Taylor Reinhold
Project Director
Why Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is the gateway to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which boasts the nation’s largest kelp forests and one of North America’s largest underwater canyons and closest-to-shore deep ocean environments, covering an area larger than Yellowstone National Park. Its diverse marine ecosystems harbor an incredible variety of marine life, including 34 species of marine mammals, over 180 species of seabirds and shorebirds, at least 525 species of fishes and an abundance of invertebrates and algae.
However, the region also faces numerous global environmental issues, including plastic pollution, shoreline erosion, overfishing, ocean acidification, river runoff, sea-level rise, conservation of valuable ocean species, and climate change.
The entanglement of whales at the hands of commercial fisheries, point-source pollution from massive cruise ships, and the disregard for critical freshwater habitats such as the San Lorenzo River as well are issues that too often go unnoticed or are overlooked in the interest of economic growth and urban development.
Despite a wealth of scientifically-conclusive findings and informative education about the harms of our actions, we far too often lack the political will and the people’s buy-in necessary to effect meaningful change for the better.
Through our large-scale public artworks and community outreach events, we aim to invigorate the community to speak up for what cannot speak for itself.