Climate activist and Invoking the Pause Grant Partner Heidi Quante of HighWaterLine, takes the concepts from her first ITP grant project with collaborator and HighWaterLine New York artist Eve Mosher, to the next level with an ITP "Seeding Possibilities" grant. As a result, Heidi recounts the workshops she conducted in the UK:  

"Due to generous support from Invoking the Pause, I traveled to Bristol, England in the early part of 2014 to lead the first HighWaterLine | UK workshop.  In this workshop myself, Isobel Tarr (the on the ground Co-Coordinator for HighWaterLine | UK) and Alison Crowther (who has devoted over 20 years to working on climate change issues in the UK), led a 2 part workshop that brought together diverse community members in Bristol."  » Read More

 "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."              -Muhammad Ali

It is hard for most people to imagine life without fossil fuels. They're present in almost all aspects of our daily lives. They facilitate nearly everything we do. Are we in love? » Read More

Among the many Invoking the Pause Grant Partner projects, sometimes initial ideas undergo transformation during the creative process.  This was the case for the Super Power Magic Motion Machine (SPMMM). Grant Partner Libby Modern first introduced ITP to the idea of this mobile art installation in Lancaster, PA.  Two years later, she reveals ArtBike!, and chronicles the ride for us in this article:  
"Months ago I came across this Thomas Edison quote—it was the hidden "witticism" in a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, only fully intact when the puzzle had been successfully solved.  Despite weekly attempts, I rarely finish the Sunday crossword, so it was with great pride that I found myself in a position to be reading Edison's words of advice. I kept it on my coffee table so I could stop and stare often at my accomplishment. It wasn't until a few days later, after many stops and stares, that Edison's words actually sunk in: I haven't failed if I just found the ten thousand ways that won't work." » Read More

By Nicole Lederer of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) 
E2 is a 2014 Invoking the Pause Grant Partner.
This photo illustrates the remarkable impact of E2's ITP-sponsored retreat to Iowa.  Governor Branstad of Iowa has not been particularly focused on meeting with clean energy advocates, and many of our partner organizations had tried and failed to get in to his office.  But because we were able to rally a very compelling group of his own constituents, ... » Read More

Bob Keefe is the executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Bob reflects on their recent "pause" and entwines us in the tapestry created by the coming together of such diverse participants.

The farmer, the warrior, the football player, the former small-town mayor, the entrepreneurs and the rest of us came together from every part of the country to the middle of the nation's heartland. Over two days, the differences between us faded away like green in the summertime corn.

Thanks to Invoking the Pause, we were all able to set aside precious time and focus for just a moment in our lives on one of the most simple, most important but most ignored components of good communications: Effectively telling our own stories.

What we quickly realized was that whether we come from the left, the right or the center of our country, our individual stories are powerful tools for advocacy for action on climate change. » Read More

Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) was founded on a contrarian idea - that business people would make the most effective advocates for the environment. 

Back in 2000 the common belief that we had to choose between the health of the planet and our economic prosperity was as widely accepted as it was illogical.  Who better to refute that premise than those with economic credentials - people who run companies and create jobs?  » Read More

Bioneers 25th Anniversary Summit Conference Early Bird Registration now open until August 15th.  Sign up here. 

Though I’ve been a social activist for many years, shareholder advocacy is a new arena for me. With Invoking the Pause, I’ve worked to advance public awareness and engagement about climate change issues for years. We have used our funds to give artists and activists the ‘pause’ they need to complete their worthy work. I am a retired corporate lawyer, and have always believed that corporations have responsibility for their impact on the world and the environment. But before I was introduced to As You Sow last year, I didn’t completely realize how much power I had as a shareholder to affect the companies I own. (I was so impressed with their work I encouraged them to apply for a 2014 ITP grant, and our Advisory Committee selected them as one of the five Grant Partners this year.)

I was recently interviewed for their Donor Profile in the As You Sow Summer Newsletter.  Read the article here.