A Summer Job For An Aspiring Rural Community Organizer

I can't remember exactly what summer, but one of my high school summers I got a job with the Williston Health Department or the Williston office of the state health department; I don't remember the particulars.

My job was to collect mosquitoes without "damaging" them, bring them to the office downtown, and they would send them off to the Bismarck lab for identification, looking for the mosquitoes that carried various viruses.

Once the mosquito landed on my arm and had settled in, I would tip a test tube with anesthetic (ether or chloroform, I forget which) over the mosquito.

I was reminded of that story after Don sent me an article offering an opportunity for another summer job.

The opportunity is in this article: BLM hopes to keep cows out of emissions plan.

Apparently the EPA has identified an area in Wyoming in need of study before new air quality regulations go into effect; "all" emissions must be identified and quantified before implementing the new regulations. It has not yet been determined whether methane emissions from cattle will need to be quantified. But if it is, state officials will have to hire someone to determine the number of cattle that graze on federal land, and the time they spend there.

Apparently in earlier studies, the average amount of methane produced by cattle has been determined (80 to 110 kg per cow per year).

The concern for the new hire, and the first question I would ask if interviewing for the job, was whether I would have to confirm that 100 kg methane/cow/year will be acceptable to the BLM/EPA or whether it will have to be re-studied. And if so, will it be part of the job description for the summer job.