Monterey County Sustainability Articles

As the Monterey Peninsula becomes increasingly dependent on recycled water, the cost of water is going to rise, and already has. Although recycling water is cheaper than desalinating it, it’s still energy intensive. Add to that, energy from the grid…

For more than a year, Soledad-based Sitos Group has operated a pilot program at ReGen Monterey’s waste management facility in Marina, transforming wood waste and other organic materials into a usable product while removing carbon that would otherwise end up…

David Schmalz here, wrestling with a conundrum: Seawater intrusion is advancing in the northern Salinas Valley—heading toward Salinas from the coast—which has forced growers to drill deeper wells, but that’s only made the problem worse.

There are an increasing number of ways that food waste is being diverted from the landfill. Some people compost at home, while others (less) bring scraps directly to farms. Many now use services created under SB 1383, a 2016 law…

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – California's 30×30 goal was a topic at the Sierra Nevada Alliance Conservation Conference held at Lake Tahoe Community College, Nov. 7-8. In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom committed the state to conserving 30% of lands …

David Schmalz here, with some notable news to report. This past water year—a calendar built around the wet season, from Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024—just 8,972 acre-feet of water were pumped into Cal Am’s system to meet customer…

SALINAS VALLEY — In an effort to increase groundwater recharge and storage while reducing flooding, four local agencies and nonprofits collaborating on the Multi-benefit Land Repurposing Program are seeking public input about known areas of flooding and recharge.

MONTEREY COUNTY — The imbalance between housing supply and demand is a key challenge to economic growth in Monterey County, according to a new report that makes clear the need for increasing housing supply.

As the pandemic spotlighted, access to the internet is no longer a luxury but a necessity. From health care and online banking to education and disaster communication, much of everyday life requires being online.

JOLON — Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL) continues to lead the way in the Army’s energy resilience as the first-ever military installation with a microgrid implementation using only renewable sources, such as photovoltaic (PV) generation and battery storage.

John Hunt is a collaborator at the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation and a research toxicologist at the University of California, Davis. For over 20 years he co-directed the Marine Pollution Studies Laboratory at Granite Canyon on the Big Sur Coast, …

It seems all manner of e-bikes are popping up across Santa Cruz County more and more—on trails, in streets, outside schools and grocery stores. Sometimes, the e-bikes are even carrying two passengers at a time as they zip down the …

For Robert Mazurek, executive director of the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, two things stand out for him as career milestones. The first was helping to launch the Seafood Watch program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the early 2000s.

Water woes on the Monterey Peninsula go back for decades. In 1995, the State Water Resources Control Board issued Order 95-10, declaring that California American Water was entitled to take only 3,376 acre-feet of water a year from the Carmel…

If you think about it, Monterey County is a microcosm of California. It features some of the state’s major environmental features: ocean, mountains and fertile soils. The combination contributes to the state’s biggest industries, agriculture and tourism. And like California,…

Highway 1 in Big Sur is among the most beautiful roads on Earth. Most images of it – aside from disaster photos – contain one common element: a bridge. The 1930s-era bridges along Highway 1 have become the artery’s defining…

As funds for climate change programs are cut, Democrats and environmentalists are pushing for a bond measure on the ballot to restore some funding.

On May 9, staff from the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency presented its board a long-awaited study about the so-called Deep Aquifers, which have been increasingly mined in recent years as seawater intrusion marches inland toward the city of…

Anthony Saua, director of Organic Rising, talks about the rise of organic agriculture and its importance to health, the environment and slowing global warming,

CENTRAL COAST — Despite significant progress since the release of a landmark 2018 farmworker housing study quantifying critically overcrowded housing conditions for agricultural workers in the region, thousands more homes are needed to relieve severe overcrowding, unaffordable rents and ensure …