Preamble

The mission: 6 months of research in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: February 1 to July 30, 2011. I will be working at the federal university to gather and analyze data, take a relevant engineering class, and improve my Portuguese skills along the way.

The research: measuring land use impacts of sugarcane plantations in the Brazilian cerrado (savannah). Brazil uses sugarcane to produce ethanol, which it uses primarily for transportation fuel. All Brazilian cars run on flex-fuel, which means that their engines can operate on both gas and ethanol. Since ethanol is such a major industry in Brazil, it is profitable for the country to grow as much sugarcane as possible. However, to meet this demand, sugarcane farmers have been expanding their plantations further and further west into the cerrado, which is one of the most critically biodiverse regions of the world. The cattle that once grazed the cerrado are now migrating into the Amazon Rainforest, which cannot support this influx of cattle. Cattle degrade the fragile soils of the forest and produce excess methane emissions, both of which can contribute to global warming. The latest climate talks in Cancún show some hope for slowing the destruction caused by cattle, but a total reversal may no longer be possible. Therefore, we must examine how to best minimize the impacts of both the cattle and the sugarcane. Two useful tools to aid in this examination are life cycle assessment and geographic information systems (explained below).

The tools: 
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Geographic information systems (GIS)

LCA is a scientific method used to calculate the environmental impacts of a particular product or process throughout the duration of its lifespan, i.e. from raw material extraction through processing and production, the use phase, and any recycling or disposal. This research looks at the life cycle of sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil.

GIS is a set of computer programs, some proprietary and some freeware, that allow the user to display data on geographic maps. Each category of data can have its own layer in GIS and each layer can be turned on and off to create different thematic maps. The power of GIS lies in its geoprocessing capabilities, or the ability to perform complex computations on large amounts of data to create new results. Adding a GIS-component to LCA allows the user to regionalize data collection and calculate environmental impacts for specific geographic areas.

The blog: I plan on using this blog mainly to report about what I'm doing in Brazil and to create a written record to save for the future. You can expect stories about conducting research at the university, cultural events, and of course, the trials and tribulations of living abroad in a new country. If you'd like to read about anything in particular, feel free to leave me a comment. If you enjoy a particular entry, hate it, or have suggestions, leave me a comment, too. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Now let's get this thing started!