Monday Mailing 010719

Monday Mailing Quote of the Week:

“Life is like photography.

You need the negatives to develop.”

- Unknown

Oregon Fast Fact #31

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It was formed more than 6,500 years ago. Its crystalblue waters are world renowned.

Year 25 • Issue 17 7 January 2019 1. How Does Your State Make Electricity (Michael Hoch) 2. Denver And Boulder Have Big Goals To Fight Climate Change. But There Is An Obstacle: Cannabis (Michael Hoch) 3. Top Planning Websites – 2018 (Corum Ketchum) 4. It’s Time To Start Eating Roadkill 5. Keeping US National Parks Open During The Shutdown Is A Terrible Mistake 6. Meet Metro’s New Boss, And Prepare for Major Portland Area Changes 7. Oregon’s Prison Commissaries Offer Amazon-like Array Of Goods, Rack Up $17 Million In Sales 8. DOCUMENTARY – Paris To Pittsburgh (Michael Hoch) 9. PODCAST - How Can You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions?

(Corum Ketchum) 10. WEBINAR – Introducing Dangerous By Design 2018 (Bayoán Ware) 1. How Does Your State Make Electricity America isn’t making electricity the way it did two decades ago: Natural gas has edged out coal as the country’s leading generation source and renewables like wind and solar have made small yet speedy gains. But, each state has its own story.

In Nevada, natural gas surpassed coal as the top source of electricity generation in 2005, earlier than in many other states. Coal’s role in the state’s power mix has continued to decline since then. In Iowa, wind power has taken off over the past decade. It now makes up nearly 40 percent of the electricity produced in the state. But in West Virginia, coal still fuels nearly all electricity generation.

Overall, fossil fuels still dominate electricity generation in the United States. But the shift from coal to natural gas has helped to lower carbon dioxide emissions and other pollution. Last year, coal was the main source of electricity generation for 18 states, down from 32 states in 2001.

To access the full story, click here.

2. Denver And Boulder Have Big Goals To Fight Climate

Change. But There Is An Obstacle: Cannabis

Stretching the day for tiny marijuana plants at a Lafayette greenhouse long after night falls makes for a hefty electric bill.

Even with big investments in a computer system to control heat, light and humidity, and in more-efficient light bulbs and fans, RiNo

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Supply Co. general manager Brian Matthews says 85 percent of the energy costs at the greenhouse are in lighting.

“We are always looking to be more efficient,” he said.

Cannabis cultivators, who keep the grow lights on for 18 hours straight every day, are being pressured into efficiency by market forces and, in some states (notably, Colorado, California and Massachusetts), encouraged by government policies that promote sustainability and try to reduce marijuana-related greenhouse gas emissions.

To access the full story, click here.

3. Top Planning Websites - 2018

Every year, Planetizen provides a list of "Top Websites" to amplify the accomplishments of designers and developers who are expanding the power of the Internet to benefit of built and natural environments.

After collecting nominations from readers and staff, the Planetizen editorial staff selected the 2018 Top Websites list based on a common set of criteria, including content, design, and usability. This year, the list includes choosing 12 websites, representing a variety of uses and focuses. While these websites didn't necessarily launch this year, they represent the avantgarde of planning-related web technology in 2018.

To access the full story, click here.

4. It’s Time To Start Eating Roadkill

My mother texts me four photos of a dead moose the week I leave Alaska. It is freshly hit. The pebbled pink brains fanning across the pavement have not yet grayed in the brisk autumn air.

The animal will not go to waste. For the past 50 years, Alaska has been the only state where virtually every piece of large roadkill is eaten.

Every year, between 600 and 800 moose are killed in Alaska by cars, leaving up to 250,000 pounds of organic, free-range meat on the road. State troopers who respond to these collisions keep a list of charities and families who have agreed to drive to the scene of an accident at any time, in any weather, to haul away and butcher the body.

To access the full story, click here.

5. Keeping US National Parks Open During The Shutdown Is A Terrible Mistake

When I was a ranger at Crater Lake National Park in the 1980s, the average snowfall at headquarters was 500in a year, and snow could accumulate at 2in an hour. One of my jobs as ranger was to shovel out the fire hydrants every day, so that if there was a fire in the hotel, headquarters or housing, we’d be able to fight it. Our maintenance staff plowed roads for safe visitor access and rangers patrolled on skis, regularly performing rescues. This was all part of ensuring that, in accordance with the National Park Service’s founding charter, the parks are “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”.

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Leaving the parks open without these essential staff is equivalent to leaving the Smithsonian museums open without any staff to protect the priceless artefacts. Yet as a result of the government shutdown, which furloughed most park staff, this is what has happened. It is a violation of the stewardship mandate, motivated only by politics. While the majority of the public will be respectful, there will always be a few who take advantage of the opportunity to do lasting damage.

To access the full story, click here.

6. Meet Metro’s New Boss, And Prepare For Major Portland Area Changes

Lynn Peterson and her husband built their first electric car 20 years ago. Technology has improved since then, but not that much. Today the dashboard of her Volkswagen E-Golf says we have 80 miles left. We’ll need each one.

As she takes office this week as president of Metro, the Portland area’s regional government, Peterson is focused on all the places in between the long, car-centric stretches of asphalt that connect the region’s thriving city centers. These are not the places that made Portland a national leader in smart growth. But they are vitally important in solving several of the state’s biggest problems – including the housing crisis and a traffic snarl that, as it worsens, grows into an increasing economic threat.

To access the full story, click here.

7. Oregon’s Prison Commissaries Offer Amazon-like Array Of Goods, Rack Up $17 Million In Sales

The warehouse in Salem functions with impressive efficiency. Dozens of workers make their way along a wall of goods, filling baskets with everything from Sriracha and noodles to bras and lipstick. Orders are checked by supervisors, bagged and shipped to customers.

Think of it as an Amazon fulfillment center. In this case, though, the audience is a captive one: They're prisoners.

The Oregon Department of Corrections runs its own version of a big box store for the state's 14,700-plus inmate population. The Salem operation, one of two commissary bagging sites statewide, serves 11 prisons; a second warehouse in Ontario serves inmates at three prisons on the east side of the state. And two other prisons, one in Umatilla and the other in Pendleton, have their own storefront commissaries.

To access the full story, click here.

8. DOCUMENTARY – Paris To Pittsburgh

From coastal cities to America’s heartland, Paris to Pittsburgh celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. And as the weather grows more deadly and destructive, they aren’t waiting on Washington to act.

To access the full story, click here.

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9. PODCAST - How Can You Keep Your New Years Resolution?

There is a degree of magical thinking that takes place this time of year. After all, there is no logical reason why your motivations or willpower would be any different the first week in January versus, say, the third week in March. Yet, so many of us (close to half of all Americans) make New Year’s resolutions. The bad news is that just 8% of us will actually keep them all year.

Which is why we set out to find out exactly how to stick to resolutions on the first episode of the second season of Secrets of the Most Productive People. We got expert advice from Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author Charles Duhigg, who told us that the secret to sticking to any goal is taking steps to turn it into a lasting habit. He also broke down exactly how to do that, and shared why even though it seems arbitrary, January 1st may be the best time to make a big change.

To access the full story, click here.

10. WEBINAR – Introducing Dangerous By Design 2018 (Jan. 24 @ 11:30am PST)

Pedestrian fatalities have been on the rise over the last decade with nearly 6,000 people killed while walking in 2017. However, the risk of being hit and killed is not the same in every place, and that risk is increasing more in some communities than others.

The National Complete Streets Coalition will release Dangerous by Design 2018 on January 23, 2019, ranking each state and the 100 most populous metro areas based on how deadly they are for people walking. In this webinar, we'll explore the results in the report and speak with experts about what can be done to make walking safer and save lives.

Dangerous by Design 2018 creates a "Pedestrian Danger Index" (PDI) for each metro area and state using the most recent federal data on pedestrian fatalities from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The PDI is based on the number of people struck and killed by drivers between 2008 and 2017 while walking, controlling for the number of residents and the number of people that walk to work.

To learn more, click here.

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