May 12, 2016  By Maggie Kaplan - Founder, Executive Director - Invoking the Pause

A few weeks ago in San Francisco at former ITP Grant Partner Chris Desser's studio, I was privileged to attend a Salon entitled the Bureau of Linguistical Reality created by Heidi Quante & Alicia Escott -- 2015/16  ITP Grant Partners.  I was particularly excited, as this was the first time I've had the opportunity to experience first-hand part of a Grant Partner's project in real time! They created this Salon evening for local Bay Area  ITP Grant  partners and friends, after many successful Salons in Paris at the COP21 last fall and other venues around the Bay Area. » Read More

We are thrilled for ITP 2016 Grant Partner, 10Power, who won a top prize in Thailand at the Finals of the Global Social Venture Competition! The team, consists of Founder, Sandra Kwak, Zack Ahrens, Rob Jackson and Sofi Hoysal. 10Power, a B-Corp, provides third party finance for renewable energy projects in emerging economies and empowers communities to promote clean water, gender equality, and ecosystem restoration. Beginning with solar PV projects for businesses, clinics and schools in Haiti, 10Power is creating a blueprint for sustainable development that can be scaled across the globe.  Congratulations to the 10Power team!

Al Gore's recent TED2016 talk inspires optimism in light of the man-made forces threatening to destroy our planet.  See the video here.

The Invoking the Pause Advisory Committee met recently to select grant partners for the 2016 grant cycle from a pool of over 30 applicants. The proposals came from scientists and artists, activists and actors. As we reviewed the requests, we were inspired by the creativity and quality of the collaborations seeking climate change solutions across so many different disciplines.
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One of the by-products we enjoy seeing at Invoking the Pause are the unique collaborations that materialize organically when our Grant Partners meet in person, such as this past October's Grant Partner Gathering in Sonoma, and in Paris at COP21.  Maggie Kaplan has coined the term "Collateral Delights" to describe this  convergence of talents, ideas and resources from interdisciplinary backgrounds.

This year ITP is pleased to support 6 different "Collateral Delight" collaborations resulting from what can only be described as a perfect storm - the October 2015 ITP Gathering followed by COP21.  The momentum that originated in Sonoma Wine Country gained traction in the City of Light - Paris. 
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Shortly after the Paris climate conference the editor of Our Planet, the United Nations' flagship magazine on environment, asked ITP Grant Partner E2 to submit an article for a special issue on sustainable development to address the potential of clean energy jobs in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Nicole Lederer, Chair and Co-Founder of E2, writes of the importance of promoting the additive value of climate and clean energy policies at the global, national and state levels, and the benefits that accrue from these policies to the energy and economic security of people at every level of society.

Over the next several weeks, E2 plans to release some of the most comprehensive national and state clean energy jobs reports ever done, further validating the economic benefits of clean energy that touched on in this article.  Read the Our Planet article here.

ITP Grant Partner, Topher White, explains how cell phone technology could help save our rainforests and impede further destruction by illegal logging.  Topher is CEO of Rainforest Connection and he was recently interviewed for Business Insider.  Read the article here

Kudos to ITP Grant Partner Lisa Morehouse of California Foodways on this prestigious nomination!
Read about the International Association of Culinary Professionals award nomination here.

We are so proud of Terry Tempest Williams, one of our original ITP Grant Partners, with what she has done as "Bidder 19" in acquiring a 10-year oil and gas lease on over 1700 acres of land in Utah as part of the "Keep it in the Ground" movement.  She is representing our democratic rights to participate in a Bureau of Land Management public auction selling oil and gas leases on federal land.  "...for those of us who see them as the public commons, to be thrown into the public auction—that is not public at all, but a secret society for oil and gas companies."

Terry described the auction: "...the auctioneer begins. A parcel is shown. It may be—in our case, it was 800 acres, and the bidding begins at two dollars an acre. And I think the thing that was so heartbreaking for me and shocking is you hear these lands go up, and they’re commodities, they’re a piece of meat. They’re our public lands. And one of the auctioneers—the auctioneer said, you know, "$2? Anybody want $2? $2.25? $2.50? Anybody want $2.50? $3?" And then he says, "Come on, men. This is a lot of scenery going to waste. $3? Anyone going to $3? $3.25?"

Terry was interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now - see the full video interview below.

http://www.democracynow.org