Comments on: Earth to Kansas … Come in please… https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/ Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:44:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1243 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:44:03 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1243 You should look at Tillman’s work on prairie grasses. I’ll post something on it.

]]> By: James https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1242 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:44:56 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1242 Fair enough.Corn for ethanol is a huge problem in Kansas, as I’m sure it is most places. My understanding (although I don’t have the data in front of me) is that the process uses more fossil fuels than gasoline production. I assume that’s what you are getting at.The whole ethanol craze has driven the price of corn through the roof, which means farmers are:-taking fields out of CRP programs and putting them into corn production.-pulling more water out of the aquifers to irrigate corn (the aquifers in Kansas are over allocated, although that is an unimaginably complex/annoying political issue involving Colorado).-building dams/ponds to use for irrigation.Overall, bad for the Kansas environment. In general, my impression is the ethanol boom is straining water resources in Kansas (the plants themselves use a lot of water). Almost everyone I know thinks the ethanol-from-corn thing is a load of crap, but almost everyone is also optimistic that we can use other, cheaper, products to generate ethanol more fossil-fuel efficiently (cellulose or native grass seed). There is at least one plant that does this already.I should probably get into this issue some more.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1241 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:32:51 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1241 James:Your critique is not entirely fair. It is not as though I have never written about Bush, or Texas, or Florida, or Pennsylvania. And especially, Minnesota.I can’t reify all of my opinions and observations in each single post.The entire country is, obviously, populated by MMMD’s at a rate of about 50 percent, with a couple of percent more or less in each state. (Giving us the blue/red distribution.)I recommend to my readers a look at this:

Last Thursday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied a permit to Sunflower Electric for 2 proposed coal power plants near Holcomb, KS. In the words of Secretary Roderick Bremby: ?After careful consideration of my responsibility to protect the public health and environment from actual, threatened or potential harm from air pollution, I have decided to deny the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation application for an air quality permit.?

Which can be foundhereGo Kansas!Now, James, what is going on in Kansas with corn? I’m asking because I have no idea, but I do know that corn grown for ethanol has been criticized, and I believe you grow a lot of corn in Kansas. Here in Minnesota is has been demonstrated that this is very inefficient.

]]> By: James https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1240 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:08:10 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1240 But you’re singling out Kansas for the kind of representation that is true throughout the country. We have a president who has said equally stupid and ignorant things (and taken much more dangerous action), but I don’t see you referring to the entire United States as being populated by morons and mental defects. I also don’t see many people (like yourself) praising Kansas for having been the first state to take a serious stand against increasing carbon emissions right now. The same people elected _those_ representatives!There is no state that can claim to be doing their part to control carbon emissions, why seek out Kansas? I mean, I _know_ the answer, it’s because of the whole creation-evolution issue. Therefore it is easy for everyone to say: “ha ha, Kansas = idiot” and that perception is entrenched in the mentality of blogs that attack pseudo-science.But c’mon. Kansas throws down the gauntlet on CO2 emissions, despite the massive economic incentives to ignore the issue, and the only response you have is to refer to the state as being populated by morons and mental defectives… That’s all you’ve got to say about it?

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1239 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:45:26 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1239 Jim…You are looking a gift horse in the mouth. Every time some yahoo in your home state does something dumb (like this) and others start on the Kansas bashing routine (as I have) people like you can take this to your colleagues, friends, and enemies and say “look what is happening. Once again we are the laughing stock of the nation. Ever since that damn Oz book, then the Creationism trial, now this… etc. etc. etc.”If things really get bad, I know a guy who can be your governor for a while. THEN you will know the meaning of ridicule.In the meantime, I want everybody to go over to James’ web site and check out his blog. Its very nice.GTL

]]> By: James https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1238 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:06:45 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1238 “How many times do the Kansans have to go out of their way to prove to the rest of the world that Kansas is a state populated by morons, psychopaths and mental defectives?”–How many times does Greg Laden have to go out of his way to prove he is a mean-spirited ignoramus with no contextual knowledge of those he ridicules?Kansas is the first state to ever deny a permit for a coal power-plant based entirely on carbon dioxide emissions.You’re calling everyone in the state “morons, psychopaths and mental defectives” because the people who stand to lose $3.6 billion because of that decision are willing to spend money to confuse the issue.Then you’re linking all Kansans to the opinions of a state representative who clearly doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.Are you that stupid, that ignorant, or that much of a jerk?

]]> By: Who Cares https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1237 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:51:11 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1237 I wish to point out that jellyfish is edible. You just need to go to Asia to find a decent restaurant serving them (Specifically around the sea of Japan)

]]> By: CRM-114 https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1236 Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:22:25 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/02/earth-to-kansas-come-in-please/#comment-1236 Higher CO2 emission in Kansas means higher concentrations planetwide, which means increasing the acidity of the ocean, which favors jellyfish over their calcium-shelled competition, and jellies are already plaguing food fish and fishermen. Jellies — wouldn’t you know — are not edible by humans, and few animals can feed on them.Our legacy may go to cockroaches and jellyfish. What a thing to aspire to.

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