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This article presents a comparative exploration of news media portrayals of Indigenous environmental issues in Canada and the United States guided by a qualitative multimodal critical discourse analysis methodology. Theoretical framing was provided by Elliot Eisner's three curricula, Antonio López's visual literacy framework, and the broader fields of critical media literacy, environmental communication, and Indigenous media practice. This inquiry responded to recent media coverage of manifestations of resistance to environmental degradation and colonial (re-)encroachment in Indigenous territories on both sides of our shared borders such as the Keystone XL and Coastal GasLink pipelines, among others. Media portrayals of environmentally conscious Indigenous initiatives and collaborations such as the proliferation of renewable energy developments across Turtle Island/North America and the transborder Buffalo Treaty were also explored.

Fossil fuel corporations play a significant role in promoting their interests in schools and other educational institutions, a practice that has recently been labelled as 'petro-pedagogy.' But this role goes beyond the production of the pro-petroleum and anti-science corporate propaganda that tends to attract the most critical attention. In this article, I present a case study of the involvement of BP, one of the world's largest fossil fuel corporations, in primary and secondary education in the United Kingdom. As practiced by BP, petro-pedagogy constitutes a core part of a corporate education reform network that, for the past decade, has focused on promoting a neoliberal model of STEM education in schools around the world. This model, based on corporate and capitalist interests, poses a significant threat to our collective efforts to tackle the global climate crisis.

As China and the United States become the top two carbon emitters in the world, it is crucial for citizens in both countries to construct a sophisticated understanding of energy consumption issues. This interview study examines how U.S. and Chinese students compare in explaining and arguing about two critical energy consumption issues: burning fossil fuels and using electricity. In particular, we focused on using scientific knowledge to explain and argue about these issues. Based on relevant literature and our previous research, we developed a model to guide separate assessment and evaluation of students' argumentation and explanation. We conducted clinical interviews with 40 biology majors, including 20 U.S. students and 20 Chinese students. This study generated several important findings. First, Chinese students tended to be less consistent across explanations and argumentation, and their levels of argumentation were lower than their levels of explanation. Second, in comparison to their Chinese counterparts, U.S. students provided more scientific arguments but many fewer scientific explanations. Finally, although all participants were college students and had completed at least one introductory level science course before the interviews, some of their explanations and arguments were based on informal ideas rather than matter and energy. We discuss the possible interpretations of these findings and their implications for teaching and learning of scientific explanation and argumentation in both countries.

Current U.S. energy policy supports increasing the use of bio-ethanol as a gasoline substitute, which Brazil first produced on a large scale in response to the 1970s energy crises. Brazil's National Alcohol Program stood out among its contemporaries regarding its success at displacing a third of Brazil's gasoline requirements, primarily due to favorable market conditions and government support. Similar to the Brazilian experience, future progress towards displacing gasoline with fuel ethanol in the U.S. will depend largely upon political support and economic circumstances in the agricultural and energy sectors and markets. Accounting for differences in aggregate gasoline usage and feedstock availability compared to Brazil, the United States would have to speed up commercialization of cellulose ethanol technology in order to achieve a similar degree of success as Brazil, support co-production of biomass derivatives along with fuel ethanol production, and maintain profitability of innovation in the bio-ethanol sector, among other initiatives. (Contains 3 figures and 6 footnotes.)

This article is a response to Kassam, Avery, and Ruelle's insights as presented in this forum on rural science education. Topics considered include troubling the urban/rural divide in the context of Indigenous knowledge and expanding to include the common Canadian notion of the "remote," a designation rooted in our national colonial narrative for the mythic, typically northern, wilderness sparsely inhabited by primarily Indigenous peoples. These concepts are further considered through exploration of Indigenous and allied ecological activism in Canada and the United States related to the proposed Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines. This discussion concludes with an argument for the inherent pedagogical opportunity presented by such cases for contemporary educators to engage students in consideration of wicked problems, geographically rooted cognitive diversity, and the legal, economic, ecological, and cultural underpinnings and ramifications of the current events prominent in their home communities and abroad.

As China and the United States become the top two carbon emitters in the world, it is crucial for citizens in both countries to construct a sophisticated understanding of energy consumption issues. This interview study examines how U.S. and Chinese students compare in explaining and arguing about two critical energy consumption issues: burning fossil fuels and using electricity. In particular, we focused on using scientific knowledge to explain and argue about these issues. Based on relevant literature and our previous research, we developed a model to guide separate assessment and evaluation of students' argumentation and explanation. We conducted clinical interviews with 40 biology majors, including 20 U.S. students and 20 Chinese students. This study generated several important findings. First, Chinese students tended to be less consistent across explanations and argumentation, and their levels of argumentation were lower than their levels of explanation. Second, in comparison to their Chinese counterparts, U.S. students provided more scientific arguments but many fewer scientific explanations. Finally, although all participants were college students and had completed at least one introductory level science course before the interviews, some of their explanations and arguments were based on informal ideas rather than matter and energy. We discuss the possible interpretations of these findings and their implications for teaching and learning of scientific explanation and argumentation in both countries.

As the United States strives to achieve energy independence, students need to be literate about energy and environmental issues. In this article, the authors present a lesson about the nation's electricity resources that is part 1 of a free, comprehensive unit on coal and energy that is available online (http://tinyurl.com/coalenergyunit). The comprehensive unit, which was developed by graduate students supported by the Transforming Earth System Science Education project at Penn State University, contains inquiry-based lessons designed to deepen students' understanding of key Earth-science issues. Data on electricity-generation resources in the United States, including both renewable and nonrenewable types, are highlighted within the lesson of part 1. Part 2 of the comprehensive unit includes lessons that address more detail about coal. In both parts of the unit, students learn fundamental information about the development and use of domestic energy sources. The full lesson for part 1 is included here, but both parts of the comprehensive unit are also described. Completion of all or part of the unit will provide an interdisciplinary look at the nation's energy resources. (Contains 4 figures and 1 online resource.)

Obesity is epidemic in the United States, and there is an imperative need to identify policy tools that may help fight this epidemic. A recent paper in the economics literature finds an inverse relationship between gasoline prices and obesity risk--suggesting that increased gasoline prices via higher gasoline taxes may have the effect of reducing obesity prevalence. This study builds upon that paper. It utilizes cross-sectional time series data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) over 2003-2008, utilizes the increases that occurred in gasoline prices in this period due to Hurricane Katrina and to the global spike in gasoline prices as a "natural experiment," and explores how time spent by Americans on different forms of physical activity is associated with gasoline price levels. Economic theory suggests that higher gasoline prices may alter individual behavior both via a "substitution effect" whereby people seek alternatives to motorized transportation, and an "income effect" whereby the effect of higher gasoline prices on the disposable family budget leads people to make various adjustments to what they spend money on. The latter may lead to some increase in physical activity (for example, doing one's own yard work instead of hiring help), but may also lead to decreases in other physical activities that involve expenses, such as team sports or workouts at the gym. Thus, ultimately, the relationship between gasoline prices and physical activity must be empirically determined. Results from multivariate regression models with state and time fixed effects indicate that higher gasoline prices are associated with an overall increase of physical activity that is at least moderately energy intensive. The increases are most pronounced in periods where gasoline prices fluctuate more sharply and unexpectedly. These results appear robust to a number of model specifications. One of the major components of this increase appears to be an increase in housework that is at least moderately energy intensive--such as interior and exterior cleaning, garden, and yard work. This tentatively suggests that there is an income effect of higher gasoline prices, or a possible increase in prices of such services when gasoline prices increase. However, the increases in physical activity associated with increased gasoline prices are weaker among minorities and low socioeconomic status (SES) individuals. Hence, while a policy that increases gasoline prices via raised gasoline taxes may have benefits in terms of increasing overall physical activity levels in the United States, these benefits may not accrue to low SES individuals to the same extent as to their higher SES counterparts. This suggests that if increasing physical activity is the primary goal, then it may be more efficient to use a tax that can exert an income effect on mid-to-high SES households, such as a targeted income tax. On the other hand, if gasoline taxes are imposed to address other negative externalities of gasoline use, then these taxes may have the added benefit of increasing physical activity at least among some segments of U.S. society. (Contains 21 footnotes, 6 tables, and 4 figures.)

Commoditization seems immutable and unstoppable but, like other social processes, its prevalence is context dependent. The enabling context for commoditization has been cheap fossil fuels, economic growth, and ever-increasing energy and material throughput. In fact, the scientific findings of ecological, climate, footprint, and material flow studies all point in the same direction--"excess" throughput. We cannot grow our way out of growth-driven crisis; new technologies will not create new sources of energy or new waste sinks. Counter-commoditization measures can take the form of formal policies or of informal social change processes, including processes now under way. Three social change processes are relational decision making, ecological language, and localization. The common thread is relations (between humans and between human systems--especially the economy--and natural systems), context (spatial and temporal, ecological and social). Applied to fossil fuels it is clear that the end of the hydrocarbon era must be accelerated. The normative imperative to support and invest in the "economy of care and connection" becomes ever stronger. (Contains 2 tables and 12 notes.)

People around the world are concerned about affordable energy. It is needed to power the global economy. Petroleum-based transportation and coal-fired power plants are economic prime movers fueling the global economy, but coal and gasoline are also the leading sources of air pollution. Both of these sources produce greenhouse gases and toxins. Worry over the environment and the health of humans is growing. Could the world switch to solar power today and sustain the global economy? Not a chance. In 2008, solar accounted for only 0.048 percent (four one-hundredths of one percent) of the U.S. generating capacity (including concentrating solar). But that is not necessarily the right question to ask. Here is a more appropriate one: Can solar power "contribute" to a cleaner environment and a healthy economy? The answer is yes, with conditions. In this article, the author talks about photovoltaic solar power and explores how this kind of solar power can make a contribution. The author argues that photovoltaic solar can make a meaningful contribution "if" there are enough incentives for its implementation on a larger scale. (Contains 4 figures.)

The United States is currently experiencing its worst man-made environmental disaster, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is severe in its impact, but it is only one of several global oil spill disasters in history. Students can utilize the technology of Google Earth to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of oil spills. In addition to increasing content knowledge of oil spills, Google Earth assists in developing student geographic and technologic literacy. Designed for a middle school science class, this activity may also be used in English, history, math, art, and poster-making. (Contains 3 tables .)

When the deepwater horizon offshore oil drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, 11 crewmen were killed; the accident led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Forty workers on the rig managed to escape the catastrophe, thanks largely to a safety-training program they had taken at community colleges in the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS). Nearly a year later, LCTCS and other area community colleges play a key role not only in assisting in the massive cleanup effort, but also in containing and preventing future disasters. In this article, the author highlights the extraordinary efforts of LCTCS and other area colleges to restore the environment and train workers in the prevention of future disasters.

Economic changes and the machinations of the treadmill of production have dramatically reduced the number of jobs provided by extractive industries, such as mining and timber, in the United States and other affluent nations in the post-World War II era. As the importance of these industries to national, regional, and local economies wanes, community resistance to ecologically and socially destructive industry practices threatens the political power of corporations engaged in natural-resource extraction. Here we argue that to maintain their power (and profits) as their contribution to employment declines, extractive industries have increased their efforts to maintain and amplify the extent to which the "economic identity" of communities is connected with the industry that was historically an important source of employment. We fit this argument within the neo-Marxian theoretical tradition, which emphasizes the roles ideology and legitimation play in maintaining elite rule. We illustrate this theorized process by analyzing the efforts of the West Virginia coal industry, which, through its (faux) "grassroots" front group "Friends of Coal," attempts to construct the image that West Virginia's economy and cultural identity are centered on coal production. Our analysis relies on content analysis of various sources and on experience gained from field research. We find that key strategies of the Friends of Coal include efforts to become pervasively visible in the social landscape and the appropriation of cultural icons that exploit the hegemonic masculinity of the region. These findings have implications for how industries around the country, and the world, work to maintain their power through ideological manipulation. (Contains 4 figures, 7 footnotes and 1 table.)

Concerns are growing regarding the availability of sustainable energy sources due to a rapidly growing human population and a better understanding of climate change. In recent years, the United States has focused much attention on developing domestic energy sources, which include coal-bed methane (CBM). There are vast deposits of the natural gas within the Powder River Basin (PRB), Wyoming. A sharp increase in exploration and development of CBM in the region has led to a decline in the surrounding greater sage-grouse ("Centrocercus urophasianus") populations in developed areas. This case study presents the issues surrounding CBM development and sage-grouse conservation within the PRB and provides instructors with online resources and classroom activities that can be used to stimulate and develop students' active learning and critical thinking skills. (Contains 4 exhibits.)

For those who must import oil to maintain their economies and quality of life, any disruption in the delivery of imported oil is a highly threatening prospect. How would U.S. policymakers react to such a threat in the contemporary era? We examine the potential policymaking roles and impacts of bureaucratic actors operating at the intersection of energy and security issues. To do so, we explore a comparative approach using an original simulation that envisions an energy supply "crisis" in the United States due to events in a hypothetical state somewhat inspired by Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. The simulation is run at three very different universities in three different courses, yet the results are surprisingly similar. Despite the obvious security implications of an oil shortage during a time of war, we find more engaged roles for those representing nonmilitary bureaucracies, a greater reliance on diplomatic and economic tools to respond to the crisis, less reliance on military policy instruments than might have been the case in the past, and a concern for tempering responses until more is known. (Contains 1 figure and 6 notes.)

This article develops a broad sociological understanding of why biofuels lost out to leaded gasoline as the fuel par excellence of the twentieth century, while drawing comparisons with biofuels today. It begins by briefly discussing the fuel-scape in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, examining the farm chemurgic movement, New Deal agricultural policies, mechanization trends within agriculture, and, finally, the invention of leaded gasoline. The second half of the article applies insights from that historical analysis to the biofuel craze currently under way. By employing a political-economy interpretation of the socioeconomic context combined with a path-dependency-informed analysis of the technological trajectories, the article reveals the social forces that structured the trends and outcomes in biofuel innovations across the two eras. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

The first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was launched over fifty years ago, on October 4, 1957, marking the beginning of the space age. The launch of Sputnik inspired coal miners' sons in Coalwood, West Virginia, to form a rocket research program. The story of these coal miners' sons was told by Homer Hickham, Jr., in the book Rocket Boys: A Memoir, and later in the movie adaptation October Sky. Both the book and the movie show the importance of mentoring from a teacher, Frieda Riley, who encouraged the Rocket Boys in their endeavors. The story of the Rocket Boys can be used in science classrooms as a means to teach the scientific process and to create what is termed in both the book and movie as a body of knowledge. Several chemical principles important in the development of rocket propellant systems were depicted in the book and movie. These propellant systems are comparable to those used for the solid rocket boosters used to launch the space shuttles. The use of popular media in the classroom can engage and inspire students and teachers alike. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The current worldwide concern over energy is primarily related to imported oil, oil drilling and refining capacity, and transportation capacity. However, this concern has bolstered interest in a broader range of "green" energy technologies. In this article, the author discusses the use of hydroelectricity as an alternative energy source and examines its impact on the environment. An activity that challenges students to design a better water turbine in order to increase the power output of a small DC electric motor that is being used as a generator is included. (Contains 5 figures.)

As shortages of fossil energy, especially oil and natural gas, become evident, the United States has moved to convert corn grain into ethanol with the goal to make the nation oil independent. Using more than 20% of all U.S. corn on 15 million acres in 2007 was providing the nation with less than 1% of U.S. oil consumption. Because the corn ethanol project has been a disaster, there is growing interest to develop cellulosic ethanol. Wood, grasses, and crop residues are being proposed as sources for ethanol fuel. Though it may seem beneficial to use renewable plant materials for biofuel, the use of crop residues and other biomass for biofuels raises major concerns about energy balance, food security, and environmental problems. (Contains 5 tables.)

The use of marginal land (ML) for lignocellulosic biofuel production is examined for system stability, resilience, and eco-social sustainability. A North American prairie grass system and its industrialization for maximum biomass production using biotechnology and agro-technical inputs is the focus of the analysis. Demographic models of ML biomass production and ethanol farmer/producers are used to examine the stability properties of the ML system. A bio-economic model that maximizes the utility of consumption having the dynamics of MLs and the farmer/producers as dynamic constraints is used to examine the effects of increased conversion efficiency, input costs, risk, and levels of base resources and inputs on the competitive and societal solutions for biomass production. We posit ML abandonment after biofuel production ceases could lead to permanent land degradation below initial levels that prohibit the establishment of the original flora and fauna. (Contains 1 table, 5 figures and 1 note.)

Energy is relevant to all areas of human life; energy sustains us through food, drives our transportation, warms and cools our buildings, and powers our electrical gadgets. In nature, ecosystems function by capturing and transforming energy. Agroecosystems are formed when humans manipulate the capture and flow of energy for food, fiber, and fuel production. Comparing the energy use and efficiency in different agroecosystems throughout central Iowa allows producers and consumers alike to make more informed decisions about energy and sustainability in the food system. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

This article addresses the issues and concerns about offshore oil drilling in the United States. The demand for energy is going up, not down, and for a long time, even as alternative sources of energy are developed, more oil will be needed. The strongest argument against drilling is that it could distract the country from the pursuit of alternative sources of energy. The United States cannot drill its way to energy independence. With the developing economies of China and India steadily increasing their oil needs in their latter-day industrial revolutions, the United States can no longer afford to turn its back on finding all the sources of fuel necessary to maintain its economy and standard of living. What is required is a long-term, comprehensive plan that includes wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, and nuclear--and that acknowledges that oil and gas will be instrumental to the United States' well-being for many years to come. A classroom activity that allows students to argue for or against offshore oil drilling is included. (Contains 3 figures.)

The following is an historically-based analysis of a new phenomenon affecting rural schools and communities: animal confinement operations. A contrast is made between "enclosure" as it unfolded in England a few centuries ago and the way animal concentration units constitute a second, "modern" form of enclosure today. In both instances, as this essay demonstrates, rural populations have suffered markedly. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

In the spring of 1977, members of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), along with the Coalition for Navajo Liberation, barraged the Secretary of the Interior and the chairman of the Navajo Nation with petitions calling for a halt to the proposed construction of several coal gasification plants on the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New Mexico. The petitions stated that the billion-dollar industrial venture would lead to "the inevitable genocide" of the local Navajo people whose culture and livelihood would "once again (be) trampled and ignored." The NIYC-led campaign to stop coal gasification began in 1974 and lasted through most of 1977. Their struggle was against not only the multinationals seeking to build and profit from the plants, but also the governments of both the United States and the Navajo Nation, which ignored the interests of the Burnham residents in their legislative wrangling over gasification. In this article, the author traces the history of the attempts of NIYC to stop the coal gasification in the Navajo Nation from 1974 to 1977. (Contains 42 notes.)

The hydrogen economy has received increasing attention recently. Common reasons cited for investigating hydrogen energy options are improved energy security, reduced environmental impacts, and its contribution to a transition to sustainable energy sources. In anticipation of these benefits, national and local initiatives have been launched in the United States, creating pilot "roadmaps" and technology partnerships to explore hydrogen economy platforms. Although hydrogen can provide several positive improvements over a carbon- or uranium-based energy system, several problems are also likely. As well, competitive technologies (e.g., hybrid vehicles) may offer comparatively greater economic and/or environmental advantages. Before policies to advance a hydrogen energy economy proceed, it is vital that all aspects of hydrogen be compared with other available alternatives. Important questions to ask in this regard are whether a hydrogen economy can fulfill key energy needs and whether there are appropriate roles for hydrogen to play in a sustainable energy future. (Contains 2 figures.)

The realization of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and their adverse environmental impacts has accelerated research and development activities in the domain of renewable energy sources and technologies. Global energy demand is expected to rise during the next few decades, and the majority of today's energy is based on fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources and technologies can play a vital role in lowering or eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels. However, such a transition will require a large investment and will not be reversible. The benefits of hydrogen and other liquid fuels as transportation fuels are not marginal, but the real urgency in greenhouse gas reductions and fossil fuel replacement should not be translated into an energy infrastructure based on unsustainable sources in the long run. It is wise to examine each option thoroughly and objectively now and discard those with little potential so our focus and effort may be placed elsewhere. (Contains 7 figures and 1 table.)

In the late 1800s and early 1900s coal reigned supreme in what is now southeastern Oklahoma. As was the case in the northeastern United States, Italians and other immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were brought in as a form of inexpensive labor to work the mines. Italians had different customs, a different language, a unique appearance, and a lack of training in mining compared with the American, English, Irish, and Scottish miners that preceded them. This essay is an account of the discrimination experienced by Italians and people of Italian descent in the coal counties of southeastern Oklahoma from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

Energy is the lifeblood of the United States. It powers its industries and keeps its economy humming. The nation's progress has relied on making energy abundantly available to support the growth of new ideas and products, and the issue of renewable energy is an increasingly important one. In this article, the author discusses some of the basics of the nation's energy history and the kinds of fuels used in the past and in the present. (Contains 4 tables.)

With food and fuel prices increasing sharply, food and nutrition directors in school districts around the country are finding themselves facing some uncomfortable choices. In some districts, school lunch menus are being pared down to fewer selections, instead of the array of healthy options districts would like to offer. In other areas, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables are substituting for fresh. Many meals directors say they are going to have to ask their school boards to consider raising prices to keep up with the cost of the food that is going on plates. The Congressional Research Service, which shares public-policy analysis with elected officials and the public, released a report April 10 that laid out a web of factors that have led to the largest annual jump in U.S. food prices since 1990. Corn for ethanol fuel is competing for space with food and feed crops; poor harvests have reduced food supplies; rapidly growing economies in nations like China and India are increasing demand for food; and transportation costs have increased because of higher fuel prices. The rapid increase is following a period of relatively stable food prices. So, much like retail consumers, administrators of school food programs find themselves squeezed because not only is it more expensive to produce some foods, it also costs more to move the food from one location to another.

Students live in a world that is powered by petroleum and other energy resources to an unsurpassed degree. The United States today consumes more than 24% of all the energy used in the world--and about 60% of this energy is provided by petroleum (oil and natural gas). The availability of abundant, inexpensive energy is the main reason that the nation's standard of living leads the world. But it is necessary that students should understand environmental issues and concerns accompany both the production and consumption of petroleum. To help students explore this topic further, the authors have developed the poster insert in this article. The poster is distributed with "Petroleum and the Environment," part of the American Geological Institute's Environmental Awareness series of booklets covering major topics of environmental and societal concern and demonstrating the complexity and interconnection of natural systems. "Petroleum and the Environment" provides an introduction to the major environmental concerns associated with petroleum exploration, production, transportation, and use. If today's students are to have a role in decisions to meet the energy demands of tomorrow, they must understand petroleum's importance, its sources, how it is processed and used, the policies and regulations designed to safeguard natural resources, and global energy needs.

No two oil spills are the same. Logistically, oil spills are a nightmare because they are unanticipated and uncontrolled events. Oil spills present a threat to wildlife and coastal resources, concerning everyone from local residents to state environmental agencies and the federal government. Thousands of people may be involved in a significant spill and the response needs to be quick. This article describes methods of response, and clean up used to secure and contain the spill, use of chemical dispersants, and in situ burning when oil becomes heavily trapped in marsh grasses and must be removed. Sometimes it?s best just to let the environment fix itself. If the spill is not severe enough to warrant in-situ burning or cutting marsh grasses, "passive recovery" may be best. The goal is always to do no more harm to the environment than the oil itself.

On a mid-June day this year, 70 college and university presidents gathered in Washington and formed a conference of executive Isaiahs, preaching the message that the threat of global warming required American higher education to fundamentally change the way it did business. The presidents signed a pledge to make their campuses "climate neutral" as soon as possible--in other words, to have zero impact on the atmosphere. Since then, the signatory list for the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment has swelled to 448 names as of last week, representing every size of educational institution in the U.S., from the tiny College of the Atlantic to the vast University of California system. Those institutions, as well as some nonsigners, have embarked on a decades-long diet to curb their appetite for the fuels and practices that spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and help warm the globe. As colleges try to curb their emission of greenhouse gases, they are finding it a more complicated and longer-term effort than they had anticipated. This article discusses the efforts of colleges and universities in tackling climate change in order to reach a climate-friendly future.

The methodology used by the First Street Foundation Wildfire Model (FSF-WFM) to compute estimates of the 30-year, climate-adjusted aggregate wildfire hazard for the contiguous United States at 30 m horizontal resolution is presented. The FSF-WFM integrates several existing methods from the wildfire science community and implements computationally efficient and scalable modeling techniques to allow for new high-resolution, CONUS-wide hazard generation. Burn probability, flame length, and ember spread for the years 2022 and 2052 are computed from two ten-year representative Monte Carlo simulations of wildfire behavior, utilizing augmented LANDFIRE fuel estimates updated with all the available disturbance information. FSF-WFM utilizes ELMFIRE, an open-source, Rothermel-based wildfire behavior model, and multiple US Federal Government open data sources to drive the simulations. LANDFIRE non-burnable fuel classes within the wildland–urban interface (WUI) are replaced with fuel estimates from machine-learning models, trained on data from historical fires, to allow the propagation of wildfire through the WUI in the model. Historical wildfire ignition locations and NOAA's hourly time series of surface weather at 2.5 km resolution are used to drive ELMFIRE to produce wildfire hazards representative of the 2022 and 2052 conditions at 30 m resolution, with the future weather conditions scaled to the IPCC CMIP5 RCP4.5 model ensemble predictions. Winds and vegetation were held constant between the 2022 and 2052 simulations, and climate change's impacts on the future fuel conditions are the main contributors to the changes observed in the 2052 results. Non-zero wildfire exposure is estimated for 71.8 million out of 140 million properties across CONUS. Climate change impacts add another 11% properties to this non-zero exposure class over the next 30 years, with much of this change observed in the forested areas east of the Mississippi River. "Major" aggregate wildfire exposure of greater than 6% over the 30-year analysis period from 2022 to 2052 is estimated for 10.2 million properties. The FSF-WFM represents a notable contribution to the ability to produce property-specific, climate-adjusted wildfire risk assessments in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent trends in wildfire area burned have been characterized by large patches with high densities of standing dead trees, well outside of historical range of variability in many areas and presenting forest managers with difficult decisions regarding post-fire management. Post-fire tree harvesting, commonly called salvage logging, is a controversial management tactic that is often undertaken to recoup economic loss and, more recently, also to reduce future fuel hazard, especially when coupled with surface fuel reduction. It is unclear, however, whether the reductions in future fuels translate to meaningful changes to reburn fire behavior, particularly in the context of potentially detrimental effects of harvest on other ecosystem services. We used observed post-fire snag structure in four high severity burn scars located in the Western United States that had variable post-fire snag basal area (13.3–63.9 mg ha−2) to initialize a simulation study of future coarse and fine woody fuel hazard and associated reburn fire behavior and effects. We compared untreated controls to intensive and intermediate intensity harvest treatments, both simulated and actual. All treatments showed some number of years of extreme fire behavior during which flame lengths exceeded thresholds associated with wildfire resistance to control, implying that future fuel reductions achieved by the treatments did not translate to conditions conducive for effective reburn fire management. Harvested stands had less severe soil fire effects (soil heating and smoldering duration) than untreated controls, explained by lower predicted peak coarse woody fuels (CWD) in the harvested stands. At higher pre-treatment snag basal area, harvested stands better maintained CWD within the range desired to maintain ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling and wildlife habitat. These simulation results indicate that, even with reduced fuel hazard, salvage treatments may still be associated with severe fire behavior for some time after wildfire, but achieved reductions in coarse woody fuels may also reduce some soil fire effects. Tradeoffs in the effects of post-fire harvest must be considered carefully in the context of forest regeneration, local conditions that govern salvage methods, snag fall and decomposition, and associated potential reburn fire effects. • Post-fire harvest is a controversial practice following high severity wildfire. • Simulated harvest has higher initial fuel hazard with lower fuel hazard over time. • Lower fuel hazard in simulated harvest still exceed resistance to control thresholds. • Simulated harvest lowers soil fire effects over time. • Post-fire management is complicated by conflicting management objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean-burn gasoline engines have demonstrated 10-20% engine efficiency gain over stoichiometric engines and are widely considered as a promising technology for meeting the 54.5 miles-per-gallon (mpg) corporate average fuel economy standard by 2025. Nevertheless, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions control for lean-burn gasoline for meeting the stringent Environmental Protection Agency tier 3 emission standards has been one of the main challenges toward the commercialization of highly efficient lean-burn gasoline engines in the United States. Passive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, which consist of a three-way catalyst (TWC) and SCR, have demonstrated great potentials of effectively reducing NOx emissions for lean gasoline engines at low cost. However, passive SCR operation may cause significant fuel penalty since rich engine combustion is required for ammonia generation. The purpose of this study is to develop a model-predictive control (MPC) scheme for a lean-burn gasoline engine coupled with a passive SCR system to minimize the total equivalent fuel penalty associated with passive SCR operation while satisfying stringent NOx and ammonia (NH3) emissions requirements. Simulation results demonstrate that the MPC approach can reduce the fuel penalty by 43.9% in a simulated US06 cycle and 28.0% in a simulated urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS) cycle, respectively, compared to the baseline control, while achieving over 97% DeNOx efficiency and less than 15ppm tailpipe ammonia slip. The proposed MPC controller can potentially enable highly efficient lean-burn gasoline engines while meeting the stringent Environmental Protection Agency tier 3 emission standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher fuel economy standards and more stringent limitations on greenhouse gas emissions for ground vehicles have been made due to public concerns about energy crisis and environmental issues. By organizing a group of automated vehicles into a platoon at a short intervehicular distance, the overall fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of vehicle platoon can be decreased due to reduced aerodynamic drag, which is called the platooning technology. In addition, the eco-driving technology can help further increase the fuel efficiency of vehicle platoon by optimizing speed trajectories of vehicles. However, little research has been done into the combination of the eco-driving and platooning technologies. Based on distributed model predictive control (DMPC), this paper proposes an ecological cooperative look-ahead control strategy for a platoon of automated vehicles travelling on a freeway with varying slopes, where both the eco-driving and platooning technologies are used. To maximize the fuel efficiency of vehicle platoon, an ecological cooperative look-ahead control problem (Eco-CLC) is first formulated based on DMPC, where rotational inertia coefficient related to reduction ratio of gear box, aerodynamic drag related to spacing and model constraints are considered. Since the Eco-CLC problem is a nonconvex and nonlinear optimization problem with hard state constraints, it is very difficult to quickly obtain its optimal solution. To enhance real-time control performance, after the hard state constraints of the Eco-CLC problem are transformed into parts of the multi-objective function using the band-stop function, the improved ecological cooperative look-ahead control (iEco-CLC) based on DMPC is given. A particle swarm optimization algorithm with multiple dynamic populations is further presented to quickly solve the iEco-CLC problem online. Simulation results demonstrate, compared with benchmarks, the proposed strategy can save more than 21% of fuel for vehicle platoon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have passed environmental laws aiming at preserving natural ecosystems, such as the Endangered Species Act of 1973 in the United States. Although those regulations seem to have improved preservation, they may have had unintended consequences in energy production. Here we show that while environmental constraints on hydropower may have preserved the wilderness and wildlife by restricting the development of hydroelectric projects, they led to more greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental regulations gave rise to a replacement of hydropower, which is a renewable, relatively low-emitting source of energy, with conventional fossil-fuel power, which is highly polluting. Our estimates indicate that, on average, each megawatt of fossil fuel power-generating capacity added to the grid because of environmental constraints on hydropower development led to an increase in annual carbon dioxide emissions of about 1,400 tons. Environmental regulations focusing only on the preservation of ecosystems appear to have encouraged electric utilities to substitute dirtier fuels for hydropower in electricity generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]