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"slug": "the-view-inside-californias-last-nuclear-power-plant",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>California is transitioning to clean energy. KQED is reporting on what that means for you. What works? What doesn’t? How much does it cost? Help us find these answers and more by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://donate.kqed.org/sojo?ms=W2510EANXXXX22\">\u003cem>donating today\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most striking view off one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080669/should-california-keep-its-last-nuclear-power-plant-running\">San Luis Obispo County\u003c/a>’s winding coastal roads is not the lashing ocean waves of the Pacific Ocean or cows plodding out from the shade of a California live oak tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is two enormous concrete domes that come into focus along a final climb that began 7 miles back at Avila Beach. The land sinks away, and what looks like a small town emerges, showcased in a palette of grays, whites and terracotta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Diablo Canyon, California’s last operating nuclear power plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just years ago, the plant was slated to close, and employees worked to decommission it, until a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB846\">2022\u003c/a> about-face by Gov. Gavin Newsom led the state to extend its operations to 2030. Now lawmakers in Sacramento are talking about allowing it to operate even longer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000605/the-debate-for-keeping-diablo-canyon-open-past-2030-is-on-what-could-it-mean-for-your-bills\">potentially to 2045\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But local groups, some of whom have protested the plant \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/The_Diablo_Canyon_Blockade_1981\">since its construction\u003c/a>, are banging the drum ever louder about their concerns for \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/2025-reports-on-the-health-impacts-of-living-near-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant/\">safety\u003c/a> or a catastrophic \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/campaign-to-stop-diablo/\">meltdown\u003c/a>, as well as the danger posed by spent nuclear waste at a site near several seismic faultlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_790877\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1910px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-790877\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1910\" height=\"1271\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791.jpg 1910w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-1440x958.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-960x639.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1910px) 100vw, 1910px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aerial view of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of PG&E)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, academics are furiously analyzing how much keeping Diablo Canyon open would \u003ca href=\"https://ceepr.mit.edu/workingpaper/the-economics-of-continued-operation-of-the-diablo-canyon-nuclear-power-plant-2030-2045/\">cost\u003c/a> and if it would support or hinder the state’s clean energy transition. And business groups are lining up in \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyon2045.com/\">support\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when PG&E offered press tours earlier this year, KQED accepted. The nuclear power plant has not garnered this much attention in years, but now, once again, all eyes are on Diablo Canyon. What does it look like inside?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Out on the water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant tour started on a boat in a protected marina just south of the reactors. This, and another cove just outside the breakwaters, are the site of a key piece of the plant’s cooling system — and a major concern for environmentalists, who argue it hoovers up and kills marine life and have \u003ca href=\"https://theotterproject.org/blog/diablo-canyon-power-plants-marine-life-destruction-will-continue-without-intervention\">called it\u003c/a> “the most destructive facility” along California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dipping a hand in Diablo Cove, the water is lukewarm, not the frosty standard for the ocean in these parts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000152\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Jones, a regulatory and environmental senior director at PG&E, pilots a boat near the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s because Diablo Canyon draws 2 billion3-2.5 billion gallons of ocean water daily — enough to fill more than 3,000 Olympic-size swimming pools — into the plant to cool equipment, and discharges the water back into the ocean typically 16 to 17 degrees hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The warmer water makes it feel as if a chunk of Southern California’s coast has been lobbed off and transferred north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out on the water, there was a hotbed of animal activity: a floating sea otter and chubby seals sunning themselves on rocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000844\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There were other species too — sea bass, stingrays, and California’s state fish, the garibaldi, which typically live farther south along California’s coast, but have moved here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon staff said the warm water leads to essentially no change to the environment. Because fishing and other activities are not allowed within 2,000 yards of the plant, it’s a “de facto marine sanctuary,” said Tom Jones, a senior director in charge of future planning for Diablo Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the California Coastal Commission, the state agency tasked with protecting the coastline and its natural resources, reported in 2025 that the plant’s cooling system kills almost two billion larval fish annually, plus other organisms that aren’t measured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lion Rock, home to hundreds of California sea lions, harbor seals, and seabirds, near the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While adult populations may be abundant in Diablo Cove, the commission wrote that adults often appear far from where they spawn, and their presence here may be the result of productive marine habitats nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission also warned that removing eggs and larvae near Diablo Canyon leads to “a significant reduction” of species dozens of miles from the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These planktonic organisms,” wrote the commission, “constitute the base of the food web in California’s coastal waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>To the turbine deck\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We donned hard hats and safety equipment and passed through heavy security to enter the “protected area,” which consists of spaces closer to the nuclear reactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We entered the turbine deck, an industrial building the size of two-and-a-half football fields. It was hot and loud on the deck, with a slight vibration underfoot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000153\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The turbine deck at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The steam-driven turbine inside is an enormous semi-cylinder that looks like a horizontal steel pipe cut in half, and spins a generator to produce electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The PG&E guide pointed out the window at a containment dome, where uranium atoms are split apart, releasing huge amounts of heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a reactor containment building from the turbine building at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A cascade of effects follows: the heat warms water and creates steam, the steam travels through pipes to turn the turbine, the turbine connects to a generator, which makes electricity that’s then sent across the grid and delivered to about three million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nuclear generates nearly\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2024-total-system-electric-generation\"> 9%\u003c/a> of the state’s energy supply, part of an energy mix that includes gas, hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal and even small amounts of coal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000854\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1172px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1172\" height=\"727\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic.jpg 1172w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic-768x476.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1172px) 100vw, 1172px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Power generation at Diablo Canyon. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of PG&E)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California’s demand for electricity has been flat for years, it’s now growing with the adoption of electric vehicles, people swapping gas appliances for electric ones, and data centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate to keep Diablo Canyon open is spurred, in part, by this uptick in demand. Maureen Zawalick, senior vice president and chief risk officer at PG&E, said stepping into the turbine deck reminds her of the end uses of all this power: “safety in hospitals, kidney dialysis, stop lights and everything else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is walking its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000695/california-is-transitioning-from-fossil-fuels-to-electric-power-its-going-to-get-messy\">economy across a tightrope.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s growth in the 20th century was built on a foundation of fossil fuels, but leaders see its future as being powered by the buildout of renewables like solar and wind, along with batteries to store excess power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When heat waves strained California’s power grid and caused rolling blackouts in 2020, state lawmakers and Newsom voted to extend Diablo Canyon’s operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, as electricity bills continue to rise and demand is forecast to grow, proponents argue that keeping the plant open even longer can help California wobble across the precarious middle of the tightrope.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The simulator\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We shed our safety gear and headed to the training building, with classrooms and an exact replica of the control room, called the simulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was cool and quiet again as employees completed a training exercise, manipulating switches, lights and screens on a semicircle of vertical boards. Zawalick said the simulator’s seafoam green walls are meant to inspire calm, but its very existence is due to nuclear disasters that have occurred elsewhere in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A training facility at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Simulators became a requirement for all nuclear power plants in 1979 after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania. The partial meltdown was the most serious nuclear accident in U.S. history and was caused by both human and equipment failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practicing in a replica of Diablo Canyon’s actual control room is meant to train workers with the muscle memory to handle a variety of emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employees spend 20% of their time in the Diablo Canyon simulator training for everything from planned refueling to routine maintenance to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dcisc.org/download/library/annual-reports/35th-annual-report-93.pdf\">major emergencies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spent nuclear fuel\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To finish the tour, we drove uphill and farther from the ocean to find dozens of hulking concrete cylinders that contain spent fuel, called “dry casks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear material is the concern of resident groups who fear an earthquake or terrorist attack could destabilize the storage and spew radioactive waste into the ocean or nearby communities. People living nearby are mailed annual emergency \u003ca href=\"https://www.prepareslo.org/en/emergency-planning-zone-information.aspx\">preparedness\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/assets/pge/docs/about/pge-systems/emergency-planning-brochure.pdf\">documents\u003c/a> and have access to a free dose of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prepareslo.org/en/potassium-iodide-information.aspx\">potassium iodide\u003c/a>, which protects the thyroid gland against radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spent nuclear fuel in dry storage behind a raw water reservoir with desalinated ocean water at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Seeley has rallied against Diablo Canyon for decades as a member of the anti-nuclear nonprofit Mothers for Peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As much as I would love it if nuclear waste were not toxic and lethal to a thousand generations in the future, that’s not the fact. The fact is that it is toxic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once fuel has been used inside the plant, radiation levels are dangerously high and have the potential to kill an exposed person \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">in minutes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000157\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000157\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A raw water reservoir with desalinated ocean water at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spent fuel spends 7 to 10 years next to the reactors in “wet storage,” a large pool of water treated with chemicals. The liquid absorbs heat and decays of the uranium, which has high levels of radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear material is then packed into the double-lined, stainless steel and reinforced dry casks, roughly 20 feet tall. Each is bolted to a 7.5-foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete pad designed to withstand earthquakes. The fuel requires special handling for \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">tens of thousands of years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon is located roughly 3.5 miles from the Hosgri fault, which presents the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml1633/ML16334A406.pdf\">main seismic risk\u003c/a> to the plant. Another fault, the Shoreline, is closer to the plant, but smaller. Some seismologists are concerned that a quake along the faults could cause a \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/may-15-2025-top-seismologist-urges-immediate-shutdown-of-diablo-canyon-nuclear-reactor-citing-unacceptable-risk-of-an-earthquake-triggered-meltdown/\">meltdown\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. government is legally \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-10/chapter-III/part-961\">obligated\u003c/a> to take ownership of all commercially spent nuclear fuel, but because the government has not yet built a permanent place to put it, the fuel is stored at the power plant.[aside postID=science_2000695 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Current solutions like Diablo Canyon’s dry storage casks, while they may be thorough, are only licensed until 2064 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zawalick said PG&E is confident in the storage of Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel, though. She pointed out that nuclear power is “the only energy source that knows exactly where every ounce of our waste is.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and PG&E monitor the spent fuel on a \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">daily\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/oversight\">annual basis\u003c/a>. “It’s secured, it’s inspected, it’s audited, it’s sampled. I’m a fan of all energy sources, but I don’t know where solar panels are sent when they’re done, and batteries, and all of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zawalick pointed to the powerful transmission lines carrying energy created here out to millions of Californians: to illuminate rooms for special and mundane occasions, preserve food in refrigerators, run air conditioners, and warm their shower water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Order and safety come up frequently on the Diablo Canyon Power Plant tour: background checks, armed guards, seismic protective measures, reminders to hold on to handrails when on steps. The result is a calm and kempt environment, situated on a hillside overlooking the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But underneath the serenity lie the inherent risks of nuclear power, especially when sited near seismic faultlines. Diablo Canyon has been the source of passionate debate as long as the idea of it has existed. And any effort to keep it operating longer will be no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with that, the tour was over, and the guides returned to their work. A cow made its way slowly across the access road, with no idea of its contentious neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "All eyes are turned to Diablo Canyon Power Plant as the debate about extending its life returns to Sacramento. But what’s it like inside?",
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"title": "The View Inside California’s Last Nuclear Power Plant | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>California is transitioning to clean energy. KQED is reporting on what that means for you. What works? What doesn’t? How much does it cost? Help us find these answers and more by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://donate.kqed.org/sojo?ms=W2510EANXXXX22\">\u003cem>donating today\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most striking view off one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080669/should-california-keep-its-last-nuclear-power-plant-running\">San Luis Obispo County\u003c/a>’s winding coastal roads is not the lashing ocean waves of the Pacific Ocean or cows plodding out from the shade of a California live oak tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is two enormous concrete domes that come into focus along a final climb that began 7 miles back at Avila Beach. The land sinks away, and what looks like a small town emerges, showcased in a palette of grays, whites and terracotta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Diablo Canyon, California’s last operating nuclear power plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just years ago, the plant was slated to close, and employees worked to decommission it, until a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB846\">2022\u003c/a> about-face by Gov. Gavin Newsom led the state to extend its operations to 2030. Now lawmakers in Sacramento are talking about allowing it to operate even longer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000605/the-debate-for-keeping-diablo-canyon-open-past-2030-is-on-what-could-it-mean-for-your-bills\">potentially to 2045\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But local groups, some of whom have protested the plant \u003ca href=\"https://www.foundsf.org/The_Diablo_Canyon_Blockade_1981\">since its construction\u003c/a>, are banging the drum ever louder about their concerns for \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/2025-reports-on-the-health-impacts-of-living-near-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant/\">safety\u003c/a> or a catastrophic \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/campaign-to-stop-diablo/\">meltdown\u003c/a>, as well as the danger posed by spent nuclear waste at a site near several seismic faultlines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_790877\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1910px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-790877\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1910\" height=\"1271\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791.jpg 1910w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-1440x958.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-1180x785.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/06/Diablo-Canyon-Panorama-e1466523869791-960x639.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1910px) 100vw, 1910px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aerial view of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of PG&E)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, academics are furiously analyzing how much keeping Diablo Canyon open would \u003ca href=\"https://ceepr.mit.edu/workingpaper/the-economics-of-continued-operation-of-the-diablo-canyon-nuclear-power-plant-2030-2045/\">cost\u003c/a> and if it would support or hinder the state’s clean energy transition. And business groups are lining up in \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyon2045.com/\">support\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when PG&E offered press tours earlier this year, KQED accepted. The nuclear power plant has not garnered this much attention in years, but now, once again, all eyes are on Diablo Canyon. What does it look like inside?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Out on the water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant tour started on a boat in a protected marina just south of the reactors. This, and another cove just outside the breakwaters, are the site of a key piece of the plant’s cooling system — and a major concern for environmentalists, who argue it hoovers up and kills marine life and have \u003ca href=\"https://theotterproject.org/blog/diablo-canyon-power-plants-marine-life-destruction-will-continue-without-intervention\">called it\u003c/a> “the most destructive facility” along California’s coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dipping a hand in Diablo Cove, the water is lukewarm, not the frosty standard for the ocean in these parts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000152\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Jones, a regulatory and environmental senior director at PG&E, pilots a boat near the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s because Diablo Canyon draws 2 billion3-2.5 billion gallons of ocean water daily — enough to fill more than 3,000 Olympic-size swimming pools — into the plant to cool equipment, and discharges the water back into the ocean typically 16 to 17 degrees hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The warmer water makes it feel as if a chunk of Southern California’s coast has been lobbed off and transferred north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out on the water, there was a hotbed of animal activity: a floating sea otter and chubby seals sunning themselves on rocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000844\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-23-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There were other species too — sea bass, stingrays, and California’s state fish, the garibaldi, which typically live farther south along California’s coast, but have moved here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon staff said the warm water leads to essentially no change to the environment. Because fishing and other activities are not allowed within 2,000 yards of the plant, it’s a “de facto marine sanctuary,” said Tom Jones, a senior director in charge of future planning for Diablo Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the California Coastal Commission, the state agency tasked with protecting the coastline and its natural resources, reported in 2025 that the plant’s cooling system kills almost two billion larval fish annually, plus other organisms that aren’t measured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lion Rock, home to hundreds of California sea lions, harbor seals, and seabirds, near the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While adult populations may be abundant in Diablo Cove, the commission wrote that adults often appear far from where they spawn, and their presence here may be the result of productive marine habitats nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission also warned that removing eggs and larvae near Diablo Canyon leads to “a significant reduction” of species dozens of miles from the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These planktonic organisms,” wrote the commission, “constitute the base of the food web in California’s coastal waters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>To the turbine deck\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We donned hard hats and safety equipment and passed through heavy security to enter the “protected area,” which consists of spaces closer to the nuclear reactors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We entered the turbine deck, an industrial building the size of two-and-a-half football fields. It was hot and loud on the deck, with a slight vibration underfoot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000153\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The turbine deck at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The steam-driven turbine inside is an enormous semi-cylinder that looks like a horizontal steel pipe cut in half, and spins a generator to produce electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The PG&E guide pointed out the window at a containment dome, where uranium atoms are split apart, releasing huge amounts of heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-40-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of a reactor containment building from the turbine building at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A cascade of effects follows: the heat warms water and creates steam, the steam travels through pipes to turn the turbine, the turbine connects to a generator, which makes electricity that’s then sent across the grid and delivered to about three million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nuclear generates nearly\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2024-total-system-electric-generation\"> 9%\u003c/a> of the state’s energy supply, part of an energy mix that includes gas, hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal and even small amounts of coal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000854\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1172px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1172\" height=\"727\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic.jpg 1172w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/PGE-Graphic-768x476.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1172px) 100vw, 1172px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Power generation at Diablo Canyon. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of PG&E)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While California’s demand for electricity has been flat for years, it’s now growing with the adoption of electric vehicles, people swapping gas appliances for electric ones, and data centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate to keep Diablo Canyon open is spurred, in part, by this uptick in demand. Maureen Zawalick, senior vice president and chief risk officer at PG&E, said stepping into the turbine deck reminds her of the end uses of all this power: “safety in hospitals, kidney dialysis, stop lights and everything else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is walking its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000695/california-is-transitioning-from-fossil-fuels-to-electric-power-its-going-to-get-messy\">economy across a tightrope.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s growth in the 20th century was built on a foundation of fossil fuels, but leaders see its future as being powered by the buildout of renewables like solar and wind, along with batteries to store excess power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When heat waves strained California’s power grid and caused rolling blackouts in 2020, state lawmakers and Newsom voted to extend Diablo Canyon’s operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, as electricity bills continue to rise and demand is forecast to grow, proponents argue that keeping the plant open even longer can help California wobble across the precarious middle of the tightrope.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The simulator\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We shed our safety gear and headed to the training building, with classrooms and an exact replica of the control room, called the simulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was cool and quiet again as employees completed a training exercise, manipulating switches, lights and screens on a semicircle of vertical boards. Zawalick said the simulator’s seafoam green walls are meant to inspire calm, but its very existence is due to nuclear disasters that have occurred elsewhere in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-52-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A training facility at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Simulators became a requirement for all nuclear power plants in 1979 after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania. The partial meltdown was the most serious nuclear accident in U.S. history and was caused by both human and equipment failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practicing in a replica of Diablo Canyon’s actual control room is meant to train workers with the muscle memory to handle a variety of emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employees spend 20% of their time in the Diablo Canyon simulator training for everything from planned refueling to routine maintenance to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dcisc.org/download/library/annual-reports/35th-annual-report-93.pdf\">major emergencies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spent nuclear fuel\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To finish the tour, we drove uphill and farther from the ocean to find dozens of hulking concrete cylinders that contain spent fuel, called “dry casks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear material is the concern of resident groups who fear an earthquake or terrorist attack could destabilize the storage and spew radioactive waste into the ocean or nearby communities. People living nearby are mailed annual emergency \u003ca href=\"https://www.prepareslo.org/en/emergency-planning-zone-information.aspx\">preparedness\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/assets/pge/docs/about/pge-systems/emergency-planning-brochure.pdf\">documents\u003c/a> and have access to a free dose of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prepareslo.org/en/potassium-iodide-information.aspx\">potassium iodide\u003c/a>, which protects the thyroid gland against radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/04/260213-DiabloCanyonNuclearPowerPlant-60-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spent nuclear fuel in dry storage behind a raw water reservoir with desalinated ocean water at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Linda Seeley has rallied against Diablo Canyon for decades as a member of the anti-nuclear nonprofit Mothers for Peace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As much as I would love it if nuclear waste were not toxic and lethal to a thousand generations in the future, that’s not the fact. The fact is that it is toxic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once fuel has been used inside the plant, radiation levels are dangerously high and have the potential to kill an exposed person \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">in minutes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000157\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000157\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/260213-DIABLOCANYONNUCLEARPOWERPLANT-59-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A raw water reservoir with desalinated ocean water at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 13, 2026, the state’s only active nuclear power plant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spent fuel spends 7 to 10 years next to the reactors in “wet storage,” a large pool of water treated with chemicals. The liquid absorbs heat and decays of the uranium, which has high levels of radiation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nuclear material is then packed into the double-lined, stainless steel and reinforced dry casks, roughly 20 feet tall. Each is bolted to a 7.5-foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete pad designed to withstand earthquakes. The fuel requires special handling for \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">tens of thousands of years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diablo Canyon is located roughly 3.5 miles from the Hosgri fault, which presents the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ml1633/ML16334A406.pdf\">main seismic risk\u003c/a> to the plant. Another fault, the Shoreline, is closer to the plant, but smaller. Some seismologists are concerned that a quake along the faults could cause a \u003ca href=\"https://mothersforpeace.org/may-15-2025-top-seismologist-urges-immediate-shutdown-of-diablo-canyon-nuclear-reactor-citing-unacceptable-risk-of-an-earthquake-triggered-meltdown/\">meltdown\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. government is legally \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-10/chapter-III/part-961\">obligated\u003c/a> to take ownership of all commercially spent nuclear fuel, but because the government has not yet built a permanent place to put it, the fuel is stored at the power plant.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Current solutions like Diablo Canyon’s dry storage casks, while they may be thorough, are only licensed until 2064 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zawalick said PG&E is confident in the storage of Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel, though. She pointed out that nuclear power is “the only energy source that knows exactly where every ounce of our waste is.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and PG&E monitor the spent fuel on a \u003ca href=\"https://diablocanyonpanel.org/decom-topics/spent-fuel-management/\">daily\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/oversight\">annual basis\u003c/a>. “It’s secured, it’s inspected, it’s audited, it’s sampled. I’m a fan of all energy sources, but I don’t know where solar panels are sent when they’re done, and batteries, and all of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zawalick pointed to the powerful transmission lines carrying energy created here out to millions of Californians: to illuminate rooms for special and mundane occasions, preserve food in refrigerators, run air conditioners, and warm their shower water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Order and safety come up frequently on the Diablo Canyon Power Plant tour: background checks, armed guards, seismic protective measures, reminders to hold on to handrails when on steps. The result is a calm and kempt environment, situated on a hillside overlooking the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But underneath the serenity lie the inherent risks of nuclear power, especially when sited near seismic faultlines. Diablo Canyon has been the source of passionate debate as long as the idea of it has existed. And any effort to keep it operating longer will be no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with that, the tour was over, and the guides returned to their work. A cow made its way slowly across the access road, with no idea of its contentious neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "a-delight-mare-bay-area-sizzles-march-heat-wave-could-shatter-records",
"title": "‘A Delight-Mare’ — Bay Area Sizzles, March Heat Wave Could Shatter Records",
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"headTitle": "‘A Delight-Mare’ — Bay Area Sizzles, March Heat Wave Could Shatter Records | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Bay Area is already baking under an early spring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000276/hot-in-the-city-bay-area-sierra-nevada-brace-for-unusual-march-heat-wave\">heat wave\u003c/a>, as unseasonably hot temperatures throughout the region climb toward all-time March records — and climate change is part of the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Weather Service said that San José, Santa Rosa, Redwood City, Livermore and Salinas might set all-time high temperature records — for any day ever in March over the next week. While daily high-temperature records could be threatened in San Francisco, San José, Oakland and Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We expect a slew of daily records to be broken, and several monthly records are likely to go down as well,” wrote NWS Bay Area meteorologist Dylan Flynn in the local office’s \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=ci&glossary=1&issuedby=mtr&product=afd&site=mtr&version=1\">daily forecast discussion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists point out that human-caused climate change makes high temperatures more likely, and that in the coming days, Bay Area residents shouldn’t be surprised if the heat wave sets new records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities across the region are skewing 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal, said Rachel Kennedy, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Bay Area office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998076\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People enjoy the warm weather at Crissy Field near the Golden Gate Bridge as a heat wave warning is issued in San Francisco, California, on July 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These temperatures are usually what we would see in late July and August,” Kennedy said. “It’s almost like skipping spring and moving to summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s warm weather is caused by a ridge of high pressure from the subtropics building northward over the Pacific Ocean, creating a heat dome, or unusually warm conditions inland. By early next week, the ridge will sit right over Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy said that the heat wave will likely last through next Friday. She said that temperatures will remain in record territory until at least Thursday, and “Friday might be in record territory too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 1996, Santa Rosa set a high-temperature record of 87 degrees for March.[aside postID=news_12071021 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260126-AI-WEATHER-01-KQED.jpg']Livermore did the same back in 1972. Tuesday’s forecast has both cities reaching nearly 90 degrees. San Francisco, Napa, and Oakland could also break their temperature records set back in 2004 early next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters said San José is most likely to set a new all-time March heat record, with temperatures forecasted to hit 92 degrees on Tuesday. The city could also break a record for the hottest back-to-back days for March, set on Sunday in 2004 and Monday and Tuesday in 1914.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a pretty high confidence, actually, that we are going to end up challenging or breaking those records Monday or Tuesday,” Kennedy said. “Part of the reason why these records are on the lower side is that we don’t typically see temperatures this warm in March.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy said San José is “the city to watch” for a new all-time March heat record. Tuesday’s forecasted temperature of 92 degrees would mark the hottest day ever recorded in March for the South Bay city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area experienced “a comparable heat wave” between March 24 and 26 last year, Kennedy said, with Bay Area temperatures in the 80s, and across the interior East Bay and Central Coast, temperatures hitting the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000292\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk down International Boulevard in Oakland during a heat wave on Aug. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the current highest records date back to 2004, she said, which saw a semi-comparable, early to mid-March heat wave with temperatures in the mid to upper 80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The 2004 heat wave was not as hot as this current heat wave looks,” Kennedy said. “But it set a number of records that we are challenging this week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sustainability.stanford.edu/people/noah-diffenbaugh\">Noah Diffenbaugh\u003c/a>, a climate scientist and professor at Stanford University, said that in this current heat wave, it will take meticulous investigation to truly know the role of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What scientists do know, however, is that global warming increases the frequency and intensity of heat waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diffenbaugh said that this next week’s temperatures offer “the clearest scientific evidence that global warming is playing a role.” He added that this early-season heat wave shouldn’t come as “a surprise” because climate scientists have long predicted the intensification of extreme weather events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re more likely to have really intense temperatures because global warming is acting on top of that baseline of Earth’s natural pro\u003cem>cesses\u003c/em>,” Diffenbaugh said. “This is the kind of event we should be expecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at the nonprofit research group Climate Central created a \u003ca href=\"https://csi.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index?cityId=94651&firstDate=2026-03-16&lat=37.77940&lng=-122.40967&mapType=anomalies&zoom=6&utm_campaign=csi-map-share\">Climate Shift Index\u003c/a> that estimates the extent to which anthropogenic warming affects temperatures on any given day. The group compares the world today with a world without carbon pollution from human activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sun shines over towers carrying electrical lines in South San Francisco. With a Bay Area heat wave starting this week, California’s grid operator has ordered providers to delay maintenance to handle the surge in electricity demand. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By comparing the two, according to Climate Central’s vice president for science, Kristina Dahl, “we can get these estimates of the fingerprint that climate change has on heat waves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dahl said that due to global warming, the excessive heat across the Bay Area is two to three times more likely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called these days a “delight-mare.” Dahl added that although people might enjoy unusually warm weather, “there’s something really dark that’s driving these high temperatures, and that’s climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard for me to go out there and just fully enjoy the warm weather,” Dahl continued. “I look at our data and know that these kinds of temperatures really shouldn’t be happening at this time of year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Bay Area is already baking under an early spring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000276/hot-in-the-city-bay-area-sierra-nevada-brace-for-unusual-march-heat-wave\">heat wave\u003c/a>, as unseasonably hot temperatures throughout the region climb toward all-time March records — and climate change is part of the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters at the National Weather Service said that San José, Santa Rosa, Redwood City, Livermore and Salinas might set all-time high temperature records — for any day ever in March over the next week. While daily high-temperature records could be threatened in San Francisco, San José, Oakland and Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We expect a slew of daily records to be broken, and several monthly records are likely to go down as well,” wrote NWS Bay Area meteorologist Dylan Flynn in the local office’s \u003ca href=\"https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?format=ci&glossary=1&issuedby=mtr&product=afd&site=mtr&version=1\">daily forecast discussion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists point out that human-caused climate change makes high temperatures more likely, and that in the coming days, Bay Area residents shouldn’t be surprised if the heat wave sets new records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities across the region are skewing 20 to 30 degrees warmer than normal, said Rachel Kennedy, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Bay Area office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998076\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/08/BayAreaHeatWaveGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People enjoy the warm weather at Crissy Field near the Golden Gate Bridge as a heat wave warning is issued in San Francisco, California, on July 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These temperatures are usually what we would see in late July and August,” Kennedy said. “It’s almost like skipping spring and moving to summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s warm weather is caused by a ridge of high pressure from the subtropics building northward over the Pacific Ocean, creating a heat dome, or unusually warm conditions inland. By early next week, the ridge will sit right over Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy said that the heat wave will likely last through next Friday. She said that temperatures will remain in record territory until at least Thursday, and “Friday might be in record territory too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 1996, Santa Rosa set a high-temperature record of 87 degrees for March.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Livermore did the same back in 1972. Tuesday’s forecast has both cities reaching nearly 90 degrees. San Francisco, Napa, and Oakland could also break their temperature records set back in 2004 early next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forecasters said San José is most likely to set a new all-time March heat record, with temperatures forecasted to hit 92 degrees on Tuesday. The city could also break a record for the hottest back-to-back days for March, set on Sunday in 2004 and Monday and Tuesday in 1914.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a pretty high confidence, actually, that we are going to end up challenging or breaking those records Monday or Tuesday,” Kennedy said. “Part of the reason why these records are on the lower side is that we don’t typically see temperatures this warm in March.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kennedy said San José is “the city to watch” for a new all-time March heat record. Tuesday’s forecasted temperature of 92 degrees would mark the hottest day ever recorded in March for the South Bay city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area experienced “a comparable heat wave” between March 24 and 26 last year, Kennedy said, with Bay Area temperatures in the 80s, and across the interior East Bay and Central Coast, temperatures hitting the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000292\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/250821-FRUITVALE-HEAT-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk down International Boulevard in Oakland during a heat wave on Aug. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the current highest records date back to 2004, she said, which saw a semi-comparable, early to mid-March heat wave with temperatures in the mid to upper 80s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The 2004 heat wave was not as hot as this current heat wave looks,” Kennedy said. “But it set a number of records that we are challenging this week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sustainability.stanford.edu/people/noah-diffenbaugh\">Noah Diffenbaugh\u003c/a>, a climate scientist and professor at Stanford University, said that in this current heat wave, it will take meticulous investigation to truly know the role of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What scientists do know, however, is that global warming increases the frequency and intensity of heat waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diffenbaugh said that this next week’s temperatures offer “the clearest scientific evidence that global warming is playing a role.” He added that this early-season heat wave shouldn’t come as “a surprise” because climate scientists have long predicted the intensification of extreme weather events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re more likely to have really intense temperatures because global warming is acting on top of that baseline of Earth’s natural pro\u003cem>cesses\u003c/em>,” Diffenbaugh said. “This is the kind of event we should be expecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at the nonprofit research group Climate Central created a \u003ca href=\"https://csi.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index?cityId=94651&firstDate=2026-03-16&lat=37.77940&lng=-122.40967&mapType=anomalies&zoom=6&utm_campaign=csi-map-share\">Climate Shift Index\u003c/a> that estimates the extent to which anthropogenic warming affects temperatures on any given day. The group compares the world today with a world without carbon pollution from human activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1994109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1994109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/SFEnergyGridGetty1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sun shines over towers carrying electrical lines in South San Francisco. With a Bay Area heat wave starting this week, California’s grid operator has ordered providers to delay maintenance to handle the surge in electricity demand. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By comparing the two, according to Climate Central’s vice president for science, Kristina Dahl, “we can get these estimates of the fingerprint that climate change has on heat waves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dahl said that due to global warming, the excessive heat across the Bay Area is two to three times more likely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She called these days a “delight-mare.” Dahl added that although people might enjoy unusually warm weather, “there’s something really dark that’s driving these high temperatures, and that’s climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard for me to go out there and just fully enjoy the warm weather,” Dahl continued. “I look at our data and know that these kinds of temperatures really shouldn’t be happening at this time of year.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeeKhyuk-_odJH80iw5eAlpLBF-YWJnOi_Yqs4BEN9fY1YJA/viewform?usp=publish-editor'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "could-climate-change-reshape-avalanche-danger-in-the-sierra-nevada-scientists-say-its-complicated",
"title": "Could Climate Change Reshape Avalanche Danger in the Sierra Nevada? Scientists Say It’s Complicated",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073933/treacherous-sierra-nevada-storm-delays-recovery-of-9-presumed-avalanche-victims\">death toll from the avalanche\u003c/a> this week near Lake Tahoe makes it California’s deadliest in modern history — eight people died, and one is still missing. These snowy white landslides are natural during winter in the Sierra Nevada. But climate change is altering winters globally, raising questions about its impact on these mountain rumbles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backcountry skiers, guides, and researchers like Richard Bothwell know the Tahoe area like the back of their hand. He’s skied the backcountry peaks and valleys of the Sierra Nevada for three decades and is the head avalanche director for the Outdoor Adventure Club. The Bay Area organization offers professionally guided outdoor trips, including backcountry skiing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bothwell is heartbroken over the deaths this week from the avalanche: “It’s a bad day for the backcountry community writ large. It’s a bad day for the guiding community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fact that an avalanche took place this week wasn’t a surprise. January was practically snowless. What was left turned almost sugary; it rained at some point, and an icy top formed on that snow. Then this week, a big dump of snow fell on top of that icy crust. It was just sitting there, ready to slide off and trigger a powerful avalanche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During any gap [in]wintertime, it’s relatively common that the snow surface weakens, and that’s what we experienced,” said David Reichel, executive director of the Sierra Avalanche Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000143 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A vehicle is buried in snow during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Truckee, California. \u003ccite>(Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Reichel said his group has no real idea how many avalanches barrel down mountainsides in the Sierra Nevada each year because there’s no sensor system to detect them. Researchers know whether an avalanche has stormed down a hill when someone clocks it and reports it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When someone reports an avalanche, the center and others like it across the country will rate its destructive size. They currently list the Tahoe avalanche as a D-2.5, with the size of a football field and the force to kill or bury a human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sierra Avalanche Center also forecasts dangerous conditions using a separate \u003ca href=\"https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/human/resources/north-american-public-avalanche-danger-scale/\">five-point scale ranging from low to extreme\u003c/a>. The center rated the danger on the day of the avalanche as high.[aside postID=news_12073851 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260220-AVALANCHE-VICTIMS-KQED.jpg']Avalanches occur every winter in the Sierra Nevada, but is human-caused climate change increasing their size or frequency?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s super complicated,” said Benjamin Hatchett, an earth system scientist at Colorado State University who grew up backcountry skiing around Tahoe and researches snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett said that when it comes to climate change, “the fingerprints are everywhere.” But the conditions that led to the Tahoe avalanche are meteorological, not climatological. The rapid change to wet, cold weather brought by winter storms pushed down from the Gulf of Alaska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see no evidence for climate change to play a role, certainly not a first or second order, probably not even further down the list than that,” Hatchett said. “And that’s kind of going back to the setup of the storm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some parts of the world with year-round snow, Hatchett said, there is a signal that climate change could be increasing avalanche danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In large glaciated mountains like the Alps, the Himalaya, and the Andes, the answer is very likely yes because of a warming environment that’s destabilizing snow and ice,” Hatchett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000144\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000144\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sierra Avalanche Center forecasters observe a crack in the snow on Feb. 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nolan Averbuch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in areas with seasonal snowpacks, like the Sierra Nevada, Hatchett said there isn’t a clear answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something we expect to see more of in the future, but we don’t have strong evidence for that happening now,” Hatchett said. “There are absolutely ways that a warming world will statistically change things, and that goes back to the way this winter started with a lot of rain instead of snow. That to me is a signal of a warming world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hatchett said he sees another issue. When winter snow comes later, like this year, people can get antsy to get outdoors and ski. But when warnings, like about avalanche danger, are issued. He urges extreme caution.[aside postID=news_12073933 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CaliforniaAvalancheAP3-1.jpg']“Thinking about that more strongly could save lives in the future,” Hatchett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett recognizes that holding off is a hard decision, but he said the recent tragedy just might show it’s worth it not to head out into a storm. And more and more people are having to make that hard decision as the sport has become more popular. Especially after the pandemic spurred a surge of interest in these kinds of outdoor adventure sports, said Brenda Giese, a backcountry ski trip leader for the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People want a change from the downhill ski resorts because there are more people there now and they’re willing to take these risks,” Giese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also worried that the influx of people in the backcountry and the growing atmospheric potential for bigger and more intense storms could put more skiers in danger in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were severe storms in the past, but they weren’t as frequent,” Giese said. “And there are just more people out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073933/treacherous-sierra-nevada-storm-delays-recovery-of-9-presumed-avalanche-victims\">death toll from the avalanche\u003c/a> this week near Lake Tahoe makes it California’s deadliest in modern history — eight people died, and one is still missing. These snowy white landslides are natural during winter in the Sierra Nevada. But climate change is altering winters globally, raising questions about its impact on these mountain rumbles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backcountry skiers, guides, and researchers like Richard Bothwell know the Tahoe area like the back of their hand. He’s skied the backcountry peaks and valleys of the Sierra Nevada for three decades and is the head avalanche director for the Outdoor Adventure Club. The Bay Area organization offers professionally guided outdoor trips, including backcountry skiing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bothwell is heartbroken over the deaths this week from the avalanche: “It’s a bad day for the backcountry community writ large. It’s a bad day for the guiding community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fact that an avalanche took place this week wasn’t a surprise. January was practically snowless. What was left turned almost sugary; it rained at some point, and an icy top formed on that snow. Then this week, a big dump of snow fell on top of that icy crust. It was just sitting there, ready to slide off and trigger a powerful avalanche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During any gap [in]wintertime, it’s relatively common that the snow surface weakens, and that’s what we experienced,” said David Reichel, executive director of the Sierra Avalanche Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000143 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SnowStormSierraNevadaAP1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A vehicle is buried in snow during a storm on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Truckee, California. \u003ccite>(Brooke Hess-Homeier/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Reichel said his group has no real idea how many avalanches barrel down mountainsides in the Sierra Nevada each year because there’s no sensor system to detect them. Researchers know whether an avalanche has stormed down a hill when someone clocks it and reports it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When someone reports an avalanche, the center and others like it across the country will rate its destructive size. They currently list the Tahoe avalanche as a D-2.5, with the size of a football field and the force to kill or bury a human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sierra Avalanche Center also forecasts dangerous conditions using a separate \u003ca href=\"https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/human/resources/north-american-public-avalanche-danger-scale/\">five-point scale ranging from low to extreme\u003c/a>. The center rated the danger on the day of the avalanche as high.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Avalanches occur every winter in the Sierra Nevada, but is human-caused climate change increasing their size or frequency?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s super complicated,” said Benjamin Hatchett, an earth system scientist at Colorado State University who grew up backcountry skiing around Tahoe and researches snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett said that when it comes to climate change, “the fingerprints are everywhere.” But the conditions that led to the Tahoe avalanche are meteorological, not climatological. The rapid change to wet, cold weather brought by winter storms pushed down from the Gulf of Alaska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see no evidence for climate change to play a role, certainly not a first or second order, probably not even further down the list than that,” Hatchett said. “And that’s kind of going back to the setup of the storm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some parts of the world with year-round snow, Hatchett said, there is a signal that climate change could be increasing avalanche danger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In large glaciated mountains like the Alps, the Himalaya, and the Andes, the answer is very likely yes because of a warming environment that’s destabilizing snow and ice,” Hatchett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000144\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000144\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SierraAvalanche1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sierra Avalanche Center forecasters observe a crack in the snow on Feb. 17, 2026. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nolan Averbuch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in areas with seasonal snowpacks, like the Sierra Nevada, Hatchett said there isn’t a clear answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something we expect to see more of in the future, but we don’t have strong evidence for that happening now,” Hatchett said. “There are absolutely ways that a warming world will statistically change things, and that goes back to the way this winter started with a lot of rain instead of snow. That to me is a signal of a warming world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hatchett said he sees another issue. When winter snow comes later, like this year, people can get antsy to get outdoors and ski. But when warnings, like about avalanche danger, are issued. He urges extreme caution.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Thinking about that more strongly could save lives in the future,” Hatchett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett recognizes that holding off is a hard decision, but he said the recent tragedy just might show it’s worth it not to head out into a storm. And more and more people are having to make that hard decision as the sport has become more popular. Especially after the pandemic spurred a surge of interest in these kinds of outdoor adventure sports, said Brenda Giese, a backcountry ski trip leader for the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People want a change from the downhill ski resorts because there are more people there now and they’re willing to take these risks,” Giese said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s also worried that the influx of people in the backcountry and the growing atmospheric potential for bigger and more intense storms could put more skiers in danger in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were severe storms in the past, but they weren’t as frequent,” Giese said. “And there are just more people out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101884097/conservation-groups-work-to-save-western-monarch-as-population-dives\">Western monarch butterflies\u003c/a> once arrived on California’s coast by the millions, clustering in eucalyptus, pine and cypress groves from Mendocino to Baja California. This winter, volunteers counted fewer than 13,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 29th annual \u003ca href=\"https://westernmonarchcount.org/\">Western Monarch Count\u003c/a>, conducted during the peak overwintering period in late November and early December, is the third lowest since monitoring began in 1997, following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995508/monarch-butterflies-are-on-the-decline-in-california-heres-why\">another poor winter \u003c/a>and weak summer breeding. The three lowest tallies have occurred in the past six years — 1,901 monarchs in 2020, 9,119 in 2024 and \u003ca href=\"https://westernmonarchcount.org/data/\">12,260 in 2025\u003c/a> — raising concerns about the long-term health of the western monarch migration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1980s, western monarchs regularly numbered in the low millions. Today’s numbers are not surprising but a sign of a migration under sustained stress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Western monarchs are in serious trouble. The migration is collapsing,” said Emma Pelton, a senior conservation biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which carries out the annual count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long-term research shows western monarch populations have declined by about 10% per year since the 1980s, driven largely by habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milkweed — the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat — has disappeared from much of the West due to development and herbicides. Insecticides can poison monarchs directly or reduce the nectar plants that adults rely on. And climate change is intensifying heat waves, droughts and storms that disrupt the butterflies’ breeding and migration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995511\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995511\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch butterfly lands on a plant growing in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When populations get this small, they become far more vulnerable to both short-term stress and long-term pressures,” said Isis Howard, a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society who coordinates the count. “With low overwintering numbers becoming more common, monarchs have fewer chances to rebound from extreme weather or pesticide exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The loss of overwintering habitat adds another layer of risk. Since tracking began, more than 60 known monarch groves along California’s coast have been destroyed, according to Sarina Jepsen, director of the Xerces Society’s endangered species program. In just the past year, at least three active sites were significantly damaged by inappropriate tree removal, often tied to development, Jepsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without adequate places for monarchs to overwinter, we will lose the migration,” she said.[aside postID=science_1999898 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/DL1215_promo_still8-672x372.jpg']There were, however, a few bright spots. Among the 249 sites where this winter’s count found monarchs, Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz County hosted the largest overwintering cluster, with about 2,500 butterflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers also deployed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999589/monarch-butterflies-now-wear-tiny-tags-for-scientists-to-track-them-in-real-time\">ultralight radio tags\u003c/a> at some sites to better understand how monarchs move within and between groves, data that could help improve habitat management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard said she wasn’t surprised by the low numbers, given weak signs from last summer’s breeding season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always hoping for a bounce-back,” she said, “but I also know it’s going to take years of dedicated conservation action to see the long-term recovery we’re really looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That action, she added, can start close to home. Californians can help by avoiding pesticides, planting native milkweed and nectar-rich flowers, protecting overwintering groves and participating in community science projects like the Western Monarch Count or iNaturalist, which allows people to record and share their observations of plants and animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an insect apocalypse underway, and monarchs aren’t even the worst off,” Howard said. “But we can change course. We need to act now, and everyone has a role to play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Western monarchs are in serious trouble. The migration is collapsing,” said Emma Pelton, a senior conservation biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which carries out the annual count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Long-term research shows western monarch populations have declined by about 10% per year since the 1980s, driven largely by habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milkweed — the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat — has disappeared from much of the West due to development and herbicides. Insecticides can poison monarchs directly or reduce the nectar plants that adults rely on. And climate change is intensifying heat waves, droughts and storms that disrupt the butterflies’ breeding and migration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995511\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995511\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch butterfly lands on a plant growing in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When populations get this small, they become far more vulnerable to both short-term stress and long-term pressures,” said Isis Howard, a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society who coordinates the count. “With low overwintering numbers becoming more common, monarchs have fewer chances to rebound from extreme weather or pesticide exposure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The loss of overwintering habitat adds another layer of risk. Since tracking began, more than 60 known monarch groves along California’s coast have been destroyed, according to Sarina Jepsen, director of the Xerces Society’s endangered species program. In just the past year, at least three active sites were significantly damaged by inappropriate tree removal, often tied to development, Jepsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without adequate places for monarchs to overwinter, we will lose the migration,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There were, however, a few bright spots. Among the 249 sites where this winter’s count found monarchs, Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz County hosted the largest overwintering cluster, with about 2,500 butterflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers also deployed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999589/monarch-butterflies-now-wear-tiny-tags-for-scientists-to-track-them-in-real-time\">ultralight radio tags\u003c/a> at some sites to better understand how monarchs move within and between groves, data that could help improve habitat management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard said she wasn’t surprised by the low numbers, given weak signs from last summer’s breeding season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always hoping for a bounce-back,” she said, “but I also know it’s going to take years of dedicated conservation action to see the long-term recovery we’re really looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That action, she added, can start close to home. Californians can help by avoiding pesticides, planting native milkweed and nectar-rich flowers, protecting overwintering groves and participating in community science projects like the Western Monarch Count or iNaturalist, which allows people to record and share their observations of plants and animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an insect apocalypse underway, and monarchs aren’t even the worst off,” Howard said. “But we can change course. We need to act now, and everyone has a role to play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As state water officials surveyed the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Friday, California seems to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978337/with-snowpack-in-decline-californias-weather-whiplash-could-mean-alternating-drought-and-flooding\">repeating last winter’s topsy-turvy weather whiplash\u003c/a> between super wet and dry conditions, raising worries about diminishing snow reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three weeks ago, the snowpack was glistening white after storm after storm hit the Sierra during a December drenched by atmospheric rivers. But most of January, historically California’s wettest month, has been virtually dry, and today the snowpack sits at just \u003ca href=\"https://snow.water.ca.gov/\">36% of the April 1 average\u003c/a>, which water leaders look to as the measuring stick for the state’s frozen reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The size of the snowpack is a big deal because it accounts for about a third of the state’s water supply, which millions of people, cities and farms rely on the rest of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been in this position before, and we’ve caught up in the past,” said Andy Reising, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit. “We don’t want to be going backwards at this time of year; we need more storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue this winter, Reising said, is that big atmospheric rivers brought more rain than snow in late December and early January, especially at lower elevations. And then the temperatures warmed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t seen this much liquid running under the snowpack at this time of year,” Reising said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Department of Water Resources (from right) Engineer Jacob Kollen, Hydrometerologist Angelique Fabbiani-Leon and Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit Manager Andy Reising take measurements during the second media snow survey of the 2026 season on Jan. 30, 2026, at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andrew Nixon/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What may be occurring is a phenomenon known as weather whiplash. Warming temperatures are deepening California’s natural weather pattern, which bounces from wet to super-dry conditions that warmer temperatures can worsen. This can melt precious snow reservoirs early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re lucky that we got the fall and December that we did, because had this been the pattern all winter, we’d be in big trouble,” Daniel Swain, a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist, said in his virtual office hours YouTube series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the snowpack across the Sierra Nevada is a tale of three realities. The northern part of the state is at 44% of normal, the Central Sierra at 59%, and the Southern Sierra at 77% for this time of year. Altogether, the state’s snowpack is at 59% of normal for this time of year.[aside postID=news_12064955 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/Sugar-Bowl-2-johnjackson3_2-5-2025_ME.png']“The good news for California, at least, is that the Southern and Central Sierra is doing, if not great, doing fine snowpack-wise right now, at least at higher elevations,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swain said it’s still a little too early to tell if the rest of winter will ultimately be dry, but it would “take a miracle March and then some” to boost the snowpack ultimately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a snow drought emerges, it will have negative ramifications for both the state’s water supply and wildfire risk, although at the moment, reservoir levels are at about 70% of average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the reservoir perspective, we’ll be OK, but from a hydroclimate whiplash perspective, it’s quite possible that California could enter once again another wet-to-dry cycle as we go from spring into summer,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Swain said he is not yet banking on a dry rest of the winter. Even though forecasters suggest the next two weeks could further shrink the snowpack, “ what happens later in February and March is really going to tell that tale,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reising understands it’s too early to predict snow across the mountain range, but “having two weeks ahead of us that we know is unlikely to produce any more snowpack and precipitation, that doesn’t look good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State climatologist Mike Anderson said there are “hints” that the second half of February could bring rain. For now, he’s holding out hope that “the storm door opens enough to get wet conditions to return.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As state water officials surveyed the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Friday, California seems to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1978337/with-snowpack-in-decline-californias-weather-whiplash-could-mean-alternating-drought-and-flooding\">repeating last winter’s topsy-turvy weather whiplash\u003c/a> between super wet and dry conditions, raising worries about diminishing snow reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three weeks ago, the snowpack was glistening white after storm after storm hit the Sierra during a December drenched by atmospheric rivers. But most of January, historically California’s wettest month, has been virtually dry, and today the snowpack sits at just \u003ca href=\"https://snow.water.ca.gov/\">36% of the April 1 average\u003c/a>, which water leaders look to as the measuring stick for the state’s frozen reservoir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The size of the snowpack is a big deal because it accounts for about a third of the state’s water supply, which millions of people, cities and farms rely on the rest of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been in this position before, and we’ve caught up in the past,” said Andy Reising, manager of the state’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit. “We don’t want to be going backwards at this time of year; we need more storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue this winter, Reising said, is that big atmospheric rivers brought more rain than snow in late December and early January, especially at lower elevations. And then the temperatures warmed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I haven’t seen this much liquid running under the snowpack at this time of year,” Reising said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/SierraSnowPackSurvey20262-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Department of Water Resources (from right) Engineer Jacob Kollen, Hydrometerologist Angelique Fabbiani-Leon and Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit Manager Andy Reising take measurements during the second media snow survey of the 2026 season on Jan. 30, 2026, at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andrew Nixon/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What may be occurring is a phenomenon known as weather whiplash. Warming temperatures are deepening California’s natural weather pattern, which bounces from wet to super-dry conditions that warmer temperatures can worsen. This can melt precious snow reservoirs early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re lucky that we got the fall and December that we did, because had this been the pattern all winter, we’d be in big trouble,” Daniel Swain, a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist, said in his virtual office hours YouTube series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the snowpack across the Sierra Nevada is a tale of three realities. The northern part of the state is at 44% of normal, the Central Sierra at 59%, and the Southern Sierra at 77% for this time of year. Altogether, the state’s snowpack is at 59% of normal for this time of year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The good news for California, at least, is that the Southern and Central Sierra is doing, if not great, doing fine snowpack-wise right now, at least at higher elevations,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swain said it’s still a little too early to tell if the rest of winter will ultimately be dry, but it would “take a miracle March and then some” to boost the snowpack ultimately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a snow drought emerges, it will have negative ramifications for both the state’s water supply and wildfire risk, although at the moment, reservoir levels are at about 70% of average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the reservoir perspective, we’ll be OK, but from a hydroclimate whiplash perspective, it’s quite possible that California could enter once again another wet-to-dry cycle as we go from spring into summer,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Swain said he is not yet banking on a dry rest of the winter. Even though forecasters suggest the next two weeks could further shrink the snowpack, “ what happens later in February and March is really going to tell that tale,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reising understands it’s too early to predict snow across the mountain range, but “having two weeks ahead of us that we know is unlikely to produce any more snowpack and precipitation, that doesn’t look good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State climatologist Mike Anderson said there are “hints” that the second half of February could bring rain. For now, he’s holding out hope that “the storm door opens enough to get wet conditions to return.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>This past year saw rollback after rollback in the fight to curb planet-warming emissions nationally, and the federal government even threw up roadblocks for goals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> had set for itself, such as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997300/trump-blocks-californias-ev-rules-state-sues-in-response\">phase-out of the sale of new gas-powered cars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999095/want-to-electrify-your-home-buy-a-heat-pump-its-go-time\">reversed critical components\u003c/a> of Biden-era climate legislation, and the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency moved to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910796/trump-epa-makes-major-moves-to-repeal-climate-regulation\">repeal the agency’s landmark “endangerment finding\u003c/a>,” which states that greenhouse gases hurt public health and is the basis for federal regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California has long led the nation in its work to cut pollution and adapt to climate change, and this year, in which environmental leaders were on the defensive, was no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As 2026 unfolds, KQED’s climate team will be watching and documenting the progress on — and consequences of — the warming planet here in our corner of the world. Here’s what we’ll be looking out for, and sharing with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s next governor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom is in full swing. Newsom’s administration has touted his climate leadership, which has led to California’s historic build-out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/11/13/governor-newsom-announces-californias-record-growth-in-battery-storage-and-clean-energy-leadership-at-cop30/\">battery storage\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055461/california-lawmakers-reach-last-minute-deals-on-climate-energy\">landmark program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>, newly renamed cap-and-invest — in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some environmental advocates and experts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/09/gavin-newsom-environmental-image/\">second-guessing his climate record\u003c/a>, including his support of legislation streamlining approval of new oil and gas wells, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/National-Newsom-Sign-On.pdf\">not advocating\u003c/a> for legislation that aims to hold industries accountable for fossil fuel-driven climate disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom, above right, speaks during his State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whoever replaces him will have the opportunity to move the state forward on climate issues — wildfires, energy, drought, sea level rise, and curbing fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some candidates\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article313926785.html\"> proposed breaking up\u003c/a> California’s investor-owned utilities like PG&E, an idea that’s gaining traction after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912529/san-francisco-blackouts-raise-concerns-about-pge-and-robotaxis\">blackout\u003c/a> across San Francisco lasted for several days and impacted thousands of people around Christmas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>(Electricity) bills bills bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Residential electricity rates for Pacific Gas and Electric, the backbone of the Bay Area’s energy ecosystem, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/4950/Residential-Electricity-Rates-010725.pdf\">increased by 47% from 2019 to 2023\u003c/a>, not adjusting for inflation, according to the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of that increase is a result of more intense and frequent wildfires. Customers are paying for both past disasters and preparing the grid for future calamities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996817\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A PG&E work crew replaces a utility pole and installs an electrical transformer in the 1300 block of Marie Avenue in Antioch, California, on Oct. 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The increase in electricity costs presents more than just an affordability challenge; it conflicts with state goals to move away from natural gas in order to reduce emissions. It’s a big ask to encourage people to swap out a gas furnace for an electric heat pump if it means a higher overall utility bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, we’ll be watching how legislators, regulators and utilities propose ways to lasso runaway electricity bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Wildfires and home insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate-fueled disasters are not only boosting energy prices, but they’re causing home insurance \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/costs-of-climate-change#:~:text=Californians%20exposed%20to%20wildfire%20smoke,due%20to%20heat%2Drelated%20illness.\">costs to soar\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer for stabilizing these costs can’t continually be higher and higher price tags: eventually, those hikes will outpace our ability to pay. At some point, Californians will need to meaningfully reduce the risk from wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998770\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The remains of a house in Altadena, California, after the Eaton Fire swept through the area northeast of Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Strategies like a defensible space code stating that nothing easily flammable should be within 5 feet of the perimeter of a house, known as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">Zone 0\u003c/a>,” are meant to bend down that climate risk curve, yet there is plenty of popular opposition to this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will happen this year, as places like Berkeley, where certain neighborhoods have decided to be early adopters?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Energy innovation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>2025 saw an explosion of interest around energy innovation to bring down electricity bills, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997918/forget-rooftops-bay-area-residents-are-plugging-solar-into-the-wall\">a technology called plug-in solar\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems are small, portable solar arrays — with just a few panels — that anyone can set up and plug right into a standard outlet. They promise minimal upfront costs and time, with the benefit of immediately offsetting your electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997028\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1997028\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rupert Mayer tests the newly installed solar panels at Matthew Milner’s home in Kensington on May 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/small-plug-in-solar-panels-gain-traction-as-an-affordable-way-to-cut-electricity-bills\">consumers are eager to adopt these kinds of technologies\u003c/a>, regulation and safety standards aren’t there just yet. In California, these systems must be registered with a customer’s utility through the same process as rooftop solar, which adds time and cost to the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States like Utah have passed legislation allowing the use of this technology once a safety standard has been created and the system meets those regulations. Similar legislation has been introduced in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising tides\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around San Francisco Bay, a story is unfolding on the rim of the shoreline. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016813/bay-area-now-has-first-ever-regional-sea-level-rise-plan\">regional plan to develop protections against rising seas\u003c/a> for every city, county and open space along the shoreline will be in full motion this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcdc.ca.gov/\">state agency\u003c/a> running the plan have a big feat ahead of them: to convince and guide each of the more than 50 cities and counties that line the bay to develop plans to address sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cities are already signing on, and more could soon follow, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018103/king-tides-foreshadow-far-wetter-future-sf-shoreline\">including San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State scientists predict more than a foot of bay rise by 2050 and over 6 feet by the end of the century in the worst case. This could threaten property and safety, with the cost of inaction exceeding \u003ca href=\"https://mtc.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023-07/SLR_Framework_Final_Report.pdf\">$230 billion\u003c/a> — making it a critical issue for the Bay Area’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate on the local ballot\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Franciscans won’t just vote on climate at the state level: environmental issues will be on the ballot locally, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seat for San Francisco’s District 10 supervisor representing the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood will be open as Shamann Walton terms out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979614/for-these-black-bayview-hunters-point-residents-reparations-include-safeguarding-against-rising-toxic-contamination\">neighborhood\u003c/a> has dealt with environmental pollution from the cleanup of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Whoever takes Walton’s place will inherit the issue, as scientists are increasingly concerned that the pollution may spread as rising seas push groundwater and buried contamination up.[aside postID=news_12069094 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg']City officials have more aggressively criticized \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991758/u-s-navy-acknowledges-rising-toxic-groundwater-threat-at-sf-superfund-site\">the Navy\u003c/a> about the cleanup recently after the agency waited 11 months before disclosing to residents that it had detected airborne radioactive material at the shipyard. The Navy \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999631/navy-apologizes-for-11-month-delay-in-reporting-radioactive-material-at-hunters-point\">later apologized\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seat for the San Francisco District 4 supervisor representing the Sunset neighborhood will also be open, and the race will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067992/sunset-supervisor-to-back-ballot-measure-to-put-cars-back-on-the-great-highway\">likely be contentious\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue is the closing of a portion of the Great Highway to cars, which sparked a successful recall of former Supervisor Joel Engardio, who backed the closure. While overall city residents voted to make this chunk of road into a park, a majority of Sunset residents voted in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists predict that as seas rise, the ocean will eat away at the road either way. The Sunset’s new supervisor will have an opportunity to shape the future of this precarious shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current Supervisor Alan Wong unveiled a draft ballot measure last week that would have San Franciscans vote on reopening the Great Highway to cars during weekdays, saying that traffic injuries in his district have doubled since the highway closed. This plan would first need broader support from his colleagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is bound to meet resistance from those who have come to love the park, more than half the city that voted to turn it into a recreation space and scientists who would like to see the highway become a better buffer to rising tides and intensifying storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disappearing tailpipes?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This time last year, California had a goal to end the sale of new gas cars 10 years later in 2035. That goal is still on the books, but by May of last year, Congress attempted to block the state from enforcing it. California sued, and the issue remains in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the legal fight plays out, state \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/articles/california-reconsidering-2035-electric-vehicle-sales-mandate/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">officials\u003c/a> have said they are reconsidering that 2035 deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "While action on climate change has faced an assault at the federal level, Bay Area leaders fight for progress, from managing rising tides to limiting wildfire risk.",
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"title": "Bay Area Climate Stories We’re Watching This Year | KQED",
"description": "While action on climate change has faced an assault at the federal level, Bay Area leaders fight for progress, from managing rising tides to limiting wildfire risk.",
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"headline": "Bay Area Climate Stories We’re Watching This Year",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This past year saw rollback after rollback in the fight to curb planet-warming emissions nationally, and the federal government even threw up roadblocks for goals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> had set for itself, such as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997300/trump-blocks-californias-ev-rules-state-sues-in-response\">phase-out of the sale of new gas-powered cars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999095/want-to-electrify-your-home-buy-a-heat-pump-its-go-time\">reversed critical components\u003c/a> of Biden-era climate legislation, and the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency moved to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910796/trump-epa-makes-major-moves-to-repeal-climate-regulation\">repeal the agency’s landmark “endangerment finding\u003c/a>,” which states that greenhouse gases hurt public health and is the basis for federal regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California has long led the nation in its work to cut pollution and adapt to climate change, and this year, in which environmental leaders were on the defensive, was no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As 2026 unfolds, KQED’s climate team will be watching and documenting the progress on — and consequences of — the warming planet here in our corner of the world. Here’s what we’ll be looking out for, and sharing with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California’s next governor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom is in full swing. Newsom’s administration has touted his climate leadership, which has led to California’s historic build-out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/11/13/governor-newsom-announces-californias-record-growth-in-battery-storage-and-clean-energy-leadership-at-cop30/\">battery storage\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055461/california-lawmakers-reach-last-minute-deals-on-climate-energy\">landmark program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a>, newly renamed cap-and-invest — in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some environmental advocates and experts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/09/gavin-newsom-environmental-image/\">second-guessing his climate record\u003c/a>, including his support of legislation streamlining approval of new oil and gas wells, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/National-Newsom-Sign-On.pdf\">not advocating\u003c/a> for legislation that aims to hold industries accountable for fossil fuel-driven climate disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom, above right, speaks during his State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whoever replaces him will have the opportunity to move the state forward on climate issues — wildfires, energy, drought, sea level rise, and curbing fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some candidates\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article313926785.html\"> proposed breaking up\u003c/a> California’s investor-owned utilities like PG&E, an idea that’s gaining traction after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912529/san-francisco-blackouts-raise-concerns-about-pge-and-robotaxis\">blackout\u003c/a> across San Francisco lasted for several days and impacted thousands of people around Christmas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>(Electricity) bills bills bills\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Residential electricity rates for Pacific Gas and Electric, the backbone of the Bay Area’s energy ecosystem, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/4950/Residential-Electricity-Rates-010725.pdf\">increased by 47% from 2019 to 2023\u003c/a>, not adjusting for inflation, according to the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of that increase is a result of more intense and frequent wildfires. Customers are paying for both past disasters and preparing the grid for future calamities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996817\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/PGE-trucks-5_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A PG&E work crew replaces a utility pole and installs an electrical transformer in the 1300 block of Marie Avenue in Antioch, California, on Oct. 14, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The increase in electricity costs presents more than just an affordability challenge; it conflicts with state goals to move away from natural gas in order to reduce emissions. It’s a big ask to encourage people to swap out a gas furnace for an electric heat pump if it means a higher overall utility bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, we’ll be watching how legislators, regulators and utilities propose ways to lasso runaway electricity bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Wildfires and home insurance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Climate-fueled disasters are not only boosting energy prices, but they’re causing home insurance \u003ca href=\"https://www.next10.org/publications/costs-of-climate-change#:~:text=Californians%20exposed%20to%20wildfire%20smoke,due%20to%20heat%2Drelated%20illness.\">costs to soar\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer for stabilizing these costs can’t continually be higher and higher price tags: eventually, those hikes will outpace our ability to pay. At some point, Californians will need to meaningfully reduce the risk from wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998770\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998770\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/240109-CAWindStorm-076_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The remains of a house in Altadena, California, after the Eaton Fire swept through the area northeast of Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Strategies like a defensible space code stating that nothing easily flammable should be within 5 feet of the perimeter of a house, known as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/dspace\">Zone 0\u003c/a>,” are meant to bend down that climate risk curve, yet there is plenty of popular opposition to this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will happen this year, as places like Berkeley, where certain neighborhoods have decided to be early adopters?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Energy innovation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>2025 saw an explosion of interest around energy innovation to bring down electricity bills, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997918/forget-rooftops-bay-area-residents-are-plugging-solar-into-the-wall\">a technology called plug-in solar\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems are small, portable solar arrays — with just a few panels — that anyone can set up and plug right into a standard outlet. They promise minimal upfront costs and time, with the benefit of immediately offsetting your electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1997028\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1997028\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/250523-SOLAR-BALCONY-MD-08-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rupert Mayer tests the newly installed solar panels at Matthew Milner’s home in Kensington on May 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/small-plug-in-solar-panels-gain-traction-as-an-affordable-way-to-cut-electricity-bills\">consumers are eager to adopt these kinds of technologies\u003c/a>, regulation and safety standards aren’t there just yet. In California, these systems must be registered with a customer’s utility through the same process as rooftop solar, which adds time and cost to the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States like Utah have passed legislation allowing the use of this technology once a safety standard has been created and the system meets those regulations. Similar legislation has been introduced in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising tides\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around San Francisco Bay, a story is unfolding on the rim of the shoreline. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016813/bay-area-now-has-first-ever-regional-sea-level-rise-plan\">regional plan to develop protections against rising seas\u003c/a> for every city, county and open space along the shoreline will be in full motion this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bcdc.ca.gov/\">state agency\u003c/a> running the plan have a big feat ahead of them: to convince and guide each of the more than 50 cities and counties that line the bay to develop plans to address sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cities are already signing on, and more could soon follow, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018103/king-tides-foreshadow-far-wetter-future-sf-shoreline\">including San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State scientists predict more than a foot of bay rise by 2050 and over 6 feet by the end of the century in the worst case. This could threaten property and safety, with the cost of inaction exceeding \u003ca href=\"https://mtc.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023-07/SLR_Framework_Final_Report.pdf\">$230 billion\u003c/a> — making it a critical issue for the Bay Area’s future.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Climate on the local ballot\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Franciscans won’t just vote on climate at the state level: environmental issues will be on the ballot locally, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seat for San Francisco’s District 10 supervisor representing the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood will be open as Shamann Walton terms out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979614/for-these-black-bayview-hunters-point-residents-reparations-include-safeguarding-against-rising-toxic-contamination\">neighborhood\u003c/a> has dealt with environmental pollution from the cleanup of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Whoever takes Walton’s place will inherit the issue, as scientists are increasingly concerned that the pollution may spread as rising seas push groundwater and buried contamination up.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City officials have more aggressively criticized \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991758/u-s-navy-acknowledges-rising-toxic-groundwater-threat-at-sf-superfund-site\">the Navy\u003c/a> about the cleanup recently after the agency waited 11 months before disclosing to residents that it had detected airborne radioactive material at the shipyard. The Navy \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999631/navy-apologizes-for-11-month-delay-in-reporting-radioactive-material-at-hunters-point\">later apologized\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seat for the San Francisco District 4 supervisor representing the Sunset neighborhood will also be open, and the race will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067992/sunset-supervisor-to-back-ballot-measure-to-put-cars-back-on-the-great-highway\">likely be contentious\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue is the closing of a portion of the Great Highway to cars, which sparked a successful recall of former Supervisor Joel Engardio, who backed the closure. While overall city residents voted to make this chunk of road into a park, a majority of Sunset residents voted in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists predict that as seas rise, the ocean will eat away at the road either way. The Sunset’s new supervisor will have an opportunity to shape the future of this precarious shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current Supervisor Alan Wong unveiled a draft ballot measure last week that would have San Franciscans vote on reopening the Great Highway to cars during weekdays, saying that traffic injuries in his district have doubled since the highway closed. This plan would first need broader support from his colleagues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is bound to meet resistance from those who have come to love the park, more than half the city that voted to turn it into a recreation space and scientists who would like to see the highway become a better buffer to rising tides and intensifying storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disappearing tailpipes?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This time last year, California had a goal to end the sale of new gas cars 10 years later in 2035. That goal is still on the books, but by May of last year, Congress attempted to block the state from enforcing it. California sued, and the issue remains in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the legal fight plays out, state \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/articles/california-reconsidering-2035-electric-vehicle-sales-mandate/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">officials\u003c/a> have said they are reconsidering that 2035 deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> planet-warming pollution shrank by 3% in 2023, one of the largest year-over-year reductions the state has seen, according to a report by nonprofit Next 10. The state’s use of cleaner fuels in heavy-duty transportation, like big rigs, and its deployment of battery storage and solar energy drove this climate progress, in large part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found that fossil fuels supplied just 36.3% of the state’s electricity in 2024, an all-time low, and renewables surpassed 50% of the energy that powers California’s grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is doing extremely well in reducing our carbon emissions and moving towards a low-carbon economy,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, a nonprofit that aims to educate the public and policymakers on economic, environmental, and quality of life issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the transportation sector comprised the state’s largest category of emissions, accounting for roughly 38% of emissions in 2023, it also saw the largest percentage decrease in emissions of any other sector, falling by 4.6%. Heavy-duty trucks relied more on biofuels, which are made from plants or other organic materials instead of fossil fuels, which account for the majority of the drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a dip in pollution from cars, too, although it was far smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999624\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 580 freeway in Oakland on Oct. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Emissions fell in all other categories the researchers reviewed, with the exception of pollution from residential and commercial sectors, which grew by nearly 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The large increase is from grocery stores, commercial and industrial cold storage facilities, and others, that have replaced gases in old refrigeration systems with ones that don’t harm the ozone layer, but can cause a lot of warming if they leak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers said that while the data is encouraging, California policymakers and regulators need to do more to hit the state’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels.[aside postID=news_12052390 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/230928-EAGLE-ROCK-SETTLE-MD-07_qed.jpg']That would require an average annual emissions reduction rate of 4.4%, a number far higher than historic annual reductions. For the state to reach its even more ambitious 2045 emissions goal — of 85% below 1990 levels — California would have to double that reduction rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an encouraging result, especially amid the current federal administration’s hostility toward clean energy and climate change and environmental policies,” said Hoyu Chong, lead researcher on Next 10’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is still not quite on track to meet its 2030 goals, but I do think it’s getting closer to within striking distance,” Chong said. “I like to use the analogy of saving money. Even if a person might not reach their savings goal by their deadline, the fact that the person has saved something is still better than nothing, right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report echoes an oft-touted phrase by Gov. Gavin Newsom: that California’s economy grows while the state reduces emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authors say further phasing out of fossil fuels and electrifying the grid will be crucial, as well as more cuts to emissions from transportation, buildings and industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next 10 has tracked California’s progress toward its 2030 climate goals since the state adopted the targets in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> planet-warming pollution shrank by 3% in 2023, one of the largest year-over-year reductions the state has seen, according to a report by nonprofit Next 10. The state’s use of cleaner fuels in heavy-duty transportation, like big rigs, and its deployment of battery storage and solar energy drove this climate progress, in large part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found that fossil fuels supplied just 36.3% of the state’s electricity in 2024, an all-time low, and renewables surpassed 50% of the energy that powers California’s grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is doing extremely well in reducing our carbon emissions and moving towards a low-carbon economy,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, a nonprofit that aims to educate the public and policymakers on economic, environmental, and quality of life issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the transportation sector comprised the state’s largest category of emissions, accounting for roughly 38% of emissions in 2023, it also saw the largest percentage decrease in emissions of any other sector, falling by 4.6%. Heavy-duty trucks relied more on biofuels, which are made from plants or other organic materials instead of fossil fuels, which account for the majority of the drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a dip in pollution from cars, too, although it was far smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999624\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251021-I-580-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 580 freeway in Oakland on Oct. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Emissions fell in all other categories the researchers reviewed, with the exception of pollution from residential and commercial sectors, which grew by nearly 7%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The large increase is from grocery stores, commercial and industrial cold storage facilities, and others, that have replaced gases in old refrigeration systems with ones that don’t harm the ozone layer, but can cause a lot of warming if they leak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers said that while the data is encouraging, California policymakers and regulators need to do more to hit the state’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That would require an average annual emissions reduction rate of 4.4%, a number far higher than historic annual reductions. For the state to reach its even more ambitious 2045 emissions goal — of 85% below 1990 levels — California would have to double that reduction rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an encouraging result, especially amid the current federal administration’s hostility toward clean energy and climate change and environmental policies,” said Hoyu Chong, lead researcher on Next 10’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is still not quite on track to meet its 2030 goals, but I do think it’s getting closer to within striking distance,” Chong said. “I like to use the analogy of saving money. Even if a person might not reach their savings goal by their deadline, the fact that the person has saved something is still better than nothing, right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report echoes an oft-touted phrase by Gov. Gavin Newsom: that California’s economy grows while the state reduces emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authors say further phasing out of fossil fuels and electrifying the grid will be crucial, as well as more cuts to emissions from transportation, buildings and industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next 10 has tracked California’s progress toward its 2030 climate goals since the state adopted the targets in 2006.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Can Virtual Reality Bring Climate Change Closer to Home? Bay Area Researchers Think So",
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"content": "\u003cp>Imagine the first time you visit Nashville, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/tennessee\">Tennessee\u003c/a>, you commission a private helicopter tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You gaze down on the gleaming glass buildings of its contemporary skyline, its neighborhood ball fields, the main drags with brick concert venues, and the sparkling blue pools. But then the pilot tells you some of these neighborhoods have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/flooding\">flooded\u003c/a>, which has been getting worse due to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you go back home, do you think about Nashville? Do you care about the residents there, and how they’re dealing with climate change?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at a lab in Stanford have found, through \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-21098-z\">early experiments\u003c/a>, that most people say yes, regardless of their political orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists did not pony up hundreds of thousands to fly people to Nashville and hire private helicopters. Instead, they immersed them in the city by using virtual reality headsets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999016\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999016\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy N. Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, holds a virtual-reality headset he designed in 1999 during a demonstration at Stanford University on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found people felt more connected to the places where they traveled, even if they weren’t previously familiar with them, and that climate-related impacts like flooding felt more personally relevant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study suggests that instead of trying to engage people in climate change through fear or guilt, giving people agency to explore a place through immersive virtual reality can boost their concern for it, similar to how someone may feel after actually visiting a place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is big,” said Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford professor who oversaw the study. “There’s lots of things we can start doing now. We can start making you care more about the people in that place. We can just make the Earth a little smaller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shrinking ‘psychological’ distance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For social scientists studying climate change, there’s a reason why people tend to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21992607/\">avoid\u003c/a> these issues. Researchers call it “psychological distance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It refers to the distance we feel when it comes to climate change. With the exception of increasingly common local extreme weather, we think the impacts of climate change are happening elsewhere or feel different from the people it affects most severely. Some feel the worst effects won’t happen soon, and others are uncertain; they don’t know exactly how bad the results of inaction will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999017\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Augmented-reality headsets from Microsoft, Magic Leap, and XReal sit on display inside the Virtual Human Interaction Lab as a temporary “museum” at Stanford University. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To attempt to shrink some of that distance, at least geographically, Stanford researchers outfitted participants with VR headsets. Participants then traveled, virtually, to places they identified as either familiar or unfamiliar to them, like the North Shore of Massachusetts, Miami or Nashville. They hovered above the terrain, as though in an aircraft, as they looked down on the homes, streets, and backyards below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While participants saw these regions as tranquil, sunny places, with no humans or cars disturbing the quiet, they heard a simple news story about the impacts of climate-induced flooding on the locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterwards, researchers found people cared more about the places they visited, even those that were unfamiliar, and the effects climate change is having on the locations. Concern for distant places carried through regardless of participants’ political orientation.[aside postID=science_1999358 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/CaliforniaLandfillMethaneGetty.jpg']Control groups heard similar news stories about flooding, but were shown still photographs of places both familiar and unfamiliar. They did not report caring in the same way as those who were immersed in VR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailenson is the founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a research center studying the psychological and behavioral impacts of virtual and augmented reality, the latter of which overlays digital images onto the real world. He’s worked on experiments aimed at increasing people’s focus on climate change for more than a decade, having found some success. His team discovered that when people put on a VR headset and cut down a tree, feeling the vibration of the chainsaw, they use less paper afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also spent years and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” building virtual reality films that place the participant underwater, witnessing ocean acidification. When people put on the headset, these experiences changed their attitudes and behaviors. But when researchers installed the VR in a museum or other exhibit, people chose not to engage: It was too much doom and gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea to simply travel to a new place through VR, hover above it, and check it out as a way of building a sense of connection came from the mind of Monique Santoso, a third-year doctoral student in Stanford’s communication department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999018\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999018 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso, a Ph.D. student in the Communication Department at Stanford, works with Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been very fascinated with this idea of psychological distance,” Santoso said. “What exactly is it that makes these issues that are actually very important seem super far away from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso and her team, including her advisor Bailenson, used preexisting tools that are low-cost or free, like Google Earth and Fly, a VR app that allows you to explore the world by flying above it, plus a headset, to send people to another location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With these tools, “you can poke your head over your neighbor’s fence and see what’s on the other side. You can fly through New York City,” Bailenson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When coral bleaching feels personal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Santoso’s idea came from her own life experience. She grew up in a small coastal community in Indonesia. Her backyard was a beach, and she spent hours scuba diving. She was deeply aware of ocean acidification and its effects on the coral she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she went abroad to an international high school in Armenia, she was baffled when other people didn’t want to talk about climate change and its consequences, despite studying it in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999013\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A WorldViz tracking camera mounted in the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab enables precise motion detection for immersive VR experiences. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think people just felt like it was not applicable to them,” Santoso said. She got her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, and further realized how far climate change was from people’s minds. Disheartened, Santoso looked for innovative ways to talk about an issue close to her heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She found storytelling was effective; she’d often tell her own stories of coral. Then she read Bailenson’s book \u003cem>Experience on Demand\u003c/em>. She was so inspired by the central idea that virtual reality can be transformative that she applied to get her PhD at Stanford, focusing on using immersive technologies to foster empathy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Wow, if this media could be done in scale, that could really potentially influence how people think and care about climate change,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first of its kind, Santoso’s work still needs to be replicated, and across a much larger spectrum of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999014\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso helps adjust a virtual reality headset for KQED reporter Laura Klivans during a demonstration at the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The research involved only 163 participants, all of whom are Stanford students. The results, therefore, “are a little bit less generalizable,” said Emiliana Simon Thomas, the science director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it’s really provocative that [the] team can get those systematic changes in kind of people’s feelings of connection to a cause or to an idea,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso wants to look at how enduring these effects are, too, or if they would last longer if participants do this type of exercise on a few repeat occasions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the results of the first experiment hold, Santoso sees a future for this kind of VR in school curricula or for policymakers to have a better sense of the communities they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Imagine the first time you visit Nashville, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/tennessee\">Tennessee\u003c/a>, you commission a private helicopter tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You gaze down on the gleaming glass buildings of its contemporary skyline, its neighborhood ball fields, the main drags with brick concert venues, and the sparkling blue pools. But then the pilot tells you some of these neighborhoods have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/flooding\">flooded\u003c/a>, which has been getting worse due to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you go back home, do you think about Nashville? Do you care about the residents there, and how they’re dealing with climate change?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at a lab in Stanford have found, through \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-21098-z\">early experiments\u003c/a>, that most people say yes, regardless of their political orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists did not pony up hundreds of thousands to fly people to Nashville and hire private helicopters. Instead, they immersed them in the city by using virtual reality headsets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999016\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999016\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy N. Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, holds a virtual-reality headset he designed in 1999 during a demonstration at Stanford University on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found people felt more connected to the places where they traveled, even if they weren’t previously familiar with them, and that climate-related impacts like flooding felt more personally relevant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study suggests that instead of trying to engage people in climate change through fear or guilt, giving people agency to explore a place through immersive virtual reality can boost their concern for it, similar to how someone may feel after actually visiting a place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is big,” said Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford professor who oversaw the study. “There’s lots of things we can start doing now. We can start making you care more about the people in that place. We can just make the Earth a little smaller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shrinking ‘psychological’ distance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For social scientists studying climate change, there’s a reason why people tend to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21992607/\">avoid\u003c/a> these issues. Researchers call it “psychological distance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It refers to the distance we feel when it comes to climate change. With the exception of increasingly common local extreme weather, we think the impacts of climate change are happening elsewhere or feel different from the people it affects most severely. Some feel the worst effects won’t happen soon, and others are uncertain; they don’t know exactly how bad the results of inaction will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999017\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Augmented-reality headsets from Microsoft, Magic Leap, and XReal sit on display inside the Virtual Human Interaction Lab as a temporary “museum” at Stanford University. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To attempt to shrink some of that distance, at least geographically, Stanford researchers outfitted participants with VR headsets. Participants then traveled, virtually, to places they identified as either familiar or unfamiliar to them, like the North Shore of Massachusetts, Miami or Nashville. They hovered above the terrain, as though in an aircraft, as they looked down on the homes, streets, and backyards below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While participants saw these regions as tranquil, sunny places, with no humans or cars disturbing the quiet, they heard a simple news story about the impacts of climate-induced flooding on the locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterwards, researchers found people cared more about the places they visited, even those that were unfamiliar, and the effects climate change is having on the locations. Concern for distant places carried through regardless of participants’ political orientation.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Control groups heard similar news stories about flooding, but were shown still photographs of places both familiar and unfamiliar. They did not report caring in the same way as those who were immersed in VR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailenson is the founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a research center studying the psychological and behavioral impacts of virtual and augmented reality, the latter of which overlays digital images onto the real world. He’s worked on experiments aimed at increasing people’s focus on climate change for more than a decade, having found some success. His team discovered that when people put on a VR headset and cut down a tree, feeling the vibration of the chainsaw, they use less paper afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also spent years and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” building virtual reality films that place the participant underwater, witnessing ocean acidification. When people put on the headset, these experiences changed their attitudes and behaviors. But when researchers installed the VR in a museum or other exhibit, people chose not to engage: It was too much doom and gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea to simply travel to a new place through VR, hover above it, and check it out as a way of building a sense of connection came from the mind of Monique Santoso, a third-year doctoral student in Stanford’s communication department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999018\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999018 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso, a Ph.D. student in the Communication Department at Stanford, works with Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been very fascinated with this idea of psychological distance,” Santoso said. “What exactly is it that makes these issues that are actually very important seem super far away from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso and her team, including her advisor Bailenson, used preexisting tools that are low-cost or free, like Google Earth and Fly, a VR app that allows you to explore the world by flying above it, plus a headset, to send people to another location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With these tools, “you can poke your head over your neighbor’s fence and see what’s on the other side. You can fly through New York City,” Bailenson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When coral bleaching feels personal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Santoso’s idea came from her own life experience. She grew up in a small coastal community in Indonesia. Her backyard was a beach, and she spent hours scuba diving. She was deeply aware of ocean acidification and its effects on the coral she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she went abroad to an international high school in Armenia, she was baffled when other people didn’t want to talk about climate change and its consequences, despite studying it in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999013\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A WorldViz tracking camera mounted in the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab enables precise motion detection for immersive VR experiences. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think people just felt like it was not applicable to them,” Santoso said. She got her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, and further realized how far climate change was from people’s minds. Disheartened, Santoso looked for innovative ways to talk about an issue close to her heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She found storytelling was effective; she’d often tell her own stories of coral. Then she read Bailenson’s book \u003cem>Experience on Demand\u003c/em>. She was so inspired by the central idea that virtual reality can be transformative that she applied to get her PhD at Stanford, focusing on using immersive technologies to foster empathy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Wow, if this media could be done in scale, that could really potentially influence how people think and care about climate change,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first of its kind, Santoso’s work still needs to be replicated, and across a much larger spectrum of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999014\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso helps adjust a virtual reality headset for KQED reporter Laura Klivans during a demonstration at the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The research involved only 163 participants, all of whom are Stanford students. The results, therefore, “are a little bit less generalizable,” said Emiliana Simon Thomas, the science director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it’s really provocative that [the] team can get those systematic changes in kind of people’s feelings of connection to a cause or to an idea,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso wants to look at how enduring these effects are, too, or if they would last longer if participants do this type of exercise on a few repeat occasions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the results of the first experiment hold, Santoso sees a future for this kind of VR in school curricula or for policymakers to have a better sense of the communities they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Your trash, or the place where it ends up, is also one of the most serious contributors to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/global-warming\">global warming\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After livestock, landfills are the second-largest source of methane emissions in California, responsible for more than 20% of the state’s output. That’s why the California Air Resources Board took action on Thursday to monitor and capture the landfill’s gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is generated from the breakdown of waste. Even though it’s a short-lived climate pollutant compared to long-lasting carbon dioxide, it severely exacerbates human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/landfill-methane-regulation\">new rules\u003c/a> will eventually require landfill operators to take action when a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/californias-methane-satellite-helps-stop-10-large-leaks\">satellite\u003c/a> or airplane detects a methane leak, improve routine leak monitoring and reporting and mandate stronger action on recurring issues. The protections will add to a suite of regulations the state passed in 2010, which made California the first state to develop stricter standards than the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is another example of California’s leadership in reducing emissions and harmful climate-warming pollutants across all sources. With these updates, California will be able to more efficiently and effectively monitor methane sources to detect and remedy leaks quickly,” CARB Chair \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/lauren-sanchez\">Lauren Sanchez said \u003c/a>in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board reported that the state’s methane satellite, which passes by four to five times a week, has helped stop 10 large leaks since May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999362\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999362\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The landfill at 850 Singleton Road in San José, California, on Sept. 6, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We believe that many operators would be interested in adopting these technologies to reduce the need for costly labor, especially as the number of mature technologies increases over time,” said air resources engineer Quinn Langfitt, who introduced the regulator’s proposal at a public hearing on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes, which will impact 188 landfills in the state, are part of meeting the state’s goal to reduce methane emissions by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials said the new rules could reduce landfill emissions by 427,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. They would create $34 million in social benefits and cost landfills around $12 million, with the largest bearing the brunt of the price tag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent report backed up the agency’s findings: By 2050, landfill emissions could be reduced by more than half and up to 64% by the end of the century, according to \u003ca href=\"https://industriouslabs.org/archive/press-release-common-sense-standards-can-deliver-cleaner-air-cut-california-landfill-methane\">a March analysis\u003c/a> by Industrious Labs. The group noted that California landfills emit 7.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane annually, which has “the same climate impact as driving 1.7 million cars for one year.”[aside postID=news_12061054 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/CHSugarCrockettGetty.jpg']But even though the board passed the new rules, they won’t go into effect immediately; staff will need to address a slew of clarifying questions raised by the public and board members during the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CARB board member Diane Takvorian supported the rule but pushed for a public-facing dashboard to show when and where emissions plumes are detected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are asking for basic information,” Takvorian said, noting that technology is moving fast and that people need information now, not in years. She and others recommended an 18-month technology review after the rule goes into effect. They also suggested that the state and landfills share any data with the public as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we have the data, we should share it,” board member Hector De La Torre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Kennedy, senior policy advocate for the Rural County Representatives of California, said he is “supportive of efforts to reduce emissions.” His group represents more than two-thirds of the landfills to which the standards would apply. Kennedy wants to ensure that the implementation is feasible for local governments “while protecting the communities that are close to those landfills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson from Waste Management, which does business as WM, representing facilities across the state, thanked staff for the updated plan, but said he hopes they will work with the industry on site-specific conditions, which of the new rules are “necessary and useful to diagnose conditions,” and a framework for using alternative monitoring technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1947347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1925px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1947347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/09/GettyImages-2154411-e1568322782842.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1925\" height=\"1258\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker watches as aluminum cans are emptied into a bailer at the Norcal Waste recycling facility on July 11, 2003, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Multiple residents from the Los Angeles community of Val Verde attended the meeting. They said they have suffered because of widespread noxious odors and hazardous gas emissions from the \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/chiquita-canyon-response/\">Chiquita Canyon Landfill\u003c/a> in recent years. Brandi Howse, who spoke during public comment, said she has lived about 1,000 feet from the landfill for 27 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howse said she has experienced clouds of methane and other gases at her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You become dizzy, disoriented, nauseous, you get headaches, burning sinuses and bloody noses,” Howse said. “We are left to be concerned with long-term effects. I know that myself and my neighbors to my left and my right have all had cancer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members from the Kern County community of Avenal approached the podium to say that the landfill in their community is causing health concerns like cancer and people are leaving the town because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The smell is really bad,” said Leticia Luna, who moved to Avenal 15 years ago. “People are leaving our community because their homes are not safe, and when they leave, they find it difficult to sell because we live very close to the landfill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many groups applauded the new rule, \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-williams-36820528b/\">Jane Williams\u003c/a>, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said it is a “real first step,” and that CARB needs even stronger rules to prevent fires and large emission leaks at landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/landfill-methane-regulation\">new rules\u003c/a> will eventually require landfill operators to take action when a \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/californias-methane-satellite-helps-stop-10-large-leaks\">satellite\u003c/a> or airplane detects a methane leak, improve routine leak monitoring and reporting and mandate stronger action on recurring issues. The protections will add to a suite of regulations the state passed in 2010, which made California the first state to develop stricter standards than the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is another example of California’s leadership in reducing emissions and harmful climate-warming pollutants across all sources. With these updates, California will be able to more efficiently and effectively monitor methane sources to detect and remedy leaks quickly,” CARB Chair \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/lauren-sanchez\">Lauren Sanchez said \u003c/a>in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board reported that the state’s methane satellite, which passes by four to five times a week, has helped stop 10 large leaks since May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999362\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999362\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/230906-850-SINGLETON-RD-MD-09_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The landfill at 850 Singleton Road in San José, California, on Sept. 6, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We believe that many operators would be interested in adopting these technologies to reduce the need for costly labor, especially as the number of mature technologies increases over time,” said air resources engineer Quinn Langfitt, who introduced the regulator’s proposal at a public hearing on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes, which will impact 188 landfills in the state, are part of meeting the state’s goal to reduce methane emissions by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials said the new rules could reduce landfill emissions by 427,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. They would create $34 million in social benefits and cost landfills around $12 million, with the largest bearing the brunt of the price tag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent report backed up the agency’s findings: By 2050, landfill emissions could be reduced by more than half and up to 64% by the end of the century, according to \u003ca href=\"https://industriouslabs.org/archive/press-release-common-sense-standards-can-deliver-cleaner-air-cut-california-landfill-methane\">a March analysis\u003c/a> by Industrious Labs. The group noted that California landfills emit 7.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane annually, which has “the same climate impact as driving 1.7 million cars for one year.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But even though the board passed the new rules, they won’t go into effect immediately; staff will need to address a slew of clarifying questions raised by the public and board members during the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CARB board member Diane Takvorian supported the rule but pushed for a public-facing dashboard to show when and where emissions plumes are detected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are asking for basic information,” Takvorian said, noting that technology is moving fast and that people need information now, not in years. She and others recommended an 18-month technology review after the rule goes into effect. They also suggested that the state and landfills share any data with the public as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we have the data, we should share it,” board member Hector De La Torre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>John Kennedy, senior policy advocate for the Rural County Representatives of California, said he is “supportive of efforts to reduce emissions.” His group represents more than two-thirds of the landfills to which the standards would apply. Kennedy wants to ensure that the implementation is feasible for local governments “while protecting the communities that are close to those landfills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson from Waste Management, which does business as WM, representing facilities across the state, thanked staff for the updated plan, but said he hopes they will work with the industry on site-specific conditions, which of the new rules are “necessary and useful to diagnose conditions,” and a framework for using alternative monitoring technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1947347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1925px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1947347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/09/GettyImages-2154411-e1568322782842.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1925\" height=\"1258\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker watches as aluminum cans are emptied into a bailer at the Norcal Waste recycling facility on July 11, 2003, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Multiple residents from the Los Angeles community of Val Verde attended the meeting. They said they have suffered because of widespread noxious odors and hazardous gas emissions from the \u003ca href=\"https://calepa.ca.gov/chiquita-canyon-response/\">Chiquita Canyon Landfill\u003c/a> in recent years. Brandi Howse, who spoke during public comment, said she has lived about 1,000 feet from the landfill for 27 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howse said she has experienced clouds of methane and other gases at her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You become dizzy, disoriented, nauseous, you get headaches, burning sinuses and bloody noses,” Howse said. “We are left to be concerned with long-term effects. I know that myself and my neighbors to my left and my right have all had cancer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members from the Kern County community of Avenal approached the podium to say that the landfill in their community is causing health concerns like cancer and people are leaving the town because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The smell is really bad,” said Leticia Luna, who moved to Avenal 15 years ago. “People are leaving our community because their homes are not safe, and when they leave, they find it difficult to sell because we live very close to the landfill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many groups applauded the new rule, \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-williams-36820528b/\">Jane Williams\u003c/a>, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said it is a “real first step,” and that CARB needs even stronger rules to prevent fires and large emission leaks at landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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},
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"id": "baycurious",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
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},
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
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},
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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},
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"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
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"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
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