When Elizabeth Bastians of UCSC went to Mexico this year, she expected to find hordes of lizards there. There weren’t, and Bastians claims that this is an indication of things to come. In a paper released yesterday, she and her coathours argue that some 20 percent of the world’s 5,000 lizard species could go extinct by 2080 as a result of global warming. “The sites where there had been the greatest change in temperature were the ones where the lizard had gone extinct,” she says.
Ten Questions for Belle Yang
The Pacific Grove resident, UCSC grad and author of the forthcoming graphic novel Forget Sorrow talks about her book, outdoor pastimes and an ironic culinary discovery.
Save Our Shores Targets Plastic Pollution
Although we don’t have to worry about a massive oil leak erupting in our immediate backyards, local waters do not go unharmed by the consequences of petroleum production. Save Our Shores—formed in 1978 to voice community opposition to offshore drilling—continues to fight against one of the unfortunate impacts of global oil dependence: plastic pollution. With slide show.
Zero Motorcycles Looks to Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is a motorcycle Mecca. After all, four wheels may move the body, but two wheels move the soul. Perhaps that is why Santa Cruz is also an environmental Mecca, which is why Zero Motorcycles is looking to open up shop here. The electric motorcycle manufacturer, currently based up the road in Scotts Valley, is looking for $800,000 to open a new research and manufacturing site as well as a store front in Santa Cruz. On Tuesday night, City Council voted to help the business out with a $175,000 loan and an additional $25,000 in staffing and technical assistance.
SCPD Collaboration with ICE Under Fire
Just about everyone agrees that something must be done about the growing problem of gang violence in Santa Cruz. Not everyone, however, is happy about the SCPD collaborating with Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
Local Boy Scout Troop Under Scrutiny After Child Molestation Charges
A local Boy Scout trip is being sued over a case of child molestation that occurred more than 20 years ago. Andy Hinkle, 32, formerly of Santa Cruz but now of Oregon, claims that he was molested as a boy while attending the Pico Blanco Scout Camp in Palo Colorado Canyon in Big Sur in the early 1980s. The molestation started when he was five and lasted for seven years.
Students Protest Library Cuts
It’s not just municipal libraries that are feeling the pinch of ongoing budget cuts. Campus libraries are also facing cuts, which result in reduced staff and even reduced hours. In the past three years alone, UCSC’s libraries have lost $2 million in funding. New books are rarely acquired and important journal subscriptions are going unfilled.
Vienna Teng’s Musical Progression
Vienna Teng hasn’t lost faith in the power of music to change the world, but she’s not putting all her eggs in one basket.
The Saratoga-raised singer/songwriter has earned a passionate following over the past decade with a series of albums distinguished by her luminous voice, poetically evocative lyrics and incisive melodies. While her songs tend toward introspection and character study more than advocacy, she has sought to align her politics with her art, whether partnering with Habitat for Humanity on her 2007 Green Caravan tour or offering ecologically friendly merchandise.
Santa Cruz Seniors to Be Stranded
There have been a lot of complaints about the Chanticleer Home, a care facility for the elderly, since 2005. In fact there have been more than 100, including accounts of one resident wandering away and another denied medical care. Based on these complaints, a judge has ordered the facility shut down, but the families of the seniors—and the seniors themselves—aren’t taking it lightly.
Turning Down the Volume
The SCPD has added a new feature to its website. It is listing all the houses that have received tickets over the past 12 months for hosting a “loud and unruly gathering,” i.e., the houses where people party. These are generally parties with over 150 people, most of them drinking heavily. The result, too often, is garbage littering the neighborhood and the not-infrequent boozer bash-up.
