Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Analysis of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard

"This Low Carbon Fuel Standard has the ability to increase the use of renewable fuels with the 'first-of-its-kind' regulation. In order to work properly and efficiently, a cost containment strategy would have to be implemented. My internship with REACCH has led me to explore the history and future of renewable and fuel standards and markets, with the hopes of decreasing fossil fuel use."

Drought and Cereal Pests Research

If we go back in time twelve thousand years from the present, to a period marking the formation of the Puget Sound within the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of North America, we see geo-climatic conditions drastically different from those predominating on Earth today. With one half of Earth's surface covered in ice, extensive glaciation drove massive landscape alteration and mass extinction of biota. This glaciation progressed via a feedback loop of changing abiotic forces,including drastic reductions of mean global temperature.

Integrating Environmental Accounting into AgTools

The AgTools^TM software uses a suite of programs to evaluate the profitability and feasibility at the individual farm level of different management decisions and cropping systems. Integrating environmental accounting into AgTools^TM aims to take into consideration the economic and environmental impacts of agricultural practices at the farm level. The intention is to encourage practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and discourage practices that degrade the environment.

How climate change affects ecological interactions

Agriculture has been relied upon as a food source for humans for thousands of years. For much of that time, wheat has been one of the most important crops that people have grown. Wheat, like most crops, is reliant upon certain quantities of water to grow properly.

Management Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Pools

Everything is built on soil; the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the clothing we wear on our backs. Interactions in the soil between components like microbes, insects, water, plant roots, soil organic matter, minerals, and air make it more than just filth we scrape off our boots. Because of all of these interactions, soil has the ability to mitigate for or to contribute to global climate change--which makes it so fascinating to study.

Obstacles in the Oilseed Biofuel Market

In a previous post, I explained that available evidence currently indicates nitrous oxide emissions may be fairly low in the inland Pacific Northwest, compared to other cropland agricultural systems in the U.S. and world. If ongoing research confirms these early results, then I suggested that efforts to reduce nitrous oxide emissions need to focus on strategies that offered strong co-benefits.

Pages