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Last week, Utah--reaffirming its status as reddest state in the nation--took another jab at the vast international community that is trying to halt global warming when its House adopted a resolution that questions climate change, and criticizes federal programs aimed at curbing emissions.

At the Copenhagen climate change conference next week, world leaders will negotiate who should make the biggest sacrifices to lower their emissions. The prevailing theory is that countries such as China and India should lead the effort, because they churn out the most greenhouse gases. But as a new report points out, this argument denies an essential fact: That much of those emissions are because of exports to developed nations like the United States.

As North America and Europe face their coldest winters in decades, many climate change deniers are taking the opportunity to do their best Nelson Muntz impression. Well, as one might suspect, the science behind global warming is not actually that simple. I won't discredit myself by pretending I understand the science, but I will direct you to this US News and World Report article, which gives some explanation. Interestingly, the article avoids the conclusions I initially jumped to: extremes and variability.

When world leaders convene to discuss climate change in Copenhagen this December, they'd be wise to discuss the role of women, the United Nations Population Fund announced this week.

Last week a new Pew report provided some good news on how businesses in the United States are beginning to respond to our changing environment. The report was prompted by recent shifts in how corporate leaders perceive climate change in relation to the their own business's energy costs. Two years in the making, "From Shop Floor to Top Floor (pdf)" offers advice for businesses hoping to cut back on energy use.

"Unless you're a rock dweller, you've no doubt heard about so-called "Climategate": The hacked e-mails from University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) that prove scientists have manipulated statistics to hide the fact that global warming is a hoax. Or, a series of catty e-mails among colleagues, with no bearing whatsoever on the scientific reality of catastrophic climate change."

As with any bill jerked around for half a year in the democratic process and packed with side-deals, last week's momentous health care legislation has its perks and its flaws. There's still no public option, but recent college graduates will soon be able to ride their parents' insurance until they turn 27. Meanwhile, the pro-choice movement made no headway when it comes to a woman's right to have an abortion--if anything, they lost ground.

With any disaster comes opportunity. And while it is difficult to see any silver lining right now through the oil-slicked, devastated waters of the Gulf of Mexico, something good may come of the spill. It may help stop a highly problematic piece of legislation--the American Power Act, better known as the cap-and-trade bill.

For more than thirty years, there hasn't been a new nuclear plant built in the United States. This is due to a number of reasons, including cost overruns, environmental lawsuits, political palatability and an unjustified fear of nuclear technology. That may all change with President Obama recently announcing support for nuclear power by giving his blessing and taxpayer dollars for two new nuclear plants in Georgia.

Last week President Obama announced $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear construction projects in Georgia, after three decades of an ad hoc nuclear moratorium across the country. For all of the coverage last week, the media frenzy missed an important part of the story--the destructive processes at the front end of nuclear power.

"I was glad to see YPNation Contributor Nikki Gloudeman share her thoughts on the "climategate" saga. It's hard to recall an event that has caused such excitement in conservative print media, and on talk radio and Fox News. And with some justification."