Creating environmentally friendly plastic
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, January 5th.>>>>
Creating a new, environmentally-friendly plastic.
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
The day San Diego's border communities have been waiting for is almost here.
The pedestrian crossing at the San Ysidro port of entry, known as Ped-West, is set to reopen next Monday.
For now, it will resume limited hours of operation, from six in the morning until 2 in the afternoon
The crossing was supposed to re-open last month, but was postponed.
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Retired Pope Benedict the 16th’s funeral was today.
It was held at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City in Italy.
Pope Benedict passed away on New Year’s Eve.
He was 95 years old.
Cardinal McElroy from the Diocese of San Diego said in a statement, that In loving Jesus Christ” Pope Benedict “brought grace to the Church and ennobled our world.”
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More rain and strong winds are headed our way today.
A wind advisory will be in effect until 4 p-m.
According to the National Weather Service, gusts are expected to reach up to 60 miles per hour in mountain areas, and up to 40 miles per hour in other areas.
High surf warnings are also in effect at area beaches until six p-m tomorrow.
Temps are expected to warm up a little by tomorrow and Saturday, but we might see more rain over the weekend.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Plastic waste that takes centuries to break down is a huge environmental problem for the earth and its oceans.
One answer to the problem is being explored in San Diego.
KPBS sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge tells us of two companies that are making new kinds of plastic.
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Surfer Tom Cooke and I stand on a beach in Encinitas where other surfers are catching plenty of waves. It’s a nice clean beach but plastic waste isn’t far away, floating in what they call the Pacific garbage patch. Go elsewhere in the world to surf, Cooke says, and you see a lot more stuff washed up and left on the beaches. “In El Salvador it was a big rock beach with a lot of tidal flow. There was someone coming everyday to pick up plastic bottles and flip flops.... but it was just a constant flow of plastics. I mean this stuff was piled up like mid-shin in El Salvador. It was pretty gross.” Cooke isn’t just a surfer. He’s president of a company called Blueview Footwear that makes biodegradable sneakers. The science behind Blueview comes from their CEO, Stephen Mayfield. He’s also a distinguished professor of biology at UC San Diego. Recently Mayfield showed me his lab where pieces of the foamy material that go into his sneakers swirl in vials of liquid. The water is filled with tiny ocean organisms that are invited to consume the material. “As we’re degrading our foams we’re also trying to isolate the organisms that biodegrade them.” Biodegradable plastics that go into Blueview shoes are made from algae oil. Mayfield said it’s ironic that ancient deposits of algae oil have become the petroleum that we mine and turn into plastic. Mayfied said scientists 70 years ago could have created degradable plastics. But in an effort to make something very durable they didn’t foresee the problem with the plastic waste stream that is now so obvious. “So when we set about to redevelop these things, we said ‘let's make plastics from algae but let’s make plastics that biodegrade at the end of their lives.’ The material has a half-life that is proportional to the product.” Based on their experiments, the shoes will fully degrade in soil and compost in about 9 months. In the ocean, it’ll take about two years. The need for a new kind of plastic goes in hand with the overall failure of plastic recycling. Many studies indicate less than 10 percent of plastic waste is recycled. Most recently, a Greenpeace report estimated only about 5% of household plastics are recycled in the United States. The San Diego company Geno has been bioengineering plant-based plastics for more than 20 years. Company CEO Christophe Schilling, who got his Phd at UC San Diego, says plastic recycling could work, but it requires a clean, pure stream of the same kind of plastic. That’s not what you find in a San Diego recycling bin. “To be relying on plastic recycling as the solution to our plastic waste challenges… It can be part of the solution but we need to come up with other alternative approaches,." Geno’s materials go into making nylon for apparel. They also help to formulate cosmetics. A primary building block for their bioplastic products is sugar. Corn kernels, for instance, are packed with sugar. “Our technology is being used today at the core of a $300 million capital project to build a manufacturing facility in Iowa. It will take corn, produced by American farmers, and convert that into materials that we’ll find in a range of different products.” Geno technology is being used to make biodegradable plastic bags at a plant in Italy. But many of the plastic materials Geno makes from plants do not degrade. Schilling says it's unrealistic to say we can phase out non-degradable plastics all together. Mayfield, with Blueview footwear, says he would never put degradable plastic in a boat that's constantly exposed to water. “But equally it’s kind of silly to make plastics that are going to last for a thousand years, then put that into a car that might last 20.” Meanwhile consumers and governments have choices to make about what kinds of plastic they will allow in the marketplace. SOQ
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S-D-G-AND-E natural gas customers will experience sticker shock when they open up their January bills.
KPBS Environment reporter Erik Anderson has details.
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Soaring commodity prices are expected to more than double the natural gas bills for SDG and E customers. Last year’s typical bill was 105 dollars. Those using the same amount of gas this year will be billed 225 dollars. The utility’s Helen Gao says most of that price hike is out of the utility’s control. “SDGE buys the natural gas in the open market on behalf of our customers and the price that we pay for that natural gas is not marked up. It's a straight pass through to our customers.” SDG and E started talking about rising gas rates in October, but the utility did not expect the cost of the commodity to rise so high. She says the steep climb in the price of natural gas is extraordinary. Erik Anderson KPBS News
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And while many bills are rising, most taxpayers in the state should have got their middle class tax refund payment.
But some haven’t.
KPBS reporter Jacob Aere spoke to some San Diegans who qualify, but are still waiting.
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The state’s website says over 7 million direct deposits and 9 million debit cards have now been issued as part of California’s Middle Class Tax Refund. … but some San Diegans are feeling left behind. “At this point I dont think I’m going to get it. … I should have qualified to receive a direct deposit based upon what they have posted on their website. And I tried calling for clarification, but it's not any more clear when you call and you can't talk to a person.” Carmel Valley resident Sonia, who didn't want to use her last name, said the rollout has been clunky and she’s still waiting on her funds. The state's website has been updated to say that debit card recipients who changed their address since 2020 may now have to wait until mid-February to be mailed their payments. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
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January is National Blood Donor Month.
KPBS reporter Melissa Mae tells us about a local drive to get more people to roll up their sleeves.
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MM: Winter is a tough time to get blood donations, thanks to illnesses and a pause in blood drives at high schools and colleges that usually provide about 20 percent of the San Diego Blood Bank’s supply. MM: To try to make up for the shortfall, the Blood Bank staged drives Wednesday at seven locations across San Diego – and in Costa Mesa. MM: While local hospitals currently have enough blood, the Blood Bank’s Claudine Van Gonka says supply is low here in San Diego. CVG “As of today we’re down to less than a day’s supply of almost every type, but most importantly, while we do need all types, those ‘O’s’ are always so hard to collect: O-positive and O-negative.” MM: If you want to donate: You have to be at least 17 years old and 114 pounds… and if you’ve had COVID recently, you have to wait at least ten days from your last symptoms. You can learn more at San Diego Blood Bank dot org. Melissa Mae KPBS News.
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In other health-related news, statewide action is underway to support volunteer groups administering medical care to unsheltered people, including here in San Diego County.
Across the state, a volunteer group is providing medical care to unhoused people in Sacramento, where in 20-21, almost 200 unsheltered people died.
CapRadio’s Kate Wolffe [wolf] tagged along with Sacramento Street Medicine on one of their recent rounds.
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"Sac Street Medicine! Anyone home?" Medical student Johann Park is hoping to follow up with a patient the team last saw two weeks ago…here at an encampment next to the American River nicknamed “The Island” "Knock-knock! Sac Street Med!" Walking on a path toward the next patient’s tent, the team bumps into someone on their list. "You’re so covered up I can’t recognize you!" The patient has dog bites on her forearms that are healing and the group helps her change the gauze on them. When they say goodbye, they promise to follow up with her regarding her primary care provider, or PCP. Physician Assistant Anthony Menacho is the director of the team: "Last time, we had to do a little more extensive wound care, and this time she’s doing very well." But Menacho knows there’s more to the story: "She has a very complicated medical history and could very much use extensive follow up from a PCP, but hasn't seen her PCP in a few years. And so we're going to work with our patient navigator" This is the work of street medicine. It’s at once straightforward - gauze on the arms - and complicated - grappling with years of unmanaged illness and no way of getting to the doctor’s office. To solve these problems, practitioners say they need authorization to do more - refer patients, treat them for almost any malady, and prescribe medication. Brett Feldman is a physician assistant and the Director of Street Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of U-S-C "We've spent the last decade or so really increasing the level of care that we can provide on the street to make it equal to what you would get in a brick and mortar clinic." Feldman says caring for people in their environments is crucial because unsheltered homeless people face huge barriers to going into a doctor’s office or clinic. "If you don't know where you're going to sleep tonight, where the next meal is coming from, or if you're going to be safe doing those things, then you're probably not thinking about getting to your PCP visit." At the same time, unhoused people are more likely to be sick, and to die early. Homeless people in Sacramento have an average life expectancy of about 50 years. That’s compared to a national average of 75. But the state has begun to take notice of the work of street medics. New guidance gives street medicine practitioners more leeway with the care they provide Medi-Cal patients– including reimbursement. Feldman says it gives him hope: "For the longest time in street medicine, we were kind of seen as these rogue, subversive radicals who would just go on to the street and weren't part of the existing system. And in some ways kind of viewed the same way as our patients are viewed by society." Feldman suspects there are more than 40 groups operating in the state right now And members are almost all volunteers. Rounds with Sacramento Street Medicine prove the work is time-consuming, and requires at least some level of funding. Feldman says it’s worth it to invest: "it's always cheaper to not provide services - at least that seems cheaper upfront. But the cost is also known and it's really the cost of our humanity. and the cost of civilization." The city and county of Sacramento seem to be recognizing that - they’re including street medicine principles in their new 5 year plan to address the area’s homelessness crisis. In Sacramento, I’m Kate Wolffe"
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Coming up.... How an American astronaut is being remembered in San Diego. We’ll have that story and more, next, just after the break.
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It’s a winter of war in Ukraine.
San Diego’s House of Ukraine has partnered with a humanitarian organization to bring holiday joy to children in Ukraine…
Here’s KPBS reporter Kitty Alvarado with the story.
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The season of giving is meaningful and spans through the Epiphany in Ukraine It’s so important for Ukrainians right now who are celebrating these holidays without electricity, many of them without heat, many of them in bomb shelters knowing that people across the ocean care about them That care is being shown by a San Francisco-based nonprofit called Roots of Peace. Mira Rubin the president of the House of Ukraine says their CEO reached out after seeing the stories of Ukrainian children recovering in San Diego … and started a campaign of giving in their honor. we launched Christmas Miracle campaign and it’s been inspired by civilian children who lost their legs and this war The children are now thriving in San Diego. we’ve been asking people to bring a few different stocking stuffers that can help get Ukraine through this terrible winter… and it’s going through January 6th They’re collecting Small emergency supplies needed during power outages to keep warm and charge up phones that are easy to ship small but very valuable and some of them can actually save lives. For more information visit House of Ukraine dot org Kitty Alvarado KPBS News.
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A pioneer of America’s Apollo space program has died.
Walt Cunningham passed away Tuesday… he was 90 years old.
KPBS reporter John Carroll went to the San Diego Air and Space Museum to see how he’s being remembered.
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Like the other astronauts of that day, Walt Cunningham was a pilot… in his case for the Marine Corps, before becoming an astronaut. In October of 1968, he was a member of the Apollo 7 crew… the first Apollo mission to fly into space with a crew where they conducted the first test of the command and service module. At the San Diego Air and Space Museum Wednesday, Cunningham’s portrait was on display right as you walk in. “Walt was one of those pilots you would trust with your life anytime, anywhere… and that’s the biggest compliment you can pay.” That’s Air and Space Museum President and CEO Jim Kidrick, a longtime friend of Walt Cunningham, who was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame in 2011. Kidrick says his legacy and that of other Apollo astronauts, helped lay the foundation for today’s Artemis program… set to return people to the moon in 2025. “He was always in good humor, he was just a great human being, okay, but when the mission required it, he was going to do it.” Or to put it another way, Walt Cunningham had the right stuff. JC, KPBS News.
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With the new year now underway, have you made resolutions, goals or maybe even new things you want to try in 20-23?
Perhaps you want to listen to your inner voice more, or simply steer clear of negative people.
Is this the year, you take those guitar lessons or maybe start getting involved in a cause that’s close to your heart?
Whatever you hope to accomplish in 20-23 , share it with us and we’ll share it with your fellow listeners!
You can do that by calling us at 6-1-9- 4-5-2-0-2-2-8 and leaving a voicemail.
Be sure to leave your name and what area of the county you live in.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and I hope you have a lovely day.
