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A roundup of news snippets

• Marathoner Paula Radcliffe shrugs off fears about Beijing pollution. • Green activist Majora Carter whips out a Tibetan flag while running with the Olympic torch. • Pesticides may be harming Rhode Island’s lobsters. • Maryland may impose restrictions on crabbers.

Washington wilderness bill finally moving ahead

The U.S. Senate passed a long-languishing wilderness-protection bill Thursday. (Apparently it’s land conservation week in Congress. Yay!) The Wild Sky Wilderness bill would protect 106,000 acres of national forest in Washington State, creating the first wilderness in the state since 1984. Similar legislation has passed the Senate three times since 2002, but was consistently stalled […]

Notable quotable

“I wouldn’t want anyone taking those medicines and having to make decisions in a safety-sensitive position.” — Dr. Robert Bourgeois on the pills, “including lorazepam, an antianxiety medicine; Imitrex for migraines; Provigil to increase wakefulness; and Darvon Compound-65 for pain” being taken by Capt. John Cota, pilot of the container ship that plowed into the […]

Senate passes one-year extension of renewable-energy tax credit

The U.S. Senate passed an extension of the renewable-energy production tax credit Thursday as part of a bill intended to address the ailing U.S. housing market. The renewable-energy credit provides a per-kilowatt-hour incentive for the first 10 years a renewable-energy project is in operation — a credit considered to be a vital driver of clean-energy […]

Adam Werbach follows up ‘Death of Environmentalism’ with ‘Birth of Blue’

In 2004, former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach made by a splash by asking, "Is environmentalism dead?" In a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, he critiqued his own work as an environmentalist and suggested that the environmental movement was ill-suited to solve the challenge of global warming. Much lively debate and serious reflection ensued.

On the evening of April 10, Werbach will give a follow-up speech, entitled "Birth of Blue," to the Commonwealth Club's INFORUM Program. He'll argue that a new movement is emerging that goes beyond the green movement to incorporate a broad range of human aspirations. [UPDATE: Here's a preview of the speech in the San Francisco Chronicle.] [ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's a PDF of the final speech.] [STILL ONE MORE UPDATE: Here's the speech reprinted in a blog post, with lots of comments below, including a couple from Werbach himself. He's also joined the discussion below.] [FINAL UPDATE (REALLY!): Here's video of the speech.]

We'll post text and video of the speech when it's available, so check back here. In the meantime, Werbach gives the basic rundown on BLUE:

A roundup of news snippets

• BP and ConocoPhillips join forces to build a liquefied natural gas pipeline from Alaska to Canada and the Lower 48. • Apple may eco-update its MacBook design. • A German state defies the norm and adopts a speed limit. • Water scarcity is an issue for mining companies. • A House bill seeks to […]

VBS.tv sails out to witness the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean

This is the first episode of 12 from VBS.tv on the vast, Texas-sized stew of plastic and garbage floating in the North Pacific Gyre. They sailed out to see it with their own eyes.

Obama eyeing Gore for climate post, oil execs questioned on high oil prices, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Brood and Gore Exec Men: The Stand A Tall Border Don’t Tase Me, Man! As IMF! Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Don’t Spray It Stacks of Advice Hollywood Heavies

Private land inside national parks under threat of development, report says

Nearly 2 million acres of private land within the boundaries of U.S. national parks is at risk of being developed if it isn’t purchased by the federal government soon, according to a report from the National Parks Conservation Association. Some 4.3 million acres of private land lie within park boundaries, 1.8 million acres of which […]

A roundup of news snippets

• Two Makah whale hunters found guilty, will appeal. • The Interior Department seeks public comment on drilling in the Bering Sea. • Manufacturers lobby for clean-energy subsidies. • Enviros fight back against plans for fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico. • IBM unveils a water-cooled, energy-efficient supercomputer.