Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation news

Bauman’s Cider opens 1st Portland location

News Feed
Friday, April 19, 2024

Bauman’s Cider of Gervais on Friday holds the grand opening of its first tasting room and restaurant, Bauman’s on Oak, moving into the space previously occupied by Base Camp Brewing then Ecliptic Brewing’s Moon Room in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood.The grand opening festivities begin at 2 p.m. and run through Sunday. For those unfamiliar with Bauman’s, the ciderhouse is highly acclaimed, having garnered over 160 medals for its ciders on the national and international stage, and it has won four consecutive titles of mid-sized cidery of the year at two of the most prestigious cider competitions in the U.S. It was founded in 2016 by Christine Walter, who began life as Christine Bauman and grew up working and playing in the fields of her family’s Bauman Farms.Walter is among the fifth generation to farm the Marion County land, which her great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Bauman, homesteaded in 1895. In 2015, Walter started the cider operation in a small corner of a barn on the farm, and it has grown so much it needed to move manufacturing to the Southeast Portland location to have room to grow — and open a tasting room. “Our restaurant and tasting room,” Walter says, “is a love letter to the cider community. But the thing about the cider community is, everyone is welcome.“So whether you’re cider-obsessed, cider-curious, or simply looking for a good meal with friends and family, we’d love to have you in to dine with us.”Bauman’s on Oak has been “soft” opened for two weeks, serving its exquisite ciders to customers who flocked to the tasting room since hearing about it on social media and word of mouth. The kitchen is operated by Chef Daniel Green, former founding partner at Portland’s Cafe Olli, and he has created a menu of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients that builds on his depth of experience as a sourdough baker and fermentation expert. The menu features items such as house-made sourdough with caramelized onion butter; roasted beets with ricotta, nettle salsa and dukkah; brown rice with mushroom confit and mustard greens; and gigante beans with cabbage and shredded pork.Walter’s team has transformed the former Moon Room into an elegant space with lush greens and almond whites to complement the bare concrete walls and open wood-beam ceiling. Chris Leimena, who has worked with some of Portland’s best restaurants including Higgins, Langbaan, and most recently Le Pigeon/Canard, has been brought on to lead the front of house, which offers full table service along with a bar that seats about 10.Offerings also include wine and beer served from the more than 30 taps. Nonalcoholic options are also plentiful.The grand opening begins at 2 p.m. Friday and continues through Sunday, and it includes raffles for prizes all weekend, along with tours, pie specials, and more surprises. Bauman’s on Oak is at 930 S.E. Oak St., with regular hours from 2-8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 2-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.***Editor’s note: This is a re-publication of the Oregon Brews and News weekly beer and cider newsletter, written by Oregonian/OregonLive beer writer Andre Meunier. To subscribe to have the newsletter delivered every Thursday at noon to your email inbox, go to oregonlive.com/newsletters and sign up.***Labyrinth Forge Brewing exits the mazeLabyrinth Forge Brewing took a shot in the former Hair of the Dog space.Andre Meunier/The OregonianLast summer Labyrinth Forge Brewing, with great energy and optimism, opened its modernized and comfy taproom in the former Hair of the Dog Brewing space in Southeast Portland. Not a year later, the forces weighing down the brewing industry have shut down the dream. Founder Dylan Vandetta announced two Fridays ago on Instagram that Sunday, April 7, would be its last day. Here’s what he had to say:“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closure of Labyrinth Forge Brewing Company. After much consideration and reflection, we have made the difficult decision to close our doors due to the challenges faced by the craft brewing industry.The last year proved to be exceptionally tough for us, as it did for many others in our craft beer community. Despite our best efforts and the unwavering dedication of our team, the combination of depressed draft beer sales and escalating operational costs has created challenges that we simply cannot overcome.”He went on to thank his team and LFB’s supporters, saying, “Remember to continue embracing the spirit of exploration and camaraderie that has defined Labyrinth Forge Brewing Company and Get Lost With Your Beer!”The loss is a double whammy. LFB’s brewhouse was also the brewery home of Green Dragon Brewing, a group of beer enthusiasts that provides opportunities and helps local homebrewers design and brew beer recipes that are then made available to the public. Green Dragon has brewed over 500 batches of beer in its long history, so stay tuned here to what might come next.Get smoky and dank on 4/20April 20 is in a couple of days, and it’s a day that is very exciting to a lot of people. And if the smoky and dank but in liquid form is your thing, you have reason to celebrate as well, because The BeerMongers and Mayfly Tap Room and Bottle Shop (with special guest Grand Fir Brewing) are partnering on the Smoked & Dank Fest this Saturday, offering — you guessed it — smoky and dank beers a-flowin. The BeerMongers has been holding the 4/20 event for years, and this year proprietor Sean Campbell is bringing pal Ryan Born and his Mayfly taproom aboard, with the two cross-town pubs each hosting separate locations for the festival. Here’s BeerMongers lineup:Aecht Schlenkerla Erle alderwood-smoked schwarzbierUpright Brewing’s Prague Rauch lager smoked dark lagerForeland Beer and Level Beer’s Mashes to Ashes smoked marzenOregon City Brewing’s Pipe Dreams smoked Munich dunkelPizza Port Brewing’s Sherpa beechwood-smoked porter (Ode to Alaskan smoked porter)Great Notion Brewing’s Roach Clip hazy IPAGreat Notion and Finback Brewery’s Wake & Bake imperial stoutCulmination Brewing’s 4&20 Black IPA Grand Fir Brewing’s Moss Giant DIPABeing new to the festival, Born says Mayfly’s taplist is smaller but still “mighty tasty”: Dank: VIA Beer’s Zach Smash Wild Ride Brewing’s Kiefer Magic Fortside Brewing’s Drop The MICSmoked: VIA’s Stash Box Rauch Marzen Upright Brewing’s Prague LagerDoyaji and Champs Burgers will be the food vendors at Mayfly, and The BeerMongers will offer the cuisines of HarBQ barbecue and Doug Adams of Doug Fir Brewing. BeerMongers is at 2415 S.E. 11th Ave. (opens at 11 a.m.), and Mayfly is at 8350 N. Fenwick Ave. (opens at noon)Belmont Station having a momentBelmont Station, at 4500 S.E. Stark St., celebrates its 27th anniversary.Oregonian file photoSoutheast Portland’s Belmont Station is always a great place to have a beer or search the coolers and shelves for bottles or cans, but right now it’s even a bit extra special. For starters, the bottle shop was just named best at the Oregon Beer Awards, and it placed third in USA Today’s survey of best beer bars in America. On top of those honors, tomorrow, Friday, April 19, Belmont Station celebrates its 27th anniversary. That’s a long time and a lot of beers served. To celebrate, owner Lisa Morrison and her crew brewed a collaboration beer with Pizza Port Brewing of San Diego called Greetings From Belmont that’s modeled after PPB’s famous Swami’s IPA, with a few modern twists. And for the anniversary celebration tomorrow, all patrons get $1 off their first beverage purchased. Opens at 10 a.m.; 4500 S.E. Stark St.Beer (style) of the WeekThreshold Brewing & Blending on Saturday, April 27, 2024, celebrates the Polish beer style grodziskie.Courtesy of Threshold Brewing & BlendingGrodziskie: Two things (and probably more) are true about Threshold Brewing & Blending in Southeast Portland: 1) Brewer and co-founder Jarek Szymanski makes amazing beer; and 2) His wife and co-founder Sara Szymanski keeps the fun coming at the Montavilla neighborhood taproom. The latest is the brewery’s first ever Grodz Day, a celebration of the Polish beer style Grodziskie, “the Champagne of Poland,” the brewery says (Jarek is Polish-born). On Saturday, April 27, Threshold welcomes Polish guests from Browar Grodzisk, the Polish brewery credited in part for reviving the centuries-old style both nationally and abroad. In attendance also will be the crew from Polish Hops and Portland beer writer and international speaker Jeff Alworth. Here’s what Threshold says: “Expect a fascinating afternoon centered on this centuries-old Polish beer style, featuring a panel discussion, introduction to the brand new White Labs Grodziskie yeast strain, Polish hop sensory and guest taps featuring select Portland-brewed Grodziskie.” The style is pronounced “grow-JEES-kee-uh,” and it’s a light oak-smoked wheat ale style originating in the Polish town of Grodzisk in the mid-15th century. Threshold and Browar Grodzisk head brewer Marcin Ostajewski will be brewing a grodziskie while he’s here, so look for that soon.Threshold is also busy releasing more beers, including Quantum Vision Hazy and Quantum Vision West Coast, two IPAs featuring Citra and Mosaic hops. Brewery notes: “Ultra bright and dank, Mosaic is giving fruity tropical in all the right ways, and showcasing them combined side by side as a crisp West Coast vs super smooth hazy feels like a hop selection prerequisite.” Both on tap now, with cans available next Tuesday. Find Threshold at 403 S.E. 79th Ave.What to do, what to do?Earth to Beer bash: I wrote last month about the Earth to Beer project, a national Earth Day beer campaign where breweries make beer with environmentally responsible ingredients and give back to local environmental nonprofits. The effort has 35 breweries across the country onboard, and tomorrow one of those — Hopworks Brewery — is tapping eight of those beers at its original location, 2944 S.E. Powell Blvd.Music, beer and tacos: Montavilla Brew Works from 5-9 p.m. this Saturday, April 20, brings all three together for DJ Majik Man’s 420 Vinyl Bash. They’ll be spinning LPs from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, and Reina Del Mole will serve up mole tacos, burritos and tamales of authentic Oaxacan cuisine from 5 p.m. until they’re out. 7805 S.E. Stark St.The Pineapple Express Pineapple Beer Fest, Imperial Bottle Shop and Taproom: Beer enthusiasts and pineapple lovers on Saturday should head over to Southeast Portland’s Imperial Bottle Shop to indulge in a unique selection of pineapple-infused brews. With 10 pineapple beers and one pineapple cider on tap, attendees can sip their way through a tropical paradise of flavors. Festival-goers can also get complimentary Pineapple Donuts courtesy of Mikiko Mochi Donuts, and Detroit Style Pineapple Pizza from Matt Cortese will be served from 3-4 p.m, while supplies last. The brainchild of local beer adventurer John “John The Kiwi” Lovegrove is also a celebration of his 50th birthday, so go on out and meet him. Participants include Vice Beer, Living Haus Beer, Gigantic Brewing, Breakside Brewery, Great Notion Brewing, Little Beast Brewing, iLK Beer, Steeplejack Brewing, McMenamins, Old Town Brewing and Swift Cider. Noon until close, 3090 S.E. Division St. More details here.Von Ebert Brewing’s 6th anniversary: The Portland brewery celebrates by releasing two collaboration beers with Firestone Walker Brewing of California: 6th Anniversary West Coast IPA and 6th Anniversary German-style Pilsner, which will be available at all four Von Ebert locations and Portland-area bottle shops. Said Sam Pecoraro, brewmaster of Von Ebert Brewing: “We wanted to celebrate this milestone with our friends at Firestone Walker Brewing Company, who are West Coast craft brewing pioneers and innovators, through collaborations that truly highlight our mutual drive to cultivate a brewery culture of continuous improvement to quench our beer drinkers.” On Thursday, April 18, Wildwood Taphouse, at 9345 N.E. Windsor St. in Hillsboro, will hold a release party from 4-10 p.m. with Von Ebert and Firestone Walker brewers in attendance. Fracture Brewing’s 2nd anniversary: The Portland brewery turns two and throws a party to celebrate at its Fracture Stark Street taproom, 1015 S.E. Stark, starting at noon Saturday, April 20. The brewery will release three beers to celebrate:Green is Gold, a triple dry hopped hazy IPA. Brewery notes: “A juice bomb that pushes the limits of saturated hop oils.”More Than Enough Citra, Fracture’s classic West Coast IPA base loaded up with Citra hops. Brewery notes: “A punch of lychee, sweet orange and dank citrus.”Turtles All the Way Down, a West Coast IPA brewed with Day One Distribution and Cascade Brewing. Brewery notes: “A perfect dank, piney, tropical/citrus hop bomb.”Get on the Bus campaign: Great Notion Brewing’s third annual tribute to Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters this year continues until the end of April, as fans get to “taste a ton of trippy beers, check out new cannabis-friendly merchandise, and have the chance to win a ton of far-out prizes,” the brewery says. Owners Paul Reiter, James Dugan and Andy Miller are big fans of Kesey and the Pranksters, thus the brewery name and beer references stem from the 1971 film “Sometimes a Great Notion.” The campaign is a “celebration of the fun annual Bicycle Day (the first recorded LSD ‘trip’ by Albert Hoffman on 4/19) and 4/20 cannabis celebration holidays honoring the Merry Pranksters and their Further Bus.” New beers that only appear annually around this time include these remaining releases:April 18:AuraBicycle DayElectric HeadbandMerry Dankster April 25:Micro DanksterBaked & Stuffed Berry DanishTriple Dank SharkCustomers can purchase GNB’s Get on the Bus beers on the GN mobile App, in-person at one of Great Notion’s seven locations; or at the website events page, where more detail is available. Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest: Now in its ninth year, this annual event, held this year on April 27, invites seasoned and novice cider enthusiasts to sample ciders from Columbia River Gorge and Pacific Northwest hard cidermakers. It offers over 60 ciders on tap from more than 30 cideries. Held at the Port of Hood River Event Site, this year the event expands its footprint to provide beachfront access to the Columbia River and the option for attendees to bring their own glass, contributing to what organizers call an “immersive and sustainable Hood River experience.” Beyond cider sampling, the daylong event boasts artisan food, art vendors, music and a children’s play area. For more information or tickets, visit hoodriverciderfest.com. For more information on Hood River, or to book a stay at one of Hood River’s lodging options visit visithoodriver.com/stay.New Releases of Note2023 Harvest Ciders, Dwinell Country Ales: If you’ve never made the trek out to Dwinell’s tasting room in Goldendale, Washington, please do. The drive along Washington’s Highway 14 is magical, as are Dwinell’s various offerings. This weekend Dwinell’s cider arm releases these three, and you’ll also discover some of their newer beers and wines. Almira - French Cider: A Normandy-style cider made from a blend of Domaines, Marie Menard and Muscadet de Lense apples.Russet - Dry Cider: A wild-fermented heirloom cider made from a blend of Winesap, Jonathan and Roxbury Russet apples.Robin - Pear Cider: An aromatic pear cider made from a blend of Comice, Pakham, Bosc and Taylor’s Gold pears, together with Karmijn de Sonnaville apples.Squeeze Play, Portland Cider Co.: The new cider release is a collaboration with the Hillsboro Hops that is crafted exclusively for the local minor league baseball team and is available during home games at Hillsboro Ballpark and at select retail locations. Cidery notes: “Juicy and refreshing and inspired by a classic margarita, the cider is bursting with fresh-squeezed lemon and lime juices accentuated by the floral and citrus aromas of Citra hops, and finished with a pinch of salt. Notes of ripe melon and lychee on the nose anchor the bright, fresh citrus flavors that are enhanced by light hoppiness, finishing tart and dry.” Sunshine Keyholes, Recluse Brew Works: This very juicy IPA isn’t exactly a hazy, front of house manager Richard LaRue says, but it’s “very drinkable, certainly unfiltered, and the closest thing to a hazy we’ve made so far.” Brewery notes: “Juicy. Sunny. Funny,” much like those notes. Available Friday, April 19, at the brewery, 4035 Grant St. Suite 102, Washougal.Black Dragon Imperial Cider, Avid Cider: The Bend ciderhouse releases this imperial cider of “mythical proportions” at 8.5% ABV. Cidery notes: “Black Dragon presents a bold blend of blackberry, raspberry and dragon fruit flavors.” On shelves now across Oregon and Washington in six-packs of 12-ounce cans and alongside Royal Apricot, Blueberry Pom and Golden Delish in Avid Cider’s first ever, newly released Variety Imperial 12-pack.Beach Beer, Pelican Brewing: This release from the coastal brewery is the newest addition to its year-round lineup and joins the newly released Beak Breaker Tropical Hazy IPA and re-released Pelicano cerveza lager as its summer trio lineup. “We wanted to create a tasty and flavorful beer that is true to our roots and celebrates our home here on the Oregon Coast,” says Pelican Brewing’s brewmaster of 28 years, Darron Welch, who just entered the Oregon Beer Awards Hall of Fame. “And after years of stepping out onto the sand from the back patio of our original location in Pacific City, it was clear that Beach Beer is the right beer to carry that feeling to wherever you happen to be.” Pelican says it is a “lighter, approachable, every-day beer that anyone can enjoy,” and Welch calls it “just good beer.” Available in 16-ounce can six-packs at any of Pelican Brewing’s four coastal locations and on store shelves wherever Pelican is sold. Juicy Drama, 10 Barrel Brewing: This fruit-forward imperial IPA becomes the fourth member of 10 Barrel’s HopBurst Family of IPAs. Brewery notes: “Brewed with a ridiculous amount of Bravo and Simcoe hops, giving it a dramatic burst of citrus and pine hop flavor, but keeping bitterness to a minimum. To round out the theatrics, the brewers added Yuzu zest to the fermenter for an explosive aroma that makes this 9.6% ABV surprisingly easy-drinking and low-maintenance.” — Andre Meunier has been writing about Northwest beer and breweries since 2016; reach him at 503-221-8488 or ameunier@oregonian.com, and sign up for his weekly newsletter, Oregon Brews and News. Instagram: @oregonianbeerguy

Bauman’s Cider of Gervais on Friday holds the grand opening of its first tasting room and restaurant, Bauman’s on Oak. Also in this beer roundup, Labyrinth Forge Brewing closes, and Belmont Station turns 27.

Bauman’s Cider of Gervais on Friday holds the grand opening of its first tasting room and restaurant, Bauman’s on Oak, moving into the space previously occupied by Base Camp Brewing then Ecliptic Brewing’s Moon Room in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood.

The grand opening festivities begin at 2 p.m. and run through Sunday.

For those unfamiliar with Bauman’s, the ciderhouse is highly acclaimed, having garnered over 160 medals for its ciders on the national and international stage, and it has won four consecutive titles of mid-sized cidery of the year at two of the most prestigious cider competitions in the U.S. It was founded in 2016 by Christine Walter, who began life as Christine Bauman and grew up working and playing in the fields of her family’s Bauman Farms.

Walter is among the fifth generation to farm the Marion County land, which her great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Bauman, homesteaded in 1895. In 2015, Walter started the cider operation in a small corner of a barn on the farm, and it has grown so much it needed to move manufacturing to the Southeast Portland location to have room to grow — and open a tasting room.

“Our restaurant and tasting room,” Walter says, “is a love letter to the cider community. But the thing about the cider community is, everyone is welcome.

“So whether you’re cider-obsessed, cider-curious, or simply looking for a good meal with friends and family, we’d love to have you in to dine with us.”

Bauman’s on Oak has been “soft” opened for two weeks, serving its exquisite ciders to customers who flocked to the tasting room since hearing about it on social media and word of mouth.

The kitchen is operated by Chef Daniel Green, former founding partner at Portland’s Cafe Olli, and he has created a menu of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients that builds on his depth of experience as a sourdough baker and fermentation expert. The menu features items such as house-made sourdough with caramelized onion butter; roasted beets with ricotta, nettle salsa and dukkah; brown rice with mushroom confit and mustard greens; and gigante beans with cabbage and shredded pork.

Walter’s team has transformed the former Moon Room into an elegant space with lush greens and almond whites to complement the bare concrete walls and open wood-beam ceiling. Chris Leimena, who has worked with some of Portland’s best restaurants including Higgins, Langbaan, and most recently Le Pigeon/Canard, has been brought on to lead the front of house, which offers full table service along with a bar that seats about 10.

Offerings also include wine and beer served from the more than 30 taps. Nonalcoholic options are also plentiful.

The grand opening begins at 2 p.m. Friday and continues through Sunday, and it includes raffles for prizes all weekend, along with tours, pie specials, and more surprises. Bauman’s on Oak is at 930 S.E. Oak St., with regular hours from 2-8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 2-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

***

Editor’s note: This is a re-publication of the Oregon Brews and News weekly beer and cider newsletter, written by Oregonian/OregonLive beer writer Andre Meunier. To subscribe to have the newsletter delivered every Thursday at noon to your email inbox, go to oregonlive.com/newsletters and sign up.

***

Labyrinth Forge Brewing exits the maze

Picnic tables with people sitting at them under red umbrellas outside the open garage door of a brewpub in a brown industrial building.

Labyrinth Forge Brewing took a shot in the former Hair of the Dog space.Andre Meunier/The Oregonian

Last summer Labyrinth Forge Brewing, with great energy and optimism, opened its modernized and comfy taproom in the former Hair of the Dog Brewing space in Southeast Portland. Not a year later, the forces weighing down the brewing industry have shut down the dream. Founder Dylan Vandetta announced two Fridays ago on Instagram that Sunday, April 7, would be its last day. Here’s what he had to say:

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closure of Labyrinth Forge Brewing Company. After much consideration and reflection, we have made the difficult decision to close our doors due to the challenges faced by the craft brewing industry.

The last year proved to be exceptionally tough for us, as it did for many others in our craft beer community. Despite our best efforts and the unwavering dedication of our team, the combination of depressed draft beer sales and escalating operational costs has created challenges that we simply cannot overcome.”

He went on to thank his team and LFB’s supporters, saying, “Remember to continue embracing the spirit of exploration and camaraderie that has defined Labyrinth Forge Brewing Company and Get Lost With Your Beer!”

The loss is a double whammy. LFB’s brewhouse was also the brewery home of Green Dragon Brewing, a group of beer enthusiasts that provides opportunities and helps local homebrewers design and brew beer recipes that are then made available to the public. Green Dragon has brewed over 500 batches of beer in its long history, so stay tuned here to what might come next.

Get smoky and dank on 4/20

April 20 is in a couple of days, and it’s a day that is very exciting to a lot of people. And if the smoky and dank but in liquid form is your thing, you have reason to celebrate as well, because The BeerMongers and Mayfly Tap Room and Bottle Shop (with special guest Grand Fir Brewing) are partnering on the Smoked & Dank Fest this Saturday, offering — you guessed it — smoky and dank beers a-flowin. The BeerMongers has been holding the 4/20 event for years, and this year proprietor Sean Campbell is bringing pal Ryan Born and his Mayfly taproom aboard, with the two cross-town pubs each hosting separate locations for the festival. Here’s BeerMongers lineup:

  • Aecht Schlenkerla Erle alderwood-smoked schwarzbier
  • Upright Brewing’s Prague Rauch lager smoked dark lager
  • Foreland Beer and Level Beer’s Mashes to Ashes smoked marzen
  • Oregon City Brewing’s Pipe Dreams smoked Munich dunkel
  • Pizza Port Brewing’s Sherpa beechwood-smoked porter (Ode to Alaskan smoked porter)
  • Great Notion Brewing’s Roach Clip hazy IPA
  • Great Notion and Finback Brewery’s Wake & Bake imperial stout
  • Culmination Brewing’s 4&20 Black IPA 
  • Grand Fir Brewing’s Moss Giant DIPA

Being new to the festival, Born says Mayfly’s taplist is smaller but still “mighty tasty”:

Dank:

  •  VIA Beer’s Zach Smash
  •  Wild Ride Brewing’s Kiefer Magic
  •  Fortside Brewing’s Drop The MIC

Smoked:

  •  VIA’s Stash Box Rauch Marzen
  •  Upright Brewing’s Prague Lager

Doyaji and Champs Burgers will be the food vendors at Mayfly, and The BeerMongers will offer the cuisines of HarBQ barbecue and Doug Adams of Doug Fir Brewing. BeerMongers is at 2415 S.E. 11th Ave. (opens at 11 a.m.), and Mayfly is at 8350 N. Fenwick Ave. (opens at noon)

Belmont Station having a moment

Belmont Station 27th anniversary

Belmont Station, at 4500 S.E. Stark St., celebrates its 27th anniversary.Oregonian file photo

Southeast Portland’s Belmont Station is always a great place to have a beer or search the coolers and shelves for bottles or cans, but right now it’s even a bit extra special. For starters, the bottle shop was just named best at the Oregon Beer Awards, and it placed third in USA Today’s survey of best beer bars in America. On top of those honors, tomorrow, Friday, April 19, Belmont Station celebrates its 27th anniversary. That’s a long time and a lot of beers served. To celebrate, owner Lisa Morrison and her crew brewed a collaboration beer with Pizza Port Brewing of San Diego called Greetings From Belmont that’s modeled after PPB’s famous Swami’s IPA, with a few modern twists. And for the anniversary celebration tomorrow, all patrons get $1 off their first beverage purchased. Opens at 10 a.m.; 4500 S.E. Stark St.

Beer (style) of the Week

A poster for an event

Threshold Brewing & Blending on Saturday, April 27, 2024, celebrates the Polish beer style grodziskie.Courtesy of Threshold Brewing & Blending

Grodziskie: Two things (and probably more) are true about Threshold Brewing & Blending in Southeast Portland: 1) Brewer and co-founder Jarek Szymanski makes amazing beer; and 2) His wife and co-founder Sara Szymanski keeps the fun coming at the Montavilla neighborhood taproom. The latest is the brewery’s first ever Grodz Day, a celebration of the Polish beer style Grodziskie, “the Champagne of Poland,” the brewery says (Jarek is Polish-born). On Saturday, April 27, Threshold welcomes Polish guests from Browar Grodzisk, the Polish brewery credited in part for reviving the centuries-old style both nationally and abroad. In attendance also will be the crew from Polish Hops and Portland beer writer and international speaker Jeff Alworth. Here’s what Threshold says: “Expect a fascinating afternoon centered on this centuries-old Polish beer style, featuring a panel discussion, introduction to the brand new White Labs Grodziskie yeast strain, Polish hop sensory and guest taps featuring select Portland-brewed Grodziskie.” The style is pronounced “grow-JEES-kee-uh,” and it’s a light oak-smoked wheat ale style originating in the Polish town of Grodzisk in the mid-15th century. Threshold and Browar Grodzisk head brewer Marcin Ostajewski will be brewing a grodziskie while he’s here, so look for that soon.

Threshold is also busy releasing more beers, including Quantum Vision Hazy and Quantum Vision West Coast, two IPAs featuring Citra and Mosaic hops. Brewery notes: “Ultra bright and dank, Mosaic is giving fruity tropical in all the right ways, and showcasing them combined side by side as a crisp West Coast vs super smooth hazy feels like a hop selection prerequisite.” Both on tap now, with cans available next Tuesday. Find Threshold at 403 S.E. 79th Ave.

What to do, what to do?

Earth to Beer bash: I wrote last month about the Earth to Beer project, a national Earth Day beer campaign where breweries make beer with environmentally responsible ingredients and give back to local environmental nonprofits. The effort has 35 breweries across the country onboard, and tomorrow one of those — Hopworks Brewery — is tapping eight of those beers at its original location, 2944 S.E. Powell Blvd.

Music, beer and tacos: Montavilla Brew Works from 5-9 p.m. this Saturday, April 20, brings all three together for DJ Majik Man’s 420 Vinyl Bash. They’ll be spinning LPs from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, and Reina Del Mole will serve up mole tacos, burritos and tamales of authentic Oaxacan cuisine from 5 p.m. until they’re out. 7805 S.E. Stark St.

The Pineapple Express Pineapple Beer Fest, Imperial Bottle Shop and Taproom: Beer enthusiasts and pineapple lovers on Saturday should head over to Southeast Portland’s Imperial Bottle Shop to indulge in a unique selection of pineapple-infused brews. With 10 pineapple beers and one pineapple cider on tap, attendees can sip their way through a tropical paradise of flavors. Festival-goers can also get complimentary Pineapple Donuts courtesy of Mikiko Mochi Donuts, and Detroit Style Pineapple Pizza from Matt Cortese will be served from 3-4 p.m, while supplies last. The brainchild of local beer adventurer John “John The Kiwi” Lovegrove is also a celebration of his 50th birthday, so go on out and meet him. Participants include Vice Beer, Living Haus Beer, Gigantic Brewing, Breakside Brewery, Great Notion Brewing, Little Beast Brewing, iLK Beer, Steeplejack Brewing, McMenamins, Old Town Brewing and Swift Cider. Noon until close, 3090 S.E. Division St. More details here.

Von Ebert Brewing’s 6th anniversary: The Portland brewery celebrates by releasing two collaboration beers with Firestone Walker Brewing of California: 6th Anniversary West Coast IPA and 6th Anniversary German-style Pilsner, which will be available at all four Von Ebert locations and Portland-area bottle shops. Said Sam Pecoraro, brewmaster of Von Ebert Brewing: “We wanted to celebrate this milestone with our friends at Firestone Walker Brewing Company, who are West Coast craft brewing pioneers and innovators, through collaborations that truly highlight our mutual drive to cultivate a brewery culture of continuous improvement to quench our beer drinkers.” On Thursday, April 18, Wildwood Taphouse, at 9345 N.E. Windsor St. in Hillsboro, will hold a release party from 4-10 p.m. with Von Ebert and Firestone Walker brewers in attendance.

Fracture Brewing’s 2nd anniversary: The Portland brewery turns two and throws a party to celebrate at its Fracture Stark Street taproom, 1015 S.E. Stark, starting at noon Saturday, April 20. The brewery will release three beers to celebrate:

  • Green is Gold, a triple dry hopped hazy IPA. Brewery notes: “A juice bomb that pushes the limits of saturated hop oils.”
  • More Than Enough Citra, Fracture’s classic West Coast IPA base loaded up with Citra hops. Brewery notes: “A punch of lychee, sweet orange and dank citrus.”
  • Turtles All the Way Down, a West Coast IPA brewed with Day One Distribution and Cascade Brewing. Brewery notes: “A perfect dank, piney, tropical/citrus hop bomb.”


Get on the Bus campaign: Great Notion Brewing’s third annual tribute to Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters this year continues until the end of April, as fans get to “taste a ton of trippy beers, check out new cannabis-friendly merchandise, and have the chance to win a ton of far-out prizes,” the brewery says. Owners Paul Reiter, James Dugan and Andy Miller are big fans of Kesey and the Pranksters, thus the brewery name and beer references stem from the 1971 film “Sometimes a Great Notion.” The campaign is a “celebration of the fun annual Bicycle Day (the first recorded LSD ‘trip’ by Albert Hoffman on 4/19) and 4/20 cannabis celebration holidays honoring the Merry Pranksters and their Further Bus.” New beers that only appear annually around this time include these remaining releases:

April 18:

  • Aura
  • Bicycle Day
  • Electric Headband
  • Merry Dankster
  • April 25:
  • Micro Dankster
  • Baked & Stuffed Berry Danish
  • Triple Dank Shark

Customers can purchase GNB’s Get on the Bus beers on the GN mobile App, in-person at one of Great Notion’s seven locations; or at the website events page, where more detail is available.

Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest: Now in its ninth year, this annual event, held this year on April 27, invites seasoned and novice cider enthusiasts to sample ciders from Columbia River Gorge and Pacific Northwest hard cidermakers. It offers over 60 ciders on tap from more than 30 cideries. Held at the Port of Hood River Event Site, this year the event expands its footprint to provide beachfront access to the Columbia River and the option for attendees to bring their own glass, contributing to what organizers call an “immersive and sustainable Hood River experience.” Beyond cider sampling, the daylong event boasts artisan food, art vendors, music and a children’s play area. For more information or tickets, visit hoodriverciderfest.com. For more information on Hood River, or to book a stay at one of Hood River’s lodging options visit visithoodriver.com/stay.

New Releases of Note

2023 Harvest Ciders, Dwinell Country Ales: If you’ve never made the trek out to Dwinell’s tasting room in Goldendale, Washington, please do. The drive along Washington’s Highway 14 is magical, as are Dwinell’s various offerings. This weekend Dwinell’s cider arm releases these three, and you’ll also discover some of their newer beers and wines.

  • Almira - French Cider: A Normandy-style cider made from a blend of Domaines, Marie Menard and Muscadet de Lense apples.
  • Russet - Dry Cider: A wild-fermented heirloom cider made from a blend of Winesap, Jonathan and Roxbury Russet apples.
  • Robin - Pear Cider: An aromatic pear cider made from a blend of Comice, Pakham, Bosc and Taylor’s Gold pears, together with Karmijn de Sonnaville apples.

Squeeze Play, Portland Cider Co.: The new cider release is a collaboration with the Hillsboro Hops that is crafted exclusively for the local minor league baseball team and is available during home games at Hillsboro Ballpark and at select retail locations. Cidery notes: “Juicy and refreshing and inspired by a classic margarita, the cider is bursting with fresh-squeezed lemon and lime juices accentuated by the floral and citrus aromas of Citra hops, and finished with a pinch of salt. Notes of ripe melon and lychee on the nose anchor the bright, fresh citrus flavors that are enhanced by light hoppiness, finishing tart and dry.”

Sunshine Keyholes, Recluse Brew Works: This very juicy IPA isn’t exactly a hazy, front of house manager Richard LaRue says, but it’s “very drinkable, certainly unfiltered, and the closest thing to a hazy we’ve made so far.” Brewery notes: “Juicy. Sunny. Funny,” much like those notes. Available Friday, April 19, at the brewery, 4035 Grant St. Suite 102, Washougal.

Black Dragon Imperial Cider, Avid Cider: The Bend ciderhouse releases this imperial cider of “mythical proportions” at 8.5% ABV. Cidery notes: “Black Dragon presents a bold blend of blackberry, raspberry and dragon fruit flavors.” On shelves now across Oregon and Washington in six-packs of 12-ounce cans and alongside Royal Apricot, Blueberry Pom and Golden Delish in Avid Cider’s first ever, newly released Variety Imperial 12-pack.

Beach Beer, Pelican Brewing: This release from the coastal brewery is the newest addition to its year-round lineup and joins the newly released Beak Breaker Tropical Hazy IPA and re-released Pelicano cerveza lager as its summer trio lineup. “We wanted to create a tasty and flavorful beer that is true to our roots and celebrates our home here on the Oregon Coast,” says Pelican Brewing’s brewmaster of 28 years, Darron Welch, who just entered the Oregon Beer Awards Hall of Fame. “And after years of stepping out onto the sand from the back patio of our original location in Pacific City, it was clear that Beach Beer is the right beer to carry that feeling to wherever you happen to be.” Pelican says it is a “lighter, approachable, every-day beer that anyone can enjoy,” and Welch calls it “just good beer.” Available in 16-ounce can six-packs at any of Pelican Brewing’s four coastal locations and on store shelves wherever Pelican is sold.

Juicy Drama, 10 Barrel Brewing: This fruit-forward imperial IPA becomes the fourth member of 10 Barrel’s HopBurst Family of IPAs. Brewery notes: “Brewed with a ridiculous amount of Bravo and Simcoe hops, giving it a dramatic burst of citrus and pine hop flavor, but keeping bitterness to a minimum. To round out the theatrics, the brewers added Yuzu zest to the fermenter for an explosive aroma that makes this 9.6% ABV surprisingly easy-drinking and low-maintenance.”

— Andre Meunier has been writing about Northwest beer and breweries since 2016; reach him at 503-221-8488 or ameunier@oregonian.com, and sign up for his weekly newsletter, Oregon Brews and News. Instagram: @oregonianbeerguy

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

Chuckwalla National Monument would protect swath of California desert and preserve a sacred land

Indigenous Californians want President Biden to establish a national monument in a stretch of desert that is both an ecological wonder and a window into their cultures.

Thomas Tortez Jr. leads a group across a gravelly wash in Painted Canyon, at the spot where his Cahuilla tribal ancestors once lived in a village. The solar eclipse is underway. Suddenly, a strange yelp echoes from a ridge of craggy outcroppings. Perhaps the yelp comes from a hiker who’s been struck with awe while climbing ladders into terraced slot canyons that seem to funnel echoes to the heavens. Stones direct hikers to a trailhead inside Painted Canyon near Mecca, Calif. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times) Maybe it’s a coyote crying out as the moon passes partway in front of the sun, briefly cooling the dry desert wind and bathing bands of red, sandstone and iron green rocks in an otherworldly light.Or might it be Mukat, the exiled Cahuilla creator god who roamed among the ironwoods, smoke trees, palo verdes and ghost flowers?Tortez, tribal council chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, spikes the sand with the desiccated yucca stalk that he’s repurposed as a walking stick. He seems at ease with the mystery of the sound and the mystique of this section of the Mecca Hills Wilderness. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. His people have cherished and watched over this canyon in the eastern Coachella Valley for thousands of years. Now they are among the Indigenous Californians, conservationists and other nature lovers who want President Biden to designate 627,855 acres of desert where the canyon sits as the Chuckwalla National Monument.Rep. Raul Ruiz, a Democrat who represents the desert communities in eastern Riverside and Imperial counties that border the proposed land mass, joined with California Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler in introducing legislation to support the creation of the monument and to expand Joshua Tree National Park by 17,915 acres.Chuckwalla sits at the heart of a burgeoning ecological and economic zone — a short drive from the city of Indio and the date farms of Mecca, and near the vast mineral flats and off-grid settlements of the Salton Sea and the towering Santa Rosa Mountains. It would become the fifth-largest land-based national monument in the continental U.S.In announcing the legislation on the steps of the U.S. Capitol this month, Padilla said he was especially gratified that a coalition came together to craft the monument proposal — Indigenous leaders, community members, environmental groups, recreationists, renewable energy companies and local businesses. Thomas Tortez hikes up a terraced canyon inside the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times) Speaking later by phone, Ruiz touted the monument as important for helping California meet its conservation and climate change goals without encroaching on public lands already designated for other uses, such as green energy projects. Ruiz says his congressional district produces the most renewable energy on federal land in the U.S. Evidence of these intersecting interests is clear in Chuckwalla, where power lines channeling electricity from solar farms farther east cut across the land.Ruiz says the design of the monument proposal is distinct in that it gives Indigenous tribes the power to co-manage Chuckwalla alongside the federal Bureau of Land Management.“In Congress, I really have seen a movement toward incorporating tribal, Indigenous knowledge in land stewardship,” Ruiz says.Co-existence doesn’t come without tension. In another section of desert south of the Salton Sea, construction has started on a $1.85-billion lithium mine and geothermal power plant, prompting some pushback from residents there who argue that developers haven’t adequately weighed the impacts on the environment and public health.Tortez says pushing for Chuckwalla’s monument designation is hugely important to tribes, given that so many are vying for a stake in the region’s future. Thomas Tortez, council chairman of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times) Members of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano nations who call the California desert home worked together to call for Biden to establish the monument using the authority granted to presidents under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which was enacted to safeguard threatened cultures as well as precious lands. The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe wants Biden to use the same authority to establish 390,000 acres of their ancestral land in Imperial County as the Kw’tsán National Monument.Tortez says the Antiquities Act was written for places like these. He notes how bands of rock swirl and stack on top of each other and jut skyward at gravity-defying angles. It’s all the result of millions of years of sediment flows, soil erosion and the endless clash of the San Andreas Fault’s two plates.“It’s like a timepiece — chapters in history,” he says of the open-faced geology of this canyon.This place holds the ancestral memory of tribal members too. Newsletter Our oceans. Our public lands. Our future. Get Boiling Point, our new newsletter exploring climate change and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. The landscape may look desolate and unforgiving to an outsider — a setting where Chuckwalla lizards, cactus wrens and western tanagers thrive — but for the Cahuilla it is a paradise.According to the Cahuilla creation story, Tortez says, the people of this desert were born from a bolt of lightning that lit up the sky and flooded the empty land with life.“Even the darkness is alive,” he says. “There’s a spirit there.”Tortez says that his Cahuilla elders on the Torres Martinez reservation, which is a short drive down the hill, acclimated themselves to the arid conditions and 100-degree-plus summer temperatures. They would trek great distances between hidden streams and through slots as narrow as alleyways in order to build up their resistance to extreme thirst.“You would think of it as odd now, but they would practice not drinking water,” says Tortez, 62. “My mom was born on the reservation — there were no hospitals back then. She remembers running around in the desert barefoot on dirt roads. Imagine doing that now.”The Cahuilla learned to live in harmony with all aspects of the ecosystem. They gathered plants and seeds for food and medicine, cut grass to weave baskets and built steps leading to wells to retrieve groundwater. They cremated their dead on wood funeral pyres for three days, to purify the bodies of the deceased and transition their souls back into the Earth.The Cahuilla also charted trade corridors reaching from the Colorado River to the shores of the Pacific, where coastal tribes traded shell jewelry for obsidian tools and animal skins from the interior.The ancient trails still exist, Tortez says. Southern Californians know them as State Route 74, which runs west from Palm Desert to the ocean, and Interstate 10, which skirts Chuckwalla’s northern edge.Tortez’s ancestors didn’t need paved roads or signs. As a young man, he was amazed to learn from older relatives of how ancestors could travel from one hill to the next, through disorienting expanses of sand and rock, yet never lose their bearings.“If you can imagine, they can remember when their grandparents were able to run up to the mountains with a message and come back down with another message, like it was nothing, like going to Wal-Mart,” Tortez says with a chuckle. As Tortez contemplates Chuckwalla’s richness, another member of the hiking group, Stephanie Dashiell, an environmental consultant who is manager of the national monument campaign, spots a thorny ocotillo growing high on a cliff.The canyon is even more awash in colors than usual because of the frequent winter rains: blueish lupines, indigo bushes, pinkish-purple sand verbena, golden desert poppies, powdery desert lavender, mallow blossoms in creamy orange, lemon-yellow brittlebush.Dashiell, 43, steps in close to enjoy a creosote bush’s telltale aroma of black tar and sand after a storm. With seeds that look like tiny cotton balls, the plant can produce clones of itself for hundreds or even thousands of years. Environmental and outdoor consultant Stephanie Dashiell takes in the heady smell of smoke and rain given off by a creosote bush in the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times) The flora seen in Chuckwalla are true survivors.“The plants here have so much grit,” Dashiell says. “There’s not that much left in the Coachella Valley that’s natural like this, where you just have the native species and it hasn’t been transformed into agriculture or golf courses. The desert is really important.”Even the desert soil has properties which could prove beneficial as the state plans to transform millions of acres into landscapes that absorb more carbon than they release, as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal to make California carbon-neutral by 2045.“Plants themselves sequester carbon but in the desert soils there’s this caliche layer,” Dashiell says. “It’s this compact, hard, almost cementlike layer. A lot of carbon is stored in that.” Joining the hike are local residents Camila Bautista of Audubon California, which has championed the monument designation, and Brenda Ortiz, a youth ambassador for the Chuckwalla campaign.Ortiz, 21, has lived in the Eastern Coachella Valley her whole life.She says the monument designation is important for other reasons. The valley is exploding not just with industry but with walled-off housing subdivisions, as well as a race track and other attractions. Lupines bloom after a winter of rainstorms in a wash that cuts through Painted Canyon in the eastern Coachella Valley. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times) It can be hard for locals in California’s desert, many of whom are Latinos working low-wage farm jobs, to feel as if the change they see around them takes their priorities into account, Ortiz says. “We’re always asking for more affordable housing, for more resources for low-income communities, and yet we’re met with these developments that are only meant for a few exclusive members from outside,” Ortiz says. “Some are only a few miles away from trailer home parks.”A desire to make public lands more accessible to people of color and economically distressed communities drives an effort closer to Los Angeles, where a different coalition wants Biden to expand the San Gabriel National Monument by adding 109,000 acres of wilderness adjacent to the city. Ortiz says Chuckwalla would be a place where those who don’t normally picture themselves in the outdoors can relax, get exercise and simply be at one with nature.“I just feel like it’s a project that’s really for everybody,” she says. Tortez nods. The Indigenous people of the desert have maintained bonds with each other despite forced displacement and the fact that their reservations are carved up to resemble squares on a checkerboard, interspersed with parcels that are not under tribal control.Chuckwalla will help strengthen their sense of common cause, he says.Tortez is proud to show a first-time visitor a side of this landscape that some outsiders might miss. He thinks again about his people’s creation story and the plight of Mukat.Given his awesome yet unpredictable powers, many Cahuilla felt it wasn’t safe for him to live among mere mortals, Tortez says. So Mukat went to live out his days here.Villagers communicated with Mukat by sending coyotes into the hills to bring back his messages of wisdom and warning.Once he died and was cremated, it was said that his ashes gave rise to the same medicinal and culinary plants that Dashiell spots during the tour.“His remains are within this area,” Tortez says. “Everything here spurred from the remains of that creator.” Tortez stops to gaze at a cliff face that is so red it resembles dried blood and so hulking that humans look tiny by comparison.The Cahuilla believe that red rocks are evidence of the shaman’s eternal sorrow.“It’s a sign of his heart bleeding,” Tortez says.As Tortez speaks, a strong, cold gust suddenly blows down through the canyon, drowning out his voice but filling him with delight.“He heard!” Tortez yells over the force of the wind. “He can’t be seen, but he’s speaking now.” Clouds float above part of the proposed 627,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument, between Joshua Tree National Park and the Arizona border. (Tyrone Beason / Los Angeles Times)

Culture
Indigenous
Animals

Nine practices from Native American culture that could help the environment

Read more

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the world has experienced profound ecological changes. Wildlife populations have decreased by 69 percent, the result of habitat loss caused by rapid industrialization and changing temperatures. 2023 was the hottest year on record.Certain ancient practices could mitigate the deleterious effects of global warming. From building seaside gardens to water management in desert terrain, these time-honored practices work with the natural world’s rhythms. Some might even hold the key to a more resilient future and a means of building security for both Indigenous communities and other groups disproportionately impacted by climate change.Jim Enote, 66, has been planting a traditional Zuni waffle garden (or hek’ko:we in the Zuni language) since before he could walk.“My grandma said I started planting when I was an infant tied to a cradleboard,” said Enote, who grew up on the water-scarce Zuni Pueblo on the southeastern edge of the Colorado plateau. “She put seeds in my baby hands, and I dropped seeds into a hole.”Enote has continued this ancient garden design, creating rows of sunken squares surrounded by adobe walls that catch and hold water like pools of syrup in a massive earthen waffle. The sustainable design protects crops from wind, reduces erosion and conserves water.“Water is scarce here and becoming more so every year,” said Enote, referring to the increasing drought and heat caused by climate change. “So, I continue planting waffle gardens.”Before European settlers traveled to the American West, Indigenous people managed the landscape of northern California with “cultural burns” to improve soil quality, spur the growth of particular plants, and create a “healthy and resilient landscape,” according to the National Park Service.“The Karuk have developed a relationship with fire over the millennia to maintain and steward a balanced ecosystem,” said Bill Tripp, director of natural resources and environmental policy for the Karuk Tribe. “A good portion of the resources that we depend on, in the natural environment, are dependent on fire.”But in the mid-19th century, Indigenous burning was outlawed. Not only did that cause the Karuk to lose a vital part of their culture, but also, it invited potentially worse wildfires. The burns had reduced the amount of fuel accidental fires feed on.“They [forestry agencies] suppressed fire for so long we’re experiencing these massive burns,” said Tripp. A 2023 study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 10 of the largest wildfires in California’s history occurred in the last 20 years.“And, of course, they’re [fires] being exacerbated by climate change,” he said.Prescribed burning has returned as state and federal agencies recognize the importance of fire in managing forests. In 2022, California passed legislation affirming the right to cultural fire and is considering another bill (backed by the Karuk Tribe) to reduce the barriers to cultural burns on tribal lands.According to the Karuk Tribe, “Passage of this bill would be an act of cultural and environmental justice.”In New Mexico, there are 700 functioning acequias, centuries-old community irrigation systems that have helped the parched state build water resilience.These acequias — a design from North African, Spanish and Indigenous traditions — were established during the 1600s. The name can refer to both the gravity-fed ditches filled with water and the farmers who collectively manage water. Unlike large-scale irrigation systems, water seepage from unlined acequias helps replenish the water table and reduce aridification by adding water to the landscape. The earthen ditches mimic seasonal streams and expand riparian habitats for numerous native species.“For one, it’s a very good and sustainable system to take water from one source and put it into the community,” said Jorge Garcia, executive director of the Center for Social Sustainable Systems and secretary of the South Valley Regional Association of Acequias. “Without acequias, none of those ecosystems would exist in the way we know them today.”“We need to maintain those knowledge systems, especially if we continue through dry years,” said Garcia. “We're going to need all of that to survive.”The original carbon capture technologyU.S. forests are carbon sinks, sequestering up to 10 percent of nationwide CO2 emissions. Indigenous forestry can play a critical role in reducing global warming by restoring biodiversity and health to these ecosystems, including the management of culturally significant plants, animals and fungi that contribute to healthier soil.“We know that most of the carbon in the forest is stored in the soil, and healthy soil depends on diversity,” said Stephanie Gutierrez, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the forests and community program director for Ecotrust. “So, when forests are managed for a diversity of species or purpose and management outcomes, this will lead to better climate outcomes as well.”Yet tribal forestry remains severely underfunded and underutilized on public lands. Indigenous Hawaiians are reintroducing ancient food forests once destroyed by overgrazing, logging and commercial agriculture. These biodiverse edible forests increase food security and build nutrient-dense soils that sequester carbon.“Just think about that potential if we implemented tribal forestry practices on [not just] tribally owned lands. Adjacent landowners, community forests, national and state forests and parks should also work with tribes to incorporate their techniques,” Gutierrez said.The Hopi nation in Arizona receives an average of 10 inches of rain per year — a third of what crop scientists say is necessary to grow corn successfully. Yet Hopi farmers have been cultivating corn and other traditional crops without irrigation for millennia, relying on traditional ecological knowledge rooted in life in the high desert.“I like to call traditional ecological knowledge the things my grandfather taught me,” said Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a Hopi dryland farmer and academic. Hopi farming practices include passive rainwater harvesting, myriad techniques to retain soil moisture, and a reliance on traditional seed varieties superbly adapted to the desert.“The fact we are able to raise crops such as maize with only 6 to 10 inches of precipitation as opposed to the standard 33 inches of precipitation is outstanding,” Johnson said.As climate change drives increased drought and heat in the region, Johnson looks to the knowledge and practices that have survived thousands of years of climate extremes. “Our agriculture is integrated into our cultural belief system that has sustained us for millennia,” he said.In recent decades, an Indigenous-led plan has begun to restore salmon runs on the Klamath River.The salmon began to disappear in 1918 when the first of five dams blocked the path of the Chinook salmon as they made their way upstream to spawn.“The river was cut in half,” said the Yurok Fisheries Department Director Barry McCovey Jr. of the devastating impact the dam had on the salmon runs that Indigenous people depended on. Chinook salmon populations on the Klamath River have since declined by an estimated 90 percent due to habitat loss, poor water quality and climate change.“We’re seeing the system slowly heat up,” said McCovey, explaining that elevated water temperatures can lead to increased disease and toxic algae blooms. “You layer climate change on top [of habitat loss], and it’s not good news for salmon or anything that relies on a healthy river.”After removing the dams and implementing a massive river restoration, the salmon are returning. “The river, in its natural state, had that climate change resiliency built into it,” McCovey said.Seventy-five percent of global crop diversity has been lost in the past century, further threatening food security as agriculture becomes increasingly vulnerable to climate change.“Our oral histories and the historical record show extreme droughts,” said Aaron Lowden, a seed keeper and traditional farmer from the Acoma Pueblo, a village west of Albuquerque. “This isn’t the first time they’ve [seeds] been stressed out.”As former program director for Ancestral Lands and now Indigenous Seedkeepers Network program poordinator at the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, Lowden has successfully returned dozens of varieties of traditional arid-adapted seeds such as Acoma blue corn, Acoma pumpkin, Acoma melon and other crops to his pueblo.For Lowden, building this biodiversity is both a response to climate change and a step in restoring the health and sovereignty of the Acoma people.“Our people were systemically removed from these lifestyle ways and practices,” said Lowden, who has seen disproportionately higher rates of hunger, diet-related disease and food insecurity in tribal communities. “For me, it’s been trying to dismantle all of that.”When Swinomish fisherman Joe Williams walked onto the shore of Skagit Bay in Washington to help build the first modern clam garden in the United States, he was overwhelmed with a sense of the past and present colliding. “It was magic, really,” said Williams, who also serves as the community liaison for the Swinomish tribe. “I could feel the presence of my ancestors.”For thousands of years, the Swinomish built and maintained clam gardens on the coasts of the Pacific Northwest. They constructed rock terraces in low-tide lines to increase shellfish production. The gardens also help the clams weather the impacts of a changing climate by moderating water temperature and expanding habitat threatened by rising seas and ocean acidification.“That was how [ancestors] provided food for their communities, tending these gardens, living through climate change from then to now,” Williams said.“We are rediscovering this way of life that sustained our people through past natural climate change events,” he said. “We can utilize the playbook that our ancestors left us in terms of adapting to a fast-changing environment.”Climate-smart Indigenous designIn the field of architecture, Indigenous knowledge and technologies have long been overlooked. Julia Watson’s book “Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism,” published in 2019, examines Indigenous land management practices that represent a catalogue of sustainable, adaptable and resilient design, from living bridges able to withstand monsoons in northern India to man-made underground streams, called qanats, in what is now Iran.“Gatekeeping how we technologically innovate for climate resilience by the West can really limit us,” Watson said. “We’re looking for solutions that can adapt to climate extremes and huge fluctuations. These Indigenous technologies evolved from those conditions, molded by huge fluctuations, extreme fire events, water and food scarcity, and flood events.”Some of the techniques and solutions work with nature instead of attempting to conquer it.“[Indigenous technologies] are really intelligent and capture the DNA of the ecosystem and communities,” Watson said. “What’s incredibly sophisticated is a technology shaped by man and nature working together.”

Culture
Agriculture
Climate

Why Do Some People Always Get Lost?

Research suggests that experience may matter more than innate ability when it comes to a sense of direction

Like many of the researchers who study how people find their way from place to place, David Uttal is a poor navigator. “When I was 13 years old, I got lost on a Boy Scout hike, and I was lost for two and a half days,” recalls the Northwestern University cognitive scientist. And he’s still bad at finding his way around. The world is full of people like Uttal—and their opposites, the folks who always seem to know exactly where they are and how to get where they want to go. Scientists sometimes measure navigational ability by asking someone to point toward an out-of-sight location—or, more challenging, to imagine they are someplace else and point in the direction of a third location—and it’s immediately obvious that some people are better at it than others. “People are never perfect, but they can be as accurate as single-digit degrees off, which is incredibly accurate,” says Nora Newcombe, a cognitive psychologist at Temple University who was a co-author of a look at how navigational ability develops in the 2022 Annual Review of Developmental Psychology. But others, when asked to indicate the target’s direction, seem to point at random. “They have literally no idea where it is.” While it’s easy to show that people differ in navigational ability, it has proved much harder for scientists to explain why. There’s new excitement brewing in the navigation research world, though. By leveraging technologies such as virtual reality and GPS tracking, scientists have been able to watch hundreds, sometimes even millions, of people trying to find their way through complex spaces, and to measure how well they do. Though there’s still much to learn, the research suggests that to some extent, navigation skills are shaped by upbringing. Nurturing navigation skills The importance of a person’s environment is underscored by a recent look at the role of genetics in navigation. In 2020, Margherita Malanchini, a developmental psychologist at Queen Mary University of London, and her colleagues compared the performance of more than 2,600 identical and nonidentical twins as they navigated through a virtual environment, to test whether navigational ability runs in families. It does, they found—but only modestly. Instead, the biggest contributor to people’s performance was what geneticists call “nonshared environmental factors”—that is, the unique experiences each person accumulates as their life unfolds. Good navigators, it appears, are mostly made, not born. A remarkable, large-scale experiment led by Hugo Spiers, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, gave researchers a glimpse at how experience and other cultural factors might influence wayfinding skills. Spiers and his colleagues, in collaboration with the telecom company T-Mobile, developed a game for cellphones and tablets, “Sea Hero Quest,” in which players navigate by boat through a virtual environment to locate a series of checkpoints. The game app asked participants to provide basic demographic data, and nearly four million worldwide did so. (The app is no longer accepting new participants except by invitation of researchers.) Through the app, the researchers were able to measure wayfinding ability by the total distance each player traveled to reach all the checkpoints. After completing some levels of the game, players also had to shoot a flare back toward their point of origin—a dead-reckoning test analogous to the pointing-to-out-of-sight-locations task. Then Spiers and his colleagues could compare players’ performance to the demographic data. Several cultural factors were associated with wayfinding skills, they found. People from Nordic countries tended to be slightly better navigators, perhaps because the sport of orienteering, which combines cross-country running and navigation, is popular in those countries. Country folk did better, on average, than people from cities. And among city-dwellers, those from cities with more chaotic street networks such as those in the older parts of European cities did better than those from cities like Chicago, where the streets form a regular grid, perhaps because residents of grid cities don’t need to build such complex mental maps. Orienteering—a sport that combines cross-country running with map-based navigation—is popular in Nordic countries. This may be one reason why people from those countries tend to be better navigators than people from elsewhere. Border Liners Orienteering Club / Flickr Results like these suggest that an individual’s life experience may be one of the biggest determinants of how well they navigate. Indeed, experience may even underlie one of the most consistent findings—and clichés—in navigation: that men tend to perform better than women. Turns out this gender gap is more a question of culture and experience than of innate ability. Nordic countries, for example, where gender equality is greatest, show almost no gender difference in navigation. In contrast, men far outperform women in places where women face cultural restrictions on exploring their environment on their own, such as Middle Eastern countries. This cultural aspect, and the importance of experience, are also supported by studies of the Tsimane, a traditional Indigenous community in the Bolivian Amazon. Anthropologist Helen Elizabeth Davis of Arizona State University and her colleagues put GPS trackers on 305 Tsimane adults to measure their daily movements over a three-day period, and they found no difference in the distance moved by men and women. Men and women also were equally adept at pointing to out-of-sight locations, they reported in Topics in Cognitive Science. Even children performed extremely well at this navigation task—a result, Davis thinks, of growing up in a culture that encourages children to range widely and explore the forest. Most cultures aren’t like the Tsimane, though, and women and girls tend to be more cautious about exploring, for good reasons of personal safety. Not only do they gather less experience at navigating, but nervousness about security or getting lost also has a direct effect on navigation. “Anxiety gets in the way of good navigation, so if you’re worried about your personal safety, you’re a poor navigator,” says Newcombe. The Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale is widely used in navigation research. Studies suggest that people are fairly accurate at evaluating their own sense of direction. Hegarty et al. / Intelligence 2002 / Knowable Magazine Personality, too, appears to play a role in developing navigational ability. “To get good at navigating, you have to be willing to explore,” says Uttal. “Some people do not enjoy the experience of wandering, and others enjoy it very much.” Indeed, people who enjoy outdoor activities, such as hiking and biking, tend to have a better sense of direction, notes Mary Hegarty, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. So do people who play a lot of video games, many of which involve exploring virtual spaces. To Uttal, this accumulating evidence suggests that inclination and early experience nudge some people toward activities that involve navigation, while those who are temperamentally less inclined to explore, who have less opportunity to wander or who have an initial bad experience may be less likely to engage in activities that require exploration. It all snowballs from there, Uttal speculates. “I think a combination of personality and ability pushes you in certain directions. It’s a developmental cascade.” Mental mappers That cascade presumably influences acquisition of the specific skills that are hallmarks of good navigators. These include the ability to estimate how far you’ve traveled, to read and remember maps (both printed and mental), to learn routes based on a sequence of landmarks and to understand where points are relative to one another. Much of the research, though, has focused on two specific subskills: route-following by using landmarks—for example, turn left at the gas station, then go three blocks and turn right just past the red house—and what’s often termed “survey knowledge,” the ability to build and consult a mental map of a place. Of the two, route following is by far the easier task, and most people do pretty well at it once they’ve taken a route a few times, says Dan Montello, a geographer and psychologist also at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In a classic experiment from almost two decades ago, Montello’s student Toru Ishikawa drove 24 volunteers, once a week for ten weeks, on two twisting routes in a tony residential area of Santa Barbara that they’d never visited before. Later, almost every person could accurately state the order of landmarks along each route and roughly estimate the distance travelled between them. But they varied widely in their ability to identify shortcuts between the two routes, point to landmarks not visible from where they stood, or sketch a map of the routes. Those who couldn’t identify shortcuts or find landmarks may suffer from an inability to create accurate mental maps, the researchers think. Research by Newcombe and her then graduate student Steven Weisberg underscores the importance of such mental maps in navigation. They asked 294 volunteers to use a mouse and computer screen to navigate along two routes through a virtual town. Once the volunteers had learned the routes and the landmarks they contained, the researchers asked them to stand at one landmark and point to others on both routes. People fell into three classes, the researchers reported in 2018 in Current Directions in Psychological Science. Some people had formed a good mental map: They could point accurately to landmarks on both the same and different routes. Others had good route knowledge but struggled to create an integrated map: They were good at pointing within a route but poor between routes. A third group was poor at all the pointing tasks. That ability to build and refer to a mental map—a person’s survey knowledge—goes a long way toward explaining why they’re better navigators, Montello says. “When the only skill you have is the ability to think in terms of routes, you can’t be creative to get around barriers.” Survey knowledge gives the ability to navigate creatively, he says. “That’s a pretty stunning difference.” Not surprisingly, better navigators may also be better at switching modes and choosing the most appropriate navigational strategy for the situation they find themselves in, says cognitive neuroscientist Weisberg, now at the University of Florida. This could mean using landmarks when they are obvious and mental maps when more sophisticated calculations are needed. “I’ve moved toward thinking that our better navigators are also using a lot of alternate strategies,” Weisberg says. “And they’re doing so in a much more flexible way that affords different kinds of navigation, so that when they find themselves in a new situation, they’re better able to find their way.” For example, when Weisberg moves around Gainesville, where he lives now, he keeps track of north, because that works well in a city with a regular street grid; when he goes home to the winding streets of Philadelphia, he relies more on other cues to stay oriented. Researchers do not yet know whether every bad navigator is simply poor at survey knowledge, or whether some of the lost might be failing at other navigational subskills instead, such as remembering landmarks or estimating distance traveled. Either way, what can poor navigators do to improve? That’s still an open question. “We all have our pet theories,” says Elizabeth Chrastil, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, “but they haven’t reached the level of testing yet.” Pros and cons of GPS Simply practicing seems like it should work—and, indeed, it does in lab experiments. “We can improve people’s navigational abilities in virtual environments,” says Arne Ekstrom, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Arizona. It takes about two weeks to show fairly dramatic gains—but it’s not yet clear whether people are really becoming better navigators or just getting better at finding their way through the particular virtual environments used in the experiments. Support for the notion that people might improve with practice also comes from studies of what happens when people stop using their navigation skills. In a 2020 study published in Scientific Reports, for example, neuroscientists Louisa Dahmani and Véronique Bohbot of McGill University in Montreal recruited 50 young adults and questioned them about their lifetime experience of driving with GPS. Then they tested the volunteers in a virtual world that required them to navigate without GPS. The heaviest GPS users did worse, they found. A follow-up with 13 of the volunteers three years later revealed that those who had used GPS the most during the intervening period experienced greater declines in their ability to navigate without GPS, strongly suggesting that GPS reliance causes diminished skills, rather than poor skills leading to greater GPS use. Experts also suggest that struggling navigators like Uttal could try paying closer attention to compass directions or prominent landmarks as a way to integrate their movements into a mental map. For Weisberg, the only way he learns spaces in an integrated way is by paying attention to major cardinal directions or prominent landmarks like the ocean. “The more attention I pay, the better I can link things to the map in my head.” He recommends that struggling navigators ask themselves which way is north ten times a day, referring to a map if necessary. This, he suggests, could help them move beyond mere route knowledge. There’s another option for those who don’t really care about improving their skills as long as they just don’t get lost, Weisberg notes: Just make sure your GPS is handy.Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews. Get the latest Science stories in your inbox.

Culture
Forests
Indigenous

How manufacturing is discovering new virtuous circles as it moves toward a more circular economy

Simple economics have been pushing manufacturers to find less energy-intensive ways to make things, and companies that make the machinery to power a greener economy are benefiting too. “You go where the dollars go,” sums up Elfrun von Koeller, an analyst with Boston Consulting Group. “Trillions of dollars of value creation will move into renewable spaces.” Take the oldest enterprise on Fast Company’s list of the most innovative companies in manufacturing, Timken. The Ohio-based ball-bearings firm, founded in 1899, has leveraged learnings in metallurgy to develop a custom steel alloy—which it hardens in a “heat treating” process that relies on electricity instead of fossil-fueled furnaces, and which can itself be made from 100% recycled steel—optimized for use in increasingly giant offshore wind turbines. Nucor, at a different stage in the steel supply chain, has only been working to decarbonize different facets of its operation but has developed its own steel alloy for wind-turbine use—and those wind farms can then power the electric-arc furnaces in Nucor’s mills. And one of the younger firms on this list, Redwood Materials, has positioned itself in the middle of the battery market to collect spent EV batteries and extract raw materials for use in future EVs. That gives carmakers a break from having to outsource mining to overseas sources that have a history of falling short of U.S. environmental and labor standards, but it also stands to lower the cost of new EVs. The intersecting trends of increasingly affordable sustainability and a growing recognition of the longer-term payback of a smaller carbon footprint have sped up this progress further. “About 30% of emissions reductions, especially scope 1 and 2 in most industries, you can do at net-zero cost,” says von Koeller, referring to the terms of art for the pollution coming from a company’s own facilities (scope 1) and from the energy sources powering those places (scope 2). She adds that she’s seeing companies now willing to budget for a longer payback period for cost-reduction projects that also yield “substantial carbon-reduction impact”—five years, up from the usual two. The past two years have seen the U.S. government put a red, white, and blue thumb on the scale with such sweeping industrial-policy measures as the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The former rewards tech manufacturers for setting up shop in the States; the latter offers a range of incentives for companies to switch to greener and cleaner energy inputs. Those and other measures stand to fuel sustainability investments in manufacturing and other sectors. Redwood, for example, is putting a $2 billion Department of Energy loan to work to expand a facility in Nevada and build a new factory in South Carolina. “Create the demand,” says von Koeller, “the companies will figure out how to serve it.” Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.

Simple economics have been pushing manufacturers to find less energy-intensive ways to make things, and companies that make the machinery to power a greener economy are benefiting too. “You go where the dollars go,” sums up Elfrun von Koeller, an analyst with Boston Consulting Group. “Trillions of dollars of value creation will move into renewable spaces.” Take the oldest enterprise on Fast Company’s list of the most innovative companies in manufacturing, Timken. The Ohio-based ball-bearings firm, founded in 1899, has leveraged learnings in metallurgy to develop a custom steel alloy—which it hardens in a “heat treating” process that relies on electricity instead of fossil-fueled furnaces, and which can itself be made from 100% recycled steel—optimized for use in increasingly giant offshore wind turbines. Nucor, at a different stage in the steel supply chain, has only been working to decarbonize different facets of its operation but has developed its own steel alloy for wind-turbine use—and those wind farms can then power the electric-arc furnaces in Nucor’s mills. And one of the younger firms on this list, Redwood Materials, has positioned itself in the middle of the battery market to collect spent EV batteries and extract raw materials for use in future EVs. That gives carmakers a break from having to outsource mining to overseas sources that have a history of falling short of U.S. environmental and labor standards, but it also stands to lower the cost of new EVs. The intersecting trends of increasingly affordable sustainability and a growing recognition of the longer-term payback of a smaller carbon footprint have sped up this progress further. “About 30% of emissions reductions, especially scope 1 and 2 in most industries, you can do at net-zero cost,” says von Koeller, referring to the terms of art for the pollution coming from a company’s own facilities (scope 1) and from the energy sources powering those places (scope 2). She adds that she’s seeing companies now willing to budget for a longer payback period for cost-reduction projects that also yield “substantial carbon-reduction impact”—five years, up from the usual two. The past two years have seen the U.S. government put a red, white, and blue thumb on the scale with such sweeping industrial-policy measures as the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The former rewards tech manufacturers for setting up shop in the States; the latter offers a range of incentives for companies to switch to greener and cleaner energy inputs. Those and other measures stand to fuel sustainability investments in manufacturing and other sectors. Redwood, for example, is putting a $2 billion Department of Energy loan to work to expand a facility in Nevada and build a new factory in South Carolina. “Create the demand,” says von Koeller, “the companies will figure out how to serve it.” Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.

Culture
Energy
Government

Are walking pads worth it? Why I’m never leaving my desk treadmill.

TikTok fitness trends deserve skepticism. But walking pads can have real benefits for mood and focus.

SAN FRANCISCO — During a regular day in the office, I last about five minutes at my desk. Then I get antsy and move to the table in the office kitchen. Then to the conference room. Then back to the kitchen.For whatever reason, deskbound work is a challenge for me. At home, I rotate from the couch to the floor to the roof of my apartment, stopping at intervals to pick at my cuticles and wonder why I can’t sit still like a normal person. If only there were some type of human-size hamster wheel I could install in the living room, I remarked grimly to my husband after another day nail biting and leg bouncing. Then in October, I opened TikTok and saw a woman on a walking pad.In fitness corners of TikTok, the “walking pad” — the treadmill’s smaller, lighter cousin — reigns supreme. One TikToker starts her day at 5 a.m., watching “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” from her walking pad. Another pledged to walk a half marathon during the workday. Internet searches for “walking desk” and “walking pad” spiked this year, as people on TikTok promoted the tiny treadmills. I bought one expecting some cautionary tale about the dangers of self-optimization and productivity culture — then the thing remade my entire professional life. Suddenly, I could work in the same spot for hours with minimal damage to my cuticles and self esteem.It’s not just me: Early research suggests walking pads may help with mood and stress in the workplace, and some people credit their walking pads with improvements to their health, productivity or happiness.But the walking pad’s position in a long series of social media wellness trends deserves a raised eyebrow. Social media creators promote an endless stream of wellness products that are supposed to make us happier or skinnier. Plenty of walking pads will gather dust next to our vibration pads and gua sha sets. Plenty more will remain under our desks, pressuring us to overexert or joylessly count steps.Walking pads aren’t for everyone, but with some reflection, you can dodge the downsides and reap the benefits. Here’s everything you need to know before diving in.Why the walking pad obsession?Burgeoning interest in portable treadmills is a testament to TikTok’s power in influencing consumer trends, said Forrester vice president and principal analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee.“We’ve seen the nature of product and brand discovery shift over the years, from Google searching to Amazon browsing to TikTok scrolling,” Chatterjee said.Videos promoting walking pads show people enjoying fitness on their own schedules — which might mean during the workday or a reality TV marathon. Many of us became more sedentary during the pandemic, and walking pads look like an easy way to get back on our feet.Prolonged sitting has been linked to early mortality, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and anxiety, and even exhaustion and job dissatisfaction. Interrupting sedentary sessions with spurts of activity, meanwhile, has been shown to improve these measures of health.To get those benefits, we need the time and space to move. In 2020, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles asked students and faculty members why they were sedentary much of the day. Participants cited “environmental constraints” and “social acceptability.” (In other words, doing jumping jacks in the library or cafeteria is embarrassing.)Enter the walking pad, which lets you move around without stopping your task or changing locations.Walking pads help some people focusPsychologists have long theorized that before we can pay attention, we need some arousal or stimulation. Too little arousal, and we’re distracted. Too much, and we’re overwhelmed.That process works the same for everyone, but the amount of stimulation we need to focus varies. It’s why some people need background noise to focus, while others prefer silence.For some of us, walking while working will be a helpful source of stimulation. For others, juggling both tasks will feel impossible. If you’re hoping a walking desk would help you stay energized at work, make sure to test that theory before you buy. Visit a friend with a walking pad or bring your laptop to the gym. Can you work and walk at the same time?Generally, walking pad sessions are good for simple or repetitive tasks, said productivity researcher Lucas Miller, who teaches at the University of California at Berkeley. Catching up on your email? Yes. Drafting an important presentation? Less so. The more weighty or important your brain perceives a task to be, the harder it gets to deal with the extra stimulation, Miller said.Carver Bain, a 26-year-old writer in San Diego, said he struggles to stay focused, especially while he reads. He started wanting a walking pad after attending an event where author Ann Patchett said she wrote the entirety of her novel “Tom Lake” on a treadmill. (A representative for Patchett confirmed the detail.)Bain decided to test Patchett’s strategy: He brought his book outside and walked around the neighborhood while he read — being extra careful before crossing the street, he noted.The hack worked, Bain said, and now he’s considering a walking pad more seriously. “When my body is occupied doing something, I’m not thinking, ‘What’s on my phone?’”Making exercise easier and more accessible is a smart way to boost our activity levels, said Michelle Segar, a researcher at University of Michigan and author of “The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise.” For decades, the fitness industry has pushed the long-term health benefits of exercise, but that hasn’t motivated many Americans to participate, Segar said. Perhaps there’s a better, more immediate approach.“Look at it like a wine tasting,” she said. “We experiment, we savor, we use self-awareness to say, ‘How does this taste? How does this feel? Do I like it?’”Future-oriented goals such as weight loss — or matching the routine of a TikTok fitness influencer — are liable to kill any joy you might get from the walking pad, Segar said. Instead, let yourself notice how your time on the pad makes you feel. Maybe you feel slightly less achey or a little bit proud of yourself. Those observations make you more likely to come back for more, Segar said.If that fails, you can always engineer some joy with mood lighting, a big or little screen, your favorite beverage and some music. This TikTok user calls it “cozy cardio,” complete with a pumpkin sugar candle.Will I look unprofessional?Let’s be clear: Your boss and colleagues have nothing to lose by supporting the accommodations that help you do your best work.That said, the corporate world can be slow to change, and most people are unaccustomed to seeing a bobbing head on the Zoom grid. Talk to your team ahead of time and let them know why the walking desk is beneficial to your work. Maybe you’ll decide to save the pad for your off-camera hours — or double down and become the resident Walking Pad Guy.In this case, don’t worry about fancy brands. I got mine on Amazon for $195 after browsing the reviews on three models. Check that the item’s dimensions will fit its intended space, then glance at the speed and weight limits.Like BowFlex, ThighMaster and Peloton before it, the walking pad may be a fitness fad. But if you, like me, find it easier to get things done when you’re moving, there’s nothing quite like a portable hamster wheel.

Culture
Health
Nature

Suggested Viewing

Anxious

Noah is so worried about climate change he can't sleep at night. His wife Hali is confident it's all going to be just fine. Should they even have kids?! Should they sell their CA house and move to a colder Alaska? How does one plan for the end of the world...?

Culture
Crisis
Extinction

Destitute Living

Two friends live in the Qubaibah village Northwest of Al-Quds (Jerusalem).Those young men are forced to leave their daily life concerns after the water was cut off from their area two weeks ago by the Israeli occupation closing the feeding line.Those two characters go on a dangerous journey to an area close to their village to try to reach the water spring captured by the Israeli military occupation as they took over the land, sky, and air in Palestine. On their journey, some things happen that change the course of events with an unexpected end.

Culture
Water
Fiction

The Land of Hardworking Souls

An experimental short film from Iran.

Experimental
Culture
Family

LOUD

Catriona Armour's body art and a special appearance by Dana Lyons of "Cows with Guns" propel the musical narrative about noise pollution in, around, and above the Salish Sea of Washington State and British Columbia.

Music
Culture
Pollution

This Mortal Plastik

A personal dive into the world’s most impersonal substance: plastics. Amid the lockdown, a bereaved mother unfolds a surprising journey within and across oceans to understand the contemporary landscape of single-use synthetics. From the noble intentions behind its invention to scales of havoc it has wrought, this experimental documentary brings together art, history, science, and the everyday. Playfully crafted with hand-drawn illustrations and poetic interludes, this evocative “pause between deep time and no time” will change how you think about this ordinary “thing without thingness."

Animation
Culture
Pollution

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.