Monday Mailing Quote of the Week:
“I walk with Beauty As I walk, as I walk, The universe is walking with me, In beauty it walks before me, In beauty it walks behind me, In beauty it walks below me, In beauty it walks above me, Beauty is on every side. - Traditional Navajo Prayer
Oregon Fast Fact #4
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and is formed in the remains of an ancient volcano.
Year 25 • Issue 31 22 April 2019 1. Design And The Green New Deal (Patrick Lynch) 2. America’s Record High Energy Consumption, Explained In 3 Charts (Corum Ketchum) 3. The Willamette River Is Among 10 Most ‘Endangered’ Rivers of 2019 4. Non-Glamourous Gains: The Pennsylvania Land Tax Experiment (Gabriel Leon) 5. Food Stamps Recipients Can Now Order Groceries Online For Delivery. Amazon, Walmart And ShopRite Will Offer The Service (Caitlyn Seyfried) 6. How Wildlife Bridges Over Highways Make Animals – And People Safer 7. Who’s To Blame For Gentrification? Planners, Apparently 8. Civic Crowdfunding Reduces The Risk Of ‘Bikelash’ 9. Oregon And Washington Launch New Clean Energy Initiatives To Reduce Fossil Fuel Dependence 10. WEBINAR – Thinking Spatially And Statistically (Corum Ketchum) 1. Design And The Green New Deal I don’t know when the myth of landscape architects as climate saviors began, but I know it’s time to kill it. The New Landscape Declaration — a book emerging from a 2016 summit attended by the brightest thinkers in our field — frames landscape architecture as an “ever more urgent necessity,” if not the foundation of civil society. As engineers shaped the built environment of the 19th century and architects the 20th, landscape architects have claimed this century as their own. 1 That’s a bold statement for an obscure profession whose 15,000 U.S. members spend most of their time designing small parks, office courtyards, and residential projects for private clients. Yet it’s not just landscape architects who see a big future for the field. Famed industrial designer Dieter Rams has said that if he were starting his career today, he’d focus on landscapes, not machines. And public officials have recruited landscape architects to the front lines of urban development (as James Corner’s High Line and Thomas Woltz’s Public Square frame Hudson Yards) and climate resilience (as the federal program Rebuild by Design ties hurricane recovery to coastal defense). But if The New Landscape Declaration sought to articulate and elevate our professional ideals, mostly it exposed the gap between rhetoric and reality. The book arrived in fall 2017, a few months after David Wallace-Wells published his alarming article, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” with its memorable opening line quaking, “It is, I promise, worse than you think.” That 7,000-word jeremiad was later expanded into a bestselling book, with acknowledgments thanking the dozens of climate writers, scientists, and activists who Page 1 of 6
informed the author’s research. This is mainstream media’s most comprehensive account of the climate movement, and it contains no mention of work by landscape architects. There is no commentary on Rebuild by Design. It’s as if landscape architecture does not exist. Setting aside the justified critiques of Wallace-Wells’s apocalyptic framing, what does it mean that landscape architects are missing from this prominent book on a topic we claim as our own? Is our discipline a necessity? Are we closing the gap between ideals and practice? We are not, I promise, saving the world. To access the full story, click here. 2. America’s Record High Energy Consumption, Explained In 3 Charts The US Energy Information Administration dropped some troubling new data this week: US energy consumption hit a record high in 2018 in large part due to the growing use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels provided 80 percent of total energy used in 2018. Consumption of natural gas and petroleum grew by 4 percent, while coal consumption declined by 4 percent compared to the year before. Renewable energy production also reached a record high last year, climbing 3 percent relative to 2017. The growth in energy use is largely a function of the growing US economy. More goods, more travel, more services mean using more fuel and electricity. However, that also means we are moving further away from our already limited ambitions in fighting climate change. The EIA’s latest numbers starkly reveal where we are and just how far we have to go if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century. And it follows a report from the Rhodium Group earlier this year that found that US greenhouse gas emissions rose 3.4 percent in 2018 compared to the year before, reversing a three-year decline in the production of heat-trapping gases that contribute to climate change. To access the full story, click here.
3. The Willamette River Is Among 10 Most ‘Endangered’ Rivers of 2019
Sure, we know about endangered species, but did you know there are endangered rivers, too? Environmental group American Rivers released its annual list of the USA's top 10 "most endangered" rivers Tuesday, and this year, the top "dishonor" goes to New Mexico’s Gila River. The river got the top spot due to the grave threat that climate change and a proposed diversion project pose to New Mexico’s last free-flowing river.
"New Mexicans can’t afford to dry up their last wild river,” said Matt Rice, Colorado Basin director for American Rivers. “Ruining the Gila River with an expensive diversion project doesn’t make sense when there are better, more cost-effective water supply options.” The Willamette River in Oregon was ranked as the fifth most endangered. Here's what American Rivers said: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must immediately improve 13 dams to save wild chinook salmon and steelhead from going extinct." Page 2 of 6
These rivers aren't the nation's "worst" or most polluted rivers. According to American Rivers, three factors put rivers on the list: the significance of the river to human and natural communities; the magnitude of the threat to the river and its nearby communities, especially in light of a changing climate; and a major decision that the public can help influence in the coming year. To access the full story, click here. 4. Non-Glamorous Gains: The Pennsylvania Land Tax Experiment For over a century, Pennsylvania has undertaken a quiet experiment. It is one of the only U.S. states where cities are allowed to tax land at a higher rate than the buildings on it. Pittsburgh and Scranton adopted this tax system in 1913, and roughly a dozen other cities have followed suit since the 1950s. This Pennsylvania Experiment has a lot to teach us about how taxes shape the behavior of property owners. Most people think of the Keystone State as “East” just like New York or Massachusetts. Part of it is, but west of the Tuscarora Tunnel the traveler finds small towns and cities surrounded by miles of Appalachian Mountains and a few farms in the open lowlands. These cities powered the US from the beginning of the Civil War until the end of World War II. When the steel industry finally collapsed in the mid to late seventies, these towns lost people, businesses and tax base. As in much of the country, people and commerce pulled out, and built anew, sometimes only a couple of miles away. The situation was dire. Many cities fell into state control. During this period, Clairton, Aliquippa, and New Castle adopted a land value tax (LVT) at the recommendation of the State. By 1982, the state capital, Harrisburg, was facing bankruptcy. The Mayor looked at the papers to sign and said ”No!” Instead, Harrisburg took LVT and expanded it. To access the full story, click here.
5. Food Stamps Recipients Can Now Order Groceries Online For Delivery. Amazon, Walmart And ShopRite Will Offer The Service
New York (CNN Business) - Walmart, Amazon and grocery chains like ShopRite hope to tap into a lucrative new market: Food stamp recipients who want to shop for groceries online. For the first time, the US Department of Agriculture has given the green light for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to use their benefits to buy groceries online and get them delivered to their homes, the agency said Thursday. The retailers are kicking off a two-year pilot in New York that will enable some of the state's 2.7 million SNAP recipients to use their benefits for online grocery orders.
ShopRite and Amazon (AMZN) will service the New York City area, while Walmart (WMT) will cover upstate locations. The USDA said FreshDirect, Safeway, Hy-Vee and Dash's Market will join the New York pilot, and the test will eventually expand to other parts of New York, as well as
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Alabama, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. It's not yet clear which other grocery chains will be involved. The USDA says it eventually wants the more than 38 million Americans on food stamps nationwide to be able to make online purchases, which will make it easier for some working moms, as well as the elderly and disabled, to buy food. But the move also opens up the market to online retailers. "People who receive SNAP benefits should have the opportunity to shop for food the same way more and more Americans shop for food — by ordering and paying for groceries online," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. "As technology advances, it is important for SNAP to advance too." To access the full story, click here.
6. How Wildlife Bridges Over Highways Make Animals – And People – Safer
Roaring traffic doesn’t stop big mammals like moose and bears from crossing highways—nor does it keep myriad smaller creatures from being squished by car tires. In just two years along one stretch of highway in Utah, 98 deer, three moose, two elk, multiple raccoons, and a cougar were killed in car collisions—a total of 106 animals. In the United States, there are 21 threatened and endangered species whose very survival is threatened by road mortalities, including Key deer in Florida, bighorn sheep in California, and red-bellied turtles in Alabama.
People are also hurt—about 200 die every year in the more than one million car collisions in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These crashes are expensive, too: Deer-car collisions cost an average of $8,190, an elk-vehicle collision is about $25,319, and a moose-vehicle collision is $44,546, taking into consideration human injuries and death, towing, vehicle repair, investigation of the accident by local authorities, and carcass disposal, according to a paper from the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) at Montana State University. And the number of these deadly accidents is growing. “Over the most recently reported 15-year period, wildlife-vehicle collisions have increased by 50 percent, with an estimated one to two million large animals killed by motorists every year,” says Rob Ament, the road ecology program manager at WTI. To access the full story, click here.
7. Who’s To Blame For Gentrification? Planners, Apparently
A few dozen pages into Capital City, Samuel Stein intones that being an urban planner "can be a really shitty job." While Stein, who is not a planner but a doctoral student in urban studies, could be faulted for being crass, his profanity actually borders on tenderness. See, up to that point, Stein spends many pages explaining how urban planners are, at best, manipulated by the nefarious forces of capitalism and, at worst, eager functionaries in the effort to marginalize, impoverish, and displace vulnerable populations in America's cities. At least Stein pauses to express a little sympathy. But then he keeps right on going. Page 4 of 6
Stein's anti-capitalist, anti-gentrification screed Capital City is so familiar it almost defies discussion. Capitalism, he argues, has taken over American cities to such a great extent that they are now controlled by the "real estate state." Naturally, the real estate state seeks to maximize its investment, so it builds ever larger, ever more luxurious properties and charges ever increasing amounts of money to sell and rent them. Meanwhile, the real estate state attempts to clear out the poor people, who are, in many cases, also the black people, the brown people, and other unfortunate souls from historically marginalized groups. But we knew this already. Though he's an extremist, Stein isn't entirely wrong. Capitalism sucks sometimes. But his accusatory tone, which seems to be a mainstay of today's radical left — Exhibit A: Peter Moskowitz's ghastly How to Kill a City—makes his argument almost impossible to stomach. To access the full story, click here.
8. Civic Crowdfunding Reduces The Risk Of ‘Bikelash’
Bike-sharing and dockless bike ventures are spreading as more people get around on two wheels. Cyclists, planners, environmentalists and others are excited to see these initiatives thrive. At the same time, there are reasons for concern. Nearly 800 American cyclists died in 2017 after being hit by cars or trucks. Those fatalities were up 25% from 2010, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. I’ve learned two things from accidentally becoming a bike lane expert through my research on community engagement. Transportation experts and bike enthusiasts agree that building more “protected bike lanes,” which physically separate motorized vehicle and bike traffic with planters, curbs, parked cars or posts, are a good way to reduce some of these risks. And it looks like crowdfunding, raising money collectively and online, helps ensure that local communities will welcome this infrastructure. To access the full story, click here.
9. Oregon And Washington Launch New Clean Energy Initiatives To Reduce Fossil Fuel
Dependence
Pacific Northwest leaders want their region’s green reputation to extend beyond the sprawling evergreen forests. On Tuesday, officials in Oregon and Washington announced new clean energy initiatives that they hope will set a standard for the rest of the nation.
Oregon’s largest transit provider is rolling out new electric battery-powered buses that will run on 100 percent wind energy. On Friday, the TriMet transit service will put its first “zero-emission bus” in service in the Portland region. TriMet is partnering with Portland General Electric on the wind power initiative.
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The buses will be the first in the nation to run exclusively on wind power, according to TriMet. Over the next five years, the transit service will test the new battery-powered buses and determine whether the new technology is ready for broader use or needs more testing. “Zero emission transit is Oregon’s best strategy to address greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector that are contributing to climate change,” Brendan Finn, transportation advisor to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, in a statement. TriMet’s announcement comes hours before Oregon’s neighbor to the north announced its own initiative to encourage clean energy innovation. To access the full story, click here. 10. WEBINAR – Thinking Spatially And Statistically (Wednesday, April 24 9am-10am PST) Taking your data beyond the limits In this webinar, we start off by introducing types and characteristics of spatial data and look at a few basic and advanced GIS analysis techniques. We then discuss a few basic concepts of statistics and see how they differ in a spatial context, advancing towards Spatial Machine Learning with ArcGIS. Webinar takeaways • Introduction to GIS analysis and suitable data types • Characteristics of spatial data that influence analysis results • Understanding machine learning and applying it to spatial data To register for the webinar, click here.
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