Monday Mailing Quote of the Week: “Whether fuel cell system development in central Oregon, wind power generation along the Columbia Gorge, or geothermal energy in southern Oregon, investing in new energy sources makes America more energy independent while creating good paying, environmentally friendly jobs.” ~Greg Walden Oregon Fast Fact: The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is one of the largest longterm ecological research sites in the United States.
Year 21 • Issue 38 15 June 2015 1. Cities With Physically Active Residents More Productive as Well as Healthier 2. Portlanders Could Eat Entirely Local, Study Says. Seattle? Not so Much. 3. Issue Brief: Creating Opportunity and Prosperity Through Strengthening Rural-Urban Connections 4. Financial Planning for Disasters Webinar and Workbook Available for Download 5. In Just A Week, This Kit Turns Old Houses Into Zero-Energy Homes 6. Upcoming Webinars for Community Food Projects 7. Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program 2015 8. Urban Growth Draws Google’s Innovative Eye: Sidewalk Labs is Launched 9. Mental Maps and the Neuroscience Of Neighborhood Blight 10. Earthquake Map in Real Time for Oregon, California and the Pacific. 11. State Land Use Board Dismisses Challenge to Mountain-Biking Ban 1. Cities With Physically Active Residents More Productive as Well as Healthier Cities in which residents are physically active have a big advantage over their more sedentary rivals, with better economic productivity, higher property values and improved school performance, as well as a healthier population. In an increasingly globalised, competitive and mobile world, cities have an economic imperative to promote walking, cycling and public transport, as well as increasing the amount of green space and curbing car use, according to a report from the University of California. The research examined more than 500 existing studies from 17 countries to seek an overall picture of the effect of increased physical activity on a city. It found in particular that schemes to promote walking and cycling had a massive impact, with one UK study finding local trade can be boosted by up to 40% in an area where more people walk. To access the full story, click here. 2. Portlanders Could Eat Entirely Local, Study Says. Seattle? Not so Much. Portland could grow enough food within 50 miles of the city to feed itself, according to a new study from the University of California at Merced. Seattle, on the other hand, could feed only about one-third of its population that way. As farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs and "buy local" stickers continue to grow in prominence, Elliott Campbell, an associate professor of environmental engineering at UC-Merced, wanted to figure out how much food people really could eat from their neighbors. His research found that much of the United States does, in Page 1 of 5
fact, have the ability go from "buy local" to "only local," though not without some economic and governmental shifts. Campbell measured the population density of cities against surrounding farmland that could be leveraged to grow produce and raise animals to feed that city's population. The maps he produced with the data don't take into account what kind of crops are currently being grown, or whether the soil and weather conditions could support every kind of food. To access the full story, click here. 3. Issue Brief: Creating Opportunity and Prosperity Through Strengthening Rural-Urban Connections Metropolitan and rural America are highly connected and interdependent. To succeed, metropolitan America needs a healthy and sustainable rural economy and culture, and in turn rural America needs vibrant, well-functioning cities and suburbs to thrive and flourish. Yet, the prevailing national narrative pits urban versus rural for investments and public resources, and official statistical definitions often create hard lines between urban and rural, and metropolitan and non-metropolitan. For most families and businesses, however, there is no clear distinction between urban and rural places. Flows of people, capital, goods, and information continually blur political and geographic boundaries. People commute to work, make family visits, or take trips and vacations. Businesses source materials and labor across regions largely ignoring rural-urban boundaries, and sell their goods and materials to customers irrespective of their locations. Rural economies and places supply food, energy, workers, and ecosystem services while urban economies and places provide markets, capital, jobs, and specialized services, reinforcing a productive and deepening interdependence. Both rural and urban communities offer to each other a wealth of recreation and cultural opportunities. For more information, click here. 4. Financial Planning for Disasters Webinar and Workbook Available for Download On July 19, 2013 the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation hosted a webinar that focused on how regions and communities can prepare their public sectors to be more financially resilient to future disasters. Regions across the United States are faced with preparing for and responding to an increasing number of natural, man-made, and technological disasters. Given recent natural disasters, localities are taking steps to become more physically resilient; however, many are unprepared for how these financial costs will impact long-run sustainability and quality of life. In particular, this webinar helped participants consider their local governments’ financial vulnerability as well as their capacity to respond to future natural disasters based on research and lessons learned responding to tropical natural disasters along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Further, joint financial vulnerabilities between local governments in a region were identified and strategies provided for how individual local governments can increase financial capacity that improves financial resiliency for the overall region. To access the webinar and workbook, click here.
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5. In Just A Week, This Kit Turns Old Houses Into Zero-Energy Homes (For Free) In slightly more than a week, a clever kit of parts can transform an old rental house into a net-zero energy home—one that creates as much renewable energy as it uses in a year—at no extra cost to tenants or building owners. Net-zero homes are the kind of project that usually cost so much that only the richest, most environment-obsessed homeowners attempt it. But in the Netherlands, a group of innovators figured out how to create a system that could be used on the country's huge inventory of low-income housing. The mid-century rental houses, built in townhouse-like rows, all have a similar layout, so construction companies were able to design a system of prefab parts that pop easily on existing properties. A roof covered in solar panels can go directly on top of an old roof, minus tiles. New facades cover the old walls without any demolition. In the backyard, a new cube-shaped energy module holds everything needed for sustainable heat, hot water, power, and ventilation. It just needs to be plugged into the house. To access the full story, click here. 6. Upcoming Webinars for Community Food Projects Logic Models as a Comprehensive Tool for Attaining Programmatic Success Wednesday, June 24th at 1:30 - 2:45 pm EST - Registration Webinar Overview A logic model is a picture of how your organization does its work, and it expresses a hypothesis about how you will achieve desired programmatic outcomes. In this webinar, we will cover the basics of creating logic models. We will also discuss how these visual tools can be used to help you achieve not only fundraising success, but also consensus among your community of stakeholders, a design and an implementation plan for your program, and an evaluation model that can support your organization’s future success. Materials will be made available on June 10th to attendees to gain the full benefit of the webinar. Presenters Lesley Heiser, Communications and Development Leader of Cultivating Community Craig Lapine, Executive Director of Cultivating Community Sustaining your Program after Community Food Projects Funding Tuesday, July 14th, at 1:30 pm EST - Registration Webinar Overview This webinar will discuss challenges and strategies for sustaining a program after your initial funding has finished. The presenters, Chris Brown of Agriculture and Land Based Training and Jennifer Hashley of New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, will each speak about experiences from their own organizations. They will address challenges they have faced with sustaining a program, and lessons they have learned from the process.
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Presenters Jennifer Hashley, Director of New Entry Sustainable Farming Project Chris Brown, Executive Director of Agriculture and Land Based Training (ALBA) 7. Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program 2015 NOAA is soliciting proposals to develop or implement activities that build resilience of coastal regions, communities and economic sectors to the negative impacts from extreme weather events, climate hazards and changing ocean conditions. Successful applicants will develop proposals that plan or implement actions that mitigate the impacts of these environmental drivers on overall resilience, including economic and environmental resilience. Applications due July 24. For more information, click here. 8. Urban Growth Draws Google’s Innovative Eye: Sidewalk Labs is Launched Sidewalk Labs arrives as the world continues to migrate toward urban hubs. By 2050, the population in cities will have doubled, intensifying existing socioeconomic, public health and environmental problems. Barcelona’s City Protocol and other Smart Cities solutions from companies such as Cisco and IBM are already putting technology at the service of cities and their residents. Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and CEO, and Dan Doctoroff, the newly appointed Sidewalk Labs CEO, describe Sidewalk Labs as an “urban innovation company”, geared to developing new technologies to improve city living by reducing pollution, streamlining public transportation, and effectively managing energy use. The company wants to create its own technology and invest in other public and private initiatives. To access the full story, click here. 9. Mental Maps and the Neuroscience Of Neighborhood Blight Comedian Eddie Pepitone once said—and I'm paraphrasing here—that there are no great neighborhoods in Los Angeles, only great blocks. The stretch of Echo Park on Sunset Boulevard between Glendale and Logan is one. The establishments on that short stretch include an upscale wine bar, a hipster concert venue, a vegan restaurant, a deep dish pizza place, cheap thrift stores, notso-cheap “vintage” stores selling roughly the same stuff, a check-cashing joint, a few fast food chains, and even a supermarket for time travelers. While it's not the most diverse cross-section you'll find in the city, the block can be used as a social barometer when brought up in conversations. Mention the stretch, and whatever landmark the other person's familiar with tells the tale of the socioeconomic sphere they inhabit; the landmark that puts a gleam of recognition in the other person's eye says everything about their story. To access the full story, click here. Additionally, I want to put in the plug for a documentary I recently watched called Damnation. Stellar piece of work… well worth the purchase! 10. Earthquake Map in Real Time for Oregon, California and the Pacific. When a series of earthquakes shook the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean about 300 miles west of Salem, Oregon, an undersea map of the area was instructive.
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The early June quakes clustered around the weird, near-90-degree juncture of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Blanco Fracture Zone, a fairly frequent center of seismic activity. Now The Oregonian/OregonLive has made it easier to track such quakes in the deep blue sea -- and anywhere else that might arouse your curiosity. Voila our nearly real-time earthquake map, updated every 15 minutes. Plenty of websites such as Seismic Monitor, the U.S. Geologic Survey, and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network show recent earthquakes across the globe. We wanted to make our map a little more useful than the rest by making underwater features a major component. To access the full story, click here. 11. State Land Use Board Dismisses Challenge to Mountain-Biking Ban Oregon's Land Use Board of Appeals has dismissed a challenge to Portland's ban on mountain biking in the River View Natural Area. City commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish announced the ban in March, saying the 146-acre natural area adjacent to the Willamette River was home to fragile wildlife and habitat. Starting in midMarch, the city allowed only "passive" users—i.e., hikers, birders or school kids—in River View. The Northwest Trail Alliance brought the challenge, which the city of Portland sought to have dismissed. On Wednesday, the land use board sided with the city. To access the full story, click here.
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