Census 2020, Coronavirus And Climate Change And Cooking During Quarantine

Speaker 1: 00:00 Making sure everyone is counted on the census day. And many Californians need to make tough decisions today. Rent is due. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh and I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS mid day edition. It's Wednesday, April 1st just last hour. You heard governor Gavin Newson provide an update on the state's coven 19 response. There are now 8,155 positive coven, 19 cases in the state with 173 deaths and a surge of coven 19 patients looming. During that update, the governor also issued new guidelines on face masks. Speaker 2: 00:48 So face coverings broadly defined, uh, can be additive but not a substitute to the social distancing, the physical distancing that is required of the moment to make that model mute and to make sure that we continue to bend that curve. Speaker 1: 01:05 Meanwhile, schools will not open before summer, but classes will be in your superintendent of schools, Tony Thurmond. Speaker 3: 01:12 But out of an abundance of caution, we believe it is most important that all of our schools, uh, maximize their efforts around distance learning to help all of our students. Uh, we know that this is difficult. We know that this is a challenge, but as it relates to the education of our kids, we have to rise to that challenge. Speaker 1: 01:35 And against that backdrop today is also census day. The day the massive job of counting every person living in the United States begins in earnest since his officials have vowed to complete the count by its year end deadline despite the novel coronavirus pandemic by now, every person should have received a letter from the census Bureau with an invitation to participate. Millions have responded already for more on how the count is going. Is Jeff, he knows deputy regional census manager in the LA regional census center. Jeff, welcome. Speaker 4: 02:08 Thank you. Thanks for having me. Speaker 1: 02:09 So first I have to ask about the Corona virus pandemic. Has the census Bureau made any changes to its protocols and procedures since Covin 19 Speaker 4: 02:19 yeah, so the current situation is affecting the entire country and the entire world. And first and foremost, the health and safety of our staff and the public at large remains of the most utmost importance in everything that we do. So our leadership is the census Bureau is carefully monitoring the situation and we're following all of the current federal, state and local health authorities. People are still responding in great number and everyone can still respond online@twentytwentycensus.gov over the phone by calling the number provided in the census and the patient and by paper through the mail. So as we continue to monitor the situation, adjusted our field operations in order to protect the health and safety expenses, employees and the public and ensure a complete and accurate count of all, all of our communities. So, um, we, we have had to, uh, postpone some of our census operations, but we have not put in jeopardy any of our final deadline. Speaker 1: 03:21 Hmm. Uh, what census operations have been postponed? Is it the, the outreach, the door to door knocking? Speaker 4: 03:27 So we have a couple of major operations that have been postponed until April 15th. Uh, one of them is, is what's called update leave. And what that is is in some of the more rural areas where homes don't have personnel, they don't have mail delivery or Boston, where people maybe get their mail delivered to a PO box. In those kinds of areas, we generally have a census enumerator go out, update the maps, make sure we have every address included in our maps and actually leave a questionnaire at the door. So we were just starting that operation a few days and when the whole Corona virus pandemic hit so that that operation has been postponed. So there are a percentage of the population, it's 5% or less of the population that did not actually get a paper questionnaire dropped off of their door. And so once we resume on April 15th the hope is that we can, we will continue that operation and deliver the remaining questionnaires in those rural areas. Speaker 4: 04:26 Additionally, we have our operations where, where we conduct interviews, where we collect data, the census data for people living in what we call group quarters. And these are situations like college dormitories, County jails, and other types of situations where people are living in kind of group type situations. That operation is, has been postponed due to the, this pandemic. And additionally the operation account, the population experiencing homelessness. And that was scheduled for March 30th through April 1st where we, where we interview people or count people staying at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, receiving services with two pigeons and, and, um, mobile food vans and, and also account people, you know, living outside, living at outdoor locations, uh, that was scheduled for March 30th through April 1st it's now been delayed or postponed until the end of April, beginning of may. Are there any concerns that the account itself can just be completely delayed? The census Bureau's confident that the account will be completed and delivered to the president's desk by the constitutionally mandated deadline of December 31st we have had to postpone some of our start dates and we built in, uh, cushions to be able to complete those on well, well within the timeline that we need to. Speaker 1: 05:55 Are you aware of any census worker testing positive for coronavirus? Speaker 4: 06:01 Yeah. So unfortunately we do have confirmed cases of employees who've been diagnosed with coven 19 and they're all in quarantine. Uh, none of them have come into contact with the public and again, they're all in quarantine. So this current situation impacts us all and our hearts go out to those who are affected across the country. It's, it's been something that's been difficult to deal with. Speaker 1: 06:24 What's the Bureau doing to protect its workers and mid the pandemic, Speaker 4: 06:28 again, many of our operations have been postponed to protect the safety and health of our employees and that the public additionally, although the, the, the, the census operations are, are considered an essential activity. As government has government work, all employees that are eligible to telework are Tello working and working from home. And we're maximizing the use of telework and people working at home in order to keep them safe. And again, we're, we're assuring that we follow all, uh, health guidance provided at the federal, state, and local levels. Speaker 1: 07:02 The census started sending out letters to every household in the country to participate in the count. Do you have a sense of what the response has been from San Diego County residents so far? Speaker 4: 07:12 So currently San Diego County is actually higher than the national average in San Diego County is currently at 41% self response began on March 12th. That's when the first questionnaire is the first invitations to respond were being received in households and it continues through August 14. So we're in the early stages and it's encouraging to see that we're already nationally, we're already over 36% and even more encouraging in San Diego County that we're at, we're at 41% Speaker 1: 07:42 and you know, we all know that the census takes place every 10 years. But remind us why the data is so important. What does it use for, you know, especially at a time like this when we're in a national emergency. Speaker 4: 07:55 Oh sure. So, uh, two, two things that, that, why the census is so important. It boils down to these two things. Power and money. So talking about power, census results determine each state's representation in the U S house of representatives and inform legislative district boundary. So power of voting. The second part is money responses to the 2020 census shaped decisions about how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal, state and local funds are spent in all of our communities each year, including funding for local hospitals and emergency services. So when we're talking hundreds of billions of dollars every year, and this is only done once every 10 years, multiply that hundreds of billions by 10 and we're talking trillions of dollars over the, over the course, over the span of 10 years are distributed based on census count. So it's a really big deal. So when individuals in a community, when a community doesn't respond, their people choose not to respond and those communities are potentially undercounted, they're also underfunded. They're, they're not, they may not receive the funds that they are entitled to. Speaker 1: 09:06 So in a situation like we're experiencing today where we're in a national emergency, if you've got an undercount in an area, uh, that area may not receive the federal dollars needed to address the emergency happening, correct? Speaker 4: 09:21 That's correct. That's why it's so important that we, we, we get everyone to respond and it starts with self response. And, and getting people to respond online over the phone. Even though the old fashioned way, filling out the census form and mailing it in where we met, we're trying to make this as simple and easy as possible for individuals. And also say title 13 of the U S code protects the data, protects the information that people provide, Speaker 1: 09:50 counting everyone is crucial to getting federal dollars. What groups are at risk of not being counted and why? Speaker 4: 09:55 So generally the poppy, the populations that are, that are considered harder to count or are historically had been under counted are generally our minorities. Uh, low-income renters. There's different variables that, that are, that are reviewed and, and shown to be the populations that are less likely to respond to the census so that the census Bureau has a national, uh, advertising campaign and they had a lot of focus, especially on the heartbeat count population. Speaker 1: 10:30 Hmm. You know, president Donald Trump tried to get a question about citizenship in the census but didn't succeed. Do you expect, uh, legal immigrants and people without documents will participate in? How are you making sure they do? Speaker 4: 10:43 So we want everyone to respond. Everyone living in the country as of April 1st, 2020 we want and needs to respond to the census and it's actually required by law to respond to the sentence. All the data is protected under title 13 of the U S code. It's not shared with that with immigration. It's not shared with the IRS. It's not shared with any federal, state or local agency. It's not shared with any private or public company as well. Just all the individual census records are kept completely confidential. Speaker 1: 11:15 And what do you want to remind people of on this census day? Speaker 4: 11:19 So it's safe. The data is protected under title 13 as a U S code held completely confidential. It's simple. It takes less than on average, less than 10 minutes to respond to census. And it's important. Hundreds of billions of dollars of federal funding is distributed to communities across the country based on the sent on census data. So respond early, respond, respond now and also encourage your friends, your family, get on social media, help people to respond to the sentence. It's important Speaker 5: 11:54 that we all respond. Speaker 6: 11:55 I've been speaking with Jeff. He knows steppy regional census manager at the LA regional census center. Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thank you. It's the first of the month and that means the rent is due for millions of Californians, but tenants who saw their jobs vanished nearly overnight are facing a tough choice. Pay the rent or use what's left for things like groceries and healthcare cap radios. Nick Miller has this report. Speaker 7: 12:27 The rent that is due is $900 this month, the next month and all the months following. Speaker 5: 12:34 That's Ooma to fact. Cheech, last month she hustled two jobs as a restaurant server and at an art gallery in Sacramento. Then the Corona virus yank the rug out from under her. Now she has no income but she has a plan. Speaker 7: 12:48 What I'm going to do is I'm going to not pay my rent. Speaker 5: 12:52 She's calling it a rent strike. That means she won't be paying her landlord in April and she doesn't plan to pay back April's rent later when her jobs hopefully return. Speaker 7: 13:02 Right now I do not have any fear. What I do feel is excited and I feel empowered and I feel pretty positive. Speaker 8: 13:13 So for tenants through May 31st there will be no eviction proceedings. There'll be no enforcement as it relates to your inability to pay for coven 19 Speaker 5: 13:23 that's governor Gavin Newsome last week explaining what he called a statewide moratorium on evictions. His order allows tenants to delay some all rent payments, but they still can be evicted if they don't pay it back after the crisis. Speaker 9: 13:37 In regards to the governor's recent executive order, when it comes to evictions, I'd say as many others are, I'm extremely disappointed. Speaker 5: 13:48 Ebraheem Bangura is a renter in elk Grove. He's also an organizer with the Alliance of Californians for community empowerment. It's a group that works with low income communities on issues like economic justice. Speaker 9: 13:59 What we need is pretty simple in this time where people are losing employment. Uh, when we're being told that we have to stay home, uh, we need a cancellation on rent and mortgage and utilities payments until we are back to work. Speaker 5: 14:14 The conflict boils down to this. Governments want tenants to pay rent, preferably now, but definitely later when the stay at home order is lifted. However, a growing number of tenants argue that they won't have the money to pay back rent even when this is over. So they say they shouldn't have to pay at all, that it should be canceled. Tom Bannon with the California apartment association says this could have serious impacts on property owners. We realize the governor is, is, is working to thread the needle when it comes to landlords and tenants and we appreciate his leadership and understanding that tenants are very fearful of losing their homes. While at the same time landlords are fearful over the ability to pay the bills, including mortgages and taxes. Bannon says he's telling landlords to talk with renters about the situation, but he says landlords are also vulnerable and in some cases just the landlords will be counting, particularly the small landlords on the rent payments to also pay their general expenses that they may be counting on the rent, uh, for their retirement. Retirement is a far away place for substitute teacher Ryan Sharp. He taught at the Sacramento elementary where a fellow teacher died from coven 19 last month. That school in pretty much all in California had been closed for weeks. Speaker 10: 15:34 It is completely absurd that tenants all across the country are still expected to pay their normal rent payments as if nothing has changed as if most of us haven't lost work and wages. Speaker 5: 15:46 Sharp argues all the solutions so far are untenable until something better comes along. He wants an unconditional rent freeze. Speaker 10: 15:54 There are people that are basically walking the tight rope between getting infected or getting evicted. You know, you go to work and risk getting sick or you don't go and you risk losing your home. Speaker 5: 16:05 Millions of people are on this tight rope and so far they're without a net in Sacramento. I'm Nick Miller. Speaker 1: 16:14 This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh and I'm Jade Hindman. San Diego's convention center opened its doors today as a temporary homeless shelter. The move is part of a plan to help protect homeless individuals during the coronavirus pandemic. About two thirds of the homeless in the County live in the city of San Diego, but nearly 2000 homeless people live in North County. One of the challenges of meeting the coven 19 crisis for the homeless there is the scattered network of services. KPBS reporter Alison st John has been checking in with the homeless providers in North County and she joins us now. Alison, welcome. Glad to be with you. Jade. What is the current situation like our homeless service providers mobilizing to address the Corona virus outbreak there? Speaker 11: 17:01 Well, yes, of course they are. I've had a certain amount of trouble reaching them because they're so busy that they don't necessarily answer the phone. But I have reached a Greg angel from interfaith community services and spoken a bit with him and he's made the point, you know, they don't have a big centralized place like the convention center or golden hole. They have a network, um, the Alliance for regional solutions and they've got like a handful of shelters, like for example, a shelter for families and Vista called operation hope. There's one for a single man in Carlsbad. Uh, Carlos, uh, Oceanside has, you know, bread of life and brother Benner's but neither of them provide housing. They just provide food and Encinitas. For example, the Jewish family services has started a safe parking lot for people to park in overnight. A lot of the cities are sort of just ramping up now, you know, Vista and Carlsbad and it's neat as a voters made plans and started making budgets. But um, it's, it's pretty incipient. And the one in in, uh, Escondido that Greg angel runs Haven house, they've had to actually reduce the number of beds because of course it's, uh, it's important to have enough space for social distancing and they've had to move some of them out. Here's what Greg said about the network. Speaker 12: 18:16 I mean, the reality is we don't have, uh, an adequate, uh, shelter network that can meet the demand of everyone without shelter in North County. You mentioned the Alliance for regional solutions. Our, our network of shelters have less than 150 shelter beds that operate year-round. And you mentioned about 1600 people that the point in time count found last year, homeless in North County. So if there no room at the shelter, um, that's, that's not gonna, that's not gonna fully meet, meet the demands. Speaker 11: 18:45 And of course, Jay, that 1600 is there any, the people who were counted, that's probably just the tip of the iceberg. And what about the hundreds of motel rooms? The county's offering? Alison? Yes. Then there are different organizations who have been allocated different amounts of motel beds. I know that the interfaith shelter network has been allocated 80 and Greg angel says that they're all full already. But the point is that, you know, you, you sort of imagine that once somebody has a motel room that would be the solution. But there are many of the chronic homeless who have very deep, uh, issues and you can't just give them a motel room and shut the door and expect them to deal with it. You know, there are people who have mental health issues, substance abuse issues, um, and they need people to support them. And one of the things that Greg angel mentioned to me was that many of their volunteers who have traditionally been available to help support the homeless to be getting back on track. Speaker 11: 19:41 Many of those volunteers are themselves seniors and they've had to isolate themselves and I'm no longer available. So Greg angel says it's not just a matter of finding the rooms, it's a matter of finding the people to provide a support network. Is the lack of a, of a big centralized location like golden hall, a handicap for North County? Well, um, not necessarily. I mean all the different cities is nine cities in North County and they all have different policies and they all have different ways of trying to tackle this and none of them have been that successful so far. But um, the homeless themselves don't necessarily like the idea of being in a big dorm. I've met some of the folks who are still hanging around down by Oceanside peers saying that they don't want to go into some big institutional place. They feel much safer, uh, staying in the streets and finding corners to sleep. Um, I mean there is that question of whether in fact a big centralized location is the safest way to survive. I think. I think a lot of them are just deciding to ride this out on their own. And, and with that in mind, uh, those who are deciding to ride out on their own, are they Speaker 1: 20:48 fully aware of the risks of the virus? Speaker 11: 20:50 Well, maybe, but maybe not. I mean, again, Greg, Greg angel, uh, says that this whole crisis really is different. It is a different kind of crisis for people who've been experiencing homeless sometimes for years already. Here's what he has to say. Speaker 12: 21:06 I think a lot of people actually under who are without housing or are under underestimating the risks. Um, because I think the risks they face on a daily basis of, um, uh, of getting beaten up, of getting attacked, getting their things stolen, not being able to get, uh, not, not having a place to sleep the last, you know, month getting, soaking wet and cold, uh, if they don't have a dry place to sleep. I think those risks seem like a heck of a lot more urgent than, um, than, uh, a virus that people are talking about and the need to wash hands and social distance. Speaker 1: 21:41 So in talking with Greg, did he say whether there are any lessons to be learned from this situation? Speaker 11: 21:46 Well, yes. Uh, he points out that we have not really dealt with the homeless crisis till now and here we are with a pandemic and we have like a double crisis going on. And it's something that really is showing us that we need to deal with this when we don't have a pandemic going on Speaker 12: 22:05 and we can't just get, um, get ourselves crazy in the middle of a crisis, whether it's Hep a or, or Corona virus. Um, the, the challenges around homelessness are very difficult to address, but they can be addressed if we, if we work on them with, uh, with intentionality. So we're gonna do what we can during this crisis. But I think it's an opportunity to look at it and say, wow, we really need to do a better job. Um, when, uh, when times are a little more calm. Speaker 11: 22:32 So hopefully this is something that might have raised our awareness. We're in us about the, the problem and given us some ideas about how to tackle it when this is all over. Speaker 1: 22:42 All right, Alison, I appreciate it. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Alison st John Alison. Thank you very much for joining us. Speaker 11: 22:49 My pleasure. Jade, Speaker 6: 22:56 the unprecedented steps that nations are taking to slow the spread of covert 19 have gotten some scientists thinking they're wondering if there are lessons to be learned from this emergency that can be used to combat another global emergency. The devastating effects of climate change. One thing the Corona virus outbreak has proven is that societies can make massive readjustments if necessary. The question is, will the slowly unfolding effects of climate change convince us those big readjustments are necessary? Johnny me are Sammy Roth, he's an energy reporter with the LA times and Sammy, welcome to the program happened to be here and professor Ralph Keeling, the director of the script's CO2 program at the Scripps institution of oceanography. Professor Keeling. Welcome. Thank you. Let Speaker 13: 23:46 me start with Speaker 6: 23:46 if I may, professor Keeling, fewer people are driving and flying these days because of coven 19 has that made any impact on carbon emissions? Speaker 13: 23:56 It's certainly has made impact on carbon emissions and my community is working to try to quantify what's actually changed at the level of cities and towns and so forth. And that's, that's a work in progress at the same time, uh, by program and many others are tracking carbon dioxide in the room mode atmosphere at places like model LOA. And if those places we don't yet see a clear indication of the turndown that we know has happened at the local scale. And I would, I would make an analogy between the present situation and a bathtub. If you're in a bathtub and you turn down the tap, you can look at the tap and know that there's less water flowing in. But it takes a while before you can tell that the level of the tub is filling up more slowly. And so the background atmosphere is more like the tubs. We need a little while to see that it's, it's, it's changing slowly. Speaker 6: 24:49 Sammy for your article in the LA times. What is it about the response to Corona virus that got you thinking about climate change? Speaker 14: 24:57 This is something that a lot of people who, you know, scientists, activists who are focused on climate change are thinking about right now by just by virtue of the fact that Corona virus like, like climate is this global crisis that, you know, it's, it's become an emergency. It's something with huge public health impacts. It's something that requires sort of coordinated action at a, at a national and even a global level. So, so those are sort of similarities to climate change. Um, and you know, I I reached out to quite a few people who are, you know, focused on the climate issue and the response I really got was, yeah, we are, we are think everyone is thinking this through right now and trying to figure out what are the lessons from this crisis and how we're responding to it that might be applicable to the slightly longer term climate crisis. Speaker 6: 25:40 Now you asked to scientists and activists and other experts, water Corona virus like response to climate change would look like overall? Were they encouraged by the kinds of societal readjustments that they saw nations making for the virus? I think that Speaker 14: 25:55 the folks I talked to, they, they want to be encouraged and to be hopeful and, and to sort of look at this as a moment where, you know, despite all of the terrible things that are happening where we're perhaps people might learn to, to think a little bit differently about the role of science, the role of government, um, you know, what's possible politically and, and in their own lives in a way that might be useful for responding to the climate crisis. I mean, things like, you know, we're, we're seeing the government, um, you know, injecting trillions of dollars into the economy and doing things like evictions on where Tory am and not shutting people's water off in order to protect public health and to protect people's livelihoods. Um, we're seeing sort of intergenerational solidarity was, was the term one of the professors I spoke with use where we're right now we're seeing young people, you know, sort of changing their lifestyle, staying in doors in a lot of ways to protect older generations where in a way with, with climate change you might want to see the, you know, the, the opposite of older generations making lifestyle changes to protect younger generations. Speaker 14: 26:53 So there's, there's at least a hope. I, I sense that perhaps the things we're doing now might, might be lessons that we could learn in a way that are useful going on. Speaker 6: 27:02 I professor Keeling, what's your opinion on what a Corona virus like response to climate change would look like? Speaker 13: 27:09 Well, I mean when one thing happening now is that of course people are learning how to live and work with less energy in most cases. Certainly less traffic and less commuting. And I expect those lessons won't be unlearned when we come out of this. So I, I think the most hopeful outcome would be that we come out of this with a slightly different trajectory on energy use. That's beneficial in the longterm for climate. I think that's quite possible. I think it's, it's a wake up call as to how we can live differently if we have to. I mean not everyone's going to be able to sustain the, the mode of life right now because of the economic hardship, but we're being educated really rapidly now on just how pliable our lives actually can be. Speaker 6: 27:55 To go back to your bathtub analogy, professor, would we have to Mount a response to climate change that actually reduce the amount of water in the bathtub, the amount of co two emissions that have built up over thousands of years? Or would it be aimed at simply reducing what we are putting into the atmosphere? Speaker 13: 28:14 The, the climate impacts are felt by the level of water in the tub. So if we want to roll back to yesterday's climate, we will have to reduce the level of water in the tub. No one has really considered that very feasible. And so the most hopeful conversations about the future have focused on reducing the rate at which the tub fills to the point that it stops filling more, slowing the growth rate, the level of the atmosphere, essentially down to zero on some time frame of a few decades. And realistically, I think that's still what we have to aim for here. I mean, when we come out of this crisis fuel, uh, missions will probably recover to some degree. We hope so actually because it's would be a measure of our economic rebound that we would need that, which means we'll be back on a trajectory somewhat like we were before. But I just hope it's a little different and we can see the lever arms to, to change it more. I should emphasize that this is a cumulative problem. So it's really a problem that plays out of decades. You can think of the excess co two in the atmosphere as basically humanity's waste dump from burning fossil fuels. And that waste dump is still there. We just have to make sure it doesn't build up as fast. Speaker 6: 29:25 Now, Sammy, a couple of the people of the scientists and activists you spoke with said the virus is highlighting the importance of science and scientists. Tell us about that. Speaker 14: 29:36 Yeah, it's, it's a pretty straight forward concept. I mean, we've had scientists sort of warning us sort of in the background for a long time that Hey, the risk of a global pandemic is, is pretty serious. We ought to take steps now to prepare for this so that if and when it happens and it seems likely to happen that we, you know, aren't in the situation we're in now, which is, you know, potentially millions of, of deaths and sort of having to shut down everything and, and sort of not knowing how we're going to get out of it. Um, and it's, and it's the same in a lot of ways with, with climate change where we've had scientists like professor Keeling's sort of for years and years telling us this is an incredible existential threat we face and we ought to act now in order to prevent it from getting as, as bad as it's going to be. Um, so I think there's, I mean, who knows what's gonna you know, what's going to happen and whether this is a lesson we heed, but the idea is that we're, we're really learning now what happens when you, when you don't listen to the scientists and you don't take early action to, to prevent what they're telling you is happening. Speaker 13: 30:35 Let me ask you both this question. Let me start with you professor. There seems that there could be a negative side to the response to Corona virus, the idea of public transit where people are crowded in together or higher density living spaces may not be too popular after this outbreak is over. What do you think? Uh, I guess all I can say is that has occurred to me as well and I w we'll see how it plays out. Uh, I can see some flip sides. I could see that, for example, if San Diego had bike paths everywhere, people could still commute without using energy and maintain adequate social distancing and not necessarily need to do it in a car. So there are options for having win-win. And Sammy, have you heard anything about the possible downside of the response to Corona virus? The biggest downside that that I've heard people discuss in this, this came up [inaudible] Speaker 14: 31:28 but my, my article is just the idea that we're going to be so focused on responding to coronavirus and having the economy recover after it's over that nobody's going to want to think you're talking about climate, which, which to me seems like a, you know, a, a serious concern. Um, you know, as to the question about density and crowding and public transit, I'm going to take the optimistic answer there and say that perhaps people will be so a star for human contact by the time this is over that we'll all want, want to Speaker 13: 31:54 be as close as possible as possible. Yeah. Professor killing, do you anticipate that stay at home measures will in some way change the way people live and have an effect on our changing climate? I certainly in small ways, as I said, I think uh, people are getting a crash course and learning how to work at home. At least those of us who can and those skills are not going to be lost. So I'm sure some of that will carry over and and probably lead for example to the scientific societies deciding they can do more conferencing, uh, remotely rather than flying to places to gather. That was already happening to some degree and I think it'll get a boost with this. I mean it's not, it's not the, the news that the travel industry wants to hear, but I think it's probably the trajectory we'll come out on. Speaker 6: 32:40 I have been speaking with professor Ralph Keeling, he's director of the script CO2 program at the script institution of oceanography and LA times energy reporter Sammy Ross. Thank you both very much. Thank you. You're welcome. This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm wearing Kavanaugh and I'm Jade Hindman. Now one aspect of staying at home is that we're eating at home more often. That means more people are cooking, cobbling together recipes is a pleasant distraction for those experienced in the kitchen. But more of a problem for the cooking challenge. If your menu has been reduced to dry cereal, peanut butter and re fried beans. Listen up to San Diego. Food experts are here to offer advice on what you should be cooking during quarantine. Joining me are Karen Golden, San Diego food writer and frequent contributor to the San Diego union Tribune food section. And Karen, welcome back to the show. Speaker 15: 33:36 Thanks Maureen. Nice to be with you Speaker 6: 33:39 and Isabel Cruz of Isabelle's container restaurants in Pacific beach and LA Jolla. Isabelle, welcome. Speaker 7: 33:45 Oh, thank you for having me. Speaker 6: 33:47 And I think we'll have some time to take listener questions. So call in now to tell us what you've been cooking or what you need to know to get started. Our number is +1 888-895-5727. So Isabelle, are your friends and family turning to you for advice about cooking while in quarantine? Speaker 7: 34:08 Yes, they are. Speaker 6: 34:10 Oh, what are they asking you? Speaker 7: 34:12 You know, they're asking me for recipes. A lot of them aren't used to cooking at home this much, so they're out. And so I'm trying to give them simple recipes and things that they could do. And they don't have to have a lot of skill for it and also things that they could learn from. And also because of what's going on. I'm trying to give them advice as to things for, to cook for their families to build up their immunities, which I think is really, really important. Right now. Speaker 6: 34:38 What would be the sum of your GoTo recipes, Isabelle? Speaker 7: 34:42 Well, um, I mean I've been making a lot of bone broth, but I've also been including lots of greens, lots of veggies, protein. And then I'm trying to use a lots of things like tumeric and ginger and things that are good for your immune system and for reducing inflammation. Speaker 6: 35:02 Now, Karen, do you find people are also using cooking as an outlet during the stay at home orders? Speaker 15: 35:09 Oh yeah. Um, it's interesting. I was invited to join a face group, a Facebook group called the quarantine kitchen and that thing is going crazy with people, um, making dishes and posting them and everybody flocking to get different recipes for, you know, how to replicate them. And it's, it's been fascinating to see how eager people are to be making really good, I mean comfort food, but in the best sense of it. Um, food that's healthy for you. That's taking advantage of pantry staples and taking advantage of seasonal produce. Speaker 6: 35:51 Now, uh, we are opening our phones. If you'd like to call and tell us what you've been cooking or trying to cook. One, eight eight, eight, eight, nine five, five, seven, two seven. Now Isabelle, what if you don't know how to cook? Are there just some easy basics you can share with us and our listeners? Speaker 7: 36:09 Yes, I always try and make my recipes simple. You know, I have restaurants and I have a family. So when I started the restaurants I made the recipe simple so I didn't have to be married to the restaurants. And so the recipes that I do are always that way. Simple ingredients, not that many ingredients and things that anybody could do no matter what your skill set is. Speaker 6: 36:32 And people are cutting down on the number of trips to the grocery store. Garren so now is probably a really good time to rely on your pantry. Can you share a meal that you've made that relies on stuff most kitchens might have in the cupboard? Speaker 7: 36:46 Yes. So the recipes that I've given to you for your viewers, um, are things that are shelf stable pretty much or freezer safe, stable. You know, I did a chicken with a, with a, um, Kumon chili rub and a Polti sauce and it's very simple and it's so easy and it's great. And also, you know, I, I try to do recipes that people could learn things that they could use forever. You know, like with this chicken recipe, just doing a simple salt Brime makes your chicken so moist and juicy and anybody could do that. And then simple soup also that doesn't require making a stock. I gave a recipe with that. Potatoes and chicken and coconut milk. It's really, really good. And anybody could do it. Speaker 6: 37:38 We have a caller on the line. Alexandra wants to join us. Hi Alexandra. Speaker 16: 37:43 Hi everyone. How are you? Speaker 6: 37:45 Oh, pretty good. Thank you. We're happy about that. What do you want to know? Speaker 16: 37:50 Um, well I actually just wanted to share, um, some of my own tips. Um, your guests are just so inspiring right now, but for me, um, I always talk in the bulk section at the grocery store and um, if anybody has bull guidance in their pantry like rice or quinoa or lentils, even dry beans, um, you can get so much good nutrients out of using those kinds of grains as, um, a base for stir fries. Um, so I just throw it in the pot and put a bunch of veggies in the pan and you know, that gives me a really good nutritious balanced meal that I can often eat leftovers to alpha for maybe the next day or so. Um, and also if have any veggies that are about to turn, um, definitely consider making a soup broth out of that because it can save you in a lot of recipes, um, that might require new bras. Speaker 6: 38:48 Alexandra, you know what you're doing. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. It's wonderful to hear somebody getting creative like that. Karen, isn't it? Speaker 15: 38:57 It's great. And that's what we should be doing all the time. And I think a good lesson from this, um, a crisis right now is that we should always keep our pantries fully stocked. And um, because you know, we're gonna see runs on things that are our basics and then you're left wondering, you know, what you can do. She's right about, um, the grains and beans and one of the things that, you know, we'd been making the last month or so has been soups and stews and things like that, but we're heading into spring and it's getting gonna get warmer. And so you can take those same ingredients and make salads like a, um, take dried beans. People get nervous about making, but they're really simple because basically what you're gonna do is soak them for a few hours, especially if they're fresh. Um, dried beans. And we have a local, um, uh, farmer, uh, Rio Dobe raid that makes, uh, they, they grow beans and dry them and sell them in some of the local stores and online. And then Rancho Gordo was another great source for beans and soak them. And then just put them either in stock or in water with all sorts of, you know, herbs, Bay, leaves, garlic, um, whatever you like and cook them for a couple hours. You want them to be not so soft that they fall apart, but you know, have a little bit of a bite, like out the end day and then drain them and um, you can then make salads with them and they're going to taste so much better than the Canfor. Speaker 6: 40:41 Well, it sounds so good. We have another caller on the line. We have another caller on the line. I want to get to Karen, this is Leah. Hi Leah. How can we help you? Speaker 16: 40:49 Hi. Um, I have been trying to use all the grains I have. Um, so I decided to try and make Khan G or juke good Chinese porridge soup. I tried it when, um, I was in Laos and had it for breakfast every morning. Um, and that was a good use of my rice. Speaker 6: 41:08 And if, if you hadn't had needed to stay at home, do you think you would've done that? Speaker 16: 41:14 I might've, but it was the fact that I have so much rice that kind of drove me to make that and we had some cloudy weather, so it was really comforting. Speaker 6: 41:22 Okay. Well thank you so much for the phone call. We really appreciate it. You know, you were getting into a Karen, just one thing I wanted to touch on and that is the fact that you know, people are going to store now and they're looking for ingredients, sometimes very simple things like garlic and onions are there and they can't find them. So are there any good substitutes? Speaker 15: 41:43 Um, there are, and I'll get to that in a sec, but, um, I, I think it depends on where you are because, um, I'm in Tierrasanta for instance, and I went over to the local smart and final to pick up a few things and they were loaded with onions and potatoes. They didn't have the loose garlic heads, but they had those, you know, like five packs in the nylon bags that you could get, which I bought. So I don't think that, I think you need to give it a little bit of time. People calm down once they get used to this idea of being at home and, um, the supply chains will get back in order. The other thing is, um, that you want to check out what your farmers are selling and because they're not selling as much to restaurants, a lot of them are creating a CSA [inaudible] which are community supported agriculture. And so you might get, you know, can subscribe to them, you can find out, um, where they are on edible San Diego and um, and they can their lists and maps and things. And that's a good idea. Speaker 6: 42:49 Karen, we're almost at a time and I want to go back to Isabel for just one last question. If I may. Isabel, you run two restaurants. How has your business been impacted by the outbreak? Speaker 7: 42:59 Well, mine and everybody else's, it's crazy. So we're all scrambling and you know, I dunno, the stimulus package, I don't know. I'm skeptical or offended with it. You know, we kind of gotten left out and I hope I'm wrong about this, but the same thing happened after nine 11 and after the housing crash, the people in the middle, you know, we, we, we really were left out. The people above us got low interest rates afterwards and we got our credit ding for not making our payments on time. I mean I could go on forever. Speaker 6: 43:35 Isabel, we can't go on for other ever. I'm so sorry about that. But I thank you both for being here. Karen Golden, San Diego food writer, Isabel Cruz of Isabelle's Cantina, which is doing to go, is that correct? You have to go. Speaker 7: 43:48 No. And also many restaurants are doing shopping baskets, which I'm doing cause our purveyors still are [inaudible] Speaker 6: 43:55 out of time. Isabelle, thank you so much. Thank you Karen, and thank you to our callers. You're listening to KPBS.