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Monday Mailing

Year 20 • Issue 36 09 June 2014 1. Oregon Landowners Agree To Protect Sage Grouse 2. Google's Driverless Car Will Make the Interstate Look Like Brilliant Public Transit 3. Popular App, ODOT Tracking Cyclists GPS To Improve Roads 4. Demystifying Micro Lending-Webinar 5. The Fire Hydrant Gets Its First Major Redesign In 100 Years 6. Norway's Military Does "Meatless Mondays" for the Climate 7. The Peril of Hipster Economics 8. Why Having Too Many Choices is Making You Unhappy 9. Oregon Infrastructure Not Ready For Quake, Tsunami 10. Renewable Energy Takes Root In Northwest Indian Country 11. Funding Opportunities 1. Oregon Landowners Agree To Protect Sage Grouse A county in Southeastern Oregon has announced one of the largest land conservation agreements in the state to protect greater sage grouse.

The birds live in sagebrush country where their habitat is shrinking because of people, wildfires, and invasive species. Harney County contains much of Oregon’s prime sage grouse habitat.

“We are kind of in ground zero,” said rancher Tom Sharp, who sees sage grouse regularly on his land.

Sharp has a six-mile road that leads up to his ranch house.

Quote of the Week: “If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”

-Albert Einstein Oregon Fast Fact: The Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range.

“In the winter season, they have a habitat right along the gravel road. I’ve flushed 60 or 70 [birds] at a time, that like to come along the gravel road to pick up bits of gravel that they use to help digest their food,” Sharp said.

Sharp is helping head up a new sage grouse conservation effort in Harney County. It’s a partnership between landowners, the Harney Soil and Conservation District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

To access the full story, click here.

2. Google's Driverless Car Will Make the Interstate Look Like Brilliant Public Transit In case you missed it, on Tuesday Google unveiled a driverless car it's been developing in secret. It seats two and only goes 25 mph, but it might make the U.S. the center of a revolution in personal mobility and mass transportation. I used to think the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System was among the worst things that ever happened. If you disagree with me, think about it the next time you're stuck in traffic driving to New York--or stranded on the underfunded Acela. Driverless cars could change all that.

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Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo have all been working on driverless cars. By some estimates, we'll all be driverless in 25 years. The more I think about driverless electric cars, the more I view America's interstate system as potentially the most sophisticated network of public transit infrastructure ever built.

Driverless cars have been hailed as a smart-city solution to end the traffic accident, end the traffic jam and obviate the parking space, to name a few. (One Reddit thread muses that this may lead to an organ-donor shortage.) They also could turn roadways into a personalized mass transit system that runs door to door from home to any destination.

To access the full story, click here.

3. Popular App, ODOT Tracking Cyclists GPS To Improve Roads Raise of hands, who’s using Strava? For those of you who didn’t raise your hands, Strava is an app for the active, tracking your run and bike routes through GPS. And the Oregon Department of Transportation is interested, too.

ODOT wants nothing to do with other stats that Strava tracks (e.g. distance, pace, calories burned), but officials are interested in which routes Oregonians usually use when biking around the state.

Wired reports that ODOT is going over data that it bought from the app to determine future transportation projects to make roads safer and more convenient for cyclists: “At one intersection, for example, transportation planners discovered cyclists coming from the south would slow down before crossing, while those coming from the north would come to a stop and then walk their bikes or ride slowly. It was the first time planners could see that, and they realized the intersection posed a risk to cyclists…

To access the full story, click here.

4. Demystifying Micro Lending-Webinar Thursday, June 12 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm One key trend the Oregon Micro Enterprise Network discovered while conducting our Listening Tours throughout Oregon these past few months is that many micro businesses and entrepreneurs are not sure how to access capital resources. Many of the micro business development and economic development practitioners we met tend to refer their micro business clients to traditional financial institutions, when, given the credit and collateral thresholds, in some cases, they may be better served by alternative access to capital resources.

OMEN and the Small Business Development Centers Network are proud to present a webinar and discussion entitled Demystifying Micro Lending on June 12, 2014. OMEN's Executive Director, Marilyn Johnson-Hartzog, and Michael Lainoff, Director of the OSBDCN invite you to join the discussion between Lynn Meyer from Community LendingWorks, Craig Christensen of Bank of America, Jennifer Terry, the Kiva Zip Fellow in Oregon, and Ana Inclan of Craft 3, to learn more about how your micro business clients can tap into their Access to Capital resources.

Register by visiting http://www.readytalk.com/ and inputting code 4635106. To participate in the webinar - please call (866) 740-1260, passcode 4635106.

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5. The Fire Hydrant Gets Its First Major Redesign In 100 Years Picture this: Your house is on fire. You call 911, the fire trucks arrive, and the firefighters, hoses hoisted over their shoulders, rush to the hydrant on your corner. The clock is ticking while the fire consumes your home, but there’s a problem: The hydrant doesn’t work.

“It would shock you how often fire hydrants don’t work when you need them," George Sigelakis, founder of a company called Sigelock Systems, tells me.

“How often?” I ask.

“All the time. It’s always in the back of our minds.” Sigelakis says “our minds” because he spent 15 years as a New York City firefighter before retiring in 2000. Now, he's the man behind the first major redesign of the fire hydrant in more than a century.

Tales of malfunctioning hydrants are frighteningly common. In January, a blaze on Long Island raged out of control while firefighters searched for a hydrant that wasn't frozen. A girl died in a Detroit fire when a working hydrant was nowhere to be found. A report from Atlanta this month found many of the city's hydrants are dry. “People live under a false sense of security,” Sigelakis says. “People don’t realize they need it until they need it, and when they need it, it doesn’t work.”

To access the full story, click here.

6. Norway's Military Does "Meatless Mondays" for the Climate The “Meatless Mondays” campaign was originally thought up to support the war effort during World War I, but now a modern army is using it to fight an even bigger battle—the one against climate change.

Last fall, the Norwegian army announced their plan to join the campaign by preparing their soldiers (both at home and overseas) a meat-free breakfast, lunch, and dinner once a week.

"It's not about saving money," said navy commander and nutritionist Pal Stenberg, who runs the catering department. "It's about being more concerned for our climate, more ecologically responsible, and also healthier."

According to the United Nations, the livestock industry contributes almost 15 percent to the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. And a study released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the global livestock business takes up 30 percent of the earth's ice-free land and 30 percent of fresh water.

To access the full story, click here.

7. The Peril of Hipster Economics On May 16, an artist, a railway service and a government agency spent $291,978 to block poverty from the public eye.

Called psychylustro, German artist Katharina Grosse's project is a large-scale work designed to distract Amtrak train riders from the dilapidated buildings and fallen factories of north Philadelphia.

The city has a 28 percent poverty rate - the highest of any major US city - with much of it concentrated in the north. In some north Philadelphia elementary schools, nearly every child is living below the poverty line.

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Grosse partnered with the National Endowment of the Arts and Amtrak to mask North Philadelphia's hardship with a delightful view. The Wall Street Journal calls this "Fighting Urban Blight With Art". Liz Thomas, the curator of the project, calls it "an experience that asks people to think about this space that they hurtle through every day".

The project is not actually fighting blight, of course - only the ability of Amtrak customers to see it.

"I need the brilliance of colour to get close to people, to stir up a sense of life experience and heighten their sense of presence," Grosse proclaims.

To access the full story, click here.

8. Why Having Too Many Choices is Making You Unhappy Amazon sells 1,161 kinds of toilet brushes. I know this because I recently spent an evening trying to choose one of them for the bathroom in my new apartment. Nearly an hour later, after having read countless contradictory reviews and pondering far too many choices, I felt grumpy and tired and simply gave up. The next day, I happily bought the only toilet brush the local dollar store offered.

Too many choices exhaust us, make us unhappy and lead us to sometimes abscond from making a decision all together. Researcher Barry Schwartz calls this "choice overload." And it's not just insignificant details like which brush to wipe the inside of the toilet with--having too many choices in our creative and professional lives can lead us to avoid making important decisions.

"As the number of options increases, the costs, in time and effort, of gathering the information needed to make a good choice also increase," writes Schwartz. "The level of certainty people have about their choice decreases. And the anticipation that they will regret their choice increases."

9. Oregon Infrastructure Not Ready For Quake, Tsunami Last week, lawmakers heard how state officials are working furiously to prepare a response plan for the next great Cascadia subduction earthquake and tsunami.

Emergency planners told a legislative committee about efforts to refine evacuation routes, post them clearly and educate the public.

But down the hall, two other committees were hearing grim news: Oregon seriously lags behind Washington in preparing its infrastructure to withstand such an event, state officials told lawmakers.

Since the mid-1990s, only 355 bridges have been retrofit to avoid falling off their supports during a major earthquake, said Bruce Johnson, state bridge engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

To access the full story, click here.

10. Renewable Energy Takes Root In Northwest Indian Country You can spot one of the Eastern Oregon’s newest renewable energy projects from Interstate 84. It doesn’t look like other wind projects east of the Cascades.

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A single wind turbine rises over the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The turbine blades gain momentum as the wind picks up. The tribes’ executive director, Dave Tovey, said this cultural institute turned out to be the perfect spot for the first turbine erected in Northwest Indian Country. The place where the tribes broke ground for the cultural institute is notoriously windy.

“A lot of our elders would just shake their heads as say, ‘You guys know, the wind always blows up there.’ We always thought, like Indian tribes, and like we do with so many other things here, we turn a seeming disadvantage into an advantage, or even an opportunity,” Tovey said.

To access the full story, click here.

11. Funding Opportunities Community Facility Loans Loans to help create and improve essential community facilities in the rural West.

Geographic coverage: Available in 13 western states. See program website for details.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (Western RCAC) Environmental Infrastructure Loans Loans to finance water and waste facility projects in the rural West.

Geographic coverage: Available in 13 western states. See program website for details.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (Western RCAC) Ford Family Foundation Grants Offers grants to small, rural communities for community development; technical assistance; critical needs; and programs that offer increased access to health or dental services, youth development, or child abuse prevention.

Geographic coverage: Oregon and Siskiyou County, California Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Ford Family Foundation Gannett Foundation Community Action Grants Supports local organizations with funding priority given to programs that focus on education and neighborhood improvement, economic development, youth development, community problemsolving, assistance to disadvantaged people, environmental conservation, and cultural enrichment.

Geographic coverage: Limited to certain areas of 35 states and U.S. territories, see sponsor's website for more details.

Application Deadline: Aug 29, 2014 Sponsor: Gannett Foundation Georgia-Pacific Foundation Grants Grants for organizations projects that focus on education, the environment, community enhancement, affordable housing, arts and culture, and entrepreneurship.

Geographic coverage: Offered in 28 states in areas where Georgia-Pacific does business.

Application Deadline: Oct 31, 2014 Sponsor: Georgia Pacific Foundation

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Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation Offers grants to projects that support community and social services, youth, health, seniors, education and civic and culture.

Geographic coverage: Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon Application Deadline: Sep 1, 2014 National Network of Libraries of Medicine Pacific Northwest Region Funding Provides funding for National Network of Libraries members located in the Pacific Northwest region to assist them in conducting outreach and technology projects.

Geographic coverage: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region Northwest Health Foundation Event Sponsorships Provides sponsorship for events that promote health or contribute to the determinants of health in Oregon or southwest Washington.

Geographic coverage: Oregon and southwest Washington.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Northwest Health Foundation Rural Community Assistance Corporation Housing Loans Offers loans to create, improve, or expand the supply of affordable housing for communities in the rural West.

Geographic coverage: Available in 13 western states. See program website for details.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (Western RCAC) Sunderland Foundation Grants Supports capital improvement projects in the areas of higher education, churches, youth serving agencies, health facilities, community buildings, museums, civic projects, and housing projects.

Geographic coverage: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Montana.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Sunderland Foundation Wells Fargo Corporate Giving Programs Funding for nonprofit organizations in the areas of community development, education, human services, arts and culture, civic responsibility, and environmental consciousness.

Geographic coverage: Available in 40 States.

Application Deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Sponsor: Wells Fargo Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund Funds programs that work in the areas of affordable housing and shelter; education and youth development; environmental stewardship; and human services.

Geographic coverage: Available in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Application Deadline: Aug 1, 2014 Sponsor: Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation

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