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"content": "\u003cp>California lawmakers are poised to fund the cleanup of dirty drinking water in the state’s poorest communities — a problem most everyone agrees needs to be addressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" citation=\"State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont\" size=\"small\"]‘I would caution that every worthy cause should not be financed through this fund.’[/pullquote] Not everyone, however, agrees on where the money should come from to pay for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue? The Legislature wants to use revenue from California’s cap-and-trade climate change program, which was created to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by making companies pay for the right to emit them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money the program generates is required by law to go toward programs that reduce the planet-warming gases. While that mandate hasn’t stopped lawmakers in the past from allocating funds to projects that are, arguably, only marginally related to greenhouse gas reduction, it could leave the funding for water cleanup open to a legal challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State attorneys made that clear to the Legislature last year in a legal opinion asserting cap-and trade money can, for the time being, only be spent “for purposes that reasonably relate to the reduction of [greenhouse gas] emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislative Counsel prepared the opinion for state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, the chair of the subcommittee that oversees the cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He voiced his frustration with the state’s plan to spend the funds on water cleanup on the Senate floor last week, saying it “further weakens the integrity of our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AB 32 requires the Governor and the Legislature to only use revenues from the auctions of Cap and Trade for programs that reduce carbon emissions into our atmosphere,” Wieckowski said. AB 32 is California’s landmark climate change law, which sets targets for reductions in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, this does not bode well for future GGRF budgets,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While AB 32 was set to expire in 2020, the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Legislature\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> passed an \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11593491/brown-schwarzenegger-celebrate-extension-of-cap-and-trade\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">extension\u003c/span>\u003c/a> through 2030 \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That bill, AB 398, also removes the limits on how cap-and-trade money is spent \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as of Jan. 1, 2021, according to the Legislative Counsel’s opinion. The analysis attributes the freeing of those funds to the way AB 398 was written and because of its passage by a supermajority, both of which transformed cap-and-trade revenue from a fee, designated for specific use, into a tax, available for general spending. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wieckowski said on the Senate floor he was worried about how cap-and-trade money might be “broadened to include other uses” after 2021. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>“I would caution that every worthy cause should not be financed through this fund,” he said. “We have been instructed by the scientific community that our window is closing, and we may even be at the point of no return on permanent, irreversible climate consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Newsom administration doesn’t see it that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, said it’s time for California to stop thinking about climate issues in a “segregated budget box” with separate policies for reducing emissions and addressing climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the administration is looking to integrate climate considerations into housing, fire management and water policy. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor’s focus on putting new funds into the infill infrastructure fund is a climate policy, because it’s about building housing in denser areas so people drive less,” she said. “That’s climate policy. How do we think about fire management as a climate policy? How do we think about water movement as a climate policy?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Clean Drinking Water\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across California, about a million people lack access to safe drinking water, even though the state has spent $3 billion since 2010 to solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, state lawmakers have fought over plans to address the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on water bills that would fund programs to rebuild broken drinking water infrastructure in some of the state’s poorest communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Legislature didn’t approve the plan, with some lawmakers worried that their constituents wouldn’t accept a new monthly tax given the state’s huge budget surplus. (The political peril entailed in voting for new taxes was driven home last June, when Orange County voters \u003ca href=\"https://voiceofoc.org/2018/06/josh-newman-is-recalled-ending-democrats-supermajority-in-state-senate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recalled\u003c/a> Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman after his vote to increase the gas tax.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So instead of the new water tax, lawmakers crafted a compromise that includes $100 million from cap-and-trade revenue and $33.4 million from the general fund. A trailer bill also seeks to use 5% of the cap-and-trade proceeds, up to $130 million annually, for clean water projects until 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Cullenward, an energy economist and a member of the cap-and-trade oversight committee, said the new plan marks a “real shift,” and not for the good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are moving towards something that very clearly is not about climate,” he said. “It’s about water quality and it’s about water access. It’s not really about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration originally argued the expenditure on the water plan is in compliance with the cap-and-trade directive because trucks will no longer have to deliver bottled water to people whose tap water is undrinkable, and so will reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward, who in addition to being on the cap-and-trade oversight committee is the policy director for the climate group \u003ca href=\"http://www.nearzero.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Near Zero\u003c/a>, said that’s a stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is getting much closer to the line, if it’s not over the line,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gordon, who also advises Newsom on climate issues, said the water plan would also replace the existing water delivery system with one that’s more energy efficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A massive amount of our energy goes into moving water, and making that more efficient would have a huge impact,” she said. “If you’re not resilient, then your systems fall apart. We have a climate impact that’s creating this situation and we need to solve this situation in a way that reduces emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water expenditure is just the latest appropriation to rile critics of the way cap-and-trade money is spent. Former Gov. Jerry Brown drew \u003ca href=\"https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/01/10/critics-uniting-against-california-high-speed-rail-funding-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">criticism\u003c/a> when he spent more than $1 billion from the fund on the state’s beleaguered high-speed rail project. More questionable was Brown’s 2013 \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059992624\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">diver\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059992624\">sion\u003c/a> of $500 million cap-and-trade dollars to help balance the state’s budget, although the money was eventually repaid. Last week the Los Angeles Times published an \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-cap-and-trade-safe-drinking-water-budget-20190614-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">editorial\u003c/a> saying that lawmakers are turning cap-and-trade revenue into a “slush fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enviro Groups Split\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate over using cap-and-trade funds on clean drinking water has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">split\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">the\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">environmental\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">community\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s largest environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, argue that the program should primarily be used to stave off the worst impacts of climate change by curbing emissions. Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Club California, told \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CALmatters\u003c/a> that the money for the water project should have been taken out of the general fund instead of cap-and-trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But environmental justice groups have fought cap and trade for years, arguing that it allows industry to pay to pollute in communities already burdened with pollution. These groups have also advocated that any funds from the program be used to meet the needs of communities most impacted by dirty air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That includes places like Fresno and the Central Valley, where they are struggling not only with toxic drinking water, but also some of the worst air quality in the state,” said Marie Choi, spokesperson for Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “For us, solutions aren’t about carbon counting, it’s about making our neighborhoods and people healthy and whole again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last three years, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an advocacy group for lower-income communities, pushed state lawmakers to approve a water tax, with the money going to pay for clean water programs in the San Joaquin and Coachella valleys, among other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These places are most impacted by the hot, dry conditions exacerbated by climate change, the group argues, and in light of the tax plan’s failure, the group wants to see the current proposal to use cap-and-trade money enacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought in particular has impacted drinking water quantity and quality,” said Phoebe Seaton, the group’s co-director. “We have seen since the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s inception the link between drinking water and climate, from an adaptation side and from a climate mitigation side,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">presented\u003c/a> his May budget revision, he defended his proposed tax on water bills, saying it would be a “proud day, when the Legislature and the governor can align on providing a basic fundamental right. That’s clean and drinkable water at an affordable price for the most vulnerable Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even then, he signaled an openness to alternatives. “I’m not consumed by process, but by outcome,” he said in answer to a reporter’s question. “But we will get to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Everyone agrees that California's dirty drinking water is a crisis. Not everyone agrees on how to pay to clean it up. ",
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"title": "Newsom Catches Heat for Using Climate Funds on Drinking Water Plan | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California lawmakers are poised to fund the cleanup of dirty drinking water in the state’s poorest communities — a problem most everyone agrees needs to be addressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I would caution that every worthy cause should not be financed through this fund.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Not everyone, however, agrees on where the money should come from to pay for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue? The Legislature wants to use revenue from California’s cap-and-trade climate change program, which was created to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by making companies pay for the right to emit them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money the program generates is required by law to go toward programs that reduce the planet-warming gases. While that mandate hasn’t stopped lawmakers in the past from allocating funds to projects that are, arguably, only marginally related to greenhouse gas reduction, it could leave the funding for water cleanup open to a legal challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State attorneys made that clear to the Legislature last year in a legal opinion asserting cap-and trade money can, for the time being, only be spent “for purposes that reasonably relate to the reduction of [greenhouse gas] emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislative Counsel prepared the opinion for state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, the chair of the subcommittee that oversees the cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He voiced his frustration with the state’s plan to spend the funds on water cleanup on the Senate floor last week, saying it “further weakens the integrity of our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“AB 32 requires the Governor and the Legislature to only use revenues from the auctions of Cap and Trade for programs that reduce carbon emissions into our atmosphere,” Wieckowski said. AB 32 is California’s landmark climate change law, which sets targets for reductions in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, this does not bode well for future GGRF budgets,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While AB 32 was set to expire in 2020, the \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Legislature\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> passed an \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11593491/brown-schwarzenegger-celebrate-extension-of-cap-and-trade\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">extension\u003c/span>\u003c/a> through 2030 \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That bill, AB 398, also removes the limits on how cap-and-trade money is spent \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">as of Jan. 1, 2021, according to the Legislative Counsel’s opinion. The analysis attributes the freeing of those funds to the way AB 398 was written and because of its passage by a supermajority, both of which transformed cap-and-trade revenue from a fee, designated for specific use, into a tax, available for general spending. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wieckowski said on the Senate floor he was worried about how cap-and-trade money might be “broadened to include other uses” after 2021. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>“I would caution that every worthy cause should not be financed through this fund,” he said. “We have been instructed by the scientific community that our window is closing, and we may even be at the point of no return on permanent, irreversible climate consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Newsom administration doesn’t see it that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, said it’s time for California to stop thinking about climate issues in a “segregated budget box” with separate policies for reducing emissions and addressing climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the administration is looking to integrate climate considerations into housing, fire management and water policy. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor’s focus on putting new funds into the infill infrastructure fund is a climate policy, because it’s about building housing in denser areas so people drive less,” she said. “That’s climate policy. How do we think about fire management as a climate policy? How do we think about water movement as a climate policy?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Clean Drinking Water\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across California, about a million people lack access to safe drinking water, even though the state has spent $3 billion since 2010 to solve the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, state lawmakers have fought over plans to address the issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on water bills that would fund programs to rebuild broken drinking water infrastructure in some of the state’s poorest communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Legislature didn’t approve the plan, with some lawmakers worried that their constituents wouldn’t accept a new monthly tax given the state’s huge budget surplus. (The political peril entailed in voting for new taxes was driven home last June, when Orange County voters \u003ca href=\"https://voiceofoc.org/2018/06/josh-newman-is-recalled-ending-democrats-supermajority-in-state-senate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recalled\u003c/a> Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman after his vote to increase the gas tax.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So instead of the new water tax, lawmakers crafted a compromise that includes $100 million from cap-and-trade revenue and $33.4 million from the general fund. A trailer bill also seeks to use 5% of the cap-and-trade proceeds, up to $130 million annually, for clean water projects until 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danny Cullenward, an energy economist and a member of the cap-and-trade oversight committee, said the new plan marks a “real shift,” and not for the good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are moving towards something that very clearly is not about climate,” he said. “It’s about water quality and it’s about water access. It’s not really about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration originally argued the expenditure on the water plan is in compliance with the cap-and-trade directive because trucks will no longer have to deliver bottled water to people whose tap water is undrinkable, and so will reduce emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cullenward, who in addition to being on the cap-and-trade oversight committee is the policy director for the climate group \u003ca href=\"http://www.nearzero.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Near Zero\u003c/a>, said that’s a stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is getting much closer to the line, if it’s not over the line,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gordon, who also advises Newsom on climate issues, said the water plan would also replace the existing water delivery system with one that’s more energy efficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A massive amount of our energy goes into moving water, and making that more efficient would have a huge impact,” she said. “If you’re not resilient, then your systems fall apart. We have a climate impact that’s creating this situation and we need to solve this situation in a way that reduces emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water expenditure is just the latest appropriation to rile critics of the way cap-and-trade money is spent. Former Gov. Jerry Brown drew \u003ca href=\"https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/01/10/critics-uniting-against-california-high-speed-rail-funding-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">criticism\u003c/a> when he spent more than $1 billion from the fund on the state’s beleaguered high-speed rail project. More questionable was Brown’s 2013 \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059992624\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">diver\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059992624\">sion\u003c/a> of $500 million cap-and-trade dollars to help balance the state’s budget, although the money was eventually repaid. Last week the Los Angeles Times published an \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-cap-and-trade-safe-drinking-water-budget-20190614-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">editorial\u003c/a> saying that lawmakers are turning cap-and-trade revenue into a “slush fund.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enviro Groups Split\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate over using cap-and-trade funds on clean drinking water has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">split\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">the\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">environmental\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">community\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s largest environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, argue that the program should primarily be used to stave off the worst impacts of climate change by curbing emissions. Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Club California, told \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CALmatters\u003c/a> that the money for the water project should have been taken out of the general fund instead of cap-and-trade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But environmental justice groups have fought cap and trade for years, arguing that it allows industry to pay to pollute in communities already burdened with pollution. These groups have also advocated that any funds from the program be used to meet the needs of communities most impacted by dirty air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That includes places like Fresno and the Central Valley, where they are struggling not only with toxic drinking water, but also some of the worst air quality in the state,” said Marie Choi, spokesperson for Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “For us, solutions aren’t about carbon counting, it’s about making our neighborhoods and people healthy and whole again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last three years, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an advocacy group for lower-income communities, pushed state lawmakers to approve a water tax, with the money going to pay for clean water programs in the San Joaquin and Coachella valleys, among other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These places are most impacted by the hot, dry conditions exacerbated by climate change, the group argues, and in light of the tax plan’s failure, the group wants to see the current proposal to use cap-and-trade money enacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought in particular has impacted drinking water quantity and quality,” said Phoebe Seaton, the group’s co-director. “We have seen since the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s inception the link between drinking water and climate, from an adaptation side and from a climate mitigation side,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1941438/millions-for-climate-environmental-priorities-in-newsoms-may-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">presented\u003c/a> his May budget revision, he defended his proposed tax on water bills, saying it would be a “proud day, when the Legislature and the governor can align on providing a basic fundamental right. That’s clean and drinkable water at an affordable price for the most vulnerable Californians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "increasingly-unavailable-and-unaffordable-home-insurance-threatened-amid-wildfire-crisis",
"title": "'Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable': Home Insurance Threatened Amid Wildfire Crisis",
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"headTitle": "‘Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable’: Home Insurance Threatened Amid Wildfire Crisis | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>David Bevacqua never had trouble insuring a home in California, but he was in for a rude surprise after recently buying a house in Bass Lake, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"small\" citation=\"California homeowner David Bevacqua\"]‘I’m paying twice as much as I expected, and now I have to deal with three separate policies on this one house.’[/pullquote] “None of the insurance companies would quote me,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bevacqua is not alone. As more and more destructive wildfires have whipped through the state in recent years, Californians living in areas considered a high wildfire risk are seeing their insurance rates creep up \u003cem>—\u003c/em> or in cases like Bevacqua’s, having insurers simply pull out of some communities altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2015 and 2016 alone, according to the state insurance commissioner’s office, there was a 15 percent increase in “insurer initiated non-renewals” in fire-prone areas. That means homeowners wanted to keep their insurance but the companies refused to renew their policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Bevacqua couldn’t get a policy on the “admitted” market, where rates are regulated by the state, he ended up going with an alternative known as the FAIR Plan. Created in the 1960s, it’s a very limited, expensive option-of-last resort for consumers who cannot find insurance elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m paying twice as much as I expected, and now I have to deal with three separate policies on this one house,” he said, referring to yet another policy he bought covering earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ah, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stories like Bevacqua’s have caught the attention of policymakers in Sacramento, who have made a number of tweaks to laws governing personal property insurance in recent years, including legislation prohibiting insurers from canceling policies after a home burns down, and laws aimed at making sure people understand their policies and are not underinsured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"small\" citation=\"Mark Sektnan, American Property Casualty Insurance Association\"]‘Wildfire is the one catastrophe where you may take all the correct actions, but if none of your neighbors do, the effectiveness of your own mitigations are not as good.’[/pullquote]But more sweeping insurance reforms have died under pressure from the insurance industry, and as of yet, no one seems to be ready to completely overhaul the state’s insurance market. According to the industry, 98 percent of Californians with home insurance are still covered by the traditional, regulated market, with the other 2% using the FAIR Plan and other policies not regulated by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason I hesitate about rethinking the entire insurance industry is that in California — despite these fires, despite the challenges — we have a robust market,” said California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “We still feel comfortable that our insurance market is strong and healthy enough to be able to pay out claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Sektnan, of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall we still see the market as very competitive, very viable,” he said. “But we do understand that homeowners in certain areas may be facing challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California actually has some of the most consumer-friendly insurance laws in the nation, thanks to a 30-year-old ballot measure that set the rules still in effect today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='science_1943266,science_1943058'] [/aside]Those rules require insurance companies participating in the regulated market to base insurance rates on a customer’s individual level of risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while the state insurance commissioner must approve the amount insurers can charge, he can’t force them to offer insurance if they think the risk is too high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those restrictions make sense, Lara said, to ensure that the insurance market stays financially healthy. So while he is concerned about the cost and availability of insurance in wildfire-prone areas, he said that basing prices on the level of risk that a home poses makes sense, even if it is driving up costs for those who are the most vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery, set up by the state Legislature and governor to study wildfire costs, agreed with Lara, warning that if California “artificially masks” expensive insurance in high-risk regions by subsidizing rates, it will incentivize risky behavior and make insurance more expensive for people in other parts of the state where wildfires are not a threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the commission’s recent report said that while “the home insurance market is not in crisis yet,” the state is “marching toward a future where home insurance will be increasingly unavailable and/or unaffordable” for Californians in high-risk fire areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission focused on areas known as the wildland urban interface, or WUI, which refers to regions where homes are built near forests or other wildlands threatened by wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In evaluating whether to subsidize homeowners insurance in the WUI, policymakers need to consider whether the state wants to encourage more people to move into the WUI,” the report states. “We believe doing so will lead to more deaths and injuries of both residents and first responders, destruction of property, loss of homes, more damages to be paid by utilities … consequent costs to shareholders and utility ratepayers, and more costs for local, state and federal governments and taxpayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Discounts for Clearing Brush?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer advocate Amy Bach, executive director of the insurance consumer group United Policyholders, agrees that the current risk-based system should not be changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because at its core, she says, insurance is “basically just a very kind of informed gambling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you buy insurance, you’re basically transferring your risk onto the insurance company,” she said. “The insurance company looks at you and says, ‘OK what is this person’s risk profile? How old are they? How responsible are they? What’s their history? … ‘ They’re just deciding, what is this risk worth that I’m taking on, and what am I going to charge this person?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara, the insurance commissioner, said he is trying to figure out how to “incentivize more of the admitted market insurers to stay in” high-risk areas to ensure lower prices and consumer protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that’s a lot to ask in some of these communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he noted that California is the largest market in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a massive market for the insurance companies. I don’t think it behooves them to leave the market. But also we have to figure out how we learn to coexist and how do we ensure that the market is robust so that they can pay out the claims and we can continue with our daily lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to do that could be requiring insurance companies to offer lower prices to individuals and communities that invest in materials and initiatives that make them less vulnerable to fire. That could include \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1943058/whos-checking-homes-for-flammable-brush-in-some-high-risk-areas-maybe-no-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clearing the area\u003c/a> around a home of dangerous brush that can ignite during a wildfire, or building homes with more fire-resistant materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said his office is pushing insurance companies to consider those sorts of discounts, similar to the discounts they give good drivers, for example. He said the industry is open to the concept.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is indeed exploring the idea, says Mark Sektnan, of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. But to make it work, companies would need entire communities to participate in reducing a wildfire threat, because fires come with a uniquely unfortunate risk compared to other natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you mitigate your house for a hurricane or earthquake — whatever you do for your house directly benefits you, whatever your neighbors don’t do, doesn’t negatively impact you,” Sektnan said. “Wildfire is the one catastrophe where you may take all the correct actions, but if none of your neighbors do, the effectiveness of your own mitigations are not as good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sektnan said this kind of communitywide approach is already being taken in at least one market, where the county of Boulder in Colorado is partnering with insurers to bring down everyone’s rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara agreed that collective action is key, saying the state now needs to think about how to ensure communities work together to harden themselves against wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wants to simplify insurance contracts so that consumers have a better idea of their coverage ahead of a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we create smarter contracts so that people can clearly understand what they’re covered [for], what they’re paying?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Climate Questions Loom\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, personal property insurance isn’t the only insurance question looming over California, as climate change is not only making wildfires more destructive, but it’s raising broader questions about the state’s resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, state firefighting costs have exploded in recent years, so Lara is pushing legislation that would let the state take out insurance to cover those cost overruns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders are also debating the possibility of a multibillion dollar wildfire insurance fund that would help protect the state’s utilities against financial ruin when they’re found liable for fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Lara is also exploring more out-of-the-box ideas, such as taking out insurance policies on natural resource like wetlands or forests that are threatened by climate change but whose existence actually helps mitigate its effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara, a former state lawmaker, authored legislation in 2018 to create a working group to address the broader question of climate change and insurance; that group will start meeting soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where are we most vulnerable as a state? Where are we most at risk? ” he said. “We know, for example in the Bay Area, the wetlands around the bay are critical, and we have to make sure that they’re strong and they’re thriving so that we could defend against potential flooding or sea level rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other parts of the world, this is already happening. For example, a coral reef off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, was recently insured in a collaboration between the government and nongovernmental organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world’s already starting to figure out how do we bring in the insurance industry in our united front against climate change,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California must do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Despite an increase in insurance companies dropping coverage in fire-prone areas, nobody's ready to blow up the entire system yet. But some reforms may be on the way.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>David Bevacqua never had trouble insuring a home in California, but he was in for a rude surprise after recently buying a house in Bass Lake, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I’m paying twice as much as I expected, and now I have to deal with three separate policies on this one house.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “None of the insurance companies would quote me,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bevacqua is not alone. As more and more destructive wildfires have whipped through the state in recent years, Californians living in areas considered a high wildfire risk are seeing their insurance rates creep up \u003cem>—\u003c/em> or in cases like Bevacqua’s, having insurers simply pull out of some communities altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2015 and 2016 alone, according to the state insurance commissioner’s office, there was a 15 percent increase in “insurer initiated non-renewals” in fire-prone areas. That means homeowners wanted to keep their insurance but the companies refused to renew their policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Bevacqua couldn’t get a policy on the “admitted” market, where rates are regulated by the state, he ended up going with an alternative known as the FAIR Plan. Created in the 1960s, it’s a very limited, expensive option-of-last resort for consumers who cannot find insurance elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m paying twice as much as I expected, and now I have to deal with three separate policies on this one house,” he said, referring to yet another policy he bought covering earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ah, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stories like Bevacqua’s have caught the attention of policymakers in Sacramento, who have made a number of tweaks to laws governing personal property insurance in recent years, including legislation prohibiting insurers from canceling policies after a home burns down, and laws aimed at making sure people understand their policies and are not underinsured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But more sweeping insurance reforms have died under pressure from the insurance industry, and as of yet, no one seems to be ready to completely overhaul the state’s insurance market. According to the industry, 98 percent of Californians with home insurance are still covered by the traditional, regulated market, with the other 2% using the FAIR Plan and other policies not regulated by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason I hesitate about rethinking the entire insurance industry is that in California — despite these fires, despite the challenges — we have a robust market,” said California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “We still feel comfortable that our insurance market is strong and healthy enough to be able to pay out claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Sektnan, of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, agrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall we still see the market as very competitive, very viable,” he said. “But we do understand that homeowners in certain areas may be facing challenges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>‘Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable’\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California actually has some of the most consumer-friendly insurance laws in the nation, thanks to a 30-year-old ballot measure that set the rules still in effect today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Those rules require insurance companies participating in the regulated market to base insurance rates on a customer’s individual level of risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while the state insurance commissioner must approve the amount insurers can charge, he can’t force them to offer insurance if they think the risk is too high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those restrictions make sense, Lara said, to ensure that the insurance market stays financially healthy. So while he is concerned about the cost and availability of insurance in wildfire-prone areas, he said that basing prices on the level of risk that a home poses makes sense, even if it is driving up costs for those who are the most vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery, set up by the state Legislature and governor to study wildfire costs, agreed with Lara, warning that if California “artificially masks” expensive insurance in high-risk regions by subsidizing rates, it will incentivize risky behavior and make insurance more expensive for people in other parts of the state where wildfires are not a threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the commission’s recent report said that while “the home insurance market is not in crisis yet,” the state is “marching toward a future where home insurance will be increasingly unavailable and/or unaffordable” for Californians in high-risk fire areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission focused on areas known as the wildland urban interface, or WUI, which refers to regions where homes are built near forests or other wildlands threatened by wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In evaluating whether to subsidize homeowners insurance in the WUI, policymakers need to consider whether the state wants to encourage more people to move into the WUI,” the report states. “We believe doing so will lead to more deaths and injuries of both residents and first responders, destruction of property, loss of homes, more damages to be paid by utilities … consequent costs to shareholders and utility ratepayers, and more costs for local, state and federal governments and taxpayers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Discounts for Clearing Brush?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consumer advocate Amy Bach, executive director of the insurance consumer group United Policyholders, agrees that the current risk-based system should not be changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because at its core, she says, insurance is “basically just a very kind of informed gambling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you buy insurance, you’re basically transferring your risk onto the insurance company,” she said. “The insurance company looks at you and says, ‘OK what is this person’s risk profile? How old are they? How responsible are they? What’s their history? … ‘ They’re just deciding, what is this risk worth that I’m taking on, and what am I going to charge this person?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara, the insurance commissioner, said he is trying to figure out how to “incentivize more of the admitted market insurers to stay in” high-risk areas to ensure lower prices and consumer protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know that’s a lot to ask in some of these communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he noted that California is the largest market in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a massive market for the insurance companies. I don’t think it behooves them to leave the market. But also we have to figure out how we learn to coexist and how do we ensure that the market is robust so that they can pay out the claims and we can continue with our daily lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to do that could be requiring insurance companies to offer lower prices to individuals and communities that invest in materials and initiatives that make them less vulnerable to fire. That could include \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1943058/whos-checking-homes-for-flammable-brush-in-some-high-risk-areas-maybe-no-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clearing the area\u003c/a> around a home of dangerous brush that can ignite during a wildfire, or building homes with more fire-resistant materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara said his office is pushing insurance companies to consider those sorts of discounts, similar to the discounts they give good drivers, for example. He said the industry is open to the concept.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry is indeed exploring the idea, says Mark Sektnan, of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. But to make it work, companies would need entire communities to participate in reducing a wildfire threat, because fires come with a uniquely unfortunate risk compared to other natural disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you mitigate your house for a hurricane or earthquake — whatever you do for your house directly benefits you, whatever your neighbors don’t do, doesn’t negatively impact you,” Sektnan said. “Wildfire is the one catastrophe where you may take all the correct actions, but if none of your neighbors do, the effectiveness of your own mitigations are not as good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sektnan said this kind of communitywide approach is already being taken in at least one market, where the county of Boulder in Colorado is partnering with insurers to bring down everyone’s rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara agreed that collective action is key, saying the state now needs to think about how to ensure communities work together to harden themselves against wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wants to simplify insurance contracts so that consumers have a better idea of their coverage ahead of a disaster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we create smarter contracts so that people can clearly understand what they’re covered [for], what they’re paying?” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Climate Questions Loom\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, personal property insurance isn’t the only insurance question looming over California, as climate change is not only making wildfires more destructive, but it’s raising broader questions about the state’s resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For one, state firefighting costs have exploded in recent years, so Lara is pushing legislation that would let the state take out insurance to cover those cost overruns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State leaders are also debating the possibility of a multibillion dollar wildfire insurance fund that would help protect the state’s utilities against financial ruin when they’re found liable for fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Lara is also exploring more out-of-the-box ideas, such as taking out insurance policies on natural resource like wetlands or forests that are threatened by climate change but whose existence actually helps mitigate its effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lara, a former state lawmaker, authored legislation in 2018 to create a working group to address the broader question of climate change and insurance; that group will start meeting soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where are we most vulnerable as a state? Where are we most at risk? ” he said. “We know, for example in the Bay Area, the wetlands around the bay are critical, and we have to make sure that they’re strong and they’re thriving so that we could defend against potential flooding or sea level rise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other parts of the world, this is already happening. For example, a coral reef off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, was recently insured in a collaboration between the government and nongovernmental organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The world’s already starting to figure out how do we bring in the insurance industry in our united front against climate change,” Lara said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California must do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oregon Wants a Better Cap-and-Trade System Than California's",
"headTitle": "Oregon Wants a Better Cap-and-Trade System Than California’s | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Oregon is on track to become the second U.S. state to pass an economywide cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But while emulating the first such program (in California), Oregon also hopes to avoid repeating its mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s plan, like California’s, would set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that would come down over time. It would also create a market for companies to buy and trade a limited number of pollution permits. Ultimately, it aims to reduce emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/HB2020\">the bill\u003c/a> to create the program is so contentious, it is opposed by both industry and some environmental justice advocates, who have broken ranks with \u003ca href=\"https://www.reneworegon.org/letter_of_support?splash=1\">environmental supporters\u003c/a> to speak out against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While industry groups argue that cap-and-trade will \u003ca href=\"https://partnershipfororegon.com/facts/\">drive up energy costs\u003c/a> and put their businesses at risk, opponents with environmental justice groups say too many industry-backed \u003ca href=\"http://www.opalpdx.org/2019/04/faq-why-are-frontline-communities-opposing-carbon-trading/\">loopholes make cap-and-trade ineffective\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Balancing Risks and Benefits\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon lawmakers have spent years debating how to design a cap-and-trade system that balances the risks of hurting the economy with the benefits of reducing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Science has told us we have a very short window to really start to transition the way we have generated energy writ large,” says Oregon state Rep. Karin Power, a co-author of the bill. “We literally can’t move fast enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Power says higher prices for fossil fuels under cap-and-trade will help steer the economy toward cleaner energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her bill would require the state’s largest polluters to buy permits to cover their greenhouse gas emissions. It would invest the money earned from those permits into energy conservation and renewable energy, like solar and wind, to spur more emission reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program would cover about 80% of the state’s reported greenhouse gas emissions, including those coming from gasoline and diesel, natural gas and electric power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To reduce economic harm, the bill offers free pollution permits, or allowances, to industries that run a higher risk of going out of business or leaving the state because of the added costs of a cap-and-trade system. Lawmakers have also created a rebate system to offset natural gas price hikes and added another bill that directs revenue to low-income households to help with higher fuel prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been looking for ways to smooth out the program for people on fixed incomes, or low-income people in Oregon, while still acknowledging that we need to do our part to reduce emissions,” Power says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Learning From California \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon has the benefit of learning from California’s cap-and-trade program. But that’s where things get complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Severin Borenstein, an energy market expert at the University of California, Berkeley, says before the 2008 recession, California set its emissions cap too high, thinking the economy would grow faster than it did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has created a problem where there are more than enough pollution permits to go around, so it’s cheap and easy for companies to stay under the cap without actually reducing their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely think Oregon should be doing something different than California has done,” Borenstein says. “Right now, if you ask what is the current cap-and-trade market doing to reduce carbon emissions, I think the answer is not very much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmaker Power says there’s debate over whether California set its cap too high, though she acknowledges general agreement that carbon prices have been too low to spur emission reductions. She is hoping Oregon can avoid that problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borenstein says other cap-and-trade programs — in Europe and in Eastern U.S. states involved in the program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — have also set emissions caps high enough that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/02/climate/pricing-carbon-emissions.html\">they haven’t had much impact on emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is wherever you set the cap, it’s very, very hard to predict what the business-as-usual emissions of your economy are going to be five or 10 years from now,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his key recommendations is to set minimum and maximum prices for pollution permits to prevent the program from having too little — or too much — impact on energy prices and emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Power says Oregon’s plan does that, and also uses past years of greenhouse gas reporting to develop “a more realistic and stable perspective on what emissions are and where they should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmental Justice Groups Splinter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khan Pham with the Oregon environmental justice group OPAL is part of a coalition of groups around the world that are \u003ca href=\"http://www.opalpdx.org/2019/04/faq-why-are-frontline-communities-opposing-carbon-trading/\">speaking out against Oregon’s bill\u003c/a> and carbon pricing schemes more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham says emissions from some oil refineries have increased under California’s program, because cap-and-trade allows that as long as a company pays for extra pollution permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really pay-to-pollute, and we need to stop polluters from polluting,” Pham says. “It’s had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927220/california-cap-and-trade-is-working-for-other-states\">One study found\u003c/a> 52% of California’s regulated companies increased their annual greenhouse gas emissions and that many of them are located near \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/515379885/environmental-groups-say-californias-climate-program-has-not-helped-them\">disadvantaged\u003c/a> communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham says other kinds of regulations, such as requirements for low-carbon transportation fuel and more renewable sources of electricity, are working better than cap-and-trade to reduce emissions in California. Oregon also has those additional requirements, and Pham says she would like to see more direct regulations like those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also points to \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/07/new-paper-states-cap-and-trade-program-is-falling-short-of-goals/\">new research\u003c/a> that finds California may have counted up to 80 million tons of carbon dioxide reductions through its forest carbon offset program that didn’t actually happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the cap-and-trade programs in both Oregon and California, companies can buy carbon offsets to cover up to 8% of their emissions. The offsets can come from projects that manage forestland to store more carbon by not cutting down trees. But those carbon savings are difficult to validate and can be undermined by more logging elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think cap-and-trade encourages accounting schemes that can make it seem like there’s emissions reductions,” Pham says. “Our concern is that this prevents us from finding the real solutions, because it gives people the impression that we’re actually doing something to address climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Confident About Better Results\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilpa Joshi with Renew Oregon says OPAL is “an anomaly and an outlier” in Oregon and that \u003ca href=\"https://www.reneworegon.org/letter_of_support?splash=1\">dozens of other environmental groups\u003c/a> — including ones that represent farmworkers, Native American tribes, low-income Latino communities, and vulnerable populations — adamantly support Oregon’s cap-and-trade plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those groups have worked to ensure the bill will reduce pollution and invest in the communities most impacted by climate change, she says, and they agree that cap-and-trade — while not the only policy needed to address climate change — is the best way to get both emission reductions and the revenue to fund a cleaner economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get off fossil fuels as fast as possible,” Joshi says. “It makes sense to go to the top of the food chain and regulate those polluters and use the funds to invest in clean energy across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says state regulators plan to have tighter controls to prevent any miscalculation of carbon offsets and emission reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really working on creating a unique approach to Oregon that will prevent gaming of the system,” Brown says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s bill is 10 times longer and far more detailed than what California passed in 2006, and it sets some pollution permits aside as a cushion, so the state can shift course if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown says it could be the national model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oregon is a small state,” she says. “And if we can do it, that means states like Minnesota and Connecticut and Kansas can do this, and do this in a way that will ensure their economies thrive, and make sure we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, if Oregon’s cap-and-trade plan works better than California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 Oregon Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org\">Oregon Public Broadcasting\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Contentious+Oregon+Climate+Plan+Takes+Lessons+From+California%27s+Mistakes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oregon is on track to become the second U.S. state to pass an economywide cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But while emulating the first such program (in California), Oregon also hopes to avoid repeating its mistakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s plan, like California’s, would set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that would come down over time. It would also create a market for companies to buy and trade a limited number of pollution permits. Ultimately, it aims to reduce emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/HB2020\">the bill\u003c/a> to create the program is so contentious, it is opposed by both industry and some environmental justice advocates, who have broken ranks with \u003ca href=\"https://www.reneworegon.org/letter_of_support?splash=1\">environmental supporters\u003c/a> to speak out against it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While industry groups argue that cap-and-trade will \u003ca href=\"https://partnershipfororegon.com/facts/\">drive up energy costs\u003c/a> and put their businesses at risk, opponents with environmental justice groups say too many industry-backed \u003ca href=\"http://www.opalpdx.org/2019/04/faq-why-are-frontline-communities-opposing-carbon-trading/\">loopholes make cap-and-trade ineffective\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Balancing Risks and Benefits\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon lawmakers have spent years debating how to design a cap-and-trade system that balances the risks of hurting the economy with the benefits of reducing emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Science has told us we have a very short window to really start to transition the way we have generated energy writ large,” says Oregon state Rep. Karin Power, a co-author of the bill. “We literally can’t move fast enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Power says higher prices for fossil fuels under cap-and-trade will help steer the economy toward cleaner energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her bill would require the state’s largest polluters to buy permits to cover their greenhouse gas emissions. It would invest the money earned from those permits into energy conservation and renewable energy, like solar and wind, to spur more emission reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program would cover about 80% of the state’s reported greenhouse gas emissions, including those coming from gasoline and diesel, natural gas and electric power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To reduce economic harm, the bill offers free pollution permits, or allowances, to industries that run a higher risk of going out of business or leaving the state because of the added costs of a cap-and-trade system. Lawmakers have also created a rebate system to offset natural gas price hikes and added another bill that directs revenue to low-income households to help with higher fuel prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been looking for ways to smooth out the program for people on fixed incomes, or low-income people in Oregon, while still acknowledging that we need to do our part to reduce emissions,” Power says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Learning From California \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon has the benefit of learning from California’s cap-and-trade program. But that’s where things get complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Severin Borenstein, an energy market expert at the University of California, Berkeley, says before the 2008 recession, California set its emissions cap too high, thinking the economy would grow faster than it did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That has created a problem where there are more than enough pollution permits to go around, so it’s cheap and easy for companies to stay under the cap without actually reducing their emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely think Oregon should be doing something different than California has done,” Borenstein says. “Right now, if you ask what is the current cap-and-trade market doing to reduce carbon emissions, I think the answer is not very much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmaker Power says there’s debate over whether California set its cap too high, though she acknowledges general agreement that carbon prices have been too low to spur emission reductions. She is hoping Oregon can avoid that problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Borenstein says other cap-and-trade programs — in Europe and in Eastern U.S. states involved in the program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — have also set emissions caps high enough that \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/02/climate/pricing-carbon-emissions.html\">they haven’t had much impact on emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is wherever you set the cap, it’s very, very hard to predict what the business-as-usual emissions of your economy are going to be five or 10 years from now,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of his key recommendations is to set minimum and maximum prices for pollution permits to prevent the program from having too little — or too much — impact on energy prices and emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Power says Oregon’s plan does that, and also uses past years of greenhouse gas reporting to develop “a more realistic and stable perspective on what emissions are and where they should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Environmental Justice Groups Splinter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khan Pham with the Oregon environmental justice group OPAL is part of a coalition of groups around the world that are \u003ca href=\"http://www.opalpdx.org/2019/04/faq-why-are-frontline-communities-opposing-carbon-trading/\">speaking out against Oregon’s bill\u003c/a> and carbon pricing schemes more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham says emissions from some oil refineries have increased under California’s program, because cap-and-trade allows that as long as a company pays for extra pollution permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really pay-to-pollute, and we need to stop polluters from polluting,” Pham says. “It’s had a disproportionate impact on low-income communities and communities of color.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1927220/california-cap-and-trade-is-working-for-other-states\">One study found\u003c/a> 52% of California’s regulated companies increased their annual greenhouse gas emissions and that many of them are located near \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/515379885/environmental-groups-say-californias-climate-program-has-not-helped-them\">disadvantaged\u003c/a> communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pham says other kinds of regulations, such as requirements for low-carbon transportation fuel and more renewable sources of electricity, are working better than cap-and-trade to reduce emissions in California. Oregon also has those additional requirements, and Pham says she would like to see more direct regulations like those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also points to \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/05/07/new-paper-states-cap-and-trade-program-is-falling-short-of-goals/\">new research\u003c/a> that finds California may have counted up to 80 million tons of carbon dioxide reductions through its forest carbon offset program that didn’t actually happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the cap-and-trade programs in both Oregon and California, companies can buy carbon offsets to cover up to 8% of their emissions. The offsets can come from projects that manage forestland to store more carbon by not cutting down trees. But those carbon savings are difficult to validate and can be undermined by more logging elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think cap-and-trade encourages accounting schemes that can make it seem like there’s emissions reductions,” Pham says. “Our concern is that this prevents us from finding the real solutions, because it gives people the impression that we’re actually doing something to address climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Confident About Better Results\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilpa Joshi with Renew Oregon says OPAL is “an anomaly and an outlier” in Oregon and that \u003ca href=\"https://www.reneworegon.org/letter_of_support?splash=1\">dozens of other environmental groups\u003c/a> — including ones that represent farmworkers, Native American tribes, low-income Latino communities, and vulnerable populations — adamantly support Oregon’s cap-and-trade plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those groups have worked to ensure the bill will reduce pollution and invest in the communities most impacted by climate change, she says, and they agree that cap-and-trade — while not the only policy needed to address climate change — is the best way to get both emission reductions and the revenue to fund a cleaner economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get off fossil fuels as fast as possible,” Joshi says. “It makes sense to go to the top of the food chain and regulate those polluters and use the funds to invest in clean energy across the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says state regulators plan to have tighter controls to prevent any miscalculation of carbon offsets and emission reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re really working on creating a unique approach to Oregon that will prevent gaming of the system,” Brown says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s bill is 10 times longer and far more detailed than what California passed in 2006, and it sets some pollution permits aside as a cushion, so the state can shift course if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown says it could be the national model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oregon is a small state,” she says. “And if we can do it, that means states like Minnesota and Connecticut and Kansas can do this, and do this in a way that will ensure their economies thrive, and make sure we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, if Oregon’s cap-and-trade plan works better than California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 Oregon Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.opb.org\">Oregon Public Broadcasting\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Contentious+Oregon+Climate+Plan+Takes+Lessons+From+California%27s+Mistakes&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Court of Appeals Considers Whether U.S. Climate Policy Violates Rights of Young People (Video Replay)",
"headTitle": "Court of Appeals Considers Whether U.S. Climate Policy Violates Rights of Young People (Video Replay) | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In a courtroom packed with environmental activists, federal judges wrestled Tuesday over whether climate change violates the rights of young people who have sued the U.S. government over the use of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A U.S. Justice Department lawyer said the young people wrongly want the courts to direct energy policy, instead of government officials. Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general, told three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the lawsuit is “a direct attack on the separation of powers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for the young people countered that government action that increases global warming puts “children in harm’s way” and urged the judges to let the lawsuit move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The government devalues the lives of these young children when making energy policy,” said Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit asks the courts to declare federal energy policies unconstitutional. The Obama and Trump administrations have tried to get it dismissed since it was filed in Oregon in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just really disappointing to see the lengths that they go to — to not only not let us get the remedy that we’re seeking, but not even let us have the chance to prove our facts or present our case at trial,” said Nathan Baring, a 19-year-old from Fairbanks, Alaska, who joined the lawsuit when he was 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the case drags on, sea ice that protects coastal Alaska communities from fierce storms is forming later in the year, leaving those villages vulnerable, he said. Earlier today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a bleak milestone. Carbon dioxide levels hit a record high in May, with average levels peaking at 414.7 parts per million, which surpassed the previous record of 411.2 ppm a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Watch Wednesday’s proceedings before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland\u003c/em>:\u003cbr>\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PGCSWm86OI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The young people argue that government officials have known for more than 50 years that carbon pollution from fossil fuels causes climate change and that policies promoting oil and gas deprive them of their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say the young people didn’t find any “historical basis for a fundamental right to a stable climate system or any other constitutional right related to the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit says the young are more vulnerable to serious effects from climate change in the future. The American Academy of Pediatrics, 14 other health organizations and nearly 80 scientists and physicians agreed in a brief filed with the appeals court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They pointed out that the World Health Organization estimates that 88% of the global health burden of climate change falls on children younger than 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit wants the U.S. District Court in Eugene, where the lawsuit was filed, to declare that the U.S. government is violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights by substantially causing or contributing to a dangerous concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the 9th Circuit judges decide the lawsuit can move forward, it would go before the federal court in Eugene. The appeals court judges heard arguments Tuesday but were not expected to rule right away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case has become a focal point for many youth activists, and the courtroom in Portland was packed. Baring said he and his co-plaintiffs have matured as the case has wound through the legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never anticipated how much I was going to grow up, or how much the group was going to grow up,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a courtroom packed with environmental activists, federal judges wrestled Tuesday over whether climate change violates the rights of young people who have sued the U.S. government over the use of fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A U.S. Justice Department lawyer said the young people wrongly want the courts to direct energy policy, instead of government officials. Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general, told three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the lawsuit is “a direct attack on the separation of powers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for the young people countered that government action that increases global warming puts “children in harm’s way” and urged the judges to let the lawsuit move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The government devalues the lives of these young children when making energy policy,” said Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit asks the courts to declare federal energy policies unconstitutional. The Obama and Trump administrations have tried to get it dismissed since it was filed in Oregon in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just really disappointing to see the lengths that they go to — to not only not let us get the remedy that we’re seeking, but not even let us have the chance to prove our facts or present our case at trial,” said Nathan Baring, a 19-year-old from Fairbanks, Alaska, who joined the lawsuit when he was 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the case drags on, sea ice that protects coastal Alaska communities from fierce storms is forming later in the year, leaving those villages vulnerable, he said. Earlier today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a bleak milestone. Carbon dioxide levels hit a record high in May, with average levels peaking at 414.7 parts per million, which surpassed the previous record of 411.2 ppm a year ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Watch Wednesday’s proceedings before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland\u003c/em>:\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/6PGCSWm86OI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/6PGCSWm86OI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The young people argue that government officials have known for more than 50 years that carbon pollution from fossil fuels causes climate change and that policies promoting oil and gas deprive them of their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say the young people didn’t find any “historical basis for a fundamental right to a stable climate system or any other constitutional right related to the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit says the young are more vulnerable to serious effects from climate change in the future. The American Academy of Pediatrics, 14 other health organizations and nearly 80 scientists and physicians agreed in a brief filed with the appeals court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They pointed out that the World Health Organization estimates that 88% of the global health burden of climate change falls on children younger than 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit wants the U.S. District Court in Eugene, where the lawsuit was filed, to declare that the U.S. government is violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights by substantially causing or contributing to a dangerous concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the 9th Circuit judges decide the lawsuit can move forward, it would go before the federal court in Eugene. The appeals court judges heard arguments Tuesday but were not expected to rule right away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case has become a focal point for many youth activists, and the courtroom in Portland was packed. Baring said he and his co-plaintiffs have matured as the case has wound through the legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never anticipated how much I was going to grow up, or how much the group was going to grow up,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Attacking Global Warming by \u003ci>Adding\u003c/i> CO2 to the Atmosphere? Stanford Researchers Have a Plan",
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"content": "\u003cp>Here’s a novel approach to reversing global warming: Let’s put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']Returning the atmosphere to a preindustrial level of methane by converting it to CO2 is the subject of a new research paper out of Stanford.[/pullquote]Researchers at Stanford University this week proposed a new process that they say could help slow the warming of the planet by converting methane gas floating around in the atmosphere into carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s true that CO2 is the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, methane gas is 84 times more potent in terms of global warming over the first 20 years it is released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process of converting one greenhouse gas into another is “counterintuitive,” says Rob Jackson, the lead author of the study and an earth scientist at Stanford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But molecule for molecule, CO2 traps less heat than methane. If the process is perfected, it could return the atmosphere to preindustrial concentrations of methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0299-x\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study\u003c/a> has major implications for the globe. Last year, methane emissions passed a grim milestone: Atmospheric concentrations reached two-and-a-half times their preindustrial levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing we need to do is to cut greenhouse gas emissions,” Jackson explains. “If pollution were a drop of ink, it’s a lot easier to block that drop before it hits the water than it is to remove it after it’s been mixed into the water. The atmosphere is the same way. We need to cut emissions, but they are rising for both carbon dioxide and methane. We need to explore other ways to remove greenhouse gases after they’re in the atmosphere. It’s not preferable, but it may be necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea could be part of a “solutions space, although it is not the solution by itself,” said Richard Alley, a geoscience professor at Penn State University who was not involved in the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many places around the U.S. already make money by capturing “waste” methane from sewage and garbage and then using it as natural gas, which can be burned to generate energy, Alley says. If there are sources of methane that are not concentrated enough to be used commercially but are leaking, then converting those to CO2 would help reduce warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big issue long-term is still CO2,” Alley cautioned in an email. “Methane is converted to CO2 in a decade or so in the atmosphere, so whenever we get serious about reducing methane, the concentrations will be much lower a decade after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After we raise CO2, on the other hand, it will remain elevated for centuries and longer, with a long tail beyond 10,000 years. If we invest in heading off methane now without also dealing with CO2, we commit to more long-term warming than if we prioritize CO2 now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Conversion Process\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how, exactly, does the process of converting methane to CO2 work?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>“\u003c/i>We’d like to use a class of minerals called zeolite,” says Jackson. “These minerals can be thought of as a honeycomb. They have lots of open pores inside and you can embed metals, copper and iron, and other elements that can act as catalysts to drive the reaction that we’re after.\u003ci>”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jackson’s team proposes using fans to push air through cylinders or beds that contain the minerals, Jackson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have used zeolites to convert methane into methanol, which Jackson described as a kind-of “halfway point,” but they have yet to successfully convert methane into CO2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of work to be done on the chemistry,” Jackson admits. “And work to be done on the industrial infrastructure—the equipment, the scale at which this might be done to restore the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The end goal is returning the atmosphere to good health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the Endangered Species Act, and when a species is endangered, we don’t try to save it, we want to restore it to health,” notes Jackson. “I’d like to do the same thing for the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But molecule for molecule, CO2 traps less heat than methane. If the process is perfected, it could return the atmosphere to preindustrial concentrations of methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0299-x\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study\u003c/a> has major implications for the globe. Last year, methane emissions passed a grim milestone: Atmospheric concentrations reached two-and-a-half times their preindustrial levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing we need to do is to cut greenhouse gas emissions,” Jackson explains. “If pollution were a drop of ink, it’s a lot easier to block that drop before it hits the water than it is to remove it after it’s been mixed into the water. The atmosphere is the same way. We need to cut emissions, but they are rising for both carbon dioxide and methane. We need to explore other ways to remove greenhouse gases after they’re in the atmosphere. It’s not preferable, but it may be necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea could be part of a “solutions space, although it is not the solution by itself,” said Richard Alley, a geoscience professor at Penn State University who was not involved in the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many places around the U.S. already make money by capturing “waste” methane from sewage and garbage and then using it as natural gas, which can be burned to generate energy, Alley says. If there are sources of methane that are not concentrated enough to be used commercially but are leaking, then converting those to CO2 would help reduce warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big issue long-term is still CO2,” Alley cautioned in an email. “Methane is converted to CO2 in a decade or so in the atmosphere, so whenever we get serious about reducing methane, the concentrations will be much lower a decade after that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After we raise CO2, on the other hand, it will remain elevated for centuries and longer, with a long tail beyond 10,000 years. If we invest in heading off methane now without also dealing with CO2, we commit to more long-term warming than if we prioritize CO2 now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Conversion Process\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how, exactly, does the process of converting methane to CO2 work?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>“\u003c/i>We’d like to use a class of minerals called zeolite,” says Jackson. “These minerals can be thought of as a honeycomb. They have lots of open pores inside and you can embed metals, copper and iron, and other elements that can act as catalysts to drive the reaction that we’re after.\u003ci>”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jackson’s team proposes using fans to push air through cylinders or beds that contain the minerals, Jackson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have used zeolites to convert methane into methanol, which Jackson described as a kind-of “halfway point,” but they have yet to successfully convert methane into CO2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of work to be done on the chemistry,” Jackson admits. “And work to be done on the industrial infrastructure—the equipment, the scale at which this might be done to restore the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The end goal is returning the atmosphere to good health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the Endangered Species Act, and when a species is endangered, we don’t try to save it, we want to restore it to health,” notes Jackson. “I’d like to do the same thing for the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bill McKibben Sees Climate Strikes in Our Future",
"headTitle": "Bill McKibben Sees Climate Strikes in Our Future | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Before the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student strike\u003c/a>, before \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-greta-thunberg-eu-parliament-speech-sweden-a8873076.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Greta Thunberg\u003c/a>, before \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-protests-climate-change/extinction-rebellion-has-a-message-for-the-world-weve-only-just-begun-idUSKCN1S731V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Extinction Rebellion,\u003c/a> there was \u003cstrong>Bill McKibben\u003c/strong>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]‘We’ll be calling for adult climate strikes in the near future. We need to disrupt business as usual.’[/pullquote]For years, McKibben, the hard-charging environmentalist and author, has been at the forefront of the climate action movement. In 1989, he \u003ca href=\"http://billmckibben.com/end-of-nature-excerpt.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published\u003c/a> one of the first climate change books written for a general audience. In recent years, he’s aggressively \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-case-for-fossil-fuel-divestment-100243/\">made the case for fossil-fuel divestment\u003c/a> and encouraged environmental protest through the group he founded, \u003ca href=\"https://350.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">350.org\u003c/a>. The group’s name is derived from the measurement 350 parts per million, the upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere generally considered to be safe. (Yeah, we \u003ca href=\"https://weather.com/news/news/2019-04-04-current-co2-levels-highest-in-three-million-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blew past \u003c/a>it a few years ago.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McKibben, appearing on KQED’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101870787/bill-mckibben-warns-of-dire-consequences-of-unchecked-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a>” radio program Tuesday, discussed the existential threat of climate change, which he calls “the most epic of fights” and is the central focus of his new book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/books/review/bill-mckibben-falter.html\">Falter\u003c/a>.” Additionally, McKibben talked about President Trump, inequality, ExxonMobil and his skeptical view of genetic modification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are excerpts of McKibben’s answers, edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The End of the Human Game?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I started talking about climate change when I was a young man, it was still a warning. Here’s what is going to happen if we don’t do the things that scientists tell us we should do. Since we didn’t do any of these things, it’s no longer a warning; it is now the brute reality of everyday life. Sometimes we see it up close with a camera. The whole world commiserated with California last fall, watching a town literally called Paradise turn into hell inside half-an-hour. Today, as we talk, Mozambique was just hit with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/heavy-rains-disrupt-aid-for-survivors-in-cyclone-battered-mozambique\">second record cyclone in a month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Political Pressure Building.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIt has been beautiful to watch the Green New Deal stuff. Those are mostly young people, and they are veterans of the fossil fuel divestment campaign. That divestment campaign around the world built up a great deal of pressure, we are at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/divestment-fossil-fuel-industry-trillions-dollars-investments-carbon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$8 trillion\u003c/a> worth of endowments and portfolios that have divested. Now there is this magnificent pressure coming from \u003ca href=\"https://rebellion.earth/\">Extinction Rebellion\u003c/a> shutting down the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look at what tens of millions of young people did around the world this year following the lead of Greta Thunberg in Sweden. We’ve seen these \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\">climate strikes and walk outs from school\u003c/a>. Our job, now, is to do what those kids have asked and back them up. We’ll be calling for adult climate strikes in the near future. We need to disrupt business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Unprecedented Urgency of Democrats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are waking up. There is a \u003ca href=\"http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/04/29/rel6a.-.2020.democrats.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll\u003c/a> out this morning from CNN, saying that among Democratic voters, climate change is now the number one issue, ahead of health care and the economy. You can see the response to that by all the Democratic candidates. They are talking about climate change nonstop and with a level of urgency that we’ve never seen. In the past, we used to pray that someone would ask one question about climate change. They never did. Now, it is a top-tier issue in the primaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trump Badly Out of Touch \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His insistence that \u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">climate change is a hoax\u003c/a> manufactured by the Chinese is—even for his most fervent supporters—a stretch. [Note: Trump later called this claim a “joke.”] If you were sitting on the BART train next to someone started muttering that climate change was a hoax manufactured by the Chinese, you’d get up and move seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Carbon Pricing Required\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no reason anymore not to have a \u003ca href=\"https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/what-carbon-pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">price on carbon\u003c/a>. It is the only thing we are allowed to spew into the atmosphere for free. Where it would have been sufficient 30 years ago, but it no longer is sufficient, we have to do other things, too, as negotiations on a carbon price proceed. The oil industry, for a price on carbon, would demand a lot of things in return that are bad ideas. The most important job is to continue to build up enough political pressure so that when these negotiations take place, they take place in the best possible climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exxon’s Culpability\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We now know from terrific investigative reporting from the L.A. Times, Columbia Journalism School, and the website \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inside Climate News\u003c/a> that the big fossil fuel companies knew everything there was to know about climate change by the 1980s. Exxon was the richest company in the world, it had an endless staff of scientists, and its product was carbon, so of course they were going to figure out what it did. By 1982 or 1983, their scientists were telling their executives: ‘Here is how fast and how much it is going to warm.’ And their executives believed them. Exxon began building its drilling rigs to compensate for the rise in sea levels they knew was coming. What they didn’t do was tell the rest of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Worry Over Designer Babies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some things that feel very much to me like climate change did 30 years ago, that are not yet fully played out in our world, but where the threat is very obvious and getting more so all the time. For instance, with human genetic engineering. In October a Chinese doctor produced the first two \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/26/670752865/chinese-scientist-says-hes-first-to-genetically-edit-babies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">designer babies\u003c/a> in human history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientific community has pushed back against this some, trying to draw up guidelines against this germline genetic manipulation, but it is very clear that there’s a bevy of entrepreneurs, many in Northern California, looking for the chance to sell people improved versions of their offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, what’s interesting here, we took for granted the stability of the physical planet. It was very hard to get anyone to understand that it was possible inside of 30 years to melt most of the sea ice in the Arctic or change the chemical composition of the ocean. We take human meaning for granted, too. Once you start down these paths, it is hard to get off them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Before the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student strike\u003c/a>, before \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-greta-thunberg-eu-parliament-speech-sweden-a8873076.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Greta Thunberg\u003c/a>, before \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-protests-climate-change/extinction-rebellion-has-a-message-for-the-world-weve-only-just-begun-idUSKCN1S731V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Extinction Rebellion,\u003c/a> there was \u003cstrong>Bill McKibben\u003c/strong>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We’ll be calling for adult climate strikes in the near future. We need to disrupt business as usual.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For years, McKibben, the hard-charging environmentalist and author, has been at the forefront of the climate action movement. In 1989, he \u003ca href=\"http://billmckibben.com/end-of-nature-excerpt.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published\u003c/a> one of the first climate change books written for a general audience. In recent years, he’s aggressively \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-case-for-fossil-fuel-divestment-100243/\">made the case for fossil-fuel divestment\u003c/a> and encouraged environmental protest through the group he founded, \u003ca href=\"https://350.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">350.org\u003c/a>. The group’s name is derived from the measurement 350 parts per million, the upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere generally considered to be safe. (Yeah, we \u003ca href=\"https://weather.com/news/news/2019-04-04-current-co2-levels-highest-in-three-million-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blew past \u003c/a>it a few years ago.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McKibben, appearing on KQED’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101870787/bill-mckibben-warns-of-dire-consequences-of-unchecked-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a>” radio program Tuesday, discussed the existential threat of climate change, which he calls “the most epic of fights” and is the central focus of his new book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/books/review/bill-mckibben-falter.html\">Falter\u003c/a>.” Additionally, McKibben talked about President Trump, inequality, ExxonMobil and his skeptical view of genetic modification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are excerpts of McKibben’s answers, edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The End of the Human Game?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I started talking about climate change when I was a young man, it was still a warning. Here’s what is going to happen if we don’t do the things that scientists tell us we should do. Since we didn’t do any of these things, it’s no longer a warning; it is now the brute reality of everyday life. Sometimes we see it up close with a camera. The whole world commiserated with California last fall, watching a town literally called Paradise turn into hell inside half-an-hour. Today, as we talk, Mozambique was just hit with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/heavy-rains-disrupt-aid-for-survivors-in-cyclone-battered-mozambique\">second record cyclone in a month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Political Pressure Building.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIt has been beautiful to watch the Green New Deal stuff. Those are mostly young people, and they are veterans of the fossil fuel divestment campaign. That divestment campaign around the world built up a great deal of pressure, we are at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/divestment-fossil-fuel-industry-trillions-dollars-investments-carbon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$8 trillion\u003c/a> worth of endowments and portfolios that have divested. Now there is this magnificent pressure coming from \u003ca href=\"https://rebellion.earth/\">Extinction Rebellion\u003c/a> shutting down the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look at what tens of millions of young people did around the world this year following the lead of Greta Thunberg in Sweden. We’ve seen these \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\">climate strikes and walk outs from school\u003c/a>. Our job, now, is to do what those kids have asked and back them up. We’ll be calling for adult climate strikes in the near future. We need to disrupt business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Unprecedented Urgency of Democrats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People are waking up. There is a \u003ca href=\"http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/04/29/rel6a.-.2020.democrats.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll\u003c/a> out this morning from CNN, saying that among Democratic voters, climate change is now the number one issue, ahead of health care and the economy. You can see the response to that by all the Democratic candidates. They are talking about climate change nonstop and with a level of urgency that we’ve never seen. In the past, we used to pray that someone would ask one question about climate change. They never did. Now, it is a top-tier issue in the primaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trump Badly Out of Touch \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His insistence that \u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">climate change is a hoax\u003c/a> manufactured by the Chinese is—even for his most fervent supporters—a stretch. [Note: Trump later called this claim a “joke.”] If you were sitting on the BART train next to someone started muttering that climate change was a hoax manufactured by the Chinese, you’d get up and move seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Carbon Pricing Required\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no reason anymore not to have a \u003ca href=\"https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/what-carbon-pricing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">price on carbon\u003c/a>. It is the only thing we are allowed to spew into the atmosphere for free. Where it would have been sufficient 30 years ago, but it no longer is sufficient, we have to do other things, too, as negotiations on a carbon price proceed. The oil industry, for a price on carbon, would demand a lot of things in return that are bad ideas. The most important job is to continue to build up enough political pressure so that when these negotiations take place, they take place in the best possible climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exxon’s Culpability\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We now know from terrific investigative reporting from the L.A. Times, Columbia Journalism School, and the website \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inside Climate News\u003c/a> that the big fossil fuel companies knew everything there was to know about climate change by the 1980s. Exxon was the richest company in the world, it had an endless staff of scientists, and its product was carbon, so of course they were going to figure out what it did. By 1982 or 1983, their scientists were telling their executives: ‘Here is how fast and how much it is going to warm.’ And their executives believed them. Exxon began building its drilling rigs to compensate for the rise in sea levels they knew was coming. What they didn’t do was tell the rest of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Worry Over Designer Babies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some things that feel very much to me like climate change did 30 years ago, that are not yet fully played out in our world, but where the threat is very obvious and getting more so all the time. For instance, with human genetic engineering. In October a Chinese doctor produced the first two \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/26/670752865/chinese-scientist-says-hes-first-to-genetically-edit-babies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">designer babies\u003c/a> in human history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientific community has pushed back against this some, trying to draw up guidelines against this germline genetic manipulation, but it is very clear that there’s a bevy of entrepreneurs, many in Northern California, looking for the chance to sell people improved versions of their offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, what’s interesting here, we took for granted the stability of the physical planet. It was very hard to get anyone to understand that it was possible inside of 30 years to melt most of the sea ice in the Arctic or change the chemical composition of the ocean. We take human meaning for granted, too. Once you start down these paths, it is hard to get off them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Winds carrying greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide can travel up to 60 miles offshore, adding significantly more carbon dioxide into the ocean than previously estimated, according to new \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research\u003c/a> from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emissions from tailpipes and factories could be adding roughly 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year into oceans worldwide\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When carbon dioxide dissolves into seawater it makes oceans more acidic, and more uninhabitable for species like crabs and coral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extra carbon dioxide that the researchers measured means “more of a threat to some of the sea life that inhabits the ocean,” says Francisco Chavez, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been widely understood that ships are heavyweight polluters in bays and oceans. But until now, the impact that land-based pollution has on waterways hasn’t been investigated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s in part because the way researchers tracked carbon dioxide emissions in the past was on boats — Francisco Chavez said when researchers would document higher-than-expected carbon dioxide levels, it was assumed it was coming from the ships doing the measurements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the measurements we make of carbon dioxide have been from ships,” Chavez said, “The higher carbon dioxide levels are often discounted because of the fact that ships are actually producers of CO2 just like our automobiles are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To solve that problem, Chavez and his team used robotic boats to track the amount of carbon dioxide blowing into the Monterey Bay and the Pacific, eliminating any stray emissions coming from boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They observed land-based carbon dioxide emissions drifting up to 100 kilometers, or 60 miles, off the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a brand new piece of information,” says NOAA chemical oceanographer Richard Feely, who was not involved with the study. “That suggests we need to be monitoring the coastal region, not just in Monterey Bay but in other places as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feely suspects wherever there are sprawling cities and industry close to the coast, greenhouse gases are blowing over far distances into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s more, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute team believes other pollutants such as heavy metals, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen gases might also be traveling out to sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Winds carrying greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide can travel up to 60 miles offshore, adding significantly more carbon dioxide into the ocean than previously estimated, according to new \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research\u003c/a> from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emissions from tailpipes and factories could be adding roughly 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year into oceans worldwide\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When carbon dioxide dissolves into seawater it makes oceans more acidic, and more uninhabitable for species like crabs and coral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extra carbon dioxide that the researchers measured means “more of a threat to some of the sea life that inhabits the ocean,” says Francisco Chavez, the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been widely understood that ships are heavyweight polluters in bays and oceans. But until now, the impact that land-based pollution has on waterways hasn’t been investigated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s in part because the way researchers tracked carbon dioxide emissions in the past was on boats — Francisco Chavez said when researchers would document higher-than-expected carbon dioxide levels, it was assumed it was coming from the ships doing the measurements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the measurements we make of carbon dioxide have been from ships,” Chavez said, “The higher carbon dioxide levels are often discounted because of the fact that ships are actually producers of CO2 just like our automobiles are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To solve that problem, Chavez and his team used robotic boats to track the amount of carbon dioxide blowing into the Monterey Bay and the Pacific, eliminating any stray emissions coming from boats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They observed land-based carbon dioxide emissions drifting up to 100 kilometers, or 60 miles, off the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a brand new piece of information,” says NOAA chemical oceanographer Richard Feely, who was not involved with the study. “That suggests we need to be monitoring the coastal region, not just in Monterey Bay but in other places as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feely suspects wherever there are sprawling cities and industry close to the coast, greenhouse gases are blowing over far distances into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s more, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute team believes other pollutants such as heavy metals, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen gases might also be traveling out to sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s climate change efforts can be spotted all over the Bay Area in the growing number of electric cars and solar panels. But now, California is enlisting people from a more conservative part of the state — even if they don’t think climate change is much of a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s farmers are receiving millions of dollars to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, something the state says is crucial for meeting its ambitious climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"small\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jeanne Merrill, California Climate & Agriculture Network\"]‘Some [farmers] are willing to say that it’s climate change. Others are unsure. But I think many know that things are changing and they need different tools.’[/pullquote]The state is paying them to grow plants, which absorb carbon and help move it into the soil where it can be stored long-term. That makes California home to some of the first official “carbon farmers” in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, like almond grower Jose Robles of Modesto, climate change was an afterthought, if that. That’s something they talk about in Sacramento, he says, not where he lives and works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in December, the ground under Robles’ almond trees was a carpet of green, full of mustard plant and clover. It’s not a common sight in the Central Valley. After all, most farmers hate weeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wants to have the orchards nice and clean,” Robles says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His neighbors really don’t understand it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve heard them say, ‘We’re in the business of growing almonds, not in the business of growing weeds,’” he says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adapting to Drought\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robles got the idea a few years ago, during California’s severe drought, when he had to cut back on watering his trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had no water,” he says. “It made us look at things different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robles knew that richer earth with more microorganisms holds moisture longer, but there wasn’t a lot of organic matter in his orchard to build the soil up. Like most farmers, he sprayed herbicides to kill weeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940565\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1.jpg 1864w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A field at Russell Ranch at UC Davis, where carbon storage techniques are studied. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So he decided to grow organic matter specifically to feed his soil. He planted species that most people commonly see as weeds, but when sown on purpose, are known as a “cover crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they get a few feet tall, he mows them and lets them decompose, along with some extra compost and mulch. A $21,000 grant from California helps cover his extra costs and labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can be tricky, because almonds are harvested from the ground after they’re shaken off the trees. Having mulch or weed remnants on the ground would interfere with that, so Robles has to make sure the organic matter breaks down before harvest begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s already seen a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The trees, they don’t stress as much, because they hold the moisture a lot longer,” Robles says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Absorbing Carbon Emissions\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though climate change didn’t really factor into Robles’ decision, his grant comes from a program designed to be part of the state’s climate change strategy. California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthy Soils initiative\u003c/a> is now in its third year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farms and forests could absorb as much as 20 percent of California’s current level of emissions, says a \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/natandworkinglands/draft-nwl-ip-040419.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s great potential for agriculture to play a really important role,” says Kate Scow, professor of soil microbial ecology at UC Davis, of the state’s climate goals. She’s standing in a large wheat field at Russell Ranch, seven miles west of the campus, where the university plants crops to study sustainable agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Soil is alive,” she says. “There’s farmers that know that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To show me, Scow starts enthusiastically digging in the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All right, see, we’re starting to hit the mineral soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is where the carbon is stored. Plants soak up the carbon dioxide in the air to build their leaves and stems. Their roots pump carbon down into the earth. Then, when the plant dies, its organic matter gets broken down by microbes and fungi. That’s how carbon from the air gets into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The deeper you can get it in the soil, especially below the plow layer, the more stable and secure it’s going to be,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s key to prevent the carbon from being released back into the air, and is how agriculture could play a part in the state’s climate effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have very ambitious climate goals, and without natural and working lands, California simply won’t get there,” says Jeanne Merrill, with the California Climate & Agriculture Network, a coalition of ag groups working on climate policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before leaving office, Gov. Jerry Brown set a goal for California to be carbon neutral by 2045. That will likely mean not just reducing carbon emissions from cars and buildings, but absorbing carbon already in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merrill says California’s farmers are already on the frontlines of facing climate impacts, like more extreme weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some are willing to say that it’s climate change,” she says. “Others are unsure. But I think many know that things are changing and they need different tools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers are interested in the climate programs, Merrill says, if only because it can help them weather extended droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds have signed up. But state climate officials say the Healthy Soils program \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/natandworkinglands/draft-nwl-ip-040419.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">needs to be five times larger\u003c/a>. That means the state Legislature will have to boost its $15 million budget, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested more money for the program. (\u003cstrong>Update May 9, 2019\u003c/strong>: In the May revise of the state budget, Newsom has proposed $28 million for Healthy Soils, an increase of $10 million over his original proposal.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merrill says that would send a signal that California’s climate efforts will take the entire state, not just coastal cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bridging that coastal-Valley divide,” she says. “It’s saying that we need that Valley base pretty significantly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California farmers are receiving millions of dollars to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, making the state home to some of the first official 'carbon farmers' in the country.",
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"title": "California Has Farmers Growing Weeds. Why? To Capture Carbon | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s climate change efforts can be spotted all over the Bay Area in the growing number of electric cars and solar panels. But now, California is enlisting people from a more conservative part of the state — even if they don’t think climate change is much of a concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s farmers are receiving millions of dollars to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, something the state says is crucial for meeting its ambitious climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Some [farmers] are willing to say that it’s climate change. Others are unsure. But I think many know that things are changing and they need different tools.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The state is paying them to grow plants, which absorb carbon and help move it into the soil where it can be stored long-term. That makes California home to some of the first official “carbon farmers” in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, like almond grower Jose Robles of Modesto, climate change was an afterthought, if that. That’s something they talk about in Sacramento, he says, not where he lives and works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in December, the ground under Robles’ almond trees was a carpet of green, full of mustard plant and clover. It’s not a common sight in the Central Valley. After all, most farmers hate weeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wants to have the orchards nice and clean,” Robles says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His neighbors really don’t understand it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve heard them say, ‘We’re in the business of growing almonds, not in the business of growing weeds,’” he says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Adapting to Drought\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robles got the idea a few years ago, during California’s severe drought, when he had to cut back on watering his trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had no water,” he says. “It made us look at things different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robles knew that richer earth with more microorganisms holds moisture longer, but there wasn’t a lot of organic matter in his orchard to build the soil up. Like most farmers, he sprayed herbicides to kill weeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1940565\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/field1.jpg 1864w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A field at Russell Ranch at UC Davis, where carbon storage techniques are studied. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So he decided to grow organic matter specifically to feed his soil. He planted species that most people commonly see as weeds, but when sown on purpose, are known as a “cover crop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once they get a few feet tall, he mows them and lets them decompose, along with some extra compost and mulch. A $21,000 grant from California helps cover his extra costs and labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can be tricky, because almonds are harvested from the ground after they’re shaken off the trees. Having mulch or weed remnants on the ground would interfere with that, so Robles has to make sure the organic matter breaks down before harvest begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s already seen a difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The trees, they don’t stress as much, because they hold the moisture a lot longer,” Robles says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Absorbing Carbon Emissions\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though climate change didn’t really factor into Robles’ decision, his grant comes from a program designed to be part of the state’s climate change strategy. California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthy Soils initiative\u003c/a> is now in its third year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farms and forests could absorb as much as 20 percent of California’s current level of emissions, says a \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/natandworkinglands/draft-nwl-ip-040419.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s great potential for agriculture to play a really important role,” says Kate Scow, professor of soil microbial ecology at UC Davis, of the state’s climate goals. She’s standing in a large wheat field at Russell Ranch, seven miles west of the campus, where the university plants crops to study sustainable agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Soil is alive,” she says. “There’s farmers that know that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To show me, Scow starts enthusiastically digging in the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All right, see, we’re starting to hit the mineral soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is where the carbon is stored. Plants soak up the carbon dioxide in the air to build their leaves and stems. Their roots pump carbon down into the earth. Then, when the plant dies, its organic matter gets broken down by microbes and fungi. That’s how carbon from the air gets into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The deeper you can get it in the soil, especially below the plow layer, the more stable and secure it’s going to be,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s key to prevent the carbon from being released back into the air, and is how agriculture could play a part in the state’s climate effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have very ambitious climate goals, and without natural and working lands, California simply won’t get there,” says Jeanne Merrill, with the California Climate & Agriculture Network, a coalition of ag groups working on climate policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before leaving office, Gov. Jerry Brown set a goal for California to be carbon neutral by 2045. That will likely mean not just reducing carbon emissions from cars and buildings, but absorbing carbon already in the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merrill says California’s farmers are already on the frontlines of facing climate impacts, like more extreme weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some are willing to say that it’s climate change,” she says. “Others are unsure. But I think many know that things are changing and they need different tools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers are interested in the climate programs, Merrill says, if only because it can help them weather extended droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds have signed up. But state climate officials say the Healthy Soils program \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/natandworkinglands/draft-nwl-ip-040419.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">needs to be five times larger\u003c/a>. That means the state Legislature will have to boost its $15 million budget, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested more money for the program. (\u003cstrong>Update May 9, 2019\u003c/strong>: In the May revise of the state budget, Newsom has proposed $28 million for Healthy Soils, an increase of $10 million over his original proposal.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merrill says that would send a signal that California’s climate efforts will take the entire state, not just coastal cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bridging that coastal-Valley divide,” she says. “It’s saying that we need that Valley base pretty significantly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Photo Essay: Teens Are Really Worried About the Climate, and They'd Like Adults to Do Something About It",
"headTitle": "Photo Essay: Teens Are Really Worried About the Climate, and They’d Like Adults to Do Something About It | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The climate change protest group known as \u003ca href=\"https://rebellion.earth/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Extinction Rebellion\u003c/a> continues to shut down London in a third day of action demanding government officials treat climate change as an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authorities have arrested \u003ca href=\"https://edition.cnn.com/uk/live-news/london-climate-change-protests-gbr-intl/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some 300 people\u003c/a>; protesters have shut down 55 bus routes, affecting half a million London residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the protests that took place internationally on Monday was a Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellionSF/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demonstration\u003c/a> at United Nations Plaza in San Francisco. On the heels of last month’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student walkout\u003c/a> to protest the lack of action on the climate, we talked to some of the young people who showed up to register their dismay at what’s \u003cem>not\u003c/em> happening to solve what scientists agree is becoming an environmental catastrophe. We asked them two questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How worried are they about climate change? And what do they want adults to do about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nadja Goldberg, 15, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940362\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-800x570.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-768x547.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-1020x726.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-1200x854.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cbr>\n“I’m terrified of the future impacts climate change will have, which is more forest fires and drought. I am part of a group called Youth vs. Apocalypse, and I think it’s really true that the effects of climate change are similar to that of an apocalypse. I think since the Green New Deal came out, the conversation on climate change has become much more frequent, and [it] lays out a clear plan to address climate change. So that makes me really excited. A lot of people tell me: ‘It’s up to you guys to save us,’ but I think its up to everyone, not just young people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Baxter Bhansali, 15, International High School of San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940360\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1359\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-800x566.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-768x544.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-1020x722.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-1200x849.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m 15 and when I grow up, we are going to have to deal with the effects of this. I’m going to be alive in 2050; I’m going to be alive in 11 years, when the U.N. reports that that’s the point of no return. I want to have food. I don’t want agriculture to be impossible. Also the fact that just as a human being I have empathy for other people — with rising temperatures there’s going to be refugees, and people losing their homes, and losing their lives, and I don’t want that to happen. They should pass laws like the Green New Deal or other laws that disincentivize the use of carbon fuels and fossil fuels and things that produce a lot of carbon emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hallie Evans, 15, Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo; Mariah Lazalde, 14, MetWest High School in Oakland\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940363\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1361\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-800x567.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-768x544.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-1020x723.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-1200x851.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading (that) the scientists have these theories of what will happen if we don’t fix climate change within the 10-year range, it worries me a lot. There’s a lot of people trying to participate in fixing the problem, but there’s not really things being done. Yes, I’m young, but I feel like adults,in a way\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> could do a little bit more than I can as a 15-year-old, and I feel like they can use their power in a way to help us.” – \u003cem>Hallie Evans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>‘When I first found out about climate change was in school, and I started reading these articles saying that we only have a timespan of 10 years to fix this problem, and I feel like there’s not anything being done. None of our elected officials are doing anything. Yes, we are putting pressure on [them], but they are not doing anything; they are ignoring us. Our adults basically made this happen, because I wasn’t here 14 years ago … .” \u003cem>-Mariah Lazalde\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Charlie Kushelevsky, 16, International High School of San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940361\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-800x584.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-768x561.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-1020x745.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-1200x876.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no force stopping it right now in the level that’s needed. Something needs to be done. More legislation needs to be passed that limits carbon emissions in general, and there needs to be a general consensus of recognition of climate change and the damage of fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Efrem Blitz, 15, El Cerrito High School\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940364\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-800x557.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-1020x710.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-1200x835.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s risking all of our futures as well as the animals in the world. It’s said we have 12 years before we cause permanent damage to the environment, and a lot of scientists said that we already have and we are already past that point. If the government doesn’t want to admit that change is urgent, then we are going to be here marching and protesting all day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>All photos by Lindsey Moore. Jon Brooks and Kat Snow contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Photo Essay: Teens Are Really Worried About the Climate, and They'd Like Adults to Do Something About It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The climate change protest group known as \u003ca href=\"https://rebellion.earth/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Extinction Rebellion\u003c/a> continues to shut down London in a third day of action demanding government officials treat climate change as an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Authorities have arrested \u003ca href=\"https://edition.cnn.com/uk/live-news/london-climate-change-protests-gbr-intl/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some 300 people\u003c/a>; protesters have shut down 55 bus routes, affecting half a million London residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the protests that took place internationally on Monday was a Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellionSF/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demonstration\u003c/a> at United Nations Plaza in San Francisco. On the heels of last month’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939172/bay-area-students-say-theyre-not-gonna-take-it-anymore-when-it-comes-to-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">student walkout\u003c/a> to protest the lack of action on the climate, we talked to some of the young people who showed up to register their dismay at what’s \u003cem>not\u003c/em> happening to solve what scientists agree is becoming an environmental catastrophe. We asked them two questions:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How worried are they about climate change? And what do they want adults to do about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nadja Goldberg, 15, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940362\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-800x570.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-768x547.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-1020x726.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_005-1200x854.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cbr>\n“I’m terrified of the future impacts climate change will have, which is more forest fires and drought. I am part of a group called Youth vs. Apocalypse, and I think it’s really true that the effects of climate change are similar to that of an apocalypse. I think since the Green New Deal came out, the conversation on climate change has become much more frequent, and [it] lays out a clear plan to address climate change. So that makes me really excited. A lot of people tell me: ‘It’s up to you guys to save us,’ but I think its up to everyone, not just young people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Baxter Bhansali, 15, International High School of San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940360\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1359\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-800x566.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-768x544.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-1020x722.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_003-1200x849.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m 15 and when I grow up, we are going to have to deal with the effects of this. I’m going to be alive in 2050; I’m going to be alive in 11 years, when the U.N. reports that that’s the point of no return. I want to have food. I don’t want agriculture to be impossible. Also the fact that just as a human being I have empathy for other people — with rising temperatures there’s going to be refugees, and people losing their homes, and losing their lives, and I don’t want that to happen. They should pass laws like the Green New Deal or other laws that disincentivize the use of carbon fuels and fossil fuels and things that produce a lot of carbon emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hallie Evans, 15, Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo; Mariah Lazalde, 14, MetWest High School in Oakland\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940363\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1361\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-800x567.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-768x544.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-1020x723.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_006-1200x851.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading (that) the scientists have these theories of what will happen if we don’t fix climate change within the 10-year range, it worries me a lot. There’s a lot of people trying to participate in fixing the problem, but there’s not really things being done. Yes, I’m young, but I feel like adults,in a way\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> could do a little bit more than I can as a 15-year-old, and I feel like they can use their power in a way to help us.” – \u003cem>Hallie Evans\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>‘When I first found out about climate change was in school, and I started reading these articles saying that we only have a timespan of 10 years to fix this problem, and I feel like there’s not anything being done. None of our elected officials are doing anything. Yes, we are putting pressure on [them], but they are not doing anything; they are ignoring us. Our adults basically made this happen, because I wasn’t here 14 years ago … .” \u003cem>-Mariah Lazalde\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Charlie Kushelevsky, 16, International High School of San Francisco\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940361\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-800x584.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-768x561.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-1020x745.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_004-1200x876.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no force stopping it right now in the level that’s needed. Something needs to be done. More legislation needs to be passed that limits carbon emissions in general, and there needs to be a general consensus of recognition of climate change and the damage of fossil fuels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Efrem Blitz, 15, El Cerrito High School\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940364\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1336\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-800x557.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-1020x710.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/ExtinctionRebellion_007-qut-1200x835.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s risking all of our futures as well as the animals in the world. It’s said we have 12 years before we cause permanent damage to the environment, and a lot of scientists said that we already have and we are already past that point. If the government doesn’t want to admit that change is urgent, then we are going to be here marching and protesting all day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>All photos by Lindsey Moore. Jon Brooks and Kat Snow contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "North Bay's Highway 37 Is Going to Be a Serious Climate Mess",
"headTitle": "North Bay’s Highway 37 Is Going to Be a Serious Climate Mess | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he rainy season is winding down, ending a difficult winter for many North Bay commuters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day, 46,000 people drive Highway 37, the scenic route that connects Marin County with Vallejo, Napa and just about everywhere east.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This thread, though essential, is also tenuous in that it’s strung atop a berm barely above sea level. Traversing the vast salt marshes known as the \u003ca href=\"http://scc.ca.gov/climate-change/climate-change-projects/highway37/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Pablo Baylands\u003c/a>, the 21-mile stretch is emerging as an early challenge to planners confronting California’s changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='right' citation='Steve Page, CEO Sonoma Raceway']‘You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal, when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.’[/pullquote]In the drenching winter of 2016-17, flooding from winter storms shut down portions of the road for a total of 28 days. Then, last February, a levee broke on the Marin side, shutting down westbound lanes for five days while crews pumped water off the road and trucks hauled in loads of rock to shore it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It calls into question: How much longer can we have Highway 37 in the way that it is, without preparing for sea level rise?” wonders Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael. He commutes on 37, from Marin to Sacramento, and was frustrated when the road was underwater again two years after Caltrans raised a section to prevent it from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We paved a couple of parts of it, and the part that we didn’t pave was the one that got flooded — of course, it’s the bottom of the bathtub,” he said, referring to the unelevated portions of the highway. “So we can’t pat ourselves on the back on these Band-Aids and quick fixes; we need to think a little bit bigger and think for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940219 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003cem>\u003cstrong>A recent USGS study projects that Highway 37 would be frequently underwater with about 10 inches of sea rise, which could occur between 2040 and 2050. Twenty inches of rise, likely by 2070, would permanently overwhelm the roadway.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Time Running Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That future is coming at us fast, with rising sea levels, high tides and extreme weather events. At the current pace of global warming, in little more than 20 years, Highway 37 could be underwater “multiple times per month,” based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939059/the-ocean-is-not-a-bathtub-so-sea-level-rise-will-be-more-damaging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent projections\u003c/a> by the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say it could be sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re noticing that the water is getting higher and higher near the highway,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/people/fraser-shilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fraser Shilling\u003c/a>, who co-directs the \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/research/programs/sea-level-rise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Road Ecology Center\u003c/a> at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re increasing the baseline, the level of water around it, which increases the risk, with every storm, of the highway closing again,” says Shilling. “So I would say we’re in that window where any given year, the highway could close potentially indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes Steve Page really nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomaraceway.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma Raceway\u003c/a>. He depends on Highway 37 to get a half-million visitors a year to his track. He’s been to some meetings of the four-county task force, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tam.ca.gov/sr-37-policy-committee/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Highway 37 Policy Committee\u003c/a>, that has been working on a solution for more than three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal,” says Page, “when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What to Do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most potential solutions fall into three buckets: Raise the berm that supports the road; put the road on stilts and make it a causeway; reroute it entirely, skirting the marsh by \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/route-highway-through-american-canyon-napans-shudder/article_578ffbd6-ac4d-534e-92df-ca02b1c122f3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looping it north\u003c/a> along higher ground. All three would also widen the road, much of which is one lane in either direction and often choked with traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No matter which plan is eventually chosen, it’s certain to be a multibillion-dollar project. And since there’s currently no money for that, there’s growing sentiment that the new 37 will need to be a toll crossing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any proposal to elevate the highway through the marsh is a proposal to build a new road,” says Shilling. “Because they’re not going to build it over the footprint of the existing road; it’s going to be alongside. So you’re talking about a whole new road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding urgency to the issue is that even as the bay is rising, the land itself is sinking. On the north side of the highway are thousands of acres of marshes. Much of that land is undergoing restoration, and these wetlands could provide a buffer against rising seas if it weren’t for Highway 37 itself, which in its present form acts as a kind of dam between the marsh and the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1097\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elevating Highway 37 to a causeway would protect the roadway and allow the marsh to move and interact with the bay — but it won’t come cheap. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t let the marsh do what it needs to do,” says Susan Schwartzenberg. She studies the interaction of human and natural forces as head of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/gallery-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fisher Bay Observatory\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartzenberg says making the road an elevated causeway, like most of the Dumbarton Bridge, for instance, would allow the wetlands to do their job: delivering sediment to the Bay, re-establishing plants, and providing animal habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see these swarms of birds, the gray, the brown hills in the background; it’s a vista that everyone should love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Schwarzenberg has been working with a world-class design team on a whole new vision for the highway, in the shape of an undulating ribbon that would accommodate cars, bikes and pedestrians. It would even have elevated observation decks and floating campgrounds, to reconnect people with the natural beauty of the North Bay marshes. They even have a name for their grand vision …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940211\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940211 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\" alt=\"Image: Grand Bayway design\" width=\"750\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-675x1200.jpg 675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of a possible Grand Bayway, stretching from the Napa River at Vallejo (foreground) to Sears Point in the distance, with bike-and-pedestrian loop and observation tower. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Grand Bayway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/grand-bayway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Bayway\u003c/a> “connotes movement,” says Tom Leader, who heads TLS Landscape Architecture in Berkeley. He led one of the teams in the recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilient by Design\u003c/a> Bay Area Challenge and envisions the north end of the bay as an “ecological Central Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would include the needs of transportation for people trying to get to work, but in a more elegant interesting way, and people to have access and develop the whole cultural life that’s embedded here … and, you know, living with water into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means, among other things, looking for ways to let the rising waters in, rather than pushing them back with seawalls and levees. Wetlands are a living example of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some short-term measures already partly funded and in the pipeline, including conversion of the intersection at Sears Point into a roundabout, and possibly adding a reversible commute lane to the eastern leg of the roadway. But those are interim measures designed to relieve traffic congestion. Caltrans says settling on a long-term design to address the threat from rising seas could be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilling says one reason for that is that four counties and dozens of agencies are involved in the planning. And while he likes the idea of a Grand Bayway, he’s skeptical that it will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions are the barrier,” he says. “It’s institutions not having the mechanisms for creative thinking for new ways of doing things to adapt to this new kind of condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “new condition” of rising waters means that the “old” Highway 37 — the one we still count on — could be the first major thoroughfare that the Bay Area loses, completely, to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After flood closures in two of the last three winters, Highway 37 is already a challenge for commuters and planners, with no long-term solution in sight.",
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"description": "After flood closures in two of the last three winters, Highway 37 is already a challenge for commuters and planners, with no long-term solution in sight.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he rainy season is winding down, ending a difficult winter for many North Bay commuters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day, 46,000 people drive Highway 37, the scenic route that connects Marin County with Vallejo, Napa and just about everywhere east.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This thread, though essential, is also tenuous in that it’s strung atop a berm barely above sea level. Traversing the vast salt marshes known as the \u003ca href=\"http://scc.ca.gov/climate-change/climate-change-projects/highway37/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Pablo Baylands\u003c/a>, the 21-mile stretch is emerging as an early challenge to planners confronting California’s changing climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal, when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the drenching winter of 2016-17, flooding from winter storms shut down portions of the road for a total of 28 days. Then, last February, a levee broke on the Marin side, shutting down westbound lanes for five days while crews pumped water off the road and trucks hauled in loads of rock to shore it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It calls into question: How much longer can we have Highway 37 in the way that it is, without preparing for sea level rise?” wonders Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael. He commutes on 37, from Marin to Sacramento, and was frustrated when the road was underwater again two years after Caltrans raised a section to prevent it from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We paved a couple of parts of it, and the part that we didn’t pave was the one that got flooded — of course, it’s the bottom of the bathtub,” he said, referring to the unelevated portions of the highway. “So we can’t pat ourselves on the back on these Band-Aids and quick fixes; we need to think a little bit bigger and think for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940219 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/h37_02.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"571\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u003cem>\u003cstrong>A recent USGS study projects that Highway 37 would be frequently underwater with about 10 inches of sea rise, which could occur between 2040 and 2050. Twenty inches of rise, likely by 2070, would permanently overwhelm the roadway.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Time Running Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That future is coming at us fast, with rising sea levels, high tides and extreme weather events. At the current pace of global warming, in little more than 20 years, Highway 37 could be underwater “multiple times per month,” based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939059/the-ocean-is-not-a-bathtub-so-sea-level-rise-will-be-more-damaging\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent projections\u003c/a> by the U.S. Geological Survey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some say it could be sooner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re noticing that the water is getting higher and higher near the highway,” notes \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/people/fraser-shilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fraser Shilling\u003c/a>, who co-directs the \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/research/programs/sea-level-rise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Road Ecology Center\u003c/a> at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re increasing the baseline, the level of water around it, which increases the risk, with every storm, of the highway closing again,” says Shilling. “So I would say we’re in that window where any given year, the highway could close potentially indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes Steve Page really nervous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Page is the CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomaraceway.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma Raceway\u003c/a>. He depends on Highway 37 to get a half-million visitors a year to his track. He’s been to some meetings of the four-county task force, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tam.ca.gov/sr-37-policy-committee/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Highway 37 Policy Committee\u003c/a>, that has been working on a solution for more than three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You walk out of there after four hours borderline suicidal,” says Page, “when you listen to presentations by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, who sketch out a timeline saying that we might be able to adopt a final plan in 2055.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What to Do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most potential solutions fall into three buckets: Raise the berm that supports the road; put the road on stilts and make it a causeway; reroute it entirely, skirting the marsh by \u003ca href=\"https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/route-highway-through-american-canyon-napans-shudder/article_578ffbd6-ac4d-534e-92df-ca02b1c122f3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looping it north\u003c/a> along higher ground. All three would also widen the road, much of which is one lane in either direction and often choked with traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No matter which plan is eventually chosen, it’s certain to be a multibillion-dollar project. And since there’s currently no money for that, there’s growing sentiment that the new 37 will need to be a toll crossing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any proposal to elevate the highway through the marsh is a proposal to build a new road,” says Shilling. “Because they’re not going to build it over the footprint of the existing road; it’s going to be alongside. So you’re talking about a whole new road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding urgency to the issue is that even as the bay is rising, the land itself is sinking. On the north side of the highway are thousands of acres of marshes. Much of that land is undergoing restoration, and these wetlands could provide a buffer against rising seas if it weren’t for Highway 37 itself, which in its present form acts as a kind of dam between the marsh and the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1950px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1940209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1950\" height=\"1097\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized.jpg 1950w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/Causeway-View_R.5_sized-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1950px) 100vw, 1950px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elevating Highway 37 to a causeway would protect the roadway and allow the marsh to move and interact with the bay — but it won’t come cheap. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t let the marsh do what it needs to do,” says Susan Schwartzenberg. She studies the interaction of human and natural forces as head of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/gallery-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fisher Bay Observatory\u003c/a> at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartzenberg says making the road an elevated causeway, like most of the Dumbarton Bridge, for instance, would allow the wetlands to do their job: delivering sediment to the Bay, re-establishing plants, and providing animal habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see these swarms of birds, the gray, the brown hills in the background; it’s a vista that everyone should love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Schwarzenberg has been working with a world-class design team on a whole new vision for the highway, in the shape of an undulating ribbon that would accommodate cars, bikes and pedestrians. It would even have elevated observation decks and floating campgrounds, to reconnect people with the natural beauty of the North Bay marshes. They even have a name for their grand vision …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940211\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1940211 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg\" alt=\"Image: Grand Bayway design\" width=\"750\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2029/04/CULLINAN_SUNSET_sized-675x1200.jpg 675w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of a possible Grand Bayway, stretching from the Napa River at Vallejo (foreground) to Sears Point in the distance, with bike-and-pedestrian loop and observation tower. \u003ccite>(Common Ground/TLS Landscape Architecture)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Grand Bayway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/grand-bayway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Bayway\u003c/a> “connotes movement,” says Tom Leader, who heads TLS Landscape Architecture in Berkeley. He led one of the teams in the recent \u003ca href=\"http://www.resilientbayarea.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Resilient by Design\u003c/a> Bay Area Challenge and envisions the north end of the bay as an “ecological Central Park.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would include the needs of transportation for people trying to get to work, but in a more elegant interesting way, and people to have access and develop the whole cultural life that’s embedded here … and, you know, living with water into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means, among other things, looking for ways to let the rising waters in, rather than pushing them back with seawalls and levees. Wetlands are a living example of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are some short-term measures already partly funded and in the pipeline, including conversion of the intersection at Sears Point into a roundabout, and possibly adding a reversible commute lane to the eastern leg of the roadway. But those are interim measures designed to relieve traffic congestion. Caltrans says settling on a long-term design to address the threat from rising seas could be years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shilling says one reason for that is that four counties and dozens of agencies are involved in the planning. And while he likes the idea of a Grand Bayway, he’s skeptical that it will happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Institutions are the barrier,” he says. “It’s institutions not having the mechanisms for creative thinking for new ways of doing things to adapt to this new kind of condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This “new condition” of rising waters means that the “old” Highway 37 — the one we still count on — could be the first major thoroughfare that the Bay Area loses, completely, to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Everything You Need to Know About California's Increasingly Catastrophic Wildfire Situation",
"headTitle": "Everything You Need to Know About California’s Increasingly Catastrophic Wildfire Situation | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If it seems that wildfires are burning nearly all the time these days, that there’s no longer a definable fire season in California, you’re right. Fourteen of the 20 most \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">destructive \u003c/a>fires in state history have occurred since 2007, and California has 78 more annual “fire days” now than it had 50 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right']From health to housing to insurance, a primer on the effects of and possible solutions to the worsening California wildfires.[/pullquote]When 2018 became the worst fire year on record, we accepted a new reality. Now each year could surpass the last, setting records for the size, destruction, cost and loss of life. A state-commissioned \u003ca href=\"http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> makes the harrowing projection that under current emissions trends, the average burn area in California will increase 77 percent by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has spent, conservatively, more than $4.7 billion from its emergency fund in the last 10 years to fight fires. Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, has been chewing through its firefighting budget only months into a year, leaving little to pay for thinning California’s overgrown forests and helping rural communities protect their infrastructure and water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fires are disruptive long after they are put out, displacing homeowners and even entire communities for months or years. Even as the charred wood decays, it produces emissions that set back the state’s efforts to combat climate change—only worsening the wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More destructive and deadly\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A warming climate complicates everything. Hotter and drier seasons mean that big fires in December, once almost unheard of, are now common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earlier decades, fires late in the year might have sputtered out after hitting hillsides wet with winter rain. More recent blazes feasted on vegetation that has been sucked of moisture by persistent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even years of plentiful rain harbor dangers. Post-fire precipitation, especially very wet winters, can usher in the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/californias-charred-hills-bloom-again-not-all-good/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">non-native\u003c/a> shrubs and grasses that burn quickly and spread fires faster than native species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"7dff80e5-f4ec-47b0-b960-d6db36efc149\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wild fire graphic 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http://.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Homes at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s bigger, more frequent fires are endangering more residents—nearly 90 perished in the 2018 blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Forest fires are increasingly a misnomer as flames race across landscapes dotted with subdivisions and communities that have been carved out where trees once stood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trend of more Californians living in harm’s way complicates firefighting efforts and ramps up the danger fires pose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"916eab88-717c-4304-8114-6b05233c9af8\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"fire card deck/chap 1/card 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Epidemic of Dead Trees\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s forests, which cover a third of the state, are now choked with some 150 million dead trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weakened by a prolonged drought, which scientists link to climate change, California’s ubiquitous pines and oaks are vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. Those giants crash to the forest floor and, unless they are removed, provide ready fodder for the next voracious fire. The die-off is catastrophic, beyond the reach of state foresters to remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, former director of Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2b338c4c-7e72-43a5-a16f-f82ec430aeca\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Copy: wildfire deck/chap 1 card 3/tree death\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-Prone Federal Forests\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state owns only about 3 percent of California’s wooded acreage. Some land is owned by cities, counties, Native American tribes and private holders. President Trump has criticized California’s fire management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"c1f69006-9c9e-4d84-960c-9f7cabed1c1b\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"map\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Forest Service has a longtime policy of putting out every fire, and quickly, which has packed the federal land with fuel to burn. And its budget falls short of the cost of needed work to reduce that fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"3e65fbeb-3293-488d-858c-9db5d795bf2a\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"firefighting budget wildfire card deck, chap 1,card 4\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Electricity Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines and other electrical equipment are strung across California, drawing little attention—until authorities name utility equipment as the cause of a wildfire. One in 10 California wildfires is related to energy equipment, according to the state’s chief utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"81ffb848-5f9f-47d8-9445-bb8965ab6e41\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Type \">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers have ordered that utility companies put safety measures in place, hoping to ensure that their equipment won’t spark future fires. Among the firms’ strategies: more aggressively clearing brush and trees around transmission lines; swapping wooden power poles for metal ones; and maintaining a network of remote cameras to keep watch on wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of these or other fire-mitigation efforts will come cheaply. When a judge proposed sweeping new safety measures for Pacific Gas & Electric, the company said the work could cost an eye-popping $150 billion. And consumers can be expected to foot much of the fire-mitigation bill as utility companies pass costs along to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Harming California’s Environment\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Floating Umbrellas of Horrid Air\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires burn in uninhabited wildlands, their corrosive effects can be carried hundreds of miles by the wind, causing stinging eyes, burning throats and severe coughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air districts issue warnings to residents to wear masks and avoid outside exercise. Hospital emergency rooms report increased numbers of patients seeking help for respiratory problems, and school closures can keep as many as a million children home as even indoor air quality deteriorates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"aa8bedb5-de7d-4e67-913e-8ed2a0c26baf\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck/emergency room visits\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Undercutting Climate Goals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has done as much as California to reduce its output of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Yet the smoke produced by major fires is so potent that a single weeks-long blaze can undo a year’s worth of carbon-reduction efforts. State officials are concerned that what’s pumped into the air during fires could impair California’s ability to reach its stringent greenhouse-gas reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single wildfire can spew more pollutants into the air than millions of cars. Moreover, as more trees die, another weapon to combat climate change is lost: the prodigious ability of healthy trees to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. That process is reversed if the trees burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"38def4af-eaea-4596-a66f-451b6b1cb7a0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 2\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Lingering Villain: Black Carbon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trees release a powerful pollutant, black carbon, as they burn. Black carbon is many thousand times more damaging than greenhouse gases. And the damage doesn’t cease once flames are snuffed out; decaying forests continue to emit harmful pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a burned-out forest is replaced by chaparral or brush, that landscape loses more than 90 percent of its capacity to take in and retain carbon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"50aa90aa-e6b6-46a2-85db-966d43599db0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 3\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erosion Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires rage in California’s mountains, the system that stores and cleans water, feeds streams and rivers, supports fish and other wildlife and literally holds the hillsides together burns up. Forests are watersheds, a critical component of California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Trees hold water in their limbs, roots and soil and draw it into underground aquifers, a source of drinking water.\u003cbr>\n• Meadows on lower slopes filter and clean water.\u003cbr>\n• Tree loss after fires fosters soil erosion; the runoff clogs waterways.\u003cbr>\n• Unstable hills can threaten public safety with landslides and mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regrowth Is Not All Good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has to be said that fires are not always bad. Naturally occurring fires clear overgrown forests, creating space for some plants and trees to revitalize. Researchers say less-dense forests are more natural and healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more often in California, wildfires ignite a furious competition for life. Fast-growing and opportunistic non-native plants rush in after fires, with the potential to wholly supplant native species. This phenomenon doesn’t just erase an aspect of California’s botanical history; it affects its fire future. Invasive grasses and weeds often burn more readily, fanning hotter and more frequent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2e1eaacb-94b2-4f5e-a2ff-abc78b0bf30c\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"invasive plants\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Cost to California\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lives Lost\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires took scores of lives in California in 2018, the deadliest fire year in the state’s recent history. Most of those deaths were related to the blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. The numbers include people responding to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"e04fe53f-3900-4553-af0d-2a5ef5c05875\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Fire Fatalities/updates\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Toll on State Finances\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not surprisingly, the wildfire tab is growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has exceeded projected fire suppression costs in 7 of the last 10 years. In 2018, California spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and emergency response, far exceeding the budgeted $450 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"dbd920b7-e9d2-44c2-b2ca-fbd26b6d5c76\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Soaring cost of wildfires\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, firefighting air fleets in the world, including S-2T air tankers and Huey helicopters. The state will start upgrading the Hueys to Black Hawks and begin to add C-130 Hercules cargo planes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And rather than waiting to respond to a wildfire, emergency personnel have shifted to pre-positioning strike teams before a fire even starts. It’s a strategy that costs more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Financial Toll for Private Citizens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California have occurred in the last five years. The financial toll for homeowners, renters and businesses in the past two fire seasons has topped $10 billion in insured losses each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance has reported claims from major wildfire seasons going back to 2007. The claims include damages reported to residential and commercial properties as well as auto and other lines of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the figures don’t tell the whole story. We know many wildfire victims lived in high-threat areas without insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 650px;\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storyline/latest/embed/index.html?dataURL=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F103Ma9xiRI2-jYbXNhqoNOKhD3coGvl68lHduDeo6WI8%2Fedit%23gid%3D0&dataYCol=total&dataXCol=year&dataDateFormat=%25Y&chartDateFormat=%25Y&chartYLabel=Insured%20losses&sliderCardTitleCol=title&sliderCardTextCol=text\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rising Insurance Rates and Canceled Policies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance in fire-prone areas is getting more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RAND Corp. found the average premium for high-risk areas was up 15 percent between 2007 and 2014 in reviewing prices in a portion of San Bernardino County. It was up 12 percent in the same period in the Sierra Foothills east of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"ef504129-17e6-407f-bca1-c68f370cbd56\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Insurance premiums in high-risk areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica-based nonprofit research firm conducted the study as part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and was funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RAND researcher Lloyd Dixon found the higher prices were influencing purchasing patterns: Policyholders are buying less coverage, lowballing the cost to fully replace their belongings and tending to elect higher deductibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But are insurers cancelling policies? This is harder to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A December 2017 survey by the California Department of Insurance found an uptick in renewal complaints in areas designated by Cal Fire as having the greatest risk of wildfire. The department received 41 complaints in 2010 but 143 in 2016. And the insurance department found that insurer-initiated cancellations went up from 8,796 in 2015 in high fire areas to 10,151 in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"17de4aff-f6b8-4372-b53c-3f4a85a99ccc\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"California insurance policy cancellation in high-threat areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003cbr>\nHowever, those figures are a fraction of the more than 36,000 cancellations initiated by policyholders. In fact, RAND’s study found more insurers are actually offering in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, insurance policies of last resort written for brush and wildfire areas have increased from 22,397 policies to 33,898 policies, a 51 percent increase over five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This suggests people are more likely to be priced out and taking on more risk. Property owners in fire-threat areas can expect insurance prices to keep rising. In areas with the highest risk, people can expect their premiums by 2055 to go up 18 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Utilities Debacle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Jan. 29, 2019 in the aftermath of the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, the two most destructive in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility, which provides natural gas and electricity to 16 million people in northern and central California, cited up to $30 billion in liabilities since many blazes have been linked to its equipment. Legal experts say it could take two to three years to rehabilitate PG&E, a process that could leave energy goals hampered and wildfire victims shortchanged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even before PG&E’s bankruptcy, there was debate about who bears the costs as wildfires become more frequent and destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"fe56f9a1-3e75-4563-ac1f-ef5a36a71449\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Utilities debacle timeline\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Debate Over Solutions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Detection and Prevention\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wildfire season is essentially year-round now. And with wildfires expected to get worse, residents, utilities and the state play a role in minimizing the impact of the wildfire seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Residents\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents have a responsibility to create a defensible space around their property and “harden” homes to make them fire resistant. California law requires creating a buffer by clearing out trees, brush and grass within 100 feet around homes in wildfire-affected areas. Fire officials say it can increase the likelihood of a house surviving a wildfire eight-fold. In addition, homes with wood or shingle roofs are at high risk of being destroyed. Consider materials such as composition, metal or tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YuyuMgXkhU8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Utilities\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under new law, investor-owned utilities must prepare wildfire mitigation plans that describe what they are doing to prevent, combat and respond to wildfires. The three largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, all plan to spend millions clearing brush and trees away from transmission lines, insulate or underground power lines, and install or maintain a network of remote cameras and weather stations to detect wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E and SCE are now following in the footsteps of SDG&E in expanding the use of public safety power shutoffs, also known as de-energization. The practice of shutting off electric power during dangerous weather conditions is viewed as a public-safety measure of last resort because it can cut off internet access and make communication difficult for hospitals, firefighters and emergency personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The State\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 22, 2019, Gov. Newsom declared a wildfire state of emergency for California and waived environmental regulations to speed up forest management projects aimed at reducing the fuel load for the upcoming wildfire season. By removing dead trees or clearing brush, the programs aim to reduce the threat of wildfires by creating fuel breaks, defensible space and safe travel corridors around vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, however, question whether logging would damage ecosystems and suggest it’s more effective to clear vegetation around homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restrictions on Where and How to Build\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when fires threaten homes and no help is in sight, all is not lost. There is much homeowners can do to prepare and protect their property in the face of wildfire, beginning with clearing trees, brush and wood piles around their houses,.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The manner of construction and the types of materials used can help give structures a fighting chance against the advance of flames. California building codes for new homes require forgoing wooden roofs and decks in favor of fire-resistant materials, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the actions homeowners can take to protect their property:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Install double-paned windows\u003cbr>\n• Detach garages and storage sheds from the main house\u003cbr>\n• Put ember-resistant vents in attics and elsewhere\u003cbr>\n• Consider fire-resistant cladding such as stucco or stone\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, some places where the risk is so great that fire scientists say homes simply should not be built there—even in a state where housing shortages have reached crisis levels. In California from 1990 to 2010, an estimated 45 percent of new housing units were constructed in the “wildland-urban interface”—where suburbia and rural towns back up onto wild, and combustible, landscapes. With more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability and firefighters have a tougher and larger territory to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-four percent of new housing units in California were built in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface—where the state’s cul-de-sac’d suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub landscapes. With more and more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability, an ever-larger and more challenging front for firefighters to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What to do? State lawmakers have already extended some state restrictions to local lands, and some have talked about possible rebates or other subsidies for residents who cannot afford to “harden” their homes. But essentially legislators are grappling with an unpalatable reality: Require even more extensive and expensive upgrades to existing homes, or ban building altogether in some areas. That discussion is as potentially explosive as the fires themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YsXMV6l_pIE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bills to Watch: 2019\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Gov. Newsom is monitoring PG&E bankruptcy developments, state lawmakers have turned their focus toward prevention. Here are some key proposals for the 2019 legislative session:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 190 (Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa) Would direct the State Fire Marshal to develop a defensible space ordinance for local governments to adopt and enforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 209 (Sen. Dodd) establishes the California Wildfire Warning Center in order to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state. Requires that utilities install additional weather monitoring equipment in high fire threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 290 (Sen. Dodd) Sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma, the bill would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 235 (Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley) Would create the California Wildfire Catastrophe Fund Authority financed by participating utilities to reimburse the utility for liability costs that exceed their established insurance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 281 (Assemblyman Jim Frazier of Fairfield) A bill with early-stage language that proposes to have California utilities relocate underground or otherwise enhance the safety of transmission and distribution lines in high fire-threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Graphics assistance by Elizabeth Castillo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The increasing size, cost and human toll of California wildfires are becoming a permanent part of life in the state. From housing to health, CALmatters provides a primer on the effects and possible solutions to this worsening situation.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If it seems that wildfires are burning nearly all the time these days, that there’s no longer a definable fire season in California, you’re right. Fourteen of the 20 most \u003ca href=\"http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Destruction.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">destructive \u003c/a>fires in state history have occurred since 2007, and California has 78 more annual “fire days” now than it had 50 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When 2018 became the worst fire year on record, we accepted a new reality. Now each year could surpass the last, setting records for the size, destruction, cost and loss of life. A state-commissioned \u003ca href=\"http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/state/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report\u003c/a> makes the harrowing projection that under current emissions trends, the average burn area in California will increase 77 percent by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has spent, conservatively, more than $4.7 billion from its emergency fund in the last 10 years to fight fires. Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, has been chewing through its firefighting budget only months into a year, leaving little to pay for thinning California’s overgrown forests and helping rural communities protect their infrastructure and water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fires are disruptive long after they are put out, displacing homeowners and even entire communities for months or years. Even as the charred wood decays, it produces emissions that set back the state’s efforts to combat climate change—only worsening the wildfires to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>More destructive and deadly\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Changing Climate\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A warming climate complicates everything. Hotter and drier seasons mean that big fires in December, once almost unheard of, are now common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earlier decades, fires late in the year might have sputtered out after hitting hillsides wet with winter rain. More recent blazes feasted on vegetation that has been sucked of moisture by persistent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even years of plentiful rain harbor dangers. Post-fire precipitation, especially very wet winters, can usher in the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/articles/californias-charred-hills-bloom-again-not-all-good/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">non-native\u003c/a> shrubs and grasses that burn quickly and spread fires faster than native species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"7dff80e5-f4ec-47b0-b960-d6db36efc149\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wild fire graphic 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http://.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Homes at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s bigger, more frequent fires are endangering more residents—nearly 90 perished in the 2018 blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. Forest fires are increasingly a misnomer as flames race across landscapes dotted with subdivisions and communities that have been carved out where trees once stood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trend of more Californians living in harm’s way complicates firefighting efforts and ramps up the danger fires pose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"916eab88-717c-4304-8114-6b05233c9af8\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"fire card deck/chap 1/card 1\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Epidemic of Dead Trees\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s forests, which cover a third of the state, are now choked with some 150 million dead trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weakened by a prolonged drought, which scientists link to climate change, California’s ubiquitous pines and oaks are vulnerable to insect infestation and disease. Those giants crash to the forest floor and, unless they are removed, provide ready fodder for the next voracious fire. The die-off is catastrophic, beyond the reach of state foresters to remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In many communities of the central and southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, “80 percent of trees are dead,” said Ken Pimlott, former director of Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2b338c4c-7e72-43a5-a16f-f82ec430aeca\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Copy: wildfire deck/chap 1 card 3/tree death\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-Prone Federal Forests\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state owns only about 3 percent of California’s wooded acreage. Some land is owned by cities, counties, Native American tribes and private holders. President Trump has criticized California’s fire management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"c1f69006-9c9e-4d84-960c-9f7cabed1c1b\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"map\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Forest Service has a longtime policy of putting out every fire, and quickly, which has packed the federal land with fuel to burn. And its budget falls short of the cost of needed work to reduce that fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"3e65fbeb-3293-488d-858c-9db5d795bf2a\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"firefighting budget wildfire card deck, chap 1,card 4\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Electricity Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines and other electrical equipment are strung across California, drawing little attention—until authorities name utility equipment as the cause of a wildfire. One in 10 California wildfires is related to energy equipment, according to the state’s chief utility regulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"81ffb848-5f9f-47d8-9445-bb8965ab6e41\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Type \">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers have ordered that utility companies put safety measures in place, hoping to ensure that their equipment won’t spark future fires. Among the firms’ strategies: more aggressively clearing brush and trees around transmission lines; swapping wooden power poles for metal ones; and maintaining a network of remote cameras to keep watch on wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of these or other fire-mitigation efforts will come cheaply. When a judge proposed sweeping new safety measures for Pacific Gas & Electric, the company said the work could cost an eye-popping $150 billion. And consumers can be expected to foot much of the fire-mitigation bill as utility companies pass costs along to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Harming California’s Environment\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Floating Umbrellas of Horrid Air\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires burn in uninhabited wildlands, their corrosive effects can be carried hundreds of miles by the wind, causing stinging eyes, burning throats and severe coughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local air districts issue warnings to residents to wear masks and avoid outside exercise. Hospital emergency rooms report increased numbers of patients seeking help for respiratory problems, and school closures can keep as many as a million children home as even indoor air quality deteriorates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"aa8bedb5-de7d-4e67-913e-8ed2a0c26baf\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck/emergency room visits\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Undercutting Climate Goals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state has done as much as California to reduce its output of planet-warming greenhouse gases. Yet the smoke produced by major fires is so potent that a single weeks-long blaze can undo a year’s worth of carbon-reduction efforts. State officials are concerned that what’s pumped into the air during fires could impair California’s ability to reach its stringent greenhouse-gas reduction goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A single wildfire can spew more pollutants into the air than millions of cars. Moreover, as more trees die, another weapon to combat climate change is lost: the prodigious ability of healthy trees to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. That process is reversed if the trees burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"38def4af-eaea-4596-a66f-451b6b1cb7a0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 2\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Lingering Villain: Black Carbon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trees release a powerful pollutant, black carbon, as they burn. Black carbon is many thousand times more damaging than greenhouse gases. And the damage doesn’t cease once flames are snuffed out; decaying forests continue to emit harmful pollutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a burned-out forest is replaced by chaparral or brush, that landscape loses more than 90 percent of its capacity to take in and retain carbon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"50aa90aa-e6b6-46a2-85db-966d43599db0\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"wildfire card deck, chap 2, card 3\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Erosion Danger\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When fires rage in California’s mountains, the system that stores and cleans water, feeds streams and rivers, supports fish and other wildlife and literally holds the hillsides together burns up. Forests are watersheds, a critical component of California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Trees hold water in their limbs, roots and soil and draw it into underground aquifers, a source of drinking water.\u003cbr>\n• Meadows on lower slopes filter and clean water.\u003cbr>\n• Tree loss after fires fosters soil erosion; the runoff clogs waterways.\u003cbr>\n• Unstable hills can threaten public safety with landslides and mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Regrowth Is Not All Good\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has to be said that fires are not always bad. Naturally occurring fires clear overgrown forests, creating space for some plants and trees to revitalize. Researchers say less-dense forests are more natural and healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more often in California, wildfires ignite a furious competition for life. Fast-growing and opportunistic non-native plants rush in after fires, with the potential to wholly supplant native species. This phenomenon doesn’t just erase an aspect of California’s botanical history; it affects its fire future. Invasive grasses and weeds often burn more readily, fanning hotter and more frequent fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"2e1eaacb-94b2-4f5e-a2ff-abc78b0bf30c\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"invasive plants\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Cost to California\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lives Lost\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfires took scores of lives in California in 2018, the deadliest fire year in the state’s recent history. Most of those deaths were related to the blaze that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. The numbers include people responding to the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"e04fe53f-3900-4553-af0d-2a5ef5c05875\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Fire Fatalities/updates\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Toll on State Finances\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not surprisingly, the wildfire tab is growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has exceeded projected fire suppression costs in 7 of the last 10 years. In 2018, California spent nearly $1 billion on fire suppression and emergency response, far exceeding the budgeted $450 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"dbd920b7-e9d2-44c2-b2ca-fbd26b6d5c76\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Soaring cost of wildfires\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, firefighting air fleets in the world, including S-2T air tankers and Huey helicopters. The state will start upgrading the Hueys to Black Hawks and begin to add C-130 Hercules cargo planes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And rather than waiting to respond to a wildfire, emergency personnel have shifted to pre-positioning strike teams before a fire even starts. It’s a strategy that costs more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Financial Toll for Private Citizens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California have occurred in the last five years. The financial toll for homeowners, renters and businesses in the past two fire seasons has topped $10 billion in insured losses each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance has reported claims from major wildfire seasons going back to 2007. The claims include damages reported to residential and commercial properties as well as auto and other lines of insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the figures don’t tell the whole story. We know many wildfire victims lived in high-threat areas without insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 650px;\" src=\"https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storyline/latest/embed/index.html?dataURL=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F103Ma9xiRI2-jYbXNhqoNOKhD3coGvl68lHduDeo6WI8%2Fedit%23gid%3D0&dataYCol=total&dataXCol=year&dataDateFormat=%25Y&chartDateFormat=%25Y&chartYLabel=Insured%20losses&sliderCardTitleCol=title&sliderCardTextCol=text\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rising Insurance Rates and Canceled Policies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance in fire-prone areas is getting more expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The RAND Corp. found the average premium for high-risk areas was up 15 percent between 2007 and 2014 in reviewing prices in a portion of San Bernardino County. It was up 12 percent in the same period in the Sierra Foothills east of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"ef504129-17e6-407f-bca1-c68f370cbd56\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Insurance premiums in high-risk areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica-based nonprofit research firm conducted the study as part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment and was funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>RAND researcher Lloyd Dixon found the higher prices were influencing purchasing patterns: Policyholders are buying less coverage, lowballing the cost to fully replace their belongings and tending to elect higher deductibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But are insurers cancelling policies? This is harder to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A December 2017 survey by the California Department of Insurance found an uptick in renewal complaints in areas designated by Cal Fire as having the greatest risk of wildfire. The department received 41 complaints in 2010 but 143 in 2016. And the insurance department found that insurer-initiated cancellations went up from 8,796 in 2015 in high fire areas to 10,151 in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"17de4aff-f6b8-4372-b53c-3f4a85a99ccc\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"California insurance policy cancellation in high-threat areas\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003cbr>\nHowever, those figures are a fraction of the more than 36,000 cancellations initiated by policyholders. In fact, RAND’s study found more insurers are actually offering in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, insurance policies of last resort written for brush and wildfire areas have increased from 22,397 policies to 33,898 policies, a 51 percent increase over five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This suggests people are more likely to be priced out and taking on more risk. Property owners in fire-threat areas can expect insurance prices to keep rising. In areas with the highest risk, people can expect their premiums by 2055 to go up 18 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Utilities Debacle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pacific Gas and Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Jan. 29, 2019 in the aftermath of the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, the two most destructive in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility, which provides natural gas and electricity to 16 million people in northern and central California, cited up to $30 billion in liabilities since many blazes have been linked to its equipment. Legal experts say it could take two to three years to rehabilitate PG&E, a process that could leave energy goals hampered and wildfire victims shortchanged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even before PG&E’s bankruptcy, there was debate about who bears the costs as wildfires become more frequent and destructive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"fe56f9a1-3e75-4563-ac1f-ef5a36a71449\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Utilities debacle timeline\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cscript>!function(e,t,s,i){var n=\"InfogramEmbeds\",o=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0],d=/^http:/.test(e.location)?\"http:\":\"https:\";if(/^\\/{2}/.test(i)&&(i=d+i),window[n]&&window[n].initialized)window[n].process&&window[n].process();else if(!e.getElementById(s)){var r=e.createElement(\"script\");r.async=1,r.id=s,r.src=i,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\",\"https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js\");\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Debate Over Solutions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Detection and Prevention\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s wildfire season is essentially year-round now. And with wildfires expected to get worse, residents, utilities and the state play a role in minimizing the impact of the wildfire seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Residents\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents have a responsibility to create a defensible space around their property and “harden” homes to make them fire resistant. California law requires creating a buffer by clearing out trees, brush and grass within 100 feet around homes in wildfire-affected areas. Fire officials say it can increase the likelihood of a house surviving a wildfire eight-fold. In addition, homes with wood or shingle roofs are at high risk of being destroyed. Consider materials such as composition, metal or tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YuyuMgXkhU8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Utilities\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under new law, investor-owned utilities must prepare wildfire mitigation plans that describe what they are doing to prevent, combat and respond to wildfires. The three largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, all plan to spend millions clearing brush and trees away from transmission lines, insulate or underground power lines, and install or maintain a network of remote cameras and weather stations to detect wind, smoke and other dangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E and SCE are now following in the footsteps of SDG&E in expanding the use of public safety power shutoffs, also known as de-energization. The practice of shutting off electric power during dangerous weather conditions is viewed as a public-safety measure of last resort because it can cut off internet access and make communication difficult for hospitals, firefighters and emergency personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The State\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On March 22, 2019, Gov. Newsom declared a wildfire state of emergency for California and waived environmental regulations to speed up forest management projects aimed at reducing the fuel load for the upcoming wildfire season. By removing dead trees or clearing brush, the programs aim to reduce the threat of wildfires by creating fuel breaks, defensible space and safe travel corridors around vulnerable communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups, however, question whether logging would damage ecosystems and suggest it’s more effective to clear vegetation around homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Restrictions on Where and How to Build\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when fires threaten homes and no help is in sight, all is not lost. There is much homeowners can do to prepare and protect their property in the face of wildfire, beginning with clearing trees, brush and wood piles around their houses,.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The manner of construction and the types of materials used can help give structures a fighting chance against the advance of flames. California building codes for new homes require forgoing wooden roofs and decks in favor of fire-resistant materials, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the actions homeowners can take to protect their property:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Install double-paned windows\u003cbr>\n• Detach garages and storage sheds from the main house\u003cbr>\n• Put ember-resistant vents in attics and elsewhere\u003cbr>\n• Consider fire-resistant cladding such as stucco or stone\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are, however, some places where the risk is so great that fire scientists say homes simply should not be built there—even in a state where housing shortages have reached crisis levels. In California from 1990 to 2010, an estimated 45 percent of new housing units were constructed in the “wildland-urban interface”—where suburbia and rural towns back up onto wild, and combustible, landscapes. With more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability and firefighters have a tougher and larger territory to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-four percent of new housing units in California were built in what experts refer to as the wildland-urban interface—where the state’s cul-de-sac’d suburban subdivisions and rural communities meet its flammable forests and shrub landscapes. With more and more residences sprouting on the edge of wildlands or deep in narrow canyons, fires become an inevitability, an ever-larger and more challenging front for firefighters to defend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What to do? State lawmakers have already extended some state restrictions to local lands, and some have talked about possible rebates or other subsidies for residents who cannot afford to “harden” their homes. But essentially legislators are grappling with an unpalatable reality: Require even more extensive and expensive upgrades to existing homes, or ban building altogether in some areas. That discussion is as potentially explosive as the fires themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/YsXMV6l_pIE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Bills to Watch: 2019\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While Gov. Newsom is monitoring PG&E bankruptcy developments, state lawmakers have turned their focus toward prevention. Here are some key proposals for the 2019 legislative session:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 190 (Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa) Would direct the State Fire Marshal to develop a defensible space ordinance for local governments to adopt and enforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 209 (Sen. Dodd) establishes the California Wildfire Warning Center in order to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state. Requires that utilities install additional weather monitoring equipment in high fire threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•SB 290 (Sen. Dodd) Sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma, the bill would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 235 (Assemblyman Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley) Would create the California Wildfire Catastrophe Fund Authority financed by participating utilities to reimburse the utility for liability costs that exceed their established insurance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>•AB 281 (Assemblyman Jim Frazier of Fairfield) A bill with early-stage language that proposes to have California utilities relocate underground or otherwise enhance the safety of transmission and distribution lines in high fire-threat areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Graphics assistance by Elizabeth Castillo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CALmatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Message From School Kids on Climate Urgency: 'You Started It. Please Take Us Seriously.'",
"headTitle": "Message From School Kids on Climate Urgency: ‘You Started It. Please Take Us Seriously.’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It was like a giant field trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='right' citation='Sam Spielman, Berkeley High sophomore']‘You guys are the ones who started it and we’re the ones who are going to have to deal with it. Please take us seriously.’[/pullquote]Parent chaperones herded younger kids together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Giddy teenagers climbed up lamp posts to get a better look at the protesters making their way down Market Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students of all ages skipped class to send a message that action on climate change can’t wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday’s march in San Francisco was just \u003ca href=\"https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/events/map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> one of hundreds of student strikes\u003c/a> across the world that aim to hold the powerful accountable for not doing enough to slow climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a problem and we have to deal with it now. You guys are the ones who started it and we’re the ones who are going to have to deal with it. Please, take us seriously,” said Sam Spielman, a sophomore at Berkeley High School and a member of the school’s Green Team, a student organization formed to support the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">economic stimulus package\u003c/a> designed to reduce climate change, authored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spielman and thousands of other teenagers and children marched about a mile from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office near Civic Center to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office in the Financial District.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939123/meet-the-5th-grade-organizer-behind-berkeleys-student-strike-against-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meet the 5th Grader Behind Berkeley’s Student Strike Against Climate Change\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939123/meet-the-5th-grade-organizer-behind-berkeleys-student-strike-against-climate-change/\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Student-Strike-Climate-Change-Juniper-Grace-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With a little help from her parents and her friends, 11-year-old Grace has made posters, handed out permission slips, and planned a two-hour walkout and march to Berkeley’s Civic Center on Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Many said they were inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who skipped school to protest the lack of progress in reducing reliance on fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second-grader Eloise Simons wore her hair in two braids, just like Thunberg. Her father, Jesse Simons, explained that her teacher at Park Day School assigned her class a presentation about someone who inspires them. Eloise chose Greta Thunberg and insisted on participating in the student strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just want to stop climate change,” Eloise said. “And Nancy Pelosi won’t! So we need to do something to try and stop it. We need to protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The students were generally on message — in an age appropriate way. High schoolers explained that they don’t know how to prepare for jobs and careers in a warmer future full of uncertainty. Middle schoolers talked about the importance of passing the Green New Deal. And elementary school students worried about storms and wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the children had even heard about what happened when their fellow activists visited Feinstein’s office to lobby for the Green New Deal, when the senator lectured them about her recent electoral win. A group of middle schoolers from Urban Montessori in Oakland had\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1099075460649107458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> seen the video\u003c/a>, and they were not impressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if she didn’t like what those kids were saying, she didn’t have to be disrespectful,” said 12-year-old Fatoumata Kaba. “We want our planet to stay safe. We want a future for ourselves and our future kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1020x749.jpg\" alt='Students Bruck and Jai hold up a banner that says \"Youth vs Apocalypse\" outside of the office building of Nancy Pelosi in downtown San Francisco on Friday March 15, 2019. (Lindsey Moore/KQED)' width=\"640\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1020x749.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-800x588.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-768x564.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1200x881.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students Bruck and Jai hold up a banner that says “Youth vs Apocalypse” outside of the office building of Nancy Pelosi in downtown San Francisco on Friday March 15, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The students proceeded down Market Street with a sense of urgency that only comes with youth. Teenagers counted down the years until they can register to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little disappointed by DiFi in that video. I think it’s about time we get someone new in office,” said Ella Wadbrook, a 15-year-old at Berkeley High. “It’s our lives that are being affected when they don’t act. It’s frustrating that we can’t choose who’s making the laws that determine our future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wadbrook said she and her friends are unwilling to wait to have their say until the climate degrades beyond repair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m two-and-a-half years away from voting. It feels like forever,” she said, expressing both the impatience of youth and the urgency of a veteran climate activist.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Parent chaperones herded younger kids together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Giddy teenagers climbed up lamp posts to get a better look at the protesters making their way down Market Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students of all ages skipped class to send a message that action on climate change can’t wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday’s march in San Francisco was just \u003ca href=\"https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/events/map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> one of hundreds of student strikes\u003c/a> across the world that aim to hold the powerful accountable for not doing enough to slow climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a problem and we have to deal with it now. You guys are the ones who started it and we’re the ones who are going to have to deal with it. Please, take us seriously,” said Sam Spielman, a sophomore at Berkeley High School and a member of the school’s Green Team, a student organization formed to support the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">economic stimulus package\u003c/a> designed to reduce climate change, authored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spielman and thousands of other teenagers and children marched about a mile from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office near Civic Center to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office in the Financial District.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939123/meet-the-5th-grade-organizer-behind-berkeleys-student-strike-against-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Meet the 5th Grader Behind Berkeley’s Student Strike Against Climate Change\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1939123/meet-the-5th-grade-organizer-behind-berkeleys-student-strike-against-climate-change/\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/Student-Strike-Climate-Change-Juniper-Grace-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With a little help from her parents and her friends, 11-year-old Grace has made posters, handed out permission slips, and planned a two-hour walkout and march to Berkeley’s Civic Center on Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Many said they were inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who skipped school to protest the lack of progress in reducing reliance on fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Second-grader Eloise Simons wore her hair in two braids, just like Thunberg. Her father, Jesse Simons, explained that her teacher at Park Day School assigned her class a presentation about someone who inspires them. Eloise chose Greta Thunberg and insisted on participating in the student strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just want to stop climate change,” Eloise said. “And Nancy Pelosi won’t! So we need to do something to try and stop it. We need to protest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The students were generally on message — in an age appropriate way. High schoolers explained that they don’t know how to prepare for jobs and careers in a warmer future full of uncertainty. Middle schoolers talked about the importance of passing the Green New Deal. And elementary school students worried about storms and wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the children had even heard about what happened when their fellow activists visited Feinstein’s office to lobby for the Green New Deal, when the senator lectured them about her recent electoral win. A group of middle schoolers from Urban Montessori in Oakland had\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1099075460649107458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> seen the video\u003c/a>, and they were not impressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if she didn’t like what those kids were saying, she didn’t have to be disrespectful,” said 12-year-old Fatoumata Kaba. “We want our planet to stay safe. We want a future for ourselves and our future kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1020x749.jpg\" alt='Students Bruck and Jai hold up a banner that says \"Youth vs Apocalypse\" outside of the office building of Nancy Pelosi in downtown San Francisco on Friday March 15, 2019. (Lindsey Moore/KQED)' width=\"640\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1020x749.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-800x588.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-768x564.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003-1200x881.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/RS35843_YouthClimateStrike_003.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students Bruck and Jai hold up a banner that says “Youth vs Apocalypse” outside of the office building of Nancy Pelosi in downtown San Francisco on Friday March 15, 2019. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The students proceeded down Market Street with a sense of urgency that only comes with youth. Teenagers counted down the years until they can register to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little disappointed by DiFi in that video. I think it’s about time we get someone new in office,” said Ella Wadbrook, a 15-year-old at Berkeley High. “It’s our lives that are being affected when they don’t act. It’s frustrating that we can’t choose who’s making the laws that determine our future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wadbrook said she and her friends are unwilling to wait to have their say until the climate degrades beyond repair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m two-and-a-half years away from voting. It feels like forever,” she said, expressing both the impatience of youth and the urgency of a veteran climate activist.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"radiolab": {
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"reveal": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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"snap-judgment": {
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"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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