Chemistry for a sustainable world

THE HOUR IS NEAR!
This information came to me by email because I signed up and committed to Earth Hour 2008, which is fast approaching. Since the message emphasizes getting the word out, and since it is written so well, I’ve reproduced a portion of it here. The full message can be found [...]

As reported in the New York Times on Feb 8, 2008 and discussed by Douglas Schiller at AlternativeEnergy.com, two studies have reached the conclusion given in the title. US demand for biofuels from food sources is driving up food prices throughout the world.
A key distinction here is “from food”. We may still have [...]

From SustainableBusiness.com (via my friend Steve B. at Gather.com), here is an article that predicts the point where gas prices will cause a five-fold increase in purchases of hybrid cars and the abandoning of SUVs by US consumers.  The point is said to be $4/gallon, a conclusion which is based on studies by Edmunds.com and [...]

Please read the story that my previous post links to on cities that are taking various approaches to sustainability. I applaud these cities on their effort, risk, expenditure and cooperation…
but I’d like to hear what people think about the cities’ actual solutions!
Since I can barely find people who agree on anything regarding alternative fuel, [...]

Peaks Island in Casco Bay, off Portland, Maine. Photo by S. R. Shray, used with permission, some rights reserved, 2007
Please check out Treehugger.com for a huge collection of articles, discussion forums, practical tips and wildly utopian but stimulating ideas for helping the environment.
The site also has treehuggertv for video reports (haven’t watched any yet).
As [...]

Please see the article (click on the title):

Renewed Effort
Big oil companies are joining the search for the next generation of biofuels
By JESSICA RESNICK-AULT of the Wall Street Journal

Ms. Resnick-Ault provides a discussion of the range of biofuel options as viewed by major oil companies and she reports on their choices, which vary widely. The [...]

In case you missed it, a gentleman named Burl Haigwood kindly left a long and detailed comment, and rebuttal, to my recent post on the health effects of ethanol as a fuel.
Because I do want to debate the issues, I thought it best to reprint his response and my related comments here, since otherwise they [...]

Go to the Science Friday home page and look for the Oct 4, 2007 (Hour 1) show on Biofuels to listen to the Podcast.
Also, check out my blogroll (under Science) for a link to the Science Friday Kids’ Connection, an educational resource for grades 6-8.
Let me know what you think! Thanks, as always, for [...]

It was reported by Timothy Gardner of Reuters that Jane Goodall, one of the world’s best-known scientists, has come out strongly against the planting of biofuel crops in tropical areas because this is typically accompanied by extensive destruction of rain forests.
So, whether it is “corn-to-ethanol” raising your food prices or fast-growing weeds for generation of [...]