A newly released satellite photograph of the Pacific Northwest and centering on Victoria, BC at night helps to highlight just how connected and defined the Cascadia region really is, regardless of international boundaries.
The Connected States of Cascadia - MIT Study Shows More Connected than Ever Before
Researchers at MIT Senseable City Lab, working with AT&T Labs and IBM Research have revealed a very nice set of data visualizations that redefines regional boundaries within the United States, using patterns of social connectedness derived from aggregated cellphone communication patterns. The project, "The Connected States of America" illustrates emerging communities defined by social interaction. The Cascadia bioregion features prominently in the illustrations, with the connections helping to better represent the social and cultural realities that are emerging in the Pacific Northwest, and the increasing fragmentation and cultural clustering currently underway throughout the rest of the country.
"Our interactions define new communities... which go beyond traditional state boundaries... with states splitting and merging together "
The data visualizations were derived from 2011 studies by looking at billions of instances of aggregated cell phone communications, working to redefine communities through the informal lens of social networks, hopefully allowing policy makers to utilize the data to increase the democratic process. Carlo Rotti, director of MIT Senseable Labs stated: "We are particularly interested in how such rich information can help us gain a better understanding of our society, which in the future, could lead to more democratic, bottom-up structures of governance."
Investigating these social interactions reveals interesting patterns for how people utilize space, and more than that, interact not only within that space, but with society at large, between neighborhood, city, county, state and region, defining what community really means in 21st century America. In this newly regional model, cities play an important role, helping to pull nearby counties into their radius of influence, create commuting patterns, influence economic and environmental landscapes, and when they overlap, combine to create a new form of spatial geography and interaction known in the Pacific Northwest as the Cascadia Megaregion.
In addition to this, working on a bioregional framework also appears to be important and researchers found that Mountain ranges and other geographic features influence how people interact, because they contribute to an increased perception of distance and therefore hinder communication.
The result findings are also very similar to what the federal policy and planning organization America 2050 has argued, defining roughly 11 megaregions in the United States. America 2050 is Regional Plan Association's national infrastructure planning and policy program, providing leadership on a broad range of transportation, sustainability, and economic-development issues impacting America's growth in the 21st century.
A megaregion is defined as an area where “boundaries begin to blur, creating a new scale of geography”. These areas have interlocking economic systems, shared natural resources and ecosystems, and common transportation systems link these population centers together. In the Pacific Northwest, the Cascadia megaregion contains 17% of Cascadian land mass, but more than 80% of the Cascadian population.
These arguments also help to strengthen the idea that while we here in the Pacific Northwest are a part of very large countries, the United States and Canada, we still possess distinct cultural elements – language, literature, affiliations, communications – and an awareness of ourselves as members of a community which extends throughout our region, rendering many traditional boundaries obsolete and irrelevant. This idea of common bonds and character – are transmitted through media, newsprint, education, sports, and at it’s base root – our individual communications on an interpersonal level.
The Pacific Northwest is unique – in North America, and in the world abroad. We continue to be connected in ways that challenge traditional modes of governance, aspiring to better ways of conceiving of community, locality, geography, and ecology.
More information can be found on the MIT website: http://senseable.mit.edu/csa/
Cascadia Now! Meetups set for Vancouver, Seattle, Olympia and Portland
For those interested, we're happy to announce several upcoming Cascadia Now! meetups throughout the Northwest, starting in Olympia, Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. Meetings are usually welcoming and informal, and will likely include introductions, greetings, discussions about current and ongoing campaigns, actions, merchandise, newsletters, zines as well as organizing workshops, lectures, and conferences.
As always, we're also looking for people interested in hosting meetups in other cities as well, and if you're interested feel free to contact us at cascadianow@gmail.com with a date/place that you think is appropriate.
For futher details:
Olympia, WA:
Wednesday, December 12th @ Fishtails Brewpub3pm
Get Involved: https://www.facebook.com/
Vancouver, BC:
Saturday, December 15th @ W2 Media Cafe 1pm
Get Involved: https://www.facebook.com/
Seattle, WA:
Tuesday, December 18th @ Cafe Allegro 7pm
Every other Tuesday
Get Involved: https://www.facebook.com/
Portland, OR: Wednesday, January 9th @ Psu Smith Memorial Student Union Portland,Or Once started the group will meet every second and fourth Wednesday Get Involved: http://cascadia-pdx.org/ Contact: cascadianmycelium@gmail.com
If you don't live near the above cities, please let us know if you would like to host a Cascadia meetup of your own.
If you'd like to get active with Cascadia Now! there are always a wide variety of ways in which to help out. If you have any special interests, would like to let us know how you think you can help or just to show your support please don’t hesitate to contact us on our Get Involved page. Right now we are especially looking for anyone with non-profit administration, grant writing or volunteer coordination experience, but never hesitate to shoot us an email.
As always, stay in touch through our newsletter, reddit forums, facebook page and facebook group
New Portland Cascadia PDX Website and First Meetup
For anyone interested in getting involved in Portland, Oregon, a new website has been created by Cascadia Organizers at http://cascadia-pdx.org/ .
People can sign up for their newsletter, get informed on upcoming events from their calendar, get added onto their Portland action phone tree, as well find a wide range of Cascadia related merchandise.
They will be having their first meeting Wednesday, December 5th from 5:30-7pm at the green space in PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union building, right beside Food for Thought Café. More information can be found at: http://cascadia-pdx.org/cascadia-pdx-first-gathering-tea-and-vision-wed-dec-5th-530pm-7pm/
Vote Cascadia: An Interactive Community Art Project
During this last round of our recent election cycle here in Cascadia, an interesting new Tumblr blog popped up, followed by a flood of dozens of images that quickly spread through Facebook and Twitter.
The images, part of a new interactive art project called ‘Vote Cascadia’ were a response to the release of a simple template that could be downloaded online and allowed people to fill out their hopes and desires for a Cascadia Commonwealth before anonymously reposting them.
“The project works to help people engage their neighbors and communities in re-imagining city, state and place - by asking each person to anonymously share their vision of a perfect world. By comparing and contrasting our different visions, we begin to understand more intimately the needs, hopes, and desires of those around us, and find our common ground.”
The “Results” of this poll are dynamic word cloud art images. All the ballots are analyzed for word frequency, and the most common words are larger proportional to their usage. In this way, they sum up in a single image the recurring thoughts, dreams, and ideas of an entire community- our collective common ground.
Ballots that have been submitted so far can be viewed on http://votecascadia.tumblr.com/ . In addition, anyone looking to get involved or help expand the project into their own neighborhood is encouraged to email: notsamsmith@gmail.com
Towards a Cascadia Football Federation and the 2016 VIVA World Cup [Updated]
As the 2012 league season came to halt for all three Cascadia clubs, organizers working with the newly established Cascadia Football Association have been pushing towards making the idea of fielding a Cascadia National Team a reality.
For those not aware, the Cascadian Football Association is a small but growing group of people who are creating the infrastructure necessary for the creation of a Cascadia representational team though the process of application and hopefully acceptance by the NF-Board, the organization which oversees Non-FIFA football around the world. Every two years the NF-Board organizes the VIVA World Cup, which one of its 27 member Football Associations (FAs) hosts.
Cascadia as a distinct cultural entity, bioregion and growing social movement with common interests across international lines can and should be represented in the sport which we in Cascadia are passionate about; football connects us to other similar communities, cultures and peoples around the globe, and can be a great way to help foster a sense of place and regional identity. For that reason the organizers’ aim is a simple one: To have Cascadia participate as a member FA in the 2014 or 2016 VIVA World Cup. For more information, we also encourage people to read our earlier introduction to the effort here: http://www.cascadianow.org/towards-a-cascadia-soccer-federation-and-the-2016-viva-world-cup/
This idea has been floated around for several years now, and continues to gain support from various different Pacific Northwest Football and Soccer blogs. Stumptown Footy has also done a very nice piece recently updated on what a Cascadia Mens National Team may look like: http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2012/2/15/2800601/cascadia-assembling-cascadian-mens-national-team
While not affiliated in any way with the Cascadian Independence Project, we are very excited to announce they have released several updates on their Facebook page in relation to the creation of a Cascadia National Team, including:
Established an Interim President, Acting Secretary and Communications Officer for the CFA. Permanent positions and appointments for these and other offices will take place at the first General Meeting which will be upcoming in January. The meeting is open, and anyone interested in attending should email group organizers for more information.- Reached out to and are in communications with Cascadia kit and scarf makers.
- Reached out to the Sealand Football Association, reaching out to the Quebec FA and other FA's for fact-finding and guidance in the process.
- Gained the support of a French/English translator to help with communications with Francophone FA's and the NF-Board in Brussels.
- Reached out to and are in communication with the CSANF, the Consejo Sudamericano de Nuevas Federaciones - South America’s non-FIFA Confederation. Our Acting Secretary is bi-lingual in English and Spanish.
- Joined a non-FIFA football forum to further network with NF-Board FA’s such as Raetia to learn more about the application process so that we can proceed with it smoothly.
- Preparing an official communique and letter of intent for the NF-Board in Brussels who we hear are now aware of and interested in our efforts.
- Looking into the possibility of having an observer at the NF-Board’s February General Meeting in Munich, Germany. This will be discussed at the CAFF General Meeting in January.
- Looking into potential venues for our January General Meeting. They are open to suggestions as want as many to attend as possible.
- In contact with people both familiar with forming non-profit organizations and with people involved in other non-FIFA football such as the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup.
- Identification of over 75 eligible pro and semi-pro players based on a fairly conservative selection criteria.
The claim for Cascadia representation is based both upon our common past as Cascadia was once briefly a single political unit: the Oregon Territory – shared by several nations, as well as our present as the nexus of incredible support for the sport in North America which we and the world all love.
And the claim is also based on our common future as a region, and a culture.
For those looking for more information or who would like to get involved, check out:
Black Friday Cascadia Community Clean-Up
If anyone is interested in participating in future events or would like some help organizing a cleanup event in their area please feel free to contact me at CascadianEpoch@gmail.com.
Explorations of Cascadian Cartography Exhibit in Portland
Explorations of Cascadian Cartography – A new map themed gallery set up for the duration of the 2012 North American Cartography Information Society (NACIS) in Portland OR, will be running at the White Stag building through December 10th.
The North American Cartographic Information Society, founded in 1980, is an organization comprised of specialists from private, academic, and government organizations whose common interest lies in facilitating communication in the map information community. Their goals are to improve communication, coordination and cooperation among the producers, disseminators, curators, and users of cartographic information.
This year’s conference was the first hosted in Cascadia since 2004, which continues to be at the forefront regional geographic, social, and spatial mapping projects. This emerging trend of mapping Cascadia will also continue this weekend, with the Decolonizing Cascadia, the 7th Annual Regional Mini-Conference being hosted by the University of British Columbia, in collaboration with geography departments around the Pacific Northwest to talk about newly emerging formations, and what these social and economic developments might mean for a continuingly connected and integrated region.
For directions, the White Stag Building is a part of the University of Oregon campus, located on Northwest Naito Parkway and West Burnside Street.
Occupied Cascadia Premiere Release and Film Tour
Occupied Cascadia is a documentary released by Cascadia Matters, a collective of artists, writers, educators and media activists from Bend, Oregon which explores the emerging understanding of bioregionalism within the lands and waters of the Northeast Pacific Rim. It premiered on October 6th at the Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon, beginning a region wide film tour that included Portland, Seattle, Bellingham, Victoria, Ellensburg in their first week, with many upcoming shows throughout the remainder of October and into November.
The filmmakers interweave intimate landscape portraits with human voices both ideological and indigenous. Their feature length documentary is not intended to be representative of the Cascadia movement, but instead add a powerful and compelling argument about a region occupied, and a landbase under siege. The film seeks to highlight the emerging ideas, struggles and times of the Cascadia bioregion and beyond. In order to effectively provide clean air and clean water for future generations, our attention must not only shift towards the bioregions of the Pacific Northwest, but also towards stopping corrosive agendas within them. The diverse voices throughout this land have forged the way for many movements and there is a growing necessity to inspire a unified culture of resistance. This film promotes that dialogue through bioregional awareness.
Stories from the land contrast critique of dominant culture, while an embrace of the radical unknown informs a re-birthed and growing culture of resistance. Filming began during the outset of the populist “Occupy” movement, and finished by joining the voices seeking to re-contextualize popular revolt within our life-world as a movement to decolonize, un-occupy, and re-inhabit the living Earth through deep understanding and identification with our specific bioregions.
To find a showing near you, or if you are interested in helping organize a film showing for your region or school, visit the Cascadia Matters website at: http://cascadiamatters.org/events. If you’d like to get involved helping set up a film screening in your city or region, you can contact them directly at: cascadiamatters@gmail.com
CascadiaNow! Updates: November and December 2012
November and December were both very active months for Cascadia organizing. Cascadia Now received mentions in several magazines and online blogs, including Vice Magazine, while several events such as the Cascadian Cartography Exhibit took place in Portland, the Decolonizing Cascadia conference took place at the University of British Columbia, the Cascadia Review, a journal of Pacific Northwest poetry released their first issue, and Portland had their first Cascadia meetup.