Sustainable. Wikipedia describes it as “the capacity to endure.” While the definition is convenient, clean and nice, how it translates into reality is highly subjective. What you think of sustainable living might be quite different from what I think. Furthermore, I find it a common capitalistic affliction to know what sustainable living is and consciously not live that way.

All the submarine and terrestrial volcanoes in the world produce roughly 200 million tons of CO2 annually and humans, through the burning of fossil fuels, production of cement and gas flaring produce 30 billion tons annually. According to the United States Geological Survey, it's equivalent to adding 8,000 medium-sized active volcanoes like Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii, to the planet. As a marine and environmental scientist, I see daily how the natural world is viewed and used as an infinitely forgiving resource or a place where you can dump or trash. I have to work in my own life to develop myself out of old habits and into more ‘sustainable’ ones. From a global perspective, I have a very high carbon footprint and from a national perspective, it’s low. It’s easy to get lost in the computations of carbon footprints and to justify consuming with responses like, “I try to be a locavore,” “I buy organic,” or “I conserve,” but we are still left with the questions: is it sustainable? And, am I doing enough?

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Most of us would agree: Being a police officer is not easy work. The time and effort it takes to become an officer is one thing. Stepping into those shoes and serving the local community—and keeping it safe— on an ongoing basis is quite another. It’s just one of the reasons why our reporter wanted to go behind the scenes and explore what life was like for Santa Cruz Police. In a revealing cover story, Tom Honig unravels a tale that found him riding along with local police, sitting in on meetings and learning more about the inner workings of the department and the people that make it up. He also asks: Is Santa Cruz being well served by its police?

I have the most faith in gravity, because it keeps me on my feet and grounded.

DJ Gill

Santa Cruz | ICE Agent

Oscar Wilde once averred, “I am not young enough to know everything.” Imagine if he tried living in this modern era of too much information. It’s impossible to keep up.

I think it’s my iPad that finally made me hit the wall. It’s an incredible device—offering more information at one sitting than anyone could have ever imagined in those days of yore where we’d sit with maybe a newspaper, a magazine or even a book.

Years ago, I went to a journalism seminar and the media expert there asked the crowd of reporters and editors whether their business was news or information. More than half said they wanted to give information to their readers—go well beyond the news and really inform the public.

Mercury entered Capricorn the last day of November. With Mercury in Cap our communication becomes bare bones, essentially informational. Those born with (and during transits of) natal Mercury in Cap can sound harsh, unsympathetic, insensitive, unforgiving, strict, stringent, austere and authoritarian. That is not their intention, however strict their communication sounds. Capricorn, Saturn ruled, is concerned with and thus simply goes to the "heart" (core) of all matters. Mercury in Cap speech is purposeful, methodical, resourceful, exacting and rigorous. Don't push them to speak quickly. Allow them time to gather their thoughts. Mercury in Cap has crystal clear judgment, a special authority.

Did you see The Social Network? Jesse Eisenberg plays Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg, on the brink of founding the Facebook phenomenon, as a snarky, sarcastic, and rude narcissist, peering out a the world with cold-eyed disdain. When his girlfriend dumps him, all he can think of is rushing back to the dorm to go online and have his revenge. Nowadays, we call this online bullying. In 2003, it was the birth of a $41 billion empire.

I have no idea whether this portrait of Mark Zuckerberg is in any way true or accurate. But I've always found something a little creepy about the Borg-like stealth of Facebook and the way everyone needs to plug in, hook up, and drop out of real life. Resistance is futile, all right; every time I delete one invitation to join FB out of my inbox, six more pop up in its place.

Plus Letters to the Editor

Fiona Apple once said: “There aren't many poster children for cool angst.” I just say: “Thanks for the angst.” (Trust me—it’s easier to embrace it sometimes than fight it.) So ... it’s that time of year. again. Welcome! Welcome to your opportunity to get the heck out of your own way and everybody else’s for that matter. I’m not sure about you, but this year rushed by at a feverish pace. Death. Deadlines. More deadlines, and, in between, too many stories—quite a few that were uplifting—that filtered into the mix. But we’re far from being done with 2010. Which is why this week’s cover story seems truly appropriate. It revolves around AIDS. This week, our GT writer asks: Has AIDS become the forgotten epidemic?  Thirty years after AIDS stormed onto the scene, and after major medical advances to treat HIV, has this disease slipped out of public awareness? In a compelling read, with insights from locals involved with Santa Cruz AIDS Project, as well as longtime Assemblyman John Laird, and others, learn more about where we, as a society, are at with the illness. The story begins on page 16.

Thanksgiving is always a good time to take stock of your luck. At the table, many families take turns relating something to be grateful for. In such a shared setting, we usually talk about nice things in the world that we can all be thankful for: friends and family, roofs over our heads, California weather, Smartwool socks, anyone who makes the political landscape look less bleak or at least funny, the rise of the American microbrew.

This year, I felt thankful for something of a more selfish nature. I was thankful for being alive, because I recently realized the odds were against me. And I suspect that if you did the math, you would feel the same.