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From CalMatters...

California Seeks Biden Administration Approval for Controversial Diesel Truck Ban

08/14/2024

The EPA must grant a waiver before the diesel truck measure can be implemented. It’s one of California’s most controversial measures to clean up air pollution and greenhouse gases.

From CalMatters...

California Lawmakers Negotiating Sweeping Package to Speed Up Solar, Wind Energy

08/01/2024

Legislators and Gov. Newsom are working behind the scenes to draft energy legislation before the end-of-the-month deadline.

California Local Pin Marker Recent Articles

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Image caption: Robert Mazurek, who helped launch the globally influential Seafood Watch program for the Monterey Bay Aquarium 25 years ago, is now overseeing a historic climate resilience grant, and working on even bigger stuff.
INTERVIEW
Robert Mazurek Q&A: Preparing for Climate Change

The Santa Cruz-based California Marine Sanctuary Foundation receives a historic $71 million climate resilience grant from Biden Administration.

Image caption: A Pyrocumulus cloud generated by the Dixie Fire in July, 2021.
STATEWIDE EXPLAINER
What is Fire 'Containment?' That and Other Terms, Explained

What does it mean when firefighters call a fire "contained?" Here's a brief guide to commonly used fire prevention terminology.

Image caption: A smoky blanket of particulate matter hovers over San Francisco’s skyline.
STATEWIDE EXPLAINER
Getting Acquainted With AQI

Learn what's getting into Californians’ lungs and why it matters.

Image caption: Screenshot of video taken from a mountaintop webcam shows dawn breaking purplish in Sequoia National Park on July 12, 2024.
ONE GOOD THING
California Views: The California Local YouTube Page

From short mountaintop webcam time-lapses to handmade videos of stuff we love, we bring you a quick, daily dose of California goodness.

Image caption: Hundreds of Internet-connected cameras provide a birds eye view of California.
ONE GOOD THING
On the Lookout for California Wildfires

The UC San Diego-managed ALERTCalifornia network of mountaintop cameras act as remote eyes for fire fighters, and the public.

Image caption: Completed in 1967, with a storage capacity of about 2 million acre feet, the San Luis Reservoir is the fifth largest in California. Work is already underway to add an additional 130,000 acre feet of capacity.
BLOG
The Future of Water in California

State water planners are preparing for a hotter and drier climate in the coming years.

Image caption: Incorporated communities in California must manage local resources and your tax dollars according to a plan.
EXPLAINER
The Central Role of Planning in California Government

General Plans, mandated by the state and carried out by local counties, cities, and other municipalities, serve as a locality’s ‘constitution'.

San Jose Inside logo LOCAL NEWS
California Climate Programs Would Lose Billions in Newsom’s Budget

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

Image caption:
STATEWIDE ONE GOOD THING
Aurora Borealis in the Santa Cruz Mountains

The Northern Lights appeared in Northern and Central California Saturday night.

Image caption: A view of the Helen Madere Memorial Bridge crossing the Sacramento River at Rio Vista in Solano County, California.
EXPLAINER
California Forever: Building a New Community From the Ground Up

We take a closer look at ambitious plans to build a new community of up to 400,000 residents in Solano County.

Featured

A smoky blanket of particulate matter hovers over San Francisco’s skyline.
EXPLAINER
Getting Acquainted With AQI
Learn what's getting into Californians’ lungs and why it matters.
A Pyrocumulus cloud generated by the Dixie Fire in July, 2021.
EXPLAINER
What is Fire 'Containment?' That and Other Terms, Explained
What does it mean when firefighters call a fire "contained?" Here's a brief guide to commonly used fire prevention terminology.
Water is a human right under California law, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
EXPLAINER
Agriculture and Water Shortages in the State’s Breadbasket, Explained
There are many causes contributing to this crisis. And as you may already know, this situation really is nuts.
RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.
EXPLAINER
California Dirt
RCDs were created to avoid a repeat of the Dust Bowl. Now they work with landowners to preserve the air, water and natural habitats that sustain us all.
Mosquitos kill about 725,000 people every year, worldwide.
EXPLAINER
Taking a Bite Out of the Mosquito Population
How local government tries to control the world’s deadliest wild animal—the mosquito.
Supercell storms are just one of many weather phenomena in the era of climate change.
LOCALIST
The New Vocabulary of the Climate Change Era
As climate change causes more extreme and unusual weather, we need a new set of terms to describe the various phenomena
Over two weekends last October, residents of Santa Cruz and Watsonville participated in demonstration rides aboard an electric streetcar on rails.
EXPLAINER
The ‘Rail Trail’ Movement, Explained
The heated controversy over what to do with abandoned railroad tracks
Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
EXPLAINER
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals
How the sun is helping push the state toward 100 percent renewable energy.
Just because record rains have been falling, the state’s water crisis remains.
EXPLAINER
What Is Drought? Probably Not What You Think
Recent torrential rains have helped, but California's drought is a long way from over.
From nitrates to arsenic to “forever chemicals,” California’s water supply faces a serious pollution threat.
EXPLAINER
Dirty Water: California Faces a Water Contamination Crisis
In a state that declares water a “human right,” more than 2 percent of its residents have no drinkable water.
They help feed the whole country, but life for California’s farm workers remains a struggle.
EXPLAINER
How California Feeds the Country
California, a state known for high-tech and show business glitz, is also America’s farming powerhouse.
How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
EXPLAINER
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland
From its earliest days as a state, California has been trying to turn marshes into productive land.
Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, says the organization researches areas of need to help donors direct their contributions.
EXPLAINER
What Is a Community Foundation?
By channeling funds to a number of nonprofits working on various issues in a given region, community foundations help solve big problems throughout California.
Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
EXPLAINER
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment
The hidden price tag of “reclaiming” swamps and marshes as usable land.
The Pajaro River levee broke during the 2023 atmospheric river storms, flooding the town of Pajaro.
EXPLAINER
Is California Ready for More Extreme Weather Driven by Climate Change?
Increasingly extreme weather events are already testing California’s preparedness.
Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the state’s shoreline.
EXPLAINER
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does
How a nuclear plant, a real estate development and an oil spill led to a landmark law.
Peninsula Open Space Trust worked with landowners to preserve Estrada Ranch, one of the last large properties under family ownership in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
EXPLAINER
What Is a Land Trust?
Sometimes the best way to save scenic views is to buy property outright.
Long-duration energy storage, such as this thermal energy storage facility, allows renewable energy sources to operate at full capacity without overloading the power grid.
EXPLAINER
How California Leads the Race For Long Duration Energy Storage
For renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to be viable, ways to store the power they create are essential.
The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
EXPLAINER
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land
Starting in 1976, the legislature began creating agencies to buy up open land, and keep it open.
California has a goal of 6 million heat pumps cooling and heating buildings by 2030.
EXPLAINER
6 Million New Heat Pumps: Essential to California's Climate Future
Installing 6 million heat pumps by 2030 is essential if California is to reach its goal of net zero carbon emissions.
Does California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
EXPLAINER
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the state’s housing crisis. Is it getting a bad rap?
Incorporated communities in California must manage local resources and your tax dollars according to a plan.
EXPLAINER
The Central Role of Planning in California Government
General Plans, mandated by the state and carried out by local counties, cities, and other municipalities, serve as a locality’s ‘constitution'.
Completed in 1967, with a storage capacity of about 2 million acre feet, the San Luis Reservoir is the fifth largest in California. Work is already underway to add an additional 130,000 acre feet of capacity.
BLOG
The Future of Water in California
State water planners are preparing for a hotter and drier climate in the coming years.
Hundreds of Internet-connected cameras provide a birds eye view of California.
ONE GOOD THING
On the Lookout for California Wildfires
The UC San Diego-managed ALERTCalifornia network of mountaintop cameras act as remote eyes for fire fighters, and the public.
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