Suddenly, it’s bioenergy - ethanol and biodiesel. Bioenergy to solve the climate change problem caused by greenhouse gases. Bioenergy to inject vitality into declining rural communities. Bioenergy to free us from international oil villains. But wait… Bioenergy will drive food prices up and starve the poor by appropriating the food supply for energy. Bioenergy will ruin our livestock sector. Bioenergy will deforest the tropics and desertify the plains. Bioenergy will benefit farm landowners, but no one else. And bioenergy will happen only with billions of dollars of subsidies - can we afford it? In this course, students will evaluate the prospects for biofuels in the context of climate change and the world energy market. Participants will first review climate change assessments and the relationship of climate change to world energy markets, and will then examine the potential role of biofuels in reducing carbon emissions. Issues to be addressed include the potential effects of biofuels on food security and on natural resource sustainability, and a comparison of biofuel subsidies versus carbon taxes in mitigating climate change. Participants will be expected to research and report on scientific studies, and to learn and utilize various approaches to cost-benefit evaluation of public policies. Our goal is not to resolve the difficult questions raised above, but help students to sharpen their ability to analyze them and perhaps to more effectively advocate world-saving choices.

This event marks the publication of the tenth volume of Plains Song Review, a literary magazine published by the Center for Great Plains Studies. Contributors will read from their work, artwork will be on display, and the Christine Pappas Award for Best Work by an Undergraduate will be presented. Copies of the tenth volume will be available for sale at a discounted price.

Tom and Annabel, a reasonably happy married couple, have an argument about who loves the other most A tussle ensues, and to Tom's horror Annabel is dead. Enter Tom's friend the policeman, his literary agent, and a rather grim police inspector who further complicates the matter. It seems that no woman may enter the house without rapidly becoming deceased. Now, what to do with the bodies. A black farce in the true British style!