The City's Climate Action Program and Community Climate Action Task Force have compiled resources for community members to reference. The purpose of providing these education resources is to ensure the community is able to access information at varying levels of detail in order to engage in an informed manner in the climate action planning process and implementation. For each topic, click on the image button below to jump to that topic’s resources where you will find a short, easy to access resource (usually a video, article) and a more detailed resource for people who want to learn even more about the topic.

Climate Change 101 + Impacts

What causes climate change? What does that mean for Santa Cruz locally? The City is already subject to a variety of impacts like increased sea levels, increased intensity and frequency of storms and precipitation, erosion and landslides, wildfires and drought, among others. But resources here also discuss high level solutions to climate change that we will explore through this Climate Action Plan 2030 process.

Public Health + Safety

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions improves air quality in the near term, can improve health outcomes (e.g., through active transportation), and lessens the potential for extreme weather patterns in the medium to longer term. Proactive planning for the impacts of climate change helps to address other public and mental health impacts associated with fires, floods, and extreme heat.

Water

The City is reliant on locally sourced precipitation and very prone to drought, with cascading potential impacts to public health, fisheries, and fire suppression.

Buildings + Infrastructure

Building energy use is a large greenhouse gas emissions source in Santa Cruz that can be addressed by electrifying all features of new and existing buildings while ensuring electricity is from renewable sources. 

Clean Energy

Transitioning away from unsafe, unclean natural gas through conversion to renewable energy and battery storage will enable buildings and transportation networks to be electrified, Santa Cruz's two biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Transportation

Transportation causes the most greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Cruz. The community will need to consider how to drastically reduce emissions through the reduction in vehicle commutes,  use of electrified vehicles and public transportation as well as ensuring safe infrastructure for walking, bikes, and scooters

Waste + Food Systems

Potent greenhouse gasses are produced through animal based food production and food waste. There is little land zoned for agricultural production in Santa Cruz despite being the birthplace of organic farming. However, use of sustainable food systems and individual dietary choices can support the reduction of these potent greenhouse gas emissions.

Equity + Justice

Like so many other places, Santa Cruz’ frontline community neighborhoods, e.g., Beach Flats, Lower Ocean, already experience the impacts of climate change disproportionately and have less access to planning processes and decision making. 

Housing

While the Climate Action Plan development or implementation cannot  solve the affordable housing crisis in Santa Cruz, it can help ensure decarbonized development through dense, infill, transit oriented development patterns consistent with the Santa Cruz General Plan, the City’s overarching policy document adopted in 2013.

Parks + Open Spaces

Santa Cruzans seem to agree that preserving and enhancing our natural open spaces provides opportunities for recreation and relaxation, providing shade and cooling. These spaces also contain trees and vegetation that keeps carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) on the earth and out of the atmosphere and will need to be enhanced to optimize the potential to retain carbon dioxide on the earth.

Jobs + The Economy

10% of jobs in Santa Cruz are already considered "green"; design and implementation of the Climate Action Plan in concert with other collaborative jobs focused initiatives (e.g., the City's Interim Recovery Plan's Workforce development initiative) has the potential to increase the number of good green jobs available and provide training to ensure local community members can obtain those jobs.