Sun Valley
Are we paying attention?
May 18, 2021ProPublica updated this report from September, 2020. I missed it the first time published, and now already seeing population shifts in the Mountain West, specifically, the Wood River Valley in South-Central Idaho. -dayle
This article, the second in a series on global migration caused by climate change, is a result of a partnership between ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, with support from the Pulitzer Center.
Senior citizens at a cooling center in Phoenix [summer 2020] during Arizona’s record-setting heat wave. (Meridith Kohut for The New York Times)
Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration
“Wildfires rage in the West. Hurricanes batter the East. Droughts and floods wreak damage throughout the nation. Life has become increasingly untenable in the hardest-hit areas, but if the people there move, where will everyone go?
The millions of people moving north will mostly head to the cities of the Northeast and Northwest, which will see their populations grow by roughly 10%, according to one model. Once-chilly places like Minnesota and Michigan and Vermont will become more temperate, verdant and inviting. Vast regions will prosper; just as Hsiang’s research forecast that Southern counties could see a tenth of their economy dry up, he projects that others as far as North Dakota and Minnesota will enjoy a corresponding expansion. Cities like Detroit; Rochester, New York; Buffalo and Milwaukee will see a renaissance, with their excess capacity in infrastructure, water supplies and highways once again put to good use. One day, it’s possible that a high-speed rail line could race across the Dakotas, through Idaho’s up-and-coming wine country and the country’s new breadbasket along the Canadian border, to the megalopolis of Seattle, which by then has nearly merged with Vancouver to its north.”
Sun Valley’s Population Explodes During Pandemic Year
Eye on Sun Valley
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https://eyeonsunvalley.com/Mobile/Mobile_Story_Reader?StoryId=8355
Idaho Mountain Express
by Greg Foley
Sun Valley tourism is rebounding, marketing group says
Report: Some 1,500 people have moved to valley during pandemic
The Sun Valley area is undergoing an unexpected surge in growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic, changing life for locals and—to some degree—how Idaho’s premier tourist destination is marketed to potential visitors.
That was the overarching message of a semi-annual meeting conducted by the Visit Sun Valley marketing and business organization livestreamed to viewers Wednesday from The Community Library in Ketchum.
Many people coming to the area are “COVID evacuees,” remote workers, adventurers and people who own second—or third—homes in the area, he said. Amid the pandemic, Visit Sun Valley has had to consider that visitors are booking trips later, staying longer and have been looking for things to do, as many events were canceled, he said. Group visits were down, hotel bookings were down and there have been fewer “traditional” vacations of families flying in for a week-long visit. Instead, more people have been driving to the Wood River Valley from places such as Salt Lake City, Boise and Twin Falls, he said.
“It just hasn’t been the same as it was historically,” Fortner said.
The organization sees a “pent-up demand” for travel, the return of many popular events, increased confidence in the safety of travel, a strong interest in mountain communities and strong commercial air service to the region all as encouraging factors for the tourism sector, Fortner said. In addition, many people are conducting internet searches for Sun Valley, he noted.
As the organization moves into a new phase of its “Mindfulness in the Mountains” marketing campaign, it is encouraging community “stewardship” from visitors—people who are a “better visitor that is enlightened and informed,” the organization’s presentation stated.
In addition, Visit Sun Valley is promoting a wide range of “guided experiences”—including cooking classes, yoga, fly fishing and mountain biking—that educate visitors, get them outdoors and allow them to gain a “deeper sense of what Sun Valley is all about,” said Marketing Director Ray Gadd. Visit Sun Valley is also promoting the return of signature events, including the Sun Valley Music Festival, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference and the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, Gadd said.
During the meeting, David Patrie, outreach director for the Sun Valley Economic Development business organization, presented data from an in-depth analysis of the effects of the pandemic and an influx of new residents into the Wood River Valley over the past year.
“Last March, we never would have predicted where we are today,” Patrie said.
New voter registrations in Blaine County increased from 1,640 in 2016 to 3,770 in 2020, Patrie said, with most registrants in the 22-35 age range.
“Yeah, it’s a lot,” he said, “and it feels like a lot.”
This day.
February 8, 2021
“I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life.
-Sylvia Plath
In between the now and not yet. – Rev. Masando Hiraoka
The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure. – Fr Richard Rohr
Prayer enables us to tap into the healing power of the universe. -Rolph Gates
I listen to the wind, the wind of my soul. -Cat Stevens
ℒℴve❥❥☆҉ this book.
To all the health care workers. And the care workers. Thank you.
The middle.
Bruce.
https://www.ign.com/videos/jeep-super-bowl-55-commercial-the-middle-ft-bruce-springsteen
Yeah. Even the middle is polarizing for America now. Still. We loved it.
“The middle has been a hard place to get through lately. Between red and blue; between servant and citizen; between our freedom and our fear.”
“Our light has always found its way through the darkness, and there’s hope on the road ahead”
‘A sign of hope.’
December 22, 2020‘Some days chicken, some days feathers.’ – Robert Dale Ohlau
It’s always clear in Sun Valley, unless it’s a once in an 800 year celestial event.
<sigh>
It must have been spectacular.
The Great Conjunction.
‘The Christmas Star is visible on this Longest Night. Look to the Southwestern horizon just after sunset and with us this beautiful Sign of Hope.’ -Allysha Lavino
Jupiter & Saturn haven’t been this close to one another in about 800 years—viewed as one point of light.
Some consider this the Christmas Star, during the time of Jesus’ birth…the Star of Bethlehem.
Matthew 2:1-11. Verses 1 and 2 say: “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his 🌟 when it rose and have come to worship him.’
Age of Aquarius
After 2,160 years, a new age has begun, the Age of Aquarius, an age that will encompass compassion and caring, kindness and altruism, human rights and justice. It’s up to humanity to comply.
Aquarius is associated with electricity, computers, flight, democracy, freedom, humanitarianism, idealism, modernization, astrology, nervous disorders, rebellion, nonconformity, philanthropy, veracity, perseverance, humanity, and irresolution.
Community Voice
September 3, 2020
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” – Aesop
Community Radio
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Sally Kane, CEO, National Federation of Community Broadcasters
Community Radio for the Wood River Valley, Sun Valley, Idaho.
KDPI is a local non-profit community radio station. It is a broadcast platform for collective voice operated by volunteers in the community. We also serve as a platform for eclectic music, information, and education, providing a medium for the hundreds of non-profit organizations in our Wood River Valley.
All people.
July 3, 20204th of July
‘There is only one true flight from the world: it is not an escape from conflict anguish, and suffering, but the flight from dignity and separation, to unity and peace in the love of other [people].’
-Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation
What Dorothy Day called ‘a revolution of the heart’ is blossoming in our streets, where revolutionaries seem confident America can spend less on war and police, make the 1% and corporations pay their fare share and ensure healthcare, living wages, etc., for all. -Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
NPR
Frederick Douglass’ Descendants Deliver His ‘Fourth Of July’ Speech
How can you watch and not weep? 4th of July belongs to all of us. It must.
‘In this short film, five young descendants of Frederick Douglass read and respond to excerpts of his famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” which asks all of us to consider America’s long history of denying equal rights to Black Americans.’
Douglass Washington Morris II, 20 (he/him) Isidore Dharma Douglass Skinner, 15 (they/their) Zoë Douglass Skinner, 12 (she/her) Alexa Anne Watson, 19 (she/her) Haley Rose Watson, 17 (she/her)
Love will rise above all.
Sun Valley, Idaho.
Tools for Our Time
April 6, 2020Wise, compassionate brilliance from Sara Gorham at Light on the Mountains in Ketchum [Sun Valley], Idaho.
When I was in my twenties, I did a lot of living and traveling in the far corners of the world, spending the better part of that decade improvising one adventure after another, generally without itinerary but always open to whatever showed up. In those days you couldn’t Google where to stay in Calcutta before you went to Calcutta. You just went, trusting that things would work out and generally they did. To be honest, that youthful boldness and assurance amazes me now, but at the time it seemed unremarkable, just a way of being.
Now, with all that is going on in the world, the daily challenges, the unknowable future, I’m starting to think it might be time for me to dust off that youthful assurance and the skill sets and assumptions that went with it. It would appear they could be useful in our current moment when none of us can Google what’s ahead. Instead, the road to what’s next is being laid one brick at a time, just ahead of our footsteps. So, what can we do to best prepare for the novelty of our unfolding future? If I were to take another tip from my younger self, I might suggest we pack light, for it isn’t stuff that we’ll need, but rather the skills and mindset that will help us land well, wherever we land. Here are three things we might consider, things that never failed to serve my younger adventuresome self: curiosity, adaptability and optimism.
We can be curious about the possibilities available to us, about what we might learn and what we might create as the old assumptions of separation fall away. Instead of casting about for what was, we can learn to be adaptable and open to the new “what is,” remaining centered in the moment as things change and evolve. And if we can hold an optimism in our hearts, an expectation for good, we can carry ourselves, not just forward, but upward, buoyed by our knowing that we are at our best and our truest when we are led by our love and caring and not driven by our fears.
We are being gifted with a common experience. It is not an easy passage. We do not make light of the grief and suffering that is part of this experience, but it does afford us a view of our unmistakable unity, of our commonality of being. Let us not waste that realization. I have no doubt that the seas will eventually calm and that the ship we’re sailing will once again right itself, but I suspect that when our ship makes landfall, we will find ourselves on an altered shore, a new horizon. The good news is that our role is not just to arrive at our new horizon, but to co-create it. To best do that we need to be aware and intentional, mindful of our mindset and ready to use our best skill sets, so that the post-pandemic culture we create reflects the heart of our shared humanity and the very best within us all.
COVID…and hope.
March 23, 2020Sharing a message from one of the spiritual leaders in our valley, Sun Valley, Idaho.
’Those who love their own noise are impatient of everythingelse. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains and the sea.They for through silent nature in very direction with their machines, for fear that thecalm world might accuse them of their own emptiness. The urgency oftheir swift movement seems to ignore the tranquility of nature bypretending to have a purpose. The loud plane seems for a moment to deny the realityof the clouds and of the sky by its direction, its noise, and its pretendedstrength. The silence of the sky remains when the plane has gone. Thetranquility of the clouds will remain when the plane has fallen apart. It is thesilence of the world that is real. Our noise, our business, and all our fatuous statementsabout our purposes—these are the illusions.’-No Man Is an Island [1955]
The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say
Terrifying though the coronavirus may be, it can be turned back. China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have demonstrated that, with furious efforts, the contagion can be brought to heel.
Whether they can keep it suppressed remains to be seen. But for the United States to repeat their successes will take extraordinary levels of coordination and money from the country’s leaders, and extraordinary levels of trust and cooperation from citizens. It will also require international partnerships in an interconnected world.
There is a chance to stop the coronavirus. This contagion has a weakness.
Although there are incidents of rampant spread, as happened on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, the coronavirus more often infects clusters of family members, friends and work colleagues, said Dr. David L. Heymann, who chairs an expert panel advising the World Health Organization on emergencies.
No one is certain why the virus travels in this way, but experts see an opening nonetheless. “You can contain clusters,” Dr. Heymann said. “You need to identify and stop discrete outbreaks, and then do rigorous contact tracing.”
But doing so takes intelligent, rapidly adaptive work by health officials, and near-total cooperation from the populace. Containment becomes realistic only when Americans realize that working together is the only way to protect themselves and their loved ones.
In interviews with a dozen of the world’s leading experts on fighting epidemics, there was wide agreement on the steps that must be taken immediately.
Those experts included international public health officials who have fought AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, flu and Ebola; scientists and epidemiologists; and former health officials who led major American global health programs in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Americans must be persuaded to stay home, they said, and a system put in place to isolate the infected and care for them outside the home. Travel restrictions should be extended, they said; productions of masks and ventilators must be accelerated, and testing problems must be resolved.
[…]
Just as generals take the lead in giving daily briefings in wartime — as Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf did during the Persian Gulf war — medical experts should be at the microphone now to explain complex ideas like epidemic curves, social distancing and off-label use of drugs.
The microphone should not even be at the White House, scientists said, so that briefings of historic importance do not dissolve into angry, politically charged exchanges with the press corps, as happened again on Friday.
Instead, leaders must describe the looming crisis and the possible solutions in ways that will win the trust of Americans.
Above all, the experts said, briefings should focus on saving lives and making sure that average wage earners survive the coming hard times — not on the stock market, the tourism industry or the president’s health. There is no time left to point fingers and assign blame.
The next priority, experts said, is extreme social distancing.
If it were possible to wave a magic wand and make all Americans freeze in place for 14 days while sitting six feet apart, epidemiologists say, the whole epidemic would sputter to a halt.
October Yoga in Sun Valley!
September 29, 2019
Cathie Caccia October Yoga Workshop
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Last year’s workshop sold out; special rates available to stay at the Limelight, too.
Community Radio’s Town Square
September 27, 2019
“I knew I wanted to be in radio when I was 6 years old,” said Dayle Ohlau, now 59 and soon to take over as general manager of KDPI, the local nonprofit community radio station based in Ketchum.
Ohlau, who had previously earned a master’s degree in human behavior, decided to return to academia. She enrolled at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco to pursue a Ph.D. in the School of Transformative Studies.
Two and half years later, she has completed her coursework and is preparing an 80-page thesis proposal titled “Homo-Spiritus: Radical Compassion, a New Paradigm for Spirit-Based Journalism.”
“My work is theoretical rather than quantitative,” Ohlau said. “It traces our history from the end of World War I to today, and studies media biases that led us to where we are now, with a distrust of the media and a weakening of the Fourth Estate [journalism]. We have become so tribal. Due to our confirmation biases we only listen to or read what we already believe.”
A recent $11,000 donation from 100 Men Who Care, a local philanthropic group, drew Ohlau back to the nonprofit station that she had helped General Manager Mike Scullion get started in 2013. She will be able to draw a small salary putting together new ideas for the station.
“For me this will be a synergy between my studies and my radio career,” she said. ‘It’s an opportunity to generate compassionate and ethical communication in our community. I think of it as harkening back to the days of the town square.”
Idaho Press
December 20, 2018
All those transplants living in Idaho? Visits from their friends and family are big for tourism
Tourism, Idaho’s third-largest industry behind agriculture and technology, grew by 11 percent in 2018. In 2017, Idaho businesses made $3.7 billion in direct travel dollars, according to data collected by the Idaho Department of Commerce. They recorded 34.3 million Idaho trips in 2017, 40 percent overnight and 60 percent just visiting Idaho for the day. More than 70 percent of Idaho travelers in 2017 were from outside the state, the department estimates.
Yoga…for Free
July 17, 2015SATURDAY
8:45-9:45am Soul Salutations
FREE outside at Sun Valley
July 18 at Base of River Run
July 25 at Base of River Run
August 1 at Base of River Run
August 8 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 15 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 22 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 29 at Base of River Run
Sun Valley Institute for Resilience
July 13, 2015
The Sun Valley Institute for Resilience is a center for public education, policy leadership and investment to ensure economic prosperity, environmental protection and human well-being in its home community of Idaho’s Wood River Valley and beyond.
(US Senator Cory Booker, and Founder/Executive Director Aimee Christensen at the 1st Sun Valley Forum on Resilience)
Senator Booker: “Across America, communities are increasingly facing challenges that are global in nature, from climate change to competition with an ever more interconnected world economy. Expanding the capacity of communities to be resilient in the face of these challenges is an urgent priority. Solving these problems should be about finding and implementing what works, and the expansion and democratization of technology is increasingly enabling communities to make more decisions based on hard data, not hunches. I’m looking forward to discussing how to turn these challenges into economic opportunities that can strengthen our communities and our country.”
SVIR: “In partnership with leading foundations, academic institutions, corporations and nonprofits, the Institute brings together local and global resources and expertise to strengthen the area’s ability to bounce back from harm to the local economy, whether from wildfires, poor snowfall or global economic conditions, and to serve as a global resource to increase resilience far beyond.”
Did you know:
95% of the Wood River Valley’s food comes form outside the valley?
We send $80 million per year out of the Wood River Valley to pay for energy?
From Dayle’s Community Cafe: Deep gratitude to the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience for opening their 1st forum to the public. US Senator Cory Booker & great minds manifesting resiliency with Executive Director Aimee Christensen, Sunday, July 12th, at the Walnut Avenue Mall. Adapt, Survive, and Thrive! Aimee is deeply respected across many sectors of community/local philosophy and commerce. When I first read of this new organization, I intuitively felt the connection and need in our community. This speaks to the grass roots efforts that will bypass policy and government on the national level to allow communities to thrive and evolve on the local level; i.e. not react to issues that effect our lives where we live…e.g. wild fires (still recovering from Beaver Creek), Climate Change (less snow…shorter seasons, greatly effecting our tourism in the valley, our biggest source of income for businesses, therefore, employees), power outages…e.g. Christmas 2010), drought, water rights, but to respond and evolve within the changes. The opposite of resilience is defined as ‘failure’. Failure ‘to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change.” Truly inspired by this organization and the various leaders in our valley, and beyond, who are involved with this organization and developing projects.
http://www.sunvalleyinstitute.org
(In addition to Senator Booker, other speakers at the 1st Forum, Sunday, July 12th in Sun Valley: Nancy Kete of the Rockefeller Foundation, Raul Pomares, Founder of Sonen Capital, Steve McBee, CEO of NRG Home, Collin O’Mara, CEO, National Wildlife Federation, Marco Krapels of SolarCity, Jeffery Sayer, Director of the Idaho Department of Commerce, Brooks Preston of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Brent Stacey of the Idaho National Laboratory, Gary Dirks, Director of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, Peter Horton of Pico Creek Productions, Jeff Goodell of Rolling Stone Magazine, Jennifer Leonard of The CAPROCK Group and Michael Shuman, author of Local Dollars, Local Sense.)
https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org
http://www.postcarbon.org/our-people/michael-shuman/
NEPAL EARTHQUAKE FUNDRAISER IN SUN VALLEY
June 11, 2015
From the SEVA Foundation:
“We saw the destruction firsthand but also the resilience and commitment of our staff and partners as they worked to aid the victims of the earthquake”
The Power of the Heart
May 19, 2015
THURSDAY, MAY 21ST, 7PM ~ SUN VALLEY OPERA HOUSE
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From the director of ‘THE SECRET’, comes this unparalleled and life-changing film about the astonishing power and intelligence of your heart. Featuring some of the most inspiring and influential icons of our age including Mark Nepo, Paulo Coelho, Maya Angelou, Deepak Chopra, Isabel Allende, and Eckhart Tolle.
Film tickets available for $10 at the door.
https://www.sunvalleywellness.org/the-power-of-the-heart-f…/