Ariana Arghandewal | (TNS) Bankrate

If I had a point for every time I got asked about the best way to use points for travel, I’d have enough to fly around the world. Twice. After a decade in this racket, I know how to stretch my points as far as possible.

Used correctly, points can be more valuable than cash. You can use them for everything from a staycation at an extended-stay hotel to a first-class trip to the Maldives. You can plan a cross-country road trip with motel pit stops or literally fly around the world. The key is to know what your points are worth and to use them wisely. As a general rule, you should aim to get at least 1 cent of value out of each point (though that won’t always be possible).

If you’ve been saving up your points and wondering how best to use them for travel, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about maximizing value from your points and miles.

1. Use points and miles for international business- and first-class tickets

International business- and first-class tickets typically offer the most high-value return for your points and miles. A round-trip business-class ticket to Europe typically costs between 88,000 and 140,000 points or miles, while a cash fare will typically set you back about $5,000. An economy-class ticket typically costs 60,000 miles round-trip, with cash fares often going as low as $400 during the off-peak season. Overall, you’re more likely to get a better deal on a premium cabin redemption than on a coach redemption.

International business- and first-class travel doesn’t just provide the highest redemption value for your points and miles — it’s also something most people can’t afford without points and miles. That’s really the best use of points and miles for travel — not just keeping your expenses low, but accessing travel opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.

2. Book luxury (or all-inclusive) hotels and resorts closer to home

Luxury hotels can offer a tremendous return on your points. The Maldives, for example, is a popular destination for maximizing hotel points. Hotels in the Maldives can go well over $1,000 per night, making them a great use of hotel points and free night awards.

But one aspect that often gets overlooked is that these “free” luxury hotel stays often come with many additional expenses. Food is expensive in these remote destinations, and boat and seaplane transfers can cost over $500 per person. Unless you were planning to pay out of pocket for the room anyway, you may not save much money on this redemption.

A high-value alternative would be booking all-inclusive hotels closer to home. Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott all have all-inclusive resorts that require a reasonable amount of points (Hyatt especially). For example, there are Hyatt hotels that start at around 17,000 points per night (in the off peak season). You can easily accumulate enough points for three free nights using the welcome bonus from The World of Hyatt Credit Card* or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

To elaborate, the World of Hyatt Credit Card currently offers up to 60,000 bonus points — you can earn 30,000 points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months of account opening, plus up to 30,000 more points by earning 2X points on purchases (that normally earn 1X points) during the first six months (on up to $15,000). The Chase Sapphire Preferred, on the other hand, currently offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening.

It’s worth noting this 17,000-point rate is for two people per room. Hyatt charges an additional 8,500 points per night (for this hotel category) for each additional person staying in the same room. The great thing about Hyatt’s all-inclusive hotels is that all meals and accommodations are included, making it possible to check out with a $0 bill. That’s not always possible at luxury resorts, where a trip to the minibar can put a serious dent in your wallet. All-inclusive hotels are ideal for budget-conscious travelers who want to enjoy themselves without going overboard.

3. For families and large groups, use hotel points for low-category extended stays

There’s more than one way to get value out of hotel points, and I’m a firm believer that extended-stay hotels can be an excellent use of points.

Extended-stay properties tend to be some of the cheapest hotels when it comes to using points, often requiring a fraction of the points needed by their luxury counterparts. Lower redemption rates don’t impact value. In fact, these affordable hotels often offer high-value perks that will improve your hotel experience.

For example, complimentary breakfast is typically standard at these types of properties. And thanks to larger beds and additional sofas, these properties can usually accommodate more than two guests per room. This makes extended-stay properties ideal for families and large groups.

4. You can still find great deals on peak travel bookings

During peak travel seasons — such as during the summer, spring break and the holidays — everything from airfare to hotel rates skyrocket. This can be a great time to utilize points and miles to keep your costs down.

It’s worth noting that an increasing number of airline and hotel loyalty programs — many of which are highlighted in Bankrate’s travel toolkit — are moving toward dynamic pricing. That means redemption rates will fluctuate based on the cost of airfare and room rates. That said, you can still put your points and miles to good use with dynamic pricing in place.

Hotel loyalty programs offer a great example of how these redemptions can work out favorably. For example, a stay at the Westin New York Grand Central over Christmas and New Year’s could cost well over $6,000. The same stay could cost about 480,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, giving you a value of 1.25 cents per point. That’s a fantastic value for a Marriott redemption.

Award pricing goes up during peak travel season, but that doesn’t mean the math won’t add up favorably. It’s always a good idea to compare these redemption rates against cash prices and figure out which option would work best.

5. For the best deals, travel during off-peak seasons and be flexible with your travel dates

While expensive peak travel bookings can increase the value of your rewards, off-peak awards can save you points and miles.

Case in point: American Airlines is one of the few major airlines that still publishes an award chart, which includes off-peak travel dates for its own awards and partner awards. You may be able to save around 20% on an award ticket by traveling during the off-season. For example, a one-way economy class fare to Europe typically costs 30,000 miles. The same award costs about 22,500 miles if you’re willing to travel during off-peak seasons.

The same goes for fare-based programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards. By searching through the airline’s low-fare calendar, you can score incredible deals on award tickets. If you can afford to be flexible with your travel dates, you can stretch your points and miles even further by using fewer rewards for off-peak travel.

6. Look for sweet-spot redemptions with different airlines and hotels

Sweet-spot awards are one of the best-kept secrets of airline and hotel loyalty programs. A “sweet spot” refers to an award that’s offered at a significantly lower price compared to most other programs. Familiarizing yourself with sweet-spot redemptions is a great way to get more travel out of a limited points or miles balance.

For example, say United MileagePlus requires around 124,000 miles for a round-trip business class ticket to Europe. Meanwhile, fellow Star Alliance carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) might require just 88,000 miles for the same flight. ANA typically gives you a free stopover on these awards itineraries too, allowing you to book multiple trips for the cost of one.

Award tickets to Hawaii are always in demand, and even off-peak travel from the West Coast can cost 40,000 AAdvantage miles or more round-trip. However, the British Airways Executive Club often has a sweet spot for West Coast travelers, and you may be able to find flights for 13,000 Avios each way.

Air France and KLM’s joint loyalty program, Flying Blue, doesn’t get much mainstream recognition, but it’s packed with sweet spots that can save you miles and cash. For instance, you might be able to find a 106,000-mile award ticket between the U.S. and North Africa. Considering most other programs require 160,000 or more miles for the same award, that would be a fantastic deal.

One final note: If you’re interested in Flying Blue, be sure to check out its monthly Promo Rewards. These award tickets are discounted by as much as 50 percent, and they present an excellent way to stretch your rewards further.

7. Redeem rewards for good-enough value when needed

While following the above advice will ensure maximum value for your points and miles, you should use your rewards however you see fit. If redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a New Orleans ghost tour makes you happy, then go for it. If using your American AAdvantage miles for a rental car keeps cash in your pocket, do it.

While the best way to use points and miles usually involves redeeming them for international business- and first-class flights, the best way to use your own points and miles may differ. Your rewards are yours to use, so you may want to ignore what the influencers are doing and do whatever works best for you.

However, points and miles devalue over time — they may even expire after an extended period of time — so the absolute best way to redeem them is as quickly as possible, for the best value you can get. Don’t hoard them and don’t let them accumulate and devalue before you have a chance to use them.

FAQs

—What are credit card points and miles?Credit card points and miles are types of credit card rewards that you can earn for all eligible spending with your card. These types of rewards structures are usually a feature of travel credit cards.

—How do credit card points and miles work? Whenever you swipe your travel rewards credit card, you’ll earn points or miles for all eligible purchases. For example, you might earn a higher points or miles rate for select types of purchases (such as airfare, rideshares or dining) along with a fixed rate on all other purchases.

—How can you use your credit card points and miles? Many points and miles cards allow you to redeem your rewards for different types of travel, cash back, merchandise and gift cards, but redemption options will vary from card to card. Since credit card points and miles are usually a feature of travel credit cards, you’ll typically get the best value for travel-related redemption options.

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(* The information about the World of Hyatt Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.)

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©2023 Bankrate online. Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

“Dear Santa, I love you,” begins Armik’s letter to the North Pole’s big guy.

“My mommy tries so hard to create Christmas for me and my sister. Would be nice if you could help her out a little.”

Tug. Tug. We’ve got this, fellow elves. Join me in reporting for duty, conjuring holiday magic and easing St. Nick’s onerous load.

Once upon a time you’d pick a tag with a family’s wish list from the company Christmas tree to spread this kind of holiday cheer, but who has an office anymore? The U.S. Postal Service’s Operation Santa — now in its 111th year — is like a digital version of that tree.

Search for letters that tug at your heartstrings at www.uspsoperationsanta.com/. Specify a state if you like, or search nationwide. Then “adopt” a letter (or several), do the retail therapy thing and pop the stuff into the U.S. mail. It’ll land with a return address from the North Pole itself.

Say what you will about the Postal Service and its $6.5 billion deficit. How does one pass up the opportunity to sprinkle this kind of magic at this time of year?

“The program relies solely on random acts of kindness and the generosity of strangers,” the Postal Service says. “It allows people to help children and families have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not — safely and securely.”

The letter from Maria spoke to me. “I work full time and am raising two of my grandkids who are 7 years old — twin boys,” she writes. “I am really struggling. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.”

Yes, you’ll find letters from kids who want the moon — expensive computers ($1,000+), PlayStations ($500), ride-on electric cars (start around $199) — but you’ll also find wishes for size 11 kids’ tennis shoes and warm pajamas and bedtime books to read because mom or dad is sick and can’t work and they’re trying to be good, so very very good!

These, as one participant said, melt your heart into a puddle.

Now, I was raised Catholic and am plagued by guilt, but you don’t have to fulfill expensive requests, the USPS says. “Hopeful as ever, kids do tend to wish big,” USPS says in its how-to helper guide. “But just hearing back from Santa is a win!”

I’m rooting for Mylin, who’s apparently following  the footsteps of Hermey in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Mylin wants a Melissa & Doug dentist kit (starts at $25), a mini sewing machine (starts at about $17) and lip balm for dry lips ($1).

Elf logistics

Letters to Santa will be accepted until Dec. 11. They go to Santa’s workshop at 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888. The ones that can actually be deciphered, have legible return addresses and proper postage are opened, reviewed and posted online for action from us elves.

The last day to adopt letters is Dec. 18 — also the recommended deadline for getting packages in the mail so they arrive in time.

To adopt a letter, just register your vitals, including email address, at USPSOperationSanta.com. You’ll get an email. Click on the verification link. Voila! Your ears are pointy and you’re ready to roll.

Peruse letters, pick a couple, adopt them. You’ll get an email with a QR code for each letter you adopt, and you must have that code handy when you go to the post office to ship the gifts (no electronic skateboards, scooters, e-bikes, sparklers or perfume allowed!). Remember to print out the note from Santa and stick it in the package!

Mail gifts via Priority Mail (they don’t need to be in Priority Mail-branded boxes). You’ll have to pay the postage fees (USPS isn’t quite up to absorbing the bill just now, as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968).

So keep an eye on shipping costs. Postage is based on size, weight and distance. USPS recommends grabbing a Priority Mail Flat Rate box — free at your local post office — and taking it along when you shop. Buy only what fits in the box.

USPS recommends adopting a letter from your state or someplace nearby, or to consider a gift card — but that seems to lack pixie dust. If you do go that route, gift cards must be in a Priority Mail envelope at least 4 inches by 6 inches, to accommodate the North Pole shipping label.

And watch out for scammers. USPS warns that there are imitators out there, and any organization asking for money to adopt letters is in violation of the law. See detailed instructions from USPS here.

As the holiday season unfolds, you can watch the magic happen at #USPSOperationSanta on Facebook and X. Photos of beaming kids with their loot … elves complaining about shipping costs … parents wondering why their kids’ letters weren’t adopted.

In Operation Santa, as in life, not all wishes can be fulfilled. Me, I’m heading out to buy two pairs of size 12 shoes, two sets of size 6 pants and shirts, two police Lego sets, Hot Wheels and easy-reading books.

“Thank you Santa,” one of the letters says. “We will have cookies and milk on the counter for you and Mrs. Claus.”

Michael Phillips | Chicago Tribune

Bradley Cooper’s all over everything in “Maestro,” as director, producer, co-writer (with Josh Singer) and star. Spanning most of his subject’s dazzling, chaotic life, Cooper’s performance as the eternally hungry Leonard Bernstein — musician, composer, conductor, educator — takes second billing behind Carey Mulligan, who plays Bernstein’s second wife, actress Felicia Montealegre.

The billing seems a little off once you’ve seen “Maestro,” now in limited theatrical release ahead of its Dec. 20 Netflix streaming premiere. But we’ll get to that.

Cooper’s second directorial feature, which had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September, follows the massive success of his remake of “A Star is Born” five years ago. There, as the whiskey-soaked country star on the way down, the actor lowered his speaking voice to a warm Sam Elliott growl.

In “Maestro,” working off untold hours of video and audio tapes of his real-life subject, Cooper fashions a higher, faster approximation of Bernstein’s vocal cadence, while various degrees and thicknesses of prosthetic makeup handle the rest. The trick for any actor in these biopic circumstances is making all the externals into a lifelike but not slavishly archival whole.

I’ll review “Maestro” next week closer to the film’s Chicago opening. But after the recent press screening I was eager to sit down with Tribune classical music critic Hannah Edgar and hear what they had to say about it. In 2018 Edgar, also a musician, spent a summer assisting with the curation of the traveling Leonard Bernstein centenary exhibition under the auspices of the New York Philharmonic Archives.

Over coffee we talked about some initial reactions to Cooper’s embodiment of Bernstein; the focus of this version of his life; and the filmmaker’s reported six-year preparations for the film’s centerpiece conducting scene, depicting Cooper-as-Bernstein’s “antic” (Edgar’s word) attack on Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, photographed in a single take.

“Maestro” begins in 1943, in black-and-white, with a 25-year-old Lenny, in bed with a male lover, receiving the early morning phone call of his career: He has been tapped to substitute, with zero rehearsal time, for an ailing Bruno Walter. This marks Bernstein’s momentous debut with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, and lights a fire underneath his already roiling ambitions.

The following has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Phillips: Hannah, a year ago we talked about “Tár” when that came out, and I came away a lot smarter than when I went in, thanks to you. I wonder if there’s any film dealing with a conductor or a composer or any sort of musician that came to mind while we were watching “Maestro” the other day?

Hannah Edgar: The one that came to mind, honestly, for better or worse, was that really trippy Mahler movie from the ‘70s —

Phillips: Ken Russell’s “Mahler”! Trippy’s the word, all right.

Edgar: I remember seeing that in high school. And what that movie did successfully, at least for me, that parts of “Maestro” also does successfully, is instead of sort of rotely taking you through the beats of an individual’s life, it explored how their music makes you feel. For me the fantastical elements of “Maestro” were the strongest. And to see them more or less abandoned halfway through, once the movie turns to color, was kind of a letdown for me. In the early black-and-white scenes we see Bernstein’s life taking place (metaphorically) almost as if he lived in the wings of a theater, or a concert hall.

Phillips: Right, and it’s almost a full-on musical or ballet, when Bernstein and Felicia are on this sort of fantasy first date, scored to Bernstein’s “Fancy Free,” and at one point Bernstein’s actually dancing part of it himself, in a sailor costume. There’s also a bit of Bernstein’s “Lonely Town” ballet music from the Broadway musical “On the Town,” inspired by his work with Jerome Robbins on “Fancy Free” earlier that same year (1944).

I do think “Maestro” is going to introduce some great music to a lot of people who haven’t heard it yet. Tell me more about what did and didn’t work for you here.

Edgar: I did love a lot of the details. They lived at The Dakota at 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York, right along the parade route for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I loved seeing the enormous Snoopy floating by when Leonard and Felicia are having this epic argument.

Phillips: Isn’t that a great screen argument? Why did it work for you?

Edgar: Because it felt true. We know by that point that she’s straining under the weight of Bernstein’s ego, and we know that he has these trysts with various men over the years. But it’s finally out in the open. It just plays out in a way that feels authentic. I don’t know many couples, even if they’re well-adjusted and have a great couples therapist, that can keep an argument entirely civil. Typically when you have an argument there’s a lot behind it, with long-simmering resentments erupting. It’s hard to watch, and usually with scenes like that in the movies, I’m cowering. But this one in “Maestro” is different. It felt cathartic to me.

Phillips: For me, too. That scene doesn’t feel amped up, and it plays out in a long take, no cutting for the usual emphasis. Compared to that scene, parts of the movie feel more routine. But more than you, I think, I basically went for it, even if I had the same feeling watching “Maestro” as I did with “A Star is Born,” which I liked as well — that Cooper, directing himself, has a way of ever-so-shrewdly stealing focus away from his female co-stars.

Edgar: Hundred percent! The “Maestro” trailer, which is great, makes it seem like it’s going to be a biopic told through the lens of their relationship. But the movie starts with Lenny getting the call about his Carnegie Hall debut. I think it would’ve been a more effective and sensitive story if it had been told through Felicia’s viewpoint.

On the other hand: I suppose there’s a self-aware argument Cooper’s making, and it appears in (daughter) Jamie Bernstein’s memoir: that you have to sacrifice yourself at the altar of Bernstein’s ego.

Phillips: Cooper has many more on-screen minutes in the role of conductor than Cate Blanchett did as Lydia Tár. Who’s the better pretend conductor?

Edgar: I’d say Cooper. But Blanchett had the harder job, which was to figure out her fictional character’s own style of conducting.

Phillips: Bernstein has the advantage of being real; there’s so much research material, all the archival video and audio, for an actor to work from. His concerts for young people, the lectures, the televised concerts, all of it. Here’s my question to you: Is what we see in “Maestro” a fully fleshed-out performance? Or more of a studious collection of external mannerisms?

Edgar: I do think Cooper’s seriousness about the research part of it shows in the movie, and people have already written about his apparently taking six years, off and on, to convincingly conduct, as Bernstein, six minutes of Mahler … We see just about every imaginable Bernstein-ism packed into those minutes. As a musician, watching that scene I was thinking: Would I actually be able to follow him? I don’t know. Cooper’s doing the pantomime of conducting. It’s hard to describe. I felt in awe of him as a mimic, but …

Phillips: I think I know what you mean. Cooper is so talented in so many directions, but I don’t know if he’s figured out how to throw away anything casually, even when he should. Mulligan isn’t playing as famous a figure, but man, she’s good. And when the movie does give Felicia her due, it’s worth every second.

Is there any musical biopic cliché that “Maestro” either does or doesn’t avoid that we should talk about?

Edgar: Maybe this: What made Bernstein such a unique creative personality — Jamie talks about it in her book — is that the only thing Bernstein loved more than music was people. And that creates a conflict. There’s usually a narrative of seclusion in the tortured-genius story, but that’s not really Bernstein’s story. He wanted to be in the thick of everything. He thrived on new people, thrived on adoration from the public. And that part, Cooper handles really well. That look in his eyes when he gets his first taste of fame in “Maestro” tees us up for the whole movie.

Phillips: There’s a lot of George Gershwin in Bernstein’s musical drive, at least to my ears — would you say they experienced the same struggle between highbrow and middlebrow music, the concert hall versus Broadway or Hollywood?

Edgar: Totally! He was so simpatico with Gershwin! And they both dealt with antisemitism, and I’m glad that made it into the movie. (As a young conductor) Bernstein was advised to change his last name to Burns. Thank God he didn’t.

Phillips: Let’s end with this question: Could anyone like Leonard Bernstein take a central place in 21st-century popular culture?

Edgar: No. Sad to say it, but I think his story is a period piece. During Bernstein’s life there was a national funding apparatus behind classical music and the fine arts. That funding does not really exist anymore.

———

(Michael Phillips is the Chicago Tribune film critic.)

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Police say Barry Belcher, 61, was driving under the influence of drugs when he lost consciousness and drove into the sidewalk of the Murray Street Bridge.

Carmel Unified School District’s governing board will hold a special open session meeting Tuesday morning to discuss ways to include the community in the district’s selection process for its next superintendent.

Scheduled for 11 a.m. at the district office, 4380 Carmel Valley Road, the board will “create a plan for soliciting stakeholder participation regarding desired qualities and characteristics in the selection of a superintendent.”

The meeting will not be live-streamed or recorded.

“Historically, (Carmel Unified) has not typically live-streamed or recorded special meetings,” said Michelle Goncalves, executive assistant to the superintendent’s office.

The special meeting comes after several community members criticized the board for a lack of transparency and community collaboration over the selection of the district’s next superintendent.

The board approved a $770,000 separation agreement with Superintendent Ted Knight shortly after the school year started. Although Sharon Ofek has been acting as the interim superintendent since the spring, the board has been divided over how to move forward with the district’s next leader.

In September, Carmel Unified’s board agreed to postpone engaging in a search for the next superintendent and instead voted to consider appointing someone to the role in the future.

But when the agenda item appeared on the closed session agenda for the board’s Nov. 15 meeting, the public was outraged. Several community leaders – including Marcus Michie, the board’s student representative; Elizabeth Marsh, the Association of Carmel Teachers representative; and Lisa Brazil, the California School Employees Association representative – expressed disappointment in the board for a lack of transparency and disregard of community input.

Coming out of closed session at the Nov. 15 meeting, Board President Sara Hinds said the board did not take action to appoint a superintendent and would instead schedule a special open session meeting to discuss plans for including public input.

Tuesday’s meeting agenda says the board will be joined by Valerie Pitts from Hazard Young Attea Associates to “discuss possible options, methods and timing for obtaining community input.”

Southern Californians have much to be thankful for this holiday season as residents of a place that often feels the effects of climate change firsthand. The drought is over, for now, a relatively mild wildfire season is wrapping up and temperatures have been more moderate than in recent years.

But globally, people witnessed the consequences of a warming planet in 2023 like never before.

Scientists say massive wildfires in Canada, deadly flooding in North Africa and record heat waves in Phoenix, to name a few of the year’s extreme weather events, were all supercharged by climate change. This year will almost certainly go down as the hottest on record. One climate group reported that the global average temperature on Friday, Nov. 17 briefly reached more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrialization levels for the first time — well above the 1.5-degree goal set by the Paris Climate Agreement to help us avoid more catastrophic effects. And a United Nations report out this week says the planet currently is on pace for nearly 3 degrees of warming by the end of the century.

Such news may not sound like good fodder for conservation at holiday parties or around the family dinner table. That’s why many people still lump climate change in with politics and religion, as topics to be avoided in social settings.

But advocates say if we stop thinking of climate change as a partisan issue, or as something most people choose to believe in, and instead start thinking of it as a fact of life that we all need to cope with, discussing it doesn’t have to be any more controversial than, say, chatting about how we’re gearing up for winter or retirement. More importantly, experts say discussing climate issues with family and friends can help to normalize such talk, clear up misconceptions and make people more empowered to act.

That’s why Fred Smoller, a Chapman University professor who co-founded the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon, said he won’t shy away from raising this “timely and important” topic over the holidays by throwing out ice breakers like:

“Did you see the movie ‘Don’t Look Up?’… What do you think the movie was about?” (Spoiler alert: It was a metaphor for global warming.)

Even if you don’t mention global warming over turkey dinner, we all have at least one relative or friend we can count on to try and stir the pot — and not the one with gravy inside.

So here’s a toolkit of sorts to help you navigate climate conversations this holiday season.

Use your ears

One of the most important ingredients for effective conversation on any thorny topic is already baked into most holiday celebrations, according to Emma Frances Bloomfield, a communications professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who wrote a book about climate skepticism.

Unlike battling strangers over the Internet, she said, “If you’re having a conversation with someone that you genuinely care about, and have a strong relationship with, I think those can be very powerful conversations.”

But Bloomfield said setting aside assumptions, and asking questions to learn more about why people believe what they believe and what they value, is key.

Connecting climate change to what people value is also a favorite strategy for Tori Goebel with the nonprofit group Young Evangelicals For Climate Action. That’s why, she said, “The first step is actually to stop and listen.”

When listening to skeptics express their feelings about the environment, Goebel said she’s heard people say they just have more immediate concerns, such as the health of their children. She then shares how the quality of our air and water are deeply connected to kids’ health.

“I think we can find a lot of common ground by doing that,” she said.

The common ground for family members of Brady Bradshaw, with the Center for Biological Diversity, is a love for the ocean. So he shares how “the oceans literally ‘take the heat’ for us,” absorbing some 90% of atmospheric warming. Bradshaw tells family members that making ocean ecosystems healthy again is a big part of mitigating climate change.

To drive the issue home for his Temecula family, Cooper Proulx, a UC Riverside student who just finished a sustainable home project, points to how air quality issues in the Inland Empire are causing a spike in the rate of childhood asthma.

Steven King, a clean air advocate for Environment California, also likes to share how global warming has affected his life.

“My family had to evacuate from our home in Agoura Hills because of a wildfire that reached our neighborhood,” he said. And with warmer, drier conditions fueling such fires, he notes, “these situations are only becoming more common.”

Responding to common claims

Climate skeptics tend to repeat many of the same arguments when they reject the science that says human activity is causing our planet is warm at an unprecedented rate. Here’s how to respond to a few common claims.

Claim: The planet has always had phases of warming and cooling.

Response: That’s true. Earth’s warming and cooling cycles that have unfolded over millions of years have long been caused by natural factors, such as our planet’s wobbly orbit around the sun and heavy volcanic activity that releases carbon dioxide.

But since humans started burning fossil fuels to power our factories and cars, NASA says global average temperatures have spiked 10 times faster than they did when the Earth was coming out of previous glacial periods. That means it took just 100 years for temperatures to rise 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or as much as they did over more than 1,000 years during previous, natural warming cycles.

Scientists also know, after studying gases trapped in glacial air bubbles and chemicals in ancient fossils, that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere haven’t been this high since for at least 15 million years. Carbon from burning fossil fuels leaves a distinct chemical signature, so scientists can distinguish man-made changes from natural sources. And there’s simply no scientific way the Earth wouldn’t get warmer when there are more heat-trapping gases in its atmosphere.

Claim: So maybe we’re speeding the cycle up a bit. That doesn’t mean we should change our lives or spend billions trying to slow it down.

Response: Civilization as we know it didn’t exist the last time the planet gradually and naturally got this hot, more than 120,000 years ago. But scientists believe past temperature swings caused some species of ancient humans to die out, while triggering evolutionary changes in others and forcing them to migrate to survive.

If this warming continues to happen 10 times faster than it did in the past, will humans and other living creatures have time to evolve?

We’re already seeing climate refugees, forced to flee the Middle East, North Africa and other places as flooding, droughts and other side effects of climate change make their livelihoods untenable and towns unlivable. Those people have to go somewhere, which is why many political leaders see the warming planet as a national security issue.

Meanwhile, warming already is making disasters such as wildfires more frequent and devastating. The cost in terms of human life, public health and property damage that such disasters generate is difficult to quantify. But the solution is clear: stop burning fossil fuels. And if we don’t spend money now to make that change, those other costs are only going to escalate for the next generations.

Claim: The science on all of this just isn’t settled.

Response: You can seek out scientists who are outliers on any topic. And sure, scientists are still investigating fine points of climate issues. But more than 99% of climate scientists now agree that human activity is driving global warming.

They got there after considering a wide range of research over decades. That includes averaging temperature readings from thousands of weather stations, with that warming trend confirmed by observed changes such as birds migrating sooner, ice sheets melting and ocean acidification increasing. And scientists can see from testing tree rings, ice cores, fossils and lake sediment how modern conditions differ from past cycles.

What to do if the talk gets heated

“The moment you resort to getting upset, any productivity in the conversation has ended.”

That’s the first tip California Environmental Voters offers for navigating climate talk during the holidays. The group recommends staying calm and not taking things personally. But if the other person clearly isn’t interested in a serious discussion, it’s time to let that one go.

If the discussion gets too heated, Smoller said he pivots to the promise of the “sustainability sector,” such as electric cars and solar panels.

Focusing on all of the positive outcomes that can come with such solutions is a favorite move for King. He shares, for example, how climate solutions “also make our air and water cleaner and healthier, save money and strengthen our energy independence.”

How can anyone argue against that?

In September, Ann Soh Woods, founder of Kikori whiskey, hosted a one-night workshop in Downtown L.A.’s Arts District that highlighted koji. Woods chose the location, Baroo, a fermentation-driven Korean restaurant, and invited a Japanese koji expert for guests to learn more about this ancient ingredient. The conversation was paired with koji-infused bites such as katsu chicken and koji-fermented sourdough bread, along with craft cocktails made with Kikori whiskey.

The reason why Soh Woods felt inclined to expand people’s knowledge about koji was that it’s a crucial ingredient to creating Kikori.

“I talk a lot about koji. It’s so important. It’s essential to making Kikori,” said Ann Soh Woods. “I would mention digestive enzymes and aspergillus and mold. Then I would wait, and watch this glazed look fall across my audience. Whether that be a consumer, bar, restaurant, media, the distributor, it always happened.”

ALSO SEE: Koji, an ancient Japanese superfood, is having a moment

She didn’t want to lose her audience right then and there. So she came up with an idea.

“When I talk about this particular step in making Kikori, I’d talk about how we would take the rice and sprinkle it with fairy dust,” she said with a laugh. “I’m not that far off, actually, because koji is almost magical, mystical, and it’s definitely extremely versatile. … To kick start that conversion of the starch to sugar, we add that ‘fairy dust.’ ”

“It’s actually a mold called koji. We use white koji. We let it sit for about 24 hours before adding water and yeast. It sits for about 6 days and we add it to a second mash. Then it’s distilled in a stainless steel pot still to retain as much of that rice flavor as possible. Low temperature, low pressure. Then we barrel age in three different types: American, French and cherry casks for 3 to 8 years.”

Soh Woods wanted to showcase how miso and Kikori whiskey work well together at home so she shared this version of an Old Fashioned with us. Enjoy!

Kikori Miso Old Fashioned

INGREDIENTS

1.5 ounces Kikori Whiskey

0.5 ounces Miso-infused simple syrup (recipe below)

4 dashes aromatic bitters

Shiso leaf

Orange peel

DIRECTIONS

Combine all of the ingredients into an Old Fashioned glass and stir; add a large cube of ice or ice cubes. Garnish with a shiso leaf and orange peel.

Miso infused simple syrup

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1.5 oz red miso paste (Cold Mountain Kyoto Red Miso recommended)

DIRECTIONS

Combine the sugar, water and miso paste into a pot and put over medium heat, bringing it to a boil while stirring with a whisk every few minutes. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer for a few minutes, whisking to ensure everything is combined. Carefully strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth set in a strainer and refrigerate until use.

One day, Ayumi Takeuchi strolled into South Coast Plaza and inspiration struck. She saw a menu posted on the marquee at Populaire Modern Bistro. Listed underneath the duck dish description was the word: koji.

Takeuchi stopped in her tracks. Koji is one of the key ingredients in making miso. She works in marketing and business development at Marukome U.S.A., which was founded in Nagano, Japan in 1854. It’s also Japan’s number one miso company. In 2007, Marukome opened its stateside headquarters in Irvine. In addition to miso, Marukome produces different lines of koji for chefs and homecooks. It’s been available to American consumers for nearly a decade but most people are still unfamiliar with it.

After seeing koji listed on Populaire’s menu, Takeuchi asked to meet the chef. She wanted to learn more about how he was using koji in his cooking. It was especially interesting since Weber’s food isn’t Japanese. The menu skews French-inspired new American.

“I was using it to add umami and tenderize my duck breasts,” said Populaire’s chef, Nick Weber.

Weber has experimented with koji for a decade. Admittedly, he wasn’t using Marukome’s koji at first, instead he was fermenting his own.

“I started making miso at The Cannery,” Weber said, referring to an earlier chef’s gig. “I found out about koji through the Bar Tartine cookbook. Then I started experimenting.”

Weber used Spanish gigante beans (also known as white butter beans), garbanzos, and split peas to make his own California-driven miso. When he decided to open Populaire, he began fermenting more miso for the restaurant.

“It’s one of my own pantry ingredients that nobody else has and it just makes my cuisine unique,” said Weber.

He’s asked the Segerstroms for access to some of their lima beans that grow down the street. “I’m going to make a lima bean miso, so I can experiment with them for spring. Real local, down the street, local,” he said with a laugh.

Koji is an ancient Japanese superfood that most people have never heard of. In the past decade, it’s made headway in the U.S. and most people consume koji without even realizing it. It’s found in most Japanese foods. It’s a key component to making miso, and other fermented condiments such as soy sauce and rice vinegar. Distilled beverages including sake and Kikori rice whiskey also harness koji.

ALSO SEE: Recipe: How to use koji to make an Old-Fashioned

Marketing manager and miso master Toru Kuraishi led a tour at the Marukome U.S.A. factory in Irvine on Nov. 16. The building is distinguishable only by its red-hued logo, the company’s name positioned next to its Japanese cherub-looking ambassador. The subtle exterior hides what’s happening inside. This state-of-the-art, 3-acre factory is where ancient Japanese fermentation is executed at the industrial level.

Before entering the production facility where the steaming, fermenting and packing takes place, visitors and employees must pass through a decontamination room. In a closet-sized chamber, air jets remove unwanted particles from clothing.

Large glistening metal containers store miso in various stages. Workers dressed in disposable hairnets, face masks, jackets and booties transport the rice and soybeans in various states. The entire production — from cleaning the rice and soybeans to mixing, fermenting, aging, and packaging — all takes place in this facility.

Before the tour, Takeshi Azuma, president of Marukome, explained that though the company specializes in miso, there’s an increased interest in koji. It’s one of the key ingredients that goes into the miso, and the company has used it for centuries.

Los Angeles-based Kikori whiskey founder Ann Soh Woods hosted a koji workshop in September. She invited fermentation experts and bartenders to learn more about the fungi’s versatility. In O.C., chef Amy Lebrun had introduced diners to the ingredient and the book “Koji Alchemy” when she was previously at Fermentation Farm.

At Marukome U.S.A., koji is blossoming into big business. In 2024, the U.S. headquarters will open an interactive showroom. The space, which is currently under construction, will allow 10 guests at a time, to learn about koji and miso-making. Guests might sample cups of amazake, which is a rice-derived beverage without added salt or sugar, or learn about fermentation techniques that stem back thousands of years.

Kuraishi and chef Weber plan to show koji’s versatility in the space. Koji is the key element to making miso, but Weber has used it in creative ways. He enhanced his buttermilk sauce for his ebelskiver dish, which was ranked one of EATER L.A.’s hottest dishes to try in 2022.

Beyond the showroom, another addition to the company is a rice-based syrup.

“It’s like a sugar alternative,” said Weber.

The chef has used the golden-hued syrup, which has a viscosity similar to maple syrup or honey, to sweeten his rice pudding desserts. It’s called koji syrup but it’s simply a condensed version of amazake that’s been filtered and heated at a low temperature to draw out its natural sweetness. Marukome will start offering the koji syrup to consumers in 2024.

For now, Weber is gearing up for the showroom’s grand opening in January. “They want to do something, maybe a few dishes” said Weber. “Now I need to get with Toru to see what we can really do.”

Emily Alpert Reyes | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Under the afternoon sun, Maggie Tran stopped one person after another on a hectic stretch of Skid Row, asking if they knew a particular woman.

No one seemed to recognize the name she repeated at tent after tent as she made her way along the block. “She could have a whole different name out here,” one person replied. “Do you have a picture?”

Tran shook her head before heading back to her SUV, disappointed but undeterred. It’s rare for Tran to find the people she’s looking for right away.

As a public health investigator, she searches for clues: An emergency contact number listed by a patient during a clinic visit. An old address saved in a database. The location of a homeless encampment where outreach workers found a particular person in the past.

Then she heads to the streets. Her job at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is to track down a crucial set of patients who slipped away from the health system: women of childbearing age who have tested positive for syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that can cost newborns their lives.

Cases of syphilis have skyrocketed in L.A. County and across the country, with devastating results. Left untreated in adults, it can damage organs and infiltrate the brain, possibly leading to dementia and blindness. Men have suffered at higher rates than women, but a rise in cases among women has spurred particular alarm because newborns infected in utero can be stillborn or suffer enduring medical issues.

The disease can be stopped with antibiotics if detected and treated in time. Yet last year, L.A. County reported 136 cases of infected newborns — up from just four a decade earlier — including 13 that resulted in stillbirth.

Across the U.S., the number of such congenital syphilis cases reported annually among newborns ballooned from 335 in 2012 to 3,761 in 2022. The syphilis surge resulted in 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths last year in what one official called “an unacceptable American crisis.”

Tran is part of an L.A. County effort to turn those numbers around. Whenever someone tests positive for syphilis, the results must be reported to the county. Some patients are easily reached, but others cannot be found by public health nurses.

Those are the women whom Tran and her colleagues on the syphilis special investigation team are seeking. Finding them is crucial: Last year, 88% of congenital syphilis cases across the U.S. might have been averted with timely testing and adequate treatment, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded.

When other efforts to reach such patients have fallen short, “our program is almost like a program of last resort,” said Magdalena Esquivel, chief of direct community services at the L.A. County Department of Public Health’s Division of HIV and STD Programs.

“Many of these clients have a history of trauma, mental health conditions, substance use, developmental disabilities — multiple reasons for fear and stigma around healthcare,” Esquivel said. “They may be doing transactional sex work” or have immigration concerns, and “some may fear losing kids.”

In a Westlake office building last month, Tran sat in her cubicle and scoured a host of government, healthcare and public records databases for any useful details. She recounted how one case had played out: Tran had combed through physician notes and found the phone number for the mother of a would-be patient, who told Tran it had been months since she had heard from her daughter.

The mother said the woman had been staying at a shelter when she last heard from her, but she didn’t know exactly where. Tran kept digging and turned up a possible address for the woman, but it led to an apartment complex that was locked. She wedged a letter in the door.

Even if the trail seems to have run cold, she keeps checking the databases for anything new. “There might be hope that if she tested again, maybe she had an address this time, or a phone number,” she said. “Or maybe she’s still at the hospital.”

Tran ferreted out a Social Security number for the patient from a confidential report about her test result, then plugged that into the databases. That turned up another test the woman had taken as an unidentified “Jane Doe,” shedding more light on the progress of her infection.

After roughly a week of sleuthing, she found the woman in another database: Jail bookings. Public health staff would go find the patient at the jail and offer her treatment. Because of the “Jane Doe” test results, they could assure her she would need only one shot.

“I’ll take this as a big win,” Tran said. “It’s rare to be able to find a patient this fast.”

Tran and her colleagues also help people get to the treatment they need. Behind the wheel of her white SUV, she hunted for a parking spot in an industrial stretch of the San Gabriel Valley, where she met a woman and her partner who live near railroad tracks. The couple piled into the back seat.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she had no idea she had syphilis before the public health team showed up to follow up on her test result. A message had been relayed to her earlier, but the county official did not say why they were calling.

When working the phones or hitting the streets, Tran does not explain why she is searching for someone, in order to avoid revealing sensitive information about their medical care.

“I can’t share,” she told one person at a downtown encampment, identifying herself only as being with the county. “We’re just looking for them.”

Holding back on details protects the privacy of the women Tran is seeking, but it can also be unnerving for people who fear they may somehow be in trouble.

The woman Tran picked up for an appointment said the efforts to reach her had initially felt “scary.” Whatever the county was trying to reach her about felt like “just adding one more thing to this life of mine,” she said as Tran drove them to a nearby clinic. But now “at least I’m fixing it.”

Syphilis can sometimes be treated with one shot of antibiotics, but if the disease is more advanced it can take three shots given roughly a week apart. Tran cautioned the couple that depending on test results, they might have to come back the following week.

“I’ll be keeping in touch with you guys,” she told them.

Missing the second or third shot means starting the series over, so public health officials have to keep tabs on hard-to-reach patients. And if clinics are short on bicillin — a key treatment that has been in limited supply this fall — some patients may need an alternative regimen that requires weeks of pills. That can be a challenge for patients who live in unstable conditions or have mental health problems, county officials said.

Public health researchers have bemoaned the soaring numbers of babies infected with syphilis as evidence of missed opportunities to serve vulnerable women, including those who are unhoused or grappling with drug addiction.

“The STD crisis has been worsening for more than a decade,” said Mario Pérez, director of the Division of HIV and STD Programs at the L.A. County Department of Public Health. Report after report shows that “we’re losing some control. The congenital syphilis crisis epitomizes that.”

The surging numbers are especially galling in a country that appeared within reach of wiping out syphilis around the turn of the millennium. Since then, tumbling rates of condom use, increased use of methamphetamine that loosens sexual inhibitions, underfunding of STD prevention and other factors have combined to reverse that progress, experts said.

The pandemic exacerbated the crisis, as day-to-day testing and treatment services were interrupted and public health teams were pulled onto COVID-19 duties. In L.A. County, for instance, routine syphilis screening for women at a county jail was suspended for roughly two years, and up to 75% of county STD prevention staff were reassigned at points in the pandemic, according to county reports.

“There are consequences when investments in public health are inadequate,” said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. Right now, that consequence is “the death of infants.”

In California, pregnant patients are legally required to be screened for syphilis at their first prenatal visit, but some never get prenatal care at all. Others have no regular phone number or address that clinicians can use to follow up with their test results and ensure they get treated. Another challenge is that the syphilis spike has been tangled with drug addiction, and many people who use drugs are hesitant to seek medical care.

Pregnant people may be “scared of going to the doctor if they use drugs or are unstably housed” because they fear those things could affect their parental rights, said Dr. Rosalyn Plotzker, a preventive medicine specialist at UC San Francisco.

Plotzker and other researchers found that California babies born with syphilis were more likely to have parents who were homeless or who used methamphetamine. But if parents who were unhoused or using meth got prenatal care, the rate of syphilis prevention was much closer to that of parents without those challenges. The findings underscore that access to care is critical, Plotzker said.

Los Angeles County launched its syphilis specialized investigation team a little over a year ago, starting with two part-time investigators. It has since expanded to five investigators with the help of a nearly $4-million annual state grant for syphilis prevention, as well as other funds. Tran said the added staffing had eased her caseload, which now stands around 10 cases at a time.

Between September 2022 and October 2023, the syphilis team was asked to find 119 people who could not be tracked down by other programs and ultimately got 26 of them treated. The remaining patients could not be located, refused treatment, or were directed to other units or agencies.

The team also seeks out partners of the women they are assigned to find, aiming to get them treated as well.

To encourage patients to take the time to get treated, the investigators offer incentives such as gift cards to grocery stores and fast-food restaurants. If people need to take weeks of pills, the county can arrange for temporary housing in Skid Row to help ensure they finish the treatment.

As Tran drove the couple back from the San Gabriel Valley clinic, the woman said she was glad she had started treatment. She had learned about neurosyphilis, which can afflict the brain after an infection, and wondered if it was tied to a psychiatric episode that she suffered in the past.

Even if syphilis had not affected her at all, “I don’t want to be infected or infect other people,” she said. “I want to do the right thing.”

©2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Adriana Pérez | Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Over the course of millions of years, the earth regularly removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a natural process called weathering, when exposure to the elements wears down surface rocks and silicate minerals.

But at the rate humans have been producing and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, this process that happens on a geological time scale just isn’t fast enough to keep up.

A corn and soybean farm in the village of Buckingham, 60 miles south of Chicago, is providing the testing grounds for an Irish startup attempting to “enhance” weathering, thus shortening the process from millenniums to decades.

The Illinois trial, the first of its kind in the United States, is one of many efforts to leverage the potential of different materials to combat global warming.

“The whole carbon removal concept exists because we have to backtrack — we’ve gone too far,” said Maurice Bryson, founder and CEO of Irish startup Silicate. “The idea of this solution is, we’re using what’s already there.”

Last week, Silicate began covering over 100 acres of farmland with 500 to 1,000 tons of fine dust from ready-mix concrete that has been returned. Researchers at the climate tech company hope the concrete dust can permanently remove up to 220 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transfer it to the soil over the course of a year, the equivalent of CO2 emissions from almost 50 cars in one year.

Carbon dioxide removal is a technique by which carbon that is already in the atmosphere is removed through processes like enhanced weathering, reforestation and direct air capture, which uses engineered mechanical or chemical systems to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported a California startup was the first to commercially market direct air capture in the United States.

But direct air capture is expensive. According to climate economist Danny Cullenward, it is also extremely energy-intensive and sometimes requires a lot of water.

And planting trees is not quick — older trees are more efficient at sequestering carbon than younger trees — or permanent — reforestation is a reversible solution because trees are not permanent reservoirs like rocks underground and they can release carbon again if cut down or destroyed in wildfires.

In theory, these pitfalls should not confront enhanced weathering, experts say.

“If it’s done well, it can result in very long-term, highly durable carbon storage,” Cullenward said. “And because you’re relying on essentially natural chemical processes without extremely energy-intensive production techniques, if you can figure out how to make this work, the pathway to scaling it is potentially a little bit easier and cheaper than it would be for some of the other competing carbon removal technologies.”

Decarbonization, or the reduction and removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, also encompasses other approaches like carbon capture and storage, where the gas is contained and stored before it can be released into the atmosphere.

This approach has become a point of contention in Illinois particularly over the past year after an Omaha company announced a project to build a pipeline that would transport millions of tons of liquid carbon dioxide from ethanol and fertilizer plants in South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois and store it deep underground in central Illinois.

Opposition from farmers, landowners and environmentalists eventually helped derail plans for the Heartland Greenway pipeline, a fight that encapsulates the myriad opinions on the most effective approach to decarbonization, which will likely be on display at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, later this month.

Scientists underscore the exploratory nature of decarbonization research: There is still much to understand and figure out.

“What I would emphasize is that it’s still early days for this,” said Frank McDermott, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College Dublin, who since 2021, has worked with Bryson as an independent scientific collaborator. “There’s a lot of efforts going on throughout the world at the moment, in Brazil and the United States and Europe adding various kinds of materials — rocks, basalt, steel slag, all sorts of materials — on soils. Concrete too.”

The science

To meet their ambitious goal, researchers at Silicate are simply leveraging a process as old as the earth itself.

“Weathering is a natural phenomenon. It occurs all around us,” McDermott said. “Everything that’s exposed to the atmosphere eventually breaks down — whether it’s natural materials like rocks and soils, or man-made objects, like buildings or monuments — they all degrade over time. It’s mainly because of acid from rainfall.”

As rain falls and dissolves carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it forms carbonic acid, a compound people may recognize from the sparkling water sold at restaurants and grocery stores. Through weathering, carbonic acid reacts with rocks and minerals and is converted into bicarbonate ions that store carbon.

“We’re just hoping that when the (concrete) dissolves you get more of that bicarbonate, which is soluble in water, and it percolates through the soil, eventually into the rivers and into the ocean, where it gets stored,” said Ruadhán Magee, a postdoctoral researcher at Silicate. The bicarbonate can stay there for well over 80,000 years, he said.

Cement — one of the two main components of concrete — has high concentrations of calcium, a mineral that speeds up the weathering process.

After concrete dust is spread onto a large area of agricultural land, enhanced weathering will occur, removing atmospheric carbon at a faster rate than natural weathering would.

“It’s supposed to be like a sponge, soaking it up,” Bryson said.

Low cost, no maintenance

Researchers acknowledge it might seem counterintuitive that a grayish, human-made construction material could be good for the environment. But, besides removing carbon from the atmosphere, concrete dusted on cropland could also work as a soil pH amendment, offering benefits such as improved soil health and crop productivity.

“It’s something different,” said Erich Schott, the farm owner. “Which is fine … it’s how we learn.”

Agricultural lime has long been applied to gardens, lawns and fields to make soil less acidic and more alkaline, adding nutrients such as phosphorus and zinc for good bacteria to grow, as well as improving water penetration.

Applying concrete to cropland would ideally also be low-cost, as the material requires no maintenance after being applied to fields. And its supply would be readily available from the construction industry: Local concrete and materials company Ozinga is providing the milled concrete for the trial at Schott Farms.

In a very rough estimate, approximately 400 million cubic yards of concrete are used in the United States every year, according to Rick Bohan, senior vice president of sustainability at the Portland Cement Association, a nonprofit that promotes the research and use of cement and concrete.

“There is a certain amount of concrete that will always be wasted,” Bohan said. “And it’s a small amount, it’s probably in the single digits.”

According to the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, approximately 1% to 2% of concrete is returned to suppliers, but most of it is reused to make new concrete or other products like landscaping blocks and barriers. Some of it is crushed and made into aggregate for fill and base material or as recycled aggregate in new concrete.

For Schott Farms, Ozinga is crushing concrete that has been returned, which according to the company accounts for less than 1% of their production. But that small percentage still represents “quite a bit of material,” according to Ryan Cialdella, Ozinga’s vice president of research and development.

The company will also scoop up fine concrete particles that settle in treated ponds after equipment is cleaned. Cialdella said Silicate’s trial will give what would have been waste products a “much more valuable endgame.”

Because of its synthetic origin, there are always concerns that spreading materials like concrete can do more harm than good to the soil.

Bryson said the company’s trials in Ireland complied with European Union liming standards, which require products used to lime fields or change the pH of the soil meet limits for the presence of elements like chromium and nickel.

“We’re pretty confident the material is safe,” he said. “We wouldn’t be putting it out there if we weren’t.”

Bryson said Silicate analyzes the concrete dust before spreading it to make sure there is no “nasty stuff” such as coal ash, which is sometimes used in concrete — or if there is, that it falls below certain levels to ensure its safe use. And as the company continues to test water samples from the fields where concrete is spread, Bryson said, researchers will keep an eye on possibly harmful leaching or contaminated water.

Measuring success

On a recent overcast morning, Bryson, Magee and a third Silicate researcher, Leo Hickey, walked with Schott through one of the soybean fields in his 5,000-acre farm. Tractor tire marks were still fresh in the mud since the beans had been harvested only a week before.

Hickey stopped next to a water sampler, which sucks in water through a vacuum from the soil. Then the researchers measured the temperature and soil pH and later analyzed the sample in a lab for the chemical reaction that produces the bicarbonate ions which store the carbon dioxide.

At the edge of a field closer to Schott’s farmhouse, where the only evidence of the recent harvest was the ears of corn scattered around, Hickey crouched next to a circular machine. It whirred as the top swung closed.

“There’s a constant flux of gases coming off the soil, and it’s just capturing that flux,” he explained.

The aptly named flux chamber draws air up from the ground, feeding the gases through a tubing system into a yellow box that sends information to two analyzers: the first for methane, carbon dioxide and water, the second for nitrous oxide.

Besides testing water and air, the researchers will also test soil samples and compare them with readings from nearby control areas to get a better picture of just how much carbon is actually being pulled from the atmosphere and into the soil.

Founded in County Sligo in 2021, Silicate has conducted similar projects it says have shown “huge promise” across Ireland, including on barley, oat and cauliflower crops.

Silicate says it is able to remove almost 5 tons of carbon dioxide per acre each year.

For its projects in Ireland, Silicate has measured the carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and sold carbon credits to private companies.

Buying carbon credits is a way for companies and people to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions. They can do so by purchasing credits in carbon markets from companies like Silicate, which reduce emissions or remove them from the atmosphere to combat climate change.

But skeptics say that carbon credits cannot replace actions such as transitioning energy production away from polluting fossil fuels to clean renewable sources. This is because quantifying how much carbon has been successfully removed is an intricate challenge, said Cullenward, who has often criticized the carbon offsets industry.

“It is very difficult to make a claim about either avoiding emissions or removing CO2 from the atmosphere,” he said. “And there’s lots of different ways that uncertainty in those claims can manifest and lots of different reasons why those claims can be suspect.”

In the carbon offsets market, people often say they are doing something new when in reality they’re just taking credit for something that’s already happening, Cullenward said.

Another problem with the carbon credit market is that it doesn’t take into account how long carbon will be removed from the atmosphere. If it is rereleased within a short period of time, the benefit is minuscule.

“There’s this disconnect,” Cullenward said. “And when you justify permanent pollution with temporary benefits, eventually the bill comes due and the atmosphere gets screwed over.”

Enhanced weathering potentially offers permanent storage of the carbon it removes. But measuring how much is actually removed from the atmosphere will not be an easy feat.

“I’m not trying to say this is a bad idea,” Cullenward said. “But what I’m getting at is how hard it is to quantify the climate outcome, even if you think you’re actually correct. You know this is good, you just don’t know how good it is.”

Despite its promise, enhanced weathering raises a lot of big questions, said Freya Chay, program lead at the nonprofit Carbon Plan, which uses open data to analyze the scientific integrity of climate solutions such as carbon offsets and removal.

At Carbon Plan, Chay led the development of a tool that offers around 30 methods to estimate the net carbon removal of enhanced weathering at various stages.

The complexity of this tool alone encapsulates some of the challenges with quantification.

“We’re talking about processes related to soils, waters, biology, chemistry and environment. These are geochemical systems that are variable through time and space,” Chay said. “We’re also talking about a carbon removal approach that can have really large delays — both spatial and temporal delays — between putting that (concrete) down and actually removing carbon from the atmosphere. So it’s just a really complex system.”

The brains behind the trials at Schott Farms are acutely aware of the challenges associated with quantifying enhanced weathering results, especially given the researchers’ limitations of only being able to measure carbon removal at the farm.

“Then, what happens to the carbon?” said McDermott, Bryson’s research collaborator. “Does it all eventually make its way into the oceans, which we hope? Or do we lose some of the CO2 back into the air during transport, in rivers and streams? … I think all of us, all the companies involved and the researchers, are pretty much at the stage of focusing on the initial part, and most of us haven’t had a chance to look at more downstream stuff.”

A win-win for air and soil

Bryson said the carbon credit practice at Silicate might soon become an old model if the concrete dust proves to be beneficial for cropland.

“We might try and do all of that without selling carbon credits,” he said. “We’re providing with such value to the soil with this material, that maybe the carbon that we remove then leads to incredibly beneficial changes in pH. So we wouldn’t have to sell the carbon we removed, we’d just let that happen.”

If Silicate changed its business model from selling carbon credits to selling a service to farmers with carbon removal as a co-benefit, Cullenward said, that would be an innovative approach to carbon offsetting.

“This is music to my ears,” he said. “Because it has proven extremely difficult for even the most well-intentioned carbon (crediting) applications to appropriately quantify the climate benefits of interventions. And one of the things about enhanced weathering that is potentially so appealing, is that it is one of the few areas of carbon removal where there’s a very clear private benefit to landowners.”

If all goes well at the Schott Farms trial — considering the new crop types, soil composition and moisture levels the group of Irish researchers is working with — Silicate hopes to expand operations across Illinois and the region next season in late September and October, when farmers apply lime to their fields.

Their goal is to be able to eventually remove 50 million to 100 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the Midwest each year.

“It’s really important that we don’t say it’s all solved,” Bryson said. “It’s important for all of us in this space to be honest with each other. And the honesty is, there’s this huge potential here. But there’s work to be done that we’re getting on with doing.”

Cullenward emphasized that efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere are still in the early stages, and the benefits have not been proven. People often say carbon removal is a central part of the climate mitigation story, he said. “It is not.”

These new approaches should not be equated, he said, with tangible, near-term opportunities to reduce pollution like using clean energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, “which need to be the vast majority of our focus.” That doesn’t mean carbon removal won’t become important in the long term, especially when it comes to stabilizing planetary temperatures.

“This is a civilizational-scale exercise we’re going through,” Cullenward said. “There are things that are at the beginning of the journey; there are things that are mature and ready to go.”

Climate experts believe it will take many different approaches in concert to slow global warming and stabilize the climate.

“We see a lot of innovative ideas that bubble to the top, and I always encourage people — it’s worth looking at these things. But for so many of them, you really have open questions about scalability, energy, feasibility, the economics,” said Bohan of the cement association. “I don’t ever want to dismiss any of them because I’m a big believer that it’s an ‘all of the above’ approach. That’s how I look at this. Is this going to change the world? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking at and researching.”

adperez@chicagotribune.com

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Erik J. Martin | Bankrate.com (TNS)

Detached structures are a great way to add space and value to your home. Whether it’s a workshop, storage space, garage or accessory dwelling unit (ADU), the presence of a detached structure to your property could positively impact its worth.

While the long-term benefits are great, detached structures are expensive to build. If you do not have the funds to pay upfront, there are financing options available. Let’s look at the ins and outs of these add-ons.

Should you borrow to finance a garage or detached structure?

You can, of course, pay for your detached structure in cash, but considering that they can cost well into the five figures — even up to $110,000 in some elaborate cases — that might not be the most feasible option.

Some scenarios when it might make sense to finance your detached structure project include:

•If you don’t have all of the cash needed to pay the full cost of the project.

•If you have equity in your home that can be tapped to fund the project.

•If you have a solid credit score and will be able to obtain a competitive interest rate on a loan.

•If you have a plan to pay back the money and are disciplined about doing so.

How to finance your additions

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to finance your addition that can be budget-friendly. Many personal loans come with repayment terms of one to 10 years, while home equity loans and HELOCs could have repayment periods of up to 30 years. With both options, you’ll be responsible for making consistent monthly payments or risk the health of your credit score. Bear in mind, you’ll be paying back interest on top of your loan amount.

HELOCs

Home equity lines of credit — or HELOCs — can be a good way to finance a detached structure or any home improvement. HELOCs give you a line of credit to pull from (essentially like a credit card) based on the amount of equity you have in the home. You usually have 10 years to borrow from your line, and you’ll repay what you borrowed (plus interest) over the following 20 years or so.

Keep in mind that HELOCs have variable interest rates — they reflect moves by the Federal Reserve to raise or lower rates — so the amount of interest you pay could rise over time.

A HELOC could be a good option if:

•You have great credit that allows you to score the best possible interest rate.

•You have substantial equity in your home.

•You don’t know exactly how much money you need for your project or how long it’ll take to do.

A HELOC could be a bad option if:

•Your income isn’t reliable, and might not be able to handle a monthly obligation.

•You plan on selling your home soon, which requires paying off your credit line immediately.

•You don’t have strong credit.

Home equity loan

Like a HELOC, a home equity loan uses the equity you’ve built up in your home. However, a home equity loan is an installment loan, meaning you receive all of your funds at once and repay it in equal monthly installments.

Typically, the loan amount you can borrow is no more than 80-85 percent of your home equity. You’ll have to start making payments right away, but your interest rate and the monthly payment will never change.

A home equity loan could be a good option if:

•You need all of your funds upfront and/or you know the exact amount you’ll need.

•You have substantial equity in your home.

•You prefer fixed monthly payments.

A home equity loan could be a bad option if:

•You don’t have at least 80-85 percent equity in your home.

•Your financing needs change throughout the construction project.

•You don’t have strong credit.

Cash-out mortgage refinance

A cash-out mortgage refinance is the process of replacing your existing home mortgage with a new, bigger mortgage, then taking out the difference in cash. You can use this cash for any purpose.

Keep in mind, a cash-out refinance completely replaces your existing mortgage and may change your repayment timeline or monthly payments. It’s generally best to do this only if you can get a lower rate on your mortgage, or improve the terms in some other way.

As with your original mortgage, your monthly payments will be steady (assuming you opt for a fixed-rate loan). “In this way, the cash-out refi provides protection from rising rates in the future, which is an advantage over a HELOC,” says Glenn Brunker, president of Ally Home. The cash-out refi’s interest rates may be lower than those of home equity loans, too.

A cash-out mortgage refinance could be a good option if:

•You can obtain a better interest rate than you currently have on your mortgage.

•You want to revise or change your current mortgage terms.

A cash-out mortgage refinance could be a bad option if:

•You don’t qualify for a lower rate than your existing mortgage loan.

•You prefer to keep your current mortgage terms.

Personal loans

A personal loan can also be a solid option if you’re looking to add a detached structure to your property. The good thing about these loans (when compared to a home equity loan, for example) is that they don’t require collateral. And the proceeds from a personal loan can generally be made available very quickly, sometimes in as little as a few days.

The drawback, though, is that they typically have higher interest rates than home equity products. They also come with shorter terms than HELOCs, so you’ll likely need to repay the money faster.

The amount you can borrow for a personal loan (and the interest rate you’ll get on it) will depend largely on your credit score, income and other debts. So if your credit is less than stellar, you might consider financing your project another way.

A personal loan could be a good option if:

•You don’t want to put your home on the line by using it as collateral.

•You need the money quickly.

•You have a solid credit score or a creditworthy co-signer.

A personal loan could be a bad option if:

•You need to repay the loan over a longer period.

•You don’t have strong credit, and so won’t get the most competitive rate.

Home renovation loans: FHA 203(k), Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation, Fannie Mae HomeStyle

Renovation loans can be good choices when looking to improve your home. Often these products are combination mortgages and loans: that is, they simultaneously provide financing both to buy a residential property and to renovate it — which includes building additions or new detached structures.

FHA 203(k) loan

One go-to is the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s 203(k) loan. Because they’re backed by the FHA, these loans come with low interest rates and aren’t too hard to qualify for.

The FHA also allows for 203(k) refinancing, which would allow you to refinance your existing mortgage into a 203(k) loan. This would give you the funds you need to pay for your improvements while also keeping you to a single monthly payment.

However, like all FHA loans, your property must meet minimum requirements to be eligible under a 203(k) refinancing loan. For example, the detached structure must meet the program’s list of eligible activities and your home’s value must be within FHA’s mortgage limit.

Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation Loan/Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation loan

There are also private sector loans for renovations and combo purchase/rehabs. The Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation loan is one that allows you to both buy and rebuild. The Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation loan or mortgage is another.

In general, these loans are designed for any home renovation or repair that is affixed to the property and adds value to it. Detached structures count, as long as they are permanent fixtures.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may require tougher qualifications than a government-backed loan: higher credit scores, bigger down payments. For instance, Fannie Mae credit checks are fairly robust. Not only will the lender check your credit score, but also evaluate how often you carry a credit balance versus paying the balance off each month. You must complete renovations within 6 months (Freddie loans) or 12 months (Fannie loans) of approval.

A home renovation loan could be a good option if:

•You’re buying a place that needs substantial rehabbing.

•You want to refinance your existing mortgage.

•You have your plans ready and are prepared to start renovations quickly.

A home renovation loan could be a bad option if:

•Your home/property or construction project doesn’t meet the FHA loan requirements, or you don’t meet the lender credit requirements

•You’re not ready to begin work within 30 days of closing.

•The project is likely to exceed the designated time period for completion.

Detached structure cost expectations

The costs and expenses you’ll need to cover will depend on the specific detached structure you’re looking to build. While some structures cost as little as a few thousand dollars, others can run as high as $100,000 if you get all the bells and whistles.

Overall, the cost of each detached structure will depend on the following factors:

•Your use of professional contractors

•Required site preparation (to remove trees or level the land)

•Presence of windows or doors

•Electrical and plumbing needs

•Nature of roofing, framing and siding materials (metal costs more than wood)

•Any permits required

•The foundation you’re using (will you need a concrete foundation poured?)

•Any paint, stain or decorative elements

Here’s a little more about what you can expect with each type of detached structure.

Carports

If you don’t have a garage or just need extra space to store a vehicle, a carport can be an easy and affordable choice. They can also be helpful if you need a rain-protected loading zone for kids, elderly residents or family members with disabilities.

The biggest downside to a carport is that it might require permits from your city. These can be tedious and sometimes costly to obtain. You will also need to check with your homeowners association and read your deed restrictions to ensure that carports are allowed in your specific community.

Cost-wise, HomeAdvisor estimates a carport runs between $3,190 and $9,806, with an average price tag of about $6,436. Among the factors that can affect price are site preparation, unit size, permit costs and presence of a concrete slab. Fixr reports a similar range in the national price — $2,000 to $10,000 — with most folks forking over an average $8,439 for an installed 18’ x 18’ x 8’ galvanized steel carport on a 4” thick concrete slab with two walls.

Boat shelters, a related structure, will typically cost more due to their larger size and higher height.

Detached garages

Detached garages can serve many purposes: workshop, band studio or of course a place to store your car or anything else. In fact, the National Association of Home Builders’ “What Home Buyers Really Want” 2019 report found that 85 percent of homebuyers rank garage storage as a home feature they want most, and 36 percent consider it an essential feature for their future home.

Anticipate paying between $19,200 and $45,000 for a two-car detached garage, per HomeAdvisor, which estimates that the average cost per square foot will be $40 to $70. A one-car detached garage may set you back as little as $11,500 versus $31,000, which is the expected starting price for a three-car detached garage. Fixr calculates that the typical homeowner pays, on average, $52,830.).

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs)

An ADU represents a secondary form of housing built within or adjacent to your single-family home on the same lot. It can be attached or detached. The key point is that it’s an independent living space, with its own entrance, bathroom and kitchen facilities.

A detached ADU is likely going to be the most expensive structure you can add to your property. Expect to pay $100,000 and up to have a detached ADU built on your lot, based on HomeAdvisor data. Angi reports that an ADU costs, on average, $82,500, or around $150 to $300 per square foot, with a typically sized ADU measuring between 600 and 1,200 square feet.

Storage sheds and barns

Sheds and barns are also popular detached structures that can be used for both storage and personal space. A trend is the “she-shed” or “man-cave” addition, which offers residents a private at-home retreat — a grown-up version of a kid’s playhouse (another fun use of a shed).

The best thing about sheds is that they’re typically quite affordable. Most sheds span $1,500 to $10,000 in cost, according to HomeAdvisor, although a small prefabricated shed can cost as low as $300 versus a custom upscale shed that may ring up for at least $33,000. In general, most shed buyers pay between $4,000 and $6,000. Fixr, meanwhile, reports that the average cost runs $5,653 for a 10’ x 12’ shed — figure $50 per square foot for a custom build, though kits run about half that.

Got a barn in mind instead? (Traditionally, a barn was a structure to house livestock, but now there are mini-versions for suburbanites, which function more as storage units or additional rooms.) A barn will likely range from $20 to $150 per square foot, including labor and materials, HomeAdvisor indicates. The typical price span for a barn is $1,597 to $4,967.

The pros and cons of financing detached structures

As with any major purchase or expense, there are pros and cons to using a term loan to finance the project. Adding a detached structure to your property is no exception. Loans offer a lump sum windfall that make it easy to get started on an upgrade — but it may be wiser to in some cases to use savings or other types of debt.

Pros

•Several options offer better, cheaper ways to borrow, especially compared to credit cards.

•You can reserve your savings, have cash available for other expenses.

•Loan interest may be tax-deductible, if you itemize on your tax return.

Cons

•You have to meet approval requirements and qualifications.

•Applying for a loan can be time-consuming and delay the start of your project.

•The interest you pay can significantly increase the overall cost of your project.

•You are incurring additional debt that can hurt your financial profile.

How to estimate your costs

The expense of building a detached structure depends on the size of the structure you hope to build, as well as the materials and finishes you select. Several home improvement sites can help you outline the materials your project will involve and what these items will cost. These sites detail how much a garage project may run you per square foot, as well as what you can expect to pay for permitting, roofing materials, drywall, framing, different types of garage foundations, siding materials and more.

Also significant: If you are using a prefab kit — easier if you’re doing it yourself — or aiming to construct from scratch.

If you decide to skip the DIY route and hire a contractor to handle your detached structure project, it’s important to have a firm understanding of what you hope to achieve, says David Steckel, a home expert with Thumbtack, a home renovation site and contractor search service.

“Do you want to have a small office space or do you want to create a new living area that can be rented out?” he asks. “This goal is translated by the general contractor into a scope of work budget, which provides an explicit, line by line, description of what work is going to be completed, a rough estimate as to what level of finish, and a cost for everything.”

When reviewing potential contractors, do background checks with the Better Business Bureau and check that the company has a contractor’s license. It’s also a good idea to obtain references from previous clients or read Yelp and Google reviews.

How much value can a detached structure add to my home?

It’s difficult to estimate what kind of return on investment you can expect by adding a detached structure to your home. But it’s safe to assume that a well-built garage, carport, shed/barn or ADU will increase your property’s value to some extent. Anything that enhances the living space or functionality of the property generally does.

Per Porch.com, a residence with an ADU located in the largest cities is typically priced 35 percent higher, on average, than a property without one.

When it comes to other types of detached structures, the extent to which they can increase your home’s value will depend on the size, quality and overall condition of the structure.

“Generally speaking, a new detached garage will probably add between 5 percent to 20 percent to a home’s value, while a major shed can add between 2 percent and 10 percent to a home’s value,” says Jasen Edwards, a real estate agent and chair of the AgentAdvice.com Agent Editorial Board in Austin, Texas. “Expect a new barn to add between 5 percent to 15 percent value versus 2 percent to 8 percent for a new carport.”

Cam Dowski, a Realtor and founder of WeBuyHousesChicago, says “adding a two-car garage to a house without one could add about $20,000 to the value of the home.”

Return on investment reflects the cost of a project, but the nature of the project itself is more important. Austin Beachy, who handles marketing at Sheds Unlimited in Morgantown, Penn., notes that a new shed can add decent value but not as much as a garage. “For example, if the cost to build a new shed is $10,000, it could add between $5,000 and $7,000, or 50 to 70 percent of the total building cost, to the value of your home,” Beachy explains. “A new garage, on the other hand, can provide a greater return on investment in the range of 60 percent to 80 percent of the cost of the garage’s construction.”

Bottom line on financing detached structures

Borrowing money to finance a detached structure could be a good idea if you have a plan in place to pay off your debt.

Fortunately, there are many ways you can borrow to build a garage, ADU, barn or shed. But it’s important to estimate your labor and material costs thoroughly to determine how much you need to borrow. Shop around to find the right contractors and materials, and compare bids carefully.

Do the same with your financing: It’s wise to shop around with a few lenders. Doing so will allow you to compare rates and find the cheapest way to finance your detached structure. With the right planning and preparation, you can better ensure a satisfactory outcome on the addition, while adding to the versatility and value of your property.

Key takeaways

•Detached structures (garages, sheds, carports, ADUs) can enhance your home’s fair market value, especially if they increase the usable or liveable space.

•A detached structure can be financed via a HELOC, home equity loan, cash-out refinance, personal loan, renovation loan or credit cards.

•There are pros and cons to each financing option, based on the interest rate, your home equity stake and other factors.

•Costs to add a detached structure can vary widely, depending largely on size, features and whether they require professional labor.

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Additional reporting by Lara Vukelich

©2023 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.