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This week NRDC OnEarth magazine senior editor Laura Wright and journalist Lisa Selin Davis bring us environmental activism in virtual space, or if you prefer, Massive. Multiplayer. Online. Roleplaying. Games. Got it? OK. But whereas most games of this sort allow you to behave violently in the most unthinkably violent civilizations, Second Life houses virtual ecosystems, clean water systems, and visions of post-global warming tragedy. While it is  a virtual pastime in a world of rather concrete problems, Second Life offers the opportunity to envision many of the various futures still available to us. LISTEN (7 min)

Deadly Sonar: The U.S. Navy's Assault on Whales and Science

NRDC's flagship magazine OnEarth features an article by Peter Canby on the Navy's use of Sonar (widely accepted to be harmful and/or fatal to whales), and the Navy's efforts to silence its (often authoritative, science-based) critics. Daniel Hinerfeld follows up on the article with NRDC Senior Policy Analyst Michael Jasny. LISTEN (7 min)
Picture: Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

TXU Buyout Makes Utility Greener

Good news! NRDC's Climate Center Director David Hawkins tells Betsy how the two private equity firms who are in talks to buy energy giant TXU wanted to talk to Environmental Defense and NRDC about how they could satisfy rising public opposition to proposed coal power plants in Texas.
This is a major victory for grassroots organizing, and the blueprint is clear: citizens make themselves heard in the streets, online, on the air, and in their state capitols; public opposition brings stock prices down; corporations are then forced to meet environmental groups at the bargaining table. Americans, you helped save the air you breathe! LISTEN (11 min)

Green Awards

Congratulations. Every single one of you who saw the movie and were moved by the movie, made "An Inconvenient Truth" simply too influential for the Academy to ignore. NRDC's Allen Hershkowitz gives props to Al, the producers, and the Academy itself, which did about a thousand little things to green this year's awards. Yay! LISTEN (7 min)

Frances Beinecke about California

NRDC President Frances Beinecke talks with Phil Gutis about her recent trip to California.
LISTEN (7 min)

The Car 2.0

NRDC Vehicles Policy Director Roland Hwang tells Betsy how when other countries come to the US to talk proactive environmental strategy, they are increasingly bypassing Washington for California: "California and Europe are moving forward together into the future, while Washington seems stuck in the past." Unlike the Bush Administration, which has long used China and India's inaction as an excuse for their own, California and Europe remained undeterred by cynicism or nearsightedness: Mandatory carbon and tailpipe standards in California and Europe promise to transform the automotive industry,  and the influential precedents that the world needs will be in place and ready for copy. PART ONE (11 min)
Picture Treehugger  Title from Boston Globe

Roland also shared with us one of the more succinct and cogent analyses of Ethanol that we have heard: "Not all ethanol is created equal, and if you want to help the environment, you have to use the ethanol in the right way. Here's what I mean...." PART TWO (7 min)

Navy Sonar vs. Whales

NRDC Senior Attorney  Cara Horowitz tells Betsy how the US Navy has violated California State Law by using sonar, which is harmful and potentially fatal to whales, in protected waters. LISTEN (8 min)

Visit Whales in Danger to watch the video...

Upgrade Morro Bay's Sewage Plant Now!

Daniel Hinerfeld tells the sad and shocking story of the Morro-Bay Cayucos sewage plant that the city refuses to upgrade asap.
LISTEN (7 min) and take action: Email now

Image: Surfrider Foundation

Mandy Moore and the Film Your Issue Contest

NRDC's Daniel Hinerfeld reports from the Sundance Film Festival on the Film Your Issue contest, a competition to get young auteurs to put their hopes, fears, and creativity on film. FYI judges included John Cusack, Wolf Blitzer, and Mandy Moore. Here Moore tells Daniel about the responsibility she feels for her planet. LISTEN (8 min)

NRDC and Kevin Bacon: Film Your Issue

NRDC's Daniel Hinerfeld checks in from the Sundance Film Festival, where he's checking out the Film Your Issue international film contest for 15- and 16-year-olds. At the FYI party he chatted with actor Kevin Bacon, and later he spoke with some college students on the street to find out what was on their minds. LISTEN (8 min)