blog post What’s Worse Than a Flood? A Debris Flow By Sarah Bardeen Mar 18, 2024 Move over, floods—there’s a new natural disaster in town: debris flows. We know that debris flows can be even more destructive than floods, but what are they and why do they happen? We speak with expert Jimmy Guilinger to learn more.
blog post A Look Back at 2023’s Volatile Year in Water By Letitia Grenier Jan 9, 2024 Volatility was the name of the game in 2023, as drought-weary California suddenly found itself inundated by atmospheric rivers—and the changes kept coming. We look back on California’s weird (and sometimes wonderful) year in water.
blog post Wildfire Smoke Is a Threat to Children’s Health By Shalini Mustala Dec 6, 2023 The average number of days per year with heavy smoke in California's air has been rising, especially in the Central Valley, Sacramento region, and far north. This poses a particular health risk for children, who are more likely to be exposed to wildfire smoke and more susceptible to its effects.
blog post Video: Stewarding California’s Wet Years By Sarah Bardeen Nov 20, 2023 Wet weather brought relief to our parched state last winter. And while full reservoirs are great, is there room to improve California’s wet year management? At our fall conference last week, three panels of experts gave a resounding yes—and then offered insights on how to improve. Read our recap!
blog post Are Carbon Offsets Actually Working? By Sarah Bardeen, Caitlin Peterson Nov 15, 2023 In a world that urgently needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, carbon offsets have emerged as one possible solution. We asked PPIC adjunct fellow Van Butsic, a cooperative extension specialist at UC Berkeley who recently studied offsets for a carbon management firm, to tell us more.
blog post How to Keep Buildings Cool in California’s Warming Climate By Sarah Bardeen Oct 23, 2023 California is getting warmer—and that’s putting strain on residents who are struggling to stay cool. Could better architectural design help? This week, we speak with an expert in passive cooling and carbon-neutral design to learn more.
blog post Californians Are Worried about Wildfires By Lynette Ubois, Mark Baldassare Aug 16, 2023 An overwhelming majority of Californians say the threat of wildfires is a problem in their part of the state. Around one in three residents have a great deal of confidence in government readiness to respond to wildfires.
blog post New State Budget Maintains Water and Natural Resources Funding in an Uncertain Economy By Gokce Sencan Aug 1, 2023 When it comes to state funding for water and natural resource projects, California has typically turned to general obligation bonds as the first resort. The historic budget surpluses of recent years have shaken up this long-standing arrangement, but is that funding source drying up?
blog post California’s 2022 Fire Season: “A Remarkably Different Year” By Sarah Bardeen Dec 12, 2022 This year’s fire season was relatively quiet—a welcome change of pace for fire-weary Californians. But what does it mean in the larger scheme of things? We asked UC Berkeley professor Scott Stephens for insights.
blog post Climate-Challenged California Must Learn to Thrive with Less Water By Ellen Hanak, Jeffrey Mount Nov 16, 2022 Managing water in our increasingly volatile climate is becoming more challenging: even if we do everything right, water supplies are likely to decline. The grand challenge for 21st-century water management in California is learning to thrive with less.