Posted: Monday, November 17, 2008 12:00 am
CORVALLIS - Want to learn how to reduce your contribution to global warming? Oregon State University has just the class for you.
Registration has opened for an 11-week course that teaches individuals to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
The 30-hour, noncredit "Climate Master" course will start Jan. 6 and be held at OSU in Corvallis. It was developed by the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative to educate individuals on how to help curb global warming.
The classes, which will end on March 17, will be held on Tuesdays from 6 to 8:45 p.m. in Peavy Hall. To register, call the OSU Extension Service in Benton County at 541-766-3556 or download a form at http://www.cof.orst.edu/cof/extended/sustain.
Registration is open only to residents of Benton and Linn counties, and it closes Dec. 19 or when the 25 slots are filled. Scholarships are available.
The program made its debut last year when it was offered in Eugene.
The program encourages participants to make changes in their homes and lifestyles. Some of the changes require more effort on their part, like buying energy-efficient appliances or installing double-paned windows in their house.
Others are easier, such as turning down the temperature on the water heater, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, cleaning the dust off the coils on the refrigerator, and keeping the tires on their car properly inflated.
Two people will teach most of the $66 course: Theresa Brand, who helped develop it, and Viviane Simon-Brown, the director of the National Network for Sustainable Living Education. Simon-Brown is also the OSU Extension Service's specialist in sustainable living.
Guest lecturer Karen Shell, an assistant professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, will speak about climate change.
For the Democrat-Herald