Less than three years after its first resident moved in, the highly-touted energy-efficient development in Sacramento called 2500 R Street is now mired in a legal dispute over the alleged false advertising of its homes as net-zero energy and LEED-certified.

California agriculture, which had been plowing ahead in the face of a major drought, finally had an off year in 2015, according to data released recently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state’s farms brought in cash receipts of an estimated $47.1 billion (this will be revised in the months and years to come), down from a record $56.6 billion in 2014.

Sacramento artist Stephanie Taylor envisions what Capitol Mall would look like, and the benefits it would bring, as a rain garden.

While California is all-consumed with water wars, the Sacramento region’s efforts toward collaboration are easy to overlook. The best example is the landmark Water Forum Agreement, which 22 water agencies from Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer counties signed in 2000 to balance the environmental and human needs of the lower American River. Now, water agencies have joined together to launch the River Arc Project. 

Recently published book includes reflections on the changing landscape of California water by 20 top water leaders.

According to some ecologists and experts on global agricultural trends, our eating habits must change dramatically if we are to overcome environmental issues facing the planet and its future generations.

The Davis Farmers Market was founded in 1976 by a group of residents that included Ann Evans, local author, publisher and consultant. She’s still involved with the market today and wants to inspire more people to shop and cook seasonally.

Kurt Spataro has shopped at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op in three different locations since the 1980s, but he sees “a lot of new things to discover” at the co-op’s bigger and brighter new home at 2820 R St.

Like many local nonprofits, Cool Davis is challenged with limited funding opportunities, harnessing the talents and energy of diverse people and organizations to a common vision and purpose, and finding a positive and effective message to inspire and care for our community in the face of a rapidly worsening view of the future.

Though largely hidden from the consumer’s eye, food waste is hardly insignificant. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we waste between 30 to 40 percent of food each year — and with it water, money and the chance to feed food-insecure people.