Review of research to inform California's climate scoping plan: Agriculture and working lands

Agriculture in California contributes 8% of the state's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To inform the state's policy and program strategy to meet climate targets, we review recent research on practices that can reduce emissions, sequester carbon and provide other co-benefits to producers and the environment across agriculture and rangeland systems. Importantly, the research reviewed here was conducted in California and addresses practices in our specific agricultural, socioeconomic and biophysical environment. Farmland conversion and the dairy and intensive livestock sector are the largest contributors to GHG emissions and offer the greatest opportunities for avoided emissions. We also identify a range of other opportunities including soil and nutrient management, integrated and diversified farming systems, rangeland management, and biomass-based energy generation. Additional research to replicate and quantify the emissions reduction or carbon sequestration potential of these practices will strengthen the evidence base for California climate policy

Design and Implementation of an Electromechanical Flywheel Battery

An electromechanical flywheel battery was designed, implemented,\ud and tested and evaluated. The device consists of a solid steel flywheel\ud driven by a brushless DC motor. The maximum speed of the flywheel\ud is 2250 RPM corresponding to a stored energy of 5.8 KJ. The energy\ud density of the battery is approximately 300 J/Kg. More testing is\ud necessary to determine the efficiency of the flywheel, but it is likely to\ud be quite low

Shifting conversations to increase governance effectiveness in a U.S. synagogue

The purpose of this study was to collaborate with a synagogue board of trustees to improve its governance effectiveness by shifting conversations in three areas that the literature has identified as important to successful governance practice: board management, board development and an awareness of individual and group roles and responsibilities. A second purpose of this study was to understand the process of a collaborative change initiative. Turmoil resulting from the loss of common assumptions about the place of religion in American life served as the impetus for the study. Synagogue boards are ill-prepared to deal with a religious world where individual choice has become the hallmark. Organizations are socially constructed entities where reality is developed through conversation. By shifting conversations, organizations also shift reality. Participatory Action Research (PAR) was selected as the research method; the study focused on the journeys undertaken by four stakeholder groups to improve governance processes. Data were collected from transcripts of the PAR sessions, board meeting observations, individual and group interviews, email correspondence, a trustee survey, artifacts such as board minutes, and personal reflections. The findings were chronicled through learning histories, which use the participants’ words to recount the experience. Four themes emerged: (a) The way a board views its role affects how a board carries out its tasks; (b) Changing conversation requires education on both the individual and group level; (c) Effective collaboration requires that the parties understand their roles and responsibilities and engage together in both the task and relationship dimensions of group process; and (d) As an organizational system made up of interconnected parts and processes, successful synagogue change can only be sustained when everyone and everything works together. This study filled a void in the governance and organizational change literature. Scholars have studied the factors that create effective governance, and consultants have advised ways to develop effective governance; there is little that chronicles the process of that change. For the 3,700 synagogues in the United States, whose boards are charged with leading their congregations, this study serves as a guide through the complexity of religious practice in the 21st century

Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

Vegetation change can affect the magnitude and direction of global climate change via its effect on carbon cycling among plants, the soil and the atmosphere. The invasion of non-native plants is a major cause of land cover change, of biodiversity loss, and of other changes in ecosystem structure and function. In California, annual grasses from Mediterranean Europe have nearly displaced native perennial grasses across the coastal hillsides and terraces of the state. Our study examines the impact of this invasion on carbon cycling and storage at two sites in northern coastal California. The results suggest that annual grass invasion has caused an average drop in soil carbon storage of 40 Mg/ha in the top half meter of soil, although additional mechanisms may also contribute to soil carbon losses. We attribute the reduction in soil carbon storage to low rates of net primary production in non-native annuals relative to perennial grasses, a shift in rooting depth and water use to primarily shallow sources, and soil respiratory losses in non-native grass soils that exceed production rates. These results indicate that even seemingly subtle land cover changes can significantly impact ecosystem functions in general, and carbon storage in particular

Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

Vegetation change can affect the magnitude and direction of global climate change via its effect on carbon cycling among plants, the soil and the atmosphere. The invasion of non-native plants is a major cause of land cover change, of biodiversity loss, and of other changes in ecosystem structure and function. In California, annual grasses from Mediterranean Europe have nearly displaced native perennial grasses across the coastal hillsides and terraces of the state. Our study examines the impact of this invasion on carbon cycling and storage at two sites in northern coastal California. The results suggest that annual grass invasion has caused an average drop in soil carbon storage of 40 Mg/ha in the top half meter of soil, although additional mechanisms may also contribute to soil carbon losses. We attribute the reduction in soil carbon storage to low rates of net primary production in non-native annuals relative to perennial grasses, a shift in rooting depth and water use to primarily shallow sources, and soil respiratory losses in non-native grass soils that exceed production rates. These results indicate that even seemingly subtle land cover changes can significantly impact ecosystem functions in general, and carbon storage in particular