans began to farm and amass sizable stores of food, some \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> populations saw an opportunity. “There are probably six to seven \u003cem>Sitophilius\u003c/em> species,” said Plarre. “Only three of them — \u003cem>sitophilius granarius\u003c/em>, the granary weevil; \u003cem>sitophilus oryzae\u003c/em>, the rice weevil; and \u003cem>sitophilius zeamais\u003c/em>, the maize weevil — were able to make the evolutionary step into human environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Cosmopolitan pests”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These weevils are now known as “cosmopolitan pests,” meaning they made it out of their small mountain habitat to spread across the world. But unlike the granary weevil, the maize and rice weevils can fly, and they’re still found roughing it outside human storage situations. Plarre believes that the granary weevil was the only insect pest to take it to the next level: Post-human contact, they lost their wings and hitched their destiny to ours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Signs of the granary weevils’ success pop up throughout history. They were excavated from an Egyptian tomb dating back to 2300 B.C., as well as from stables in Amarna from mid-14th century B.C. Sumerian cuneiform tablets, one of the earliest forms of writing, mention grain-eating pests interpreted to be granary weevils. The beetles were found within volcanic ash and lava that preserved early Roman settlements in Santorini, as well as in other Roman settlements ranging from Italy up to York, England. As the Roman Empire spread throughout Europe, they unknowingly helped establish the granary weevils’ empire, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, granary weevils appeared in art and science. One specimen was depicted in a 1630 drawing by Italian scientist Francesco Stelluti, who was among the first to use a microscope to study nature. Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoeck, who is considered the first microbiologist, used granary weevils to help disprove spontaneous generation, the long-held theory that new organisms can come from dead things. People apparently thought that the grains themselves were breeding the insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The big bug battle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite granary weevils’ contributions to science and their faithful (clingy) companionship to humans through history, they have been bugging us the whole time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, we’ve been doggedly trying to annihilate the pest of our own creation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a huge industry just built around managing these insects and keeping infestations from happening. It might be surprising just how much thought and effort goes into it all the way through the chain,” said Jim Campbell, an entomologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Manhattan, Kan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans wage battles against grain insects from the fields, to silos, to packaging and shipping, even on the shelves of your local grocery store. For much of the history of our co-evolution, humans had only the tools of creating dry environments and tightly sealed storage to fight pests like the granary weevil. Today, we have insecticides, sophisticated packaging, and even an “Infestation Destroyer” that uses centrifugal force to fling insects to meet their high-impact deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort is worthwhile. Campbell said that grain insects cause the loss of 2 to 5 percent of harvested grains in developed countries. That number shoots up to 50 percent in less-developed countries. It’s difficult to quantify the economic effects, because they’re distributed so widely through the manufacturing chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While granary weevils have evolved at an extraordinary pace, human progress might be faster than even those hard-core adapters can catch up with. “It’s way more rare for people to find insects in their food than they did just a generation ago,” said Campbell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the next time you disgustedly dump an insect-infested supply of rice, oats or pasta in the trash, take a moment to reluctantly tip your hat to the tenacity and dedication of the humble granary weevil — and its extraordinary, millennia-long journey to ruin your dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Lindsay Patterson is the producer and co-host of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.sciencepodcastforkids.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=E2nBno7hEddFhl23N5nD1Q&r=Xtci2Fudeb2mFuRu4fVJZeBvP4ufVbP6taPEukEjs-s&m=WP7sw9aBa6lDn_O0wOrUc8CIKEqmSoK_6mlLrtssxOE&s=Iso5FsIFyFliZSPf8yb79tFUs--MLpKpqNLbYWnuF-4&e=\">\u003cem>Tumble\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a science podcast for kids. She lives in Barcelona with her husband and son. Follow her on Twitter: \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TumbleCast?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cem>@tumblecast\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Meet+The+Granary+Weevil%2C+The+Pantry+Monster+Of+Our+Own+Creation&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "George, Reclusive Hawaiian Snail and Last of His Kind, Dies at 14",
"headTitle": "George, Reclusive Hawaiian Snail and Last of His Kind, Dies at 14 | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>George, the last of his species of Hawaiian land snail, died on New Year’s Day. He was approximately 14 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His death was \u003ca href=\"http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/blog/2019/01/04/nr18-249/\">confirmed\u003c/a> by Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George was born as part of a last-ditch effort to save his species. Back in 1997, the last 10 known \u003cem>Achatinella apexfulva \u003c/em>were brought into a University of Hawaii lab to try to increase their numbers. Some offspring resulted, but all of them died – except for George.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the last remaining \u003cem>A. apexfulva\u003c/em>, George lived out his days alone in a cage at DLNR’s snail lab in Kailua, Oahu, alongside 30 other species close to extinction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who knew George say he kept to himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a snail he was a little bit of a hermit,” David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, tells NPR. “I very rarely saw him outside of his shell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sischo said George likely died of old age, as 14 is “up there in snail years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While those who knew George use male pronouns to talk about him, George was a hermaphrodite. With both male and female parts, some snails can reproduce without a partner. But seemingly not \u003cem>A. apexfulva\u003c/em>: George leaves no survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while George (named for \u003ca href=\"https://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/about-galapagos/lonesome-george/\">the last surviving\u003c/a> Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise) was but one shy snail, his death takes place amid a crisis for native snails in the Hawaiian Islands, which have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/is-hawaii-the-extinction-capital-of-the-world-exhibit-a-the-alala-bird/2016/04/25/3f45c6ac-f210-11e5-89c3-a647fcce95e0_story.html?utm_term=.3b138cd45e44\">called\u003c/a> “the extinction capital of the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Island flora and fauna in general are pretty susceptible to pressures that are brought in from outside areas, such as introduced species,” Sischo explains. “A lot of the animals that evolved here don’t have a lot of natural defenses to mammalian predators and diseases that are brought in from mainland areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936474\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1936474\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hawaii’s Snail Extinction Prevention Program works to save rare and endangered snail species, like those seen here. These species, endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, occur nowhere else in the world. \u003ccite>(David Sischo/Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawaii’s native snail populations have been decimated by a series of invasive species arriving there, including \u003ca href=\"http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/removerats/home/impacts-of-rodents-mongooses/\">rats\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/jacksons-chameleon/\">Jackson’s chameleons\u003c/a>, a native of Kenya brought to the islands as pets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there is Snail Enemy Number One: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/euglandina-rosea\">rosy wolfsnail\u003c/a>. A predatory Florida snail introduced to Hawaii in the 1950s to control agricultural pests, it has an enormous appetite for other snails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately it hasn’t been a great bio control for what it was brought in for, and it’s just completely devouring our native snail fauna,” Sischo says. “That particular invasive species is probably the main driver of extinction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to save Hawaii’s imperiled snails, Sischo and his colleagues at the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/hip/sep/\">Snail Extinction Prevention Program\u003c/a> will jump into action if they recognize that a species’ population is crashing or spot a very rare snail. They will bring members of the species into captivity, put up predator-proof fencing around small habitat areas, and then reintroduce species into those areas. Sischo calls these measures “manning the lifeboats” – a sort of stopgap against extinction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But time is running short: Sischo suspects most of the large tree snail species on the islands that are alive now will be extinct in the wild within the next five to 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the tools to protect these species, it’s just a matter of if we can do it in enough time,” he says. “It’s hard to convey that timeframe to people because they don’t understand how quickly we’re losing these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the longer term, biotechnology like \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05665-1\">CRISPR “gene drives”\u003c/a> may be able to eliminate predators. And in 2017, a couple millimeters from George’s foot were taken to San Diego’s \u003ca href=\"https://institute.sandiegozoo.org/resources/frozen-zoo%C2%AE\">Frozen Zoo\u003c/a>, where his cells live on in deep freeze, waiting for advances in snail cloning. But those technologies aren’t here yet, so for now, Sischo and his colleagues move as fast as they can, scooping up rare snails and installing fences.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"aligncenter noborder\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/gIm16jdqlTM\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2017, Honolulu Magazine visited George at the snail lab. (HONOLULUMagazine YouTube)\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Snails have major cultural importance in the Hawaiian Islands, where folklore often depicts snails as being able to sing. People who grew up in the islands have told Sischo about walking up the hill from their houses, shaking the trees and collecting snails by the bucketload.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, “it’s a ghost town” if you’re looking for native snails, Sischo says. “We go to these areas and the host plants are there, and the conditions are right, and they’re just not there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sischo’s line of work, witnessing the last days of a species is common. He estimates that since he began working with snails in 2007, he’s been the last person to see 10 or 20 species in the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, his heart sank a bit when he learned that George had died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not so much that this one particular snail died, but it’s all of the history that goes with George,” he says, explaining that \u003cem>A. apexfulva \u003c/em>was the very first snail species in the Hawaiian Islands to be described by Western science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, he’s the last of his kind. … To have that last individual perish under your watch, it’s pretty depressing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=George%2C+Reclusive+Hawaiian+Snail+And+Last+Of+His+Kind%2C+Dies+At+14&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>George, the last of his species of Hawaiian land snail, died on New Year’s Day. He was approximately 14 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His death was \u003ca href=\"http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/blog/2019/01/04/nr18-249/\">confirmed\u003c/a> by Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George was born as part of a last-ditch effort to save his species. Back in 1997, the last 10 known \u003cem>Achatinella apexfulva \u003c/em>were brought into a University of Hawaii lab to try to increase their numbers. Some offspring resulted, but all of them died – except for George.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the last remaining \u003cem>A. apexfulva\u003c/em>, George lived out his days alone in a cage at DLNR’s snail lab in Kailua, Oahu, alongside 30 other species close to extinction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those who knew George say he kept to himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a snail he was a little bit of a hermit,” David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, tells NPR. “I very rarely saw him outside of his shell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sischo said George likely died of old age, as 14 is “up there in snail years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While those who knew George use male pronouns to talk about him, George was a hermaphrodite. With both male and female parts, some snails can reproduce without a partner. But seemingly not \u003cem>A. apexfulva\u003c/em>: George leaves no survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while George (named for \u003ca href=\"https://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/about-galapagos/lonesome-george/\">the last surviving\u003c/a> Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise) was but one shy snail, his death takes place amid a crisis for native snails in the Hawaiian Islands, which have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/is-hawaii-the-extinction-capital-of-the-world-exhibit-a-the-alala-bird/2016/04/25/3f45c6ac-f210-11e5-89c3-a647fcce95e0_story.html?utm_term=.3b138cd45e44\">called\u003c/a> “the extinction capital of the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Island flora and fauna in general are pretty susceptible to pressures that are brought in from outside areas, such as introduced species,” Sischo explains. “A lot of the animals that evolved here don’t have a lot of natural defenses to mammalian predators and diseases that are brought in from mainland areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936474\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1936474\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/achatinellinae-subfamily-snail-collage__sq-fd712f7cc941324a6fb3b79145e79a046af00530-s800-c85-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hawaii’s Snail Extinction Prevention Program works to save rare and endangered snail species, like those seen here. These species, endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, occur nowhere else in the world. \u003ccite>(David Sischo/Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawaii’s native snail populations have been decimated by a series of invasive species arriving there, including \u003ca href=\"http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/removerats/home/impacts-of-rodents-mongooses/\">rats\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/jacksons-chameleon/\">Jackson’s chameleons\u003c/a>, a native of Kenya brought to the islands as pets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there is Snail Enemy Number One: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/euglandina-rosea\">rosy wolfsnail\u003c/a>. A predatory Florida snail introduced to Hawaii in the 1950s to control agricultural pests, it has an enormous appetite for other snails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately it hasn’t been a great bio control for what it was brought in for, and it’s just completely devouring our native snail fauna,” Sischo says. “That particular invasive species is probably the main driver of extinction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to save Hawaii’s imperiled snails, Sischo and his colleagues at the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/hip/sep/\">Snail Extinction Prevention Program\u003c/a> will jump into action if they recognize that a species’ population is crashing or spot a very rare snail. They will bring members of the species into captivity, put up predator-proof fencing around small habitat areas, and then reintroduce species into those areas. Sischo calls these measures “manning the lifeboats” – a sort of stopgap against extinction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But time is running short: Sischo suspects most of the large tree snail species on the islands that are alive now will be extinct in the wild within the next five to 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the tools to protect these species, it’s just a matter of if we can do it in enough time,” he says. “It’s hard to convey that timeframe to people because they don’t understand how quickly we’re losing these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the longer term, biotechnology like \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05665-1\">CRISPR “gene drives”\u003c/a> may be able to eliminate predators. And in 2017, a couple millimeters from George’s foot were taken to San Diego’s \u003ca href=\"https://institute.sandiegozoo.org/resources/frozen-zoo%C2%AE\">Frozen Zoo\u003c/a>, where his cells live on in deep freeze, waiting for advances in snail cloning. But those technologies aren’t here yet, so for now, Sischo and his colleagues move as fast as they can, scooping up rare snails and installing fences.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"aligncenter noborder\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/gIm16jdqlTM\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2017, Honolulu Magazine visited George at the snail lab. (HONOLULUMagazine YouTube)\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Snails have major cultural importance in the Hawaiian Islands, where folklore often depicts snails as being able to sing. People who grew up in the islands have told Sischo about walking up the hill from their houses, shaking the trees and collecting snails by the bucketload.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, “it’s a ghost town” if you’re looking for native snails, Sischo says. “We go to these areas and the host plants are there, and the conditions are right, and they’re just not there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Sischo’s line of work, witnessing the last days of a species is common. He estimates that since he began working with snails in 2007, he’s been the last person to see 10 or 20 species in the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, his heart sank a bit when he learned that George had died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not so much that this one particular snail died, but it’s all of the history that goes with George,” he says, explaining that \u003cem>A. apexfulva \u003c/em>was the very first snail species in the Hawaiian Islands to be described by Western science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, he’s the last of his kind. … To have that last individual perish under your watch, it’s pretty depressing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org\">www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=George%2C+Reclusive+Hawaiian+Snail+And+Last+Of+His+Kind%2C+Dies+At+14&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Government Shutdown Threatens Funding for Public Health Programs",
"headTitle": "Government Shutdown Threatens Funding for Public Health Programs | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>There seems to be no end in sight for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/681658834/congressional-leaders-get-briefing-on-border-as-impacts-of-partial-shutdown-grow\">current partial government shutdown\u003c/a>, the third since the beginning of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the vast majority of the federal government’s public health efforts, though, it’s business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Congress has already passed five of its major appropriations bills, funding about three-fourths of the federal government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Appropriations+for+Fiscal+Year+2019\">seven bills\u003c/a> are outstanding — including those that fund the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments — and that puts the squeeze on some important health-related initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutdown itself is not about health policies. It’s the result of differences of opinion between the administration and congressional Democrats regarding Trump’s so-called border wall. But it’s far-reaching, nonetheless. Here’s where things stand:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Funding for “big-ticket” health programs is already in place, alleviating much of the shutdown’s immediate potential impact.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since HHS funding is set through September, the flagship government health care programs — think Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid — are insulated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s also true of public health surveillance, like tracking the flu virus, a responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Institutes of Health, which oversees major biomedical research, is also fine. It’s a stark contrast to \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/in-the-event-of-a-shutdown/\">last January’s shutdown\u003c/a>, which sent home about half of HHS’ staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But some other public health operations are vulnerable because of complicated funding streams.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the Food and Drug Administration falls under the HHS umbrella, it receives significant funding for its food safety operations through the spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, which is entirely caught up in the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, that tallied an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/03.21.18_fy18_omnibus_-_agriculture_-_summary.pdf\">$2.9 billion\u003c/a> to support among other things these FDA oversight efforts, which involve everything from food recalls to routine facility inspections and cosmetics regulation. Not having those dollars now means, according to the FDA \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy-2019-hhs-lapse-contingency-plan-narrative-december-ag-interior.pdf\">contingency plan\u003c/a>, that about 40 percent of the agency — thousands of government workers — is furloughed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA’s responsibilities for drug approval and oversight are funded by user fees and are generally not affected. Regulation of tobacco products is also continuing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Health services for Native Americans are also on hold.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Congress has yet to approve funding for the Indian Health Service, which is run by HHS but gets its money through the Department of the Interior, IHS feels the full weight of the shutdown. The only services that can continue are those that meet “immediate needs of the patients, medical staff, and medical facilities,” according to the shutdown contingency plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes IHS-run clinics, which provide direct health care to tribes \u003ca href=\"https://www.ihs.gov/locations/\">around the country\u003c/a>. These facilities are open, and many staffers are reporting to work because they are deemed “excepted,” said Jennifer Buschik, an agency spokeswoman. But they will not be paid until Congress and the administration reach a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other IHS programs are taking a more direct hit. For example, the agency has suspended grants that support tribal health programs, as well as preventive health clinics run by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ihs.gov/urban/\">Office of Urban Indian Health Programs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public health efforts by Homeland Security and the EPA face serious constraints.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs assesses threats posed by infectious diseases, pandemics and biological and chemical attacks. It is supposed to be scaling back, according to the department’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS%20Procedure%20Related%20to%20a%20Lapse%20in%20Appropriations%20%2812-20-2018%29%20-%20FINAL%20..._0.pdf\">shutdown contingency plan\u003c/a>. This office is just one component of the 204-person Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, which is retaining about 65 employees during the funding gap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other DHS health workers are likely to work without pay — for instance, health inspectors at the border, said Peter Boogaard, who was an agency spokesman under the Obama administration. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS%20Procedure%20Related%20to%20a%20Lapse%20in%20Appropriations%20%2812-20-2018%29%20-%20FINAL%20..._0.pdf\">DHS’ plan\u003c/a>, the vast majority of border patrol employees will continue working through the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency has also run \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/tsca-peer-review\">out of funding\u003c/a>. According to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-12/documents/epa_contingency_plan_december_18_2018_508.pdf\">contingency plan\u003c/a>, it’s keeping on more than 700 employees without pay, including those who work on Superfund sites or other activities where the “threat to life or property is imminent.” (More than 13,000 EPA workers have been furloughed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That limits the agency’s capacity for activities including inspecting water that people drink and regulating pesticides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not just regulation. The public health stakes are visceral — and sometimes, frankly, pretty gross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just look at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/2018_01_nps_contingency_plan.pdf\">National Park Service\u003c/a>, which has halted restroom maintenance and trash service for lack of funding. On Sunday, Yosemite National Park in California closed its campgrounds. On Wednesday, Joshua Tree National Park, also in California, did the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Per a park service \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/news/park-campgrounds-closed-during-government-shutdown.htm\">press release\u003c/a>: “The park is being forced to take this action for health and safety concerns as vault toilets reach capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a> which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "With the partial government shutdown continuing for a third straight week, several bills remain tied up in Congress — including those that fund the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments. The standstill has limited funding going to agencies like the EPA, FDA and National Park Service. Here's how the shutdown is impacting some important health-related initiatives.",
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"description": "With the partial government shutdown continuing for a third straight week, several bills remain tied up in Congress — including those that fund the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments. The standstill has limited funding going to agencies like the EPA, FDA and National Park Service. Here's how the shutdown is impacting some important health-related initiatives.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There seems to be no end in sight for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/681658834/congressional-leaders-get-briefing-on-border-as-impacts-of-partial-shutdown-grow\">current partial government shutdown\u003c/a>, the third since the beginning of the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the vast majority of the federal government’s public health efforts, though, it’s business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Congress has already passed five of its major appropriations bills, funding about three-fourths of the federal government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Appropriations+for+Fiscal+Year+2019\">seven bills\u003c/a> are outstanding — including those that fund the Interior, Agriculture and Justice departments — and that puts the squeeze on some important health-related initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shutdown itself is not about health policies. It’s the result of differences of opinion between the administration and congressional Democrats regarding Trump’s so-called border wall. But it’s far-reaching, nonetheless. Here’s where things stand:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Funding for “big-ticket” health programs is already in place, alleviating much of the shutdown’s immediate potential impact.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since HHS funding is set through September, the flagship government health care programs — think Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid — are insulated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s also true of public health surveillance, like tracking the flu virus, a responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Institutes of Health, which oversees major biomedical research, is also fine. It’s a stark contrast to \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/in-the-event-of-a-shutdown/\">last January’s shutdown\u003c/a>, which sent home about half of HHS’ staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But some other public health operations are vulnerable because of complicated funding streams.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the Food and Drug Administration falls under the HHS umbrella, it receives significant funding for its food safety operations through the spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, which is entirely caught up in the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, that tallied an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/03.21.18_fy18_omnibus_-_agriculture_-_summary.pdf\">$2.9 billion\u003c/a> to support among other things these FDA oversight efforts, which involve everything from food recalls to routine facility inspections and cosmetics regulation. Not having those dollars now means, according to the FDA \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy-2019-hhs-lapse-contingency-plan-narrative-december-ag-interior.pdf\">contingency plan\u003c/a>, that about 40 percent of the agency — thousands of government workers — is furloughed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA’s responsibilities for drug approval and oversight are funded by user fees and are generally not affected. Regulation of tobacco products is also continuing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Health services for Native Americans are also on hold.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Congress has yet to approve funding for the Indian Health Service, which is run by HHS but gets its money through the Department of the Interior, IHS feels the full weight of the shutdown. The only services that can continue are those that meet “immediate needs of the patients, medical staff, and medical facilities,” according to the shutdown contingency plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes IHS-run clinics, which provide direct health care to tribes \u003ca href=\"https://www.ihs.gov/locations/\">around the country\u003c/a>. These facilities are open, and many staffers are reporting to work because they are deemed “excepted,” said Jennifer Buschik, an agency spokeswoman. But they will not be paid until Congress and the administration reach a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other IHS programs are taking a more direct hit. For example, the agency has suspended grants that support tribal health programs, as well as preventive health clinics run by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ihs.gov/urban/\">Office of Urban Indian Health Programs\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public health efforts by Homeland Security and the EPA face serious constraints.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs assesses threats posed by infectious diseases, pandemics and biological and chemical attacks. It is supposed to be scaling back, according to the department’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS%20Procedure%20Related%20to%20a%20Lapse%20in%20Appropriations%20%2812-20-2018%29%20-%20FINAL%20..._0.pdf\">shutdown contingency plan\u003c/a>. This office is just one component of the 204-person Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, which is retaining about 65 employees during the funding gap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other DHS health workers are likely to work without pay — for instance, health inspectors at the border, said Peter Boogaard, who was an agency spokesman under the Obama administration. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/DHS%20Procedure%20Related%20to%20a%20Lapse%20in%20Appropriations%20%2812-20-2018%29%20-%20FINAL%20..._0.pdf\">DHS’ plan\u003c/a>, the vast majority of border patrol employees will continue working through the shutdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Environmental Protection Agency has also run \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/tsca-peer-review\">out of funding\u003c/a>. According to its \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-12/documents/epa_contingency_plan_december_18_2018_508.pdf\">contingency plan\u003c/a>, it’s keeping on more than 700 employees without pay, including those who work on Superfund sites or other activities where the “threat to life or property is imminent.” (More than 13,000 EPA workers have been furloughed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That limits the agency’s capacity for activities including inspecting water that people drink and regulating pesticides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not just regulation. The public health stakes are visceral — and sometimes, frankly, pretty gross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just look at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/2018_01_nps_contingency_plan.pdf\">National Park Service\u003c/a>, which has halted restroom maintenance and trash service for lack of funding. On Sunday, Yosemite National Park in California closed its campgrounds. On Wednesday, Joshua Tree National Park, also in California, did the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Per a park service \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/news/park-campgrounds-closed-during-government-shutdown.htm\">press release\u003c/a>: “The park is being forced to take this action for health and safety concerns as vault toilets reach capacity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a> which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Five Big Things Governor Brown Did on Climate Change",
"headTitle": "Five Big Things Governor Brown Did on Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In 1977, the 39-year-old governor of California led a puzzled press corps to a blustery stretch of coastline near Bodega Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard that you were going to come out here and talk to the whales,” one reporter said to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, I came out here to see,” said Gov. Jerry Brown. “The idea of the project is to put hydrophones in the water and pick up the sounds that the whales make as they go through their migration south.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘This isn’t for me. I’m going to be dead. It’s for you.’\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Governor Jerry Brown, on climate change\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Whale calls could be heard in the background, played by the “Gray Whale Listening Station,” an experimental project by the California-based art and architecture collective known as the Ant Farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was his first tour as governor, and Brown talked about environmentalism long before it was mainstream, promoting the nascent technologies of solar and wind power. At the time, critics thought his ideas were on the fringe. That approach earned him the nickname “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07mckinley.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Governor Moonbeam\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, more than 40 years later, Brown is leaving office again, having passed some of the most ambitious climate change policies in the country. Under his watch, renewable energy has boomed and carbon emissions have declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some say Brown didn’t go far enough, leaving California with the toughest climate challenges to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown sees it both ways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d say California has taken more intelligent action on climate change than any state or province in the Western Hemisphere,” he said in an interview with KQED in the weeks before leaving office. “We’ve pushed way beyond what other states can even imagine. And we have to go even further and I agree with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, there are few elected officials in the country who talk about climate change more than Brown, who calls it “a threat to organized human existence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jerry Brown thinks about this day and night,” says Ken Alex, Brown’s climate policy advisor for the past eight years. “I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alex recalls an out-of-office message he put on his email a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 710px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936292\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"710\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey.jpg 710w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the dry 2016 winter, Governor Brown meets with snow surveyor Frank Gehrke. \u003ccite>(Kelly M. Grow / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My response said, ‘I’m unplugging, no email, no nothing,’ and he wrote back and he said ‘Why? This is the time to be engaged. What are you doing?’” Alex remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, as Brown’s tenure ends, here are his biggest climate accomplishments (and what his critics had to say about them).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Putting California on Path to Be Carbon Neutral\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three years ago, Brown set an ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the state. He ordered a 40 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in September, he upped the ante, signing another order that would \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/9.10.18-Executive-Order.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make the state carbon neutral\u003c/a> by 2045, then achieving negative emissions after that. It means California wouldn’t be creating a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement was called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931644/jerry-brown-has-directed-california-to-go-carbon-neutral-by-2045-is-that-even-possible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aspirational\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/9/11/17844896/california-jerry-brown-carbon-neutral-2045-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stunning\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will that actually look like? No one really knows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an executive order, the policy is more like a rough guideline. New laws or rules from state agencies would be needed for it to actually go into effect, usually after lengthy scoping processes. And a new governor could simply undo the order (though Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom has been largely supportive of Brown’s climate policies).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, being carbon neutral wouldn’t require California to end all carbon emissions in the state. The state could offset any remaining emissions by finding ways to pull carbon out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes storage in natural ecosystems by building up the soil or by capturing it from manmade sources and putting it deep underground, a technology that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/485125/despite-millions-in-investment-carbon-capture-flops-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California has struggled to get off the ground\u003c/a>, despite millions of dollars of investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Getting Rid of Gas-Guzzlers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Car-loving Californians are potentially the state’s biggest hurdle to reaching its climate goals. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”IyxUwR7H2e9ndLJx4mY1zaZhTHlp0MtT”]“The real challenge is the consumption of oil, which has gone up,” Brown said in September. “Under my administration, gone up 4 percent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Brown set a goal to \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/01/26/governor-brown-takes-action-to-increase-zero-emission-vehicles-fund-new-climate-investments/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">put 5 million plug-in and electric cars\u003c/a> on the roads by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931169/governor-browns-biggest-climate-foe-isnt-trump-its-car-loving-californians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">no small feat\u003c/a>, considering there are now only 500,000 on the roads in California. The state has been handing out rebates, carpool-lane privileges and other incentives to try to entice drivers to switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some environmental groups thought Brown should tackle the problem at the source by banning oil production. California is the fourth-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to make real progress on climate change in the next decade, we have to decrease the use of oil and gas,” said Adam Scow of the advocacy group Food and Water Watch. “Governor Brown has been a major disappointment on the issue of fracking and oil drilling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown shrugged off the “leave it in the ground” critics by pointing out that oil production is already declining in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re moving in the same direction as the critics,” he said. “They’d just like it to go a little faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Extending California’s Flagship Climate Program: Cap and Trade\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, the future of one of California’s core climate policies was cloudy. The state’s cap-and-trade program faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11560541/heres-whats-in-the-deal-to-extend-californias-cap-and-trade-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a life-or-death vote\u003c/a> in the state legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few climate policies have been as controversial in the state as cap and trade. Critics blame it for everything from a rise in gas prices to providing funding for the much maligned high-speed rail project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the system, power plants and industrial and manufacturing facilities either must cut their emissions or buy carbon credits from someone else who has cut their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since it was only mandated through 2020, Brown and others wanted to see it extended to 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not here about some cockamamie legacy people talk about,” Brown said to legislators during the debate. “This isn’t for me. I’m going to be dead. It’s for you. It’s for you and it’s damn real.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But saving cap and trade would require winning over a tough audience for Brown: Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew that he needed to have Republican support to be able to make that happen,” said Assemblymember Chad Mayes, then the Republican Leader in the Assembly. “Not just from a technical perspective, but also for the sake of credibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 645px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936290\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"645\" height=\"363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy.jpg 645w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Brown and international leaders sign a climate accord in 2015. \u003ccite>(Joe McHugh, California Highway Patrol)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayes says he and other Republicans had seats in Brown’s office, where details and compromises were hammered out. Some of those compromises even won over the oil industry, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.wspa.org/statement-on-californias-cap-and-trade-legislation-by-catherine-reheis-boyd-president-western-states-petroleum-association/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dropped its opposition\u003c/a> to extending cap and trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somehow, compromise has become a dirty word amongst the activists on both the right and the left,” Mayes said. “I think Governor Brown has understood that, on the big issues, you need to have bipartisan support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Brown and his executive team helped win eight GOP votes. Those legislators \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-cap-trade-climate-change-california-legislature-political-landscape-20170719-htmlstory.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">faced political backlash\u003c/a> from other Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups thought Brown’s compromises had gone too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He essentially gave away opportunities to get more local pollution reductions from oil refineries–reductions that can protect public health–in exchange for the industry’s support for the cap-and-trade extension,” said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Showdown with the Trump Administration\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Left-leaning California has tangled with Republican presidents before, but Brown hasn’t minced words about President Trump or climate deniers, whom he deemed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/355510/governor-brown-takes-climate-message-to-world-stage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">troglodytes\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The battle came to a head when the Trump Administration sought to revoke California’s long-standing power to set its own clean air rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It dates back to when the Clean Air Act was signed in 1970. California was given special permission, known as a “waiver,” to put stricter limits on pollution coming from tailpipes because the state was facing a severe smog problem at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many years, that meant automakers had two sets of standards to meet when making cars: the federal fuel economy rules and then California’s tailpipe emissions rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve other states and Washington D.C. have also signed onto California’s rules. Then, under the Obama Administration, California and the federal government agreed on one uniform set of rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump Administration sought to undo that, announcing its own proposal for fuel economy rules, freezing them for cars and trucks from 2021-26 instead of gradually allowing them to get tougher every year. The administration also announced it would seek to revoke California’s waiver, something that had never been tried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This cannot be taken lightly,” Gov. Brown said in response. “I take this as an existential threat to America, to California and the world, and I’m going to fight it with everything I can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California already has one lawsuit pending against the rules, which likely won’t be the end of its legal defense. In October, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933612/california-escalates-battle-with-trump-epa-over-clean-car-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the state filed public comments\u003c/a> against the proposed rules, saying they would “worsen air quality for the most vulnerable, waste billions of gallons of gasoline, forfeit our best chance to fight climate change …”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Leading an International Climate Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Vatican in 2017, Brown opened a climate change speech as only he could: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was just one of many stops he made on a worldwide climate change tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helped pass the state’s first major climate law, AB 32, California has seen itself as a leader on the international stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brown created a new partnerships. In 2015, he banded together with leaders from states, provinces and cities around the world to announce new commitments to cut carbon emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The partnership was called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.under2coalition.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Under 2 MOU,\u003c/a>” with the goal to keep global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, which scientists say could avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 220 governments have signed on, though the agreement to cut emissions is not binding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown traveled to China, to international climate negotiations in Paris, and even to the Vatican, quoting from scripture along the way: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It culminated in September, when international leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931186/live-blog-bringing-you-the-global-climate-action-summit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gathered in San Francisco for a climate summit\u003c/a>. Brown announced California would launch its “own damn satellite” to track carbon emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jerry Brown was received almost as a head of state,” Alex says. “The reception everywhere he went was incredibly warm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His movement became higher-profile after the Trump administration announced it would pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate treaty. Brown told international leaders that California would fill the leadership void.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in his retirement, Brown says he’ll continue to work on climate issues, to “try to wake people up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Otherwise, he’ll be tending to olive trees on his Northern California ranch.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In 1977, the 39-year-old governor of California led a puzzled press corps to a blustery stretch of coastline near Bodega Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard that you were going to come out here and talk to the whales,” one reporter said to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, I came out here to see,” said Gov. Jerry Brown. “The idea of the project is to put hydrophones in the water and pick up the sounds that the whales make as they go through their migration south.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘This isn’t for me. I’m going to be dead. It’s for you.’\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Governor Jerry Brown, on climate change\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Whale calls could be heard in the background, played by the “Gray Whale Listening Station,” an experimental project by the California-based art and architecture collective known as the Ant Farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was his first tour as governor, and Brown talked about environmentalism long before it was mainstream, promoting the nascent technologies of solar and wind power. At the time, critics thought his ideas were on the fringe. That approach earned him the nickname “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07mckinley.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Governor Moonbeam\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, more than 40 years later, Brown is leaving office again, having passed some of the most ambitious climate change policies in the country. Under his watch, renewable energy has boomed and carbon emissions have declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some say Brown didn’t go far enough, leaving California with the toughest climate challenges to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown sees it both ways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d say California has taken more intelligent action on climate change than any state or province in the Western Hemisphere,” he said in an interview with KQED in the weeks before leaving office. “We’ve pushed way beyond what other states can even imagine. And we have to go even further and I agree with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, there are few elected officials in the country who talk about climate change more than Brown, who calls it “a threat to organized human existence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jerry Brown thinks about this day and night,” says Ken Alex, Brown’s climate policy advisor for the past eight years. “I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alex recalls an out-of-office message he put on his email a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 710px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936292\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"710\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey.jpg 710w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/survey-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During the dry 2016 winter, Governor Brown meets with snow surveyor Frank Gehrke. \u003ccite>(Kelly M. Grow / California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My response said, ‘I’m unplugging, no email, no nothing,’ and he wrote back and he said ‘Why? This is the time to be engaged. What are you doing?’” Alex remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, as Brown’s tenure ends, here are his biggest climate accomplishments (and what his critics had to say about them).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Putting California on Path to Be Carbon Neutral\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three years ago, Brown set an ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the state. He ordered a 40 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in September, he upped the ante, signing another order that would \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/9.10.18-Executive-Order.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make the state carbon neutral\u003c/a> by 2045, then achieving negative emissions after that. It means California wouldn’t be creating a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement was called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931644/jerry-brown-has-directed-california-to-go-carbon-neutral-by-2045-is-that-even-possible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aspirational\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/9/11/17844896/california-jerry-brown-carbon-neutral-2045-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stunning\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will that actually look like? No one really knows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an executive order, the policy is more like a rough guideline. New laws or rules from state agencies would be needed for it to actually go into effect, usually after lengthy scoping processes. And a new governor could simply undo the order (though Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom has been largely supportive of Brown’s climate policies).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, being carbon neutral wouldn’t require California to end all carbon emissions in the state. The state could offset any remaining emissions by finding ways to pull carbon out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes storage in natural ecosystems by building up the soil or by capturing it from manmade sources and putting it deep underground, a technology that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/485125/despite-millions-in-investment-carbon-capture-flops-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California has struggled to get off the ground\u003c/a>, despite millions of dollars of investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. Getting Rid of Gas-Guzzlers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Car-loving Californians are potentially the state’s biggest hurdle to reaching its climate goals. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>“The real challenge is the consumption of oil, which has gone up,” Brown said in September. “Under my administration, gone up 4 percent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Brown set a goal to \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/01/26/governor-brown-takes-action-to-increase-zero-emission-vehicles-fund-new-climate-investments/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">put 5 million plug-in and electric cars\u003c/a> on the roads by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931169/governor-browns-biggest-climate-foe-isnt-trump-its-car-loving-californians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">no small feat\u003c/a>, considering there are now only 500,000 on the roads in California. The state has been handing out rebates, carpool-lane privileges and other incentives to try to entice drivers to switch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, some environmental groups thought Brown should tackle the problem at the source by banning oil production. California is the fourth-largest oil producer in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to make real progress on climate change in the next decade, we have to decrease the use of oil and gas,” said Adam Scow of the advocacy group Food and Water Watch. “Governor Brown has been a major disappointment on the issue of fracking and oil drilling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown shrugged off the “leave it in the ground” critics by pointing out that oil production is already declining in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re moving in the same direction as the critics,” he said. “They’d just like it to go a little faster.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Extending California’s Flagship Climate Program: Cap and Trade\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, the future of one of California’s core climate policies was cloudy. The state’s cap-and-trade program faced \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11560541/heres-whats-in-the-deal-to-extend-californias-cap-and-trade-system\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a life-or-death vote\u003c/a> in the state legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few climate policies have been as controversial in the state as cap and trade. Critics blame it for everything from a rise in gas prices to providing funding for the much maligned high-speed rail project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the system, power plants and industrial and manufacturing facilities either must cut their emissions or buy carbon credits from someone else who has cut their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since it was only mandated through 2020, Brown and others wanted to see it extended to 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not here about some cockamamie legacy people talk about,” Brown said to legislators during the debate. “This isn’t for me. I’m going to be dead. It’s for you. It’s for you and it’s damn real.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But saving cap and trade would require winning over a tough audience for Brown: Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew that he needed to have Republican support to be able to make that happen,” said Assemblymember Chad Mayes, then the Republican Leader in the Assembly. “Not just from a technical perspective, but also for the sake of credibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1936290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 645px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1936290\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"645\" height=\"363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy.jpg 645w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/01/i18964lb2-copy-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Brown and international leaders sign a climate accord in 2015. \u003ccite>(Joe McHugh, California Highway Patrol)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mayes says he and other Republicans had seats in Brown’s office, where details and compromises were hammered out. Some of those compromises even won over the oil industry, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.wspa.org/statement-on-californias-cap-and-trade-legislation-by-catherine-reheis-boyd-president-western-states-petroleum-association/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dropped its opposition\u003c/a> to extending cap and trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Somehow, compromise has become a dirty word amongst the activists on both the right and the left,” Mayes said. “I think Governor Brown has understood that, on the big issues, you need to have bipartisan support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Brown and his executive team helped win eight GOP votes. Those legislators \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-cap-trade-climate-change-california-legislature-political-landscape-20170719-htmlstory.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">faced political backlash\u003c/a> from other Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups thought Brown’s compromises had gone too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He essentially gave away opportunities to get more local pollution reductions from oil refineries–reductions that can protect public health–in exchange for the industry’s support for the cap-and-trade extension,” said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Showdown with the Trump Administration\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Left-leaning California has tangled with Republican presidents before, but Brown hasn’t minced words about President Trump or climate deniers, whom he deemed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/355510/governor-brown-takes-climate-message-to-world-stage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">troglodytes\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The battle came to a head when the Trump Administration sought to revoke California’s long-standing power to set its own clean air rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It dates back to when the Clean Air Act was signed in 1970. California was given special permission, known as a “waiver,” to put stricter limits on pollution coming from tailpipes because the state was facing a severe smog problem at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many years, that meant automakers had two sets of standards to meet when making cars: the federal fuel economy rules and then California’s tailpipe emissions rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve other states and Washington D.C. have also signed onto California’s rules. Then, under the Obama Administration, California and the federal government agreed on one uniform set of rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump Administration sought to undo that, announcing its own proposal for fuel economy rules, freezing them for cars and trucks from 2021-26 instead of gradually allowing them to get tougher every year. The administration also announced it would seek to revoke California’s waiver, something that had never been tried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This cannot be taken lightly,” Gov. Brown said in response. “I take this as an existential threat to America, to California and the world, and I’m going to fight it with everything I can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California already has one lawsuit pending against the rules, which likely won’t be the end of its legal defense. In October, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933612/california-escalates-battle-with-trump-epa-over-clean-car-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the state filed public comments\u003c/a> against the proposed rules, saying they would “worsen air quality for the most vulnerable, waste billions of gallons of gasoline, forfeit our best chance to fight climate change …”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Leading an International Climate Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Vatican in 2017, Brown opened a climate change speech as only he could: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was just one of many stops he made on a worldwide climate change tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helped pass the state’s first major climate law, AB 32, California has seen itself as a leader on the international stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Brown created a new partnerships. In 2015, he banded together with leaders from states, provinces and cities around the world to announce new commitments to cut carbon emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The partnership was called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.under2coalition.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Under 2 MOU,\u003c/a>” with the goal to keep global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, which scientists say could avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 220 governments have signed on, though the agreement to cut emissions is not binding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown traveled to China, to international climate negotiations in Paris, and even to the Vatican, quoting from scripture along the way: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It culminated in September, when international leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1931186/live-blog-bringing-you-the-global-climate-action-summit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gathered in San Francisco for a climate summit\u003c/a>. Brown announced California would launch its “own damn satellite” to track carbon emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jerry Brown was received almost as a head of state,” Alex says. “The reception everywhere he went was incredibly warm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His movement became higher-profile after the Trump administration announced it would pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate treaty. Brown told international leaders that California would fill the leadership void.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in his retirement, Brown says he’ll continue to work on climate issues, to “try to wake people up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"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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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"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.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"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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"order": 16
},
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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