Busting the Myths of the Holiday Season

Dec 16, 2022

Christmas trees, pickles, Boxing Day and Cola: watch next week’s Seed Speaks and bust some Christmas myths!

On Dec. 21, the Seed Speaks crew will gather for a special holiday episode where they’ll bust some big myths about the holidays, namely:

You should get a fake Christmas tree because cutting down real trees is bad for the environment. The Nature Conservancy notes that real trees don’t require the intensive carbon emissions that it takes to produce and ship artificial trees. Also, buying real trees will help keep tree farms in business, and in turn keep their lands covered in the healthy forest habitat that wildlife depends on to survive.
The modern legend of Santa was created by Coca-Cola. According to the soda pop company itself, Coca-Cola didn’t create the legend of Santa Claus, but Coca-Cola advertising did play a big role in shaping the jolly character we know today.

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Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.