Santa Cruz County Sustainability Digest

Metro CEO Michael Tree told the Sentinel the hydrogen fuel cell-electric bus purchase is the largest of its kind in North America.

Ariel Marshall, a senior official from the U.S. Department of Energy visited Santa Cruz city leaders to learn about progress made on all-electric housing and other developments. Marshall’s message was clear: there’s federal money for the city’s climate-friendly projects.

California lawmakers passed the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, permanently protecting the iconic and imperiled species.

The Salt & Straw ice cream chain is part of the upcycling movement, creating high-quality products from leftover food with flavors like Cacao Pulp & Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato, made from leftover cacao pulp from chocolate production.

Federal law requires the plan be updated every four years and designed to use effective public outreach methods to “create and maintain a regional transportation network that prioritizes equitable decision-making and transparency."

Community members, local officials and city of Santa Cruz staff gathered at Santa Cruz City Hall to roll out an electric bike share program that will extend to other parts of the county.

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, likened to the “Serengeti of the Sea,” is world-renowned for its mammal, bird, and habitat diversity.

A documentary by a UC Santa Cruz alum about endangered coho salmon and their struggle to survive the CZU Lightning Complex fire will air on PBS this Friday.

Environmentalists say it's past time for California water officials to halt Los Angeles' diversion of Mono Lake's tributaries. But L.A. officials insist that water is a tiny but vital part of the city's water supply.

The U.S. government has approved a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send wind-generated electricity from rural New Mexico to big cities in the West.

California legislative committees in the Assembly and Senate blocked two big climate bills. One would have made the state’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets more ambitious. Another would have allowed people to sue oil companies over health problems if they meet certain criteria.

The Sempervirens Fund announced that the land trust recently purchased a 16.5 acre patch of forest adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park known as the Sterrenzee Ridgetop.

It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon at Oakes College, with few people in sight despite the rare appearance of warm sunshine. For students Gabe Schiering, Lydia Oltman, Charlie Lysikhina, and Isabella Brower, it’s a perfect time to make dirt.

As far back as the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, California has set a target date of 2030 to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to those lower than they were prior to 1990. The legislation prompted other municipalities to adopt their own climate action plans, including Watsonville.

Fort Bragg is embarking on an innovative pilot project to desalt ocean water for the Mendocino Coast community using carbon-free wave action to power an energy-intensive process that in other cases generates climate changing greenhouse gases.

As the industry invests $40 billion in new US electric car plants, the rapid transformation raises labor and supply chain issues. Automaker Ford says, “we’re all in.”

Trucking companies say the deadlines for converting big rigs, delivery trucks and other heavy vehicles are unachievable and will cause “chaos and dysfunction.” The move is designed to clean communities' air, especially near ports, warehouses and freeways.

And neither was 1952. The top honor should really go to 1983, which clinched first at 231% of normal, an analysis by the Bay Area News Group found.

Atop a 100-foot barge in the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have built a floating laboratory to answer this question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming?

The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to craft a new rule to better protect the nation’s woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change.

The Branciforte Branch library, located on Gault Street, was closed for renovations in May of 2021. Exactly two years later, the Santa Cruz Public Libraries welcomes the community back to this neighborhood branch.

From brainy write-ups to passionate pleas for reform, here are selected excerpts from CalMatters' Earth Day op-ed contest.

As demand soars for electric vehicles and renewable power, a new SLAC-Stanford Battery Center aims to build a better battery.

One of the options would override California’s water rights and split the cuts evenly between California, Nevada and Arizona—which would be a big blow to Imperial Valley farmers.

Up to 60% of 2030 models and two-thirds of 2032 models sold nationwide would be zero-emissions—less aggressive than California’s mandate.

As epic Sierra Nevada snowpack threatens to overwhelm this phantom lake bed with spring runoff, some fear the Tulare Lake Compost facility could be transformed into an environmental disaster.

A map of California shows how trillions of gallons of water have fallen in recent months, easing the drought.

Communities with high concentrations of electric cars are affluent, college-educated and at least 75% white and Asian—revealing a barrier to electrifying the state’s entire fleet.

At a March 1 meeting, state and federal fishery scientists presented the numbers of spawning salmon returning to California’s rivers late in 2022 and projected one of the lowest forecasts since 2008.

UCSC professor Chris Wilmers, who researches mountain lions living in the Santa Cruz Mountains, helped the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County develop the wildlife crossing. He shares his thoughts on how to protect mountain lions from encroaching development.

The utility company was granted an exemption while seeking a 20-year extension, but state officials only want the nuclear power plant open through 2030 to smooth the transition to renewable energy.

Supervisors unanimously approved self-nominations of Justin Cummings and Manu Koenig and reaffirmed a previous selection of Capitola City Council member Yvette Brooks.