 and welcome back to Teens on Topic. I'm your host, Cedric Hughes, and today I'm joined by two special guests. Is that you? Hi, I'm Daniel Listrom. Today we'll be discussing the power outages brought on by PG&E, but first let's turn to members of the community and see what they have to say. So what's your opinion on the PG&E power shutoffs? I mean it really sucks. They control like all of Northern California, so whenever anything happens everyone's screwed, so yeah. Do you think that there's a better way to prevent fires that they could approach? I mean I'm not an expert but probably there's got to be a better way because it's kind of crazy when fire season comes around it's like non-stop so. Okay thank you. Thank you. Well it's quite disappointing because you know we all need our utilities. This past day I had my hot water shut off you know and I ain't trying to shower with some cold water. I know some people do that but I just have to change my whole life routine you know I wanted to go play ball but I don't have a shower so couldn't do that so I just had to you know stay home so it's pretty it's a pain in the ass you know but I guess that stuff's complicated so what I don't really know how that stuff's gonna get fixed but hopefully it gets fixed soon. I feel like there was like a better way to combat the problem it feels like they kind of just took the easy way out and there were still like fires so I don't really understand why they needed to do that and it like caused a lot of problems and I heard like at Berkeley it caused like the labs the cells being grown and the labs there like they all died because they were like being stored in the fridges there so when the power went off it killed them so I think it's like super unfortunate that they had to do that and there's probably like a better way to go about it. PG&E power shut offs oh I gotta be completely honest with you man I don't really know because I don't really know what areas they're doing it what the context is what the climate's doing there's a lot of shit going on that I don't know about so um like how you mentioned that you don't know what areas it's taking place in do you think that they should be more vocal I guess about where the power is going to be shut off if like yeah maybe vocal wouldn't be the word that I would choose though maybe more receptive to the needs of the community um I think that's always a good way to go talk to the community see see what what they're doing yeah rather than be like yo boom boom boom boom well I didn't have my power shut off so that was good um I think it may very well have been something that could have that did prevent a couple of fires but on the other hand I think they need to make an effort to do a lot more positive things as well and really show us that they're trying to fix the problem and not just you know have more and more power outages well we heard a lot of very interesting opinions from members of the community zoe daniel what do you guys think I feel like what the last woman said was really interesting that she wants more positive things to happen but I feel like sometimes just more preventative measures are necessary she says she wants things that will actively help the problem but sometimes that's just not as easily accessible so with these power shutouts they're not the most convenient but um I would have to disagree with her in the sense that I do think that they are a necessary thing to happen yeah I'm gonna agree with Zoe here I really think that the power outages it's not just because they don't want to deal with the problem it's because they need to take these preventative measures to prevent it in the future and they can't do that while these lines are live and it just it creates issues while they can't fix it while the problem is still occurring so they need to put a put a hold on it until they can actually develop something to fix the problem and develop something to prevent it in the future and I think these immediate the immediate preventative measures of shutting down the power shutting down gas lines it's because they need to do that at this point that's what's necessary and I think a lot of people who are sort of saying well they need to turn the power it's it sucks yeah it does suck but the problem is you can't just fix the problem by waiting for by trying to fix it and not taking immediate preventative measures because developing that stuff takes time and in that time it's very likely that fires will start for sure yeah I mean in the interviews with the community we heard a lot about the impacts that it's been having both you know from impacts on everyday lives of citizens to more industrial impacts such as those on the economy or we heard one woman talk about impacts on research going on at UC Berkeley so but do you think that you know even in light of the impacts it was still worth it for PG&E to shut off the power? I think it's a difficult question especially because a lot of farming industry has suffered because of it because they don't have the resources to run their farms to run her story about a milk farm they couldn't run because they didn't have the energy and they didn't know when they would have power they didn't know when it would be shut off but on the other hand if they didn't do the power shutoffs that farm wouldn't be there I mean there's a very possible it's a possibility that that farm wouldn't even be there for them to have those problems had they not shut off the power I think yes it does have impacts on daily life I think some of the points about people in Davis having impacts is sort of a moot point because the power shutoffs have not been in the Davis area Davis it's primarily been because of issues that PG&E is having it hasn't been the power shut off so I think that's little not exactly it doesn't exactly pertain to the issue but I think that it's just to say that I don't know sorry what do you think? I feel like that while these measures are still necessary I feel like California is not doing the best job at helping out the people who have been affected by this whether it's daily life functions like what was it that guy who mentioned that he was showering and then yeah UC Davis lab and businesses it's they're not doing a very good job at helping that out they're just kind of like deal with that on your own and then I get they can't spend all of their time helping out each and every individual but it's just these power outages are as far as I know they're catered to the people that can afford batteries that kind of that just they can afford the means to go without power for a little while like there are some people who might be less fortunate and might not have that money or time to put into dealing with well I'm interested what do you think that they should be doing to help those people that's a good question I think potentially like distributing distributing batteries or just something the I know water is a really big issue I don't know what they would be able to do there but they would probably provide like rations of water per se that you can take home because I know that sounds kind of weird but it's just I know that's a really big concern that we all have yeah yeah so you know it is estimated that these power outages are costing the California economy some two billion dollars so you know we are seeing that like you said Daniel it is important that these shutoffs are happening to prevent disasters like the campfire that we saw last year so we want to prevent those things and I think that it was a really interesting point that you brought up about the farm right that the detriments that we're seeing are very real and that it is costing these small time farmers and small time businesses but the question that we have to pose is would they be there at all if it weren't for these power outages in the midst of this fire season and I would say it's not just small town farm it's not just small businesses it is larger businesses and larger industries that are being affected that was just an example of a smaller industry but all industries in California that rely on electricity that rely on water that rely on gas those it's really difficult for them to have those resources I'm not sure about gas and water I don't know if those are being shut off in some of the areas but I know that electricity is very important to a lot of these industries and without it they can't run and I mean I'm just supporting no point and my own point but um yeah yeah it's it's not just smaller businesses it is a wide range so yes I think it is very detrimental to have these power shutoffs but what's the alternative yeah and I think that that is a really interesting question to pose and I think that's the one that our communities have to tackle next because PG&E as a company it has some 81,000 miles of power lines running above California so when we see you know the extents that the the extents that these lines run and just how how big the problem is that PG&E has to deal with you know there is no quick and easy solution and even small scale preventative measures such as clearing dead wood out from these power lines can take days um so moving forward I think the question is what do we do about that Zoe um unfortunately I only know so much about this so is it a right if I oh I don't know what we should do going forward I think going forward that's definitely a question for PG&E and I think that's why they're making these efforts now and I think one of the main problems that people are having is that PG&E spent years just sort of pleasing their shareholders making sure that everyone had enough money and not taking enough measures to prevent this before it's happened and now that it's become such an important issue um especially with pick uh winds just picking up in the California area taking down lines and they don't have these preventative measures they it's people are mad because of that but I think the problem is a lot of people you run PG&E out you get PG&E out of there which going to do that I mean there's no backup plan in place for sure and I think PG&E needs to solve their own problems I I can't say what I think the move should be should we get rid of PG&E I don't know but I don't think anything should be done until I mean again I'm not an expert but I don't think anything should be done until PG&E can figure out it figure it out at this point because another company is going to come in get PG&E out another company is going to come in how different are they going to be from PG&E are they really going to make any changes are they really going to take any preventative measures you don't know and most businesses are built around pleasing stockholders making sure that everyone has enough money and putting that effort into doing that instead of um protecting lines instead of taking preventative measures so that fires like this don't happen it's not just a PG&E problem it's a universal problem I yeah I think it's just it's a company it's a company problem it's not a specific sorry it's more of an industry problem than a specific company problem I guess um from my personal perspective I actually haven't faced these PG&E power outs and even if I have it would just be my own um comfort struggles like oh I can't charge an electric device of mine or oh I can't get my boiling water for me it would not be something as significant as I might not be able to pay bills this month I might not be able to um feed family members this month so I guess um I guess I'm just taking into account that my perspective is a lot is I guess a lot more limited than these companies or maybe um yeah yeah I'm Zoe I think that that's really interesting that you know you're talking about the scale of impacts right you know for some it is a matter of just comfort you know like the the man in the interview was talking about um showers but for others um you know like you said Daniel both small and big businesses alike um you know some can't afford to run generators when powers are out and you know some uh can't afford to sustainably run that so they are faced with a lack of electricity so they can't run their businesses so we're seeing impacts on everyday lives of people but also on the work and you know the ability to pay rent and pay bills so you know it is a serious issue and I think that it was mentioned in the interviews and moving forward of things that can be done um one thing that people touched on was preventative maintenance and you talked about this too Zoe and I think that that is something uh that was really interesting that was brought up because you know even though we see that it isn't necessarily always easy and that it isn't you know it's not just a quick fit it's not just a quick fix but they're you know doing things like clearing deadwood from power lines and ensuring that the lines are up to code you know things like that can prevent things like the campfire from happening so I think moving forward you know what do you think about these preventative maintenance measures and do you think that there could be anything done besides you know clearing dead lines or making sure lines are up to code um anything else that could be done um I feel like um where it is currently right now and what people have the patience the time and the money for I really feel like this was this is the most effective way to deal with these fires in terms of cutting out lines like I get that it's inconvenient but it's what's more inconvenient is a burned down state yeah yeah okay well um so we only have a few minutes left in today's episode so I just like to uh to cover one last thing that Daniel brought up um and that was without PG&E where do we go right so you said that there are inherent problems with the system but before outing you know PG&E and getting rid of it we need to understand what we would be doing instead so after the power outages lots of alternative companies like um Sunrun which is a solar power company they came in and they were making statements saying that it was time for old companies like PG&E to end and it was time for renewable energy to take over so what do you think of that of renewable energy taking over the sector to reduce these problems I fully believe that renewable energy um could definitely help but that still doesn't solve the problem that we're currently in because energy is still power it's still sent through lines it's not sent through just having it at your house I think that's one of the main problems it's not just an issue of where the energy is coming from I fully believe in renewable energy but I don't believe that renewable energy is and the fact that PG&E isn't necessarily using renewable energy that's not the problem the problem is the cables the problem is not keeping these areas safe and yeah it's not a matter of what kind of energy is being used yeah um california is already I've granted not renewable but california is very strict with um energy and making sure that it's clean well clean versus certain other fossil fuels other things that people use and california is very conscious of this and so I think that's really difficult to say oh renewable energy is going to fix this whole problem because that's not the problem well from what I know from the situation that's not the problem yeah so I think you know moving forward it's clear that we do have a problem it's clear that there are inherent detriments in the system and you know I think just from this discussion we can see that there is no easy you know easy fix to it so it's going to require many more discussions just like these um as well as actions by companies and the government as as well um to fix these problems so I think it'll be really interesting to see where we go in the next few years thank you okay