A group of people stand in line waiting for popcorn at last year’s Burning Man Decompression party in San Francisco—organized, calm and fixating on their next salty snack fix. Flash forward 20 minutes later to a scene in which said popcorn line has morphed into an all-out dance party in which any remaining “line” is buried beneath an amorphous unit of booty-shakers and stilt-walkers crowding around one feverish Santa Cruz ensemble, Trip Delight Fantastic. “

Wow, has it been a year already? This weekend, San Francisco is the place to be when the Wondercon invades the Moscone Center once again. Three days packed to the brim with toys, celebrity guests, and your favorite artistic talent popping in to hype up what to look forward to in the world of comic books for the next year. Think of it as sort of a Burning Man for nerds, only without the drugs and more clothes (well, sort of ).

My idea of heaven is the life
that we create on earth.
Kevin Contreras
Watsonville | Conservationist

This spring break, 50 California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) students took to the beach to draw attention to plastic pollution and to encourage banning polystyrene.  Beach cleanups were held at many of the tour’s seven stops (including in Santa Cruz on March 23), along with meetings with public officials and press conferences, where students and community leaders talked about the threat plastic pollution poses to our oceans and why they believe the answer lies in a statewide ban on single-use, polystyrene take-out containers.

Desalination plant gets green light. Will energy use spike water rates?
The Santa Cruz City Council has unanimously endorsed an agreement for a desalination plant, sparking community concerns about energy and environmental impacts.

Their March 23 decision gave the green light for project design and planning, but does not commit the city to construct the plant, says Mayor Mike Rotkin. The agreement also outlines a water-sharing plan with the Soquel Creek Water District, giving Santa Cruz primary rights to use the facility.

“The city council is on record at this point for moving forward with the desalination plant, although we won’t approve construction until we have seen the environmental review,” says Rotkin.  

Crusaders fighting to save state parks propose a plan for funding
Across California, state parks have been faced with an onslaught of financial uncertainty. Much to the chagrin of residents and tourists, parks have been forced to cut hours and services and even close their gates due to a $14 million cut from the state last year, leaving local agencies to recoup the costs. Maintenance has been neglected and many state parks have bridges down, bathrooms closed and popular trails unapproachable because of downed trees and abundant overgrowth.

Can you describe a few scenarios where the healthcare reform bill will affect regular people on the Central Coast?

It’s no secret that I’m very proud of my vote to reform the health insurance system to provide stable, affordable insurance for all Americans. This reform will help all Americans, even those who already have insurance.

Let’s start with the owner of a small business. She employs 15 people and currently can’t afford to offer coverage. This is all too common. Only about 45 percent of small businesses can afford to offer health benefits, with costs up 129 percent since 2000.

UCSC graduate training program is awarded $2.1 million by the NSF
The National Science Foundation has awarded a team at UC Santa Cruz a $2.1 million dollar grant to create a graduate training program aimed at teaching environmental science graduate students how to become effective communicators of science with non-scientists.

The program, known as SCWIBLES (Santa Cruz-Watsonville Inquiry-Based Learning in Environmental Sciences), will facilitate a partnership between UCSC grad students and Watsonville area high school teachers in developing and implementing a set of curriculum emphasizing engagement and application of science, rather than just the theory.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” —Albert Einstein
I think the human race likes to find formulas. A+B=C and we end up doing the same thing over and over—even when the formula does not work anymore. A dear friend of mine was talking about how his weight loss has stalled. He is a vegetarian, eats especially well and has been doing P90X, the exercise DVD phenomenon, daily. He shared that running is his form of cardio, so he tends to run faster to finish his workout quicker. This has been his exercise routine for years: start running again, lose weight, stop running, gain weight. Repeat.

Plus Letters to Good Times…
Walking the FRSC Plank
Change the Focus

As the last week of March rolls in, it won’t hurt to take stock of our own personal progress thus far. How is 2010 treating you? How are you treating it? I am bringing this up because most of our issue this week focuses on the external home and gardens in your life. And, since I am a fan of waxing philosophical and diving into deep emotional waters—I can hear my mother chucking at how “California” I might sound—I think it’s also fitting to ask: Well, what are we doing with our inner sanctuaries? Any screws loose? What’s blooming inside? Are you re-arranging the furniture in the living room of your mind? (Usually a good thing.) Lately, I’ve realized that in order to maintain some delicious balance in my life, I have to be in nature more often. To that end, I’ve been re-discovering the mecca in which we all live—the beaches, the forests and more. And now that the days are longer, I’m also apt to take more walks in the evening. It is Spring, after all, and there’s plenty to see and enjoy. Try it. See what shows up for you.