MATR Newsletter – August 9, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

“No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.”

Mark Twain

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 8-8-21

  Here is our Top 18 for the last five weeks celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy — Montana’s Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• How years of fighting every wildfire helped fuel the Western megafires of today – Damn Bear! – We can’t log our way out of global warming

  This is the wildfire paradox: the more we prevent fires in the short term, the worse wildfires become when they return.

The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana

• Work Remotely? These Places Will Pay You $10,000 to Move There

  Working remotely comes with a ton of benefits. You can ditch your commute, work from wherever you want, and manage your time on your own schedule. You don’t have to have a boss looking over your shoulder or make awkward chit chat with coworkers at the water cooler.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• The FCC finally made a new broadband map of the US

  It’s based on information provided by the four major carriers

Montana Business

• Montana Start-up Company H.E.A.T. Revolutionizes Heated Gear

  Using Textiles and State-of-the-Art Technology, Great Falls’ H.E.A.T. Launches Line of Apparel that Provides Warmth and Comfortable Mobility for Inside/Outside Winter Work and or Recreation

• John Deere Doubles Down on Silicon Valley and Robots

  The farm-equipment giant is buying Bear Flag Robotics, which makes autonomous tractors, marking its second big tech buy in four years.

Visit Montana

• CBS 60 Minutes – People and grizzly bears learn to live with each other in Montana

  Montana’s grizzly and human populations have both risen substantially since 1975, when the bears were protected under the Endangered Species Act. Bill Whitaker reports on conservation efforts that have led to grizzly recovery, and the farmers, ranchers and residents now encountering these ferocious animals.

TechLink

• Entrepreneurs are Mining this Database of New Government Patents for Product Ideas

  Hundreds of business-worthy ideas are developed inside federal laboratories. Businesses and entrepreneurs are welcome to commercialize them, but historically, few know who to contact and what paperwork to submit.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• New development planned for MSU’s Innovation Campus

  Having the space will help attract new businesses to the campus and to the Bozeman-area, Sharpe said.

Funding and Building your Business

• 4 reasons hybrid offices won’t work

  The CEO of Neighbor insists that “as a result of one major unfortunate disaster, we have rashly set aside centuries of collective learnings about collaboration and teamwork.”

• 7 Ways To Fail In Setting Up Your Board Of Directors

  High-performing startups today are the ones that use every resource at their disposal.

• Why it’s time to stop saying “my work is my life”​

  In the future of work, the “life” portion comes first, and the work comes second. Even if it means taking a pay cut or letting go of their fancy job title.

• It Took Elon Musk 3 Sentences to Teach the Greatest Leadership Lesson You Will Hear Today

  The simple solution to all your communication problems.

Tell Us Something

• ‘Tell Us Something’ moves outside for summer comeback – “Forward to Better” – 8/10 – 6:00PM – Bonner Park, Missoula

  You’ll hear true stories, 10 minutes each, delivered by community members, without notes. There are seven stories and eight storytellers, as one is told by a two-person team.

Transportation

• What the smart roads of the future might look like

  While the first flying cars are actually achieving lift off already, nations around the world are investing in new infrastructure, with varying results that could be the new normal in our lifetime.

• Four Myths About Car-Light Cities, Busted

  “That all sounds great. But American transportation culture will never change. This isn’t the Netherlands!”

• Electric scooters arrive in Great Falls, Montana

  The scooters are coming available to the public over the coming weeks so be on the lookout for them at locations throughout the city, particularly downtown and near the River’s Edge Trail.

Energy and Climate Change

• Oregon wildfire turns preserve into living lab, testing years of forest management

  “The use of fire never should have been discontinued,” said Craig Bienz, program director for the Sycan Marsh Preserve.

• Drought drains private wells in Butte-Silver Bow; experts advise water conservation

  “Hey, my well’s smelling funny” is a common complaint.

• ‘Code red for humanity’: UN report gives stark warning on climate change, warns wild weather events will worsen

  Many of the changes seen in the world’s climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion – such as continued sea-level rise – are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years, according to the report.

• A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up to Us.

  Nations have delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for so long that they can no longer stop global warming from intensifying over the next 30 years, though there is still a short window to prevent the most harrowing future, a major new United Nations scientific report has concluded.

• Caltech’s New Space-Based Solar Project Could Power Our Planet

  Solar power could be continuously available anywhere on earth.”

• Solarize Billings campaign attempts to take solar mainstream

  Billings-area residents investing in solar energy through the Solarize Billings campaign, sponsored by the Northern Plains Resource Council.

• Judge Rules in Favor of Montana Youth Plaintiffs Suing the State of Montana for Violating Their Constitutional Right to a Clean and Healthful Environment

  Judge Seeley, allowing the case to proceed to trial on the constitutionality of Montana’s fossil
  fuel energy policies, recognized that the youth plaintiffs are experiencing significant impacts
  from the climate crisis, including economic, cultural, physical, and mental health injuries. She
  also ruled that the plaintiffs can sue the state over its aggressive expansion of the fossil fuel
  industry, a substantial contributor to the climate crisis.

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