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Santa Cruz Surfing Museum goes solar thanks to donation

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:37:12 GMT

Santa Cruz Surfing Museum goes solar thanks to donation

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_22711549/santa-cruz-surfing-museum-goes-solar-thanks-donation

By Callum Beals

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 03/03/2013 09:13:38 PM PST

SANTA CRUZ -- The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum has gone solar thanks to a $10,000 solar panel donation from Sandbar Solar & Electric.

According to the city of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department, the new panels on the museum's west roof will help save up to 80 percent on the museum's annual electric bill.

The museum nearly closed in 2009 due to budget cuts and pressure to trim operating costs throughout the city. But thanks to donations from organizations such as the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society and companies such as Sandbar, the museum is on solid footing, according to a press release from the Parks and Recreation Department.

Carol Scurich, recreation superintendent with the Parks and Recreation Department, said the museum's finances were in a bad way in 2009.

"It seemed to me that it was really close to closing, but thank goodness for the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society," Scurich said. "They really stepped up, donating over $20,000 each year."

Sandbar continued the tradition of donating to the museum, as it finished installation of solar panels in February.

Scott Laskey, Sandbar's owner, said he first became concerned for the museum when he heard about its potential closure in 2009. About six months ago, he approached the preservation society and asked what Sandbar could do to help.

He found his answer with the donation of solar panels to the museum, solarizing the lighthouse.

"With all the budget cuts, there's always pressure to lower operating costs." Laskey said. "I thought, 'If we can donate, we can help them stay open.'"

Sandbar donated a photovoltaic system. Photovoltaic systems convert sunlight into energy by absorbing the energy from the sun and then converting that light energy into electric energy. The panels are mounted to the roof and directly tied into the lighthouse's pre-existing electrical grid, in turn reducing the museum's monthly power bill.

Due to the museum's cliffside location, water- and rust-resistant equipment was required to combat the corrosive nature of ocean air.

For Laskey, solarizing the museum and lighthouse also holds symbolic value.

"It's the symbol for the city of Santa Cruz," Laskey said. "It's an identity for the city, both culturally and physically. I think that solarizing the lighthouse fits right into the culture of sustainability in Santa Cruz."

Recreation Superintendent Scurich echoed Laskey's sentiment on the symbolic nature of the lighthouse.

"That's our icon, our logo, to keep these doors open and the history of surfing in Santa Cruz accessible is really important for the city," Scurich said.

Bicycle advocate ticketed for organizing unsafe parade on King Street

Tue, 12 May 2009 09:40:24 GMT

Bicycle advocate ticketed for organizing unsafe parade on King Street
By GENEVIEVE BOOKWALTER
Posted: 05/06/2009 01:30:53 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- At the same time Micah Posner is pleading with city leaders to convert a neighborhood street into a bike-safe boulevard, the outspoken bicycling advocate is locked in a legal fight with them over a fine he was levied for leading a supposedly unsafe bicycle protest parade down the middle of that same street without a permit.

Posner, who along with many other cyclists wants King Street turned into a bicycle boulevard to provide an alternative to cycling down Mission Street, said the parade riders "were not doing anything that shouldn't be done every day."

At issue is a miniparade held in November, when Posner and more than 100 other cyclists flooded King Street to show their support for the proposed bicycle boulevard, which could include bike lanes or rerouting thousands of cars off the street. The thoroughfare runs parallel to Mission Street, where two cyclists were killed and one seriously injured within 18 months of 2007 and 2008. The group, decked out with streamers, banners and a trailer holding the Santa Cruz High School Ukulele Club, pedaled to Santa Cruz High School.

But police say Posner's protest parade was counter-intuitive, as it led small children down the middle of a street still open to cars. So they documented problems and handed the report to the city attorney, who filed "People vs. Micah Posner" and asked Posner to pay a $110 fine plus $264 in court costs. The case is in Traffic Court.

"He's inviting families to
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come out, with their kids, to ride in the street," said Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark, who said a permit could have ensured the road was closed and officers were stationed for the event. "To invite the unsuspecting community out to an event where you haven't bothered to take the proper safety precautions is wildly irresponsible."

The event is not the only unsanctioned parade in town. For example, the First Night DIY Parade, held downtown on New Year's Eve, is a somewhat spontaneous event for whomever shows up to march down Pacific Avenue. Police have long complained that the group does not secure permits, but Clark said because that group does not have an obvious organizer, it is difficult to cite. In this case, Posner was advertising the event for weeks.

City leaders said they offered Posner complimentary permits, but he refused. Posner said he did not like the conditions the permits set, including requiring that participants ride on the sidewalk or the right-hand side of the street. Instead, he wanted the parade to take over the entire street.

Posner said he understood Clark's concerns, but said the parade went off without a hitch so he doesn't know why it's an issue now.

"That might have been an interesting argument to have before we had the event, but now the event's over and it all went safely," said Posner, who is requesting mediation.

Meanwhile, Posner said he is refusing to pay the fine and is organizing another King Street ride on Sunday to honor Bike to Work week, complete with a bicycle-powered smoothie maker and other refreshments. He said he doesn't have a permit for Sunday's event.

Water-wise demonstration garden under construction

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:31:23 GMT

Water-wise demonstration garden under construction
By Alia Wilson
Posted: 04/05/2009 01:30:55 AM PDT

CAPITOLA -- A community that pulls weeds together, stays together.

The Capitola Water-Wise Demonstration Garden is inching closer to completion as resident and garden project coordinator Melissa Van Ness, along with her friend and Bay Area estate gardener Gretchen Scharpen, held a community gardening event Saturday, planting native plants in a space at the corner of Wharf and Capitola Roads.

The Capitola Water-Wise Demonstration Garden, near the Shadowbrook Restaurant, includes a rain garden. Van Ness is excited to see the garden come together and says the rain garden feature acts like a "stop sign" to storm water leaving the site. She appreciates that all the rainwater that falls on the site will either filter into the ground or flow to the rain garden to be filtered.

The garden is also home to several drought-tolerant plants and will eventually feature a drip irrigation system.

Van Ness said through a partnership with the Ecology Action Network, the coordinator was able to get a $2,000 grant from the Soquel Creek Water District for the water-wise garden.

"This is huge, we were able to get all of the plants thanks to the grant," Van Ness said. "This garden is going to be beyond just water-wise, it's going to be pesticide free, pollinator friendly and kid friendly."

Ninety-five percent of the plants in the garden are also native to California.

"Already I've seen a green throated hummingbird out here that came up to my
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hose to get water," Scharpen said. "It's such a great area to work in."

Van Ness says she looks forward to bringing more wildlife to the garden, as the project progresses.

"Hopefully, the garden will show people to get excited about pollinator gardens and green gardening as it has been taking off," Van Ness said. "Whether you look at it from the conservation biology side bringing in insects and birds to the garden ... or looking at it as a great project that is saving water ... or just as a visual improvement for our neighborhood, this garden is just so much fun to be a part of."

How to Donate or volunteers

To get involved in the Capitola Water-Wise Demonstration, call Melissa Van Ness at 332-7580 or Gretchen Scharpen at 588-5615. Items still needed include mulch and landscaping rocks. The next community gardening events will be 1-4 p.m. April 19 and 1-4 p.m. May 3. Lemonade and small watering cans will be available for kids who want to pitch in.

Santa Cruz looks to algae to clean sewage

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:54:11 GMT

Santa Cruz looks to algae to clean sewage
By GENEVIEVE BOOKWALTER
Posted: 03/29/2009 01:30:39 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- Today's flush could become tomorrow's fertilizer, as a new experiment involving city wastewater, NASA researchers and Google startup money seeks to grow algae biofuels at sea to clean water and spread on farmers' fields, among other uses.

"It's pretty wild stuff," said Bill Kocher, director of the Santa Cruz Water Department. "When I was sitting there listening to it I thought, you know, only in Santa Cruz."

City leaders this week agreed to help fledgling company AlgaeOMEGA apply for permits to float 3-foot diameter "plastic envelopes" filled with city sewer water and freshwater algae about two miles off the Santa Cruz coast.

The wastewater, Kocher stressed, would be cleaned to levels already considered safe for the sanctuary before it's put in the bags. But even those standards allow a small amount of leftover nutrients to remain, Kocher said. Ideally, the algae would then clean the remaining wastewater to an even higher level before osmosis pulls it through the envelopes' one-way exit membranes and into the ocean.

Right now, treated water from toilets and sinks in Capitola to the North Coast is piped two miles offshore and released on the ocean floor. If approved by the California Coastal Commission and other necessary agencies, the plastic envelopes would be anchored near the pipe and float on the ocean's surface, marked by protecting buoys, according to a City Council report. Up to six plastic envelopes would be used, and the
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test plot would cover 12 square feet. Waves, instead of knocking the envelope loose, would help swirl the algae-wastewater concoction, Kocher said.

As a result, "Whatever goes in, goes out even cleaner," Kocher said.

For its part, the algae would grow fat on nutrients washed down drains of the water district's 90,000 users, and could later be harvested for biofuel, fertilizer or animal feed, among other products.

The idea was pitched by NASA researchers Robert Baertsch, Sherwin Gormly and Kathleen Phillips, along with Elizabeth Thompson, formerly with Ecology Action, who is acting as AlgaeOMEGA's "government liaison." Search engine giant Google is helping to pay startup costs. A timeline for the project to be up and running has not been released.

The group declined to talk in detail about their work, as they are just starting out and don't want to jeopardize it by speaking too soon, Thompson said.

But city leaders, while they have not given explicit support, signaled that the project, if successful, could bring more than another "gee whiz" factor to Santa Cruz. It could create much-needed jobs.

"Research into creative, ecological and innovative solutions is closely aligned with the city's goals to be a hub of green innovation," said Bonnie Lipscomb, director of the city Economic Development and Redevelopment Department.

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Go Green, Jennifer Parrish, Dec. 20, 2008: Paper or plastic? No Thank you!

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:06:25 GMT

Go Green, Jennifer Parrish, Dec. 20, 2008: Paper or plastic? No Thank you!
By Jennifer Parrish - SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL
Article Launched: 12/20/2008 01:30:05 AM PST

This holiday season I had an epiphany -- plastics have taken over the world!

As I entered a local toy store, searching for a present for my nephew, I found myself inside a plastic wonderland. Shelves stretching from floor to ceiling were brimming over with plastic products, from stuffed bears to toy trains to little books with plastic covers.

Indeed, I've begun to feel like plastic woman, as I set forth in my polyester clothes, with a plastic water bottle to keep me hydrated, driving in my metal and plastic car, to purchase a plastic toy that I pay for with plastic and place in a plastic bag. Count the number of times you come into contact with plastic in one day, and you might begin to feel the same way.

A visit to the supermarket teaches us that there is no escape; food and plastic have now become inextricably linked. Everything from fruits and vegetables, to milk, cheese and frozen foods are found in plastic containers or wrapped in a polymer film. In fact, as one who has recently been contemplating a plastic-free lifestyle, I can tell you that there is no way to avoid the substance all together and still lead a so-called "normal life."

But, is our reliance on plastic really such a bad thing? What about paper and other wood products -- are they any better from an environmental standpoint? What is the best answer to the question "Do you want paper or plastic?"

The problems with paper

Although paper and wood products
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are derived from a renewable and biodegradable resource, the paper industry is notorious for the devastating impact of its manufacturing processes on the environment. According to the Environmental Paper Network, a nonprofit dedicated to greening the paper industry, "It can be argued that the pulp and paper industry contributes more to global and local environmental problems than any other industry in the world."

The industrial process that turns trees into paper is both resource-intensive and highly polluting. First, trees are felled and transported to a mill, where they are left to dry for three years. Once they have dried sufficiently, their bark is removed, and they are placed in grinders and are chipped into pellets. These pellets are cooked in a chemical solution that includes substances such as limestone and/or sulfurous acid think acid rain to transform them into a "pulp."

Finally, the pulp is washed in water and chlorine bleach and then pressed into sheets of paper in a process known as beating, during which it may be treated with a variety of additional chemicals.

The following stats quoted by the EPN provide additional insight into the environmentally destructive nature of the manufacture of paper:

n In developed countries, more water is consumed in the manufacture of paper and wood pulp than in any other industrial process.

n The pulp and paper industry is responsible for approximately 6 percent of industrial energy consumption, but emits more greenhouse gases than any other industry aside from chemical and steel.

n Paper products account for an estimated 40 percent of the municipal waste stream entering our landfills each year. Moreover, despite the fact paper is biodegradable, once it enters a landfill, it does not come into contact with air, light and water and thus rarely has the opportunity to break down.

In fact, when comparing paper bags to plastic, plastic is more environmentally friendly.

n Four times more energy is required to produce a paper bag than a plastic bag and 98 percent more energy is consumed when recycling a pound of paper than a pound of plastic.

n The manufacture of paper bags produces 70 percent more air pollution and 50 percent more water pollution than the production of plastic bags.

n Because paper bags are heavier and bulkier, they require more energy to transport and take up more room in landfills.

In other words, the evidence is overwhelming: the plastic bag industry uses fewer of our scarce natural resources, consumes less energy and emits fewer pollutants into the air than its paper counterpart.

So are plastic bags really as environmentally friendly as they seem? Uh, no.

The problems with plastic

"I'll go without a bag, thank you, to save oil." Every time I go shopping with my mother, I notice that she is met with the same blank stare. Most people do not understand the connection between the free plastic bags offered at every department store and corner shop and the oil industry.

In fact, plastic bags are manufactured at oil refineries from a petroleum product known as polyethylene. In some interesting news out of newscientist.com, scientists are busy creating a microwave to melt plastic into oil so that it can be used in our cars.

Nevertheless, the fact that we are helping to line the pockets of the oil companies with every bag we use to line our garbage pails is not the most troublesome aspect of the plastic bag industry. Instead, it is the waste plastic bags create.

According to The Washington Post, every year 4 billion plastic bags become litter, enough to circle the globe 63 times if the bags were tied end to end! Much of this waste ends up in our ocean, where it kills marine life, especially turtles who mistake the bags for jellyfish. The photos of turtles choking on plastic bags or with plastic rings from milk containers stuck around their deformed middles are enough to make you cry.

Moreover, because these bags are not biodegradable, they never decompose, either in our landfills or in our oceans. Think of the swirling patch of garbage twice the size of Texas that's floating off our coast.

But what about recycling you say? The dirty secret of the recycling industry is that it is far too expensive to recycle the plastic bags it receives from the well-meaning public. The Washington Post reports that it costs approximately $4,000 to recycle one ton of plastic bags, which can in turn be sold on the commodities market for a mere $32. Instead, we ship our recyclables to countries like China and India where they are often incinerated -- not a very environmentally friendly end for a substance containing so many chemicals.

So, the next time someone asks you whether you would like paper or plastic, the best answer I have found is a resounding "No!"

Jennifer Parrish writes a biweekly column for the Sentinel on environmental issues. She works for the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments Energy Watch program. Contact her at jparrish@ambag.org.

Pacific Migrations show with Kennan & Karen Ward

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:21:48 GMT

October 24, 2008

Contact Person:

Tremain Jones, Museum Assistant (831) 420-6117

Kennan & Karen Ward, Artists (831) 459-8800

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History proudly presents…

Kennan & Karen Ward’s

Pacific Migrations

Saturday November 29th 7:00 PM
Rio Theatre 1205 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz, Cruz
General Admission $18, Museum Members $14
All tickets subject to service charge

Imagine swimming thousands of miles through icy waters, or trekking that same distance without the benefit of GPS or a motorized vehicle. Then imagine that your survival, and the survival of your species, depends on your ability to make this trip twice each year. Some of the animals you see here in Santa Cruz are among these amazing migrants. These animals complete this circuit year in and year out – their livelihood linked to seasonal changes in temperatures, precipitation, and food availability from South America to the Arctic Circle. Santa Cruz’s own home-town dynamic duo, Kennan & Karen Ward, will share their encounters with some of these ultra-distance travelers in a new show: “Pacific Migrations” at the Rio Theatre on Saturday, November 29, 2009. Doors open at 6:30pm, show starts at 7pm. Tickets are available at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Box Office or SantaCruzTickets.com: $18 General Admission, $14 Museum Members; Gold Circle tickets include an intimate meet & greet reception: $50 General and $40 Museum Members. Call the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History at (831) 420-6115 for more information or visit us on the web at www.santacruzmuseums.org. All tickets are subject to a service charge. Kennan Ward tries to see the big picture when he’s photographing in the field, beginning with a global view. The Earth consists of regional biomes which span many diverse habitats and locations. Migrating animals depend on resources found in several different biomes and are not restricted to specific habitats or locations. In essence, their homes are the entire western coast of the Americas, or the whole Pacific Basin. Unlike Las Vegas, what happens here DOESN”T stay here – it affects wild constituents from pole to pole. The Wards also share a unique temporal vision of wild America. Because of its remote location and extreme climate, Alaska’s wildlife has suffered less human intrusion than its Californian counterpart. Time and people have drastically altered California’s original landscape, but “wild Alaska is what California used to be like many years ago,” Kennan explains.

Kennan & Karen Ward: Biographical Information

In 1979 Kennan received an Environmental Studies degree, with emphasis in natural history and wildlife biology, from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ten years of work as a Search & Rescue Ranger for the National Parks Service honed his wildlife skills and accelerated his evolution as a natural-light photographer and deepened his love for the outdoors. Karen Ward has a deep love of nature. A child of the 60s, Karen was raised in a family of seven children. Piling into a Volkswagen bus with her parents and siblings, Karen’s family would travel across the United States camping their way across many of America’s great National Parks and wilderness areas. Her experiences growing up in close proximity to pristine environments developed into a deep, life-long love and appreciation for the beauty in the natural world. Kennan and Karen married in 1986, and have since build an impressive stock photography library, as well as a successful publishing business, WildLight Press Inc. Karen’s eye for beauty and her love of animals are tangible in her images, which are often more personal and intimate than Kennan’s. In 2000, Kennan received a prestigious honor from the BBC’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. His image of Polar Bear Relaxing was highly commended by the panel of judges. The image was used on all of that year’s advertising and promotion materials. In 2001, Kennan published a very special book bringing attention to the stunning natural world of the Alaskan Arctic - “The Last Wilderness: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” Kennan has lobbied from Alaska to the District of Columbia to educate law-makers and congress about the vast, unspoiled wildernesses of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Together in the field, Kennan and Karen Ward have photographed their way across several continents, many countries, hundreds of national parks and protected wilderness areas. Traveling three to six months out of the year, Kennan and Karen keep each other laughing and looking forward to the next adventure. Kennan’s work has been featured in many national and international magazines including: Audubon, Alaska, BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, Backpacker, Greenpeace, Sierra, Natural History, Outdoor Photographer, Outside, and National Wildlife. Karen’s photos have been published in text books, calendars, magazines, brochures and post cards.

"Green Solutions" - Broadcast Cable mini-series - Airs in May and June

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:39:08 GMT

A Broadcast Cable Mini-Series has been created on the recently held " Green Solutions" workshop, sponsered by the Valley Womens Club of San Lorenzo Valley, and will be airing in the Broadcast Cable Series produced and directed by Tamara Lynn Scott, which airs on Cable 27, Santa Cruz, every Tuesday and Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. and which is available to all not-for-profit, educational, Public Access Cable Stations nationwide, on a no cost for airings basis. The segments have also been posted to the Permanent Internet Archives, as small i-pod, downloadable versions, so all have access to this information.

In addition, the programs have been posted to the Sundance Film Festival - "Green" Channel, and will be entered into EarthVision 2009.

The following posting to the Broadcast Website for the weekly Broadcast Series at http://TamaraLynnScottBroadcasts.blogspot.com

for Airing Dates:

the Sundance Film Festival " Green" site:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/ecommunity/#/ecommunityMap/marker/170335922

Airing Schedule Seg 296-297-298-299-300-301

Broadcast Cable Series: Tamara Lynn Scott

Cable 27, Santa Cruz, California

Segments 297 -298 -299 -300 - 301

Segment 297 - " Green Solutions "
featuring Ryan Devonshire,
on Automotive Product choices
and Valley Women's Club of San Lorenzo
Valley Environmental Committee

http://www.archive.org/details/Segment297greenSolutions-Auto-TamaraLynnScott

Friday, May 16th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Segment 298 - " Green Solutions "
featuring Jennifer Harrison,
of Ecology Action,
and Valley Women's Club of San Lorenzo
Valley Environmental Committee

http://www.archive.org/details/Segment298-GreenSolutions-EcologyAction-TamaraLynnScott-Jennifer

Friday, May 23rd, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Segment 299 - " Green Solutions "
featuring Ezra Neale, Roads Program Manager,
and Angie Stuart, Program Specialist,
of Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County,
and Valley Women's Club of San Lorenzo
Valley Environmental Committee

http://www.archive.org/details/Segment299-GreenSolutions-resourceConservationDistrict-TamaraLynn

Friday, May 30th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Segment 300 - " Green Solutions "
featuring Ezra Neale, Roads Program Manager,
and Angie Stuart, Program Specialist,
of Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County,
Tia Stills on "Green Products",
and Valley Women's Club of San Lorenzo
Valley Environmental Committee

http://www.archive.org/details/Segment300GreenSolutions-EzraNealeTiaStills-TamaraLynnScott

Friday, May 30th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Segment 301 - " Green Solutions "
featuring Ezra Neale, Roads Program Manager,
of Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County,
Stephanie Sellers Sakasai,
of ARO by design,
and Valley Women's Club of San Lorenzo
Valley Environmental Committee

http://www.archive.org/details/Segment301GreenSolutions-StephanieSakasai-TamaraLynnScott

Friday, June 6th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.

"United" Musical Theme for " Green Solutions"

http://www.archive.org/details/united-GreenSolutionsEnvironmentalTheme-MiniSeries-tamaraLynnScott

We are United together,
Every link entwined.
We are United together,
in each dream that shines.
We are United together
in our reasons why.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It's all we are.
United.
United.
United.
United."

We are a part,
the soul and the heart.
We are the try,
the secret of wise.
Here in our heart.
Here in our mind.
Here in our eyes
the secrets of time.

We are beginning to open our eyes,
only beginning
to see,
realize,
One World.

United together
Every link entwined.
We are United together,
in each dream that shines.
We are United together
in our reasons why.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It's all we are.
United.
United.
United.
United."

music, lyric, composition, arrangement, vocals of Tamara Lynn Scott

--
Broadcast Cable Series: Tamara Lynn Scott
http://TamaraLynnScottBroadcasts.blogspot.com
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Tamara%20Lynn%20Scott
Cable 27 Santa Cruz, California
Tuesday and Friday evenings at 5:30 p.m. and mornings at 2 a.m.
Nationwide on Public Access Cable

Earth Day Airing of California Grey Bears Documentary

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:23:42 GMT

Earth Day in Santa Cruz, Sunday, April 27th, will be screening the documentary created by Tamara Lynn Scott on the California Grey Bears. The Film has aired on the weekly, Broadcast Cable Series, Tamara Lynn Scott, which airs every Tuesday and Friday evenings at 5:30 p.m. and at 2 a.m.

http://TamaraLynnScottBroadcasts.blogspot.com

It was part of EarthVision Film Festival, airing at the Rio Theatre in March, and will be airing at the Red Calvary Church Screenings across the street from the Earth Day Booths on Center Street at 2:30 p.m. The documentary was created to give all access to how a self-reliant, recycling prototype organization can help put an end to food wastage and hunger in our communities. The Segment has been posted on-line at the Permanent Internet Archives for all to view:

http://www.archive.org/details/CaliforniaGreyBearsDocumentaryRe-editTamaraLynnScott

Exploring the art of science in Santa Cruz

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:09:24 GMT

Press Release – For immediate release

Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2008

Contact: Tremain Jones, (831) 420-6117, tjones@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us

Presenter: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Event: Illustrating Nature: Student works from the Science Illustration Program - University of California, Santa Cruz

When: Saturday, May 3^rd through Sunday, June 8^th 2008

Where: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, 1305 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Admission: Free for members and children under 18, $1.50 for students and seniors, $2.50 General Admission Release: Exploring the art of science in Santa Cruz

Depicting complex natural processes of nature in accurate detail is difficult. And when you take away most visual references and cues, you are left with just your imagination. This was one of the challenges Joe Sharkey, a student in UCSC Extension’s prestigious Science Illustration Program, faced. “I was given a piece of a bone and a tooth and was told to illustrate the animal they belonged to,” says Joe, “How do you make a factual depiction of something so vague?” That’s the nature of Science Illustration; “How do I do that?” The science illustrator’s challenge is to transform unseen or illusory aspects of the universe into a form we humans can grasp visually. Students in the program depict everything from the entangled curls of DNA to the superstructures of a galaxy. But that’s not all, they also depict, in great detail, the complex aspects of the anatomy of an organism or a simple machine.

After a year’s worth of such challenges, students in the program, like Joe, travel off to such institutions as the Smithsonian, National Geographic, Scientific American, and the American Museum of Natural History to work on more challenges through an artist’s internship. Before the students move on, they show off their works at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. More than 50 works in various media will be presented at the museum beginning May 3^rd through June 8^th, which also includes opportunities to see just how they do it. For more information about Illustrating Nature, visit www.santacruzmuseums.org or call (831) 420-6115.

Oasis and 31 other businesses get certified as 'green'

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:37:12 GMT

Oasis and 31 other businesses get Certified as 'Green', as appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on 4/21/08

Earth Day Fryer to Fuel Press Release

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:38:24 GMT

At 1:40pm on April 27th, at the Earth Day event located in downtown Santa Cruz on the corner of Lincoln and Cedar Streets (where the Farmers’ Market is usually located), a new collaborative local program will be announced: the Fryer to Fuel Program. This program involves several public, commercial, and non-profit partners. The Fryer to Fuel program is a collaborative effort to collect used cooking oil from restaurants, turn it into biodiesel to fuel local Santa Cruz vehicle fleets. The program uses a local waste as a local fuel, and serves as a model of community-based sustainable solutions.

Several speakers will be present to talk about their role in the program, including former Assemblyperson Fred Keeley, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Executive Director of Ecology Action, City of Santa Cruz staff, the owners of Energy Alternative Solutions, Coast Oil, Salinas Tallow, and some local restaurant owners.

Partnering with local restaurants, Salinas Tallow, BioEAS Inc, a biodiesel plant, Coast Oil, and local Public Works Departments, Ecology Action has collected at least 5,500 gallons of high quality waste cooking oil from restaurants and turned it into biodiesel which was then blended to make 22,000 gallons of B20 (20% biodiesel) fuel and sold to local fleets over the past six weeks. Continuing over the next year, this will result in almost 47,000 gallons of waste vegetable oil being used to make 190,000 gallons of the B20 biodiesel blend. This is enough fuel to fill the tanks of over 4000 City of Santa Cruz recycling trucks, or enough to fuel a fleet of school buses for an entire school district for a year. It is expected that more restaurants will participate as the program expands, resulting in higher quantities of biodiesel made from a local waste feedstock.

Biodiesel fuel generated from waste feedstock is more sustainable and far less polluting than petroleum diesel. Biodiesel significantly reduces green house gases, particulate matter (soot), carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide in air emissions. Produced from renewable resources such as waste cooking oil or soybean oil, biodiesel reduces dependence on limited energy resources and foreign oil. The “Fryer to Fuel” process recovers energy and recycles waste oils that end up in wastestreams or flushed down drains, clogging pipes and causing costly sewer overflow spills in wastewater treatment plants and sewer lines.

Ecology Action, with support from the U.S. EPA has created an ongoing large scale, cost-effective market for biodiesel from waste cooking oil with a local, community-based solution. This pilot is a true partnership program from feedstock to consumer:

The California Restaurant Association, whose members usually pay to haul away their waste oil, now gives its waste to grease haulers free of charge. The grease haulers are paid by the biodiesel manufacturers.
Biodiesel manufacturers use a low-cost, recycled waste feedstock instead of virgin vegetable oil, increasing the sustainability of biodiesel.
The pilot program’s biodiesel fuel consumer market has expanded to the City of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works, the County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works, the County of Santa Cruz waste franchise Green Waste, Inc., and finally the local oil waste hauler, Salinas Tallow, all of whose vehicle fleet will be running on the alternative fuel.

The U.S. EPA Region 9 would like to help organizations follow Santa Cruz’s example. “We are excited to be simultaneously encouraging alternative fuel use, reduced air pollution, and increased diversion of wastes from landfills,” said Jeff Scott, director of the Waste Division in EPA Region 9. “We hope this community-based project will be a model ultimately replicated across the country.”

Ecology Action’s Executive Director, Virginia Johnson, claims, “This program exemplifies the wide breadth of partnership and problem solving that Ecology Action has always endeavored to embrace. This project was a confluence of all of the Ecology Action hubs: Sustainable Transportation, Climate Protection, Pollution Prevention, Zero Waste, and Energy Efficiency.”

Voluntary partnerships with the U.S. EPA produce environmentally sustainable and profitable results. The U.S. EPA works with organizations to develop guidelines for increasing environmental performance, by exploring various low-cost resource options and energy saving strategies. In addition to offering its expert technical assistance in environmental protection, the U.S. EPA provides public recognition for green achievements. In one year, over 11,000 partners in an array of EPA Offices’ and Regions’ programs saved nearly $6 billion from EPA’s environmental management assistance.

Gateway to local environmental scene coming to Web soon

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:32:25 GMT

EcoCruz Web Site Launches. Article at the Sentinel: