Listen to this Science Snapshot podcast from Kaitlyn Engler to learn why biofuels may not be all they are hyped to be.

Biofuels

In August of 2000, Sarah and I bought our house together.  A little later that month we went to the SPCA to visit the dogs.  As fate would have it, that same day a litter of puppies was brought in.  One of the puppies was running around stomping on his siblings heads and came over to the bars of the cage to meet us and partake in some love.  We went straight to the desk and told them we wanted that puppy.  We named him Thunder.  For ten and one-half years Thunder has been a part of our life.  We’ve gone on hikes, camping, canoeing, swimming and many other adventures together.  Except for that first two weeks in our new home, we have never slept a night in our house without Thunder with us.  On December 29th, that was no longer true.  Thunder moved on to his next life, hopefully with a new family to share more adventures with.  The following is a tribute to my buddy, my friend.  I miss you…

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In this Science Snapshot, Nicole Dirienzo reports on a study that links a child’s weight to later disease risk

Overweight Children More Prone to Disease

Thanks to Achille Tenkiang for finding this Thanksgiving Science Snapshot!  Listen to his podcast and then checkout the associated site

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/22-the-genome-of-your-thanksgiving-supper

I just wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I’m not sure who wrote the poem below, but I have included it for your reading pleasure   Have a great holiday season!

No school today due to severe weather.

Enjoy the weekend!

Welcome back everyone.  There are a lot of exciting changes this year and we look forward to having the best school year yet!  Let’s work together, have some fun, and learn lots of stuff

A new page has been added to display and celebrate students’ various creations.  As I get more projects, I’ll add more to the wall.  Checkout some of the work by clicking on the “Student Work” link on my home page or by clicking here.  If you want something you’ve done in the past to be displayed on the wall just come see me.

Take the poll below to let me know what you think of this new feature.  Feel free to add a comment in the comments section if you wish.

I have scheduled two online meetings in case you have any questions about your assignments or need any extra help.  Here is how this works…

1. Go to www.dimdim.com
2. Click “Join Meeting” – you don’t need to register or install any special software – it should just work.
3. In the “Meeting Room” box, type in “docfleetwood” (without the quotes)
4. Put your name in the “Your Name” box
5. Click “Join” and that should do it.  If you have a microphone, you can speak to me.  Otherwise there is a chat box.

The meetings are scheduled for 12:00 Friday (2/12/10) and for 11:00 Saturday (2/13/10).  They are scheduled for an hour each but you can just pop in and out as you wish.  So stop in and ask any questions you might have and then go about your day

From a technological perspective, I’m interested to see how this works – so feel free to stop by and say hi even if you don’t have a question

The Earth Policy Institute issued the following press release detailing recent data on how the use of food to produce automobile fuels is affecting world starvation levels.  As a society we must become more innovative in developing new methods of powering automobiles and other devices.  In this new century we must let go of the antiquated combustion engine and not simply try to replace one fuel with another.  The environment and the people of the world deserve better.

DATA HIGHLIGHTS – U.S. FEEDS ONE QUARTER OF ITS GRAIN TO CARS WHILE HUNGER IS ON THE RISE

http://www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/press_room/C68/2010_datarelease6

The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. With 200 ethanol distilleries in the country set up to transform food into fuel, the amount of grain processed has tripled since 2004.

The United States looms large in the world food economy: it is far and away the world’s leading grain exporter, exporting more than Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Russia combined. In a globalized food economy, increased demand for food to fuel American vehicles puts additional pressure on world food supplies.

From an agricultural vantage point, the automotive hunger for crop-based fuels is insatiable. The Earth Policy Institute has noted that even if the entire U.S. grain crop were converted to ethanol (leaving no domestic crop to make bread, rice, pasta, or feed the animals from which we get meat, milk, and eggs), it would satisfy at most 18 percent of U.S. automotive fuel needs.

When the growing demand for corn for ethanol helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008, people in low-income grain-importing countries were hit the hardest. The unprecedented spike in food prices drove up the number of hungry people in the world to over 1 billion for the first time in 2009. Though the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has recently brought food prices down from their peak, they still remain well above their long-term average levels.

The amount of grain needed to fill the tank of an SUV with ethanol just once can feed one person for an entire year. The average income of the owners of the world’s 940 million automobiles is at least ten times larger than that of the world’s 2 billion hungriest people. In the competition between cars and hungry people for the world’s harvest, the car is destined to win.

Continuing to divert more food to fuel, as is now mandated by the U.S. federal government in its Renewable Fuel Standard, will likely only reinforce the disturbing rise in hunger. By subsidizing the production of ethanol, now to the tune of some $6 billion each year, U.S. taxpayers are in effect subsidizing rising food bills at home and around the world.

For more information on the competition between cars and people for grain, see Chapter 2 in Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), on-line for free downloading with supporting datasets.
Feel free to pass this information along to friends, family members, and colleagues!