• How pesticides endanger pregnant farmworkers in Pajaro Valley

• Why trash is piling up in bay cities as sanitation workers go on strike

• Surfrider Foundation brings back local water quality monitoring

• Capitola renovating haunted mansion grounds for new park

• And more!

SANTA CRUZ ALMANAC

Weather forecast: These foggy summer nights continue, sometimes condensing into patchy drizzle before gradually evaporating into blue skies. 👙

Surf report: More south swell inbound, building to 5-6 feet by Wednesday, maybe overhead on exposed breaks. Watch for afternoon winds making a mess. 🌊

Night sky: Heading into midsummer, Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer looms high in the southeast, nearly butting heads with Hercules. The Summer Triangle rises over his left shoulder, three bright stars in the constellations Aquila, Cygnus and Lyra. 🐍

Natural history: I caught this absolute chonker of a sea lion at the wharf last week — so big I thought it might be a lost Steller sea lion, the larger Arctic cousin of our California sea lions, but his giant dome gave him away. NOAA says that male California sea lions grow to an average of 700 pounds; the largest ever recorded (that I could find) was named Hugh Mungus and weighed 1,455 pounds. I think this husky king might give him a run for his money. 🐖

Chonky sea lion catching z's at the wharf. (Photo: Jordy Hyman)

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TOP STORIES

1) Activists say pesticide regulations are too lax to protect farmworkers from lifelong health issues

Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy has been linked to childhood brain cancer, leukemia, lower cognition, premature birth, and symptoms and diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A recent investigation by Nik Altenberg of Santa Cruz Local explores the risks and challenges of farmers’ working conditions and access to healthcare and support. From the story:

In part due to the risks pesticides pose, farmworkers are eligible to stop work on the first day of pregnancy and collect state disability insurance payments that they have paid into — regardless of immigration status. But barriers to access the payments persist, including language access challenges, a lack of money to cover the delay to the first payment, immigration enforcement fears and a lack of awareness of the system. Most women also don’t know they are pregnant until several weeks into pregnancy.

Katie Gabriel-Cox, a maternal care doctor at Salud Para La Gente, told SC Local she has observed much higher rates of childhood cancer in Watsonville than in Santa Cruz. “Everyone thinks, including the farmworkers, ‘It has to be the pesticides.’ And so my question is always, why is the onus on the community to prove that their cancer was related to pesticides?” she asked. “Why isn’t it the agribusiness’ responsibility to prove that it doesn’t cause cancer?”

Toxic pesticides sprayed near schools spark outrage in Watsonville (Video: KION 46)

2) Local Teamsters unions join national ‘garbage war’ against Republic Services

The Mercury News reports that sanitation workers across Northern California are on strike for living wages and better working conditions, leaving refuse piling up in the streets until Republic agrees to their terms. In a statement last Wednesday, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said, “Republic Services has been threatening a war with American workers for years — and now, they’ve got one. Republic abuses and underpays workers across the country. They burn massive profits and funnel money to undeserving, corrupt executives. The Teamsters have had it with Republic.”

Teamsters union members first hit the picket lines outside Republic facilities in Boston on July 1, spreading nationwide in the weeks that followed. According to the Mercury News, some Bay Area cities have resorted to temporary drop-off sites to relieve overflowing collection bins. It is unknown how long the strike will continue.

Republic Services strike: Bay Area trash collection delays continue (Video: NBC Bay Area)

3) Surfrider Foundation is bringing back the Blue Water Task Force

A national network of volunteers that measures bacteria levels in the water at nearly 600 sites, Surfrider founded the Blue Water Task Force in Santa Cruz over 25 years ago. In a Facebook post last week, the Santa Cruz Chapter announced that it would be resuming water quality testing every Thursday and Saturday at multiple beaches in the area. Check out this interactive tool to see the results, and if you’re interested in helping out, you can email here for more info.

Results of the first water testing of the year by local volunteers for the Blue Water Task Force (Image: Surfrider Foundation Santa Cruz Chapter Facebook)

4) Rispin Mansion becoming the newest park in Capitola

The grounds of a dilapidated 100-year-old mansion high above Soquel Creek are getting a major makeover after decades of abandonment. Good Times reported that, “according to records from the Capitola Historical Museum, Canadian-born entrepreneur Henry Allen Rispin built the mansion between 1919 and 1921 as a sort of demonstration home/example for developing Capitola as a resort.” Capitola Public Works has been restoring structures, installing new water and power, and building new walkways and an amphitheater ahead of an expected opening event later this summer.

Deborah Osterberg of the Capitola History Museum surveys the exterior of the Rispin Mansion. (Photo: Kristen McLaughlin/Good Times)

PIC OF THE WEEK

I couldn’t resist throwing in another shot of my big beautiful boy and his trusty sidekick. If you take a cool local pic, send it my way and you might see it here next week! (Photo: Jordy Hyman)

Okay, you can let that breath out now. Try to bring your attention to your breath every once in a while — as long as you keep it moving, you should make it through the week no problem, and I’ll meet you right back here next week with more newsletter.

— Jordy Hyman

About me: Who am I, you ask? Just a curious local lad with a green thumb and a heart of gold, former intern at our beloved Good Times as well as the Santa Cruz Sentinel, not to mention farmer, landscaper, habitat restorer and winemaker, to name a few of my occupations. These days I teach kids about nature, and I enjoy camping, karaoke and long walks off short piers.

Have any feedback, questions, suggestions or corrections? Or a tip about what’s happening around here? Hit me up by responding to this newsletter.