At least one elected leader is looking at offshore drilling. Important item, courtesy of our friends at Shopfloor: Virginia’s Next Governor Puts Energy, Jobs at Top of Agenda

Find out what it means at Watts Up With That?

Does your green side ever have that not-so-clean feeling? Well, after these holidays you might want to get yourself to the Northwest Earth Institute (naturally based in our home area of Portland, Oregon and presumably dedicated to the Terra Firma outside the northwest, as well). It taps into your consumerist guilt to put you on the way to going green and learning the History of Climate Change.

Consider the important lesson for one student:

She drives less, eats what’s in her freezer before buying more food, avoids unrecyclable packaging and gives away clothing whenever she buys something new. “It’s a very good feeling,” she said. “I feel so much freer.”

The global warming course has a discussion format. Each week, participants will be encouraged to read a selection from the institute’s “Global Warming: Changing Course” book. Rydzewski will lead the discussion the first week, then, volunteers from the class will prepare discussion questions for subsequent classes.

“People start bringing their ideas and say ‘I do this and I do this,’” she said. “And you always learn something.”

Rydzewski emphasizes she is no expert on global warming.

Some thoughts, roughly in order:

1. It takes a class to make an Oregonian recycle, give away old stuff, and eat what’s in the freezer? Seriously? That’s quite telling about both student and school.
2. It’s great to have a discussion section for classes — usually led by someone who knows enough to recycle, give away old stuff, and eat what’s in the freezer.
3. Emphasizing that she “is no expert on global warming” is presumably a bit of cheeky understatement by the article’s author.

The class set-up: “The first four sessions will focus on personal responses to global warming and climate change, the history and science of global change, personal actions to mitigate the effects of global warming and creating a sustainable future.”

So the class assumes global warming and that man creates it. That’s fine by us, we suppose. We somehow doubt, however, that both sides of the issue are discussed. And we guarantee that the history text doesn’t include Late 2009: ClimateGate.

But in this time of college football’s bowl season — did someone mention the Rose Bowl, in which the University of Oregon Fighting Ducks aim to crack the Ohio State Buckeyes? — we’d sure like to see the Northwest Earth Institute’s student athletes strap on some pads and line up on the gridiron. They That would be history.

While many of us — including here at The Chilling Effect — were enjoying the warmth of the holidays, others continue to burn over the issue of global warming, er, climate change. That means there was a lot of reading that could have gone by the wayside. Luckily, we’re here to help. Some articles you may consider:

• Amen: Get the U.N. Out of the Climate Business
• The Hill: Senate climate change fight looks as tough as healthcare reform
• Editorial: Shelving climate bill sensible for Senate
• Killing Jobs Is Job 1: Global warming initiative wipes job plans
• When “I said so” equals QED: Assuming Your Conclusion
• Severe Weather and Anthropogenic Global Warming
• Brit Begs: We must not accept Copenhagen’s failings …
• … While WorldWatch claims “Despite Disappointment, Climate Summit Marks High Point for Activist Movement”
• Letter: Only real question is: Does man cause global warming?
• … while a less-conservative reader says “Conservatives are liars on climate change”
• It’s just easier this way: Global warming activists ignore the science they claim to support
• Rebels Can Strike Back: Global-warming indoctrination turns kids into climate change rebels at home

We predicted this earlier:

Now politico reports the obvious in Senate Democrats to W.H.: Drop cap-and-trade:

Bruised by the health care debate and worried about what 2010 will bring, moderate Senate Democrats are urging the White House to give up now on any effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill next year.

“I am communicating that in every way I know how,” says Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of at least half a dozen Democrats who’ve told the White House or their own leaders that it’s time to jettison the centerpiece of their party’s plan to curb global warming.

Investors Business Daily has a fascinating article today, in which it reports that billionaire and far-Lefty George Soros appears to be supporting an effort to ensure that America can’t develop its own natural gas resources — a threat to America’s defense and environment.

The reason? Money:

Soros owns a major stake in a company called InterOil, a company that has discovered a large natural gas field in Papua, New Guinea, with which American shale resources would compete.

Soros would rather have us import his liquefied natural gas than develop our own. His allies in the media, the environmental movement and the Democratic caucus are all too eager to exploit public fears to do it.

Read the rest of the intrigue here.

There’s plenty of chatter about global warming as we head into Christmas and, in many places, a cold winter season. A couple points worth checking out to remember that, despite some important emails recently brought to light apparently showing efforts by climate scientists to stoke public fears, the public fear frenzy over global warming is still heating up:

• Total Recall: Governor Schwarzenegger Demands All Californians Fight Global Warming
• Now we’re to worry about acidic oceans, “The ‘evil twin’ of warming”
• VaclevKlaus Says Global Warming “New Religion”

Meanwhile, the continuing effort to turn children into eco-zombies continues through your local mall. Build-A-Bear has released this video:

Maura Flynn is all over the issue at BigGovernment.com, where she writes in favor of a boycott:

Needless-to-say, this constitutes brainwashing on the sleaziest and most sinister level. The good news is that this nonsense isn’t coming from our government this time and the rocky economy is our friend here. People, we have the means, if we have the will, to topple these charlatans who shamelessly prey on little children. So boycott Build-A-Bear. And, more importantly, tell the world why.

Then again, there is this fascinating poll from the Great White North:

The Harper government might not lose many votes over its controversial stance on climate change even though half of Canadians disapprove of its policies, says a new poll.

The survey, conducted over the past few days by Innovative Research Group for Canwest News Service, found 49 per cent of respondents disapproved of the government’s position at the Copenhagen climate conference, but 44 per cent said it would not make a difference on whether they were more or less likely to vote for the Conservatives.

“Government regulations intended to curb carbon emissions, by limiting industry profitability and thus reducing funds available for research and development, will actually be harmful from an environmental perspective” — Austin Raynor over at libertariansolution.com

Reason’s Ron Bailey has a great article on nuclear energy and the off-most, on-again relationship environmentalists have with the low-carbon energy source. And, anyway, how often does one get to come across the term “fast breeder” in such an interesting manner?