“We did it!! Just before the close of 2011, XSProject received notice that the organization had been admitted to the WFTO Asia. WFTO Asia is a regional chapter of the World Fair Trade Organization, the global leader in certifying local producers as adherents to Fair Trade standards.”

XS Leadership Transitions to Local Team

“A little over two years ago, when I started working with XSProject, the organization was close to going out of business. The non-profit was being run primarily by volunteers, product sales were not covering expenses, and there were limited prospects for new revenue. The situation was dire. Thanks to Invoking The Pause, a group of committed supporters, and the dedication of the team on the ground in Indonesia, we were able to turn the situation around.”

After receiving many innovative proposals, Invoking The Pause is pleased to announce its 2012 Grant Partners. We look forward to a fertile relationship and abundant harvest with the following Partners:

We take great pleasure in sharing the stories of our Grant Partners (GPs) and their projects in the Invoking The Pause (ITP) blog posts. What is most rewarding is to hear back that these stories have an impact on you. Libby Modern of the Super Power Magic Motion Machine (SPMM) shared that she found inspiration (and maybe a bit of comfort) reading the recent blog posts about the CityLab7 pop-up mushroom project and its circuitous evolution.

The CityLab7 [storefront] Mushroom Farm opened on February 20th with a “healthy dose of surprises and delights” including an amusing wish granted by ITP founder Maggie Kaplan.

In the past two months we’ve celebrated New Year’s Day (on the Gregorian calendar), Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, and now at ITP, we’re commemorating our own new beginnings: our 2012 grant cycle.

The 2012 deadline arrived at midnight February 1st, and the results are an incredible range of grant proposals. Teams from as far as Thailand, and diverse as students, professors, artists, scientists, photographers, and journalists have submitted proposals for their creative collaborations on climate change.

 Invoking The Pause Grant Partner CityLab7 is featured in an article in the New York Times T Magazine.  Please join us in congratulating the team on 3 years of work culminating in the project design and unveiling of the storefront Mushroom Farm.  Visitors to Seattle can view the display on the ground floor of the Olson Kundig Architects building through March 8th.

READ THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE HERE

ITP grant partner CityLab7 documents the creation of their storefront Mushroom Farm. To read more and see photos chronicling the building of the greenhouse, click here.

“As I traveled on, the air was literally filled with pigeons. The light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse, and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses.

Before sunset I reached Louisville, Kentucky. The pigeons passed in undiminished number, and continued to do so for three days in succession. The people were all in arms. The banks of the Ohio were crowded with men and boys, incessantly shooting at the pilgrims, which flew lower as they passed over the river. Multitudes were thus destroyed. For a week or more, the population fed on no flesh other that of pigeons, and talked of nothing but pigeons.”