Find out why we went to downtown Cochran California f. Way between Los Angeles Sacramento smack dab in the middle of the state park and would like to thank you for coming out to enjoy your reasons hearing into the lighting ceremony. Taking place in. 0 the taking. This is little Adrian v.a. Gates is 4 years old and he's watching the holiday parade with his sister. And her mom to. Kiss him. In the biggest tractor of all that's a big deal here in farm country Corcoran is home to about 25000 people and is known as the farming capital of California now that's saying something considering that the state produces nearly half of America's fruits nuts in vegetables That's right half but these days the town's earn more troubling distinction something that threatens the way of life across the Suge region of the state Corkran is sinking the lead is deflating like a leaky air mattress This is the fastest sink in town in America reveals Nathan how has it has been investigating what's happening in corporate and why it's only a little slice of a much larger problem one that is spreading around the world no one really knew parts of California were sinking most people didn't even know land could sink until 2011 that's one of gungho scientist a woman named Michelle Sneed began unraveling the mystery Michelle spends a lot of her time in the dirt and can usually be found wearing jeans and a t. Shirt with her ash brown hair pulled back in a ponytail she works for the u.s. Geological Survey. As an expert on sinking which scientists call subsidence let me ask you now me you're really deep into the world of subsidence right and yeah I do know that we're hopeless and. I couldn't help but I think. We do and I mean. She's not the kind of person who lets a bad pun slip by not much else gets by or either in fact she got her 1st clue that her home state of California was sinking when she was asked to investigate a strange bit of news some land surveyors were working on a restoration project along the San Joaquin River this is a crucial water supply for farmers that roars out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and winds through farm country in Central California and empties into the Pacific Ocean Well that's in a good year it's been running dry in the summer for decades this surveyors had discovered a spot where the river bank had sunk 2 feet in just a couple years they thought their measurements were probably just wrong but the state's water department asked Michelle to double check the numbers we processed these data and were pretty shocked at the results Michelle had done a quick computer analysis of satellite images the good detect even changes to the Earth's surface we not only confirmed their survey results we found that the subsidence area was huge. She was alarmed to see that more than a 1000 square miles in California's Central Valley were sinking the valley is shaped a bit like a banana only taking about an hour to drive across from east to west but from north to south it runs 450 miles long That's like driving from New York City to Durham North Carolina it's the most productive farmland in the nation and the sinking means it's in trouble. State officials want to. Why was this happening Michelle had a hunch the Central Valley sits atop a giant Aqua for system essentially in underground reservoir and all that water it props up the land above it what if that water was disappearing. So in 2011 the show started taking groundwater measurements all across farm country she was trying to figure out why the land was sinking. She still taking those measurements today and I join her on one of her expeditions we trudge through a field in California's Central Valley Michelle's boots are covered in mud and her jeans are dusted with dirt easily measure this was still tape and so I put electric tape down there that it's going to hit water like that standing in a dirt field with farmland in all directions Michelle looks down and monitoring Well the drops 900 feet that's steep enough to fit the length of the Eiffel Tower with room to spare and what's. The water's ever gotten in this well we're pretty low so we're just under 200 feet right now so where we're at among historic lows we're definitely in that territory this is bad when groundwater level start dropping the land above it begins to sink to the sinking is a symptom this region is running low on water. Michelle gathers up or. We hop into our car and head out to look for evidence that the land is sinking. We drive to the spot where satellite images 1st showed the sinking is happening fastest if the land is deflating it should be damaging roads and other infrastructure. We drive through an area a little north of Corcoran there's usually a really great talking to char Breyer by the way so I remember actually hanging out of this taco drug once waiting for my food and there's some highway workers doing the same thing and they said oh hey what do you do not here so it's all mine you know studying subsidence down here and he said oh really said Burke we're fixing a roadway just just up the way a little bit so that was just a taco truck conversation you know everywhere we go we see other signs of subsidence bridges are sinking roadways are cracking and water canals buckling and breaking but why is the ground water dropping so fast as we drive around Michelle points out a clue one she has noticed over and over again as we're driving now are you can you scan around I mean are you looking for anything in particular. One of the most telling signs for treating well casing anything on the structure well structures it's bad right there was sticking in which a land surface yeah. It's. You can see that the wall at is lifted off of off of the ground right there we're standing in front of a production well which pumps up ground water to irrigate crops and sure enough the well pad a large slab of concrete is floating in the air like a piece of levitating sidewalk it's held up by the wells metal pipe which is like a $900.00 foot long rod in her deep underground and this is what really gets me this concrete slab is not rising up above the land rather the land around it is sinking I never seen anything like it before but in this part of the state I start seeing it everywhere and how frequent are these wells around the valley there they're everywhere in the corner through much every corner every farm and all. These wells are beastly they can pump 5000 gallons per minute when Michelle and her colleagues did the math they realized they'd found the cause of the sinking tens of thousands of wells on farms all over the Central Valley of California each pumping millions of gallons or using more water and is naturally replenished every year you might think that water isn't being replenished because of California's 5 year drought that's what a lot of government press releases in news reports have pointed to but this all started before the drought about a decade before even during rainy years farmers out this way are pumping too much water and making the land sink so the drought didn't start this problem but it is making a bad situation worse so we're taking more out there were putting back in you can't do that forever without without running out that's not a very hopeful forecast. And I know it's not a bright sunny picture ahead I anticipate that there will be continued subsidence for quite some time. How did the water problem in California get so bad I got a mild pick up truck and drove across the Central Valley talking with dozens of people landowners lawmakers scientists I dug through 2 decades of crop reports showing me what farmers harvested and who they sold it to one thing stands out California farmers are to Shane Jing what they grow lettuce fields have been replaced by a home in tortures where we once blew in the wind long rows of walnut trees now she the landscape here's the problem with that these new crops are some of the most thirsty it takes one person. And 6000000 gallons of water a year to raise a single acre of almonds That's 4 times more water per acre than the lettuce in your salad. Why are farmers switching to more water intensive crops especially in the middle of a drought how does this make sense. Because at least for answers I meet up with Stuart Wolf he walks me no pistachio orchard his family planted about 12 years ago their farm is now one of the biggest nut producers in the state Stewart was raised out here about a 45 minute drive from the small town of Corcoran and he loves it oh yeah you know how you look at this ranch and everything is absolutely beautiful and to be able to own a piece of California like this that spectacular it feels like I've walked onto a movie set pistachio trees are arranged into impeccable rows that March off until they grow small and fuzzy in the distance but this picturesque scene is masking a dire situation underground the groundwater levels in this area have been dropping fast so I ask Stuart why are farmers like him switching to more water intensive crops like pistachios in omens it's a fantastic product and it's one that we have a global advantage producing here I would and we produce it this is the place to produce it and this is the big change that has reshaped so much of the Central Valley and put so much more pressure on the groundwater about 15 years ago Stewart and other farmers realize they could make big profits by selling Ullman's and other nuts overseas especially to places like China India and Europe so we're supplying the bulk of the world with almonds and as the economies of the world improve people want to eat better and this is a fantastic product so it's hard not to be bullish the numbers back him up here's what I found in the crop reports that. Alue of food that California exports overseas has tripled in the last decade now worth about $21000000000.00 a year exports have become such a big part of farmers' income they account for one in every 3 dollars they earn but as the cash comes in the water goes out I think is widely recognized California is using more water right now to grow crops and it has and it's resulting in the sinking the subsidence the lowering of groundwater levels does it make sense to be using this much water I'm in export ing so much of it yeah so I think that's a great question I I think you know along those lines I think really got to go back and say you know are we managing the waters of the state properly farmers like Stuart blame the government for bad water management in the 1990 s. Officials began cutting back on the water supply to farmers they've been giving out so much river water that salmon and other commercial fish were dying off with less surface water from the government farmers turn to groundwater to keep their crops alive water is a big deal here it is the deal without it a lot of these communities and these businesses and what have you simply don't survive but tapping groundwater is expensive because it's not just the cost of drilling the wells farmers also have to deal with the huge electric bills that come from pumping water out of the ground the deeper the water the steeper the bills soon the water costs double than triple and are now more than $10.00 times the cost of government water and those electricity bills aren't going down anytime soon and we fully expect that our energy costs are going to continue to climb higher costs mean fewer options farmers switch to crops to pay the bills crops that generate less money like lettuce or wheat just don't cut it anymore if you really increase the cost of water you may not be able to make it growing alfalfa grain or cotton no whole host of things that we grow in Calif. It but you may still be able to grow Aman's pistachios possibly wine grapes farmers in the southern region of the Central Valley are trapped in a vicious cycle they have little choice but to cut off the lower value crops and chase the groundwater deeper and deeper to my farmer friends they won't let go easily and so they will chase something and dig the hole little deeper before they have to actually get out farmers are now competing for water setting off an arms race to drill the deepest well Stewart says some farmers won't survive in a 1000000 acres of farmland could vanish as their wells go dry I don't think we're going to die I think we're going to figure out. Where to spend the next dollar and how to survive this thing. Stuart is now rushing to compete for the last remaining groundwater in California he's searching for new areas to plant trees even exploring places outside the United States as the hunt for water continues. To Is anything being done to turn things around I drove out to the house of state senator Lois will can Davis California where she sat me down in her family room says the senator trying to sort of ask you how political is water in California. Water is very political as Mark Twain told us you know whiskeys for drink and waters for fight and that's true actually that's one of those tween quotes no one can prove he said but the sentiment stands and for years Senator will cause been worried by what she calls a gold rush for water in the Central Valley with farmers drilling more and more wells nobody asked the question is there enough ground water what will happen to your neighbor you know you've got to ask for some evidence that you're not going to create harm do no harm so she picked a fight with one of the most powerful lobby groups in California the Farm Bureau it's consistently fought for farmers right to pump as much water is they want Last year she introduced a bill that would have stopped new well drilling in areas where the land is sinking it was going to prevent further new well jelling period so people would have been allowed to replace an old well and they could have dug the well deeper yet they just couldn't put new wells into this only applied to brand new wells in areas that weren't sinking her bill would have allowed farmers to drill but only if they proved it wouldn't lower their neighbors' groundwater as it stands now in most farming counties in California getting a permit to drill a new well is simply a matter of filling out a form paying a small fee and then you can pump as much as you want even in areas where the roads are cracking and canals are buckling So you know I think that's a reasonable request and I thought it was a reasonable piece of legislation the Farm Bureau disagreed and in this case they took a position against Yes they did yes they did that's true a strong position against they did I disagree. But they did that they were victorious and did you think it would pass when you 1st put it forward no we didn't people who voted for it were people who had to vote against the Farm Bureau but we thought that it was important to raise the issue and to heighten awareness of what was going on in peace. Arius the Farm Bureau helped defeat the bill I called them to ask for a meeting to understand their position on why they oppose Sen walks they told me President Pollinger would meet with me told me that several times but they never followed through when I finally offered to just stop by saying I'd wait in the lobby all day until he could squeeze me and I was told not to waste my time. Mistake did pass a different piece of ground water legislation back in 2014 but it won't require farmers to reduce pumping for nearly 25 years in the meantime the great water rushes moving into new areas affecting more people who are watching with an anxious eyes their water is threatened. I just describe it as this you know this like this cancer that spreading all over this is Andrea Darrow's she's worried about the plummeting groundwater she's not a farmer she's taught school for 34 years she's sitting in her kitchen table next to her husband Milt who's been a cop for 38 years if we were to lose the water I really don't know what we're going to do honestly Milton Andrea rely on the ground water for everything showering drinking water doing the dishes they live in a modest house out in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada which spill into the Central Valley this was one of the last places where groundwater had been largely untapped but that's changing fast we just want to and nice place where we can raise our children and live our lives and we just really feel like that's threatened Now that's because a few years ago some investors from Silicon Valley decided to plant nearly a 1000000 Allman trees next to the mid-air Aussies Home they got permission to drill 30 new irrigation wells this industrial farm is part of the state's massive Elm and expansion where production has doubled in the last decade. The day I visit them entering milter waiting for an inspector to come measure the water in their well they've heard about other communities in the Central Valley devastated by dropping groundwater where thousands of residential wells have gone dry and homeowners are forced to drink bottled water and shower under buckets if their will goes dry digging a deep well isn't an option it can cost half a $1000000.00 or more to drill as deep as the farms you know I'm I'm fond of saying we'd almost be better off if our house were burning to the ground as I speak rather than having our well go dry Andrea called the insurance company to ask if they'd be covered if their water runs out she was practically laughed at their house will be almost worthless without water people are angry again you know we worked our whole lives if if we lose our home for something that's out of our control what are we going to do work another 34 years to get it back and that's just crazy to feel like you're being forced out of your home there's the well measuring guy his name is there is. It that all found a way for 50 years old. That would make it a fall foliage I'm sure sure we step into the backyard right next to an electric fence which makes a clicking sound in the background Ok yeah we just nervously stand off to the side and wait for Terry to give us the verdict. We're going down through the top of the well casing and measure in the water level before it is to the water with the device that I just drop down into the water as soon as he gets wit it. Lets out a signal and tells me how deep was it last time and 9393 feet I believe is there a little bit of anxiety every time that it comes it goes down there is anxiety. 96 feet. Was dropped through the last 3 feet in a month. I have to say I mean you look pretty frustrated and I know it is frustrating very very frustrating and above that it's just it's very frightening Terry can I ask are you doing this for a lot of folks around the area now you're saying oh yes I am at it concerns and a lot of people you know without water what do we have. It's. It's devastating there were their waters drop and you know. Everybody says Year after year it's you know it is dwindling it's going down after Terri leaves I walk back inside with Andrea Millet she pulls out a plate of snacks and pours me a glass of water and so while goes try we're just stacked. We're just stack. When is enough is enough when when do we finally say that it's reached critical mass and we have to deal with this and you know something it's not just a few people that are going to have to suffer it means everyone is going to have to do their part. That's story from reveals Nate halvers He's been looking into global water and food issues since 2014. Around the World Water shortages are urging champers the u.n. Predicts annual global food production will drop by 300 Ashish the 1000000 tons in the coming decades that's the equivalent of the annual u.s. Grain harvest we add reveal a committed to reporting the slow moving catastrophes and connecting with people who share explanations innovation and resilience if this kind of in-depth journalism is important to you you can help make it happen by supporting this public radio station you can do that. From. Donors to cage as you include friends the dunes who host their wine by the sea fundraiser this Saturday from 3 to 6 It features the wines and food music by bells of the levy and an auction and wine pool proceeds fund outdoor education for local schools and protected habitat tickets are available at friends at the Dunes dot org And wild berries we're working through our fall pledge drive here at k.h. As you I'm sitting alongside cage as you morning host and tell us strata and h.s. You Professor Curbeam us. Well hi Well it's kind of late for me to be up but it's great to be here with Kate as you and it's also great to just be pitching for such a great program as reveal. I recently got more into it we just got this program in August and I think it's a very real good resource for the community I agree I think it's a wonderful program I listen to it every Friday I used to listen to it even before I heard it on the cage issue and I think it's important because it takes me back. Devo the headlines beyond the headlines Yeah I understand stories better to understand because it is better especially when you consider a lot of people don't read past the headline for this. I mean I guess you could see that on Facebook but if you like did you read the story it's like you don't want to read the story someone will talk to you about the story and you know kind of takes up some of the work when somebody is doing in-depth reporting for you yeah yeah for sure for sure and I think it's important for me I just listen to this automatically and I don't I as far as a member I think it's important for me my wife and I we've pledged and we've been members here in Humboldt County and other places we've lived we've always been supporters of public radio and shows like this is you know that's the reason why and you can become a member by calling 864805 or if you're a little shy you can go and you just you dot org And you can become a member as well or you can call 1800 toll free 640-5911 as well and I think he was kind of a part of this community just like you are and as Kirby said he didn't even think about you know h.s. You he doesn't even think about public radio as something out of the way it's kind of a necessity in his life and I think that's the way he chose he was to a lot of people it's it's you know with them in the morning it's with them as they're driving home from work it's a vital part of this community and the way we keep on air is through you I mean you're the you in cages you yes and I talk to students sometimes and I hear that they they subscribe to different I'm sure I was on prime different programs I'm wondering why well you know you listen to this program as well on I cagers you and Public Radio in This American Life they talk about all these stories I'm saying well you could also subscribe to. Public radio stations as well and it's less than a Netflix membership thing $5.00. Woman You can become a sustainer you can give more if you like but if you're on a budget like I am of dollars a month will work or $25.00 off or student or senior that's that's an affordable level and we play it at a different level and I think that's a 75 For us we've done that we've done other levels but you know 25 or 35 levels or a good level will definitely. Let's you and I want to call this program reveal it's from the Center for Investigative Reporting they're doing great work out there out in Berkeley that this one right now is about the global water shortage and food issues and I thought it was really crazy how they're talking about the Central Valley because come like the breadbasket of the world when it comes to agriculture Humboldt County has its own really large agricultural community that could be going through similar things you know the drought is Bunny Clode over but it's just I think it's an important story to relate back up here I mean this is a very large state we've got I don't know maybe like 800 miles of coastline it's important that we're all connected and I think souls like revealed investigative pieces in particular they they help to clarify all the complex pieces of life and of stories going deeper with this investigative technique. It brings clarity I think to really complicated issues that's why I listen to it so often and it's well this might be a compliment catered issue it's not like complicated to support your public radio station you can call 864805 or donate online Cage's here dot org Or if you're from out of the area which a lot of people are. You can call 180-640-5911 become a member of teaches you today and help us stay on the air and we'd like to thank one. Trish Byrnes Brunes I should say I'm sorry Trish grooms for donating. We also like to thank Dr Patricia Patricia Harris and Gary Hanks thank you so much for your donation and then John and Cheryl Palmer I thank you so much for your early donation Once again you can donate 86.805 or he just you dot org. From the Center for Investigative Reporting in p r x This is reveal a male Let's welcome back to our special pledge drive episode today we're looking at what happens and why when large parts of the world start running out of water something that uses a ton of water is meat now the numbers vary but researchers estimate it takes about 600 gallons of water about the size of backyard swimming pool to produce a single hamburger patty in leaked cables the Nestle company told u.s. Officials that if the rest of the world shared America's appetite for meat the entire planet would have already run out of fresh water in the year 2000 so maybe the best way to save water and I'm said to be the one telling us is to kick our meat habit now that's a hard thing to ask but what if you could produce a nearly identical meat substitute using only a fraction of water I met a guy who says he's making that happen. So let's see if I can get him into the lives. Of Ok very welcome to the new world of lab grown synthetic meat ball demo space but. Used to be a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic now he's the c.e.o. Of Memphis meats He's an energetic 40 something who looks like he's about to give a ted talk on the future of fake meat just don't call it that. This is not a meat out a lot of meat substitute this is me and it's growing in a lab space above an Office Depot in a big box strip mall in the San Francisco Bay area it's a lot smaller and more sterile than your typical cattle ranch and this is how the meat industry is raising the stakes see what I did there get it so all this is basic lab space where are. There is lots of you know testing that goes on and then they're going to destroy America because look at some cells on a stainless steel table I bend over in look into the microscope now to my untrained just a bunch of speckled transparent blobs so they sickly it is. Is really small little . There's. This is actually help. On a plate. When people go into a restaurant and order a steak they do this history 2 or 3000000000 cells sitting on their plate. Before those 3000000000 sizzlin cells depleted they grew inside their mothers were born as calves raised and eventually slaughtered. Starts a little differently we take a sample just like if you go to a doctor and take a biopsy be taken by Up see from an animal and we identify the cells in there that are capable of enjoying themselves we let the meat grow and know that we can harvest it at a point where it's tender enough we definitely try but i.d.e.o. Thanks we say let's harvest it that 3 weeks as harvested at 4 weeks as harvested at 6 weeks and see how it tastes earlier this year meats produced me ball that took just one month to grow even though you compare that with the process to actually get I mean both from a beef cattle from the family artificial insemination you know completing a pregnancy and then letting the animal grow for a point of 24 months this process of the board can do 20 times and it takes a lot less water to produce than traditional beef according to just 110th So the question I have now is that like scale ability right so like right now you guys are pretty small you just make like one or 2 meatballs Hunter says meatballs cost so the cost of the meatballs that was showed earlier this year that meat ball cost about a $1000.00 Now that is a price eat meat ball I can't believe I just said that says that as they. Begin to scale up within 5 years they hope to be able to bring the cost down to make their product competitive with ground beef you'd currently find in the grocery store but the big question is will it taste good enough to compete last year Memphis meats released a promotional video for their lab grown before you know this is the 1st time I mean ball has ever been caught with yourself I do not require a collar to slaughter visit to meet all. The good. The tester doesn't look entirely convinced I call it the x. Factor but people get over the creepiness of eating lab grown meat almost betting they will Ok why is the wall not vegetarian because people view it as a big sacrifice giving up meat that they love the beauty of what they're doing is there's absolutely no sacrifice they're still in the same meat it's identical and I think when they taste it. Well absolutely speech or. Or. According to a Pew poll just one in 5 Americans would be willing to eat meat that was grown in a lab and I wondered how the cattle industry felt about oh my name is bark downy I'm a full time cattle rancher in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas we reach barb at her ranch I've got 20 half are sitting out here I can see I'm just right outside my kitchen window and we've got a little bit of snow on the ground right now and the grass that showing through is this incredible bronze color this time of year it's really pretty Now Barbara says beef takes a lot of water she says the industry is trying to decrease its water use do more with less as for alternatives to homegrown beef there's no replacing a good juicy burger or steak hot off the grill beef and a steak brings a whole lot more to the table than just muscle fibers grown in a petri dish Barb says she'd like to learn more about the process of growing meat in the lab and she'd like to sample it but she also says Americans have some anti science things id when it comes to their food supply just take the backlash against genetically modified foods or g.m.o. For instance if g.m.o. Bother the American public I would imagine that lab grown muscle fiber would really bother the average American. Petri dish approach is still an experiment but there's another fake meat recipe that's already being served up it's a lab design ground beef replica made entirely from plants so I head over to a fancy restaurant in San Francisco that's serving up a $16.00 impossible burger. Here's head chef j.c. Day George in this is all made from plants things that you recognize it's you know so a root Nigel's. Coconut fat vegetable protein it's made from Tracy is also a consultant for impossible foods the company that makes the burger it's come a long way from the veggie burgers you see leftover at the end of the barbecue for one thing it looks exactly the it does have what is essentially plant blood is something that exists in plants and so it really is the thing that changes like blood does in me and gives you that really savory meaty flavor that you find in a burger the blood is actually something called heme a molecule that contains iron and oxygen that makes blood red there's a lot of it in red meat but it also exists in vegetables like soybeans and when we open the packaging yet I would like to really. Yeah and I mean wait till you taste it because you're I think you're really going to be surprised and also watching it cook what happens on the grill to go ahead and a little bit of oil on the on the griddle here. Wired to produce a beef. According to impossible for those you keeping track at home. Takes about $34.00 days of showers one of these plant burgers close to 9 days of showers one of the lab 3 days of showers. It is it changes that you've got you know the nice browning that's happening just you know like like a beef burger I mean you know for all intents and purposes it really does cut the same way a very appealing. All right I'm going to dress this program for you. Tracey puts it on a roll with the Fugard and it smells like a burger she cuts it half and it's big like a burger and it's crazy to think but this is entirely plant based burger is medium rare just the way I like already ready. Ok looks good. Is good no I think if you serve the difference. Seriously I could barely tell now like to think that I have a pretty sophisticated palate but I wanted to bring this burger to somebody else for some confirmation so I brought it to go back to the office to the bonafide meat . Car wore a ramp a bloodthirsty way for knowing car or. Reveals data reporter Eric cigar any day of week there's a good chance he's in the office where the t. Shirt the reads meet is murder. Murder please all you. Want I should also know that like my girlfriend is a vision so you have a guy here who really likes his meat and smokes his own need I need as much as possible and then I have a vision girlfriend who is not very pleased about the idea. Either. And so she's actually very excited about these hamburgers and she wants to try one really bad boy does it pass the meat lovers test or. This. Even got laid person or even bloody right. Just like. You know what probably is probably just gave me some ground. 0 and I think that's a pretty neat thing I would say that way it's almost too perfect right that's remarkable. But there was one problem with Eric showed his video girlfriend the. She couldn't bring herself to eat it it was too close to me. Is. The burger Ok. It carried it pretty much makes me a venture. With the taste of a good burger. Only on public radio would you hear a story like that saving the plated one hamburger at a time all revealed we show you why these far flung issues matter to you but public radio can only exist with help from generous listeners like you so put down that hamburger pick up your phone and call in to make your pledge has all the of full you need to support this public radio station. And good evening he's right you too can support public radio catches you by calling 864805 or joining online it's a c dot org I'm going to tell you is trying usually super early in the morning but today I took a nap and I'm here again pitching for cages here and I'm here with Kirby Moss. Yes and read that we'd like to show you just listen to her reveal it when this form of journalism is one of the most expensive forms of journalism out there are these stories it takes money to access documents it takes money to fly all over the world and track people down I mean investigative journalism is an expensive endeavor and to support shows like this we would really like to have you support this station here at cage as you and Kirby you and myself as well where we're both from and you know journalist and you actually teach journalism that has you yes can you talk about how difficult it is maybe to do these in that piece is like the ones on revealed but in our own communities it takes a lot of manpower right yes it does it takes a lot of time and once again it takes it takes it takes money I mean and quite. Journalism for journalism you know it's finding documents and to try to to to get access to those documents because cause takes time and cost money and so that's $1.00 of the main pieces of investigative work that you know I appreciate listening to one reveal as it makes it seem so easy that they can access and they said well it's really you know there are times when you're calling someone 20 or 30 times a week in the main person in their voicemail just hoping you get some kind of quote from them you know when they finally answer back it's like oh I'm sorry I don't know anything about this and you're like oh my gosh you're next you know it's definitely exhausting but when you get that end product would you say it's worth it oh for sure and we see it was the editor with shows like this that we're hearing tonight here on Cage issue and once again you can call and locally you can call 82648052 make a donation outside of the state you can call 180-640-5911 you can also donate at cage as she. Dot org And you also has investigative pieces happening or just local journalism. Which I contributed to and so is a lot of the community and more recently we're talking to members of the we are tribe Indian island and I think I think that was a really important piece a do for the community just connecting it I mean whereas it didn't take a lot of. A lot of resources because they were there in Eureka but it took a lot of understanding when you come to understanding your sources you get a better story a better investigative piece I think teaches you supports that they support local journalist they support local journalism and it takes a lot to support them and that's why becoming a member is so important and that's why I'm calling 86.805 or donating online it keeps you dot org is so important to us because you're not only supporting us you're not only you know it's the porting why coffee on the weekends you're supporting yourself and in your access to knowledge yes and I agree with that I certainly agree with that as I think another story to. Tell You and I were talking before the break and you know the journalism department did a story in December 26th team is called Homeless university because there's a lot of conversation around campus about students having a hard time to finding. Housing And so but this story did that was done by the journalism department and students and the best bit of reporting with Marci bursar they kind of dug down to. Understand and I guess reveal what was actually going on all the different pieces that were in place. That was you know. Preventing students from finding adequate housing and this is a wonderful story and I think stories like that really delve into the student experience here and we like to think that everything is you know hippie dippie and love and peace and everything but there's some real stories where students are having trouble wondering if they're going to sleep in their car or sleep on a couch you know where they're going to sleep how they're going to finish their finals so I think that story was incredibly important for this community and teaches you being able to bring those stories and just talk about local journalist is a very good thing once again you can donate 864805 or 106405911 or donate online if it catches you dot org Thank you you're listening to reveal here on as you voters include pure water spas selling in servicing hot spring and Sundance hot tubs specializing in energy efficient and low maintenance hot tubs since 1906 they display traditional and infrared saunas from the pure water spas committed to the local community since 1986 located in Eureka 3750 Broadway there and more at j. Souter dot com Thanks for listening to this pledge drive edition of reveal those numbers one more time to call and donate r e 2648051806405911 in of course online at www dot au Archie. From the Center for Investigative Reporting in p r x This is a special supporter station episode of reveal I'm Allison as President Trump has proposed building a wall along the Us Mexico border he's pointed abroad for prove various can keep people out to walls work just ask Israel they work with the praise of the American president in mine Israeli companies that make high tech border barriers are eyeing the u.s. Government as a potential huge new customer one of those companies is called s 3. Promotions so different kinds of detection technology sensors that go off when a hand touches a fence microwaves to pick up a movement nearby and in this video a roundish gizmo with rechargeable batteries called robo go robo Guard is an agile surveillance robot that travels in a manner where it can also respond promptly to intrusion alerts stay away from the fact we don't know if robo Guard is coming to a fence near you we do know has registered as an interested party in the u.s. Government's Mexico wall project as one reason reveals Emily Harris focused on Israel's approach to border security she spent 3 years as a foreign correspondent based in Jerusalem before she returned to the u.s. Last summer with help from producer Mark Baker she offers this up close look at Israel's walls Israel's best known wall is part of about 300 miles of barrier that twists between Israel and the West Bank it's a combination barrier about 10 percent is concrete wall and about 90 percent is high tech wire mesh fence it often cuts deep into land that Palestinians claim for a future country of their own. Hands. Our producer Mark met up with a former Israeli Army Colonel Danny tears that they drove to a spot where the tall concrete wall switches to a fence it's. Loaded with electronic sensors we're just in the place the difference is. Some people call Danny the father of this barrier he decided where it goes he figured out where to put the fences and where to build the walls in some places the police didn't is was shooting from their area stewards traffic to drones . So he had to construct concrete walls to protect to draw street from the snipers where this barrier is wall is big That's one of the things President Trump says he wants most stretches of wall in Israel's West Bank barrier are nearly 30 feet tall Danny talks in meters that's 9 meters high some people says to me can you make it some shorter route 1st they try to construct only 6 meters high but 6 meters if you climb beat some people can jump 9 meters nobody jumps they have to climb down somehow which Danny says gives soldiers time to show up of course Danny didn't climb the wall when he was talking with us but within 5 minutes Israeli soldiers showed up anyway when we make this soldiers here they just want us to see Ok service said those are. The soldiers a very curious about what we're doing people he says it's good they're curious because the fence or a wall only works with a lot of human backup armed Israeli security forces work both sides of the West Bank barrier Danny says that's why it's successful even in places it's not fully built we have soldiers in Border Police in displaces Sudhir for you cannot cross today from the West Bank to. Warn except you can cross without passing a checkpoint. Early start. Before dawn one workday morning earlier this year marking his interpreter headed to the palace to. Village if. It's in the West Bank it's talking to below and Israeli settlement and it's almost next to the official boundary line with Israel this is one spot where the barrier has not been built on the hillside now. Heading down into the valley of. The village sits in a narrow valley that surrounded by Rocky rounded hills it's a 20 minute climb through fields and forests to enter Israel there's no border guards along the way no checkpoints. And every workday Palestinian laborers come from all over the West Bank to take that walk Mark walked with him to come to. The. Place. Where there are a. 15. Men and 4 or 5 rounds dropping them off. Maybe 20 men and. They're all. Making their way up through. A rough field research on grass and rocks and boulders trees illegal go. And we can actually see. People coming from over hills in the distance making their way in our direction of towards the border. And the police ever come along here so filters are already going that way yes I presume. Is this area famous then as a place to cross. Over the most limited murder in the food court when the. You know it's your neighbors. Were out there it was. So very secure the person was like you've been doing this for years and they never . Knew that through doing this. This is no they know this and they want us to get. To to work to do you know our suburban sort of structure but good health to make it hard for us to get them so. That's one way you can sneak from the West Bank into Israel other Palestinians have used ladders to scale the wall and broke to slide down or they've clipped the fence and snuck through the whole. Like the u.s. Depends on Mexican workers Israel needs Palestinians to do jobs like construction and restaurant work and even though there are still ways over around and through most Israelis say the West Bank barrier has helped lower the number of Palestinian terrorist attacks done inside Israel. A tougher Israeli barrier to cross runs 150 miles along Israel's desert border with Egypt before a high tech fence covered the whole thing tens of thousands of people entered Israel there without permission many of them had left wars in Eritrea and Sudan when Israel constructed the. Border and basically it solved our problem this is Sar course he heads the Israeli company Mughal s 3 he built the Israeli Egyptian border fence it took us there 2 years to complete the project and then the number of illegal immigrant trope with romantically from 2000 of them ever it's been months through less than temperament there are other factors like the tension in Israel that may stop migrants from trying to enter but these are the kind of numbers President Trump is after he regularly praises Israel's walls as 99.9 percent successful then a few years after this new fence along Israel's border with Egypt was finished the number of people who managed to cross it began to creep up again so Israel kept building more sensors went in and Israel raised 10 miles of this fence from 16 to 26 feet high the numbers of migrants to get. That story from reveals Emily Harris this hour we brought you stories that demonstrate our commitment to going deep in the pursuit of hidden truths even if that means tunneling underground. At the end of every reveal episode I say there's always more to the story and that part is you the role that you play to keep independent journalism going. And you can donate right now by calling 826-4805 or if you're out of the area 180-640-5911 or if you're a little shy kid you see dot org And you can donate to local public radio station that's an I'm your morning host usually but I'm here tonight with Kirby Moss of the agency journalism department. And we are looking at. The last story there on reveal once again and it is the best kind of stories are important stories. And we talked about earlier about how expensive these forms of journalism are to not only just broadcast but also to together and we're looking for your support here tonight once again the number locally is 826-4805 calling outside the state 180-640-5911 you can also donate online at k h s u dot r g and we appreciate you calling in case we're like we're not trying to give you a guilt trip but we kind of are. In right now is the last. Pitch were doing before the before tomorrow you can donate 864805 or you can call 180-640-5911 kitty dot org Like we said and you can be a part of something bigger than yourself you can be a part of the cages you community which in itself is a part of the humble County community a part of the donor community and Curry County coast I did not forget about you guys as are vital to this community and making a donation. And becoming a new sustaining member is super important to us and shows our shows like this I mean you won't find these kind of shows on any other radio stations in the area and we don't hear a cage issue and it's just for me once again as a listener I when I talk about this show reveal and kids are shooting n.p.r. Stories to my students daily in my classes and I and I point to those shows as models of standing journalism and so it's important to me not just as a listener but even as a as a teacher and yet I considered this show come straight out of the Center for Investigative Reporting this is you know one of those shows that puts in the work and just to give you quality programming just to give this to you so you can understand that reporting is more than just fluff pieces it's it's contributing to a community and helping people understand the lives that they're living you know what what political What cultural state we're in right now yes yes and once again the numbers the numbers the call locally 826-4805 the state 180-640-5911 you can also donate online at k h s u dot au r g and it's super important that you make your contribution today you know we here love public radio and we love our listeners and we love our supporters once again the numbers 86 point 805-106-4059 extension 11 or cage a few dot org We just need one more call to wrap up the night and once again 864805 right moments is up next. All right thanks everyone for listening to reveal and things for you donations during our fall pledge drive tell your Strada and Kirby Mas located on the campus of Humboldt State University this is key h.s. You in key h.s. You h d 90.5 arcade game to Star 91 point I Crescent City in cages g 89.9 Garberville. Donors include 8 D.C.'s small business lending center financing opportunities for new and existing businesses on the entire north coast financing can be used for startups expansion costs equipment inventory commercial property and more information can be found at a.d.c. One dot org. And donors include humble teria foundation or community is connected and bound together by a sense of place and a sense of belonging Terry a foundation is committed to building and strengthening our community learn more at age a foundation dot org It's 8 o'clock right moments starts right now.