Santa Cruz County Environment Articles

Hunger and food insecurity have become persistent problems in California. With the world’s fifth-largest economy, what steps can we take to make sure that everyone has enough to eat?

The utilities commission reduced payments to apartments, schools and businesses selling solar power to the grid despite a barrage of criticism. Commissioners say it reverses unfair subsidies.

By the end of September 2023, more than $358 million had been spent this year on lobbying California’s Legislature, agencies, and Public Utilities Commission.

While state regulators craft new regulations and consult with the insurance industry, many Californians are paying extra-high premiums—or going without insurance entirely.

After a 2018 vote authorizing the state legislature to make daylight saving time year-round, Californians are still changing their clocks twice per year. How did we get here?

Tim Thomas is the recipient of the Ed Ricketts Award from NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary along with Rumsen-Ohlone Tribal member Linda Yamane. In this interview, Tim Thomas discusses the sardine and abalone fishery in the Monterey Bay, and …

Logistics is one of the largest industries in California and keeps the state economy running. But it also comes with a heavy cost to the environment. Here are the facts on the most important industry you don't know much about, …

What is the California Coastal Commission? How one of the state’s most powerful agency protects public access to the state’s scenic coast from Mexico to Oregon.

Ocean wind farms are essential to electrify California’s grid with 100% clean energy. But they’re a giant, costly experiment—no one knows how hundreds of towering turbines will transform the remote North Coast.

The conservation director of Land Trust of Santa Cruz talks about the highlights of his work, and some of the issues he sees in maintaining California’s parks.

Dianne Feinstein, California’s longtime senior U.S. senator, has died at age 90, after a legendary career in public life that began in 1961 and took off amidst the turbulent, violent era of San Francisco in the 1970s.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara unveils a plan to shore up the California insurance market for homeowners. Insurers would return to wildfire zones, but would have an easier path to rate increases.

Legislators weren’t able to reach a compromise that helps insurers with wildfire risk while also protecting homeowners. Interest groups hope to find one in meetings this fall.

Now that electric cars are mainstream, higher-income Californians will no longer qualify for state subsidies. Lower-income buyers could get up to $12,000.

California Forever, the company backed by billionaire Silicon Valley investors that wants to build a new city in Solano County, has posted a new website in an attempt to start a "conversation" about the massive project.

As four aging hydroelectric dams are demolished, tribes and communities along the Klamath River wait anxiously to see what the future holds. “Once a river is dammed, is it damned forever?” experts ask.

The mysterious buyers of $1 billion worth of Solano County land have been revealed as a consortium of Silicon Valley billionaires who want to build a new city from scratch.

This year, a series of extreme events in California and around the country have wreaked havoc, driven by climate change. How prepared are we for things to get worse?

At 118 years old, The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History is still evolving