The second outage in nearly two weeks was particularly worrisome with fire season in full effect in Santa Cruz County. “If there had been a fire, none of us would have known until the smoke was on us,” one Eureka Canyon resident said.
Climate
Posted inEnvironment
More extreme behavior: Dixie blaze generates fire whirl, pyrocumulonimbus cloud at 40,000 feet
A massive storm cloud formed Monday night above the Dixie fire, generating a spinning vortex of flames and ash that soared into the sky. Containment improved to 25% on Tuesday, but the unusual activity was a reminder that “this fire still has a lot of potential.”
Posted inEnvironment
A new Indigenous-led student movement in Northern California is protecting sacred waters
In the midst of the state’s water crisis, Native-led school curricula in Northern California are empowering youth to fight for the future of their waterways.
Posted inEnvironment
The scary new climate report means fossil fuel use needs to start falling, fast
There’s a giant gap between what many companies have pledged and what’s actually needed.
Posted inEnvironment
Exploding California wildfires rekindle debate: Snuff out blazes in wilderness areas or let them burn?
A U.S. Forest Service directive to put out fires in remote, roadless California forests has angered foresters and firefighters, who say doing so will put lives at risk and fuel worse fires in the future.
Posted inLatest News
Can California reduce dairy methane emissions equitably?
State officials say dairy digesters can reduce greenhouse gas and toxic air emissions from large dairies. Why community activists don’t believe them.
Posted inEnvironment
Ways to save water during the drought — and whether it’s worth doing at all
Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking Californians to cut personal water usage by 15% some six years after Gov. Jerry Brown asked for a 25% reduction. Here are tips for how to do that — and facts about what difference they can make.
Posted inEnvironment
As Dixie fire nears half a million acres, containment is still weeks away
More than 16,000 structures are still threatened by the fire, which authorities don’t expect to have under control until the end of August. The Dixie fire is one of 11 major fires burning across the state, according to Cal Fire.
Posted inEnvironment
‘Not uncommon’ but little understood: Red tides have returned to Santa Cruz beaches — what to know?
Better known to scientists as harmful algal blooms, red tides can cause irritation of the eyes, ears or nose for those with certain conditions in those areas but are generally not harmful. And they do sometimes come with bioluminescence — waves glowing at night.
Posted inLatest News
Dixie fire, now the second-largest in California history, has burned more than 400 structures
The Dixie fire, now the second-largest blaze in state history, has burned more than 463,000 acres and destroyed more than 400 buildings.