I’ve discussed research on biofuels in earlier posts, including one from last summer. Now Prof. David Tilman at the University of Minnesota and others have published another study that demonsrates the advantages of prairie grass over corn as a crop for producing ethanol. Here are some quotes from a December 7 StarTribune story, “Grass beats corn in ethanol study“: Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no snow in our corner of the Upper Midwest, and it looks like it could be a brown Christmas, unfortunately. We’ve had some rain the last few days as temperatures hover around the freezing point. It’s been unusually warm for a few weeks now, and according to University of Minnesota climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley, who spoke this morning on Minnesota Public Radio, it’s expected to stay that way, on average, due to El Nino:

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center released the new seasonal climate
outlook on Thursday this week.  They considered the continuation of
the current El Nino episode into early next spring and as a consequence
forecasted above normal temperature conditions for Minnesota over
the January through March period. The outlook for precipitation during
the period suggests drier than normal condition in SE Minnesota,
and equal chances for wetter or drier than normal conditions for the
remainder of the state.

I continue to be busy doing local bike/pedestrian advocacy. A group of advocates, including five of us from the RENew Northfield Transportation Committee, will be proposing that our city of Northfield, Minnesota, create a Nonmotorized Transportation Advisory Board, similar to a Park Board. See my recent posts at northfieldtrails.org for more info, including today’s posts regarding the date we go before the city council and the city’s Greenway Corridors Action Plan. Bainbridge Island, Washington, near Seattle, is one example of a similarly sized city that has such a committee.

Minnesota retained its number one spot on the United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings. A December 6 StarTribune article summarizes some of the findings and contains some interesting quotes. I also dug deeper and found some interesting material in the rankings report.

From the StarTribune article: Read the rest of this entry »

Here we are well into December and I can report that I’ve embarked on my second year of winter biking. In years past I admit that I left my bike at home when temperatures got below freezing. Now, however, I bike in temperatures as low as 15 degrees. I still generally avoid snow and ice. However, you’d be surprised how quickly roads get free of snow and ice even in an Upper Midwestern winter. Plows, salt, traffic, and the sun make quick work of the frozen stuff. For much of the winter the roads are bare and the traction is good.  Read the rest of this entry »