In addition to fried food and new amusement rides the Monterey County Fair aims to stimulate literacy, innovation and imagination.

The 74th installment gets under way Wednesday and runs through Monday at the Monterey County Fairgrounds...

A new exhibit at this year's fair is the Hall of Innovation. [Monterey County Fair CEO Kelly] Violini said the showcase intends to inspire people to be creative and examine green ways of living. There will be displays for green vehicles and solar technology as well as appearances by American astronauts from the Naval Postgraduate School.

"It's important to stimulate creative and innovation in our children and in adults," said Wendy Brickman, Fair spokeswoman.

PG&E is handing over tens of thousands of dollars to the nonprofit Sempervirens Fund to protect a 425-acre stand of redwoods once slated for logging deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The deal, expected to be completed next month, is part of the utility's efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions, in this case safeguarding trees for carbon absorption, and is helping to drive a new marketplace where people and business are offered an incentive to offset pollution.

"We're finding a new financial model here for doing things to capture greenhouse gases that wouldn't have been done otherwise," said Robert Parkhurst, climate protection and analysis manager for PG&E.

"It's a new paradigm for protecting the environment."

The new season of Green Drinks is starting up again on Sept 2nd from 5:30-7:30pm at the Cypress Lounge in Santa Cruz.

Green Drinks is an informal networking event where environmentally minded people meet over drinks. Started in London in 1989, it has spread to 51 cities in the United Kingdom, 223 in the U.S. and many more. As of May 2009, there are over 525 Green Drink Chapters worldwide.

For the new season organizer Ecology Action is asking for volunteers and/or event ideas. If you would like to volunteer or have an idea for a future Green Drinks, contact Caroline Hawkins at caroline@ecoact.org.

Whatever happened to biodiesel? Once--not so long ago--it was hailed as an immediate and sustainable way to alleviate dependence on oil and reduce CO2 emissions. But lately biodiesel seems to be living in the shadow of other green technologies, like spotlight-stealing electric cars. However, the absence of fanfare hasn't deterred Santa Cruz's Kings of Biodiesel, Green Station owners Bill Le Bon and Ray Newkirk, from continuing the fight. While forced to lease U-Hauls out of the Green Station lot to make ends meet (and sell some of those sly electric cars, which they also agree are great eco-choices), they remain committed to keeping the biodiesel pumps alive and accessible for Santa Cruz.

The new solar plant at CSU Monterey Bay is producing 16 percent of the university's electricity requirements. Two hundred and thirty-two cameras have been installed campuswide to improve security. KAZU, the university-affiliated NPR radio station, is self-sustaining for the first time.

These were some of the highlights in the State of the University speech by university President Dianne Harrison, who addressed faculty, staff and students at the World Theater on Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging speech that touched on technology innovations (students can now get their financial aid checks and refunds electronically), the university's accreditation process (it should be completed by the end of the academic year), and university efforts to increase graduation rates.

Toby Hastings is in his third season of coaxing life from tidy rows in the middle of an organic walnut orchard in rural Winters. He is simultaneously bucking two trends: the aging of the nation's farmers and the increasingly difficult feat of finding land that can be farmed and starting a business.

Hastings' Free Spirit Farm was born in 2008 when he became the "farmer incubator" -- a name borrowed from the term business incubator -- of the Center for Land-Based Learning, a nonprofit organization that exposes youths to sustainable agriculture and nature restoration.