Biofuels: Pros and Cons

So, biofuels are the wave of the future, right? They are the answer to all of our energy issues, right? It is time for you to make a stand on alternative fuels - folks we are going to need something and in your life time .I have listed some information on alternative fuels. Please read the material associated with each link and comment about the pros and cons of each. Describe each of the fuels potential imapct on the atmosphere and or earth surface. At the end of your post, make a final statement regarding which fuel alternative you believe is most viable, cost efficient, easy to make and or use etc.
Start with the first article which introduces you to the top 8 alternative fuels:
1. Ethanol
2. Natural gas
3. Electricity
4. Hydrogen
5. Propane
6.Biodiesel
7. Methanol
8. P-series fuels

*** I would suggest maybe making a personal chart for these fuels for quick reference at a later date ) ****
Reviewing the carbon cycle link on the contradiction blog will help you as well.

Postings are due by 11pm 30 October ( Friday ) That is the better part of two weeks , folks! Really, Really pay attention to this material.

http://environment.about.com/od/fossilfuels/tp/top_alt_fuels.htm

http://biofuelguide.net/the-pros-and-cons-of-biofuels/

http://www.biofuelswatch.com/biofuels-pros-and-cons/

http://environment.about.com/od/ethanolfaq/f/ethanol_benefit.htm -ethanol ( follow the links at the bottom of the page for additional material

http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-article_46/

http://earth2tech.com/2008/07/09/10-things-you-should-know-about-natural-gas-vehicles/

http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/mechanical/articles/2126.aspx

http://blog.homestars.com/archives/2009/08/11/the-pros-and-cons-of-green-electricity/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Water4Gas---Pros-and-Cons-of-Hydrogen-Fuel&id=1117787

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-86577.html

http://e85.whipnet.net/yellow/methanol.html

http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/pseries/a/Pseries101.htm

Green Roof

POST ALL INTIAL COMMENTS BY FRIDAY 23 OCTOBER 2009
Please keep this blog active as we develope roof plans

I spoke with Mr. Worley about creating a green roof on the roof over the cafeteria outside my window. He was hesitant to say the least and I suspect it is because we don't have a presentation of what and how and why we want to do this......Are we serious about creating a green roof over the year?

Here are some starter articles to get you going.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090920/ELANSING01/909200497/1001/NEWS

http://science.howstuffworks.com/green-rooftop.htm

http://charityguide.org/volunteer/fewhours/green-roof.htm

*****NEW ******** PLEASE NOTE

To help you when you are gathering information on climate change/global warming , I have included the link to a very good reference source from Discovery Channel. It is definitely something you need to look at.......

You do not have to post , but please look at the link.....somevery good information.

Location of link is on the right hand side of the blog above the population clock.

Green Buildings.....follow up to to 11th hour concept

Read and post by 11pm 14 October.....

Interesting article that is a great follow -up to the idea of planting and using roof areas.......

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/10/06/green-roofs-carbon.html

article describing the green roof concept -

http://science.howstuffworks.com/green-rooftop.htm/printable

Makah Whaling Debate

DUE DATE: Have read and decided by no later than 14 October (Wednesday) ....... I will place you in a group if you do not indicate a preference!!! Please also note that there are 25 of you and 6 groups. That means 4 per group with a group of 5. First come, first served on groupings....

So far:

1.( 4 ) Makah: Jonte , Ross , Shelby, Lydia ( membership closed)

2. ( 4 ) Greenpeace: Kenzie , Kathryn, Haley, Ashlee ( Greenpeace is now closed for membership)

3. ( 4 ) International Covenant : Colleen , Maria , Angelica , Hollis ( closed for membership)

4. ( 5 ) North High Alliance: Knox , Emory , Nathan , Emilee, Clinton ( closed for membership)

5. (4 ) Crest: Luke , Caitlin, Hannah, Gabby ( Crest is now closed for membership)

6. ( 4 ) Sea Shepherd : Chrissy, Matt, Adair , Brittney ( Sea Shepherds is now closed for membership )

The assignment: debate the Makah rights to whaling. The positions:

1. Makah Tribal Viewpoint – We have a cultural right to these whales.


2. Greenpeace viewpoint - Makah do not have a cultural right to these whales. We don’t believe that anyone has a cultural right to anything what so ever, and certainly not to a living organism that has inherent rights.


3. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – As members,we believe that the Makah should be allowed to whale. However, instead of using the “culture” argument, we think the Makah should focus on a different argument. That argument is simply this: They have a guarantee from the US government that states they are allowed to whale.

4. High North Alliance - We believe whaling and seal hunting is ok and necessary. But we need to protect the areas.

5. Crest - your position on whaling is neutral. ( but there is a catch for you ! )

6. Sea Shepherd and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society - non - profit, non- government agency involved with the investigation and documentation of violations of international laws, regulations and treaties protecting marine species.


Instructions:
1. Please look at these positions carefully and determine which most closely fits your viewpoint. That will be your group for the debate.
2. This debate will be not be soley graded as a group, your individual participation will be of supreme importance.
3. Your contribution to the debate will need to include statistics, document references , newspaper references , videos ( created or real ), props as are deemed fit for your particular group : things like signs , banners , clothing , etc.
4. The main stipulation is that you need to clear the prop ideas with me first.
5. From the point the prairie project presentations are completed and you receive your group description card, you will have 1 week for preparation.
6.at the one week plus a day mark, the debate will begin and let the best man/woman/team win!

Sources

http://www.whales.org.au/alert/makah/index.html - pertinent legal documents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR2MEI1CcsA - Makah whaling video

http://www.makah.com/whaling.htm - Makah site on whaling

http://www.alamut.com/subj/the_other/misc/makahWhaling.html - historical information

http://www.cnie.org/NAE/cases/makah/index.html

http://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/exhibits/makah/whaling-in-makah.html - whaling treaty being read in Makah native language

http://www.highnorth.no/Default.asp - High North Alliance home page

http://www.iwcoffice.org/conservation/estimate.htm - International Whaling Commission: includes population numbers and whale catch limits for aborignal peoples and scientific studies.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/- Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/- Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-061220-1.html- Sea Shepherd's view of Greenpeace

http://www.seashepherd.org/ - Sea Shepherd

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm - International Covenant

http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-covenant/ - the document

http://www.highnorth.no/news/nedit.asp?which=172 - world council of whalers

http://www.icrwhale.org/eng-index.htm - Institute for Cetacean Research site . Lots of interesting pictures of whaling and up to date information about Japanese whaling etc.


Newspaper Articles: interesting! just a few to give you something to start working with and on...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003926767&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=whale05m&date=20071005

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003946019&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=webwhale13m&date=20071012

http://www.komonews.com/internal?st=print&id=4079361&path=/news/archive

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/v-printerfriendly/story/153177.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/17/world/main4610908.shtml?source=related_story

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,322472,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,312205,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,317471,00.html

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6425439

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fd20090830pb.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/02/the-war-over-wh.html

http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2009/WWFPresitem12741.html

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE5111EV20090202

Overview of laws protecting whales and marine mammals: will be distributed in class.
Please make a note to yourselves that the Endangered Species Act of 1972 was completely redesigned and rewritten in 1973 to include CITES.

Contradiction or not?

This seems to be a conundrum.......please read the articles by 15 October and post your comments, viewpoints and explanations for how scientists can say two different things relating to the carbon issue. Finally, which do you perceive as correct?

Due date: post initial comment by 11 pm 15 October


Acidic Clouds Nourish World's Oceans

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005102645.htm

Global Warming From Carbon Dioxide Will Increase Five-fold Over The Next Millennium, Scientists Predict

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128104533.htm

and just in case you don't remember the carbon budget

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161113.htm

11th hour

Read and ponder the first set of questions by 9 October ( Friday ) . Also DO NOT FORGET to post your final copy of Rip van Winkle in an email.

You may comment at will.....but at least comment that you read the assignment.

After prairie presentations are completed, we are going to take a wee break and look at experts and how " expert" information is presented by these " experts" . Please read the following synopsis of the 11th Hour ( as presented by Leonardo DiCaprio ) and ponder the questions that follow.

The 11th Hour: A Synopsis of the Film

The expression “the eleventh hour” means the last moment when change can happen to avert possible disaster. In the film The 11th Hour a variety of world experts explore how humanity has arrived at the current convergence of environmental crises while exploring steps that people can take to avert global disaster. In summary, the earth is nearing meltdown, beyond climate change. The process began with the Industrial Revolution, when people started mistakenly looking on nature as external to themselves and exploitable without limits. Forests have undergone major destruction. The ocean is becoming stagnant. Almost everywhere, the soil itself is largely damaged. In addition, 50,000 species a year are becoming extinct; no ecosystem can be identified as improving. Humans suffer from increasing numbers of diseases caused by pollution. At fault is the overproduction of non-sustainable manufactures, immense waste and destruction, and an unsupportable population. The primary cause for much of the crisis is the fuels we use, petroleum being the primary one.Through nature itself, the technology exists to solve some of these crises, and part of the solution is for people to live more consciously in harmony with nature as opposed to dominating it. According to the film, in a few years we will have reached the point of no return. We are not only at the eleventh hour, but at the last few seconds of that hour. Within this century, if nothing effective is achieved, planetary damage will be dramatic and total in every area. Although impossible to predict, extreme disaster could be quick once the balance is decisively tipped in the wrong direction, and it will happen everywhere.The 11th Hour features leading experts from around the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, along with over 50 other scientists and world leaders who discuss the most important environmental issues facing the earth while presenting strategies to avert the crisis.

Glossary: ( Just in case )

• Global Warming: Climate change is the long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the earth's climate. Global warming is defined by the United Nations Convention on Climate Change as “change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”


• Greenhouse Gases : Greenhouse gases are chemical compounds in the atmosphere that trap heat there. They retain a proportion of the sun’s heat through a mechanism known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), are naturally present in the atmosphere in small quantities (less than 1%). Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by the earth’s surface, the atmosphere and clouds. It is very likely that greenhouse gases released by human activities are responsible for most of the global warming observed in the past 50 years. The warming is projected to continue and to increase over the course of the 21st century and beyond.


• Biodiversity : The variety of life on earth—or its biological diversity—is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, and the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rain forests, and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse earth. Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, has an important role to play, and it is this combination that enables the ecosystem to possess the ability to prevent and recover from a variety of natural disasters. This is useful for humanity as a larger number of species of plants means more variety of crops and a larger number of species of animals ensures that the ecosystem is naturally sustained.


• Carbon Footprint : A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts: the direct, primary footprint and the indirect, secondary footprint. The primary footprint is a measure of the direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. This includes domestic energy consumption and transportation from, for example, cars and planes. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole life cycle of products we use, those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown.


• "Green" Building: Green” building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources—energy, water, and materials—while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better site planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal—the complete building life cycle. Other similarly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture.

• While watching the 11th hour, you need to write " gut" reactions to what is being shown and/or being said.
  

Questions:

• What do you see as today’s most urgent environmental crisis?


• Where have you gotten information about environmental issues?


• Do you think the mainstream media present environmental issues clearly and accurately?


• What actions have you taken to conserve and preserve the earth’s resources?


• In assessing your skills as an advocate for something you care about, what do you see as your strengths?

• After you watch the video: think about and be ready to answer these:

• Describe some of the emotions you felt during the film.


• Which aspects of the video had the greatest impact on you and why?


• What information contained in the video was new to you?


• What topics presented in the film would you like to explore further? Do you know what you need to know in order to continue learning about environmental issues? If the answer to that question is no, how can you find out what you need to know?


• Discuss the ways that eating locally produced food is an environmental issue. What can individuals do to support the local production and consumption of foods?


• Who should see this film and for what purposes?


• Who might be unreceptive to the ideas in the film and why?


• Share one issue or item that you wrote on your index card while you were watching The 11th Hour.


• As a result of your having seen this film, what, if any, specific actions do you think you will take?

After we discuss the merits or demerits ( as the case may be) of this film, you will watch Earth: Population Zero. Musings and writing assignment to follow.