Santa Cruz County Sustainability Digest

A $4.4 billion project on the Sacramento River to add dams and store more water that will be sent south, the Sites Reservoir is still years away from completion. The final environmental report is expected this year.

In its latest ambitious roadmap to tackle climate change, California relies on capturing carbon out of the air and storing it deep underground on a scale that's not yet been seen in the United States.

A new Stanford-led study shows that about a fifth of all Sierra Nevada conifer forests are a “mismatch” for their regions’ warming weather. These “zombie forests” are likely to be replaced other tree species after one of California’s increasingly frequent catastrophic wildfires.

California has given the federal government its own counterproposal for apportioning reductions of Colorado River water, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.

Trump and Newsom rules to protect endangered Delta smelt have curbed Delta pumping by nearly half since Jan. 3.

For the first time in more than two years, most of the state is in moderate drought, not severe drought.

In the region’s vital kelp forests, volunteer scuba divers are wielding hammers to kill sea urchins feasting on the kelp.

A retired teacher, Pauline Seales has worked behind the scenes on some of the county’s most high-profile environmental campaigns. But beyond political issues, Seales works with youth to restore fragile natural habitats and raise awareness about the changing climate.

In efforts to kickstart mindful artificial light usage in California, dark sky advocates reintroduced legislation that would dim the artificial light glowing from state buildings.

Last year, we started 2022 with a similar bounty—and then ended the snow season way, way, way below normal.

California's electric car push is revving up in 2023, as state agencies plan to deploy some 90,000 public charging stations along highways and in vulnerable communities.

Preliminary research measured an annual total of 163,058 metric tons of greenhouse gases or 22.8 percent of total county emissions stemming from gas consumption for heating, water heating and cooking.

Since California adopted the nation's first ban on single-use plastic shopping bags in 2014, most grocery stores have turned to thicker, reusable plastic bags that are supposed to be recyclable.

Four organizations that have hit milestones this year take on a new threat—climate change—that threatens to damage the environments they worked so hard to save.

Businesses in unincorporated regions that had been retaining 25 cents of an existing disposable cup tax will keep only 12.5 cents beginning Jan. 1. The remainder will be used by the county for environmental and water quality protection efforts.

Scientists have discovered that heavy agricultural pumping has drawn down aquifer levels to new lows and now threatens to devastate the underground water reserves.

Environteers, an online resource to help the ecologically minded find volunteer options, is the brainchild of Santa Cruz psychotherapist Andy Carman. Environteers also offers tours, lectures, presentations and exhibits.

The California Air Resources Board has voted to approve an ambitious plan to achieve carbon neutrality in the state by 2045. Its targets for capturing carbon from the atmosphere has left critics concerned that big emitters will have a pathway to keep polluting.

After a unanimous vote by the CPUC, homeowners get smaller payments from utilitiess. But new state incentives will be available.

“The problems of climate change cannot be solved in isolation. This agreement between NPS and Stanford takes our respective education and applied research to new levels,” explained NPS president Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau.

Stanford scientists have genetically re-programmed plants to grow roots that change how they gather nutrients or water.

Many wastewater treatment plants, including those in San Jose and Santa Cruz, are trying to ensure that their waste doesn’t go to waste. Instead, they’re turning it into energy-producing biogas.

Along most of the coast, migrating whales risk getting tangled in fishing lines; in the far north, crab meat content remains low.

After two days and $757 million in bids, five companies won leases to develop offshore wind energy farms in the Pacific Ocean off California's coast.

The update will amend sections of the County Code, Design Guidelines and Land Use/Zoning maps.

Spring runs of a large minnow numbering in the millions have nourished Pomo Indians since they first made their home alongside Clear Lake more than 400 generations ago.

The wind farms are to be built off the Humboldt and Morro Bay coasts, more than 20 miles from land.

Desalination, the process of filtering seawater into clean drinking water, has had a rocky past in Santa Cruz. However, a new city policy says the technology, and other strategies, could come in handy in a parched future.

Santa Cruz’s “front porch,” the procession of multimillion-dollar homes on West Cliff Drive, is a shockingly recent development. Coastline erosion has been consistent over decades and centuries—but now we humans are adding a new wrinkle: climate change.

The collapse of a section of sidewalk along West Cliff Drive shows that eroding cliffs pose a danger to roads and walkways along the coastline. Converting West Cliff Drive to a one-way street has been just a concept, but could the recent cave-in change that?

A new generation of Olympia oysters has taken up residence in Elkhorn Slough. Scientists hope breeding oysters in the lab and returning baby oysters to the slough will help the mollusks to rebound from the brink of extinction.

The federal government will spend $250 million over four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around the Salton Sea, which is fed by the depleted Colorado River.