Santa Cruz County Sustainability Digest

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.

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.