Welcome CPS and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Student Volunteers to Our Project Site!

Dear blog readers,

I am so excited to inform you all that it's a big day at our project site in India tomorrow. Our friends from The College Preparatory School (CPS) in collaboration with the students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan will be participating in the tree planting program as a part of the Global Call to Youth venture. I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed that we are not there to welcome them to the project site personally. Under the leadership of Mr. Rajegowda, the secretary of Parivarthana, we have chosen Gavadagere Higher Primary School (meaning middle school in the USA). We have chosen to plant to teak, silver oak, and pongamia saplings. The plan is to plant roughly 120 saplings. I hope that it's not going to rain heavily, but we have worked at the project site during heavy rains and it's quite fun! Especially to Adarsha, because he loves to jump in muddy puddles. :)

After the tree planting, the volunteers are going to visit Phase I and II fields. The farmers tell us that there are no ripe fruits at this time of year due to recent pruning. However, they can still see small unripe fruits. I hope that they can see the dried seeds collected by the farmers, but I'm afraid that the seeds have been sold recently to Labland Biotechs.

I can't wait to update you all about this venture once it takes place!

~Apoorva

Researchers find clues for developing biodegradable plastics from jatropha

Bangalore, June 08, 2010 : In a major discovery, the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnagar, India, has found a microbe useful in the manufacture of biodegradable plastic from aside-stream product of jatropha called ‘glycerol’, which is found during extracting biodiesel from the plant seeds. The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)-led Institute is all set to scale up its commercial production. It is considered as a revolutionary advancement that is poised to tackle the challenge of ever-increasing environmental pollution posed by non-degradable plastics. As part of the Budapest Treaty on international recognition of deposit of microorganisms for patent procedure, the identified microbe has been deposited by CSMCRI with a repository. In another significant development, General Motors in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a new16-hectare plot and an existing 30-hectare jatropha farm in Bhavnagar. The joint DOE-GM funding would enable the CSMCRI to manage various activities at these farms. It is envisaged that lab-optimized strains of jatropha, produced through selective and marker-assisted breeding, would be cultivated at these farms. A complete life cycle analysis of jatropha plant would also help in evaluating the environmental impacts on this oil-yielding crop.

Dear friends,

I was very excited about this news and wanted to share with you all. We at Project Jatropha have been very busy with the project work. We will be updating our work though the blog posts as the summer is here.
Sincerely,
Adarsha

Project Jatropha wins the 2009 Presidential Environmental Youth Award

2009 Regional Winners

EPA Region 9

Callie, Apoorva, Lisa P. Jackson, Adarsha, and Sharon Jang (Region 9 Coordinator)

The Project Jatropha Team

The PEYA Award Winners with President Obama and Lisa P. Jackson

We would like to thank PEYA and all it's staff for giving us the opportunity to meet President Barack Obama and Lisa P. Jackson, the administrator of the EPA, on May 21, 2010.

President’s Environmental Youth Award Winners Welcomed by Congressman Garamendi’s Staff - Honorable John Garamendi

Chief-of-Staff, Gary Cohen, speaks with local high school students
about BioFuel Initiative, before they meet President Obama

From left to right: Adarsha Shivakumar, Gary Cohen,
Callie Roberts, and Apoorva Rangan.

WASHINGTON, DC–The DC office of Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA), a member of the House Science and Technology Committee, welcomed and congratulated the President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA) winners for the southwest region. Since 1971, PEYA is award annually to young Americans for demonstrating excellence in protecting our country’s air, water, land, and ecology. Adarsha Shivakumar, Apoorva Rangan, and Callie Roberts, high school students at The College Preparatory School in Oakland, who live in Pleasant Hill and Martinez, earned the PEYA by founding Project Jatropha. Project Jatropha is a biofuel venture that seeks to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and mitigate global climate change.

As described by the students, "The Project Jatropha Team promotes the cultivation of Jatropha curcas, a perennial shrub with oil-rich seeds, as an ecologically friendly and economically sustainable source of alternative fuel production. To date, the work of Project Jatropha has supported the planting of 13,000 seedlings by more than 50 farm families in Southern India."

On Wednesday May 19th, Adarsha, Apoorva, Callie, their family members, and their EPA liaison were given a tour of the Capitol complex and Congressman John Garamendi’s office. Chief-of-Staff Gary Cohen spoke with the students about their project, the COMPETES bill to fund scientific research, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute. The Joint BioEnergy Institute is a partnership project that includes Lawrence-Livermore and Sandia National Labs and aims to develop the next generation of biofuels.

"I want to commend Adarsha, Apoorva, and Callie for their ongoing work on Project Jatropha. Unhindered by their young age and the scale of the problem, these students are courageously working to combat global warming. They approach this serious challenge with humility and youthful excitement," Gary Cohen said.

"This generation’s students enter a globally competitive labor market. Their success depends on the ability to work hard, think creatively, and adapt to quickly evolving market conditions," Mr. Cohen added "These three Bay Area students display these qualities in spades and serve as an inspiration to the many talented young students of the 10th District."

On Friday May 21st, the students joined other PEYA winners in meeting President Barack Obama.

More information about Project Jatropha is available at http://projectjatropha.com/
Contact: Adarsha Shivakumar at adarsha@projectjatropha.com
More information about the President’s Environmental Youth Award and the 2009 winners is available at http://www.epa.gov/peya/winners.html.