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Thanks to termite tents, California is top U.S. emitter of a planet-warming pesticide

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Despite its aggressive reputation for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, California releases more of a climate-warming pesticide than all other states combined, most of it from homes fumigated for termites, according to a study published Wednesday.The termite killing gas — sulfuryl flouride — has been found to be 4,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat. When a team of Johns Hopkins scientists set out to map exactly where the gas was being released, they were startled to find that California generated as much as 12% of global emissions of the synthetic fumigant.“The results were puzzling because the emissions were all coming from one place,” said Scot Miller, Johns Hopkins assistant professor of environmental health and engineering. “Other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are found everywhere across the U.S. On our sulfuryl fluoride map, only California lit up like a Christmas tree.”As much as 85% of U.S. emissions of the chemical come from California, mostly from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, the scientists found.The chemical’s primary use is the fumigation of homes and other structures, where a building is covered with an airtight tent and gas is pumped in to kill termites and other pests. The brightly colored tents have become a common sight in Southern California neighborhoods.Within the first two hours of a tent being opened, however, 90% of the gas escapes into the atmosphere, where it stays for about 40 years. (Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, remains in the atmosphere for up to 1,000 years.)The fumigant is also used to protect grains, nuts and dried fruits from pests after they are harvested. A fumigation worker stands on the roof of a Huntington Beach church that has been covered with a fumigation tent. (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times ) The new study is not the first time the pesticide has faced scrutiny.In 2022, environmental groups filed a petition with the state requesting that use of the gas be phased out.The Center for Biological Diversity and Californians for Pesticide Reform, a coalition of 190 groups, said California was the world’s largest consumer of sulfuryl fluoride, and used 3 million pounds in 2021. The climate impact of using that much of the pesticide, the petition said, was equivalent to the carbon dioxide released from about 1 million vehicles a year.“Pesticide use in California has a significant, yet overlooked, impact on state greenhouse gas emissions,” the petition said.The groups’ petition also detailed the dangers to human health of the odorless pesticide, which works by attacking the nervous system. At least 16 deaths have been blamed on sulfuryl fluoride since 1994.California Department of Public Health scientists detailed in a 2019 report how some families had become ill from what remained of the gas even after the home was cleared for reentry.Douglas Products, which sells the pesticide under the brand name Vikane, opposed the petition. The company noted that most of the deaths happened after illegal or unauthorized entry into the homes while they were still tented.The Missouri company, which is owned by private equity firm Brightstar Capital Partners, also said the chemical had a “negligible” impact on climate because it makes up only 0.035% of total greenhouse gas emissions.The California Air Resources Board denied the environmental groups’ petition in February 2023, saying the agency lacked “sufficient information” to determine whether the pesticide should be phased out. The board said it would continue to study the issue.Use of the gas surged after sales of another fumigant called methyl bromide were sharply curtailed because of the harm it caused to the ozone layer.In the study published Wednesday, Miller and his colleagues analyzed 15,000 air samples collected between 2015 and 2019 by NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory scientists. They factored in wind speed, direction and other variables to trace the chemicals to where they were released.They noted that one caveat of their work was that there are currently no air monitors that would detect the gas in Florida, where the pesticide is also used to control termites.In an interview, Dylan Gaeta, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins who led the study, said that the climate-warming impact of California’s annual release of sulfuryl fluoride is almost as large as what the state has saved on average annually in greenhouse gas emissions from measures required by AB 32. The 2006 law has lowered emissions through improvements such as vehicles that get better gas mileage, a switch to electric cars and more renewable power.Gaeta pointed out that pest control companies are already offering alternatives to the gas, including orange oil treatments, that are safer for humans and don’t have the same planet-warming effects.“For most greenhouse gases, California has been very intentional about how it’s going to reduce emissions,” Gaeta said. “This one has slipped under the radar.” Newsletter Toward a more sustainable California Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Despite its environmental reputation, California emits more of a climate-warming pesticide than all other states combined, mostly from termite fumigation.

Despite its aggressive reputation for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, California releases more of a climate-warming pesticide than all other states combined, most of it from homes fumigated for termites, according to a study published Wednesday.

The termite killing gas — sulfuryl flouride — has been found to be 4,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat.

When a team of Johns Hopkins scientists set out to map exactly where the gas was being released, they were startled to find that California generated as much as 12% of global emissions of the synthetic fumigant.

“The results were puzzling because the emissions were all coming from one place,” said Scot Miller, Johns Hopkins assistant professor of environmental health and engineering. “Other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are found everywhere across the U.S. On our sulfuryl fluoride map, only California lit up like a Christmas tree.”

As much as 85% of U.S. emissions of the chemical come from California, mostly from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, the scientists found.

The chemical’s primary use is the fumigation of homes and other structures, where a building is covered with an airtight tent and gas is pumped in to kill termites and other pests. The brightly colored tents have become a common sight in Southern California neighborhoods.

Within the first two hours of a tent being opened, however, 90% of the gas escapes into the atmosphere, where it stays for about 40 years. (Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, remains in the atmosphere for up to 1,000 years.)

The fumigant is also used to protect grains, nuts and dried fruits from pests after they are harvested.

A man stands on the roof of a building that has been covered with a fumigation tent.

A fumigation worker stands on the roof of a Huntington Beach church that has been covered with a fumigation tent.

(Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times )

The new study is not the first time the pesticide has faced scrutiny.

In 2022, environmental groups filed a petition with the state requesting that use of the gas be phased out.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Californians for Pesticide Reform, a coalition of 190 groups, said California was the world’s largest consumer of sulfuryl fluoride, and used 3 million pounds in 2021. The climate impact of using that much of the pesticide, the petition said, was equivalent to the carbon dioxide released from about 1 million vehicles a year.

“Pesticide use in California has a significant, yet overlooked, impact on state greenhouse gas emissions,” the petition said.

The groups’ petition also detailed the dangers to human health of the odorless pesticide, which works by attacking the nervous system. At least 16 deaths have been blamed on sulfuryl fluoride since 1994.

California Department of Public Health scientists detailed in a 2019 report how some families had become ill from what remained of the gas even after the home was cleared for reentry.

Douglas Products, which sells the pesticide under the brand name Vikane, opposed the petition. The company noted that most of the deaths happened after illegal or unauthorized entry into the homes while they were still tented.

The Missouri company, which is owned by private equity firm Brightstar Capital Partners, also said the chemical had a “negligible” impact on climate because it makes up only 0.035% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board denied the environmental groups’ petition in February 2023, saying the agency lacked “sufficient information” to determine whether the pesticide should be phased out. The board said it would continue to study the issue.

Use of the gas surged after sales of another fumigant called methyl bromide were sharply curtailed because of the harm it caused to the ozone layer.

In the study published Wednesday, Miller and his colleagues analyzed 15,000 air samples collected between 2015 and 2019 by NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory scientists. They factored in wind speed, direction and other variables to trace the chemicals to where they were released.

They noted that one caveat of their work was that there are currently no air monitors that would detect the gas in Florida, where the pesticide is also used to control termites.

In an interview, Dylan Gaeta, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins who led the study, said that the climate-warming impact of California’s annual release of sulfuryl fluoride is almost as large as what the state has saved on average annually in greenhouse gas emissions from measures required by AB 32. The 2006 law has lowered emissions through improvements such as vehicles that get better gas mileage, a switch to electric cars and more renewable power.

Gaeta pointed out that pest control companies are already offering alternatives to the gas, including orange oil treatments, that are safer for humans and don’t have the same planet-warming effects.

“For most greenhouse gases, California has been very intentional about how it’s going to reduce emissions,” Gaeta said. “This one has slipped under the radar.”

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How a species of bamboo could help protect the South from future floods

In the face of mounting climate disasters, tribes, scientists, and Southern communities are rallying around a nearly forgotten native plant.

In early 2024, Michael Fedoroff trekked out to Tuckabum Creek in York County, Alabama. The environmental anthropologist was there to help plant 300 stalks of rivercane, a bamboo plant native to North America, on an eroded, degraded strip of wetland: a “gnarly” and “wicked” area, according to Fedoroff. If successful, this planting would be the largest cane restoration project in Alabama history. He and his team got the stalks into the ground, buttressed them with hay, left, and hoped for the best.  A few days later, rains swept through the area and the river rose by 9 feet. “We were terrified,” said Fedoroff. He and his team raced back to the site, expecting to find bare dirt. Instead, they found that the rivercane had survived — and so, crucially, had the stream bank. Rivercane used to line the streams, rivers, and bogs of the Southeast from the Blue Ridge Mountains down to the Mississippi Delta. Thick yellow stalks and feathery leaves reached as high as 20 feet into the sky, so dense that riders on horseback would travel around rather than venturing through. In the ground underneath cane stands, rhizomes — gnarled stems just below the soil surface — extended out to cover acres.  When Europeans settled the land that would become North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama, they ripped up trees and vegetation to make way for agriculture and development. Pigs ate rivercane rhizomes and cows munched on developing shoots. Now, thanks to this dramatic upheaval in the landscape, more than 98 percent of rivercane is gone. Of those plentiful dense stands, called canebrakes, only about 12 are left in the whole nation, according to Fedoroff.  But as the Tuckabum Creek project demonstrated, rivercane was an essential bulwark against the ravages of floods. That vast network of tough underground stems kept soil and stream banks in place more effectively than other vegetation, even when rivers ran high. And as the South faces mounting climate-fueled disasters, like Hurricane Helene last year, a small and dedicated network of scientists, volunteers, Native stakeholders, and landowners is working to bring this plant back.  During Helene, the few waterways that were lined by rivercane fared much better than those that weren’t, said Adam Griffith, a rivercane expert at an NC Cooperative Extension outpost in Cherokee. “I saw the devastation of the rivers,” said Griffith. He had considered stepping back from his involvement in rivercane restoration, but recommitted himself after the hurricane. “If the native vegetation had been there, the stream bank would have been in much better shape,” he said.  Rivercane growing along the Cane River in Yancey County, North Carolina, created an “island” where it held the stream bank in place during Hurricane Helene. These photos show the river before and after the storm. Adam Griffith These enthusiasts are ushering in a “cane renaissance,” according to Fedoroff, who directs the University of Alabama program that hosts the Rivercane Restoration Alliance, or RRA, a network of pro-rivercane groups. The RRA and its allies are replanting rivercane where it once flourished, maintaining existing canebrakes and stands, and educating landowners and the general public on cane’s benefits. In addition to those rhizomes saving waterways from devastating erosion, rivercane also provides crucial habitat to native species, such as cane-feeding moths, and filters nitrate and other pollutants from water.  “When people grow to accept cane into their hearts, beautiful things happen,” said Fedoroff, whose team now has a $3.8 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to work on rivercane projects in 12 states throughout the Southeast.  Large restoration projects like this often involve collaboration with many major stakeholders: The Tuckabum Creek project, for example, looped in the RRA, the lumber and land management company Westervelt, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Rivercane enthusiasts stressed that consulting with and including tribes is essential in returning this plant to the landscape. Not only does rivercane bring ecological benefits, it also holds a cultural role for tribes — one that’s been lost as the plant declined.   Historically, Native peoples in the Southeast used rivercane to make things like baskets, blow guns, and arrows, but nowadays, many artisans have turned to synthetic materials for these crafts, said Ryan Spring, a historian and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  When Spring started his job at the tribe 14 years ago, no one knew much about rivercane ecology, he said. Now, Spring is actively involved in recentering rivercane in the cultural and ecological landscape. “We’re building up community, taking them out, teaching them ecology,” Spring said. “A lot are basket makers, and now they’re using rivercane to make baskets for the first time.” In mature patches of cane, the high density of roots and rhizomes helps keep soils in place during floods. 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MacKenzie Scott Has Given $26B to Nonprofits Since 2019. Here's What She Supported in 2025

The billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits Tuesday, bringing her overall giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion

The billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits Tuesday, bringing her overall giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion. Scott first pledged to give away the majority of her wealth in 2019 after her divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Since, she's distributed large, unrestricted gifts to nonprofits without asking for applications or progress reports. Largely, her giving has focused in the U.S., though not exclusively. Scott doesn't have a public foundation and so it's not easy to independently track her giving. But she's revealed her gifts in occasional blog posts and essays posted to her website, Yield Giving, which also now includes a database of her grants. The amount of her annual giving has fluctuated, ranging from a reported $2.1 billion in 2023 to $7.1 billion in 2025. In 2025, Scott's gifts showed a particular focus on supporting colleges and universities, especially historically Black and tribal schools, as well as community colleges. She also gave major gifts to organizations focused on mitigating and adapting to climate change. A new emphasis on climate organizations When the list of 2025 recipients was published Tuesday, it included a number of significant gifts to climate groups, with the largest — $90 million — going to the collaborative Forests, People, Climate, which focuses on stopping tropical deforestation. The nonprofit Panorama Global has analyzed Scott's giving over the years and found that historically, giving to the environment has represented a small part of her overall donations. In 2024, only 9.4% of Scott's gifts went to environmental groups, though on average the amount of those gifts was larger than to other areas, according to their research. “What we’re now seeing is different years have different focus areas,” said Gabrielle Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of The Panorama Group. “So last year, there was a really big economic security focus. This year, I really see education and climate.” Scott's assets have grown even as she's given away a fortune When Scott started detailing her giving in 2020, her fortune was valued around $36 billion, according to Forbes. It's fluctuated over the years, but today, Forbes estimates her net worth to be $33 billion, even as she's given away more than $26 billion. Initially, Scott told grantees not to expect or plan for a second gift, but over time, she has given additional gifts to some of the same organizations, often larger than her original grant. “She clearly is getting comfortable with reinvesting in partners that she thinks are doing good work,” said Fitzgerald. At least one organization, CAMFED, which supports girl's education in African countries, has now received four gifts from Scott, including the largest so far, $60 million, in 2025, according to Scott's website. Many generous gifts to minority colleges and universities In addition to at least $783 million Scott gave to historically Black colleges and universities in 2025, her website details many gifts to tribal colleges, community colleges and scholarship funds. “It looks like she sees a lot of need, particularly in two areas ensuring people are getting higher education and ensuring that groups are working to protect the climate,” said Fitzgerald. While Scott has given to higher education since 2020, those gifts have historically been a smaller portion of her education funding. In a 2024 analysis, Panorama Global found nearly 30% of Scott's education grantees were focused on youth development. Marybeth Gasman, a professor at Rutgers University and expert on HBCUs, said she noticed that what sets many of the HBCUs who receive Scott's funding apart from others is steady, consistent leadership and Gasman said, “She’s very interested in institutions that are rooted in community.” The value of unrestricted grants Scott does not put any conditions on her donations, allowing recipients to decide how and when to spend the funds. Unrestricted funding is rare from major donors and foundations, with many choosing to support very specific projects over specific timeframes. However, research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2023 found that concerns about nonprofits misusing Scott's funds or growing unsustainably have largely not been born out. In part, that may be because Scott's team researches and vets groups extensively before making donations. Unrestricted gifts can help nonprofits weather disruptions, test new approaches or technologies or invest in the systems and infrastructure that underpin their work. For example, after the Trump administration cut funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the nonprofit Village Enterprise, which runs antipoverty programs, used a grant it received from Scott in 2023 to keep essential programs running.Additionally, Scott allows groups the flexibility to decide whether to publicly share how much they've received, with more than a third of recipients in 2025 not disclosing the grant amounts in Scott's grant database. Fitzgerald said altgoether, she thinks Scott tries to not make her giving about herself. “In her essays, she’s always talking about other stakeholders and other people’s contributions," Fitzgerald said. "So it’s very different than many other philanthropists who are often the center of the story of their gift.” Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – December 2025

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Documentary

Uncovering the Permian Climate Bomb

The fossil fuel industry is building a global threat in the oil fields of West Texas. Miguel Escoto, who has lived close to this region his whole life, witnesses the industry’s villainy for the first time by viewing oil and gas site emissions through optical gas imaging cameras, becoming a stand-in for a world that has yet to grasp the gravity of the Permian Climate Bomb.

Pollution
Activism
Climate

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