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Dear Colleague: <br>
<br>
We are organizing a session at the fall meeting (15-19 December 2008) of
the American Geophysical Union
(<a href="http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/">
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/</a>) entitled <b>B23: Environmental and
Ecological Consequences of Deploying Second Generation Biofuels on the
Landscape. </b>We encourage you to submit an abstract to this
session (Online Submission Deadline - 10 September 2008;
<a href="http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/entrance.asp" eudora="autourl">
http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/entrance.asp</a>). We are
particularly interested in scientific results stemming from empirical,
theoretical or synthesis studies examining the ecological or
environmental consequences of converting current land uses to potential
biofuel feedstocks. With your participation, this should be an
exciting and highly visible session.<br>
<br>
We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
<br>
Evan DeLucia, co-organizer
(<a href="mailto:delucia@uiuc.edu">delucia@uiuc.edu</a>)<br>
Bill Parton, co-organizer
(<a href="mailto:billp@nrel.colostate.edu">billp@nrel.colostate.edu</a>
)<br>
<b> <br>
<br>
</b>“The accelerating combustion of fossil fuels is driving the
accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; as this “greenhouse”
gas accumulates it forces a rapid and potentially dangerous warming of
the planet. Biofuels have the potential to offset the accumulation of
carbon dioxide and thus slow the rate of global warming. The largest
contiguous biome in continental North America is the agricultural region
where corn and soybean are grown in rotation. Allocating a portion of
this region to the production of “second generation” biofuels, such as
perennial grasses, has the potential to reduce the accumulation of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere and may mitigate some of the negative impacts
of modern agriculture, including the loss of soil carbon and nitrogen
contamination of ground water. This session will examine recent
understanding of the effects of biofuel feedstocks on the biogeochemical
cycling of carbon, nitrogen and water, and will incorporate societal and
economic implications through a discussion of life-cycle analysis applied
to biofuel feedstocks.”<br>
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Send comments to us at
archive@iubio.bio.indiana.edu
