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California's drought could cost Central Valley farms and irrigated agriculture $1.7 billion and some 14,500 jobs this year, according to a study by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.

TiE Silicon Valley, a not for profit organization dedicated to "fostering entrepreneurship in the Bay Area and globally," has announced an upcoming hackathon event focused on tackling three real-world issues within the "smart city" space: smart parking, waste disposal management and water access management. The event will begin in January 2016 and will last for two weeks. Winners will be invited to attend TiECon 2016, TiE's largest annual conference, and will also have an opportunity to win prizes and publicity.

Ford Motor Company announced intentions to deliver a fully autonomous vehicle for ride sharing by 2021. The company also announced 4 new investments and collaborations that expand its autonomous vehicle research, and set out plans to double its Silicon Valley Research and Innovation Center team by the end of 2017.

Since 2014, oil companies reported that they used more than 20 million pounds and 2 million gallons of chemicals in their operations, including at least 16 chemicals the state of California classifies as carcinogens or reproductive toxicants under the state's Proposition 65 law. That recycled wastewater was then sold to irrigation districts largely in Kern County. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has allowed the practice for at least four decades and only recently required the oil companies and water districts to disclose the details. EWG detailed its findings in a report released Wednesday, two days before a public meeting of an expert panel convened to study the practice's safety. Although scientists don't know whether using oil field wastewater to grow crops poses a health risk to people who eat the food, the water board has refused to halt the practice until the expert panel releases its findings.

The largest landfill in the US shut it gates forever on 10/31/13. After 56 years of operation, the Puente Hills Landfill in southeastern Los Angeles County has collected around 130 million tons of waste since 1957 and is 40 stories high in some places, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

As we close out 2014, here are Silicon Valley Community Foundation's predictions for what's ahead for CSR in the coming year:

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition released its 2015 Solar Scorecard, a ranking that scores solar PV module manufacturers on a scale of 0-100 points based on their environmental, sustainability, and social justice factors. The 5 companies recognized as industry leaders included the following:  1. SunPower 2. SolarWorld 3. Trina 4. REC 5. Yingli

"Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California and a critical source of water for Central Valley farms and cities from the Bay Area to Bakersfield, reached 100 percent of its historic average Sunday as billions of gallons continued to pour in from drenching downpours."

Los Angeles County approves the start of the Newhall Ranch master-planned community north of the city of Los Angeles. The state has never seen a community quite like Newhall Ranch, proposed by California developer FivePoint. It will be a carbon-neutral development in the Santa Clarita Valley that tackles such critical challenges as climate change, water conservation, and the dire housing shortage that is severely threatening our economic competitiveness.

The acclaimed fashion company behind Gucci and Saint Laurent teams with a startup accelerator to find the next big thing in circular, durable and decarbonized fashion.

Forget the romantic image of a lonely fisherman chasing his catch on the open water. Fishing supply chains have become sprawling, technology-driven operations rife with overfishing and human rights abuses.

Palm oil production is a big business in Malaysia and Indonesia, but environmental pollution is one of the industry's biggest problems. A Silicon Valley company hopes to turn that problem into a profit by converting wastes from palm oil production into fuel

The iPhone maker's master plan features extensive green space, aggressive water conservation and one of the largest corporate solar arrays in the world.