Reading List
Recently bookmarked
- Ms. Right Stuff: The Lovelace Space Program And The Mercury 13 Women
on 10/06/2009
- Danish official speaks in Minnesota
on 10/06/2009
- Danish Official Speaks In Minn. On Climate Change - wcco.com
on 10/06/2009
- Danish official speaks at Humphrey about climate change
on 10/06/2009
- MinnPost - How engagement in the arts engages the brain
on 09/25/2009
- Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering
on 09/16/2009
- How American Health Care Killed My Father - The Atlantic (September 2009)
on 09/11/2009
- Glass Microbiology | Luke Jerram
on 09/11/2009
- Stakes high for small businesses in health care debate
on 08/04/2009
- Global Warming Could Be To Blame For Tick Surge - wcco.com
on 08/04/2009
- Study: Social Security Numbers May Be Hackable
on 07/17/2009
- Paleontology and Creationism Meet but Don’t Mesh
on 07/17/2009
- Stem Cell Decision Opens New Doors, May Spur More Research
on 07/16/2009
- It is the year of the rat
on 07/14/2009
- Urban Farming, a Bit Closer to the Sun
on 06/18/2009
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SciTech headlines
Minnesota Public Radio
- Democrats' health care reform bill passes House
- Rep. Collin Peterson says he will vote 'no' on health care bill
- Health care bill with 'public option' nears vote in House
Star Tribune
- Patent case before Supreme Court could have major implications for software
- Seattle team wins $900,000 in NASA-backed 'space elevator' competition in Mojave Desert
- Precious fungi specimens smuggled out of China as World War II began are returned
Wired magazine
- Glow-in-the-Dark Shark Turned on by Hormones
- Vet School 2.0: Stick Your Hand Up a Virtual Cow Butt
- Signature of Antimatter Detected in Lightning
Science blogs select
- Happy Carl Sagan Day! [The Primate Diaries]
- And so, driven on ceaselessly toward new shores [Tomorrow's Table]
- Flood tolerant rice soon to be released to Bangladeshi farmers [Tomorrow's Table]
Peer Review on Science Blogs
Recent Posts
Friday, Nov 6, 2009
Lester Brown Asks: How Will We Eat?
On November 16th the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy and the Institute on the Environment will welcome Lester R. Brown to the Humphrey Center's Cowles Auditorium for a 9:30am discussion on climate change and the world's food supply.
Mr. Brown, founder and President of the Earth Policy Institute, has recently published his latest book, Plan B 4.0, Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Plan B 4.0 is a continuation of Mr. Brown's work on food supply and climate change, and serves as a reminder of, and purposes solutions to, the challenges that humanity will soon face in feeding itself. As Mr. Brown points out, we are already seeing proof of these impending challenges in the rising cost of basic foods and the recent trend of developed nations buying up large tracts of land in foreign (and often developing) countries in order to grow food for its citizens. There are, however, measures that can be taken to avert these challenges, such as a transition to a clean and sustainable energy economy, as well as careful design and planning of our urban centers.
Mr. Brown's closing call to action summarizes the pressing decision that humanity must make:
"The choice is ours--yours and mine. We can stay with business as usual and preside over an economy that continues to destroy its natural support systems until it destroys itself, or we can adopt Plan B and be the generation that changes direction, moving the world onto a path of sustained progress. The choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come."
Plan B 4.0 is available free of charge at the Earth Policy Institute.
Details on Lester Brown's upcoming lecture can be found here.
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009
Oil: A Love Story
Our friends at Solutions Twin Cities will be hosting an event that examines our past present and future relationship with oil. We partnered with them last year to host Innovation 2008 because they take a very innovative approach to presenting information. The video of the event is available here.
Our society is in love with oil and oil is an essential ingredient to most of our modern machinery. This event traces the historical origins and political consequences of our love for oil, and the prospects of falling out of love into a post-petroleum future.
On Thursday, November 12th at Intermedia Arts they will host a fast paced, media rich program which will combine captivating short presentations, participatory games and new social technology to examine the subject of oil from many vantages. Your vantage point will be included -- the audience will be encouraged to interact in a variety of ways throughout the course of the evening.
The event will showcase four unique insights into our love/hate relationship with this inanimate object:
• Oil Science Theater - George Henderson
• Oil As a Way of Life - Matt Huber
• Oil & the "Technological Unconscious - Bruce Braun
• Peak Oil: Imagining and Planning the Post-Carbon World - Matthew Schneider-Mayerson
The event is free and open to the public. For more information follow this link.
Monday, Oct 26, 2009
I've Got One Word For You Minnesota, Plastics!
When we discuss dwindling supplies of oil we often focus on gasoline and transportation, but overlook the role of oil in plastics. Oil is a key ingredient in the manufacture of plastic, so it would seem that the fate of plastic is tied to the fate of oil.
Plastic, the material that is as essential to modern life as electricity, faces a bleak future due to the impending shriveling of Earth's oil supply. As Karen Youso recently discovered for her article "Six days without plastic? Good luck", we really can't sustain modern life without plastic. This begs the question, what are we going to do? Fortunately, recent scientific advancements have shown that we can continue to manufacture plastic by replacing oil with biobased sources.
Research has already gone into planning for an age without oil. While a future in which we do nothing leads to gloom, it turns out that acting to prevent this future yields great benefits, especially economically. A 2008 report from the United States Department of Agriculture predicts that the global market for biobased polymers, such as plastics, could be as large as $150 billion dollars, nearly as large as the current American consumer electronics market. Obviously, an investment in this young industry could yield significant benefits.
Fortunately, Minnesota has the potential to be a leader in biobased polymers. Much like Texas during the oil boom, or today's Silicon Valley, tomorrow's Minnesota could be the epicenter of an exciting and profitable industry and could reap the rewards of economic prosperity. Minnesota has a head start on this industry thanks to Twin Cities based NatureWorks and the University of Minnesota's Center for Sustainable Polymers. However, considerable work remains not only in the science and technology of biobased materials, but also in its policy. The state must work to encourage this young industry; to nurse it though its formative years so that it can grow and thrive. To do otherwise is to pass on a perfect opportunity to strengthen Minnesota's economy. And who wants to do that?
Monday, Oct 19, 2009
Environmental Policy Change will come from the Bottom
The Center recently hosted the Danish Deputy Chief of Mission, Soren Jensen who discussed climate change, energy policy and the upcoming United Nations meeting on climate change in Copenhagen.
On of the burning questions for most audience members were of course "how has Denmark been so successful in reducing carbon emission." The average Dane has half as large of a carbon footprint as their American counterparts and as Mr. Jensen joked "we still watch TV and use microwaves."
Well the answer is partly cultural. During the oil crises in the 70s the Danish government responded by putting high taxes on fossil fuels as an incentive to switch to alternatives. The result was investment in renewable energy and a decentralized power grid. Technically we could have done this too, but the key word here is taxes. The Danish people reelected the public officials that levied the higher taxes. The same would not necessarily take place in the U.S. which is more tax adverse and is currently less willing to make climate change a priority. Mr. Jensen discussed how the catalyst will need to come from the American people before politicians are willing to adopt broader climate action.
Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009
40th Birthday of the EPA
The 40th anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency is the subject of an opinion piece in Environmental Science & Technology, co-authored by Deb Swackhamer, University of Minnesota Water Resources Center co-director. The article, "EPA at 40: Bringing Environmental Protection into the 21st Century," traces the history of the EPA from a protector of public lands to the country's most powerful force for environmental protection. The article calls for even greater proactive environmental leadership on the part of the EPA through more agency integration and increased public discourse of the risks and trade-offs of decisions facing us. Swackhamer, School of Public Health professor and Humphrey Institute's Charles M. Denny Jr. Chair of Science, Technology, and Public Policy who is also chair of the EPA's Science Advisory Board, co-authored the piece with Joseph Fiksel, Ohio State University; Thomas Graedel, Yale University; Alan Hecht, Environmental Protection Agency; David Rejeski, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Gary Sayler, University of Tennessee; Peter Senge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Thomas Theis, University of Illinois. The article will be published in the December 2009 print edition of Environmental Science & Technology and can be read online here.
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