Monday, November 9, 2009
Make your own biodiesel
More than 800 people across the state have learned to make their biodiesel from used vegetable oil at LSU AgCenter workshops in 2008 and 2009. Extension environmental educator Bill Carney has taught these workshops to farmers, owners of small businesses and individuals who want to save money and help the environment. Carney teaches participants what kind of equipment to buy and the chemistry of creating their own biodiesel. LSU supplies Carney with used vegetable oil from its student cafeterias, which he uses to make biodiesel at the LSU AgCenter’s W.A. Callegari Environmental Center. He creates 50 to 100 gallons per week to help fuel the diesel vehicles at the AgCenter and at LSU.
Sweet potato extension, research programs lure industry to Louisiana
LSU AgCenter scientists played a key role in helping entice ConAgra Foods to locate a new sweet potato processing plant to northeast Louisiana. The state-of-the-art plant to be built in Delhi is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010 and initially employ 275 people at an average salary of about $35,000 per year. Company officials said they chose the location to be in close collaboration with the researchers and extension specialists at the nearby Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase, which is the only facility of its kind in the United States. Read more about this success story.
Project Magic
Project Magic gives entry level juvenile offenders and their parents a chance to learn and practice positive communication skills, problem-solving, decision-making, responsibility, conflict resolution and goal setting.
Magic stands for “Making A Group and Individual Commitment,” and has helped more 3,000 Nevada youths in the last 10 years. The program has been adopted in more than 17 other states.
Groups of 10-12 participants, ages 12-18, meet a few times per week for two months for interpersonal discussions and exercises that help them learn many skills, such as how to understand themselves better, to listen better and to cope with stress. The meetings lead to a community service project -- such as a community beautification effort, helping at an after-school program or serving food at a community kitchen – giving participants a heightened sense of self-worth and helping them establish goals and direction.
“A year ago, I probably would have thought, ‘I can’t live my life without marijuana,’ and I probably would have gone down the wrong path,” said Katherine Duffy, a 16-year-old from Lovelock, Nevada. “When I finished Project MAGIC, I was just a changed person – a smile on my face all the time. And it was all thanks to the program.”
Parents of participants also meet for three evening meetings to learn how to positively communicate with their teen; manage anger during conflicts; recognize alcohol and drug abuse; and positively discipline their children.
The program has had tremendous benefits. Only 10 percent of Project Magic’s participants have future encounters with the juvenile justice system (as compared to 30 percent for similar groups who don’t go through the program), saving the state more than $15 million in incarceration costs.
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