Monday Mailing
Year 19 • Issue 33 13 May 2013 1. Bicycling Contributes $400 Million to Oregon Tourism, New Survey Says 2. How Neglecting Bees Could Endanger Humans 3. Op-Ed: The Problem with Walmart’s Hunger Games 4. What Plants Talk About 5. The Nonprofit Website Project Handbook 6. Monsanto Protests Scheduled in 36 Countries 7. The 10 Greatest US Public Markets That Met the Wrecking Ball 8. Chicken Diapers? Urban Farming Spawns Accessory Lines 9. Climate Tipping Point? Concentration of Carbon Dioxide Tops 400 ppm For First Time in Human History. 10. A Dream of Trees Aglow at Night 11. Funding Opportunities 1. Bicycling Contributes $400 Million to Oregon Tourism, New Survey Says Cycling's not just hip and healthy; it's becoming big business in Oregon, a new study shows. Recreational bicycle travel accounts for $400 million of Oregon's annual $9 billion tourism industry, according to the Oregon Bicycle Travel Survey, released Wednesday by the state's tourism agency, Travel Oregon.
Quote of the Week: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." ~Beverly Sills Oregon Fast Fact #430: The western Oregon climate is very similar to that of the Burgundy region in France where the Pinot grape is from. Western Oregon has several wineries which produce Pinot Noir wine.
"We knew we had a real strong competitive advantage" for luring twowheeled tourists to the state, Scott West, chief strategy officer for Travel Oregon told a legislative panel. The survey proves it, he said. It's the first time the state has quantified spending on organized bike rides, races and other non-commuting trips. Additionally, they survey broke cycling activity down by region, and showed where the spinoff spending goes. To access the full story, click here. 2. How Neglecting Bees Could Endanger Humans If you are an almond farmer in the Central Valley of California, where 80 percent of the world’s production is grown, you had a problem earlier this spring. Chances are there weren’t enough bees to pollinate your trees. That’s because untold thousands of colonies — almost half of the 1.6 million commercial hives that almond growers depend on — failed to survive the winter, making this the worst season for beekeepers in anyone’s memory. And that is saying a lot, because bees have been faring increasingly poorly for years now. Much of this recent spike in bee mortality is attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious condition where all the worker bees in a colony simply fly off as a group and never make it back to the hive.
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Scientists have been studying this odd phenomenon for years and they still aren’t sure why it is happening. To access the full story, click here. 3. Op-Ed: The Problem with Walmart’s Hunger Games Last night, Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, announced the winners of its annual Fighting Hunger Together contest, in which local food banks and anti-hunger organizations compete for $3 million in grants from the retail giant. The competition couldn’t come at a more urgent time: Fifty million Americans live in food insecure households; nearly 17 million of those are children. But if Walmart were serious about fighting hunger, it would look at its own business model, which secures profits by cutting its 1.3 million workers’ wages, hours, and benefits. In the meantime, contests like this one do little to address the roots of hunger, but are designed instead to generate positive media coverage for Walmart and give the company unprecedented access to consumers while pitting community against community. To access the full story, click here. 4. What Plants Talk About When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and sedentary lives. What Plants Talk About teaches us all that plants are smarter and much more interactive than we thought! To access this stellar video, click here. 5. The Nonprofit Website Project Handbook The Handbook offers an overview of the website design and development process and information helpful to nonprofit staff during a website project. From the organization’s capabilities to design and from launch to post-launch training, this handbook provides essential steps and real-life examples to guide you in what can sometimes be a confusing process. To access the handbook, click here. 6. Monsanto Protests Scheduled in 36 Countries An international protest planned for later this month against biotechnology company Monsanto is slated to span six continents and include demonstrations in dozens of countries around the globe. Amid growing concerns over St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto and the impact the company is having on agriculture, activists have planned rallies for later this month in 36 countries. Monsanto, a titan of the emerging biotech industry, has come under attack from environmentalists, agriculturalists and average consumers over the company’s conduct in the realm of geneticallymodified organisms and genetically-engineered foods. Despite research on the effects of GMO crops being largely considered inconclusive, Monsanto has lobbied hard in Washington and around the globe to be able to continue manufacturing lab-made foods without the oversight that many have demanded. To access the full story, click here.
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7. The 10 Greatest US Public Markets That Met the Wrecking Ball It is no secret that market halls, market sheds, and market districts were once more prevalent in American cities than they are today. Hundreds of markets burned down, were demolished, were removed for “higher and better uses” (oh, how I hate that term), or were replaced with empty “market squares”. Most towns, large and small, had at least one market that usually served as one of the most important, centrally located institutions in a growing city. Local economies were built around markets, which offered affordable opportunities to people who were looking to start a small business and vital lifelines connecting consumers and producers. To access the full story, click here.
8. Chicken Diapers? Urban Farming Spawns Accessory Lines There's free range and then there's free rein — around your house. When Julie Baker's backyard birds started spending more time inside, it was tough to keep them clean. So she got innovative. She sewed up a cloth diaper — chicken-sized, of course — added a few buttons and strapped it onto her little lady. One thing led to another, and eventually, a business was born. To access the full story, click here. 9. Climate Tipping Point? Concentration of Carbon Dioxide Tops 400 ppm For First Time in Human History. Scientists are warning the planet has now reached a grim climate milestone not seen for two or three million years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the amount of heattrapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 400 parts per million. The 400 ppm threshold has been an important marker in U.N. climate change negotiations, widely recognized as a dangerous level that could drastically worsen human-caused global warming. We speak to leading climate scientist Michael Mann, distinguished professor of meteorology at Penn State University and author of the recent book, "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines." Mann warns that, "We have to go several million years back in time to find a point in Earth’s history where CO2 was as high as it is now. ... If we continue to burn fossil fuels at accelerating rates, if we continue with business as usual we will cross the 450 parts per million limit in a matter of maybe a couple of decades. With that amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, we commit to what could truly be described as dangerous and irreversible changes in our climate." To access this Democracy Now! Video, click here. 10. A Dream of Trees Aglow at Night Hoping to give new meaning to the term “natural light,” a small group of biotechnology hobbyists and entrepreneurs has started a project to develop plants that glow, potentially leading the way for trees that can replace electric streetlamps and potted flowers luminous enough to read by. The project, which will use a sophisticated form of genetic engineering called synthetic biology, is attracting attention not only for its audacious goal, but for how it is being carried out.
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Rather than being the work of a corporation or an academic laboratory, it will be done by a small group of hobbyist scientists in one of the growing number of communal laboratories springing up around the nation as biotechnology becomes cheap enough to give rise to a do-it-yourself movement. To access the full story, click here. 11. Funding Opportunities. Renewable Energy System Federal Funding Opportunity The Department of Agricultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rural Business-Cooperative Service published a March 29 FEDERAL REGISTER notice <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-03-29/pdf/2013-07275.pdf> in the announcing the acceptance of applications for funds available under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for Fiscal Year 2013. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act provides additional funding for REAP. To provide the public additional opportunity to apply for these additional funds, the Service today published a notice <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-08/pdf/2013-10941.pdf> extending the application period from April 30, 2013, to May 31, 2013, for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvement projects grants and grant and loan combination applications and for renewable energy system feasibility study applications. The Agency is also adding a provision to ensure consistency with the intent of 2 CFR 25.205. A separate notice will be published to amend the funding available under REAP. Best Buy Children's Foundation Seeks Applications for Youth Technology Grants <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb17> - Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded for program activities such as computer programming, digital imaging, music production, robotics, and gaming and mobile app development.... Deadline: July 1, 2013 (eligibility quiz) Chesapeake Bay Trust Seeks Applications for Projects to Increase Student Awareness/Involvement in Watershed Protection <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb21> - Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded for projects focused on increasing student awareness and involvement in the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its local streams and rivers....Deadline: June 7, 2013 Woodard and Curran Foundation Invites Applications From Environmental Organizations <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb16> - The foundation will award one $5,000 grant and one $2,500 grant for environmental projects focused on creating a healthier world.... Deadline: June 1, 2013 Kaiser Permanente Invites Applications for HIV Test and Treat Initiative <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb20> - Four two-year grants of $250,000 will be awarded to nonprofit organizations for community-based programs that improve early identification of new HIV cases and increase HIV care in minority communities.... Deadline: May 17, 2013 Public Broadcasting System Seeks Applications for Program Challenge Fund <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb22> - Grants will be awarded to support the development of high-visibility, high-impact, limited series that offer a
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definitive take on a subject or break new ground in popular public-service media.... Deadline: August 1, 2013 Drucker Institute Invites Applications for 2013 Award for Nonprofit Innovation <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb24> - The award, which includes an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000, recognizes an existing program that has made a difference in the lives of the people it serves and will be granted to the nonprofit organization that best demonstrates innovation.... Deadline: July 1, 2013 Pollination Project Invites Applications From Social Entrepreneurs for Seed Grant <http://e.foundationcenter.org/a/hBRhCiSB8ixfdB8yOsQAACSSk49/rfpb12> - Seed grants of up to $1,000 will be awarded to "practical dreamers" launching projects that promote compassion, community health and wellness, environmental sustainability, and/or justice in all its forms.... Deadline: Open DOT Announces Grant Applications for 2013 TIGER Funds - On April 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced grant applications are being accepted for the National Infrastructure Investments (TIGER Funds) <http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=3yZxRBDBlK44rBv0Q9s8YBZHjq49MKf hv5v2pCw1xnLH3DK2Vvqc!1654183736?oppId=232275&mode=VIEW>, with $473.8 million available. Unlike last year, a pre-application is not required. By law, all funds must be obligated by September 30, 2014. Therefore, applicants must demonstrate that the project can meet all local, state, and federal requirements by June 30, 2014. The deadline to apply is June 3, 2013. Click here<http://www.dot.gov/TIGER> to view the TIGER webpage for more information including free webinars, May 3, 2012 and Monday May 6, 2013. Click here <http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=3yZxRBDBlK44rBv0Q9s8YBZHjq49MKf hv5v2pCw1xnLH3DK2Vvqc!1654183736?oppId=232275&mode=VIEW> to view the grant synopsis and application. DOE Announces Funding for Tribal Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Deployment Assistance - On April 30, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of funding for Tribal Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Deployment Assistance. Only Native American tribal governments and organizations are eligible to apply. DOE is soliciting applications to install community-scale or facility-scale renewable energy and or energy efficiency energy projects on Indian lands. The renewable energy and or energy efficiency projects are intended to provide electricity and/ or heating and cooling or efficiency measures for existing tribal buildings, including homes, businesses, community buildings, government buildings, or other tribal facilities. There is $2.5 million in funding and DOE expects to award 20 grants. The deadline to apply is June 20, 2013. Click here <http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=3yZxRBDBlK44rBv0Q9s8YBZHjq49MKf hv5v2pCw1xnLH3DK2Vvqc!1654183736?oppId=232515&mode=VIEW> to view the grant synopsis and application.
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