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Do you care about the residents there, and how they’re dealing with climate change?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at a lab in Stanford have found, through \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-21098-z\">early experiments\u003c/a>, that most people say yes, regardless of their political orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists did not pony up hundreds of thousands to fly people to Nashville and hire private helicopters. Instead, they immersed them in the city by using virtual reality headsets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999016\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999016\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy N. Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, holds a virtual-reality headset he designed in 1999 during a demonstration at Stanford University on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found people felt more connected to the places where they traveled, even if they weren’t previously familiar with them, and that climate-related impacts like flooding felt more personally relevant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study suggests that instead of trying to engage people in climate change through fear or guilt, giving people agency to explore a place through immersive virtual reality can boost their concern for it, similar to how someone may feel after actually visiting a place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is big,” said Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford professor who oversaw the study. “There’s lots of things we can start doing now. We can start making you care more about the people in that place. We can just make the Earth a little smaller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shrinking ‘psychological’ distance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For social scientists studying climate change, there’s a reason why people tend to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21992607/\">avoid\u003c/a> these issues. Researchers call it “psychological distance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It refers to the distance we feel when it comes to climate change. With the exception of increasingly common local extreme weather, we think the impacts of climate change are happening elsewhere or feel different from the people it affects most severely. Some feel the worst effects won’t happen soon, and others are uncertain; they don’t know exactly how bad the results of inaction will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999017\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Augmented-reality headsets from Microsoft, Magic Leap, and XReal sit on display inside the Virtual Human Interaction Lab as a temporary “museum” at Stanford University. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To attempt to shrink some of that distance, at least geographically, Stanford researchers outfitted participants with VR headsets. Participants then traveled, virtually, to places they identified as either familiar or unfamiliar to them, like the North Shore of Massachusetts, Miami or Nashville. They hovered above the terrain, as though in an aircraft, as they looked down on the homes, streets, and backyards below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While participants saw these regions as tranquil, sunny places, with no humans or cars disturbing the quiet, they heard a simple news story about the impacts of climate-induced flooding on the locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterwards, researchers found people cared more about the places they visited, even those that were unfamiliar, and the effects climate change is having on the locations. Concern for distant places carried through regardless of participants’ political orientation.[aside postID=science_1999358 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/CaliforniaLandfillMethaneGetty.jpg']Control groups heard similar news stories about flooding, but were shown still photographs of places both familiar and unfamiliar. They did not report caring in the same way as those who were immersed in VR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailenson is the founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a research center studying the psychological and behavioral impacts of virtual and augmented reality, the latter of which overlays digital images onto the real world. He’s worked on experiments aimed at increasing people’s focus on climate change for more than a decade, having found some success. His team discovered that when people put on a VR headset and cut down a tree, feeling the vibration of the chainsaw, they use less paper afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also spent years and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” building virtual reality films that place the participant underwater, witnessing ocean acidification. When people put on the headset, these experiences changed their attitudes and behaviors. But when researchers installed the VR in a museum or other exhibit, people chose not to engage: It was too much doom and gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea to simply travel to a new place through VR, hover above it, and check it out as a way of building a sense of connection came from the mind of Monique Santoso, a third-year doctoral student in Stanford’s communication department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999018\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999018 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso, a Ph.D. student in the Communication Department at Stanford, works with Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been very fascinated with this idea of psychological distance,” Santoso said. “What exactly is it that makes these issues that are actually very important seem super far away from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso and her team, including her advisor Bailenson, used preexisting tools that are low-cost or free, like Google Earth and Fly, a VR app that allows you to explore the world by flying above it, plus a headset, to send people to another location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With these tools, “you can poke your head over your neighbor’s fence and see what’s on the other side. You can fly through New York City,” Bailenson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When coral bleaching feels personal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Santoso’s idea came from her own life experience. She grew up in a small coastal community in Indonesia. Her backyard was a beach, and she spent hours scuba diving. She was deeply aware of ocean acidification and its effects on the coral she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she went abroad to an international high school in Armenia, she was baffled when other people didn’t want to talk about climate change and its consequences, despite studying it in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999013\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A WorldViz tracking camera mounted in the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab enables precise motion detection for immersive VR experiences. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think people just felt like it was not applicable to them,” Santoso said. She got her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, and further realized how far climate change was from people’s minds. Disheartened, Santoso looked for innovative ways to talk about an issue close to her heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She found storytelling was effective; she’d often tell her own stories of coral. Then she read Bailenson’s book \u003cem>Experience on Demand\u003c/em>. She was so inspired by the central idea that virtual reality can be transformative that she applied to get her PhD at Stanford, focusing on using immersive technologies to foster empathy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Wow, if this media could be done in scale, that could really potentially influence how people think and care about climate change,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first of its kind, Santoso’s work still needs to be replicated, and across a much larger spectrum of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999014\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso helps adjust a virtual reality headset for KQED reporter Laura Klivans during a demonstration at the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The research involved only 163 participants, all of whom are Stanford students. The results, therefore, “are a little bit less generalizable,” said Emiliana Simon Thomas, the science director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it’s really provocative that [the] team can get those systematic changes in kind of people’s feelings of connection to a cause or to an idea,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso wants to look at how enduring these effects are, too, or if they would last longer if participants do this type of exercise on a few repeat occasions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the results of the first experiment hold, Santoso sees a future for this kind of VR in school curricula or for policymakers to have a better sense of the communities they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Imagine the first time you visit Nashville, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/tennessee\">Tennessee\u003c/a>, you commission a private helicopter tour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You gaze down on the gleaming glass buildings of its contemporary skyline, its neighborhood ball fields, the main drags with brick concert venues, and the sparkling blue pools. But then the pilot tells you some of these neighborhoods have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/flooding\">flooded\u003c/a>, which has been getting worse due to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you go back home, do you think about Nashville? Do you care about the residents there, and how they’re dealing with climate change?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at a lab in Stanford have found, through \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-21098-z\">early experiments\u003c/a>, that most people say yes, regardless of their political orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists did not pony up hundreds of thousands to fly people to Nashville and hire private helicopters. Instead, they immersed them in the city by using virtual reality headsets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999016\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999016\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy N. Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, holds a virtual-reality headset he designed in 1999 during a demonstration at Stanford University on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found people felt more connected to the places where they traveled, even if they weren’t previously familiar with them, and that climate-related impacts like flooding felt more personally relevant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study suggests that instead of trying to engage people in climate change through fear or guilt, giving people agency to explore a place through immersive virtual reality can boost their concern for it, similar to how someone may feel after actually visiting a place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is big,” said Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford professor who oversaw the study. “There’s lots of things we can start doing now. We can start making you care more about the people in that place. We can just make the Earth a little smaller.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Shrinking ‘psychological’ distance\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For social scientists studying climate change, there’s a reason why people tend to \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21992607/\">avoid\u003c/a> these issues. Researchers call it “psychological distance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It refers to the distance we feel when it comes to climate change. With the exception of increasingly common local extreme weather, we think the impacts of climate change are happening elsewhere or feel different from the people it affects most severely. Some feel the worst effects won’t happen soon, and others are uncertain; they don’t know exactly how bad the results of inaction will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999017\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Augmented-reality headsets from Microsoft, Magic Leap, and XReal sit on display inside the Virtual Human Interaction Lab as a temporary “museum” at Stanford University. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To attempt to shrink some of that distance, at least geographically, Stanford researchers outfitted participants with VR headsets. Participants then traveled, virtually, to places they identified as either familiar or unfamiliar to them, like the North Shore of Massachusetts, Miami or Nashville. They hovered above the terrain, as though in an aircraft, as they looked down on the homes, streets, and backyards below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While participants saw these regions as tranquil, sunny places, with no humans or cars disturbing the quiet, they heard a simple news story about the impacts of climate-induced flooding on the locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterwards, researchers found people cared more about the places they visited, even those that were unfamiliar, and the effects climate change is having on the locations. Concern for distant places carried through regardless of participants’ political orientation.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Control groups heard similar news stories about flooding, but were shown still photographs of places both familiar and unfamiliar. They did not report caring in the same way as those who were immersed in VR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bailenson is the founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a research center studying the psychological and behavioral impacts of virtual and augmented reality, the latter of which overlays digital images onto the real world. He’s worked on experiments aimed at increasing people’s focus on climate change for more than a decade, having found some success. His team discovered that when people put on a VR headset and cut down a tree, feeling the vibration of the chainsaw, they use less paper afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s also spent years and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” building virtual reality films that place the participant underwater, witnessing ocean acidification. When people put on the headset, these experiences changed their attitudes and behaviors. But when researchers installed the VR in a museum or other exhibit, people chose not to engage: It was too much doom and gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea to simply travel to a new place through VR, hover above it, and check it out as a way of building a sense of connection came from the mind of Monique Santoso, a third-year doctoral student in Stanford’s communication department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999018\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999018 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso, a Ph.D. student in the Communication Department at Stanford, works with Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always been very fascinated with this idea of psychological distance,” Santoso said. “What exactly is it that makes these issues that are actually very important seem super far away from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso and her team, including her advisor Bailenson, used preexisting tools that are low-cost or free, like Google Earth and Fly, a VR app that allows you to explore the world by flying above it, plus a headset, to send people to another location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With these tools, “you can poke your head over your neighbor’s fence and see what’s on the other side. You can fly through New York City,” Bailenson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When coral bleaching feels personal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Santoso’s idea came from her own life experience. She grew up in a small coastal community in Indonesia. Her backyard was a beach, and she spent hours scuba diving. She was deeply aware of ocean acidification and its effects on the coral she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when she went abroad to an international high school in Armenia, she was baffled when other people didn’t want to talk about climate change and its consequences, despite studying it in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999013\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-4-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A WorldViz tracking camera mounted in the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab enables precise motion detection for immersive VR experiences. Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think people just felt like it was not applicable to them,” Santoso said. She got her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, and further realized how far climate change was from people’s minds. Disheartened, Santoso looked for innovative ways to talk about an issue close to her heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She found storytelling was effective; she’d often tell her own stories of coral. Then she read Bailenson’s book \u003cem>Experience on Demand\u003c/em>. She was so inspired by the central idea that virtual reality can be transformative that she applied to get her PhD at Stanford, focusing on using immersive technologies to foster empathy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought, ‘Wow, if this media could be done in scale, that could really potentially influence how people think and care about climate change,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first of its kind, Santoso’s work still needs to be replicated, and across a much larger spectrum of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999014\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251029_VIRTUAL-REALITY-_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monique Santoso helps adjust a virtual reality headset for KQED reporter Laura Klivans during a demonstration at the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab on Oct. 29, 2025, in Stanford. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The research involved only 163 participants, all of whom are Stanford students. The results, therefore, “are a little bit less generalizable,” said Emiliana Simon Thomas, the science director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it’s really provocative that [the] team can get those systematic changes in kind of people’s feelings of connection to a cause or to an idea,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santoso wants to look at how enduring these effects are, too, or if they would last longer if participants do this type of exercise on a few repeat occasions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the results of the first experiment hold, Santoso sees a future for this kind of VR in school curricula or for policymakers to have a better sense of the communities they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No",
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"content": "\u003cp>Every day, clinical social worker Ilana Marcucci-Morris talks to her patients about the most private, most vulnerable details of their lives, and she’s not interested in having AI software listen in or sharing any of her responsibilities with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999388/california-warns-families-to-watch-out-for-teens-as-character-ai-shuts-off-chatbot-access\"> a chatbot\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-attested millennial and lover of gadgets, Marcucci-Morris knows artificial intelligence is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to therapy, she wants it to be optional and assistive, a tool that will augment human connection, not diminish it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She figured that would be a simple assurance her union could win when they sat down\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente-mental-health\"> at the bargaining table\u003c/a> last summer to hash out their next contract with Kaiser Permanente. The therapists with the \u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\">National Union of Healthcare Workers\u003c/a> submitted their proposed contract language — that AI would be used to “assist” mental health clinicians, but not “replace” them — never expecting it to be controversial. After all, Kaiser signed a contract with their sister union in Southern California just months earlier that contained the same language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this time, Kaiser refused, sending back a counterproposal in the fall with that paragraph deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have asked them point-blank about language to prevent replacing therapists with artificial intelligence, and they have been very clear that they want the ‘flexibility’ to increase AI and reduce their need for us,” Marcucci-Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local contract debate taps into an existential question plaguing American workers across professions: When is AI coming for my job? As health systems embrace the technology to save money and time, and consumers increasingly consult AI chatbots for mental health support, the theoretical question has suddenly turned concrete for Kaiser therapists and they are testing their union power to see if and how they can influence the inevitable transformation of their vocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Kaiser clinician during the previous December 2018 strike. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“AI is not inherently good or bad. It holds promise, but it isn’t without serious risks,” said Maya Sandalow, associate director for health programs at the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/\">Bipartisan Policy Center\u003c/a>. “When we talk about this, we need to be asking, ‘how might this solution improve upon the status quo?’ The status quo is that we are in a mental health crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide prevalence of depression and anxiety\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide\"> spiked 25%\u003c/a> in 2022, and today\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/youth-experience-survey/\"> nearly two-thirds of American youth\u003c/a> regularly experience mental health distress, though fewer than half of them seek professional help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field contends with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.[aside postID=news_12063401 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg']Kaiser has been battling these industry dynamics for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> more than a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> cited the company multiple times\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/kaiser-permanente-california-behavioral-health-settlement/\"> fined it twice\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrators are actively exploring how AI tools could help expand access to therapists, for example, by helping them spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser declined several requests for an interview, but said in a statement that AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care. Rather, they hold “significant potential to benefit health care by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser contracts with mental health workers typically span two to four years. The company did not respond to specific questions about how AI could lead to job losses during that timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers told the union during negotiations that they do not “intend” to lay off therapists because of the technology, but when pressed to put that in writing in the contract, several union representatives, including Marcucci-Morris, said Kaiser told them, “We can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility,” and “We want to leave our options open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Kaiser uses AI now in mental health care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Kaiser is already deploying AI note-taking technology in mental health care. Piloted first in medical exam rooms, these digital scribes record interactions between doctors and patients, then generate summaries for the patient’s medical record. Many mental health clinicians are optimistic about this innovation, as they typically spend two and a half hours a day, often in the evenings, writing clinical notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called pajama time,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\">Jodi Halpern\u003c/a>, a psychiatrist and professor of bioethics at UC Berkeley. Her research shows that paperwork is the biggest cause of burnout among clinicians. “So the idea that we could replace that so that human care could grow, I love that idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technology is controversial among Kaiser clinicians, though. Some appreciate digital scribe software as a time saver that also allows them to be more present with their clients, making eye contact rather than typing. But many are wary of potential privacy breaches, the ethical implications of using therapy transcripts to train AI models, and whether patients might censor themselves when they’re being recorded. Marcucci-Morris has declined to use it for these reasons, anticipating that only one out of 10 of her patients would consent to it if she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the same as talking to your physician about a rash or your vitamin D deficiency,” she said. “I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or details of the terrible things that have happened to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the unknowns, therapists have asked Kaiser management for a contract clause that stipulates the use of digital scribes will remain optional, or at least “not mandatory,” but Kaiser declined the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is also concerned about Kaiser’s recent introduction of electronic mental health triaging, an optional tool where patients are routed into care based on how they answer questions about anxiety and depression in an online questionnaire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brittany Beard, a licensed clinical therapist at Kaiser Permanente, poses for a portrait at her home in Vallejo on Nov. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some patients won’t like this, but some will prefer it, said Merage Ghane, a clinical psychologist and director of responsible AI at the\u003ca href=\"https://www.chai.org/\"> Coalition for Health AI\u003c/a>. “There are people who really don’t like talking to a real person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallejo-based therapist Brittany Beard used to do this triage work herself, talking to clients for 15 to 20 minutes on the phone, but after Kaiser outsourced many of those calls to an outside company and developed the e-visit, she was reassigned to a new department. Though still employed at Kaiser, she already feels replaced by an app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They sell it as accessing care faster, but I’ve seen the opposite,” Beard said. Now, when some of her patients meet her for their first appointment, “They’re frustrated. It was like they were battling just to get to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is AI coming for your therapist?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>How much AI infiltrates mental health care will be determined, in part, by the consumer. Experts have identified a “\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/ai-in-health-care-administration-a-conversation-with-experts/\">trust gap\u003c/a>” between health administrators’ eagerness to roll out AI tools and patient concerns; to bridge the divide, they recommend transparency and involving patients in implementation. Qualitative studies show that patients are optimistic about the technology’s potential to improve diagnosis and treatment, but they remain skeptical of “robots” or “machines” taking over from humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prevailing sentiment really was that AI is at its best when it’s a tool that doctors can use to do their jobs better. Once that moved into the realm of replacing human interaction and experience, that was not a good thing,” said Michele Cordoba, a researcher at \u003ca href=\"https://cultureiq.group/\">Culture IQ\u003c/a>, which produced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/patients-say-yes-artificial-intelligence-doctors-stay-charge/\">report\u003c/a> for the California Health Care Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the use of commercial AI chatbots for mental health has soared.\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpri0000292\"> One study\u003c/a> surveyed AI users who have mental health conditions and found nearly half turn to their chatbot for psychological support, and of those, 63% said the advice was helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mental health professionals have questioned the efficacy of such advice, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063401/openai-faces-legal-storm-over-claims-its-ai-drove-users-to-suicide-delusions\">several families have sued\u003c/a> AI companies, alleging their chatbots encouraged suicidal and self-harming behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, clinical psychologists are developing evidence-based chatbots, like\u003ca href=\"https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03/first-therapy-chatbot-trial-yields-mental-health-benefits\"> TheraBot\u003c/a>, to deliver tested therapeutic guidance. The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged the broad demand for such apps at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/november-6-2025-digital-health-advisory-committee-meeting-announcement-11062025#event-information\">November meeting\u003c/a> and is exploring what kind of authority it might have to regulate them, including requiring human mental health professionals to oversee them.[aside postID=news_12066395 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/San-Francisco-General-Hospital-Getty.jpg']Kaiser therapists want to know what all these trends mean for their own job security in the immediate and long term. When one of them asked a panel of AI experts to expound on this during a statewide training webinar in October, the 200 therapists in attendance heard a wide range of answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage you all not to fear for your profession,” said Nicholas Jacobson, a psychologist at Dartmouth and co-creator of TheraBot. “I think there is no possibility in your lifetime that you all will feel replaced by AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Berkeley’s Halpern was much more circumspect, especially in light of chatbots’ popularity among youth. \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\">A third of teen AI users\u003c/a> said they preferred to have serious conversations with their chatbot rather than a human. “I am not sure we won’t see a tremendous loss of human interactions,” Halpern said. “I’m very worried about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, patients should have choices, psychologist Ghane told KQED. If they live in rural areas and can’t access a therapist, or they have a neurodevelopmental condition where human communication is more aversive than facilitative, she said it’s important they have AI options. In that version of the future, therapists are right to ask if they will be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The answer is they can be,” Ghane said. “We can all be replaced at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Every day, clinical social worker Ilana Marcucci-Morris talks to her patients about the most private, most vulnerable details of their lives, and she’s not interested in having AI software listen in or sharing any of her responsibilities with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999388/california-warns-families-to-watch-out-for-teens-as-character-ai-shuts-off-chatbot-access\"> a chatbot\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-attested millennial and lover of gadgets, Marcucci-Morris knows artificial intelligence is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to therapy, she wants it to be optional and assistive, a tool that will augment human connection, not diminish it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She figured that would be a simple assurance her union could win when they sat down\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente-mental-health\"> at the bargaining table\u003c/a> last summer to hash out their next contract with Kaiser Permanente. The therapists with the \u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\">National Union of Healthcare Workers\u003c/a> submitted their proposed contract language — that AI would be used to “assist” mental health clinicians, but not “replace” them — never expecting it to be controversial. After all, Kaiser signed a contract with their sister union in Southern California just months earlier that contained the same language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this time, Kaiser refused, sending back a counterproposal in the fall with that paragraph deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have asked them point-blank about language to prevent replacing therapists with artificial intelligence, and they have been very clear that they want the ‘flexibility’ to increase AI and reduce their need for us,” Marcucci-Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local contract debate taps into an existential question plaguing American workers across professions: When is AI coming for my job? As health systems embrace the technology to save money and time, and consumers increasingly consult AI chatbots for mental health support, the theoretical question has suddenly turned concrete for Kaiser therapists and they are testing their union power to see if and how they can influence the inevitable transformation of their vocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Kaiser clinician during the previous December 2018 strike. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“AI is not inherently good or bad. It holds promise, but it isn’t without serious risks,” said Maya Sandalow, associate director for health programs at the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/\">Bipartisan Policy Center\u003c/a>. “When we talk about this, we need to be asking, ‘how might this solution improve upon the status quo?’ The status quo is that we are in a mental health crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide prevalence of depression and anxiety\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide\"> spiked 25%\u003c/a> in 2022, and today\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/youth-experience-survey/\"> nearly two-thirds of American youth\u003c/a> regularly experience mental health distress, though fewer than half of them seek professional help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field contends with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kaiser has been battling these industry dynamics for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> more than a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> cited the company multiple times\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/kaiser-permanente-california-behavioral-health-settlement/\"> fined it twice\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrators are actively exploring how AI tools could help expand access to therapists, for example, by helping them spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser declined several requests for an interview, but said in a statement that AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care. Rather, they hold “significant potential to benefit health care by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser contracts with mental health workers typically span two to four years. The company did not respond to specific questions about how AI could lead to job losses during that timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers told the union during negotiations that they do not “intend” to lay off therapists because of the technology, but when pressed to put that in writing in the contract, several union representatives, including Marcucci-Morris, said Kaiser told them, “We can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility,” and “We want to leave our options open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Kaiser uses AI now in mental health care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Kaiser is already deploying AI note-taking technology in mental health care. Piloted first in medical exam rooms, these digital scribes record interactions between doctors and patients, then generate summaries for the patient’s medical record. Many mental health clinicians are optimistic about this innovation, as they typically spend two and a half hours a day, often in the evenings, writing clinical notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called pajama time,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\">Jodi Halpern\u003c/a>, a psychiatrist and professor of bioethics at UC Berkeley. Her research shows that paperwork is the biggest cause of burnout among clinicians. “So the idea that we could replace that so that human care could grow, I love that idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technology is controversial among Kaiser clinicians, though. Some appreciate digital scribe software as a time saver that also allows them to be more present with their clients, making eye contact rather than typing. But many are wary of potential privacy breaches, the ethical implications of using therapy transcripts to train AI models, and whether patients might censor themselves when they’re being recorded. Marcucci-Morris has declined to use it for these reasons, anticipating that only one out of 10 of her patients would consent to it if she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the same as talking to your physician about a rash or your vitamin D deficiency,” she said. “I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or details of the terrible things that have happened to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the unknowns, therapists have asked Kaiser management for a contract clause that stipulates the use of digital scribes will remain optional, or at least “not mandatory,” but Kaiser declined the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is also concerned about Kaiser’s recent introduction of electronic mental health triaging, an optional tool where patients are routed into care based on how they answer questions about anxiety and depression in an online questionnaire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brittany Beard, a licensed clinical therapist at Kaiser Permanente, poses for a portrait at her home in Vallejo on Nov. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some patients won’t like this, but some will prefer it, said Merage Ghane, a clinical psychologist and director of responsible AI at the\u003ca href=\"https://www.chai.org/\"> Coalition for Health AI\u003c/a>. “There are people who really don’t like talking to a real person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallejo-based therapist Brittany Beard used to do this triage work herself, talking to clients for 15 to 20 minutes on the phone, but after Kaiser outsourced many of those calls to an outside company and developed the e-visit, she was reassigned to a new department. Though still employed at Kaiser, she already feels replaced by an app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They sell it as accessing care faster, but I’ve seen the opposite,” Beard said. Now, when some of her patients meet her for their first appointment, “They’re frustrated. It was like they were battling just to get to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is AI coming for your therapist?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>How much AI infiltrates mental health care will be determined, in part, by the consumer. Experts have identified a “\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/ai-in-health-care-administration-a-conversation-with-experts/\">trust gap\u003c/a>” between health administrators’ eagerness to roll out AI tools and patient concerns; to bridge the divide, they recommend transparency and involving patients in implementation. Qualitative studies show that patients are optimistic about the technology’s potential to improve diagnosis and treatment, but they remain skeptical of “robots” or “machines” taking over from humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prevailing sentiment really was that AI is at its best when it’s a tool that doctors can use to do their jobs better. Once that moved into the realm of replacing human interaction and experience, that was not a good thing,” said Michele Cordoba, a researcher at \u003ca href=\"https://cultureiq.group/\">Culture IQ\u003c/a>, which produced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/patients-say-yes-artificial-intelligence-doctors-stay-charge/\">report\u003c/a> for the California Health Care Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the use of commercial AI chatbots for mental health has soared.\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpri0000292\"> One study\u003c/a> surveyed AI users who have mental health conditions and found nearly half turn to their chatbot for psychological support, and of those, 63% said the advice was helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mental health professionals have questioned the efficacy of such advice, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063401/openai-faces-legal-storm-over-claims-its-ai-drove-users-to-suicide-delusions\">several families have sued\u003c/a> AI companies, alleging their chatbots encouraged suicidal and self-harming behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, clinical psychologists are developing evidence-based chatbots, like\u003ca href=\"https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03/first-therapy-chatbot-trial-yields-mental-health-benefits\"> TheraBot\u003c/a>, to deliver tested therapeutic guidance. The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged the broad demand for such apps at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/november-6-2025-digital-health-advisory-committee-meeting-announcement-11062025#event-information\">November meeting\u003c/a> and is exploring what kind of authority it might have to regulate them, including requiring human mental health professionals to oversee them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kaiser therapists want to know what all these trends mean for their own job security in the immediate and long term. When one of them asked a panel of AI experts to expound on this during a statewide training webinar in October, the 200 therapists in attendance heard a wide range of answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage you all not to fear for your profession,” said Nicholas Jacobson, a psychologist at Dartmouth and co-creator of TheraBot. “I think there is no possibility in your lifetime that you all will feel replaced by AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Berkeley’s Halpern was much more circumspect, especially in light of chatbots’ popularity among youth. \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\">A third of teen AI users\u003c/a> said they preferred to have serious conversations with their chatbot rather than a human. “I am not sure we won’t see a tremendous loss of human interactions,” Halpern said. “I’m very worried about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, patients should have choices, psychologist Ghane told KQED. If they live in rural areas and can’t access a therapist, or they have a neurodevelopmental condition where human communication is more aversive than facilitative, she said it’s important they have AI options. In that version of the future, therapists are right to ask if they will be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The answer is they can be,” Ghane said. “We can all be replaced at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford\u003c/a> scientists may be closing in on an explanation for a rare cardiac side effect experienced by a small number of people a few days after they received a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/covid-19\">COVID-19\u003c/a> shot. Fewer than 30 people in every million who are vaccinated experience brief chest pain and shortness of breath. The myocarditis primarily affects teenage boys and young men and has puzzled clinicians since the rollout of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To investigate what might be happening inside the body after the shot, the researchers used human plasma, lab-grown heart tissue, modeling, and mice. In every lab model, the same thing happened: right after a shot — especially the second one — immune cells sent out a burst of two signaling proteins. Normally, they help the body fight viruses, but at unusually high levels, these cytokines, CXCL10 and interferon-gamma, seemed to put stress on heart cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study outlining this possible mechanism were published on Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we block these two with the antibodies, the cardiac damage goes down,” said Dr. Joseph Wu, senior author of the study and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. “So we’re pretty confident that these two cytokines are probably two key players in terms of causing COVID myocarditis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors stress that these findings are lab results. The next step will be to run human clinical trials. They also said the results should not lead individuals to avoid Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 shots. Myocarditis after an mRNA shot is extremely uncommon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cardiac risks are much more common and far more severe after a COVID-19 infection, which can inflame not only the heart but also the lungs and other organs.[aside postID=news_12060358 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/GettyImages-1414098149-1020x643.jpg']The vaccine schedule may also be a factor. Some data suggest the risk of myocarditis is higher when the second dose follows within weeks of the first. That raises the possibility that spacing out doses — as Canada did early in the pandemic — may blunt the immune spikes that stress the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possible reason the condition affects young men more often is that estrogen may provide some protection. In mice, the researchers found that estrogen eased the inflammatory damage triggered by the cytokine surge. That led them to test genistein, a plant-based phytoestrogen found in soy, which similarly reduced inflammation in lab models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we see here [in the Stanford study] is when we give this drug [genistein], we decrease the cardiac inflammation or the myocarditis,” said Dr. Amir Munir, a UCSF cardiologist not involved in the research. “However, we still keep the protective properties of the vaccine to protect against COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding why myocarditis occurs is a first step toward designing safer mRNA vaccines. It may also lead to medication for myocarditis that arises outside of vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no FDA-approved treatments for myocarditis,” Munir said. “Having models like this, where we can understand the mechanisms that drive myocarditis, allow us to think how we can specifically target inflammation to treat patients with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford\u003c/a> scientists may be closing in on an explanation for a rare cardiac side effect experienced by a small number of people a few days after they received a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/covid-19\">COVID-19\u003c/a> shot. Fewer than 30 people in every million who are vaccinated experience brief chest pain and shortness of breath. The myocarditis primarily affects teenage boys and young men and has puzzled clinicians since the rollout of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To investigate what might be happening inside the body after the shot, the researchers used human plasma, lab-grown heart tissue, modeling, and mice. In every lab model, the same thing happened: right after a shot — especially the second one — immune cells sent out a burst of two signaling proteins. Normally, they help the body fight viruses, but at unusually high levels, these cytokines, CXCL10 and interferon-gamma, seemed to put stress on heart cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study outlining this possible mechanism were published on Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we block these two with the antibodies, the cardiac damage goes down,” said Dr. Joseph Wu, senior author of the study and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. “So we’re pretty confident that these two cytokines are probably two key players in terms of causing COVID myocarditis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors stress that these findings are lab results. The next step will be to run human clinical trials. They also said the results should not lead individuals to avoid Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 shots. Myocarditis after an mRNA shot is extremely uncommon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cardiac risks are much more common and far more severe after a COVID-19 infection, which can inflame not only the heart but also the lungs and other organs.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The vaccine schedule may also be a factor. Some data suggest the risk of myocarditis is higher when the second dose follows within weeks of the first. That raises the possibility that spacing out doses — as Canada did early in the pandemic — may blunt the immune spikes that stress the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possible reason the condition affects young men more often is that estrogen may provide some protection. In mice, the researchers found that estrogen eased the inflammatory damage triggered by the cytokine surge. That led them to test genistein, a plant-based phytoestrogen found in soy, which similarly reduced inflammation in lab models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we see here [in the Stanford study] is when we give this drug [genistein], we decrease the cardiac inflammation or the myocarditis,” said Dr. Amir Munir, a UCSF cardiologist not involved in the research. “However, we still keep the protective properties of the vaccine to protect against COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding why myocarditis occurs is a first step toward designing safer mRNA vaccines. It may also lead to medication for myocarditis that arises outside of vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no FDA-approved treatments for myocarditis,” Munir said. “Having models like this, where we can understand the mechanisms that drive myocarditis, allow us to think how we can specifically target inflammation to treat patients with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Aliyah Economos lifted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906838/what-science-says-about-ketamines-risks-and-benefits\">ketamine\u003c/a> nasal spray to her nose and settled into her therapist’s plush grey couch, a candle flickered nearby. Images flooded her mind — Medusa, dragons and fire. Emotions swirled: rage tangled with arousal, failure mixed with shame. Over many sessions, those fragments sharpened into long-buried memories of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, I had a lot of denial,” said Economos, now 51. “There were many, many moments where it was overwhelming and I’d shut back down for weeks sometimes. I did not have the capacity to feel the depth and the pain of what my body was holding back without ketamine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of a growing wave of patients turning to ketamine when nothing else helps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the drug has lived in two very different worlds. In hospitals, it’s a reliable, inexpensive anesthetic — fast-acting, safe enough for children. In clubs, it’s a hallucinogen that can send users into a dissociative haze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, psychiatrists have prescribed it for treatment-resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which can take weeks to work, ketamine can provide relief in hours — even snapping people out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02973-1?\">suicidal spirals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a potentially life-saving drug for many people,” said Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. “The best evidence by far is for people with major depressive disorder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market for ketamine really took off after 2019, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved esketamine, a chemically related compound, for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Clinicians also prescribe ketamine off-label for everything from anxiety to chronic pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998716\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Integrative Health, where ketamine-assisted therapy is provided, in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As demand has grown, so has concern about uneven oversight: the \u003ca href=\"https://askp.org/directory/?\">number of ketamine clinics\u003c/a> nationwide jumped from 60 in 2015 to 1,500 today, according to a 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.psy-ins.com/psychedelic-medicine-2024-report\">industry report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, clients might land in a spa-like East Bay center, a soft-lit therapy office in San Francisco, or a strip-mall infusion suite down the Peninsula. But behind those doors, protocols differ widely — from dosing and monitoring to whether any psychological support is offered — leaving patients with a patchwork of practices and protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more and more of these clinics that are popping up that are touting ketamine as a treatment for depression, PTSD, OCD and more without it actually being currently in practice guidelines,” said Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford Medicine. “There’s a lot of hope. However, just because there is a study of a small handful of people, we still don’t know how effective that medication is in the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The crash before the breakthrough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Economos carries herself as though nothing could come undone. She dresses in relaxed, flowing clothes, gold rings stacked just so, her long brown hair falling in loose waves. Yet, for most of her life, she felt flat on the inside — cycling through antidepressants for 15 years. Then, about six years ago, she crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My body really just shut down entirely on me,” she recalled. “Like I’d just run a marathon and yet I hadn’t. I couldn’t get out of bed. Light was painful. I fainted all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999530\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999530\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, clinical psychologist, speaks to Aliyah Economos, right, at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother of three threw herself at every possible fix: cardiologists, neurologists and rheumatologists. MRIs and blood work came back normal. She tried a trauma specialist, naturopaths and elimination diets. Hormone regimens. At one point, she said, she was swallowing as many as 38 pills a day — antibiotics, supplements and thyroid meds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she tried ketamine-assisted therapy at a tranquil clinic in Berkeley. Clients sipped tea in the waiting room, yoga mats lined the corner and treatments could be paired with acupuncture, sound therapy or craniosacral work. Each three-hour session is $1,100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each appointment, more memories started to unlock, and slowly over nearly three years, Economos said her health began to improve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ketamine has this remarkable ability to help people tolerate emotional pain that they previously couldn’t,” said Genesee Herzberg, the psychologist guiding Economos’ therapy. “It’s almost like the emotions and memories that were previously dissociated because they were too much become more accessible because of the kind of softening that ketamine does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a dissociative anesthetic, ketamine disrupts normal communication patterns in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems shortly after giving a dose of ketamine, there’s an increase in the brain’s ability to form new connections that could be sustained,” Sanacora said. “And we think that is likely to be one of the primary mechanisms. I’m sure there’s many different things that contribute to it, but we think that’s the main thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>It was supposed to be ‘the answer’ but went sideways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Siegel was grappling with a divorce, her brother’s suicide and a fractured relationship with her father that worsened before he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her familiar self-doubt had calcified into a constant self-critic, reminding her she’d failed and was running out of time. By then, her antidepressant had been augmented with an antipsychotic to boost its effect, but the medications had stopped working and were fueling stress-eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was paralyzed in my own body,” Siegel said. “I lost faith in antidepressants — like they weren’t strong enough anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998718\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1998718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, a clinical psychologist at Sage Integrative Health, poses for a portrait at the clinic in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Encouraged by a psychiatrist who said esketamine “would be the answer,” the 57-year-old signed up for 10 sessions at an Oakland clinic, which were covered by her insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she soon learned sessions can go sideways without the right support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She entered a sparse treatment room: a recliner, a box of tissues, a nearly empty jar of Jolly Ranchers. A technician drifted in and out to cuff Siegel’s arm and log her blood pressure. When the session began, the esketamine nasal spray dripped down her throat, numbing her mouth and tipping her into panic. The psychiatrist offered little reassurance, even as Siegel began to sob.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was feeling really helpless, really scared — like he just didn’t care at all,” she said. “I felt like he was just there to make sure I didn’t die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drug cracked something open. She touched the grief she’d been white-knuckling, and that access, however rough, motivated her to return. But the second session was no better; the psychiatrist kept his distance as she wept, and she canceled the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel switched to a Berkeley psychologist who offers ketamine-assisted therapy. Because off-label care isn’t covered, she paid about $5,000 for a package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was the same kind of grief, tears and helplessness, but the therapist had her hand on my arm the whole time,” Siegel said. “She was really connected. It was exactly what I had been looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon she noticed real shifts: her days began trending “good to great,” and her self-criticism finally relented. Treatment, as Siegel learned, can differ dramatically from one room to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patients can even skip clinics altogether by logging on to telehealth sites, where providers ship ketamine lozenges for about $75 a dose. Operators like Michael Petegorsky, former chief strategy officer at Mindbloom, a ketamine telehealth platform, insist that clients undergo psychiatric evaluations, begin with small doses, have a peer present during sessions and follow other protocols to ensure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not drive-by medicine or ketamine through the mail,” he said, arguing the model is more structured than critics assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://plusapn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-Future-of-Mental-Health-Ketamine-Therapy-Report-by-APN.pdf\">survey\u003c/a> found that more than half of people who tried ketamine at home said they took more than the recommended dose, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/fda-warns-patients-and-health-care-providers-about-potential-risks-associated-compounded-ketamine\">FDA warned\u003c/a> in 2023 against compounded ketamine products, which are commonly used in mail-order services, because they may not be safe or effective.[aside postID=science_1998793 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/09/250924-CANCERMOMS00123_TV-KQED.jpg']“Some of my patients have developed a dependence because they were able to access ketamine so easily,” Das said. She’s also seen trauma survivors rattled by the drug’s dissociative pull. “Suddenly, you’re not in control of your body, and that can be profoundly destabilizing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While research suggests ketamine doesn’t create the kind of physical dependence seen with opioids or alcohol, the long-term risks are still unknown. Heavy use has been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9888585/?\">bladder damage and cognitive issues\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dangers also grabbed national attention two years ago when Matthew Perry, the longtime star of \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, died from the acute effects of ketamine. He had been receiving medically supervised infusions, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner found the levels in his body when he died could not have been from his most recent treatment about a week earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Economos has avoided those pitfalls, thus far. Under her psychologist’s guidance, she takes a relatively low dose and she says she’s not worried about addiction. Ketamine, she said, “gave me a gentle opportunity to meet myself in those really awful experiences without my mind having to turn it back off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She no longer relies on antidepressants, her body doesn’t hurt and her energy has returned. But her path took resources most people don’t have — tens of thousands of dollars and a skilled therapist to guide her through months of hard emotional work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ketamine can be a lifeline when standard treatments fail, but it can also be a costly gamble in a marketplace with little oversight and uncertain health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Aliyah Economos lifted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906838/what-science-says-about-ketamines-risks-and-benefits\">ketamine\u003c/a> nasal spray to her nose and settled into her therapist’s plush grey couch, a candle flickered nearby. Images flooded her mind — Medusa, dragons and fire. Emotions swirled: rage tangled with arousal, failure mixed with shame. Over many sessions, those fragments sharpened into long-buried memories of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, I had a lot of denial,” said Economos, now 51. “There were many, many moments where it was overwhelming and I’d shut back down for weeks sometimes. I did not have the capacity to feel the depth and the pain of what my body was holding back without ketamine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of a growing wave of patients turning to ketamine when nothing else helps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the drug has lived in two very different worlds. In hospitals, it’s a reliable, inexpensive anesthetic — fast-acting, safe enough for children. In clubs, it’s a hallucinogen that can send users into a dissociative haze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, psychiatrists have prescribed it for treatment-resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which can take weeks to work, ketamine can provide relief in hours — even snapping people out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02973-1?\">suicidal spirals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a potentially life-saving drug for many people,” said Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. “The best evidence by far is for people with major depressive disorder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market for ketamine really took off after 2019, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved esketamine, a chemically related compound, for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Clinicians also prescribe ketamine off-label for everything from anxiety to chronic pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998716\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Integrative Health, where ketamine-assisted therapy is provided, in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As demand has grown, so has concern about uneven oversight: the \u003ca href=\"https://askp.org/directory/?\">number of ketamine clinics\u003c/a> nationwide jumped from 60 in 2015 to 1,500 today, according to a 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.psy-ins.com/psychedelic-medicine-2024-report\">industry report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, clients might land in a spa-like East Bay center, a soft-lit therapy office in San Francisco, or a strip-mall infusion suite down the Peninsula. But behind those doors, protocols differ widely — from dosing and monitoring to whether any psychological support is offered — leaving patients with a patchwork of practices and protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more and more of these clinics that are popping up that are touting ketamine as a treatment for depression, PTSD, OCD and more without it actually being currently in practice guidelines,” said Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford Medicine. “There’s a lot of hope. However, just because there is a study of a small handful of people, we still don’t know how effective that medication is in the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The crash before the breakthrough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Economos carries herself as though nothing could come undone. She dresses in relaxed, flowing clothes, gold rings stacked just so, her long brown hair falling in loose waves. Yet, for most of her life, she felt flat on the inside — cycling through antidepressants for 15 years. Then, about six years ago, she crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My body really just shut down entirely on me,” she recalled. “Like I’d just run a marathon and yet I hadn’t. I couldn’t get out of bed. Light was painful. I fainted all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999530\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999530\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, clinical psychologist, speaks to Aliyah Economos, right, at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother of three threw herself at every possible fix: cardiologists, neurologists and rheumatologists. MRIs and blood work came back normal. She tried a trauma specialist, naturopaths and elimination diets. Hormone regimens. At one point, she said, she was swallowing as many as 38 pills a day — antibiotics, supplements and thyroid meds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she tried ketamine-assisted therapy at a tranquil clinic in Berkeley. Clients sipped tea in the waiting room, yoga mats lined the corner and treatments could be paired with acupuncture, sound therapy or craniosacral work. Each three-hour session is $1,100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each appointment, more memories started to unlock, and slowly over nearly three years, Economos said her health began to improve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ketamine has this remarkable ability to help people tolerate emotional pain that they previously couldn’t,” said Genesee Herzberg, the psychologist guiding Economos’ therapy. “It’s almost like the emotions and memories that were previously dissociated because they were too much become more accessible because of the kind of softening that ketamine does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a dissociative anesthetic, ketamine disrupts normal communication patterns in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems shortly after giving a dose of ketamine, there’s an increase in the brain’s ability to form new connections that could be sustained,” Sanacora said. “And we think that is likely to be one of the primary mechanisms. I’m sure there’s many different things that contribute to it, but we think that’s the main thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>It was supposed to be ‘the answer’ but went sideways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Siegel was grappling with a divorce, her brother’s suicide and a fractured relationship with her father that worsened before he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her familiar self-doubt had calcified into a constant self-critic, reminding her she’d failed and was running out of time. By then, her antidepressant had been augmented with an antipsychotic to boost its effect, but the medications had stopped working and were fueling stress-eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was paralyzed in my own body,” Siegel said. “I lost faith in antidepressants — like they weren’t strong enough anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998718\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1998718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, a clinical psychologist at Sage Integrative Health, poses for a portrait at the clinic in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Encouraged by a psychiatrist who said esketamine “would be the answer,” the 57-year-old signed up for 10 sessions at an Oakland clinic, which were covered by her insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she soon learned sessions can go sideways without the right support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She entered a sparse treatment room: a recliner, a box of tissues, a nearly empty jar of Jolly Ranchers. A technician drifted in and out to cuff Siegel’s arm and log her blood pressure. When the session began, the esketamine nasal spray dripped down her throat, numbing her mouth and tipping her into panic. The psychiatrist offered little reassurance, even as Siegel began to sob.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was feeling really helpless, really scared — like he just didn’t care at all,” she said. “I felt like he was just there to make sure I didn’t die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drug cracked something open. She touched the grief she’d been white-knuckling, and that access, however rough, motivated her to return. But the second session was no better; the psychiatrist kept his distance as she wept, and she canceled the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel switched to a Berkeley psychologist who offers ketamine-assisted therapy. Because off-label care isn’t covered, she paid about $5,000 for a package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was the same kind of grief, tears and helplessness, but the therapist had her hand on my arm the whole time,” Siegel said. “She was really connected. It was exactly what I had been looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon she noticed real shifts: her days began trending “good to great,” and her self-criticism finally relented. Treatment, as Siegel learned, can differ dramatically from one room to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patients can even skip clinics altogether by logging on to telehealth sites, where providers ship ketamine lozenges for about $75 a dose. Operators like Michael Petegorsky, former chief strategy officer at Mindbloom, a ketamine telehealth platform, insist that clients undergo psychiatric evaluations, begin with small doses, have a peer present during sessions and follow other protocols to ensure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not drive-by medicine or ketamine through the mail,” he said, arguing the model is more structured than critics assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://plusapn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-Future-of-Mental-Health-Ketamine-Therapy-Report-by-APN.pdf\">survey\u003c/a> found that more than half of people who tried ketamine at home said they took more than the recommended dose, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/fda-warns-patients-and-health-care-providers-about-potential-risks-associated-compounded-ketamine\">FDA warned\u003c/a> in 2023 against compounded ketamine products, which are commonly used in mail-order services, because they may not be safe or effective.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Some of my patients have developed a dependence because they were able to access ketamine so easily,” Das said. She’s also seen trauma survivors rattled by the drug’s dissociative pull. “Suddenly, you’re not in control of your body, and that can be profoundly destabilizing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While research suggests ketamine doesn’t create the kind of physical dependence seen with opioids or alcohol, the long-term risks are still unknown. Heavy use has been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9888585/?\">bladder damage and cognitive issues\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dangers also grabbed national attention two years ago when Matthew Perry, the longtime star of \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, died from the acute effects of ketamine. He had been receiving medically supervised infusions, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner found the levels in his body when he died could not have been from his most recent treatment about a week earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Economos has avoided those pitfalls, thus far. Under her psychologist’s guidance, she takes a relatively low dose and she says she’s not worried about addiction. Ketamine, she said, “gave me a gentle opportunity to meet myself in those really awful experiences without my mind having to turn it back off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She no longer relies on antidepressants, her body doesn’t hurt and her energy has returned. But her path took resources most people don’t have — tens of thousands of dollars and a skilled therapist to guide her through months of hard emotional work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ketamine can be a lifeline when standard treatments fail, but it can also be a costly gamble in a marketplace with little oversight and uncertain health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon after school, 15-year-olds \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wildphotop/\">Parham Pourahmad\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wild0nfilm/\">Arnav Singhal\u003c/a> walked through the changing colors of fall, surrounded by red, yellow, shades of amber, and lingering green leaves at Vasona Lake County Park, cameras slung over their shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 152-acre Santa Clara County park is one of their favorite places to photograph wildlife near their neighborhood, especially the coyotes that have increasingly appeared in backyards and around creek trails across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/multiple-coyote-sightings-reported-in-south-bay/\">South Bay\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pourahmad started snapping these photos as a hobby during the pandemic, but his work has earned statewide and national recognition, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1993447/see-the-bay-area-winners-of-the-2024-audubon-photography-awards\">Audubon Photography Awards’ Youth Prize\u003c/a> for his image of two American kestrels perched on a post at Calero County Park outside San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these days, it’s coyotes that draw most of his attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much conflict we see between humans and coyotes: like coyotes eating pets. And as a result, people poison coyotes,” Pourahmad said. “That makes me want to help them out, both the coyotes and humans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/fostering-coexistence-san-franciscos-urban-coyotes#:~:text=Published%20last%20week%20in%20People,the%20dawn%20and%20dusk%20hours.\">2023 study\u003c/a> analyzing 10 years of coyote-human interactions in San Francisco found that conflicts had increased in recent years, especially during the pup-rearing season and in areas with greater access to green spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999203\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999203 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arnav Singhal, left, speaks to his friends before heading off to find coyotes at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The animal control around Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/coyote-encounters-escalating-in-and-around-los-altos-this-fall/article_7f59dd1d-84bf-4c61-9e8f-eff113d63e1e.html#:~:text=According%20to%20local%20animal%20control%20authorities%2C%20coyote,cities%20like%20San%20Francisco%20and%20Los%20Angeles**\">reported\u003c/a> an increase in coyote sightings, according to the Los Altos Town Crier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coyotes have their own neighborhoods, and each coyote you see isn’t random. So it’s kind of their home as well as ours,” Singhal said. He and Pourahmad attend Los Gatos High School together and are close friends. Singhal picked up photography after watching his friend’s dedication, and now spends several hours a week practicing alongside him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two teens founded the \u003ca href=\"https://svwildlifegroup.wixsite.com/silicon-valley-wildl/coyote-sighting-map\">Silicon Valley Wildlife Group\u003c/a>, a youth-led project to track coyotes across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999208\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999208\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arnav Singhal shows a photo he took of a coyote at Stanford University, at Vasona Lake County Park, in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They collected every sighting they could since February: from their own photos, the updates posted by the Santa Clara County Vector Control and reports on Nextdoor and social media. They even invited residents to share encounters through a \u003ca href=\"https://svwildlifegroup.wixsite.com/silicon-valley-wildl/report-a-coyote-sighting\">form on their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They compiled all this information into \u003ca href=\"https://earth.google.com/web/@37.41932704,-122.06065396,9.81775331a,92227.12854624d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBMikKJwolCiExOWJSWTdobDN0Q2FYb1ozWXNScDZ2eG54Qkl1OWtIdzUgAToDCgEwQgIIAEoICJj08M0HEAE?authuser=0\">an interactive map with more than a thousand data points\u003c/a>, color-coded by time and day, location, and behavior. Many sightings cluster along the creeks that run through South Bay neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use the many creeks we have, like Guadalupe River, Los Gatos Creek, Coyote Creek, and a lot more to move around in urban areas without being sighted,” Pourahmad said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those urban wildlife corridors, they realized, connect the Santa Cruz Mountains to suburban parks, golf courses and backyards, a kind of wildlife highway rambling through the suburban sprawl.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling the gaps\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Urban ecologists have long suspected that suburban development pushes animals to adapt in surprising ways. Beverly Perez, a community resource specialist with Santa Clara County Vector Control, said the teens’ work helps put those patterns in context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez said the biggest challenge isn’t managing coyotes, it’s managing humans. “Urban expansion shrinks their habitat,” she said. Coyotes learn to find food and shelter in cities, especially when residents leave trash, pet food, or even small pets unprotected. “That’s when conflicts start.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of Los Gatos Creek where there have been frequent coyote sightings at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://talicaspi.weebly.com/publications.html\">Tali Caspi\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley who studies coyotes in San Francisco, said projects like the Silicon Valley Wildlife Group can help fill the gap in existing research and promote coexistence. She analyzes DNA to study the genetics of urban coyotes and uses motion-activated cameras to track their movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s coyotes have adapted to dense human environments, she said. Silicon Valley coyotes may behave differently, relying more on creek corridors and staying more elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coyotes play a critical role as apex predators, and they help keep balance in the ecosystem by controlling rodent populations and dispersing seeds in urban landscapes, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The next layer of investigation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teens’ map identified distinct territories and recurring coyote behavior. They can identify an alpha male or female by photos or reports of pets being chased, an indicator of coyotes becoming bold or defending dens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now they want to build more advanced tools. With help from researchers at UC Berkeley, they’re learning \u003ca href=\"https://qgis.org/\">QGIS\u003c/a>, a professional mapping software used by conservation scientists, to model how the coyotes move.[aside postID=science_1999411 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/fullcoldmoonsfgetty.jpg']As part of their project, Pourahmad and Singhal visit schools and libraries to give talks about wildlife in the area and on how to coexist with wildlife, sharing tips like securing trash cans and keeping dogs leashed near open spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our map to be an inspiration for the community to help mitigate human-wildlife conflict,” Singhal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of years, they hope to build a Bay Area-wide dataset showing how wildlife adapts to human development, with the help of ten other high school students they’ve recently recruited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both teens say the project has shaped their aspirations to pursue careers in urban wildlife and ecology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pourahmad wants to study wildlife biology — particularly DNA analysis and the statistics behind ecological research. “I’m interested in the science of urban wildlife,” he said. “There’s so much we still don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singhal is drawn to a different path. “I want to become a lawyer,” he said. “I’m really interested in using what we’re learning now to influence policy or advocate for environmental issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon after school, 15-year-olds \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wildphotop/\">Parham Pourahmad\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wild0nfilm/\">Arnav Singhal\u003c/a> walked through the changing colors of fall, surrounded by red, yellow, shades of amber, and lingering green leaves at Vasona Lake County Park, cameras slung over their shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 152-acre Santa Clara County park is one of their favorite places to photograph wildlife near their neighborhood, especially the coyotes that have increasingly appeared in backyards and around creek trails across the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/multiple-coyote-sightings-reported-in-south-bay/\">South Bay\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pourahmad started snapping these photos as a hobby during the pandemic, but his work has earned statewide and national recognition, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1993447/see-the-bay-area-winners-of-the-2024-audubon-photography-awards\">Audubon Photography Awards’ Youth Prize\u003c/a> for his image of two American kestrels perched on a post at Calero County Park outside San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these days, it’s coyotes that draw most of his attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much conflict we see between humans and coyotes: like coyotes eating pets. And as a result, people poison coyotes,” Pourahmad said. “That makes me want to help them out, both the coyotes and humans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/fostering-coexistence-san-franciscos-urban-coyotes#:~:text=Published%20last%20week%20in%20People,the%20dawn%20and%20dusk%20hours.\">2023 study\u003c/a> analyzing 10 years of coyote-human interactions in San Francisco found that conflicts had increased in recent years, especially during the pup-rearing season and in areas with greater access to green spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999203\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999203 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arnav Singhal, left, speaks to his friends before heading off to find coyotes at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The animal control around Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.losaltosonline.com/news/coyote-encounters-escalating-in-and-around-los-altos-this-fall/article_7f59dd1d-84bf-4c61-9e8f-eff113d63e1e.html#:~:text=According%20to%20local%20animal%20control%20authorities%2C%20coyote,cities%20like%20San%20Francisco%20and%20Los%20Angeles**\">reported\u003c/a> an increase in coyote sightings, according to the Los Altos Town Crier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coyotes have their own neighborhoods, and each coyote you see isn’t random. So it’s kind of their home as well as ours,” Singhal said. He and Pourahmad attend Los Gatos High School together and are close friends. Singhal picked up photography after watching his friend’s dedication, and now spends several hours a week practicing alongside him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two teens founded the \u003ca href=\"https://svwildlifegroup.wixsite.com/silicon-valley-wildl/coyote-sighting-map\">Silicon Valley Wildlife Group\u003c/a>, a youth-led project to track coyotes across the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999208\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999208\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arnav Singhal shows a photo he took of a coyote at Stanford University, at Vasona Lake County Park, in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They collected every sighting they could since February: from their own photos, the updates posted by the Santa Clara County Vector Control and reports on Nextdoor and social media. They even invited residents to share encounters through a \u003ca href=\"https://svwildlifegroup.wixsite.com/silicon-valley-wildl/report-a-coyote-sighting\">form on their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They compiled all this information into \u003ca href=\"https://earth.google.com/web/@37.41932704,-122.06065396,9.81775331a,92227.12854624d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBMikKJwolCiExOWJSWTdobDN0Q2FYb1ozWXNScDZ2eG54Qkl1OWtIdzUgAToDCgEwQgIIAEoICJj08M0HEAE?authuser=0\">an interactive map with more than a thousand data points\u003c/a>, color-coded by time and day, location, and behavior. Many sightings cluster along the creeks that run through South Bay neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use the many creeks we have, like Guadalupe River, Los Gatos Creek, Coyote Creek, and a lot more to move around in urban areas without being sighted,” Pourahmad said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those urban wildlife corridors, they realized, connect the Santa Cruz Mountains to suburban parks, golf courses and backyards, a kind of wildlife highway rambling through the suburban sprawl.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling the gaps\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Urban ecologists have long suspected that suburban development pushes animals to adapt in surprising ways. Beverly Perez, a community resource specialist with Santa Clara County Vector Control, said the teens’ work helps put those patterns in context.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perez said the biggest challenge isn’t managing coyotes, it’s managing humans. “Urban expansion shrinks their habitat,” she said. Coyotes learn to find food and shelter in cities, especially when residents leave trash, pet food, or even small pets unprotected. “That’s when conflicts start.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251107_COYOTETEENS_GC-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An area of Los Gatos Creek where there have been frequent coyote sightings at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos on Nov. 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://talicaspi.weebly.com/publications.html\">Tali Caspi\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley who studies coyotes in San Francisco, said projects like the Silicon Valley Wildlife Group can help fill the gap in existing research and promote coexistence. She analyzes DNA to study the genetics of urban coyotes and uses motion-activated cameras to track their movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s coyotes have adapted to dense human environments, she said. Silicon Valley coyotes may behave differently, relying more on creek corridors and staying more elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coyotes play a critical role as apex predators, and they help keep balance in the ecosystem by controlling rodent populations and dispersing seeds in urban landscapes, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The next layer of investigation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The teens’ map identified distinct territories and recurring coyote behavior. They can identify an alpha male or female by photos or reports of pets being chased, an indicator of coyotes becoming bold or defending dens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now they want to build more advanced tools. With help from researchers at UC Berkeley, they’re learning \u003ca href=\"https://qgis.org/\">QGIS\u003c/a>, a professional mapping software used by conservation scientists, to model how the coyotes move.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As part of their project, Pourahmad and Singhal visit schools and libraries to give talks about wildlife in the area and on how to coexist with wildlife, sharing tips like securing trash cans and keeping dogs leashed near open spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our map to be an inspiration for the community to help mitigate human-wildlife conflict,” Singhal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next couple of years, they hope to build a Bay Area-wide dataset showing how wildlife adapts to human development, with the help of ten other high school students they’ve recently recruited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both teens say the project has shaped their aspirations to pursue careers in urban wildlife and ecology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pourahmad wants to study wildlife biology — particularly DNA analysis and the statistics behind ecological research. “I’m interested in the science of urban wildlife,” he said. “There’s so much we still don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singhal is drawn to a different path. “I want to become a lawyer,” he said. “I’m really interested in using what we’re learning now to influence policy or advocate for environmental issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "king-tides-to-flood-bay-area-shorelines-this-week-heres-where-and-when-to-safely-see-them",
"title": "King Tides to Flood Bay Area Shorelines This Week. Here's Where and When to Safely See Them",
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"headTitle": "King Tides to Flood Bay Area Shorelines This Week. Here’s Where and When to Safely See Them | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Beachgoers across the Bay Area and the coast are in for some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018103/king-tides-foreshadow-far-wetter-future-sf-shoreline\">highest tides\u003c/a> of the year this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King tides — caused by a stronger-than-normal\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1955598/king-tides-are-here-why-they-happen-and--they-teach-us\"> gravitational pull\u003c/a> when the sun, moon and Earth align — could push water onto low-lying areas. Parts of Highway 101 in Marin County often flood during these events, as do communities like San Rafael and San Francisco’s Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the other end of the tidal cycle, tidepoolers can expect some of the lowest astronomical tides of the year, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The negative \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991709/the-best-places-to-go-tide-pooling-in-the-bay-area\">low tide\u003c/a> can unveil submerged rocky habitats and species usually hidden from onlookers. Beachgoers can glimpse urchin, algae, California muscles, and — if they are lucky — octopuses and other creatures, said Erin Hubach, an interpretive programs specialist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tidal extremes will build through Friday, before slowly returning to normal this weekend into next week. The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office issued a coastal flood advisory for minor flooding due to high tides from Tuesday through 3 p.m. Sunday for communities along San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay and Monterey Bay. Forecasters said that the tides and high surf through Wednesday could lead to unexpected sneaker waves and advised taking caution when visiting the coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999469\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/participate.html\">California King Tides Project\u003c/a>, a citizen science project tracking the impact of rising sea levels, encourages people to send photos of the high tides as part of an ongoing citizen science project. Manager Annie Kohut Frankel said the images will help planners, researchers and communicators understand current coastal vulnerabilities and how severe sea level rise could inundate areas in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are places that are already impacted by these extremely high tides,” Kohut Frankel said. “For our project, if you know of a place that floods, we appreciate you going and taking a photo of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, California’s king tides mainly cause ponding on roads and other short-term nuisance flooding. However, scientists point out that they foreshadow a far wetter future due to sea-level rise caused by human-caused climate change. Climate scientists predict that melting ice caps and expanding ocean waters could cause the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997729/oysters-snails-and-a-wall-that-protects-against-climate-change-one-tile-at-a-time\">seas to rise\u003c/a> anywhere between a foot by 2050 and more than 6 feet by the end of the century.[aside postID=news_12018103 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/241213-PortFlood-24-1020x679.jpg']“It’s kind of a signal for the future,” said Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office. “If you’re flooding now, it’s not gonna get any better, certainly in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some coastal areas have built tall flood protections to protect against future flooding, but not the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael. The city in Marin County is shaped like a bowl, and its makeshift levees, some constructed with plywood or concrete, and pumps are already struggling, said Carly Finkle, senior policy manager with the nonprofit Canal Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water will overtop and flow onto the streets in a couple of different areas,” Finkle said. Although she said sometimes the floodwaters impact “people’s cars and access to people’s homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finkle encourages the public to see for themselves how the higher-than-usual tides are already affecting communities like San Rafael. Canal Alliance, alongside the City of San Rafael and other groups, is hosting a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/event/high-tide-day-december-2025/\">tour\u003c/a> on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s really informal infrastructure that’s blocking the water,” Finkle said. “If those pieces of plywood keep keeping the water out as they have, then we shouldn’t see catastrophic flooding, but it’s also gonna be an important opportunity to go out and see how flimsy they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second round of king tides will occur in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When will tides be the highest and lowest?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Weather Service forecasters said that in the San Francisco area, water could push more than a foot above the ground level in low-lying areas. They also note that high tide varies by about 90 minutes, and high surf could exacerbate the flooding. The highest chance of flooding is on Thursday and Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out the exact times of low and high tides, use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.html\">tide predictions online tool\u003c/a> or other sites like \u003ca href=\"http://tideforecast.com\">tideforecast.com.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person walks on a flooded sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco high tides:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Tuesday at 8:24 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Wednesday at 9:04 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thursday at 9:48 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Friday at 10:35 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday at 11:25 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sunday at 12:17 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco low tides:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Wednesday at 4:02 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thursday at 4:50 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Friday at 5:40 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday at 6:30 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sunday at 8:12 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What to know about visiting the water’s edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Coastal experts suggest caution. At high tides, visitors should pay close attention to where they park to make sure their cars aren’t flooded. At low tide, experts advise explorers to wear waterproof, non-slippery shoes, a head lamp and always head out with a buddy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubach, with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said to always pay close attention to the ocean in case a big wave sneaks up. She also said the lowest tides are occurring around dusk and into the early evening, so be extra careful when walking on coastal reefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Watch for big waves and watch where you step, not only for the slippery factor of the rocks, but also because there might be animals hidden underneath things,” Hubach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said there’s a bonus of visiting tide pools when it’s dark outside: “Sometimes different animals hang out in the tide pools at night versus during the daytime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tides can seemingly rise fast or unexpectedly when you are having a good time looking at critters usually unseen, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing is to take only pictures, take memories with you, and leave only footprints,” Hubach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where to see king tides and low tides\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While ocean visitors can see the impact of the high and low tides all around the rim of the bay and edge of the sea, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/\">number of official outings\u003c/a> are taking place across the region this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Thursday, Dec. 4:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/calendar/after-dark-royal-tides\">After Dark: Royal Tides at the Exploratorium\u003c/a>, Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street), 6-10 p.m. Learn about how king tides shadow a future with human-caused climate change, and how coastal communities are responding to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999477\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999477\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Friday, Dec. 5:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pescadero:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepeRFHVr40lXqWB2kRQZSdR20V2lQykoAZM85EgFKP9mTeGg/viewform\">King Tides and Marsh Trails at Pescadero State Beach\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nCentral Pescadero Beach Access Parking Lot, Pescadero, San Mateo County 9 a.m. Organizers discuss coastal resilience before a trail walk into the marsh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturday, Dec. 6:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Rafael:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/event/high-tide-day-december-2025/\">High Tide Day\u003c/a>, 711 Grand Avenue, 9 a.m. to noon. The City of San Rafael and a number of local organizations will provide community science kits to explore how low-lying spots along the waterfront are affected by high tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Rafael:\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://friendsofchinacamp.org/event/watch-the-king-tide-roll-in/\"> King Tides in China Camp\u003c/a> at China Camp State Park, Marin County, Turtle Back Trailhead off of North San Pedro Road from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friends of China Camp hosts a tabling event to explore how these extreme high tides give us a glimpse into the future of sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alameda:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/ebparks/activity/search/detail/57589?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true\">King Tide at the Cove \u003c/a>from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Doug Siden Visitor Center at Crab Cove, 1252 McKay Avenue, Alameda. The Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee and the East Bay Regional Parks District host a watch party at the marine protected area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Palo Alto:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-king-tides-walk-at-the-baylands-tickets-1748876710319?aff=oddtdtcreator\">King Tides Walk\u003c/a> from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EcoCenter, 2560 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto. The event will include a science talk about tides and a walk through the Baylands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alviso and Menlo Park:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-2025-king-tides-in-alviso-tickets-1968823260371\">December 2025 King Tides in Alviso\u003c/a> at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. 1751 Grand Blvd., Alviso, Santa Clara County. Noon to 1 p.m. The San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society presents a free guided walk to discover the highest tides of the year. Register \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-2025-king-tides-at-pond-sf2-tickets-1969953667449?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl\">here\u003c/a> for the Menlo Park location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pescadero:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepeRFHVr40lXqWB2kRQZSdR20V2lQykoAZM85EgFKP9mTeGg/viewform\">King Tides and Marsh Trails at Pescadero State Beach\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nCentral Pescadero Beach Access Parking Lot, Pescadero, San Mateo County 9:30 a.m. Organizers discuss coastal resilience before a trail walk into the marsh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "This week’s extra high tide could flood shorelines across the Bay Area, offering a preview of how rising seas could reshape the region. ",
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"title": "King Tides to Flood Bay Area Shorelines This Week. Here's Where and When to Safely See Them | KQED",
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"headline": "King Tides to Flood Bay Area Shorelines This Week. Here's Where and When to Safely See Them",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Beachgoers across the Bay Area and the coast are in for some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018103/king-tides-foreshadow-far-wetter-future-sf-shoreline\">highest tides\u003c/a> of the year this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>King tides — caused by a stronger-than-normal\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1955598/king-tides-are-here-why-they-happen-and--they-teach-us\"> gravitational pull\u003c/a> when the sun, moon and Earth align — could push water onto low-lying areas. Parts of Highway 101 in Marin County often flood during these events, as do communities like San Rafael and San Francisco’s Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the other end of the tidal cycle, tidepoolers can expect some of the lowest astronomical tides of the year, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The negative \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991709/the-best-places-to-go-tide-pooling-in-the-bay-area\">low tide\u003c/a> can unveil submerged rocky habitats and species usually hidden from onlookers. Beachgoers can glimpse urchin, algae, California muscles, and — if they are lucky — octopuses and other creatures, said Erin Hubach, an interpretive programs specialist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tidal extremes will build through Friday, before slowly returning to normal this weekend into next week. The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office issued a coastal flood advisory for minor flooding due to high tides from Tuesday through 3 p.m. Sunday for communities along San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay and Monterey Bay. Forecasters said that the tides and high surf through Wednesday could lead to unexpected sneaker waves and advised taking caution when visiting the coastline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999469\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-74_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/participate.html\">California King Tides Project\u003c/a>, a citizen science project tracking the impact of rising sea levels, encourages people to send photos of the high tides as part of an ongoing citizen science project. Manager Annie Kohut Frankel said the images will help planners, researchers and communicators understand current coastal vulnerabilities and how severe sea level rise could inundate areas in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are places that are already impacted by these extremely high tides,” Kohut Frankel said. “For our project, if you know of a place that floods, we appreciate you going and taking a photo of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, California’s king tides mainly cause ponding on roads and other short-term nuisance flooding. However, scientists point out that they foreshadow a far wetter future due to sea-level rise caused by human-caused climate change. Climate scientists predict that melting ice caps and expanding ocean waters could cause the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997729/oysters-snails-and-a-wall-that-protects-against-climate-change-one-tile-at-a-time\">seas to rise\u003c/a> anywhere between a foot by 2050 and more than 6 feet by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It’s kind of a signal for the future,” said Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office. “If you’re flooding now, it’s not gonna get any better, certainly in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some coastal areas have built tall flood protections to protect against future flooding, but not the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael. The city in Marin County is shaped like a bowl, and its makeshift levees, some constructed with plywood or concrete, and pumps are already struggling, said Carly Finkle, senior policy manager with the nonprofit Canal Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water will overtop and flow onto the streets in a couple of different areas,” Finkle said. Although she said sometimes the floodwaters impact “people’s cars and access to people’s homes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finkle encourages the public to see for themselves how the higher-than-usual tides are already affecting communities like San Rafael. Canal Alliance, alongside the City of San Rafael and other groups, is hosting a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/event/high-tide-day-december-2025/\">tour\u003c/a> on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s really informal infrastructure that’s blocking the water,” Finkle said. “If those pieces of plywood keep keeping the water out as they have, then we shouldn’t see catastrophic flooding, but it’s also gonna be an important opportunity to go out and see how flimsy they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second round of king tides will occur in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When will tides be the highest and lowest?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Weather Service forecasters said that in the San Francisco area, water could push more than a foot above the ground level in low-lying areas. They also note that high tide varies by about 90 minutes, and high surf could exacerbate the flooding. The highest chance of flooding is on Thursday and Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find out the exact times of low and high tides, use the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.html\">tide predictions online tool\u003c/a> or other sites like \u003ca href=\"http://tideforecast.com\">tideforecast.com.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-54_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person walks on a flooded sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco high tides:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Tuesday at 8:24 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Wednesday at 9:04 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thursday at 9:48 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Friday at 10:35 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday at 11:25 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sunday at 12:17 a.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco low tides:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Wednesday at 4:02 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thursday at 4:50 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Friday at 5:40 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Saturday at 6:30 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sunday at 8:12 p.m.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What to know about visiting the water’s edge\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Coastal experts suggest caution. At high tides, visitors should pay close attention to where they park to make sure their cars aren’t flooded. At low tide, experts advise explorers to wear waterproof, non-slippery shoes, a head lamp and always head out with a buddy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hubach, with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said to always pay close attention to the ocean in case a big wave sneaks up. She also said the lowest tides are occurring around dusk and into the early evening, so be extra careful when walking on coastal reefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Watch for big waves and watch where you step, not only for the slippery factor of the rocks, but also because there might be animals hidden underneath things,” Hubach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said there’s a bonus of visiting tide pools when it’s dark outside: “Sometimes different animals hang out in the tide pools at night versus during the daytime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tides can seemingly rise fast or unexpectedly when you are having a good time looking at critters usually unseen, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The important thing is to take only pictures, take memories with you, and leave only footprints,” Hubach said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where to see king tides and low tides\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While ocean visitors can see the impact of the high and low tides all around the rim of the bay and edge of the sea, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/\">number of official outings\u003c/a> are taking place across the region this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Thursday, Dec. 4:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Francisco:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/calendar/after-dark-royal-tides\">After Dark: Royal Tides at the Exploratorium\u003c/a>, Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street), 6-10 p.m. Learn about how king tides shadow a future with human-caused climate change, and how coastal communities are responding to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999477\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999477\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/241213-PortFlood-31_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows onto the sidewalk during a high king tide at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco on Dec. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Friday, Dec. 5:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pescadero:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepeRFHVr40lXqWB2kRQZSdR20V2lQykoAZM85EgFKP9mTeGg/viewform\">King Tides and Marsh Trails at Pescadero State Beach\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nCentral Pescadero Beach Access Parking Lot, Pescadero, San Mateo County 9 a.m. Organizers discuss coastal resilience before a trail walk into the marsh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturday, Dec. 6:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Rafael:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/event/high-tide-day-december-2025/\">High Tide Day\u003c/a>, 711 Grand Avenue, 9 a.m. to noon. The City of San Rafael and a number of local organizations will provide community science kits to explore how low-lying spots along the waterfront are affected by high tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Rafael:\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://friendsofchinacamp.org/event/watch-the-king-tide-roll-in/\"> King Tides in China Camp\u003c/a> at China Camp State Park, Marin County, Turtle Back Trailhead off of North San Pedro Road from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friends of China Camp hosts a tabling event to explore how these extreme high tides give us a glimpse into the future of sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alameda:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/ebparks/activity/search/detail/57589?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true\">King Tide at the Cove \u003c/a>from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Doug Siden Visitor Center at Crab Cove, 1252 McKay Avenue, Alameda. The Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee and the East Bay Regional Parks District host a watch party at the marine protected area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Palo Alto:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-king-tides-walk-at-the-baylands-tickets-1748876710319?aff=oddtdtcreator\">King Tides Walk\u003c/a> from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EcoCenter, 2560 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto. The event will include a science talk about tides and a walk through the Baylands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alviso and Menlo Park:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-2025-king-tides-in-alviso-tickets-1968823260371\">December 2025 King Tides in Alviso\u003c/a> at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. 1751 Grand Blvd., Alviso, Santa Clara County. Noon to 1 p.m. The San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society presents a free guided walk to discover the highest tides of the year. Register \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-2025-king-tides-at-pond-sf2-tickets-1969953667449?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl\">here\u003c/a> for the Menlo Park location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pescadero:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSepeRFHVr40lXqWB2kRQZSdR20V2lQykoAZM85EgFKP9mTeGg/viewform\">King Tides and Marsh Trails at Pescadero State Beach\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nCentral Pescadero Beach Access Parking Lot, Pescadero, San Mateo County 9:30 a.m. Organizers discuss coastal resilience before a trail walk into the marsh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Scientists Trace Heavy Metals Spread by January’s Huge Battery Fire Near Monterey",
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"content": "\u003cp>After a thermal runaway set the world’s largest battery storage facility \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022725/massive-fire-monterey-county-battery-plant-spews-toxic-smoke-forces-evacuations\">on fire last winter\u003c/a> near Monterey, Ivano Aiello and his colleagues at San José State University had some detective work to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire, which broke out at the Vistra Energy Storage Facility in Moss Landing on Jan. 16, burned for days, producing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023562/after-huge-monterey-county-battery-fire-locals-describe-headaches-nausea-and-a-taste-of-metal\">a plume of black smoke\u003c/a> that was visible for miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was obvious debris related to the fire pretty much all over the place, so it was evidence that something came out from the smoke plume,” said Aiello, a professor and chair at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To understand exactly what the fire spread, Aiello and his colleagues began to investigate. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8\">Their results\u003c/a>, published in the journal \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, were released Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fire broke out, they had already been collecting soil samples \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026477/after-toxic-monterey-battery-fire-scientists-keep-watch-over-sensitive-ecosystem\">from nearby Elkhorn Slough\u003c/a>, a sanctuary for endangered wildlife, so they had baseline data for comparison. After the fire, they tested for nickel, manganese and cobalt — the primary elements used in lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999458\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlie Endris (left), a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analyst, and Ivano Aiello (left), a professor and department chair at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, test the soil for metal levels in Elkhorn Slough near the Moss Landing Power Plant in Moss Landing, California, on Feb. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using a powerful electron microscope, they saw tiny beads of those metals in the soil. “That was pretty much a smoking gun,” Aiello said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024233/monterey-county-battery-fire-linked-surge-heavy-metals-nature-reserves-soil\">of the metals\u003c/a> were between 10 and 1,000 times greater than they had been before the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also found that the correlation of nickel to cobalt followed a strict 2:1 ratio — the same proportion used in manufacturing the batteries at the Vistra facility.[aside postID=news_12023562 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/MossLandingGetty-1020x680.jpg']“Now we are using that fingerprint to trace how those metals are moving through the environment,” Aiello said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/files/publications/EMBER-Preliminary-Biota-Report-November-2025.pdf\">Preliminary test results\u003c/a> from another \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/estuary-monitoring-of-battery-emissions-and-residues/\">team of San José State scientists\u003c/a> give some indication that the metals, which can be toxic above certain concentrations, have entered the food chain in the nearby estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the concern is not only for the local wildlife, which includes the southern sea otter, a threatened species still struggling back from the brink of extinction. Many agricultural fields are also close to the Moss Landing battery plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, there’s another piece of detective work still to be done. Aiello and his colleagues calculated that the heavy metals they found in the soil amounted to less than 2% of the metals contained in the burned batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where is the other 98%?” Aiello said. “Some of it might have gone straight to the ocean, but some of it might have traveled elsewhere because those particles are very, very tiny.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999456\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999456\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Moss Landing Power Plant, the site of a battery fire on Jan. 16, in Moss Landing, California, on Feb. 12, 2025, seen from across the Elkhorn Slough. The power plant is a natural gas-fired power station with a large battery storage facility directly next to the Elkhorn Slough, a coastal wetland on California’s central coast, home to marine life, including sea otters and birds. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Vistra Corporation, which operates the Moss Landing battery plant, said in a statement that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.readymontereycounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/143458/638990015667570000\">different study\u003c/a> conducted in October showed heavy metals found in soil near the battery plant were mostly within approved levels, and not necessarily related to the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The safety of our employees, the environment, and the surrounding community remains our top priority,” said Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra. “We will continue to work closely with local officials and community partners in the Moss Landing community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aiello hopes that as electric energy becomes more common, his work will help create a different approach to how we go about setting up battery storage facilities: “Maybe we can think better when we locate some of those storage facilities, which have the potential to contaminate soils and also the food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After a thermal runaway set the world’s largest battery storage facility \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022725/massive-fire-monterey-county-battery-plant-spews-toxic-smoke-forces-evacuations\">on fire last winter\u003c/a> near Monterey, Ivano Aiello and his colleagues at San José State University had some detective work to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire, which broke out at the Vistra Energy Storage Facility in Moss Landing on Jan. 16, burned for days, producing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023562/after-huge-monterey-county-battery-fire-locals-describe-headaches-nausea-and-a-taste-of-metal\">a plume of black smoke\u003c/a> that was visible for miles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was obvious debris related to the fire pretty much all over the place, so it was evidence that something came out from the smoke plume,” said Aiello, a professor and chair at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To understand exactly what the fire spread, Aiello and his colleagues began to investigate. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8\">Their results\u003c/a>, published in the journal \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, were released Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fire broke out, they had already been collecting soil samples \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026477/after-toxic-monterey-battery-fire-scientists-keep-watch-over-sensitive-ecosystem\">from nearby Elkhorn Slough\u003c/a>, a sanctuary for endangered wildlife, so they had baseline data for comparison. After the fire, they tested for nickel, manganese and cobalt — the primary elements used in lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999458\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-20-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlie Endris (left), a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analyst, and Ivano Aiello (left), a professor and department chair at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, test the soil for metal levels in Elkhorn Slough near the Moss Landing Power Plant in Moss Landing, California, on Feb. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using a powerful electron microscope, they saw tiny beads of those metals in the soil. “That was pretty much a smoking gun,” Aiello said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concentrations \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024233/monterey-county-battery-fire-linked-surge-heavy-metals-nature-reserves-soil\">of the metals\u003c/a> were between 10 and 1,000 times greater than they had been before the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also found that the correlation of nickel to cobalt followed a strict 2:1 ratio — the same proportion used in manufacturing the batteries at the Vistra facility.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Now we are using that fingerprint to trace how those metals are moving through the environment,” Aiello said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://elkhornslough.org/files/publications/EMBER-Preliminary-Biota-Report-November-2025.pdf\">Preliminary test results\u003c/a> from another \u003ca href=\"https://mlml.sjsu.edu/estuary-monitoring-of-battery-emissions-and-residues/\">team of San José State scientists\u003c/a> give some indication that the metals, which can be toxic above certain concentrations, have entered the food chain in the nearby estuary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the concern is not only for the local wildlife, which includes the southern sea otter, a threatened species still struggling back from the brink of extinction. Many agricultural fields are also close to the Moss Landing battery plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, there’s another piece of detective work still to be done. Aiello and his colleagues calculated that the heavy metals they found in the soil amounted to less than 2% of the metals contained in the burned batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where is the other 98%?” Aiello said. “Some of it might have gone straight to the ocean, but some of it might have traveled elsewhere because those particles are very, very tiny.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999456\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999456\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/250212-ElkhornSlough-14-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Moss Landing Power Plant, the site of a battery fire on Jan. 16, in Moss Landing, California, on Feb. 12, 2025, seen from across the Elkhorn Slough. The power plant is a natural gas-fired power station with a large battery storage facility directly next to the Elkhorn Slough, a coastal wetland on California’s central coast, home to marine life, including sea otters and birds. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Vistra Corporation, which operates the Moss Landing battery plant, said in a statement that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.readymontereycounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/143458/638990015667570000\">different study\u003c/a> conducted in October showed heavy metals found in soil near the battery plant were mostly within approved levels, and not necessarily related to the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The safety of our employees, the environment, and the surrounding community remains our top priority,” said Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra. “We will continue to work closely with local officials and community partners in the Moss Landing community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aiello hopes that as electric energy becomes more common, his work will help create a different approach to how we go about setting up battery storage facilities: “Maybe we can think better when we locate some of those storage facilities, which have the potential to contaminate soils and also the food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Area Electricity Bills Are Some of the Highest. Where Does Your Money Go?",
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"headTitle": "Bay Area Electricity Bills Are Some of the Highest. Where Does Your Money Go? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>For three days last December, when Kenya Brown’s youngest four kids weren’t in school, they spent their time at her oldest son’s apartment. They did their homework, charged their phones, showered and had dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The children returned to the family home only to sleep. Instead of the normal chatter of TV shows and the sparkle of hall lights, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051850/as-californias-electricity-rates-rise-parents-struggle-to-pay-their-bills\">the house was dark and cold\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911358/new-state-climate-plan-to-reduce-energy-costs-fortify-grid\">Their utilities had been shut off\u003c/a> — no heat, no lights, no hot water, no gas for cooking; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910733/why-your-energy-bill-has-gotten-so-expensive-and-what-can-be-done-about-it\">Brown hadn’t paid the bill in months\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s bills are like many others in California: high, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033386/pge-electricity-rates-have-jumped-nearly-70-since-2020\">especially in recent years\u003c/a>. Her electricity and gas bills regularly top $500 a month for the one-story home she’s rented for the past ten years in the East Bay city of Bay Point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money from her job at the time as a full-time cashier at Walmart paid for rent, her car loan, and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to decide: am I going to pay this bill or am I gonna eat food? And I choose food,” Brown said, noting that it’s hard to keep up with the appetites of four growing kids, even with federal food assistance and trips to the food bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999441\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kenya Brown views her house in Bay Point on Nov. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brown has tried cutting back on electricity use. She’s asked her kids to turn down the heat and turn off lights and TVs. She weatherized her home, taking advantage of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Residential-Energy-Efficiency.aspx\">free federal program\u003c/a> meant to reduce utility costs. She didn’t notice a difference in her bottom line, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s never been this high before,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s son’s teacher got wind of the power disconnection in the family’s home. She set up a GoFundMe, which raised $3000 to restore electricity and gas, and pay past-due bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s electricity rates are the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4950#:~:text=Summary,customers%20pay%20can%20vary%20widely.\">second-highest\u003c/a> in the country after Hawaii, and a majority of Californians say the expense is a top \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/californians-and-the-energy-transition/#:~:text=Californians%20are%20frustrated%20by%20energy%20affordability%20*,economy%20a%20great%20deal%20in%20the%20future.\">concern\u003c/a>. The burden is even higher for low-income families: according to the Public Policy Institute of California, low-income households pay a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/low-income-households-struggle-with-the-cost-of-electricity-bills/\">much larger\u003c/a> portion of their income on electricity bills compared to households earning more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at 211 Bay Area, a United Way hotline that refers people to support for food, housing and more, said they fielded more than 6000 calls about utility assistance from January to October this year, compared to around 2000 over that same time period in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Utility assistance is in our top three most requested needs,” said Clare Margason, 211 Bay Area’s senior director.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s in a bill?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s no shocker that electricity is expensive in California, but what exactly are you paying for? Glancing at your bill will likely leave you more confused: there is a dizzying array of charges, credits, adjustments, taxes and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED took Brown’s bill to a group of experts to decode it, and in doing so found that her bill included a miscalculation: Brown qualifies for CARE, a program meant to help offset energy costs for low-income Californians, but she is only getting that discount on what she pays for gas, not electricity.[aside postID=science_1999095 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS60056_023_KQED_HomeElectrificationOakland_11072022-qut-1020x680.jpg']PG&E told KQED in a statement that the company fixed the error and Brown will receive a credit on her next bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown did not think to question her bills, however, because each month she sees a CARE discount, and high utility bills seem to be the norm when she talks to family and friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are real barriers to seeking help for high utility bills, said Constance Slider Pierre, who oversees \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/w8rYCXDM32FGNgOxt6f5CWeNI8?domain=turn.org\">The Utility Reform Network\u003c/a>’s consumer hotline. Barriers include speaking limited English, confusion over how to read bills, and difficulty reaching customer service representatives, Slider Pierre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this story, KQED spoke to experts at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Utility Reform Network and California’s largest utility, PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s worth pointing out that it takes multiple experts, maybe some PhDs, and a bunch of phone calls to understand one electricity bill in California,” Mohit Chhabra of the Natural Resources Defense Council said of the long list of experts KQED spoke to for this story. “If you want people to actually understand [their bills], simplifying the front end would be useful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We looked at Brown’s bill to understand what she and others pay for and what those charges mean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brown spent $576.37 on electricity in September.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999429\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999429\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Energy Generation. 25-45%, Brown paid $173.93\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the cost of producing energy: from sources like natural gas, solar, wind, hydro and nuclear, and the upkeep of these power plants. Utilities generate some of their own energy, but buy the majority of it from third parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brown’s case, her energy comes from MCE, a community power provider that serves some North and East Bay counties. Community choice aggregators like MCE first sprouted up in 2010 as an alternative to investor-owned utilities for buying or generating energy. MCE still relies on PG&E’s poles and wires, so Brown pays a portion of her bill to MCE for electricity generation, and another to PG&E to deliver that electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of energy generation is similar, whether you’re enrolled in a community power provider or PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999428\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999428\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Electric Delivery, Brown paid $402.44\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the cost of moving energy from where it’s created at a power plant or a solar farm to your home. There are tons of aspects to this system, including transmission and distribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999430\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Transmission. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>7-12%, Brown paid $50.03 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transmission system is like a superhighway for electrons. These are the huge towers and high voltage wires you see while driving along the actual highway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Distribution. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>38-45%, Brown paid $292.63\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The distribution system is like all the roads on which you travel after you exit the highway: main thoroughfares, residential streets, even your driveway. These are the poles and wires that connect to your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maintaining both transmission and distribution systems means Californians pay utilities for a variety of work meant to prevent wildfires, like cutting trees along power lines, or covering or undergrounding wires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire expenses more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, making up almost \u003ca href=\"http://publicadvocates.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cal-advocates-website/files/press-room/reports-and-analyses/240613-public-advocates-office-electric-ious-wildfire-cost-increases.pdf\">a quarter\u003c/a> of the total revenue PG&E collected from customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire costs include both paying for past disasters – rebuilding and paying claims to people harmed – and preparing the grid for future calamities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Severin Borenstein, a professor of energy and economics at UC Berkeley, said 30 years ago, customers would pay just a couple of cents a month for distribution in their electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was basically putting up wires around neighborhoods and then maintaining them,” Borenstein said. “Now that [cost] is many, many times higher because almost all of the fires that have been started are distribution level fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change has greatly increased the risks of out-of-control fires caused by falling trees or failing poles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re spending an enormous amount of money to avoid that risk,” Borenstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public Purpose Programs. 5-6%, Brown paid $33.57\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fee funds programs that help offset electricity costs for low-income Californians. For example, the CARE program provides at least a 20% discount on gas and electricity rates for those who qualify. It also includes energy efficiency programs, like the one Kenya Brown used to help weatherize her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much money goes to PG&E shareholders? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E said less than 1% of a typical residential bill is paid out to shareholders as dividends — cash payments the company gives to people who own PG&E stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kenya Brown’s $648.04 gas and electric bill, she paid under $6.48 to PG&E shareholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A fraction of your bill goes to actually generating electricity, while costs to pay for past wildfires and prevent future ones have skyrocketed.",
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"title": "Bay Area Electricity Bills Are Some of the Highest. Where Does Your Money Go? | KQED",
"description": "A fraction of your bill goes to actually generating electricity, while costs to pay for past wildfires and prevent future ones have skyrocketed.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For three days last December, when Kenya Brown’s youngest four kids weren’t in school, they spent their time at her oldest son’s apartment. They did their homework, charged their phones, showered and had dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The children returned to the family home only to sleep. Instead of the normal chatter of TV shows and the sparkle of hall lights, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051850/as-californias-electricity-rates-rise-parents-struggle-to-pay-their-bills\">the house was dark and cold\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911358/new-state-climate-plan-to-reduce-energy-costs-fortify-grid\">Their utilities had been shut off\u003c/a> — no heat, no lights, no hot water, no gas for cooking; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910733/why-your-energy-bill-has-gotten-so-expensive-and-what-can-be-done-about-it\">Brown hadn’t paid the bill in months\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s bills are like many others in California: high, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033386/pge-electricity-rates-have-jumped-nearly-70-since-2020\">especially in recent years\u003c/a>. Her electricity and gas bills regularly top $500 a month for the one-story home she’s rented for the past ten years in the East Bay city of Bay Point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The money from her job at the time as a full-time cashier at Walmart paid for rent, her car loan, and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have to decide: am I going to pay this bill or am I gonna eat food? And I choose food,” Brown said, noting that it’s hard to keep up with the appetites of four growing kids, even with federal food assistance and trips to the food bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999441\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251105_High-electricity-bills_GH-5_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kenya Brown views her house in Bay Point on Nov. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brown has tried cutting back on electricity use. She’s asked her kids to turn down the heat and turn off lights and TVs. She weatherized her home, taking advantage of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Residential-Energy-Efficiency.aspx\">free federal program\u003c/a> meant to reduce utility costs. She didn’t notice a difference in her bottom line, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s never been this high before,” Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s son’s teacher got wind of the power disconnection in the family’s home. She set up a GoFundMe, which raised $3000 to restore electricity and gas, and pay past-due bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s electricity rates are the \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4950#:~:text=Summary,customers%20pay%20can%20vary%20widely.\">second-highest\u003c/a> in the country after Hawaii, and a majority of Californians say the expense is a top \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/californians-and-the-energy-transition/#:~:text=Californians%20are%20frustrated%20by%20energy%20affordability%20*,economy%20a%20great%20deal%20in%20the%20future.\">concern\u003c/a>. The burden is even higher for low-income families: according to the Public Policy Institute of California, low-income households pay a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/low-income-households-struggle-with-the-cost-of-electricity-bills/\">much larger\u003c/a> portion of their income on electricity bills compared to households earning more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staff at 211 Bay Area, a United Way hotline that refers people to support for food, housing and more, said they fielded more than 6000 calls about utility assistance from January to October this year, compared to around 2000 over that same time period in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Utility assistance is in our top three most requested needs,” said Clare Margason, 211 Bay Area’s senior director.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s in a bill?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s no shocker that electricity is expensive in California, but what exactly are you paying for? Glancing at your bill will likely leave you more confused: there is a dizzying array of charges, credits, adjustments, taxes and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED took Brown’s bill to a group of experts to decode it, and in doing so found that her bill included a miscalculation: Brown qualifies for CARE, a program meant to help offset energy costs for low-income Californians, but she is only getting that discount on what she pays for gas, not electricity.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>PG&E told KQED in a statement that the company fixed the error and Brown will receive a credit on her next bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown did not think to question her bills, however, because each month she sees a CARE discount, and high utility bills seem to be the norm when she talks to family and friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are real barriers to seeking help for high utility bills, said Constance Slider Pierre, who oversees \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/w8rYCXDM32FGNgOxt6f5CWeNI8?domain=turn.org\">The Utility Reform Network\u003c/a>’s consumer hotline. Barriers include speaking limited English, confusion over how to read bills, and difficulty reaching customer service representatives, Slider Pierre said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this story, KQED spoke to experts at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Utility Reform Network and California’s largest utility, PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s worth pointing out that it takes multiple experts, maybe some PhDs, and a bunch of phone calls to understand one electricity bill in California,” Mohit Chhabra of the Natural Resources Defense Council said of the long list of experts KQED spoke to for this story. “If you want people to actually understand [their bills], simplifying the front end would be useful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We looked at Brown’s bill to understand what she and others pay for and what those charges mean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brown spent $576.37 on electricity in September.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999429\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999429\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1271-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Energy Generation. 25-45%, Brown paid $173.93\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the cost of producing energy: from sources like natural gas, solar, wind, hydro and nuclear, and the upkeep of these power plants. Utilities generate some of their own energy, but buy the majority of it from third parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brown’s case, her energy comes from MCE, a community power provider that serves some North and East Bay counties. Community choice aggregators like MCE first sprouted up in 2010 as an alternative to investor-owned utilities for buying or generating energy. MCE still relies on PG&E’s poles and wires, so Brown pays a portion of her bill to MCE for electricity generation, and another to PG&E to deliver that electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of energy generation is similar, whether you’re enrolled in a community power provider or PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999428\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999428\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1275-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Electric Delivery, Brown paid $402.44\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the cost of moving energy from where it’s created at a power plant or a solar farm to your home. There are tons of aspects to this system, including transmission and distribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999430\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1270-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Transmission. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>7-12%, Brown paid $50.03 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transmission system is like a superhighway for electrons. These are the huge towers and high voltage wires you see while driving along the actual highway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Distribution. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>38-45%, Brown paid $292.63\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The distribution system is like all the roads on which you travel after you exit the highway: main thoroughfares, residential streets, even your driveway. These are the poles and wires that connect to your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maintaining both transmission and distribution systems means Californians pay utilities for a variety of work meant to prevent wildfires, like cutting trees along power lines, or covering or undergrounding wires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire expenses more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, making up almost \u003ca href=\"http://publicadvocates.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cal-advocates-website/files/press-room/reports-and-analyses/240613-public-advocates-office-electric-ious-wildfire-cost-increases.pdf\">a quarter\u003c/a> of the total revenue PG&E collected from customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildfire costs include both paying for past disasters – rebuilding and paying claims to people harmed – and preparing the grid for future calamities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Severin Borenstein, a professor of energy and economics at UC Berkeley, said 30 years ago, customers would pay just a couple of cents a month for distribution in their electricity bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was basically putting up wires around neighborhoods and then maintaining them,” Borenstein said. “Now that [cost] is many, many times higher because almost all of the fires that have been started are distribution level fires.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change has greatly increased the risks of out-of-control fires caused by falling trees or failing poles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re spending an enormous amount of money to avoid that risk,” Borenstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Public Purpose Programs. 5-6%, Brown paid $33.57\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fee funds programs that help offset electricity costs for low-income Californians. For example, the CARE program provides at least a 20% discount on gas and electricity rates for those who qualify. It also includes energy efficiency programs, like the one Kenya Brown used to help weatherize her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/IMG_1272-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of Kenya Brown’s September 2025 energy bill. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much money goes to PG&E shareholders? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E said less than 1% of a typical residential bill is paid out to shareholders as dividends — cash payments the company gives to people who own PG&E stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kenya Brown’s $648.04 gas and electric bill, she paid under $6.48 to PG&E shareholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-warns-families-to-watch-out-for-teens-as-character-ai-shuts-off-chatbot-access",
"title": "California Warns Families to Watch Out for Teens as Character.AI Shuts Off Chatbot Access",
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"headTitle": "California Warns Families to Watch Out for Teens as Character.AI Shuts Off Chatbot Access | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California health officials are warning young people and their families to take care, as Bay Area artificial intelligence company Character.AI\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\"> bans\u003c/a> the use of its chatbots by children as of Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Public Health issued the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR25-021.aspx\"> public advisory\u003c/a> on the eve of the ban taking full effect and at the request of prominent online safety experts who had raised alarms earlier this month that detaching from an AI companion too quickly could leave\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038154/kids-talking-ai-companion-chatbots-stanford-researchers-say-thats-bad-idea\"> teens vulnerable\u003c/a> to emotional changes, even self-harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While data and science on the topic are still evolving, ongoing reports on youth dependency on this technology are of concern and warrant further research,” Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant state health officer, said in a statement. “We encourage families to talk and to take advantage of the numerous resources available to support mental health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI announced its \u003ca href=\"https://blog.character.ai/u18-chat-announcement/\">decision to disable chatbots\u003c/a> for users younger than 18 in late October and began limiting how much time they could interact with them in November. The move came in response to political pressure and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/magazine/character-ai-chatbot-lawsuit-teen-suicide-free-speech.html\">news reports\u003c/a> of teens who had become suicidal after prolonged use, including a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide after his mom took away his phone and he abruptly stopped communicating with his AI companion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents do not realize that their kids love these bots and that they might feel like their best friend just died or their boyfriend just died,” UC Berkeley bioethics professor Jodi Halpern\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\"> told KQED\u003c/a> earlier this month. “Seeing how deep these attachments are and aware that at least some suicidal behavior has been associated with the abrupt loss, I want parents to know that it could be a vulnerable time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health department’s alert was more muted, advising parents that some youth may experience “disruption or uncertainty” when chatbots become unavailable, while other experts have labeled the feelings that could arise as “grief” or “withdrawal.” Still, the state stepping in to promote mental health support for kids weaning off of chatbots is novel, noteworthy, and perhaps even unprecedented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999292 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kids may be susceptible to self-harm or suicide when Character.AI bans youth under 18 from using its chatbots, according to a UC Berkeley bioethics professor who asked the state to issue a public service announcement. \u003ccite>(EyeEm Mobile GmbH/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is the first that I’ve heard of states taking action like this,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsense.org/\">Common Sense Media\u003c/a>, which conducts risk assessments of chatbots. “CDPH is treating this like a public health issue because it is one. While the relationships aren’t real, the attachment that teens have to the companions is real for those teens, and that’s a major thing for them to be navigating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, California became one of the first states to tackle the legislative regulation of AI chatbots. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB243\">SB 243\u003c/a> into law, requiring chatbots to clearly notify users that they are powered by AI and not human. It also requires companies to establish protocols for referring minors to real-life crisis services when they discuss suicidal ideation with a chatbot, and to report data on those protocols and referrals to CDPH.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This information will allow the Department to better understand the scope and nuances of suicide-related issues on companion chatbot platforms,” said Matt Conens, an agency spokesperson.[aside postID=science_1999280 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/ChatBotBanAP.jpg']Newsom vetoed another bill,\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1064\"> AB 1064\u003c/a>, that would have prohibited companion chatbots for anyone under 18 if they were foreseeably capable of causing harm, for example, by encouraging children toward self-harm, drug or alcohol use, or disordered eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For families who may need immediate support through the transition off of companion chatbots, state health officials recommended accessing free youth behavioral health platforms like\u003ca href=\"https://www.hellobrightline.com/brightlifekids/\"> BrightLife Kids\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://solunaapp.com/\"> Soluna\u003c/a>, or the web and print resources on youth suicide prevention from\u003ca href=\"https://neverabother.org/\"> Never a Bother\u003c/a>. They can also call or text the\u003ca href=\"https://988lifeline.org/\"> crisis lifeline 988\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI has also expanded its resources for teens and parents in recent weeks, according to Deniz Demir, the company’s head of safety engineering, including a partnership with nonprofit\u003ca href=\"https://kokocares.org\"> Koko\u003c/a> to provide free emotional support tools directly on its platform, and with the company\u003ca href=\"https://www.throughlinecare.com\"> ThroughLine\u003c/a> to help with off-boarding and redirecting young users in distress to its network of teen resources for “real help, in real time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We recognize that this may be a significant change for some of our teen users, and therefore, we want to be as cautious as possible in this transition,” Demir said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI represents just a fraction of the market for AI companions, and while its self-regulating actions are laudable, Torney said, there are still other platforms that kids can turn to and probably already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t just about one company,” he said. “We need all other platforms that offer AI companionship or AI mental health advice or AI emotional support to follow Character.AI’s lead immediately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "California Warns Families to Watch Out for Teens as Character.AI Shuts Off Chatbot Access | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California health officials are warning young people and their families to take care, as Bay Area artificial intelligence company Character.AI\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\"> bans\u003c/a> the use of its chatbots by children as of Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Public Health issued the\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR25-021.aspx\"> public advisory\u003c/a> on the eve of the ban taking full effect and at the request of prominent online safety experts who had raised alarms earlier this month that detaching from an AI companion too quickly could leave\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038154/kids-talking-ai-companion-chatbots-stanford-researchers-say-thats-bad-idea\"> teens vulnerable\u003c/a> to emotional changes, even self-harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While data and science on the topic are still evolving, ongoing reports on youth dependency on this technology are of concern and warrant further research,” Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant state health officer, said in a statement. “We encourage families to talk and to take advantage of the numerous resources available to support mental health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI announced its \u003ca href=\"https://blog.character.ai/u18-chat-announcement/\">decision to disable chatbots\u003c/a> for users younger than 18 in late October and began limiting how much time they could interact with them in November. The move came in response to political pressure and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/magazine/character-ai-chatbot-lawsuit-teen-suicide-free-speech.html\">news reports\u003c/a> of teens who had become suicidal after prolonged use, including a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide after his mom took away his phone and he abruptly stopped communicating with his AI companion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents do not realize that their kids love these bots and that they might feel like their best friend just died or their boyfriend just died,” UC Berkeley bioethics professor Jodi Halpern\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\"> told KQED\u003c/a> earlier this month. “Seeing how deep these attachments are and aware that at least some suicidal behavior has been associated with the abrupt loss, I want parents to know that it could be a vulnerable time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health department’s alert was more muted, advising parents that some youth may experience “disruption or uncertainty” when chatbots become unavailable, while other experts have labeled the feelings that could arise as “grief” or “withdrawal.” Still, the state stepping in to promote mental health support for kids weaning off of chatbots is novel, noteworthy, and perhaps even unprecedented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1999292 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kids may be susceptible to self-harm or suicide when Character.AI bans youth under 18 from using its chatbots, according to a UC Berkeley bioethics professor who asked the state to issue a public service announcement. \u003ccite>(EyeEm Mobile GmbH/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is the first that I’ve heard of states taking action like this,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsense.org/\">Common Sense Media\u003c/a>, which conducts risk assessments of chatbots. “CDPH is treating this like a public health issue because it is one. While the relationships aren’t real, the attachment that teens have to the companions is real for those teens, and that’s a major thing for them to be navigating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, California became one of the first states to tackle the legislative regulation of AI chatbots. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB243\">SB 243\u003c/a> into law, requiring chatbots to clearly notify users that they are powered by AI and not human. It also requires companies to establish protocols for referring minors to real-life crisis services when they discuss suicidal ideation with a chatbot, and to report data on those protocols and referrals to CDPH.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This information will allow the Department to better understand the scope and nuances of suicide-related issues on companion chatbot platforms,” said Matt Conens, an agency spokesperson.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Newsom vetoed another bill,\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1064\"> AB 1064\u003c/a>, that would have prohibited companion chatbots for anyone under 18 if they were foreseeably capable of causing harm, for example, by encouraging children toward self-harm, drug or alcohol use, or disordered eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For families who may need immediate support through the transition off of companion chatbots, state health officials recommended accessing free youth behavioral health platforms like\u003ca href=\"https://www.hellobrightline.com/brightlifekids/\"> BrightLife Kids\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://solunaapp.com/\"> Soluna\u003c/a>, or the web and print resources on youth suicide prevention from\u003ca href=\"https://neverabother.org/\"> Never a Bother\u003c/a>. They can also call or text the\u003ca href=\"https://988lifeline.org/\"> crisis lifeline 988\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI has also expanded its resources for teens and parents in recent weeks, according to Deniz Demir, the company’s head of safety engineering, including a partnership with nonprofit\u003ca href=\"https://kokocares.org\"> Koko\u003c/a> to provide free emotional support tools directly on its platform, and with the company\u003ca href=\"https://www.throughlinecare.com\"> ThroughLine\u003c/a> to help with off-boarding and redirecting young users in distress to its network of teen resources for “real help, in real time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We recognize that this may be a significant change for some of our teen users, and therefore, we want to be as cautious as possible in this transition,” Demir said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Character.AI represents just a fraction of the market for AI companions, and while its self-regulating actions are laudable, Torney said, there are still other platforms that kids can turn to and probably already have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t just about one company,” he said. “We need all other platforms that offer AI companionship or AI mental health advice or AI emotional support to follow Character.AI’s lead immediately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"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?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
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