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"slug": "a-lesson-in-discrimination-a-toxic-sea-level-rise-crisis-threatens-west-oakland",
"title": "'A Lesson in Discrimination': A Toxic Sea Level Rise Crisis Threatens West Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of KQED’s series “Sacrifice Zones: Bay Area Shoreline Communities Reimagining Their Homes in the Face of the Climate Emergency.” The project looks at communities of color facing the worst of rising seas and fighting to thrive. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more of KQED’s reparations coverage.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toxic waste lurking in the soil under West Oakland neighborhoods is the next environmental threat in this community already burdened by pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stability of buried contamination from Oakland’s industrial past relies on it staying in place in the soil. But once the rising waters of San Francisco Bay press inland and get underneath these pockets of chemicals and gases, a certain amount of that waste will not stay in place. Instead, it will begin to move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 sites — colorless gases in dirt under schools, flammable chemicals buried in shallow soil near parks, petroleum in pockets of groundwater from iron manufacturing — lie in wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human-caused climate change is already forcing this groundwater rise in West Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area. UC Berkeley and UCLA scientists warn that plumes of waste will migrate underground along unpredictable pathways, exposing communities of color to contamination decades before floods gush over the industrial shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are environmental health issues that need to be addressed now,” said UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, a lead researcher with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toxic Tides\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span> a project that maps contamination in the path of sea level rise across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980277 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022.jpg\" alt=\"A view from the water of high-rise buildings beneath a pale blue sky. Along the waterfront are piles of scrap metal and industrial pipes. Between the scrap metal and the water is an embankment of rock. In the distant background are wooded hills.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downtown Oakland can be seen behind piles of scrap metal at a manufacturing facility at the Port of Oakland on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The toxic waste and pollution in West Oakland are a result of the legacy of racism in housing, economic and other policies over decades. Residents didn’t consent to living in these conditions. Now they’re demanding to be significant players in any climate resilience plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a park bench in front of her second-story apartment, Margaret Gordon, a 75-year-old Black woman with a powerful legacy of environmental advocacy, said the threat from underground toxics only adds to the neighborhood’s severe environmental hardships. Across the Bay Area and, in fact, the world, climate change disproportionately affects communities of color like West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1979614 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/011_KQED_BayviewAriannHarrison_03022022-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a gold-flecked denim baseball cap and a long navy skirt, Gordon described how three freeways box in the roughly 23,000 people living in this industrial landscape, three-quarters of them people of color living with the strain of low wages, high housing costs and the poor health that comes from increased exposure to pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s tons of pollutants, or toxins, in the ground,” Gordon said as a BART train zipped by and a line of semi trucks spewed fumes on the way to the Port of Oakland. “You cannot put up a garden without having your soil tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon founded the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to demand environmental justice for people of color here. It’s not surprising that West Oakland is one of the Bay Area cities most at risk from groundwater rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still comes down to race,” Gordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a resident of a historically Black community, Gordon sees climate justice as a form of reparations, a payment in money and services to repair the harm of conscious decisions, such as government leaders allowing toxic industries to operate in the neighborhood, devaluing the lives of Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reparation movement is the next level of civil rights,” said Gordon. “We should not be in a position of just surviving. We should be thriving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A dangerous game of inches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the northernmost edge of the neighborhood, about a half-mile from San Francisco Bay, a row of new, charcoal-gray and white condominiums rise above a black iron fence and a border of trees. Nearby, traffic zooms along Interstate 880, and a historic train station — also a contaminated site — speaks to the city’s industrial past.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/profile_report.asp?global_id=T10000007358\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1880, the Oakland shoreline ran through this section\u003c/span>\u003c/a> before infill expanded the landscape, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area, like most of West Oakland, is flat. Between these homes and the bay are at least three hazardous sites — including a partially cleaned-up old Army base and water treatment plant — contaminated with petroleum, volatile organic compounds and other industrial waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980284\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\" alt=\"The image shows a wide strip of pavement with a long line of semi-trucks on the right side. In the distance ahead are cranes at the Port of Oakland. Puffy clouds hover in the pale blue sky.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trucks line up to receive their freight at the Port of Oakland on April 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gordon said these homes could “be the first victims of sea level rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People in West Oakland largely don’t understand that this looming disaster is under their feet because, according to Gordon, they have enough to do simply to meet their basic needs. \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/FINAL_Baseline-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The median annual income for Black West Oakland residents is about $30,000, a third of the median income that white people earn in the neighborhood\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, according to Oakland’s Race and Equity Baseline Indicators Report from 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California climate policy measures sea level rise in feet. \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/docs/rising-seas-in-california-an-update-on-sea-level-rise-science.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Entire Bay Area shorelines could be swamped by 10.1 feet of brackish water\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by 2100 in extreme scenarios, according to an assessment the state conducted in 2017. But scientists say it won’t take feet to loosen toxic contaminants in West Oakland’s soil and render them dangerous to humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As bay waters rise and threaten to flood over the land, it presses a layer of salty water in under the land. This salty water seeps in below the existing groundwater, pushing it upward until, at some point, it touches contaminated soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Groundwater rise, then,\u003c/span> is a dangerous game of inches, according to Kristina Hill, director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. Very subtle changes to the shallow groundwater can pressure and crack sewer pipes, while chemicals can corrode them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As contaminants begin to move, they can spread toxins already in the soil, releasing poisonous gases that flow in and around these pipes. Those gases can enter homes, schools and businesses through cracked plumbing seals, poisoning residents. Methane, a gas that’s released when petroleum products break down, can even explode with an errant spark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are going to be real health risks,” Hill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>West Oakland hazardous sites and sea level rise in 2100\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS, CA Department of Toxic Substances Control, State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=bae696b261554d28ac6b85e680f1d3de&extent=-122.3404,37.7669,-122.2468,37.8439&home=true&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland got a glimpse of this in 2020 \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/Page/19027\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">when the Oakland Unified School District shut down McClymonds High School for a week\u003c/span>\u003c/a> after officials found trichloroethylene, a cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater under the school. Officials were concerned the chemicals could vaporize and waft into the air that students and teachers were breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and county officials confirmed \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/contaminated-groundwater-shuts-down-mcclymonds-high-in-oakland/2237816/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the contaminants possibly came from the five active cleanup sites\u003c/span>\u003c/a> within half a mile of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the kind of situation that’s going to occur,” Hill said. “It’s exacerbated by a rising water table. We could find mystery plumes in lots of places that weren’t being tracked and that suddenly show up under the cracked concrete slab floor of a high school. That’s what I worry about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\n\u003ch2>What does cleanup mean now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are 138 contaminated sites in West Oakland — junkyards, dry cleaners, auto shops and even a former ice cream factory — that either have never been cleaned up, or are in some state of active remediation, according to a KQED analysis of hazardous sites in online catalogs maintained by the state through its water board and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the hazardous sites, 82 are under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is well aware of the compounding issues of toxics in soil and groundwater rise, Alec Naugle, the board’s toxics cleanup manager, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1979645 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/09/2100-672x372.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to break those 82 sites down, look at those various scenarios, and then, using our enforcement authority, direct specific actions,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actions could include accelerating cleanups by 10 to 20 years and imposing stricter conditions for cleanup. Naugle said his team has sent letters to some landowners who need to factor in groundwater rise in cleanup plans. The agency rejected one application for a “cleaned up” status at a former petroleum refinery close to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Denying closure to a property owner who needs that to maybe sell the property becomes a really important, powerful tool that we can use,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is also partnering with Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute to forecast how groundwater will move into low-lying areas of Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. That research is slated to be released in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, said it couldn’t comment on the number or severity of active sites. The agency said it is developing guidance for sites and project managers “to ensure that remedies at contaminated sites are resilient now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DTSC director Meredith Williams said in an interview that the agency is prioritizing the places with the heaviest environmental burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are, for instance, abandoned dry cleaners all over the state,” she said. “They’ve led to groundwater plumes of solvents, and we’re identifying where our opportunities are to clean up those sites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said her staff has had some racial equity training to begin understanding why environmental justice matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our staff really don’t understand what the communities are like. They don’t understand the impacts of redlining,” she said. “These are things that, once people understand them, can lead to empathy for what it is that these communities are experiencing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dumping ground’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>West Oakland became an industrial powerhouse some 150 years ago when the transcontinental railroad ended its long journey at this edge of the bay. Over time, shipbuilding, metal foundries and manufacturing filled the small corner of Oakland, followed later by gas stations, dry cleaners and auto yards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Racist home-lending policies such as redlining relegated Black people to this neighborhood, preventing them from seeking housing outside the industrialized area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/RS55353_20220402_OaklandShorelineAcademy-04-e1738275140501.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing stripes, a mask and gardening gloves carries a large while walking in a marsh ecosystem.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta collects weeds during a community habitat restoration day at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park on Mar. 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there has been redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are,” said Phoenix Armenta, who is mixed-race and the regional resilience manager with the environmental group Gordon runs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://acphd-web-media.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media/data-reports/social-health-equity/docs/unnatcs2008.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black people born in West Oakland are likely to die 15 years earlier than white people born in the Oakland hills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span> according to a 2008 health assessment from the Alameda County Public Health Department. They’re also five times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes, three times more likely to die of stroke and twice as likely to die of cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland has been the economic engine of the city, yet residents are victims of racist policies that expose them to life-threatening environmental pollution without their consent, said Dorothy Lazard, a Black woman who grew up in the neighborhood and retired last year as the managing librarian of the Oakland History Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a lesson in discrimination, disregard and diminishment of a population that helped build the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1940s, \u003ca href=\"https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435002748820&view=1up&seq=5\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West Oakland was named among the city’s top blighted areas\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in an Oakland Planning Commission study. The authors wrote that neighborhoods like West Oakland were “grim” and “ugly” because of deteriorating buildings, overcrowding and limited housing. Local and federal policies worsened the blight, Lazard said, by seizing land through eminent domain and destroying homes and businesses for freeways, public housing and a BART station. The government-sanctioned actions conspicuously decimated a historic Black neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980281 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\" alt=\"The image is of the inside of a card with many handwritten notes thinking the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project and Margaret Gordon for her work on environmental justice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thank-you notes to Margaret Gordon and the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project line a bookshelf at the West Oakland office on April 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Claiming things through eminent domain is commensurate with colonialism,” Lazard said. “It’s like saying we can use this as our dumping ground because we’ve already devalued this space and the people within this space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The racism inherent in those decisions makes West Oakland a fairly typical community of color, where financial gain is “pitted against the needs of the people,” Margaretta Lin \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/From_the_Art_of_War_to_Being_Peace__Mindfulness_and_Community_Law.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">wrote in a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">critical history of West Oakland\u003c/span>\u003c/a> published in 2007. “The rules of the game have been structured in such a technocratic and legalistic way that community voices are rarely consulted or heard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lin teaches racial justice in planning and public policy at UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning, and its Future Histories Lab. In an interview, she said West Oakland residents didn’t approve of the policies that negatively affect their lives and health.[aside postID=news_11922784 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/RS57010_002_KQED_HousingJordanCourt_06292022-qut-1020x680.jpg']“They didn’t have consent about what kind of industries were going to go where, right?” she said. “They didn’t have consent about where freeways were going to be developed. All that came about because of racism and the lack of political power.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, housing prices are soaring in West Oakland, and new construction peppers the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Demographically, things are changing, and you can buy a million-dollar house in West Oakland, which never had happened before when it was predominantly African American,” Lazard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mitchell Schwarzer, who wrote “Hella Town,” a book on the history of Oakland, said the city needs to preserve a large percentage of housing for residents who have lived in West Oakland for decades. But, he said, that means Oakland leaders must grapple with tough questions about prioritizing people of color who have been “subject to real egregious damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you make sure that those people don’t get screwed over a second time?” he said. “That’s really what we’re talking about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Let’s talk about reparations’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The racism that shaped the economic and community life of West Oakland persists, according to Brandi T. Summers, a UC Berkeley geography professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so present that we can’t ignore it,” she said. “We can’t believe that we can extract race from this conversation at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980286\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980286 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021.jpg\" alt=\"The image shows a street party with Black people mingling and sitting at tables covered with white cloths. There are various beverages on the table. A man on a horse leans in to talk with the people. He's wearing blue jeans, a light blue cotton shirt and a pale cream cowboy hat. Behind the people is a white bouncy house. In the background of the photo is a cream-colored church with a tall, pointed tower.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Donnell McAlister and his horse JJ, named after Jesse James, ride through a Juneteenth block party to celebrate the opening of the Black Panther Party Mini Museum in West Oakland on June 19, 2021. Juneteenth is a federal holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The term “equity” has emerged as a dominant force for change at every policy level. Equity, however, isn’t a word Gordon uses to describe what’s needed for climate justice in West Oakland, because it’s not big enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t talk to me about equity anymore,” she said. “Let’s talk about reparations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909471/unpacking-reparations-eligibility-in-california\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">state task force on reparations\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is studying ways to repair the harm that emanates from enslavement and post-emancipation systemic racism. For Gordon, reparations recommendations should include cleaning up toxic sites, access to affordable housing, better health care, economic opportunities and power in planning decisions about climate resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We would have long-standing sustainability,” she said. “I would know there’s going to be housing for my children and grandchildren, so there’ll be a job for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reparations would also mean environmental justice, says Rev. Ken Chambers, a third-generation pastor currently leading the West Side Missionary Baptist Church in a small, tan rectangular building in the southwest corner of the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A community with fresh breathing air, not consumed by diesel truck traffic, ship traffic, smog” could develop green-tech jobs that pay good wages and also help the environment, according to Chambers, who is Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reparations that bolster the local economy, improve air quality and raise overall health could equal potential freedom from the tendrils of enslavement even as the climate emergency worsens, said Maya Carrasquillo, a UC Berkeley environmental engineering professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The full freedom to say, ‘I can leave or I can stay,'” she said. “Or, ‘I have the freedom, the values and the finances to be able to make the future I want.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "'A Lesson in Discrimination': A Toxic Sea Level Rise Crisis Threatens West Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of KQED’s series “Sacrifice Zones: Bay Area Shoreline Communities Reimagining Their Homes in the Face of the Climate Emergency.” The project looks at communities of color facing the worst of rising seas and fighting to thrive. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more of KQED’s reparations coverage.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Toxic waste lurking in the soil under West Oakland neighborhoods is the next environmental threat in this community already burdened by pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stability of buried contamination from Oakland’s industrial past relies on it staying in place in the soil. But once the rising waters of San Francisco Bay press inland and get underneath these pockets of chemicals and gases, a certain amount of that waste will not stay in place. Instead, it will begin to move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 sites — colorless gases in dirt under schools, flammable chemicals buried in shallow soil near parks, petroleum in pockets of groundwater from iron manufacturing — lie in wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human-caused climate change is already forcing this groundwater rise in West Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area. UC Berkeley and UCLA scientists warn that plumes of waste will migrate underground along unpredictable pathways, exposing communities of color to contamination decades before floods gush over the industrial shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are environmental health issues that need to be addressed now,” said UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, a lead researcher with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toxic Tides\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span> a project that maps contamination in the path of sea level rise across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980277 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022.jpg\" alt=\"A view from the water of high-rise buildings beneath a pale blue sky. Along the waterfront are piles of scrap metal and industrial pipes. Between the scrap metal and the water is an embankment of rock. In the distant background are wooded hills.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/004_KQED_SchnitzerSteelPortofOakland_03082022-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downtown Oakland can be seen behind piles of scrap metal at a manufacturing facility at the Port of Oakland on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The toxic waste and pollution in West Oakland are a result of the legacy of racism in housing, economic and other policies over decades. Residents didn’t consent to living in these conditions. Now they’re demanding to be significant players in any climate resilience plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a park bench in front of her second-story apartment, Margaret Gordon, a 75-year-old Black woman with a powerful legacy of environmental advocacy, said the threat from underground toxics only adds to the neighborhood’s severe environmental hardships. Across the Bay Area and, in fact, the world, climate change disproportionately affects communities of color like West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a gold-flecked denim baseball cap and a long navy skirt, Gordon described how three freeways box in the roughly 23,000 people living in this industrial landscape, three-quarters of them people of color living with the strain of low wages, high housing costs and the poor health that comes from increased exposure to pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s tons of pollutants, or toxins, in the ground,” Gordon said as a BART train zipped by and a line of semi trucks spewed fumes on the way to the Port of Oakland. “You cannot put up a garden without having your soil tested.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon founded the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to demand environmental justice for people of color here. It’s not surprising that West Oakland is one of the Bay Area cities most at risk from groundwater rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still comes down to race,” Gordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a resident of a historically Black community, Gordon sees climate justice as a form of reparations, a payment in money and services to repair the harm of conscious decisions, such as government leaders allowing toxic industries to operate in the neighborhood, devaluing the lives of Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reparation movement is the next level of civil rights,” said Gordon. “We should not be in a position of just surviving. We should be thriving.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A dangerous game of inches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the northernmost edge of the neighborhood, about a half-mile from San Francisco Bay, a row of new, charcoal-gray and white condominiums rise above a black iron fence and a border of trees. Nearby, traffic zooms along Interstate 880, and a historic train station — also a contaminated site — speaks to the city’s industrial past.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/profile_report.asp?global_id=T10000007358\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1880, the Oakland shoreline ran through this section\u003c/span>\u003c/a> before infill expanded the landscape, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The area, like most of West Oakland, is flat. Between these homes and the bay are at least three hazardous sites — including a partially cleaned-up old Army base and water treatment plant — contaminated with petroleum, volatile organic compounds and other industrial waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980284\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\" alt=\"The image shows a wide strip of pavement with a long line of semi-trucks on the right side. In the distance ahead are cranes at the Port of Oakland. Puffy clouds hover in the pale blue sky.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/025_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trucks line up to receive their freight at the Port of Oakland on April 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gordon said these homes could “be the first victims of sea level rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People in West Oakland largely don’t understand that this looming disaster is under their feet because, according to Gordon, they have enough to do simply to meet their basic needs. \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/FINAL_Baseline-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The median annual income for Black West Oakland residents is about $30,000, a third of the median income that white people earn in the neighborhood\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, according to Oakland’s Race and Equity Baseline Indicators Report from 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California climate policy measures sea level rise in feet. \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/docs/rising-seas-in-california-an-update-on-sea-level-rise-science.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Entire Bay Area shorelines could be swamped by 10.1 feet of brackish water\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by 2100 in extreme scenarios, according to an assessment the state conducted in 2017. But scientists say it won’t take feet to loosen toxic contaminants in West Oakland’s soil and render them dangerous to humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As bay waters rise and threaten to flood over the land, it presses a layer of salty water in under the land. This salty water seeps in below the existing groundwater, pushing it upward until, at some point, it touches contaminated soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Groundwater rise, then,\u003c/span> is a dangerous game of inches, according to Kristina Hill, director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. Very subtle changes to the shallow groundwater can pressure and crack sewer pipes, while chemicals can corrode them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As contaminants begin to move, they can spread toxins already in the soil, releasing poisonous gases that flow in and around these pipes. Those gases can enter homes, schools and businesses through cracked plumbing seals, poisoning residents. Methane, a gas that’s released when petroleum products break down, can even explode with an errant spark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are going to be real health risks,” Hill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>West Oakland hazardous sites and sea level rise in 2100\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS, CA Department of Toxic Substances Control, State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=bae696b261554d28ac6b85e680f1d3de&extent=-122.3404,37.7669,-122.2468,37.8439&home=true&zoom=true&previewImage=false&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland got a glimpse of this in 2020 \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/Page/19027\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">when the Oakland Unified School District shut down McClymonds High School for a week\u003c/span>\u003c/a> after officials found trichloroethylene, a cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater under the school. Officials were concerned the chemicals could vaporize and waft into the air that students and teachers were breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and county officials confirmed \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/contaminated-groundwater-shuts-down-mcclymonds-high-in-oakland/2237816/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the contaminants possibly came from the five active cleanup sites\u003c/span>\u003c/a> within half a mile of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the kind of situation that’s going to occur,” Hill said. “It’s exacerbated by a rising water table. We could find mystery plumes in lots of places that weren’t being tracked and that suddenly show up under the cracked concrete slab floor of a high school. That’s what I worry about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\n\u003ch2>What does cleanup mean now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are 138 contaminated sites in West Oakland — junkyards, dry cleaners, auto shops and even a former ice cream factory — that either have never been cleaned up, or are in some state of active remediation, according to a KQED analysis of hazardous sites in online catalogs maintained by the state through its water board and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the hazardous sites, 82 are under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is well aware of the compounding issues of toxics in soil and groundwater rise, Alec Naugle, the board’s toxics cleanup manager, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to break those 82 sites down, look at those various scenarios, and then, using our enforcement authority, direct specific actions,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actions could include accelerating cleanups by 10 to 20 years and imposing stricter conditions for cleanup. Naugle said his team has sent letters to some landowners who need to factor in groundwater rise in cleanup plans. The agency rejected one application for a “cleaned up” status at a former petroleum refinery close to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Denying closure to a property owner who needs that to maybe sell the property becomes a really important, powerful tool that we can use,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency is also partnering with Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute to forecast how groundwater will move into low-lying areas of Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. That research is slated to be released in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, said it couldn’t comment on the number or severity of active sites. The agency said it is developing guidance for sites and project managers “to ensure that remedies at contaminated sites are resilient now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DTSC director Meredith Williams said in an interview that the agency is prioritizing the places with the heaviest environmental burden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are, for instance, abandoned dry cleaners all over the state,” she said. “They’ve led to groundwater plumes of solvents, and we’re identifying where our opportunities are to clean up those sites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said her staff has had some racial equity training to begin understanding why environmental justice matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our staff really don’t understand what the communities are like. They don’t understand the impacts of redlining,” she said. “These are things that, once people understand them, can lead to empathy for what it is that these communities are experiencing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dumping ground’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>West Oakland became an industrial powerhouse some 150 years ago when the transcontinental railroad ended its long journey at this edge of the bay. Over time, shipbuilding, metal foundries and manufacturing filled the small corner of Oakland, followed later by gas stations, dry cleaners and auto yards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Racist home-lending policies such as redlining relegated Black people to this neighborhood, preventing them from seeking housing outside the industrialized area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1980295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/RS55353_20220402_OaklandShorelineAcademy-04-e1738275140501.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing stripes, a mask and gardening gloves carries a large while walking in a marsh ecosystem.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix Armenta collects weeds during a community habitat restoration day at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park on Mar. 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In Oakland, where there has been redlining is exactly where all the toxic sites are,” said Phoenix Armenta, who is mixed-race and the regional resilience manager with the environmental group Gordon runs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://acphd-web-media.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/media/data-reports/social-health-equity/docs/unnatcs2008.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black people born in West Oakland are likely to die 15 years earlier than white people born in the Oakland hills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u003c/span> according to a 2008 health assessment from the Alameda County Public Health Department. They’re also five times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes, three times more likely to die of stroke and twice as likely to die of cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>West Oakland has been the economic engine of the city, yet residents are victims of racist policies that expose them to life-threatening environmental pollution without their consent, said Dorothy Lazard, a Black woman who grew up in the neighborhood and retired last year as the managing librarian of the Oakland History Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a lesson in discrimination, disregard and diminishment of a population that helped build the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1940s, \u003ca href=\"https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435002748820&view=1up&seq=5\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West Oakland was named among the city’s top blighted areas\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in an Oakland Planning Commission study. The authors wrote that neighborhoods like West Oakland were “grim” and “ugly” because of deteriorating buildings, overcrowding and limited housing. Local and federal policies worsened the blight, Lazard said, by seizing land through eminent domain and destroying homes and businesses for freeways, public housing and a BART station. The government-sanctioned actions conspicuously decimated a historic Black neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980281 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg\" alt=\"The image is of the inside of a card with many handwritten notes thinking the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project and Margaret Gordon for her work on environmental justice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/005_KQED_MargaretGordonWestOakland_04122022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thank-you notes to Margaret Gordon and the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project line a bookshelf at the West Oakland office on April 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Claiming things through eminent domain is commensurate with colonialism,” Lazard said. “It’s like saying we can use this as our dumping ground because we’ve already devalued this space and the people within this space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The racism inherent in those decisions makes West Oakland a fairly typical community of color, where financial gain is “pitted against the needs of the people,” Margaretta Lin \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/From_the_Art_of_War_to_Being_Peace__Mindfulness_and_Community_Law.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">wrote in a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">critical history of West Oakland\u003c/span>\u003c/a> published in 2007. “The rules of the game have been structured in such a technocratic and legalistic way that community voices are rarely consulted or heard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lin teaches racial justice in planning and public policy at UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning, and its Future Histories Lab. In an interview, she said West Oakland residents didn’t approve of the policies that negatively affect their lives and health.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They didn’t have consent about what kind of industries were going to go where, right?” she said. “They didn’t have consent about where freeways were going to be developed. All that came about because of racism and the lack of political power.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, housing prices are soaring in West Oakland, and new construction peppers the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Demographically, things are changing, and you can buy a million-dollar house in West Oakland, which never had happened before when it was predominantly African American,” Lazard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mitchell Schwarzer, who wrote “Hella Town,” a book on the history of Oakland, said the city needs to preserve a large percentage of housing for residents who have lived in West Oakland for decades. But, he said, that means Oakland leaders must grapple with tough questions about prioritizing people of color who have been “subject to real egregious damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you make sure that those people don’t get screwed over a second time?” he said. “That’s really what we’re talking about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Let’s talk about reparations’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The racism that shaped the economic and community life of West Oakland persists, according to Brandi T. Summers, a UC Berkeley geography professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so present that we can’t ignore it,” she said. “We can’t believe that we can extract race from this conversation at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980286\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1980286 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021.jpg\" alt=\"The image shows a street party with Black people mingling and sitting at tables covered with white cloths. There are various beverages on the table. A man on a horse leans in to talk with the people. He's wearing blue jeans, a light blue cotton shirt and a pale cream cowboy hat. Behind the people is a white bouncy house. In the background of the photo is a cream-colored church with a tall, pointed tower.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/09/028_Oakland_JuneteenthBBPMuseum_06192021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Donnell McAlister and his horse JJ, named after Jesse James, ride through a Juneteenth block party to celebrate the opening of the Black Panther Party Mini Museum in West Oakland on June 19, 2021. Juneteenth is a federal holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The term “equity” has emerged as a dominant force for change at every policy level. Equity, however, isn’t a word Gordon uses to describe what’s needed for climate justice in West Oakland, because it’s not big enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t talk to me about equity anymore,” she said. “Let’s talk about reparations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11909471/unpacking-reparations-eligibility-in-california\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">state task force on reparations\u003c/span>\u003c/a> is studying ways to repair the harm that emanates from enslavement and post-emancipation systemic racism. For Gordon, reparations recommendations should include cleaning up toxic sites, access to affordable housing, better health care, economic opportunities and power in planning decisions about climate resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We would have long-standing sustainability,” she said. “I would know there’s going to be housing for my children and grandchildren, so there’ll be a job for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reparations would also mean environmental justice, says Rev. Ken Chambers, a third-generation pastor currently leading the West Side Missionary Baptist Church in a small, tan rectangular building in the southwest corner of the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A community with fresh breathing air, not consumed by diesel truck traffic, ship traffic, smog” could develop green-tech jobs that pay good wages and also help the environment, according to Chambers, who is Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reparations that bolster the local economy, improve air quality and raise overall health could equal potential freedom from the tendrils of enslavement even as the climate emergency worsens, said Maya Carrasquillo, a UC Berkeley environmental engineering professor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The full freedom to say, ‘I can leave or I can stay,'” she said. “Or, ‘I have the freedom, the values and the finances to be able to make the future I want.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "See a Map of Bay Area Hazardous Sites at Risk From Rising Seas",
"headTitle": "See a Map of Bay Area Hazardous Sites at Risk From Rising Seas | KQED",
"content": "\u003ch5>Bay Area Hazardous Sites and 2100 Sea Level Rise\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=3e86f6c8e421434984af53fe450e9b3c&extent=-122.5783,37.3195,-121.8292,37.9367&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 900 hazardous sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup areas and other facilities — across California could be inundated with ocean water and groundwater by the end of the century, according to climate scientists at UCLA and UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is presenting new risks that can lead to excess releases of hazardous materials from these highly industrialized parts of our coastline,” said UCLA’s Lara Cushing. “Our analysis also shows that communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing and UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, both environmental health scientists, last year launched an interactive tool, \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, mapping California’s hazardous sites that could be inundated by sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first iteration of the project looked at middle-of-the-line climate scenarios based on models used by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities/\"> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing feedback from shoreline residents and local officials in a series of virtual community workshops that the work was informative but didn’t estimate the riskiest scenarios, \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the scientists have updated their project with a more extreme scenario\u003c/a> in which ice sheets in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/antarctic-ice-shelves-are-shattering-how-fast-will-seas-rise\">West Antarctica collapse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this occurs, San Francisco Bay could rise by 10.1 feet by 2100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Differences in scientific modeling scenarios before the year 2050 are minor, but they diverge significantly after mid-century. The results depend on greenhouse gas emissions, which human beings will determine by the rate they burn fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to consider the worst-case scenario because, unfortunately, our leaders, especially at the federal level, have not risen to the challenge of addressing climate change,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also used federal groundwater data to examine how rising ocean water would drive freshwater up from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research highlights the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and a cluster of other hazardous sites in the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point. And dozens of power plants, refineries, landfills and other industrial sites line communities like East Palo Alto, Richmond, Oakland and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Sea level rise] can enhance the risk of groundwater encroachment, particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil, or even in the groundwater,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is especially important to understand, she said, for places where toxic contamination is in \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_capping.pdf\">soil with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials\u003c/a> — holding it in place to protect the public and the environment. The problem with these caps: Rising groundwater from below could eat away at the pollution, spread it to other areas or bring that contaminated water aboveground, exposing people and San Francisco Bay itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientist’s findings showcase significant risk. But they note that understanding the effect of sea level rise and groundwater encroachment on each hazardous facility will take site-specific data. This could include the level of contamination, the depth of groundwater, any existing caps, or sea walls and other protective measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to develop these tools because you want to get all of this data together in one place,” Morello-Frosch said. “There needs to be some coordinated effort to begin to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Data sources\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Toxic Tides team provided KQED with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">the map’s data layers\u003c/a>, which feature the high-risk aversion scenario for sea level rise as described in \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the latest state guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5bd9f318e4b0b3fc5cec20ed\">Groundwater data\u003c/a> originates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The data layer shows 3 meters (9.8 feet), which corresponds most closely to the degree of sea level rise for the high-risk aversion scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood risk projections are based on rising sea levels, tides and storm surge. Site-specific details about groundwater contamination are not included in these findings. Scientists derived hazardous site data from federal databases that track landfills, toxic cleanup sites, refineries, sewage treatment plants and other sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The databases include the U.S. EPA Facility Registry Service, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s U.S. Energy Atlas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, and the Enverus database of oil and gas well permits. The authors say “a lack of groundwater data coupled with imprecise estimates of facility boundaries may lead to potential underestimates of the number of at-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings do not include an exhaustive list of all potentially contaminated sites, like underground storage tanks or other industrial sites with contamination. Find more information on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s \u003ca href=\"https://explorer.adaptingtorisingtides.org/home\"> Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer \u003c/a> or the San Francisco Baykeeper \u003ca href=\"https://baykeeper.org/shoreview/pollution.html\"> Sea Level Rise and Pollution Risk to the Bay \u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Hundreds of refineries, cleanup areas and other hazardous sites across California could be inundated with ocean water and groundwater by the end of the century.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch5>Bay Area Hazardous Sites and 2100 Sea Level Rise\u003c/h5>\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: 90%\">\u003cspan style=\"font-size: small\">\u003cem>Click the arrow to view the map legend. Use your mouse to move the map. Use the + and – signs to zoom in and out. Click on the dots to view details. Click on the magnifying glass to search for a specific address. Areas marked by circles show the impact of rising seas and groundwater together, while squares show groundwater impacts only. Sources: Climate Central, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USGS\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Embed/index.html?webmap=3e86f6c8e421434984af53fe450e9b3c&extent=-122.5783,37.3195,-121.8292,37.9367&home=true&zoom=true&scale=true&search=true&searchextent=false&details=true&legend=true&active_panel=legend&disable_scroll=true&theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 900 hazardous sites — power plants, sewage treatment plants, refineries, cleanup areas and other facilities — across California could be inundated with ocean water and groundwater by the end of the century, according to climate scientists at UCLA and UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is presenting new risks that can lead to excess releases of hazardous materials from these highly industrialized parts of our coastline,” said UCLA’s Lara Cushing. “Our analysis also shows that communities of color are much more likely to live near one of these risk sites, as are lower-income communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cushing and UC Berkeley’s Rachel Morello-Frosch, both environmental health scientists, last year launched an interactive tool, \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/home?authuser=0\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, mapping California’s hazardous sites that could be inundated by sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first iteration of the project looked at middle-of-the-line climate scenarios based on models used by the\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities/\"> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After hearing feedback from shoreline residents and local officials in a series of virtual community workshops that the work was informative but didn’t estimate the riskiest scenarios, \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the scientists have updated their project with a more extreme scenario\u003c/a> in which ice sheets in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/antarctic-ice-shelves-are-shattering-how-fast-will-seas-rise\">West Antarctica collapse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this occurs, San Francisco Bay could rise by 10.1 feet by 2100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Differences in scientific modeling scenarios before the year 2050 are minor, but they diverge significantly after mid-century. The results depend on greenhouse gas emissions, which human beings will determine by the rate they burn fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important to consider the worst-case scenario because, unfortunately, our leaders, especially at the federal level, have not risen to the challenge of addressing climate change,” said Cushing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also used federal groundwater data to examine how rising ocean water would drive freshwater up from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research highlights the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and a cluster of other hazardous sites in the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point. And dozens of power plants, refineries, landfills and other industrial sites line communities like East Palo Alto, Richmond, Oakland and San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Sea level rise] can enhance the risk of groundwater encroachment, particularly in sites where there are toxic contaminants in the soil, or even in the groundwater,” said Morello-Frosch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is especially important to understand, she said, for places where toxic contamination is in \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_capping.pdf\">soil with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials\u003c/a> — holding it in place to protect the public and the environment. The problem with these caps: Rising groundwater from below could eat away at the pollution, spread it to other areas or bring that contaminated water aboveground, exposing people and San Francisco Bay itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientist’s findings showcase significant risk. But they note that understanding the effect of sea level rise and groundwater encroachment on each hazardous facility will take site-specific data. This could include the level of contamination, the depth of groundwater, any existing caps, or sea walls and other protective measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to develop these tools because you want to get all of this data together in one place,” Morello-Frosch said. “There needs to be some coordinated effort to begin to respond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Data sources\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Toxic Tides team provided KQED with \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides/extreme-scenarios?authuser=0\">the map’s data layers\u003c/a>, which feature the high-risk aversion scenario for sea level rise as described in \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the latest state guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/5bd9f318e4b0b3fc5cec20ed\">Groundwater data\u003c/a> originates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The data layer shows 3 meters (9.8 feet), which corresponds most closely to the degree of sea level rise for the high-risk aversion scenario.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flood risk projections are based on rising sea levels, tides and storm surge. Site-specific details about groundwater contamination are not included in these findings. Scientists derived hazardous site data from federal databases that track landfills, toxic cleanup sites, refineries, sewage treatment plants and other sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The databases include the U.S. EPA Facility Registry Service, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s U.S. Energy Atlas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center, and the Enverus database of oil and gas well permits. The authors say “a lack of groundwater data coupled with imprecise estimates of facility boundaries may lead to potential underestimates of the number of at-risk facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings do not include an exhaustive list of all potentially contaminated sites, like underground storage tanks or other industrial sites with contamination. Find more information on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s \u003ca href=\"https://explorer.adaptingtorisingtides.org/home\"> Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer \u003c/a> or the San Francisco Baykeeper \u003ca href=\"https://baykeeper.org/shoreview/pollution.html\"> Sea Level Rise and Pollution Risk to the Bay \u003c/a> website.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "From Giant Isopods to Glowing Jellies, This New Monterey Bay Aquarium Exhibit Features Deep-Sea Creatures Never Seen Before",
"headTitle": "From Giant Isopods to Glowing Jellies, This New Monterey Bay Aquarium Exhibit Features Deep-Sea Creatures Never Seen Before | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The midnight zone begins half a mile beneath the ocean, and is an area so deep that no sunlight can reach it. Few humans have seen the animals who live there — until now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A groundbreaking exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is bringing deep-sea animals from the midnight zone up to the surface and into public view for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s really cool about this exhibit is that we are the only humans on Earth right now that are likely looking at some of these animals,” said Allen Protasio, exhibit guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Samantha Muka, aquarium historian and professor, Stevens Institute of Technology']‘We should be completely astounded by the technological things that they’ve done. It probably couldn’t have been done even 10 or 15 years ago. It’s that cutting-edge.’[/pullquote]The midnight zone is cold and dark, and can only be explored by remote operating vehicles (ROVs) controlled by pilots in submarines. The deep sea is rich with strange and often bioluminescent creatures, many of them delicate and unable to withstand the drastic transition to the low pressure, bright lights and high temperatures at the surface. Monterey Bay researchers have experimented for over a decade with ways to bring elusive deep-sea life safely up from the depths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exhibit takes visitors on a descending tour of the abyss, starting with a model of Monterey Bay’s underwater canyon. Some parts of the canyon are more than a mile deep, and the canyon comes remarkably close to shore. Visitors can meander through a darkened gallery of tanks displaying gelatinous creatures from the shallower end of the midnight zone, known as the midwater, which ranges from 650 feet to 3,300 feet deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A rust-colored crab with an oval body and white markings on its shell and legs rises up on four legs, two legs extended out above and in front of its body like an orchestra conductor. The crab is on a sandy floor inside an aquarium, with models of whale bones on the ground and looming in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Japanese spider crab is the size of a small dog. \u003ccite>(Tyson V. Rininger/Monterey Bay Aquarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the midwater gallery, screens show dazzling ROV footage of shimmering bioluminescence. A goopy string adorned with stingers — a creature known as a siphonophore — floats suspended in its tank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tommy Knowles, a jellyfish expert and one of the scientists who developed the exhibit, described his favorite midwater creature — a crimson dome bedazzled with ridges of strobing rainbow lights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the bloody belly comb jelly, Lampocteis,” Knowles said. “It’s one of the most delicate jellies in the world. It’s like a sparkly bowl of Jell-O.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowles and other scientists tinkered with the acidity, light and temperature to achieve conditions that were just right for each deep-sea animal on display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be completely astounded by the technological things that they’ve done,” said Samantha Muka, aquarium historian and professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. “It probably couldn’t have been done even 10 or 15 years ago. It’s that cutting-edge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the deep sea is known for its high pressures, the aquarium scientists found that some deep-sea creatures could survive the ascent if they were given time to acclimate to the lower pressure and higher temperatures, not unlike the delicacy required when human divers return from high-pressure depths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Inside a deep sea exhibit, black boulders looking like pieces of charcoal, pocked with lines and small holes line the ground. Growing on these boulders are tall, pale orange corals with trunks like a tree and branches like a curved fan. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2.jpg 1044w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Corals and sponges that grow on underwater mountains, or “seamounts” develop so slowly that damaged habitats could take centuries to recover. Drilling, mining, and fishing can put corals, sponges, and the animals they shelter at risk. \u003ccite>(Tyson V. Rininger/Monterey Bay Aquarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re the only people right now that know how you can push these animals, like the plasticity of their pressure needs at the moment,” said Muka. “They already know more about those deep-sea animals than we’ve ever known about them ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it took years of trial and error to figure out each deep-sea creature’s specific requirements, achieving low-enough oxygen levels proved to be a particular challenge. Many deep-sea creatures from an area known as the oxygen minimum zone need as little as 5% of the oxygen found at the ocean’s surface to survive. Some displays required developing new methods to strip oxygen out of seawater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to use equipment that I don’t think has ever been used in aquariums before,” Knowles said. “It was used in food production, for stripping gasses out of liquids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exhibit is more than a technological marvel or a way to show off exotic animals. In addition to educating the public, it serves as a reconstructed ecological system that allows scientists to study deep-sea environments without the expense and difficulty of submarine voyages. This combination of public outreach and basic science is a hallmark of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re basically setting up a long-term laboratory for those scientists to be able to study those organisms,” Muka said. “In some sense, it is the ultimate reason for the public aquarium to exist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because it is so challenging to access and study, deep-sea biology is still in its infancy. Although scientists are only beginning to understand deep-sea environments, those environments are already under threat from human influence, such as deep-sea drilling, mining operations, climate change and microplastic pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deep-sea creatures feed on marine snow, tiny flecks of rotten flesh and other debris that drift down and eventually reach the sunless depths. But now, much of that snow is made up of tiny bits of microplastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To demonstrate how microplastic pollution affects deep-sea animals, the exhibit includes an interactive game that shows how hard it is for these animals to survive. Players take control of different deep-sea creatures and must avoid getting eaten or stung, all while chasing down and gobbling up bits of marine snow. 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But in another sense, they are earthlings.’[/pullquote]While every other animal in the exhibit lives behind glass, giant deep-sea isopods with 14 legs huddle in a touch tank. They look like roly-polys from your garden, except they’re ghostly pale and as big as bread loaves. Isopods can thrive in a vast range of depths and environments, from just 550 feet below the surface to as deep as 7,000 feet. They can switch between crawling along the muddy plains of the seafloor to swimming with muscular flaps called pleopods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the deep sea is so different from what we’re used to, it can seem far away, and has often been compared to another planet. The creatures who call it home, with their many limbs and glowing, gelatinous bodies, might strike some visitors as otherworldly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In one sense they’re so foreign to us, they’re very alien. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The midnight zone is cold and dark, and can only be explored by remote operating vehicles (ROVs) controlled by pilots in submarines. The deep sea is rich with strange and often bioluminescent creatures, many of them delicate and unable to withstand the drastic transition to the low pressure, bright lights and high temperatures at the surface. Monterey Bay researchers have experimented for over a decade with ways to bring elusive deep-sea life safely up from the depths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exhibit takes visitors on a descending tour of the abyss, starting with a model of Monterey Bay’s underwater canyon. Some parts of the canyon are more than a mile deep, and the canyon comes remarkably close to shore. Visitors can meander through a darkened gallery of tanks displaying gelatinous creatures from the shallower end of the midnight zone, known as the midwater, which ranges from 650 feet to 3,300 feet deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A rust-colored crab with an oval body and white markings on its shell and legs rises up on four legs, two legs extended out above and in front of its body like an orchestra conductor. The crab is on a sandy floor inside an aquarium, with models of whale bones on the ground and looming in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Whalefall_Japanese_crab_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Japanese spider crab is the size of a small dog. \u003ccite>(Tyson V. Rininger/Monterey Bay Aquarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the midwater gallery, screens show dazzling ROV footage of shimmering bioluminescence. A goopy string adorned with stingers — a creature known as a siphonophore — floats suspended in its tank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tommy Knowles, a jellyfish expert and one of the scientists who developed the exhibit, described his favorite midwater creature — a crimson dome bedazzled with ridges of strobing rainbow lights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the bloody belly comb jelly, Lampocteis,” Knowles said. “It’s one of the most delicate jellies in the world. It’s like a sparkly bowl of Jell-O.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowles and other scientists tinkered with the acidity, light and temperature to achieve conditions that were just right for each deep-sea animal on display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be completely astounded by the technological things that they’ve done,” said Samantha Muka, aquarium historian and professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. “It probably couldn’t have been done even 10 or 15 years ago. It’s that cutting-edge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the deep sea is known for its high pressures, the aquarium scientists found that some deep-sea creatures could survive the ascent if they were given time to acclimate to the lower pressure and higher temperatures, not unlike the delicacy required when human divers return from high-pressure depths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Inside a deep sea exhibit, black boulders looking like pieces of charcoal, pocked with lines and small holes line the ground. Growing on these boulders are tall, pale orange corals with trunks like a tree and branches like a curved fan. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/05/Deep_sea_Tyson-V.-Rininger-resize2.jpg 1044w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Corals and sponges that grow on underwater mountains, or “seamounts” develop so slowly that damaged habitats could take centuries to recover. Drilling, mining, and fishing can put corals, sponges, and the animals they shelter at risk. \u003ccite>(Tyson V. Rininger/Monterey Bay Aquarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re the only people right now that know how you can push these animals, like the plasticity of their pressure needs at the moment,” said Muka. “They already know more about those deep-sea animals than we’ve ever known about them ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it took years of trial and error to figure out each deep-sea creature’s specific requirements, achieving low-enough oxygen levels proved to be a particular challenge. Many deep-sea creatures from an area known as the oxygen minimum zone need as little as 5% of the oxygen found at the ocean’s surface to survive. Some displays required developing new methods to strip oxygen out of seawater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to use equipment that I don’t think has ever been used in aquariums before,” Knowles said. “It was used in food production, for stripping gasses out of liquids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exhibit is more than a technological marvel or a way to show off exotic animals. In addition to educating the public, it serves as a reconstructed ecological system that allows scientists to study deep-sea environments without the expense and difficulty of submarine voyages. This combination of public outreach and basic science is a hallmark of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re basically setting up a long-term laboratory for those scientists to be able to study those organisms,” Muka said. “In some sense, it is the ultimate reason for the public aquarium to exist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because it is so challenging to access and study, deep-sea biology is still in its infancy. Although scientists are only beginning to understand deep-sea environments, those environments are already under threat from human influence, such as deep-sea drilling, mining operations, climate change and microplastic pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deep-sea creatures feed on marine snow, tiny flecks of rotten flesh and other debris that drift down and eventually reach the sunless depths. But now, much of that snow is made up of tiny bits of microplastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To demonstrate how microplastic pollution affects deep-sea animals, the exhibit includes an interactive game that shows how hard it is for these animals to survive. Players take control of different deep-sea creatures and must avoid getting eaten or stung, all while chasing down and gobbling up bits of marine snow. If a player survives the game, the screen displays the percentage of plastic they consumed along with their marine snow meals — often more than half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As those plastics break down smaller and smaller, they get into the food chain,” said Protasio. “And these deep-sea critters may not be able to distinguish between what’s marine snow and what’s microplastic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the deep end of the exhibit, visitors reach the muddy plains of the sea floor, studded with microhabitats. In one seafloor tank, spiny Japanese spider crabs the size of small dogs crawl over a model of a sperm whale skeleton settled into the mud. Cartilaginous ghost sharks lurk, and elephant fish probe for food with their long snouts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003cem>Acorn barnacles might look like jagged little rocks at low tide, but they have a surprisingly wild sex life. These crusty little animals — related to crabs and shrimp — have the longest penis of any animal relative to their body size. It’s up to eight times the length of the barnacle itself!\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Finding a date is hard enough in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s especially tricky when you’re stuck to a rock in the middle of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, acorn barnacles don’t get discouraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These crusty little animals actually have a pretty wild sex life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At low tide each one is sealed up inside its own miniature fortress – shielded by a ring of armored plates. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two central plates press together to form a water-tight seal so they don’t dry out in the open air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re ready and waiting for the tide to rise so they can get down to business. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But first they need to freshen up a bit. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The barnacle unfurls eight pairs of delicate feathery legs called cirri, which they use to absorb oxygen from the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legs filter out plankton and debris churned up by the waves, bringing the catch inside to the mouth\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They may not look like it from the outside, but beneath their shell, it’s easier to see that barnacles are crustaceans related to crabs and shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a nice meal, it’s ready for some action. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The little barnacle lets loose the longest penis of any animal – relative to its body size of course – stretching up to eight times the length of the barnacle itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this penis has skills. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can taste and smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the tip can feel around, probing to see which neighbors have ripe eggs inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it finds what it’s looking for the barnacle delivers sperm to fertilize the eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnacles aren’t exactly prudes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pretty much everyone is fair play. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because they’re all hermaphrodites, simultaneously male and female.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s one-on-one, sometimes more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnacles are nurturing parents, too. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hold on to their fertilized eggs and protect them until they hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These cuties are their baby larvae called nauplii. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the young barnacles’ chance for adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They roam the sea searching for food and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they survive long enough the barnacle larvae mature into cyprids. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage the barnacle doesn’t eat. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cyprid’s only mission is to find the ideal spot to glom onto before it starves. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having survived the trials of youth, the barnacle settles in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s time to get to know the neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At low tide each one is sealed up inside its own miniature fortress – shielded by a ring of armored plates. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two central plates press together to form a water-tight seal so they don’t dry out in the open air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re ready and waiting for the tide to rise so they can get down to business. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But first they need to freshen up a bit. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The barnacle unfurls eight pairs of delicate feathery legs called cirri, which they use to absorb oxygen from the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legs filter out plankton and debris churned up by the waves, bringing the catch inside to the mouth\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They may not look like it from the outside, but beneath their shell, it’s easier to see that barnacles are crustaceans related to crabs and shrimp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a nice meal, it’s ready for some action. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The little barnacle lets loose the longest penis of any animal – relative to its body size of course – stretching up to eight times the length of the barnacle itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And this penis has skills. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can taste and smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the tip can feel around, probing to see which neighbors have ripe eggs inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it finds what it’s looking for the barnacle delivers sperm to fertilize the eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnacles aren’t exactly prudes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pretty much everyone is fair play. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because they’re all hermaphrodites, simultaneously male and female.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes it’s one-on-one, sometimes more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnacles are nurturing parents, too. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hold on to their fertilized eggs and protect them until they hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These cuties are their baby larvae called nauplii. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the young barnacles’ chance for adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They roam the sea searching for food and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they survive long enough the barnacle larvae mature into cyprids. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this stage the barnacle doesn’t eat. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cyprid’s only mission is to find the ideal spot to glom onto before it starves. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having survived the trials of youth, the barnacle settles in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now it’s time to get to know the neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "To Understand Sea Level Rise, This Climate Artist Wants You to Feel It in Your Body",
"headTitle": "To Understand Sea Level Rise, This Climate Artist Wants You to Feel It in Your Body | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>So you’re worried about climate change. You’re ready to act. But you don’t know where to start, or how to actually be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a suggestion: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1977320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like artist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ana Teresa Fernández\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When she first heard how much sea levels could rise by 2100 — roughly 6 feet — she grappled with what that would look and feel like. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_11527370']As someone who communicates through visual and performance art, Fernández wanted to make that number something people could touch. After deliberating for a year on how to do that, she created a project that’s sprouted up on beaches in California and Mexico, and is currently installed at the San Francisco Cliff House as a part of the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">FOR-SITE Foundation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s exhibition “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.for-site.org/project/landsend/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lands End\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Fernández.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANA TERESA FERNÁNDEZ\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> As I was growing up in Tampico, Tamaulipas [in Mexico], we spent every Sunday at the beach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were all these refineries. We knew we were getting closer to the beach because there was a stench in the air. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The smell was something that triggered happiness for me, not realizing what a refinery really does and how harmful that is to not only the land, but the world in its entirety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are these things that you are aware of that are not right; you just know in your body that there’s something wrong. I think that was when I first realized that the world is under pressure. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many, many years later, I went to the Art and Environment Conference at the Nevada [Museum of Art], where \u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/1718-2/\">I was invited to speak about borders\u003c/a> in 2017.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the panelists was talking about climate change. I remember sitting in the audience, just having my arms crossed and thinking, “Huh, six feet. I’m 5’10.'” \u003cem>(Editor’s note: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978580/new-sea-level-predictions-show-need-for-environmental-justice-in-climate-change-planning\">latest projections\u003c/a> put sea level rise as high as 6.5 feet by 2100.)\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As someone who surfs and who’s constantly in the water, I know what that feels like — when you’re pushed down under a wave and you actually can’t get to the surface of the water to breathe. It gave me this moment where I was like, huhhh! [Gasps audibly.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, this is the time where I actually have to connect the dots and do something directly in response to this specific statistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really began to understand that we have a disassociation from these numbers to our bodies. These numbers sit on a page neatly in line in relation to words, but they don’t sit in relation to a body. So how is it that we can have those numbers come off the page and really become an experience, a somatic experience, a visceral experience?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It took me about a year to really get the courage to start working on this and start walking towards it and trying to find a way to embody this idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about the installation you ultimately created, called “\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://onthehorizon.org/\">\u003cb>On the Horizon\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wanted to actually take a step to try and tackle this issue. And when I say tackle, I mean, how can I hold it, quite literally? Not only the idea of sea levels rising, but specifically grasp and hold 6 feet of ocean water? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I worked with a fabricator to create a design that would be able to hold 6 feet of ocean water. It’s a [plexiglass] cylinder that’s 10 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall. It looks and feels as if this body of seawater is emerging from the sand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people address them as pillars, but I see them as “sea bodies” because they’re an extension of the body of water that’s in front of us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I’ve done this installation, it’s always at the shoreline — literally where the water ends and the land begins. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Five clear, cylindrical pillars of ocean water emerge vertically from the sand on a shoreline. Three children sit at the bases of the scattered pillars, while four people hold hands and walk towards them from the left of the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community volunteers help install ‘On the Horizon’ in November 2021, at Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Carlos Bravo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What happens during the installations? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things that became really apparent was that people want to touch it; people want to be a part of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time that we put the piece up at the beach, people would stop us: “What is this?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When they realize what it’s about, it’s like someone’s knocking them over. Then the second reaction is always walking towards it to touch the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People want to see the relationship of their own body to [the sea bodies].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think that says about the human relationship to climate change? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re missing a way in which we can experience climate change more physically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change is usually experienced in really chaotic, violent, sudden, unpredictable ways. But there are not many moments where you can experience climate change in a physical way that is peaceful and calm.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if you can sit with it, if you can talk to it, I think you can slowly alter behaviors — we can change how we respond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A mother and child smile while carrying a white bucket painted light blue between them. They walk across a beach toward the camera and away from the ocean. More people carrying buckets follow behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel McIntire with daughter Isla were community volunteers in an ‘On the Horizon’ bucket brigade at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach in October 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Colectivo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You talk about the community being part of the installation process. Why is that important?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the most beautiful parts of this has been that with the installation, I’ve actually gotten closer to my neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As soon as we start inserting [the tubes] into the sand and then the buckets come out [to carry ocean water to fill the tubes], people are like, “Can I help?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve worked with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunsetcoop.org/\">Sunset Co-Op [Nursery School]\u003c/a> as well, with the kindergarten kids.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been really beautiful to see how easy it is to educate people through an experience that’s about them creating the piece. Because ultimately, this piece doesn’t exist without the community, because the community are the ones that are actually pouring life into the piece. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the external hustle of finding the funding and figuring out the fabrication.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the internal hustle. I sat with this idea for about a year before I let myself try to tackle it because I’m like, “No, it’s too simple. No, it’s not good enough. No, it’s not going to make a difference.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, “I’m not a climatologist. I’m not a scientist. Can I do this?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I had to come to terms with — I had touched issues that are very political, that are very much driven by numbers and by statistics and all these things that might not necessarily be artsy. But why not use art as a way to grapple with these issues, help bring people to it and create an awareness in a different way that sits off the page? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot of science and it’s printed everywhere. But no matter how many times it gets printed, sometimes we just need to experience it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like anything, you just make it a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978568\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Three glass cylinders, or sea bodies, six feet tall, rise from a pile of sand in front of wide glass windows at San Francisco's Cliff House. The sea green ocean beyond the windows is restless with whitecaps. Dark mounds of rock rise from the sea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘On the Horizon’ is installed at the FOR-SITE Foundation’s exhibition ‘Lands End’ in San Francisco’s Cliff House. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of connectivity to the community, both here along this coastline and around different coastlines. People from Israel have contacted me, people from Sweden. People are really eager to amplify the message of protecting the sea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of doing these things is starting something and then hoping there’s a ripple effect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now I’ve been invited to three other exhibitions about climate change. I never thought of myself as a climate artist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The director of the Sunset Co-Op has told me all these stories about the kids talking about the piece and how they’ve been relating to the water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It creates its own constellations that exist beyond you. And that’s the beauty of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>So you’re worried about climate change. You’re ready to act. But you don’t know where to start, or how to actually be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a suggestion: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977320\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1977320\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png\" alt='Top circle of Venn diagram says \"what brings you joy?\" A circle on the left says \"What are you good at?\" The final circle on the right says \"What is the work that needs doing?\" Where the three circles overlap is a space named: \"What you should do.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-2048x1152.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Rectangle-1920x1080.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re bringing you a series of stories of people who are doing that, like artist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ana Teresa Fernández\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. When she first heard how much sea levels could rise by 2100 — roughly 6 feet — she grappled with what that would look and feel like. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As someone who communicates through visual and performance art, Fernández wanted to make that number something people could touch. After deliberating for a year on how to do that, she created a project that’s sprouted up on beaches in California and Mexico, and is currently installed at the San Francisco Cliff House as a part of the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">FOR-SITE Foundation\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">’s exhibition “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.for-site.org/project/landsend/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lands End\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.”\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with Fernández.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>LAURA KLIVANS: When was your climate awakening?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ANA TERESA FERNÁNDEZ\u003c/b>:\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> As I was growing up in Tampico, Tamaulipas [in Mexico], we spent every Sunday at the beach. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There were all these refineries. We knew we were getting closer to the beach because there was a stench in the air. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The smell was something that triggered happiness for me, not realizing what a refinery really does and how harmful that is to not only the land, but the world in its entirety. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are these things that you are aware of that are not right; you just know in your body that there’s something wrong. I think that was when I first realized that the world is under pressure. \u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many, many years later, I went to the Art and Environment Conference at the Nevada [Museum of Art], where \u003ca href=\"https://anateresafernandez.com/1718-2/\">I was invited to speak about borders\u003c/a> in 2017.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the panelists was talking about climate change. I remember sitting in the audience, just having my arms crossed and thinking, “Huh, six feet. I’m 5’10.'” \u003cem>(Editor’s note: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978580/new-sea-level-predictions-show-need-for-environmental-justice-in-climate-change-planning\">latest projections\u003c/a> put sea level rise as high as 6.5 feet by 2100.)\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As someone who surfs and who’s constantly in the water, I know what that feels like — when you’re pushed down under a wave and you actually can’t get to the surface of the water to breathe. It gave me this moment where I was like, huhhh! [Gasps audibly.]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, this is the time where I actually have to connect the dots and do something directly in response to this specific statistic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I really began to understand that we have a disassociation from these numbers to our bodies. These numbers sit on a page neatly in line in relation to words, but they don’t sit in relation to a body. So how is it that we can have those numbers come off the page and really become an experience, a somatic experience, a visceral experience?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Where did you start when it came to taking action?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It took me about a year to really get the courage to start working on this and start walking towards it and trying to find a way to embody this idea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me about the installation you ultimately created, called “\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://onthehorizon.org/\">\u003cb>On the Horizon\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>.”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I wanted to actually take a step to try and tackle this issue. And when I say tackle, I mean, how can I hold it, quite literally? Not only the idea of sea levels rising, but specifically grasp and hold 6 feet of ocean water? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I worked with a fabricator to create a design that would be able to hold 6 feet of ocean water. It’s a [plexiglass] cylinder that’s 10 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall. It looks and feels as if this body of seawater is emerging from the sand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some people address them as pillars, but I see them as “sea bodies” because they’re an extension of the body of water that’s in front of us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I’ve done this installation, it’s always at the shoreline — literally where the water ends and the land begins. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Five clear, cylindrical pillars of ocean water emerge vertically from the sand on a shoreline. Three children sit at the bases of the scattered pillars, while four people hold hands and walk towards them from the left of the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53889_5_CARLOS-BRAVO-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community volunteers help install ‘On the Horizon’ in November 2021, at Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Carlos Bravo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What happens during the installations? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the things that became really apparent was that people want to touch it; people want to be a part of it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every time that we put the piece up at the beach, people would stop us: “What is this?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When they realize what it’s about, it’s like someone’s knocking them over. Then the second reaction is always walking towards it to touch the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People want to see the relationship of their own body to [the sea bodies].\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you think that says about the human relationship to climate change? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re missing a way in which we can experience climate change more physically. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change is usually experienced in really chaotic, violent, sudden, unpredictable ways. But there are not many moments where you can experience climate change in a physical way that is peaceful and calm.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if you can sit with it, if you can talk to it, I think you can slowly alter behaviors — we can change how we respond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"A mother and child smile while carrying a white bucket painted light blue between them. They walk across a beach toward the camera and away from the ocean. More people carrying buckets follow behind.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53892_3_Colectivo-Dancers-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel McIntire with daughter Isla were community volunteers in an ‘On the Horizon’ bucket brigade at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach in October 2021. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Colectivo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You talk about the community being part of the installation process. Why is that important?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the most beautiful parts of this has been that with the installation, I’ve actually gotten closer to my neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As soon as we start inserting [the tubes] into the sand and then the buckets come out [to carry ocean water to fill the tubes], people are like, “Can I help?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve worked with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunsetcoop.org/\">Sunset Co-Op [Nursery School]\u003c/a> as well, with the kindergarten kids.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been really beautiful to see how easy it is to educate people through an experience that’s about them creating the piece. Because ultimately, this piece doesn’t exist without the community, because the community are the ones that are actually pouring life into the piece. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the external hustle of finding the funding and figuring out the fabrication.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s the internal hustle. I sat with this idea for about a year before I let myself try to tackle it because I’m like, “No, it’s too simple. No, it’s not good enough. No, it’s not going to make a difference.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was like, “I’m not a climatologist. I’m not a scientist. Can I do this?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I had to come to terms with — I had touched issues that are very political, that are very much driven by numbers and by statistics and all these things that might not necessarily be artsy. But why not use art as a way to grapple with these issues, help bring people to it and create an awareness in a different way that sits off the page? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot of science and it’s printed everywhere. But no matter how many times it gets printed, sometimes we just need to experience it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like anything, you just make it a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1978568\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Three glass cylinders, or sea bodies, six feet tall, rise from a pile of sand in front of wide glass windows at San Francisco's Cliff House. The sea green ocean beyond the windows is restless with whitecaps. Dark mounds of rock rise from the sea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/RS53289_016_SanFrancisco_ClimateAnaTeresaFerndandez_01252022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘On the Horizon’ is installed at the FOR-SITE Foundation’s exhibition ‘Lands End’ in San Francisco’s Cliff House. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What have you gained from this work?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of connectivity to the community, both here along this coastline and around different coastlines. People from Israel have contacted me, people from Sweden. People are really eager to amplify the message of protecting the sea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of doing these things is starting something and then hoping there’s a ripple effect. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now I’ve been invited to three other exhibitions about climate change. I never thought of myself as a climate artist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The director of the Sunset Co-Op has told me all these stories about the kids talking about the piece and how they’ve been relating to the water.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It creates its own constellations that exist beyond you. And that’s the beauty of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Why Environmental Justice Is Crucial in Climate Resilience: Just Look at New Sea Level Rise Predictions",
"headTitle": "Why Environmental Justice Is Crucial in Climate Resilience: Just Look at New Sea Level Rise Predictions | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The county in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/pdfs/SLR-CA-SM-PressRelease.pdf\">most at risk from sea level rise\u003c/a> is San Mateo, with nearly 100,000 people — half residents of color — living just three feet above the high-tide line. If climate models prove correct, rising seas \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateocourt.org/documents/grand_jury/2020/Sea%20Level%20Rise.pdf\">threaten billions of dollars of homes and businesses\u003c/a>, and hundreds of contaminated sites could harm residents if flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re at ground zero for the state, so it’s our responsibility to act,” said Len Materman, who leads the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, or \u003ca href=\"https://oneshoreline.org/\">OneShoreline\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea levels along the California coastline, including the San Francisco Bay, could rise 7 to 21 inches by the year 2050, depending on how much and how quickly the world’s countries manage to cut carbon dioxide emissions. By the end of the century, with little drop in emissions, \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html\">seas could rise by as much as 6.5 feet\u003c/a>, according to a national study released last week. That’s from the climate emergency alone; storms, king tides and sinking land add inches to those estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the 2050 numbers are a little lower than those in a similar 2017 report, it’s nonetheless distressing news for Black, Latino, Middle Eastern and Asian communities that ring the San Francisco Bay. Places like the Alviso neighborhood in San Jose, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Marin City and Bayview-Hunters Point already flood yearly during king tides or big storms. In most of these places, Bay Area scientists believe rising groundwater could push up legacy contamination in the soil, harming people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is definitely a hot spot,” said \u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/rachel-morello-frosch/\">Rachel Morello-Frosch\u003c/a>. Frosch is co-leading a UC Berkeley-UCLA project called \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, which maps contaminated sites, sea level rise and the communities most at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial/video/7059492308387007791\" data-video-id=\"7059492308387007791\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@kqedofficial\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kqedofficial\u003c/a> Lauren Mims of Marin City’s \u003ca title=\"poem\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/poem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#poem\u003c/a> speaks to the climate crisis affecting her community. 🗣\u003ca title=\"climatechange\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatechange\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatechange\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climateaction\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climateaction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climateaction\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"youth4climate\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/youth4climate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#youth4climate\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - kqed\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7059492294818417455\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">♬ original sound – kqed\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[tiktok]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think about the coast, people think about Malibu, mansions and people living by beaches,” she said. “We want to focus on … not only knowing about the facilities that are at risk but the communities that live nearby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One area of concern is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Near Sausalito, tiny Marin City lies adjacent to Highway 101 and the bay, and is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/11/sea-of-white-marin-segregation-detailed-in-uc-study/\">only predominantly Black community in Marin County\u003c/a>. Many residents there are the direct descendants of Black people who settled in the city in the 1940s to help build ships for World War II. All these years later, residents are beginning to test for remnants of legacy contamination throughout the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During atmospheric rivers in October 2021, heavy rain flooded the single entrance into Marin City with multiple feet of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to walk through floodwaters that are filled with toxins from the groundwater that’s actually mixing with the sewer water,” said Chinaka Green, a Marin City resident who said she disposed of her wet clothes because of the contaminated water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother, \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrie-green-84136414\">Terrie Green\u003c/a>, director of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/MCCRHJ\">Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice\u003c/a>, along with a group of teenage climate activists, are appealing to the state for action on flooding. They say the county won’t invest in the unincorporated area because of the color of residents’ skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They want the Black and Brown people out of here,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when thinking about multiple feet of sea level rise by the end of the century, Green says that kind of flooding already happens during storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But what attention are we getting?” she said of the lack of long-term planning to protect Marin City from worse flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With communities of color already on the line because of existing inequities, the new federal projections show just how important it is to plan for the full range of projected sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make no mistake, sea level rise is upon us,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/nicole-leboeuf-named-director-of-noaa-s-national-ocean-service\">Nicole LeBoeuf\u003c/a>, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/welcome.html\">National Ocean Service\u003c/a> director, during a webinar on the updated sea level rise outcomes. “We do recognize that there are communities around our coastlines that are more vulnerable to these kinds of impacts because of their history and being underserved to begin with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Emissions do matter’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new national report forecasts frequent flooding on the California coastline due to sea level rise of as much as 21 inches by 2050, 6.5 feet by the end of the century, and more than 12 feet by 2150. If emissions continue to escalate, some sea level rise scientists worry these upper limits could become a reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Emissions do matter,” said \u003ca href=\"https://polar.ucsd.edu/people/susheel-adusumilli/\">Susheel Adusumilli\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher who studies sea level rise and changes in ice sheets at the \u003ca href=\"https://scripps.ucsd.edu/\">Scripps Institution of Oceanography\u003c/a>. “If you have high emissions, then it’s just going to be a widespread massive impact on communities in coastal areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, led by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/\">NOAA\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\">NASA\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/\">U.S. Geological Survey\u003c/a> and other federal agencies, updates federal sea level rise projections from 2017. It underscores how sea level rise brought on by human-caused climate change cannot be ignored and demands an all-hands-on-deck approach to preparing for encroaching seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial/video/6958207339358850309\" data-video-id=\"6958207339358850309\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@kqedofficial\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kqedofficial\u003c/a> Parts of East Palo Alto are in danger of being underwater by 2050. \u003ca title=\"bayareatiktok\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bayareatiktok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#bayareatiktok\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climatecrisis\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatecrisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatecrisis\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"paloalto\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/paloalto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#paloalto\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climatechangeisreal\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatechangeisreal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatechangeisreal\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climateemergency\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climateemergency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climateemergency\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"fyp\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#fyp\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - kqed\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6958207288175823621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">♬ original sound – kqed\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[tiktok]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using data from tide gauges, satellites and computer modeling, the authors were able to project sea level rise with greater certainty up to 2050 than they’d been able to do before, and have extended their projections long into the future. The two leading causes of the rising tides are directly related to the continued burning of fossil fuels: Seas rise as ice sheets and glaciers melt and because ocean water expands as it warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we keep emissions down, you start to take some of those very rapid, high-impact sea level processes off the table,” said \u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/hamlington/\">Ben Hamlington\u003c/a>, one of the report’s authors and a scientist at \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/\">NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u003c/a> in Southern California. “There’s still quite a bit of uncertainty about the melting of the ice sheets. They could really play a big role in those higher-end scenarios here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Hamlington says is significant about this update is that tidal gauge observations almost mirror the intermediate levels of sea level rise of nearly 10 inches on the West Coast by 2050. That suggests the intermediate sea level rise projections, rather than the higher ones, may be more accurate for California. But after the mid-century mark, he says, the “uncertainty range blows up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since real-time tidal gauge observations closely track with climate models, \u003ca href=\"https://climateadapt.ucsd.edu/about/team/mark/\">Mark Merrifield\u003c/a>, director of the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at the Scripps Institution, says it’s critical to take swift action on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we assume the worst-case scenarios … we’re going to be facing a sea level rise problem here that will far outpace what we’ve been dealing with in the past,” he said. “There’s literally no end in sight if we keep going on the same trajectory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2050 predictions are slightly lower than those of a few years ago, and that’s because science has improved. However, researchers note that it all depends on carbon dioxide emissions and local factors like subsidence, storm surge, waves and groundwater levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some cases, it’s going actually to inundate and flood low-lying zones,” said Merrifield. “Places that have been built on reclaimed land, and the water tables going up with the sea level, are areas that are going to be particularly vulnerable as time goes on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Where was God?’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Low-lying communities around the lip of the San Francisco Bay, like East Palo Alto on the peninsula, are already vulnerable to nuisance flooding from rain, king tides and contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto sits within a federally designated flood zone. According to projections, in 10 years or so, up to two-thirds of the land within city limits may regularly flood. By mid-century, those areas could be frequently underwater during high tides. Flooding of that magnitude would stress major flex points for the entire Bay Area, such as Highway 101 and the Dumbarton Bridge. That would burden many residents already dealing with inequities like homelessness, joblessness or poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975433\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975433\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a marigold colored sundress and a long white-haired man in light blue stand and sit in their front yard surrounded by plants and an American Flag waves in the wind. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mama Dee Uhila and Senita Uhila at their home in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you were to get to know 100 families in East Palo Alto, maybe 50 out of 100 already are right at that point at which savings are so low that … a flood event … could be that tipping point,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.stanford.edu/derek-ouyang\">Derek Ouyang\u003c/a>, a program manager and lecturer at the \u003ca href=\"http://bay.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Future Bay Initiative\u003c/a>, who works with community leaders in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some in East Palo Alto, flooding and climate change are threatening their homes for a second time. Climate refugees here from the Pacific Islands have already fled rising seas, only to face similar threats in a new country several thousand miles away. Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi of Samoa, known as Mama Dee in her East Palo Alto community, founded \u003ca href=\"https://anamatangi.org/\">‘Anamatangi Polynesian Voices\u003c/a> as a bridge between the city and its Polynesian residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last two floods over here, the question is, where was God?” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I believe in prayers. But I lived through so many disasters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in East Palo Alto — and commuters across the Dumbarton Bridge — will be protected, in part, once a new, high levee is built, separating a portion of the city from a creek nearby that connects to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creating flood protection for existing communities like East Palo Alto is essential because the new federal report found that moderate flooding, which already happens during king tides or storms, will likely arise 10 times more often by mid-century than it does today.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re not prepared’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While sea level rise predictions have become more definitive up to 2050, Zack Wasserman, chair of the San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://bcdc.ca.gov/\">Bay Conservation and Development Commission\u003c/a>, or BCDC, says the forecasts only confirm what the agency already knows: A slow-moving disaster is coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The difference in potential damage between 7 feet and 10 feet [past the year 2100] has some significance, but today, we’re not prepared for either,” he said of the more extreme climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wasserman says the slight adjustment in the near term gives BCDC a little more time to prepare and involve more agencies, cities and counties into a Bay Area-wide plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This report just demonstrates the need for us to continue our efforts and, to some extent, to accelerate our efforts,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/contact-us/\">Jessica Fain\u003c/a>, director of planning for the agency, says she’s glad the projections extend to 2150. This allows her team to plan even further into the future, which is vital because the state agency is spearheading a regional sea level rise adaptation plan, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Bay Adapt\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 70 years away, the lifetime of a person who was born today,” she said. “So, having these further-out numbers to think about is really valuable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Planning with confidence\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California sea level planners are taking the new update seriously. Kelsey Ducklow, a coastal resilience coordinator at the California Coastal Commission, says it will likely take a year to incorporate the recent federal data into the state’s climate plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having more confidence in what the sea level rise impacts are going to be over the next 30 years gives more confidence about the actions that we can take,” Ducklow said of the more secure levels of sea level rise projected by 2050.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973928\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973928\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level.jpg\" alt=\"A four-lane highway with water on either side and hazy blue sky above and mirroring in the plane of water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1279\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Dumbarton Bridge near the East Palo Alto shoreline and other Bay Area infrastructure are at major risk of flooding as sea level rise accelerates. \u003ccite>(JJ Harris/Techboogie/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But she admits that any projects in play in California — highways, homes, buildings — have life spans beyond the 2050 time frame and are why it’s essential to plan for the more extreme projections after mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susheel Adusumilli, from the Scripps Institution, is collecting data to rework the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">2018 sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>. He says rising tides could be worse for some regions of California, like Foster City in San Mateo County, where he says the land is sinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that the California update, to come in 2023, needs to detail how Black, Middle Eastern, Latino and Asian communities will suffer economically because of rising tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s a rich state, and if California adapts to sea level rise in an equitable way … it will be heard around the world,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An aggressive approach\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sea level rise planners in San Mateo County are readying the entire shoreline — from East Palo Alto to Brisbane — for 10 feet of extra water above today’s high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This level of protection goes well above the new federal predictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an aggressive number so that in this century, we’re not going to see overtopping if we pick that number,” said Materman of OneShoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect the hundreds of thousands of people, tech giants and infrastructure from San Mateo County that support the entire Bay Area, Materman says choosing not to be conservative when planning for rising tides is a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forty years from now, I don’t want people to look back on our agency and say, ‘Oh, you trusted a report back in 2022, which under-assumed what the damage would be. So, now we have to go in and raise everything,’” he said. “That’s not what we’re about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The county in California most at risk from sea level rise is San Mateo, with nearly 100,000 people — half residents of color — living just three feet above the high tide line. Across the Bay, many communities of color are facing a similar risk.",
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"description": "The county in California most at risk from sea level rise is San Mateo, with nearly 100,000 people — half residents of color — living just three feet above the high tide line. Across the Bay, many communities of color are facing a similar risk.",
"title": "Why Environmental Justice Is Crucial in Climate Resilience: Just Look at New Sea Level Rise Predictions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The county in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/pdfs/SLR-CA-SM-PressRelease.pdf\">most at risk from sea level rise\u003c/a> is San Mateo, with nearly 100,000 people — half residents of color — living just three feet above the high-tide line. If climate models prove correct, rising seas \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateocourt.org/documents/grand_jury/2020/Sea%20Level%20Rise.pdf\">threaten billions of dollars of homes and businesses\u003c/a>, and hundreds of contaminated sites could harm residents if flooded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re at ground zero for the state, so it’s our responsibility to act,” said Len Materman, who leads the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, or \u003ca href=\"https://oneshoreline.org/\">OneShoreline\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea levels along the California coastline, including the San Francisco Bay, could rise 7 to 21 inches by the year 2050, depending on how much and how quickly the world’s countries manage to cut carbon dioxide emissions. By the end of the century, with little drop in emissions, \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html\">seas could rise by as much as 6.5 feet\u003c/a>, according to a national study released last week. That’s from the climate emergency alone; storms, king tides and sinking land add inches to those estimates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the 2050 numbers are a little lower than those in a similar 2017 report, it’s nonetheless distressing news for Black, Latino, Middle Eastern and Asian communities that ring the San Francisco Bay. Places like the Alviso neighborhood in San Jose, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Marin City and Bayview-Hunters Point already flood yearly during king tides or big storms. In most of these places, Bay Area scientists believe rising groundwater could push up legacy contamination in the soil, harming people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is definitely a hot spot,” said \u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/rachel-morello-frosch/\">Rachel Morello-Frosch\u003c/a>. Frosch is co-leading a UC Berkeley-UCLA project called \u003ca href=\"https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/toxictides\">Toxic Tides\u003c/a>, which maps contaminated sites, sea level rise and the communities most at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial/video/7059492308387007791\" data-video-id=\"7059492308387007791\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@kqedofficial\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kqedofficial\u003c/a> Lauren Mims of Marin City’s \u003ca title=\"poem\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/poem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#poem\u003c/a> speaks to the climate crisis affecting her community. 🗣\u003ca title=\"climatechange\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatechange\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatechange\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climateaction\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climateaction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climateaction\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"youth4climate\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/youth4climate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#youth4climate\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - kqed\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7059492294818417455\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">♬ original sound – kqed\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think about the coast, people think about Malibu, mansions and people living by beaches,” she said. “We want to focus on … not only knowing about the facilities that are at risk but the communities that live nearby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One area of concern is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Near Sausalito, tiny Marin City lies adjacent to Highway 101 and the bay, and is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/11/sea-of-white-marin-segregation-detailed-in-uc-study/\">only predominantly Black community in Marin County\u003c/a>. Many residents there are the direct descendants of Black people who settled in the city in the 1940s to help build ships for World War II. All these years later, residents are beginning to test for remnants of legacy contamination throughout the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During atmospheric rivers in October 2021, heavy rain flooded the single entrance into Marin City with multiple feet of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had to walk through floodwaters that are filled with toxins from the groundwater that’s actually mixing with the sewer water,” said Chinaka Green, a Marin City resident who said she disposed of her wet clothes because of the contaminated water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her mother, \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrie-green-84136414\">Terrie Green\u003c/a>, director of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/MCCRHJ\">Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice\u003c/a>, along with a group of teenage climate activists, are appealing to the state for action on flooding. They say the county won’t invest in the unincorporated area because of the color of residents’ skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They want the Black and Brown people out of here,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when thinking about multiple feet of sea level rise by the end of the century, Green says that kind of flooding already happens during storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But what attention are we getting?” she said of the lack of long-term planning to protect Marin City from worse flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With communities of color already on the line because of existing inequities, the new federal projections show just how important it is to plan for the full range of projected sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make no mistake, sea level rise is upon us,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/nicole-leboeuf-named-director-of-noaa-s-national-ocean-service\">Nicole LeBoeuf\u003c/a>, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/welcome.html\">National Ocean Service\u003c/a> director, during a webinar on the updated sea level rise outcomes. “We do recognize that there are communities around our coastlines that are more vulnerable to these kinds of impacts because of their history and being underserved to begin with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Emissions do matter’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new national report forecasts frequent flooding on the California coastline due to sea level rise of as much as 21 inches by 2050, 6.5 feet by the end of the century, and more than 12 feet by 2150. If emissions continue to escalate, some sea level rise scientists worry these upper limits could become a reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Emissions do matter,” said \u003ca href=\"https://polar.ucsd.edu/people/susheel-adusumilli/\">Susheel Adusumilli\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher who studies sea level rise and changes in ice sheets at the \u003ca href=\"https://scripps.ucsd.edu/\">Scripps Institution of Oceanography\u003c/a>. “If you have high emissions, then it’s just going to be a widespread massive impact on communities in coastal areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, led by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/\">NOAA\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\">NASA\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/\">U.S. Geological Survey\u003c/a> and other federal agencies, updates federal sea level rise projections from 2017. It underscores how sea level rise brought on by human-caused climate change cannot be ignored and demands an all-hands-on-deck approach to preparing for encroaching seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial/video/6958207339358850309\" data-video-id=\"6958207339358850309\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@kqedofficial\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@kqedofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kqedofficial\u003c/a> Parts of East Palo Alto are in danger of being underwater by 2050. \u003ca title=\"bayareatiktok\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bayareatiktok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#bayareatiktok\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climatecrisis\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatecrisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatecrisis\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"paloalto\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/paloalto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#paloalto\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climatechangeisreal\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatechangeisreal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climatechangeisreal\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"climateemergency\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climateemergency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#climateemergency\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"fyp\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#fyp\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - kqed\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6958207288175823621\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">♬ original sound – kqed\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using data from tide gauges, satellites and computer modeling, the authors were able to project sea level rise with greater certainty up to 2050 than they’d been able to do before, and have extended their projections long into the future. The two leading causes of the rising tides are directly related to the continued burning of fossil fuels: Seas rise as ice sheets and glaciers melt and because ocean water expands as it warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we keep emissions down, you start to take some of those very rapid, high-impact sea level processes off the table,” said \u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/hamlington/\">Ben Hamlington\u003c/a>, one of the report’s authors and a scientist at \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/\">NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u003c/a> in Southern California. “There’s still quite a bit of uncertainty about the melting of the ice sheets. They could really play a big role in those higher-end scenarios here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Hamlington says is significant about this update is that tidal gauge observations almost mirror the intermediate levels of sea level rise of nearly 10 inches on the West Coast by 2050. That suggests the intermediate sea level rise projections, rather than the higher ones, may be more accurate for California. But after the mid-century mark, he says, the “uncertainty range blows up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since real-time tidal gauge observations closely track with climate models, \u003ca href=\"https://climateadapt.ucsd.edu/about/team/mark/\">Mark Merrifield\u003c/a>, director of the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at the Scripps Institution, says it’s critical to take swift action on climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we assume the worst-case scenarios … we’re going to be facing a sea level rise problem here that will far outpace what we’ve been dealing with in the past,” he said. “There’s literally no end in sight if we keep going on the same trajectory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2050 predictions are slightly lower than those of a few years ago, and that’s because science has improved. However, researchers note that it all depends on carbon dioxide emissions and local factors like subsidence, storm surge, waves and groundwater levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some cases, it’s going actually to inundate and flood low-lying zones,” said Merrifield. “Places that have been built on reclaimed land, and the water tables going up with the sea level, are areas that are going to be particularly vulnerable as time goes on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Where was God?’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Low-lying communities around the lip of the San Francisco Bay, like East Palo Alto on the peninsula, are already vulnerable to nuisance flooding from rain, king tides and contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Palo Alto sits within a federally designated flood zone. According to projections, in 10 years or so, up to two-thirds of the land within city limits may regularly flood. By mid-century, those areas could be frequently underwater during high tides. Flooding of that magnitude would stress major flex points for the entire Bay Area, such as Highway 101 and the Dumbarton Bridge. That would burden many residents already dealing with inequities like homelessness, joblessness or poverty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975433\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975433\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a marigold colored sundress and a long white-haired man in light blue stand and sit in their front yard surrounded by plants and an American Flag waves in the wind. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/RS48319_046_EastPaloAlto_SeaLevelRise_03292021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mama Dee Uhila and Senita Uhila at their home in East Palo Alto on March 29, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you were to get to know 100 families in East Palo Alto, maybe 50 out of 100 already are right at that point at which savings are so low that … a flood event … could be that tipping point,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.stanford.edu/derek-ouyang\">Derek Ouyang\u003c/a>, a program manager and lecturer at the \u003ca href=\"http://bay.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Future Bay Initiative\u003c/a>, who works with community leaders in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some in East Palo Alto, flooding and climate change are threatening their homes for a second time. Climate refugees here from the Pacific Islands have already fled rising seas, only to face similar threats in a new country several thousand miles away. Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi of Samoa, known as Mama Dee in her East Palo Alto community, founded \u003ca href=\"https://anamatangi.org/\">‘Anamatangi Polynesian Voices\u003c/a> as a bridge between the city and its Polynesian residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The last two floods over here, the question is, where was God?” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I believe in prayers. But I lived through so many disasters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in East Palo Alto — and commuters across the Dumbarton Bridge — will be protected, in part, once a new, high levee is built, separating a portion of the city from a creek nearby that connects to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creating flood protection for existing communities like East Palo Alto is essential because the new federal report found that moderate flooding, which already happens during king tides or storms, will likely arise 10 times more often by mid-century than it does today.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re not prepared’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While sea level rise predictions have become more definitive up to 2050, Zack Wasserman, chair of the San Francisco \u003ca href=\"https://bcdc.ca.gov/\">Bay Conservation and Development Commission\u003c/a>, or BCDC, says the forecasts only confirm what the agency already knows: A slow-moving disaster is coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The difference in potential damage between 7 feet and 10 feet [past the year 2100] has some significance, but today, we’re not prepared for either,” he said of the more extreme climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wasserman says the slight adjustment in the near term gives BCDC a little more time to prepare and involve more agencies, cities and counties into a Bay Area-wide plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This report just demonstrates the need for us to continue our efforts and, to some extent, to accelerate our efforts,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/contact-us/\">Jessica Fain\u003c/a>, director of planning for the agency, says she’s glad the projections extend to 2150. This allows her team to plan even further into the future, which is vital because the state agency is spearheading a regional sea level rise adaptation plan, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayadapt.org/\">Bay Adapt\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 70 years away, the lifetime of a person who was born today,” she said. “So, having these further-out numbers to think about is really valuable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Planning with confidence\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California sea level planners are taking the new update seriously. Kelsey Ducklow, a coastal resilience coordinator at the California Coastal Commission, says it will likely take a year to incorporate the recent federal data into the state’s climate plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having more confidence in what the sea level rise impacts are going to be over the next 30 years gives more confidence about the actions that we can take,” Ducklow said of the more secure levels of sea level rise projected by 2050.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973928\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973928\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level.jpg\" alt=\"A four-lane highway with water on either side and hazy blue sky above and mirroring in the plane of water. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1279\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/East-Palo-Alto-sea-level-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Dumbarton Bridge near the East Palo Alto shoreline and other Bay Area infrastructure are at major risk of flooding as sea level rise accelerates. \u003ccite>(JJ Harris/Techboogie/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But she admits that any projects in play in California — highways, homes, buildings — have life spans beyond the 2050 time frame and are why it’s essential to plan for the more extreme projections after mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susheel Adusumilli, from the Scripps Institution, is collecting data to rework the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">2018 sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>. He says rising tides could be worse for some regions of California, like Foster City in San Mateo County, where he says the land is sinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that the California update, to come in 2023, needs to detail how Black, Middle Eastern, Latino and Asian communities will suffer economically because of rising tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s a rich state, and if California adapts to sea level rise in an equitable way … it will be heard around the world,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An aggressive approach\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sea level rise planners in San Mateo County are readying the entire shoreline — from East Palo Alto to Brisbane — for 10 feet of extra water above today’s high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This level of protection goes well above the new federal predictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an aggressive number so that in this century, we’re not going to see overtopping if we pick that number,” said Materman of OneShoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect the hundreds of thousands of people, tech giants and infrastructure from San Mateo County that support the entire Bay Area, Materman says choosing not to be conservative when planning for rising tides is a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Forty years from now, I don’t want people to look back on our agency and say, ‘Oh, you trusted a report back in 2022, which under-assumed what the damage would be. So, now we have to go in and raise everything,’” he said. “That’s not what we’re about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "After Their Son Was Swept Into The Ocean, This Fremont Family Turned Their Grief Into Advocacy",
"headTitle": "After Their Son Was Swept Into The Ocean, This Fremont Family Turned Their Grief Into Advocacy | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find tips for staying safe at the beach this winter at the \u003ca href=\"#question\">bottom of this post\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi lost their 12-year-old son, Arunay Pruthi, after he was swept off the beach by a wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the help of other beachgoers “we couldn’t get to him because there was no device or equipment to throw at him,” Sharmistha said. “They were trying to make ropes out of tents, pulling them apart, trying to make a long line so they could throw it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort proved unsuccessful. Arunay drifted away too quickly, after being dragged into the ocean by a sneaker wave — a dangerous surge of ocean water that suddenly pushes high on the beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that tragic day, the Fremont couple has funneled their grief into a mission to protect others from living the same tragedy. Their advocacy resulted in the installation of permanent lifesaving stations and ring buoys at three local Bay Area beaches last November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978070 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg\" alt=\"A women with a beige trenchcoat and a man with a gray fleece stand on a bluff looking over the ocean. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi, parents of 12-year-old Arunay Pruthi, who drowned at Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The family hopes that warning signs and the rings, which are attached to 100 feet of rope, will alert people to the danger of the ocean and help those who are drowning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arunay was one of at least 11 people who died or nearly drowned at Bay Area beaches last fall and winter, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the agency, says the public is increasingly aware of this once little-known coastal hazard, in part because of tragic stories like Arunay’s. And that’s critical, he says, to prevent more people\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>from being involved in ocean-related deaths and accidents each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves claimed so many lives last year, in part, because people flocked to the beach to enjoy unseasonably warm weather at a safe outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Bay Area officials are warning the public to be extra cautious, especially now as we enter the winter months, prime season for sneaker waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson says the number of beach hazard events is already higher than at this time last year, when beaches were pummeled by huge swells. He attributes the increase to La Niña conditions and a high-pressure ridge that creates unseasonable, dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather pattern also allows offshore storms to transfer energy to the ocean’s surface and spawn long, powerful waves that fan out along the California coastline, surprising beachgoers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978071 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg\" alt=\"White ocean water rises up along brown sand. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">High tide waves at Mavericks Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The season for sneaker waves\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A sneaker wave, sometimes referred to as a “sleeper wave,” is a large, unusual train of waves that can surge up powerfully on a beach with no apparent warning. They often arrive after lengthy periods of gentle, lapping waves, knocking people off their feet into the cold water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The season for sneaker waves can begin as early as September and continue to April, though they are most likely from December to February, Peterson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of the West Coast, sneaker waves kill more people than all other weather hazards combined, according to the National Weather Service’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-waves\">website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastline was active early this year, with three reported drownings in mid-September due to sneaker waves and associated rip currents, Peterson said. The drownings occurred along the craggy, winding shoreline between Davenport and Santa Cruz. Two people drowned at Panther Beach and another — a 17-year-old swimmer and cross-country athlete — at Laguna Creek State Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean is a very powerful force of nature,” Peterson said. “People should understand that any day on the coast can be a dangerous or deadly day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘How can we not know?’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before their son died, Sharmistha and Tarun had never heard of sneaker waves, although they’d visited beaches all over the world. Now, Sharmistha wonders why more people haven’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought: ‘How can we not know?’” she said. “And if we did not know, that means hundreds of other families don’t know either —maybe even thousands more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves not only sweep away unsuspecting beachgoers, said Tuba Özkan-Haller, a professor of ocean science at Oregon State University. They can also knock them off of rocks and logs, or wash them out of beachside caves and pocket beaches with high-walled bluffs, like those at Cowell Ranch State Beach, where Arunay drowned. Once a person is in the ocean, the cold water can cause hypothermia within minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does not look like a curling wave,” she said. “It looks like the tide is rising fast over the course of a few minutes, and it just keeps coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions need to be right for sneaker waves to push up along Bay Area beaches. They are generated by storms offshore in the northern Pacific Ocean and arrive only if there’s no local storm to disrupt or weaken them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They often can hit on a beautiful day that basically invites people to come right out to the beach,” Özkan-Haller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most years, sneaker waves are responsible for several drownings or near drownings from Northern California to southern Washington, but many are unreported, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So often the stories of people being affected by sneaker waves are tragic,” she said. “It’s a split second, and your life can change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tragedy strikes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It seemed the perfect day for a beach outing, sunny and unseasonably warm, Sharmistha recalled. It was the family’s first time visiting Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay. They were joined by a group of other families on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hadn’t been there long, when a powerful sneaker wave ran up the beach, knocking their younger son, 8-year-old Siddhant, off his feet as he was playing at the water’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun dashed into the water after him, with Sharmistha following, both desperately trying to grab hold of their younger son. But they were rocked about and flung in all directions by a set of turbulent waves, the sand shifting underneath their feet with each step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Sharmistha lost consciousness, but awoke with relief when she saw Tarun and Siddhant on the beach beside her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they realized that their older son, Arunay, who they’d last seen higher up on the beach playing frisbee, was missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew he was the best swimmer of all of us in the family,” she said. “Maybe that’s the reason he thought he needed to jump into the water to save us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water “looked deceptively calm that day,” Tarun said. “In a matter of a minute, no one was able to hold their ground, the wave was just way too strong. It created a churn. I remember going up and down, just like a washing machine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then “someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Throwing a lifeline\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A couple dozen people formed several long lines — human chains with linked arms — and were able to save Tarun, Sharmistha and their youngest son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chain of people tried to reach Arunay, too, but he had drifted past their reach. They tried to tie tents together to throw out to him, but weren’t able to do so in time. By the time first responders arrived, he was no longer visible from the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the idea of installing ring buoys on beaches came from, and that’s how our journey started,” Sharmistha said, adding that she believes Arunay might be alive today if one had been nearby that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The right tools for beach safety\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In May, the couple started the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arunayfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arunay Foundation\u003c/a>, in their son’s name, to advocate for beach safety. They worked with Eric Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.seavalor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sea Valor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that teaches sailing to veterans with PTSD and kids from underserved communities, to build and install the emergency buoy stations. He played a key role in the more than six-week search for their son’s body, which was not recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hope that the buoy stations at Mavericks Beach, Pillar Point Harbor and Surfers Beach in Half Moon Bay are just the beginning, the couple said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their organization has advocated for more lifeguards and better warning systems, and designed a beach safety class — similar to those for earthquakes and fires — that they hope will be taught across California to schoolchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more exposed to the beach than they are exposed to a fire or earthquake, so beach safety should be a part of the curriculum, too,” Tarun said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978072\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling mother holds her young son. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arunay Pruthi with his mother, Sharmistha Chakraborty, photographed on May 29, 2017. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Still searching’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It was less than a year ago that they lost their son. Yet, the couple quickly realized that they needed to spring into action to prevent other tragedies, even at times when they felt more like staying at home under a blanket, Sharmistha said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something has to be done so that tomorrow this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child,” she said. “But the sadness doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun used to love the beach, but he says he no longer enjoys it. And when he does go, it’s no longer to relax, but to advocate for beach safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, they attended a dedication ceremony for the buoy station at Pillar Point Harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last May, they went to a dedication for a memorial picnic table for their son at Cowell Ranch State Beach. The ceremony occurred on what would have been his 13th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun says that he and his wife still hope to see a sign of Arunay, when they walk the half-mile trek past the coyote brush and thistles to the beach where they lost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I come here, I’m always searching,” he said. “Still looking for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978073 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi look out at the beach where they lost their son. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"question\">\u003c/a>Tips for staying safe at the beach:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Check the National Weather Service Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mtr/\">website \u003c/a>and social media for coastal hazard advisories and warnings. Arrive knowing the weather, tide and surf forecast.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Never turn your back on the ocean. Examine wave activity for 20 minutes from higher ground. Check for wet or dark sand before deciding where to sit. Build in a buffer between you and the surf. Stay further back than you think is necessary and expand the buffer if the beach is low or sloping.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Always have an exit plan. Are you able to get to higher ground easily? Or is it difficult to scramble up the rocks or dunes behind you? If waves do swamp the beach, you should be able to get to higher ground quickly — within 20 seconds — and take into account how able-bodied you are.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Use caution around logs near the water, which can float away or could roll on top of you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid walking or standing on rock jetties, as waves can knock you off, as well as caves and high-walled bluffs, as tides rise fast and can prevent escape.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Put children in a life vest and dogs on a leash, whenever they play close to the water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\u003cem>Sources: Tuba Özkan-Haller and the National Weather Service\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"title": "After Their Son Was Swept Into The Ocean, This Fremont Family Turned Their Grief Into Advocacy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find tips for staying safe at the beach this winter at the \u003ca href=\"#question\">bottom of this post\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi lost their 12-year-old son, Arunay Pruthi, after he was swept off the beach by a wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the help of other beachgoers “we couldn’t get to him because there was no device or equipment to throw at him,” Sharmistha said. “They were trying to make ropes out of tents, pulling them apart, trying to make a long line so they could throw it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort proved unsuccessful. Arunay drifted away too quickly, after being dragged into the ocean by a sneaker wave — a dangerous surge of ocean water that suddenly pushes high on the beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that tragic day, the Fremont couple has funneled their grief into a mission to protect others from living the same tragedy. Their advocacy resulted in the installation of permanent lifesaving stations and ring buoys at three local Bay Area beaches last November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978070 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg\" alt=\"A women with a beige trenchcoat and a man with a gray fleece stand on a bluff looking over the ocean. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi, parents of 12-year-old Arunay Pruthi, who drowned at Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The family hopes that warning signs and the rings, which are attached to 100 feet of rope, will alert people to the danger of the ocean and help those who are drowning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arunay was one of at least 11 people who died or nearly drowned at Bay Area beaches last fall and winter, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the agency, says the public is increasingly aware of this once little-known coastal hazard, in part because of tragic stories like Arunay’s. And that’s critical, he says, to prevent more people\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>from being involved in ocean-related deaths and accidents each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves claimed so many lives last year, in part, because people flocked to the beach to enjoy unseasonably warm weather at a safe outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Bay Area officials are warning the public to be extra cautious, especially now as we enter the winter months, prime season for sneaker waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson says the number of beach hazard events is already higher than at this time last year, when beaches were pummeled by huge swells. He attributes the increase to La Niña conditions and a high-pressure ridge that creates unseasonable, dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather pattern also allows offshore storms to transfer energy to the ocean’s surface and spawn long, powerful waves that fan out along the California coastline, surprising beachgoers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978071 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg\" alt=\"White ocean water rises up along brown sand. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">High tide waves at Mavericks Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The season for sneaker waves\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A sneaker wave, sometimes referred to as a “sleeper wave,” is a large, unusual train of waves that can surge up powerfully on a beach with no apparent warning. They often arrive after lengthy periods of gentle, lapping waves, knocking people off their feet into the cold water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The season for sneaker waves can begin as early as September and continue to April, though they are most likely from December to February, Peterson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of the West Coast, sneaker waves kill more people than all other weather hazards combined, according to the National Weather Service’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-waves\">website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastline was active early this year, with three reported drownings in mid-September due to sneaker waves and associated rip currents, Peterson said. The drownings occurred along the craggy, winding shoreline between Davenport and Santa Cruz. Two people drowned at Panther Beach and another — a 17-year-old swimmer and cross-country athlete — at Laguna Creek State Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean is a very powerful force of nature,” Peterson said. “People should understand that any day on the coast can be a dangerous or deadly day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘How can we not know?’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before their son died, Sharmistha and Tarun had never heard of sneaker waves, although they’d visited beaches all over the world. Now, Sharmistha wonders why more people haven’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought: ‘How can we not know?’” she said. “And if we did not know, that means hundreds of other families don’t know either —maybe even thousands more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves not only sweep away unsuspecting beachgoers, said Tuba Özkan-Haller, a professor of ocean science at Oregon State University. They can also knock them off of rocks and logs, or wash them out of beachside caves and pocket beaches with high-walled bluffs, like those at Cowell Ranch State Beach, where Arunay drowned. Once a person is in the ocean, the cold water can cause hypothermia within minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does not look like a curling wave,” she said. “It looks like the tide is rising fast over the course of a few minutes, and it just keeps coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions need to be right for sneaker waves to push up along Bay Area beaches. They are generated by storms offshore in the northern Pacific Ocean and arrive only if there’s no local storm to disrupt or weaken them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They often can hit on a beautiful day that basically invites people to come right out to the beach,” Özkan-Haller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most years, sneaker waves are responsible for several drownings or near drownings from Northern California to southern Washington, but many are unreported, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So often the stories of people being affected by sneaker waves are tragic,” she said. “It’s a split second, and your life can change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tragedy strikes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It seemed the perfect day for a beach outing, sunny and unseasonably warm, Sharmistha recalled. It was the family’s first time visiting Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay. They were joined by a group of other families on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hadn’t been there long, when a powerful sneaker wave ran up the beach, knocking their younger son, 8-year-old Siddhant, off his feet as he was playing at the water’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun dashed into the water after him, with Sharmistha following, both desperately trying to grab hold of their younger son. But they were rocked about and flung in all directions by a set of turbulent waves, the sand shifting underneath their feet with each step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Sharmistha lost consciousness, but awoke with relief when she saw Tarun and Siddhant on the beach beside her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they realized that their older son, Arunay, who they’d last seen higher up on the beach playing frisbee, was missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew he was the best swimmer of all of us in the family,” she said. “Maybe that’s the reason he thought he needed to jump into the water to save us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water “looked deceptively calm that day,” Tarun said. “In a matter of a minute, no one was able to hold their ground, the wave was just way too strong. It created a churn. I remember going up and down, just like a washing machine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then “someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Throwing a lifeline\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A couple dozen people formed several long lines — human chains with linked arms — and were able to save Tarun, Sharmistha and their youngest son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chain of people tried to reach Arunay, too, but he had drifted past their reach. They tried to tie tents together to throw out to him, but weren’t able to do so in time. By the time first responders arrived, he was no longer visible from the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the idea of installing ring buoys on beaches came from, and that’s how our journey started,” Sharmistha said, adding that she believes Arunay might be alive today if one had been nearby that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The right tools for beach safety\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In May, the couple started the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arunayfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arunay Foundation\u003c/a>, in their son’s name, to advocate for beach safety. They worked with Eric Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.seavalor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sea Valor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that teaches sailing to veterans with PTSD and kids from underserved communities, to build and install the emergency buoy stations. He played a key role in the more than six-week search for their son’s body, which was not recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hope that the buoy stations at Mavericks Beach, Pillar Point Harbor and Surfers Beach in Half Moon Bay are just the beginning, the couple said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their organization has advocated for more lifeguards and better warning systems, and designed a beach safety class — similar to those for earthquakes and fires — that they hope will be taught across California to schoolchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more exposed to the beach than they are exposed to a fire or earthquake, so beach safety should be a part of the curriculum, too,” Tarun said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978072\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling mother holds her young son. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arunay Pruthi with his mother, Sharmistha Chakraborty, photographed on May 29, 2017. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Still searching’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It was less than a year ago that they lost their son. Yet, the couple quickly realized that they needed to spring into action to prevent other tragedies, even at times when they felt more like staying at home under a blanket, Sharmistha said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something has to be done so that tomorrow this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child,” she said. “But the sadness doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun used to love the beach, but he says he no longer enjoys it. And when he does go, it’s no longer to relax, but to advocate for beach safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, they attended a dedication ceremony for the buoy station at Pillar Point Harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last May, they went to a dedication for a memorial picnic table for their son at Cowell Ranch State Beach. The ceremony occurred on what would have been his 13th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun says that he and his wife still hope to see a sign of Arunay, when they walk the half-mile trek past the coyote brush and thistles to the beach where they lost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I come here, I’m always searching,” he said. “Still looking for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978073 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi look out at the beach where they lost their son. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"question\">\u003c/a>Tips for staying safe at the beach:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Check the National Weather Service Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mtr/\">website \u003c/a>and social media for coastal hazard advisories and warnings. Arrive knowing the weather, tide and surf forecast.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Never turn your back on the ocean. Examine wave activity for 20 minutes from higher ground. Check for wet or dark sand before deciding where to sit. Build in a buffer between you and the surf. Stay further back than you think is necessary and expand the buffer if the beach is low or sloping.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Always have an exit plan. Are you able to get to higher ground easily? Or is it difficult to scramble up the rocks or dunes behind you? If waves do swamp the beach, you should be able to get to higher ground quickly — within 20 seconds — and take into account how able-bodied you are.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Use caution around logs near the water, which can float away or could roll on top of you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid walking or standing on rock jetties, as waves can knock you off, as well as caves and high-walled bluffs, as tides rise fast and can prevent escape.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Put children in a life vest and dogs on a leash, whenever they play close to the water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\u003cem>Sources: Tuba Özkan-Haller and the National Weather Service\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This weekend, the dramatic winter tides known as king tides may flood the shoreline around San Francisco Bay, offering photographers some amazing shots and foreshadowing what rising seas could be like across the Bay Area because of human-caused climate change. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco Bay has already risen about eight inches since the mid-1800s. Over the next 20 to 30 years, seas could rise by about a foot along the California coast, says \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/hamlington/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ben Hamlington\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, NASA’s Sea Level Change Team leader.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“These king tide events really do give us an idea of what we might be seeing in the not-too-distant future,” he said. “This will be our new baseline.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KQEDnews/status/1466897533561565186\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">King tides, which happen every winter, produce both the highest and the lowest tides of the year. Ocean levels fluctuate when the moon and Earth orbit close to the sun. This natural occurrence increases gravitational pull on the ocean. When a winter storm \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/dec15/california-flooding.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">coincides\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with a king tide event in an El Niño year, water levels and flooding can be even higher. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hamlington says small floods today could become extreme floods in just a few decades. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But how far inland the seas reach after 2050, he says, is up to humans and whether we dramatically reduce or stop relying on fossil fuels, which, when burned, emit gases that warm the atmosphere. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“These very big increases in sea level rise become more of a concern if we continue down a bad path in terms of emissions,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KJBaylor/status/1466859178798968833?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This weekend and on Jan. 1-3, king tides in the Bay Area could be as high as 7 feet and flood low-lying communities and tourist areas. The National Weather Service has issued a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=sto&wwa=all\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">coastal flood advisory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from Friday through Sunday afternoon. Hamlington says tides will be about a foot higher, and lower, than they normally would be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/learn.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California King Tides Project\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> encourages people to send photos of the high tides as part of an ongoing citizen science project. Manager Annie Kohut Frankel says the images will help planners, researchers and communicators understand current coastal vulnerabilities and how severe sea level rise could inundate areas around the bay in the coming decades. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you go out during these high tides, and you see a beach that’s underwater or a trail or road that’s flooded, you can picture the water being at least that high every single day in the not-too-distant future,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During king tides, flooding may intensify all around the Bay Area; the tides often flood parts of San Francisco’s Embarcadero, where water splashes over the sea wall. Last October an atmospheric river inundated parts of the Embarcadero, says Matt Wickens, an engineer for the Port of San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/burritojustice/status/1466453394818617349?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There were places on our waterfront where we just couldn’t get water from land out to the bay fast enough, and it resulted in flooding,” Wickens said of efforts to pump water from streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what he’s worried about is a king tide aggravated by a big storm or an atmospheric river, which he says is a combination we haven’t yet seen in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In November, the SF Port Commission released a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfport.com/files/2021-11/11092021_Item%2010A%20Waterfront%20Resilience%20Program%20Update_final_0.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> saying the city will need to raise parts of the Embarcadero between 2 and 7 feet to forestall flooding as the climate emergency continues. The port may detail a series of projects as early as next year to respond to sea level rise and prepare for earthquakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This weekend, the dramatic winter tides known as king tides may flood the shoreline around San Francisco Bay, offering photographers some amazing shots and foreshadowing what rising seas could be like across the Bay Area because of human-caused climate change. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco Bay has already risen about eight inches since the mid-1800s. Over the next 20 to 30 years, seas could rise by about a foot along the California coast, says \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/hamlington/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ben Hamlington\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, NASA’s Sea Level Change Team leader.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“These king tide events really do give us an idea of what we might be seeing in the not-too-distant future,” he said. “This will be our new baseline.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hamlington says small floods today could become extreme floods in just a few decades. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But how far inland the seas reach after 2050, he says, is up to humans and whether we dramatically reduce or stop relying on fossil fuels, which, when burned, emit gases that warm the atmosphere. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“These very big increases in sea level rise become more of a concern if we continue down a bad path in terms of emissions,” he said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This weekend and on Jan. 1-3, king tides in the Bay Area could be as high as 7 feet and flood low-lying communities and tourist areas. The National Weather Service has issued a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=sto&wwa=all\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">coastal flood advisory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from Friday through Sunday afternoon. Hamlington says tides will be about a foot higher, and lower, than they normally would be. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/learn.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California King Tides Project\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> encourages people to send photos of the high tides as part of an ongoing citizen science project. Manager Annie Kohut Frankel says the images will help planners, researchers and communicators understand current coastal vulnerabilities and how severe sea level rise could inundate areas around the bay in the coming decades. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you go out during these high tides, and you see a beach that’s underwater or a trail or road that’s flooded, you can picture the water being at least that high every single day in the not-too-distant future,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">During king tides, flooding may intensify all around the Bay Area; the tides often flood parts of San Francisco’s Embarcadero, where water splashes over the sea wall. Last October an atmospheric river inundated parts of the Embarcadero, says Matt Wickens, an engineer for the Port of San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There were places on our waterfront where we just couldn’t get water from land out to the bay fast enough, and it resulted in flooding,” Wickens said of efforts to pump water from streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what he’s worried about is a king tide aggravated by a big storm or an atmospheric river, which he says is a combination we haven’t yet seen in the Bay Area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In November, the SF Port Commission released a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sfport.com/files/2021-11/11092021_Item%2010A%20Waterfront%20Resilience%20Program%20Update_final_0.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> saying the city will need to raise parts of the Embarcadero between 2 and 7 feet to forestall flooding as the climate emergency continues. The port may detail a series of projects as early as next year to respond to sea level rise and prepare for earthquakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Biggest Whales Can Eat the Equivalent of 80,000 Big Macs in One Day",
"headTitle": "The Biggest Whales Can Eat the Equivalent of 80,000 Big Macs in One Day | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The biggest animals to have ever lived on Earth gobble up much more food than scientists thought, according to a new study of filter-feeding whales that reveals just how important their eating habits could be for recycling nutrients in the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baleen whales such as blue, fin, minke, and humpback whales consume, on average, around three times more each year than previous estimates suggested, researchers \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03991-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>. A blue whale in the eastern North Pacific, for example, might eat between 10 and 20 tons of food a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That amount of food is somewhere in the range of 20 to 50 million calories,” says \u003ca href=\"https://matthewsavocaecology.weebly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Savoca\u003c/a>, a researcher at Stanford University and the lead author of the new study. “That is about 70 to 80 thousand Big Macs. Probably decades of our eating is one day for them. So it’s pretty remarkable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Savoca first got interested in how much whales eat a few years ago, because he wanted to know how much pollution they might ingest along with their food. To his surprise, he says, the only numbers he could find on whales’ prey consumption “didn’t actually come from living, breathing whales in the wild.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, researchers had made guesses based on extrapolations from the caloric needs of smaller animals. Or, they’d simply inspected the stomach contents of whales that had been hunted, relying on a snapshot in time that might not fully reflect how much a whale actually takes in over a day or a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A new way to count calories\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Savoca realized that researchers could get more accurate estimates by using an underwater device that can measure the size and density of swarms of shrimp-like krill—the mainstay of these whales’ diet. This kind of device sends out out pulses of sound that bounce off the swarms and return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977489\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977489\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A dark whale with a red tracking tag glides through the surface of black water.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A minke whale tagged by the research team swims off the coast of Antarctica in 2019. \u003ccite>(Ari Friedlaender/via NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He and his colleagues gathered data on over 300 tagged whales as the huge animals fed in krill swarms by gulping in water to filter out the krill. The size of each whale determined how big of a mouthful of krill-filled water it could get at one go, and the researchers tracked the whales’ movements to see how often they went for another gulp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In dense swarms of krill, says Savoca, the whales feed at levels that are hard to believe. “Blue whales might lunge into a prey patch 200 times a day,” he says. “Humpback whales might do it 500 times a day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all this eating comes pooping. Only recently have scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/04/03/298778615/the-power-of-poop-a-whale-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">realized\u003c/a> that whale excrement contains high levels of iron, a precious resource in the ocean. Whales’ fecal plumes spread nutrients out close the ocean’s surface, which boosts the growth of phytoplankton, tiny life forms at the bottom of the marine food web that are eaten by krill. The krill, of course, get eaten by whales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this nutrient recycling system has been disrupted by the mass slaughter of whales over the past two centuries, according to this new report, resulting in “the near-complete loss of whale-recycled iron from the largest species.” The researchers estimate that baleen whales recycled 12,000 metric tons of iron per year before whaling, compared to 1,200 metric tons today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These findings are similar to \u003ca href=\"https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2015.0292\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimates\u003c/a> from a 2016 analysis that suggested iron recycling by large baleen whales in the Southern Ocean was reduced 10-fold between 1900 and 2008. But that study also looked at iron recycling by zooplankton and other small creatures that are far more numerous than whales ever were, and concluded that compared to their nutrient recycling work, the whales’ contribution was likely “negligible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/people/mariamaldonado\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maria Maldonado\u003c/a> of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who did the 2016 study, maintains that “the big recyclers of iron in the ecosystem are not the whales.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More whales, more krill?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Still, some researchers believe that the killing of more than a million baleen whales around Antarctica over the 20\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> century, and the loss of all their fecal fertilizer, is tied to the subsequent dramatic declines in krill populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-whaling populations of whales would annually eat double the total amount of Antarctic krill that exists in the Southern Ocean today, according to the new report’s calculations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before whales were decimated by hunting, observers described those seas as being colored red by swarming krill. “Krill swarms at the surface used to be a common sight in the Southern Ocean,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=kGVkj2kAAAAJ&hl=de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Smetacek\u003c/a>, a researcher with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. “The last swarms were seen in the early 1980’s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He believes that, historically, the whales were “maintaining the krill swarms by recycling iron.” In his view, it’s worth doing tests of adding iron to the ocean to encourage the growth of phytoplankton, which would then feed the krill and ultimately give a boost to whale populations, which apparently need to eat more than researchers ever expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977490\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977490\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An overhead shot of two gray whales — one turned on its back, showing off its white belly — and an orange research dingy. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists investigate a humpback whale by boat and by drone in the surface waters near the West Antarctic Peninsula. \u003ccite>(Duke University Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing/via NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Such experiments can be controversial, he says, but “once people start understanding that the whales themselves were doing iron fertilization and that we would be just mimicking the whales, I am hoping that they would come around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado is against this idea, and says the disappearance of krill could be due to changes in water temperature or ocean acidification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An iron fertilization test in the ocean would be complicated and could potentially have unintended consequences if it wasn’t done well, says \u003ca href=\"https://oceanswell.org/meet-the-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asha de Vos\u003c/a>, a marine biologist and founding executive director of the conservation research group Oceanswell in Sri Lanka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would be cautious,” she says, noting that whales could be helped in other ways, like protecting them from ship strikes or net entanglements. “We need to start tackling those issues as well and not just look for one quick fix.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=The+biggest+whales+can+eat+the+equivalent+of+80%2C000+Big+Macs+in+one+day&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists have gotten the best estimates yet of exactly how much baleen whales, the largest animals on the planet, can consume in one day. Their caloric intake is mind-boggling.",
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"description": "Scientists have gotten the best estimates yet of exactly how much baleen whales, the largest animals on the planet, can consume in one day. Their caloric intake is mind-boggling.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The biggest animals to have ever lived on Earth gobble up much more food than scientists thought, according to a new study of filter-feeding whales that reveals just how important their eating habits could be for recycling nutrients in the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baleen whales such as blue, fin, minke, and humpback whales consume, on average, around three times more each year than previous estimates suggested, researchers \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03991-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>. A blue whale in the eastern North Pacific, for example, might eat between 10 and 20 tons of food a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That amount of food is somewhere in the range of 20 to 50 million calories,” says \u003ca href=\"https://matthewsavocaecology.weebly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew Savoca\u003c/a>, a researcher at Stanford University and the lead author of the new study. “That is about 70 to 80 thousand Big Macs. Probably decades of our eating is one day for them. So it’s pretty remarkable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Savoca first got interested in how much whales eat a few years ago, because he wanted to know how much pollution they might ingest along with their food. To his surprise, he says, the only numbers he could find on whales’ prey consumption “didn’t actually come from living, breathing whales in the wild.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, researchers had made guesses based on extrapolations from the caloric needs of smaller animals. Or, they’d simply inspected the stomach contents of whales that had been hunted, relying on a snapshot in time that might not fully reflect how much a whale actually takes in over a day or a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A new way to count calories\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Savoca realized that researchers could get more accurate estimates by using an underwater device that can measure the size and density of swarms of shrimp-like krill—the mainstay of these whales’ diet. This kind of device sends out out pulses of sound that bounce off the swarms and return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977489\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977489\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A dark whale with a red tracking tag glides through the surface of black water.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales3-tagged-cfd457144279e6cf32f395f2b242ea37083812de-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A minke whale tagged by the research team swims off the coast of Antarctica in 2019. \u003ccite>(Ari Friedlaender/via NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He and his colleagues gathered data on over 300 tagged whales as the huge animals fed in krill swarms by gulping in water to filter out the krill. The size of each whale determined how big of a mouthful of krill-filled water it could get at one go, and the researchers tracked the whales’ movements to see how often they went for another gulp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In dense swarms of krill, says Savoca, the whales feed at levels that are hard to believe. “Blue whales might lunge into a prey patch 200 times a day,” he says. “Humpback whales might do it 500 times a day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all this eating comes pooping. Only recently have scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/04/03/298778615/the-power-of-poop-a-whale-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">realized\u003c/a> that whale excrement contains high levels of iron, a precious resource in the ocean. Whales’ fecal plumes spread nutrients out close the ocean’s surface, which boosts the growth of phytoplankton, tiny life forms at the bottom of the marine food web that are eaten by krill. The krill, of course, get eaten by whales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this nutrient recycling system has been disrupted by the mass slaughter of whales over the past two centuries, according to this new report, resulting in “the near-complete loss of whale-recycled iron from the largest species.” The researchers estimate that baleen whales recycled 12,000 metric tons of iron per year before whaling, compared to 1,200 metric tons today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These findings are similar to \u003ca href=\"https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2015.0292\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimates\u003c/a> from a 2016 analysis that suggested iron recycling by large baleen whales in the Southern Ocean was reduced 10-fold between 1900 and 2008. But that study also looked at iron recycling by zooplankton and other small creatures that are far more numerous than whales ever were, and concluded that compared to their nutrient recycling work, the whales’ contribution was likely “negligible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/people/mariamaldonado\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maria Maldonado\u003c/a> of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who did the 2016 study, maintains that “the big recyclers of iron in the ecosystem are not the whales.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More whales, more krill?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Still, some researchers believe that the killing of more than a million baleen whales around Antarctica over the 20\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> century, and the loss of all their fecal fertilizer, is tied to the subsequent dramatic declines in krill populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-whaling populations of whales would annually eat double the total amount of Antarctic krill that exists in the Southern Ocean today, according to the new report’s calculations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before whales were decimated by hunting, observers described those seas as being colored red by swarming krill. “Krill swarms at the surface used to be a common sight in the Southern Ocean,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=kGVkj2kAAAAJ&hl=de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Smetacek\u003c/a>, a researcher with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. “The last swarms were seen in the early 1980’s.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He believes that, historically, the whales were “maintaining the krill swarms by recycling iron.” In his view, it’s worth doing tests of adding iron to the ocean to encourage the growth of phytoplankton, which would then feed the krill and ultimately give a boost to whale populations, which apparently need to eat more than researchers ever expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977490\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977490\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An overhead shot of two gray whales — one turned on its back, showing off its white belly — and an orange research dingy. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/11/whales2-boat-c6e720487fdf7ff05cb4ff19ea21ae4cb1ca79e3-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists investigate a humpback whale by boat and by drone in the surface waters near the West Antarctic Peninsula. \u003ccite>(Duke University Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing/via NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Such experiments can be controversial, he says, but “once people start understanding that the whales themselves were doing iron fertilization and that we would be just mimicking the whales, I am hoping that they would come around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maldonado is against this idea, and says the disappearance of krill could be due to changes in water temperature or ocean acidification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An iron fertilization test in the ocean would be complicated and could potentially have unintended consequences if it wasn’t done well, says \u003ca href=\"https://oceanswell.org/meet-the-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asha de Vos\u003c/a>, a marine biologist and founding executive director of the conservation research group Oceanswell in Sri Lanka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would be cautious,” she says, noting that whales could be helped in other ways, like protecting them from ship strikes or net entanglements. “We need to start tackling those issues as well and not just look for one quick fix.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=The+biggest+whales+can+eat+the+equivalent+of+80%2C000+Big+Macs+in+one+day&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On first impression, skeleton shrimp anatomy is confusing. These crustaceans use a funky assortment of body parts to move around like inchworms, feed on bits of sea garbage, stage boxing matches, and make lots of clingy babies.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These cranky creatures are skeleton shrimp. And they’re always looking for a fight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their bodies are – on first impression – confusing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no shortage of appendages: eighteen in total. And that’s all in a body a few centimeters or less. They belong to a group of animals called amphipods, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">which in Latin, means “feet on all sides.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dive into more skeleton shrimp facts with these pages published by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/skeleton-shrimp\">Monterey Bay Aquarium\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://ecology.wa.gov/Blog/Posts/October-2018/Eyes-Under-Puget-Sound-critter-of-the-month-%E2%80%94-the\">Washington State’s Department of Ecology\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://watermark.silverchair.com/jcb0673.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAsUwggLBBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggKyMIICrgIBADCCAqcGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMaA80RxtOUGeSYMZjAgEQgIICeHMVXuUDIjb83k6GRNk248fJX3cgFjtGM9n0c_MbTwYIbPabZg0Aqgf2cY6JrMkHdWnJLrH_J8dNoXGtnNhA_lSsWnSgWUglKv981XDFdnBEMjYf4oG6_HJJ8I3y3STaoz5PGE24IL-kEp74ANDsXh-804JeJawPzFvhH6yU29oKfVOUTilnMgu4BOfTDKbc4779D5Y42xDup0diyoqPcztHFbZHYdbrIsqNVmTbywBpGpUgYLmyJhhnPRYSL6bc5-zHo1XIFo9ll9ayeMUTSRVFPyaIkcOAPzynJVMCOE8RFoBi6XyzI9Ob5bCk1zWfardaXHxDGDzehRZ-NSDQUofXokg3WAAThaupyD_k__VI2YpLGLQwtrAUznFksnt1PQD-lP_q9uc7A4EmEu-MgxxCnG6fk9999CsuLZRPPSifEjlj3xv6mZXzpURzoGj2d7p8j1QRYYN-G5VLyIboJbgNiQCko9wJvr9Kb8TGmUEUHE3GMUuod7fnI_IpwTNPIP3ab1_wgt8KbtIferU0w3zJJEmtvxqjUd7_ItRTqJ-01FU-Xi2bU3akRqzr8ftSclMeKYQNrBwbe3n9PjCHzWUIKDn8ed7kMDA9zQzq6Rr7K-1iXGs9bBtzIuMHszENW-v-R45BahPaPkCsKKx1IrL2bXuiDi5QMheqal7o_nrd4DTPHI-FzkthQzfbO6g_z25mJFRdp-G8vRfPtULJ3WccLFZYn0VKucSgVR0_QtlJcA9g7aHy1F5CwvRb-AgwwgBqnGz5i5CiLPhR5sF9D2q4yijozBwn-f8wlfLNi4oOnIxNULtZSZcXtm5jEce_BPcteB3QyqcP\">This research paper\u003c/a> investigates the possibility and mechanism for venom delivery by some skeleton shrimp through their claws – also known as gnathopods. [/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each set has a particular purpose: breathing, grasping, moving, fighting, feeling and feeding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These four paddle-shaped gills pull oxygen from the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Six rear legs anchor the shrimp. These limbs are prehensile, like a monkey’s tail, grasping onto seagrass, algae, fishing nets – you name it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This crustacean uses its front claws to inchworm around like a – well, like an inchworm. Good thing, since they’re not the most graceful swimmers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These wicked-looking front claws are called gnathopods, which literally means “jaw feet.” Two are big and two are small. The bigger pair are perfect for fighting. It’s mostly the guys doing all the boxing. They’re competing for – you guessed it – the ladies. Sometimes their fights become deadly, and it might be from more than just the blows or sharp claws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists are investigating whether some of the male shrimp are packing venom in those gnarly gnathopods. If that’s true, they likely deliver the venom through these microscopic pores on the tips of the claws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But these shrimp have a softer side too. Literally. Right after the female molts, when her new exoskeleton is pliable, the much larger male takes a shot at love – or at least reproduction. That’s the best time for him to fertilize her eggs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the timing isn’t right for her, she socks him with a quick one-two. Once fertilized, the female keeps the developing eggs close, aerating them in her brood pouch. After a week or less they hatch. They’re real clingy. Yep, all those squirmy white things are hatchlings. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s just say, mom doesn’t get a lot of “me” time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And how about these accessories on their head? Each shrimp has four antennae. These two are for sensing. No surprise there. But these two are different, lined with comb-like setae, they sift food from the water. They scrape their feathery antennae with the smaller set of gnathopods and shove the bounty into their mouths. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Skeleton shrimp are not picky eaters. A lot of the time, they’re detritivores, which is a fancy way of saying they eat little bits of dead stuff. This is how these scrappy crustaceans play a crucial role in the food chain, as they busily break down detritus for smaller plants and animals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And on the flip side, they themselves are tasty bundles of energy for fish and crabs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the web of life, there’s a place for everyone. Even the most pugnacious, pesky and peculiar among us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each set has a particular purpose: breathing, grasping, moving, fighting, feeling and feeding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These four paddle-shaped gills pull oxygen from the water. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Six rear legs anchor the shrimp. These limbs are prehensile, like a monkey’s tail, grasping onto seagrass, algae, fishing nets – you name it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This crustacean uses its front claws to inchworm around like a – well, like an inchworm. Good thing, since they’re not the most graceful swimmers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These wicked-looking front claws are called gnathopods, which literally means “jaw feet.” Two are big and two are small. The bigger pair are perfect for fighting. It’s mostly the guys doing all the boxing. They’re competing for – you guessed it – the ladies. Sometimes their fights become deadly, and it might be from more than just the blows or sharp claws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scientists are investigating whether some of the male shrimp are packing venom in those gnarly gnathopods. If that’s true, they likely deliver the venom through these microscopic pores on the tips of the claws.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But these shrimp have a softer side too. Literally. Right after the female molts, when her new exoskeleton is pliable, the much larger male takes a shot at love – or at least reproduction. That’s the best time for him to fertilize her eggs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the timing isn’t right for her, she socks him with a quick one-two. Once fertilized, the female keeps the developing eggs close, aerating them in her brood pouch. After a week or less they hatch. They’re real clingy. Yep, all those squirmy white things are hatchlings. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s just say, mom doesn’t get a lot of “me” time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And how about these accessories on their head? Each shrimp has four antennae. These two are for sensing. No surprise there. But these two are different, lined with comb-like setae, they sift food from the water. They scrape their feathery antennae with the smaller set of gnathopods and shove the bounty into their mouths. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Skeleton shrimp are not picky eaters. A lot of the time, they’re detritivores, which is a fancy way of saying they eat little bits of dead stuff. This is how these scrappy crustaceans play a crucial role in the food chain, as they busily break down detritus for smaller plants and animals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And on the flip side, they themselves are tasty bundles of energy for fish and crabs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the web of life, there’s a place for everyone. Even the most pugnacious, pesky and peculiar among us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003cem>Horseshoe crabs may look scary, but when it’s springtime in Delaware Bay, millions of these arthropods show they’re lovers, not fighters. They lay masses of blue-green eggs up on the shore. At just the right time, they pop and release the larvae within to the sea.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>These delicate, otherworldly creatures are just starting their lives —twitching and twirling inside their translucent homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re baby horseshoe crabs, preparing for the moment they can break free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all started two weeks ago, when the tides were at their highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs emerge from the briny deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And head for the shore with only one thing on their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A springtime spawning spree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atlantic horseshoe crabs gather, by the millions, along the East Coast of North America — from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crowds here in Delaware are some of the biggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The males show up first, hanging out on the beach and in the shallows of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They scramble to latch on to the backs of passing females.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females can be the size of dinner plates, way bigger than the males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Success!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They take advantage of the fleeting high tides to haul their precious cargo as high up the beach as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females muscle their way up the beach, with the males in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greatest danger for these horseshoe crabs is flipping over, exposing their vulnerable underside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it only takes a small wave to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the hood, horseshoe crabs’ legs end in pincers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mature males have something special on their front legs …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “clasper” that looks like a little boxing glove with a hooked finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s perfect for gripping the back of a female’s shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To flip back over, the animals use their long, spiky tail, called a telson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It looks a little scary, but horseshoe crabs don’t sting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs have been making these high-tide treks under the glow of the full moon since before the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s more than 400 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone finds a date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Especially those younger males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they hike up the beach anyway in hopes of getting in on the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This female is dragging around two admirers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a female finds a good spot, she digs and digs into the wet sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The female lays roughly 4,000 eggs in one go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The male that clung to her all this time is in the best position to fertilize the most eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those single dudes crowd around too, vying to fertilize the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the party winds down, the grown-ups start heading back to sea,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’ll return for more of these high-tide soirees throughout the season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They leave their fertilized eggs behind, buried in the damp sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each one is smaller than a pea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of weeks the embryos inside develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the high tides return — these larvae are ready to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jostling of the waves stimulates them to break out of their shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have just a few hours to scramble into the turbulent surf, before the high tide recedes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll mature beneath the waves for roughly a decade before they’re ready to return as adults themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Where they’ll take their turn in this ancient dance of the moon, tides and sand.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Once a Spawn a Time: Horseshoe Crabs Mob the Beach | KQED",
"description": "Horseshoe crabs may look scary, but when it's springtime in Delaware Bay, millions of these arthropods show they're lovers, not fighters. They lay masses of blue-green eggs up on the shore. At just the right time, they pop and release the larvae within to the sea. TRANSCRIPT These delicate, otherworldly creatures are just starting their lives —twitching and twirling inside their translucent homes. They’re baby horseshoe crabs, preparing for the moment they can break free. It all started two weeks ago, when the tides were at their highest. Horseshoe crabs emerge from the briny deep. And head for the shore",
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"headline": "Once a Spawn a Time: Horseshoe Crabs Mob the Beach",
"datePublished": "2021-08-31T06:00:44-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cem>Horseshoe crabs may look scary, but when it’s springtime in Delaware Bay, millions of these arthropods show they’re lovers, not fighters. They lay masses of blue-green eggs up on the shore. At just the right time, they pop and release the larvae within to the sea.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>These delicate, otherworldly creatures are just starting their lives —twitching and twirling inside their translucent homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re baby horseshoe crabs, preparing for the moment they can break free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all started two weeks ago, when the tides were at their highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs emerge from the briny deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And head for the shore with only one thing on their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A springtime spawning spree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atlantic horseshoe crabs gather, by the millions, along the East Coast of North America — from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crowds here in Delaware are some of the biggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The males show up first, hanging out on the beach and in the shallows of the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They scramble to latch on to the backs of passing females.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females can be the size of dinner plates, way bigger than the males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Success!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They take advantage of the fleeting high tides to haul their precious cargo as high up the beach as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The females muscle their way up the beach, with the males in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greatest danger for these horseshoe crabs is flipping over, exposing their vulnerable underside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it only takes a small wave to do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the hood, horseshoe crabs’ legs end in pincers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mature males have something special on their front legs …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “clasper” that looks like a little boxing glove with a hooked finger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s perfect for gripping the back of a female’s shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To flip back over, the animals use their long, spiky tail, called a telson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It looks a little scary, but horseshoe crabs don’t sting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Horseshoe crabs have been making these high-tide treks under the glow of the full moon since before the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s more than 400 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not everyone finds a date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Especially those younger males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they hike up the beach anyway in hopes of getting in on the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This female is dragging around two admirers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a female finds a good spot, she digs and digs into the wet sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The female lays roughly 4,000 eggs in one go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The male that clung to her all this time is in the best position to fertilize the most eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those single dudes crowd around too, vying to fertilize the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the party winds down, the grown-ups start heading back to sea,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they’ll return for more of these high-tide soirees throughout the season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They leave their fertilized eggs behind, buried in the damp sand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each one is smaller than a pea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of weeks the embryos inside develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the high tides return — these larvae are ready to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jostling of the waves stimulates them to break out of their shell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have just a few hours to scramble into the turbulent surf, before the high tide recedes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll mature beneath the waves for roughly a decade before they’re ready to return as adults themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… Where they’ll take their turn in this ancient dance of the moon, tides and sand.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests",
"headTitle": "Trapping Millions of ‘Zombie’ Urchins Could Restore California’s Once Mighty Kelp Forests | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Grant Downie is cruising through Caspar Bay, a small cove 150 miles north of San Francisco on the rugged Mendocino County coast. From the helm of his 18-foot fishing boat, The Rose, Downie steers along the jagged cliffs that surround a pristine beach at the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sea in this protected inlet appears peaceful and calm. But below the surface, all is not well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='right' citation='Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz']‘Let there be no question. These forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Down in the dark green water, hundreds of thousands of spiny purple sea urchins are scavenging the few remaining scraps of bull kelp, a leafy seaweed that once canopied California’s coastal waters from San Francisco to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kelp provides habitat for countless marine species and captures carbon from the water and the atmosphere. But scientists say climate change is threatening kelp forests around the globe. In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins, aided by a temporary spike in ocean temperatures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was one of the first areas we saw the \u003ci>purps\u003c/i> really taking over,” says Downie, a 33-year-old second-generation commercial urchin fisherman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By “purps,” he means purple sea urchins. Of course, it could also be “perps,” as in \u003ci>perpetrators\u003c/i>. These ping pong-ball sized critters sprout sharp, violet purple spines, in all directions, and have voracious appetites for kelp and other algae. (They’ve also been known to devour jelly fish and even bird carcasses.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976054\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976054\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit, is studying different ways to remove purple sea urchins so kelp forests can rebound. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Downie kills the engine and we drift up to a buoy that’s connected by 20 feet of rope to a flat, hula hoop-shaped mesh trap. For two days, it’s been lying on the craggy ocean bottom, baited with strips of bull kelp, quietly attracting the purple urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelp once thrived in places like Caspar Bay. Now, Downie says the ocean floor is lined with bare rock and purple urchins. “There are reefs where it’s like a carpet of purple urchin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hoists up the line, yelping with pleasure as a mound of urchins spill onto the deck. Urchins on top of urchins, some weren’t even able to reach the kelp, but “were just on the trap because the kelp was there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s left of the bull kelp is a ragged green mass, covered in bite marks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hammered it,” Downie says, describing the amount of kelp eaten by the urchin as “insane.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick count reveals the trap brought up more than 300 of the spiny invertebrates — a new personal record for Downie with a single trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Collapse of a Forest\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downie’s trapping work is part of a research project spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit in search of solutions to pave the way for kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> collapse of California’s kelp forests\u003c/a> is complicated, but goes something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 2014, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/looking-back-blob-record-warming-drives-unprecedented-ocean-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warm water blob \u003c/a> from the Pacific Northwest combined with an El Niño pulse from the south to create a large, prolonged \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/03/kelp-forests-norcal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> ocean heat wave\u003c/a>. Water temperatures spiked nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average in spots along the West Coast. Kelp thrives in colder waters, which have more of the nutrients it needs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hardy kelp may have recovered naturally after the heat wave passed. But a second ecological disaster, potentially related to the warm waters, struck. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> disease\u003c/a> killed most of the sea stars on the West Coast, including the 24-limbed, bicycle-wheel-sized sunflower star that feasts on purple sea urchins. Without these predators around, the urchin population swelled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The urchins, typically concealed in protective, rocky crevasses where they patiently wait for fallen kelp leaves, came out of hiding and mowed down the forest, stalks and all. The state’s North Coast got hit the hardest. The kelp in Central and Southern California waters fared somewhat better because other predators there, like sea otters and lobsters, also eat urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For kelp to rebound, scientists first need to figure out how to remove millions of urchins from California waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N7APOWQkWs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A pile of purple sea urchins collects on a underwater trap in Caspar Bay. (Colin McHugh)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let there be no question,” says Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz marine ecology professor not affiliated with the Nature Conservancy project, “these forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Solution\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, scientists and wildlife managers have begun testing different solutions for solving the purple urchin problem. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2019-10-31/california-divers-fight-to-turn-the-tide-on-a-collapsing-ecosystem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> well-documented approach\u003c/a> has been to deploy scuba divers to harvest urchins by hand-plucking them off reefs. But diving is expensive and potentially dangerous in strong currents or bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchin trapping has been proposed as a comparatively safe and cost-effective way to cull a ton of urchin and safeguard kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got these cleared areas in the harbor where we want the kelp to grow back,” Downie says, “Let’s just set traps all around it so that when the urchins come, they’re going to be in the traps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since no one’s ever tried using traps to catch urchins along the West Coast, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife granted the Nature Conservancy project a special permit to test out the method. Downie designed the traps himself: the flat-as-a-pancake version and another with collapsible walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grant Downie rigs an urchin trap with bull kelp and a GoPro camera. A single trap can capture more than 300 purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You might think so many urchins would be good news for an urchin fisherman. But Downie makes a living scuba diving for the larger and meatier red sea urchins, the kind you pay $8 a piece for at sushi bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only a fraction of purple urchins grow big enough to eat. When they moved in, he says the red ones died or moved on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since this whole disaster, I’m hardly making a quarter of what I used to,” Downie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disappearance of kelp has crippled other marine ecosystems, like the rockfish and red abalone fisheries that were once staples of the Northern California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just hurting the urchin divers,” Downie says. “That was a huge income for so many people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the ecological and economic collapse, Downie decided to use his knowledge of urchins to help scientists find a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had heard about the trapping project and I said, ‘Hey, I think it should stay urchin-based,’’’ he says. “We’re not trappers per se, and this [contract] could have gone to a crabber or somebody like that. But our industry is in decline, we’re looking for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy pays Downie for his work, and he now represents the North Coast region on a state commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Zombie Urchins Survive for Decades Without Eating\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without much kelp left to eat, most of the urchins Downie pulls from the water are starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the outside they look fine, on the inside they’re everything but fine,” says Tristin McHugh, an ecologist who directs the kelp recovery project for the Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that doesn’t mean they’ll die-off naturally. These zombie urchins, as scientists call them, can survive for decades, biding their time until more kelp grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some places in the world known to have them for 70-plus years in that state,” McHugh says. Which means it may be up to humans to tip the scales back in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The inside of what scientists call a “zombie urchin.” Urchins can survive decades in this state. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other methods scientists are exploring for urchin removal include reintroducing natural predators, like sea stars or sea otters. Researchers at the University of Washington have begun the first-ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgcCjpXt7Ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">captive breeding program\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for sunflower stars, which still haven’t bounced back in California since the disease wiped them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each method has potential benefits and challenges, which include cost, safety, feasibility and regulatory hurdles, to name just a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973217/in-central-california-sea-otters-feast-on-purple-urchins-and-thats-good-for-kelp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> research shows \u003c/a> that sea otters eat urchins along the Central Coast, helping maintain patches of healthy kelp forest, Mark Carr from UC Santa Cruz, says it’s unlikely they would go after the zombies that blanket large areas of ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The otters are not going to go out and waste their time and energy feeding on urchins that have very low nutritional value,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it pans out, urchin trapping has the potential to do some heavy lifting for conservation, especially when diving isn’t practical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By using traps, you may be able to extend your season for getting into the water,” says James Ray, a kelp specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And you can target specific areas on a more constant basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By creating strongholds for kelp along the coast, he says, the forest may be better equipped to withstand future threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trapping has its limitations, too. Divers can swim right up to urchins, but dropping traps requires some guesswork. Trappers must hope that the urchins will be in expected locations. While trapping is less expensive than diving, it’s still costly and requires continual effort, whereas introducing predators may eventually sustain itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976056\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy’s kelp project director Tristin McHugh points out the spore packet on a healthy bull kelp frond in Caspar Bay. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray, who’s been collaborating with the Nature Conservancy’s kelp recovery research, says no one method will be the “silver bullet answer.” He says trapping and diving could potentially work together, in tandem with other methods, as wildlife managers try to scale up solutions from small patches to the entire coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any solution,” he says, “is likely going to be a sort of a mosaic of smaller solutions that all work, ultimately, towards trying to increase resiliency in our kelp forest ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McHugh agrees with the kitchen sink approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We almost want these very simple, singular solutions,” she says, “But the really key piece right now is figuring out how many different methods we can utilize and facilitate this shift back into a kelp forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy currently donates the urchin carcasses to a company for composting. But McHugh says the long-term goal is to find a commercial market for the calcium-rich shells, like fertilizer or even road building materials, to help fund urchin removals on a larger scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone needs to buy the urchin because we can’t necessarily rely on grant funds or philanthropic funds,” she says. “We need to figure out how we can utilize purple urchin, whether it’s for soil additives or for pavement or whatever it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Golden Tendrils’ of Hope\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there hasn’t been significant recovery of bull kelp in Northern California since the marine heat wave, there is some reason for hope. Ocean temperatures have normalized, restoring nutrients to a level “that can sustain kelp growth and productivity,” Ray says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While climate change increases the likelihood of warming events, kelp is known for its resiliency, replenishing itself every year from new spores and growing up to 2 feet a day. Along the North Coast, there have recently beens some \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/Northern-California-kelp-forest-shows-signs-of-16375965.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preliminary reports\u003c/a> of kelp beginning to reemerge in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Back in Caspar Bay, McHugh kayaks close to the beach, where the sandy bottom prevents urchins from moving in. Surrounding her on all sides is a healthy canopy of bull kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just these glorious golden tendrils of kelp just floating, creating this wonderful canopy that houses tons of marine life, turns over carbon for us, just does everything that you would possibly want a canopy forming species to do,” McHugh says, “It’s currently doing for us right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hasn’t seen kelp in this cove in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can actually see the spore packets on the blades of the kelp getting ready to drop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single packet holds millions of spores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they reach the seafloor, McHugh says, “male and female will find each other and they’ll wait for the next opportune ocean conditions to start growing and begin their life cycle again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a sign, she says, that if scientists can get rid of the urchins, California’s underwater forests will have a chance to return.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins.",
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"title": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests | KQED",
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"headline": "Trapping Millions of 'Zombie' Urchins Could Restore California's Once Mighty Kelp Forests",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Grant Downie is cruising through Caspar Bay, a small cove 150 miles north of San Francisco on the rugged Mendocino County coast. From the helm of his 18-foot fishing boat, The Rose, Downie steers along the jagged cliffs that surround a pristine beach at the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sea in this protected inlet appears peaceful and calm. But below the surface, all is not well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Let there be no question. These forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Down in the dark green water, hundreds of thousands of spiny purple sea urchins are scavenging the few remaining scraps of bull kelp, a leafy seaweed that once canopied California’s coastal waters from San Francisco to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kelp provides habitat for countless marine species and captures carbon from the water and the atmosphere. But scientists say climate change is threatening kelp forests around the globe. In the last five years around 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp canopy was devoured by an influx of hungry sea urchins, aided by a temporary spike in ocean temperatures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was one of the first areas we saw the \u003ci>purps\u003c/i> really taking over,” says Downie, a 33-year-old second-generation commercial urchin fisherman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By “purps,” he means purple sea urchins. Of course, it could also be “perps,” as in \u003ci>perpetrators\u003c/i>. These ping pong-ball sized critters sprout sharp, violet purple spines, in all directions, and have voracious appetites for kelp and other algae. (They’ve also been known to devour jelly fish and even bird carcasses.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976054\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976054\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit, is studying different ways to remove purple sea urchins so kelp forests can rebound. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Downie kills the engine and we drift up to a buoy that’s connected by 20 feet of rope to a flat, hula hoop-shaped mesh trap. For two days, it’s been lying on the craggy ocean bottom, baited with strips of bull kelp, quietly attracting the purple urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelp once thrived in places like Caspar Bay. Now, Downie says the ocean floor is lined with bare rock and purple urchins. “There are reefs where it’s like a carpet of purple urchin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hoists up the line, yelping with pleasure as a mound of urchins spill onto the deck. Urchins on top of urchins, some weren’t even able to reach the kelp, but “were just on the trap because the kelp was there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s left of the bull kelp is a ragged green mass, covered in bite marks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They hammered it,” Downie says, describing the amount of kelp eaten by the urchin as “insane.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A quick count reveals the trap brought up more than 300 of the spiny invertebrates — a new personal record for Downie with a single trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Collapse of a Forest\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downie’s trapping work is part of a research project spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy, a science-based nonprofit in search of solutions to pave the way for kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1949757/massive-california-kelp-decline-linked-to-ocean-heat-wave-voracious-sea-urchins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> collapse of California’s kelp forests\u003c/a> is complicated, but goes something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 2014, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/looking-back-blob-record-warming-drives-unprecedented-ocean-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">warm water blob \u003c/a> from the Pacific Northwest combined with an El Niño pulse from the south to create a large, prolonged \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/03/kelp-forests-norcal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> ocean heat wave\u003c/a>. Water temperatures spiked nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average in spots along the West Coast. Kelp thrives in colder waters, which have more of the nutrients it needs to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hardy kelp may have recovered naturally after the heat wave passed. But a second ecological disaster, potentially related to the warm waters, struck. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> disease\u003c/a> killed most of the sea stars on the West Coast, including the 24-limbed, bicycle-wheel-sized sunflower star that feasts on purple sea urchins. Without these predators around, the urchin population swelled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The urchins, typically concealed in protective, rocky crevasses where they patiently wait for fallen kelp leaves, came out of hiding and mowed down the forest, stalks and all. The state’s North Coast got hit the hardest. The kelp in Central and Southern California waters fared somewhat better because other predators there, like sea otters and lobsters, also eat urchins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For kelp to rebound, scientists first need to figure out how to remove millions of urchins from California waters.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2N7APOWQkWs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2N7APOWQkWs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>A pile of purple sea urchins collects on a underwater trap in Caspar Bay. (Colin McHugh)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let there be no question,” says Mark Carr, a UC Santa Cruz marine ecology professor not affiliated with the Nature Conservancy project, “these forests will not recover until urchin numbers have been reduced low enough and their behavior shifts back to remaining in cracks and crevices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A New Solution\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, scientists and wildlife managers have begun testing different solutions for solving the purple urchin problem. One \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2019-10-31/california-divers-fight-to-turn-the-tide-on-a-collapsing-ecosystem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> well-documented approach\u003c/a> has been to deploy scuba divers to harvest urchins by hand-plucking them off reefs. But diving is expensive and potentially dangerous in strong currents or bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchin trapping has been proposed as a comparatively safe and cost-effective way to cull a ton of urchin and safeguard kelp’s recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got these cleared areas in the harbor where we want the kelp to grow back,” Downie says, “Let’s just set traps all around it so that when the urchins come, they’re going to be in the traps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since no one’s ever tried using traps to catch urchins along the West Coast, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife granted the Nature Conservancy project a special permit to test out the method. Downie designed the traps himself: the flat-as-a-pancake version and another with collapsible walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976053\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grant Downie rigs an urchin trap with bull kelp and a GoPro camera. A single trap can capture more than 300 purple sea urchins. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You might think so many urchins would be good news for an urchin fisherman. But Downie makes a living scuba diving for the larger and meatier red sea urchins, the kind you pay $8 a piece for at sushi bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only a fraction of purple urchins grow big enough to eat. When they moved in, he says the red ones died or moved on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since this whole disaster, I’m hardly making a quarter of what I used to,” Downie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disappearance of kelp has crippled other marine ecosystems, like the rockfish and red abalone fisheries that were once staples of the Northern California coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just hurting the urchin divers,” Downie says. “That was a huge income for so many people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the wake of the ecological and economic collapse, Downie decided to use his knowledge of urchins to help scientists find a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had heard about the trapping project and I said, ‘Hey, I think it should stay urchin-based,’’’ he says. “We’re not trappers per se, and this [contract] could have gone to a crabber or somebody like that. But our industry is in decline, we’re looking for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy pays Downie for his work, and he now represents the North Coast region on a state commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Zombie Urchins Survive for Decades Without Eating\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without much kelp left to eat, most of the urchins Downie pulls from the water are starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the outside they look fine, on the inside they’re everything but fine,” says Tristin McHugh, an ecologist who directs the kelp recovery project for the Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that doesn’t mean they’ll die-off naturally. These zombie urchins, as scientists call them, can survive for decades, biding their time until more kelp grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some places in the world known to have them for 70-plus years in that state,” McHugh says. Which means it may be up to humans to tip the scales back in favor of kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The inside of what scientists call a “zombie urchin.” Urchins can survive decades in this state. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other methods scientists are exploring for urchin removal include reintroducing natural predators, like sea stars or sea otters. Researchers at the University of Washington have begun the first-ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgcCjpXt7Ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">captive breeding program\u003c/span>\u003c/a> for sunflower stars, which still haven’t bounced back in California since the disease wiped them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each method has potential benefits and challenges, which include cost, safety, feasibility and regulatory hurdles, to name just a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1973217/in-central-california-sea-otters-feast-on-purple-urchins-and-thats-good-for-kelp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> research shows \u003c/a> that sea otters eat urchins along the Central Coast, helping maintain patches of healthy kelp forest, Mark Carr from UC Santa Cruz, says it’s unlikely they would go after the zombies that blanket large areas of ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The otters are not going to go out and waste their time and energy feeding on urchins that have very low nutritional value,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it pans out, urchin trapping has the potential to do some heavy lifting for conservation, especially when diving isn’t practical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By using traps, you may be able to extend your season for getting into the water,” says James Ray, a kelp specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “And you can target specific areas on a more constant basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By creating strongholds for kelp along the coast, he says, the forest may be better equipped to withstand future threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trapping has its limitations, too. Divers can swim right up to urchins, but dropping traps requires some guesswork. Trappers must hope that the urchins will be in expected locations. While trapping is less expensive than diving, it’s still costly and requires continual effort, whereas introducing predators may eventually sustain itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976056\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/Kelp-4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Nature Conservancy’s kelp project director Tristin McHugh points out the spore packet on a healthy bull kelp frond in Caspar Bay. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ray, who’s been collaborating with the Nature Conservancy’s kelp recovery research, says no one method will be the “silver bullet answer.” He says trapping and diving could potentially work together, in tandem with other methods, as wildlife managers try to scale up solutions from small patches to the entire coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any solution,” he says, “is likely going to be a sort of a mosaic of smaller solutions that all work, ultimately, towards trying to increase resiliency in our kelp forest ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McHugh agrees with the kitchen sink approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We almost want these very simple, singular solutions,” she says, “But the really key piece right now is figuring out how many different methods we can utilize and facilitate this shift back into a kelp forest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nature Conservancy currently donates the urchin carcasses to a company for composting. But McHugh says the long-term goal is to find a commercial market for the calcium-rich shells, like fertilizer or even road building materials, to help fund urchin removals on a larger scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone needs to buy the urchin because we can’t necessarily rely on grant funds or philanthropic funds,” she says. “We need to figure out how we can utilize purple urchin, whether it’s for soil additives or for pavement or whatever it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Golden Tendrils’ of Hope\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there hasn’t been significant recovery of bull kelp in Northern California since the marine heat wave, there is some reason for hope. Ocean temperatures have normalized, restoring nutrients to a level “that can sustain kelp growth and productivity,” Ray says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While climate change increases the likelihood of warming events, kelp is known for its resiliency, replenishing itself every year from new spores and growing up to 2 feet a day. Along the North Coast, there have recently beens some \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/Northern-California-kelp-forest-shows-signs-of-16375965.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preliminary reports\u003c/a> of kelp beginning to reemerge in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Case in point: Back in Caspar Bay, McHugh kayaks close to the beach, where the sandy bottom prevents urchins from moving in. Surrounding her on all sides is a healthy canopy of bull kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just these glorious golden tendrils of kelp just floating, creating this wonderful canopy that houses tons of marine life, turns over carbon for us, just does everything that you would possibly want a canopy forming species to do,” McHugh says, “It’s currently doing for us right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She hasn’t seen kelp in this cove in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can actually see the spore packets on the blades of the kelp getting ready to drop,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single packet holds millions of spores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they reach the seafloor, McHugh says, “male and female will find each other and they’ll wait for the next opportune ocean conditions to start growing and begin their life cycle again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"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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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"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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"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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