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“Climate change is not one condition among many; it’s the backdrop condition to them all,” said Angela Lipanovich, a clean energy attorney with Estriatus Law, at a recent event. It has stayed with me.
Climate change may be global in scale, but on California’s Central Coast, we experience its consequences close to home, in our coastline, our weather, our power grid and the rising costs of keeping our homes and businesses running.
History reminds us that meaningful change often begins through local leadership, innovative partnerships and people willing to work together toward a common purpose.
As Santa Cruz County staff work to take practical steps through the county’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, progress is being made toward reducing climate impacts.
The county has established ambitious goals that include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing clean electricity, encouraging electric transportation, expanding energy efficiency and developing local microgrids that can provide greater resilience during emergencies and power outages. These strategies are interconnected. Every rooftop solar installation, battery storage system and locally generated kilowatt helps strengthen our ability to adapt to an increasingly uncertain climate.
But successful climate action requires more than government planning. It requires community participation and, increasingly, community ownership.
That is why the launch of SolarWAVE Action comes at such an important moment.
SolarWAVE Action is a new Santa Cruz-based nonprofit dedicated to helping Californians take a more active role in shaping our clean energy future. Its mission is simple but powerful: to empower homeowners, businesses, schools, farms and multifamily property owners to participate in clean energy ownership while advocating for policies that make renewable energy more accessible and affordable. The timing couldn’t be better.
Last year, Lipanovich and her SolarWAVE co-founder, Jenny Folkesson, a data scientist, proved what can happen when different kinds of experts come together around a common problem. Working with Scudder Solar, the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce and Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, they built the data-driven case for Assembly Bill 1104. The legislation removes unnecessary regulatory barriers for private businesses and organizations installing solar projects. By cutting red tape, the law opens the door for more local investment in renewable energy.
While legislative changes often sound technical, their impact is anything but.
When a local school, nonprofit, farm, apartment complex, homeowner or business installs solar, it does more than generate clean electricity. It lowers long-term operating costs, improves energy resilience, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and keeps more dollars circulating within the local economy instead of leaving the community through rising utility bills. Those savings can be reinvested into employees, services, housing, education and local economic growth.
Energy spending is inevitable. The question is who owns the infrastructure that produces our energy and where the benefits of that investment go. Local ownership creates local resilience.
Communities become stronger when they have greater control over their own energy future. Rather than relying solely on large, centralized systems, distributed renewable energy allows smaller entities to become active participants in building a cleaner, more reliable electric grid. That sense of ownership matters.
For decades, environmental conversations have often focused on what individuals should give up. Drive less. Use less. Consume less. Those actions remain important. But the clean-energy transition offers a different story: not simply asking people to consume less, but giving them a chance to own more, produce more, save more and have more control over the energy systems they depend on.
For those of us who care deeply about our coastline, climate action is about reducing emissions and preserving the natural resources that define our quality of life and support our local economy. It is about ensuring that the communities that make up the Central Coast are prepared for the changes ahead.
That is why organizations like SolarWAVE Action are so important. They bridge the gap between policy and people, helping communities understand new opportunities, advocating for smart legislation and creating pathways for more Californians to participate in the clean energy transition. Santa Cruz County has long been a place where environmental innovation takes root, and SolarWAVE Action represents the next chapter in that tradition.
SolarWAVE Action’s launch party set for Sept. 17 will bring together people interested in the future of clean energy. It will be an opportunity to consider the larger question: What role do we want to play in building the energy future of the places we call home? Climate action becomes more powerful when communities don’t just consume energy, but when they own part of the solution. Visit their website at solarwaveaction.org for more details.
The decisions we make about energy today will shape the health of our coastline tomorrow. When we invest in cleaner, locally owned energy, we are also investing in the communities and marine environment that define life on the Central Coast. Because protecting our climate begins with strengthening our communities, and there is no better place to start than in our ocean backyard.
Tracey Weiss is the executive director of the O’Neill Sea Odyssey. She is working to support the residents of Santa Cruz County with the information that allows them to connect, impact and understand the ocean ecosystem and the regional environment we call home. She can be reached at osoexecdirector@oneillseaodyssey.org.
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