MLK's first public Civil Rights Address: (1955) Martin Luther King Jr., “The Montgomery Bus Boycott”

In her book Carry Me Home, Diane McWhorter quotes from Martin Luther King's first address to the Montgomery Improvement Association. The speech is amazing to read because it hits many of the major themes he would repeat for the rest of his career.

(1955) Martin Luther King Jr., “The Montgomery Bus Boycott” | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed: The Montgomery Bus Boycott speech reprinted below is one of the first major addresses of Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King spoke to nearly 5,000 people at the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery on December 5, 1955, just four days after Mrs. Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery city bus.

The New York Times on a milestone of climate change

The New York Times: The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.
Scientific instruments showed that the gas had reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced      emissions under control are faltering.

Birmingham breaks ground on new bicycle and pedestrian paths, expansion of Civil Rights Heritage Trail (photos, video) | al.com

Birmingham breaks ground on new bicycle and pedestrian paths, expansion of Civil Rights Heritage Trail (photos, video) | al.com: BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, Birmingham Mayor William Bell and other city and community leaders broke ground Thursday on the first part of a 29-mile corridor of bicycle and pedestrian pathways through the city.

Part of the city's "Roads to Recovery" initiative, the pathways are part of the larger Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail greenway plan developed by the city and the Freshwater Land Trust.

The improvements are covered in large part by a $10 million grant from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A coalition of community partners provided a $5 million local match for the project. Read More:

Drinking for Clean Water

I know it's asking a lot but have a Cahaba Beer this Saturday, for the sake for the Cahaba. 

Cahaba Brewing Company is raising money for the Cahaba River Society from 12-5 Friday.

It's a great brewery run by friends and neighbors, raising money for a great cause.

Do your part. Raise a glass.

Cahabafest 2013 presented by     Join us as we celebrate the Cahaba River this Saturday! Bring your family, and spend the day with Cahaba River Society, Alabama Outdoors, Birmingham Canoe Club, CahaBones, and Cahaba Brewing Company from 12-5pm for the first annual Cahabafest. Loads of fun activities for adults and kids, and of course...delicious beer. Free to enter, and all proceeds from the sale of beer (and skeeball!) benefit Cahaba River Society. No tickets required for this event. Hope to see you there! Saturday, May 11, 2013 12-5pm Cahaba Brewing Company 2616 3rd Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35233 Parking for the event will be across from the Brewery (3rd Avenue), with entrance to the lot on 27th Street. Look for the signs!

Montevallo's Complete Streets and bike-friendly policies get national play

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Smart Growth America features Montevallo in its most recent newsletter:

Creating streets that work for everyone in Montevallo, AL | Smart Growth America: Over the last several years the City and the University have worked together on projects to make downtown Montevallo an even better place to live and work. “The very best colleges in the country, most of them have lively, attractive downtowns,” said John Stewart III, president of the University of Montevallo. “We literally want Main Street and the campus to blend into one plan.”

The Great Hatching beneath the sea | al.com

A grass shrimp mother carries its fertilized but unhatched eggs in a translucent pouch beneath its body. This shrimp, from Weeks Bay, carried the eggs for a few days before they hatched into free swimming larvae. In a matter of weeks, the larvae will be as large as their mother. (Ben Raines/braines@AL.com

The Good News: another great piece by Ben Raines.
The Bad News: Ben is leaving the employ of the al.com.
The Good News: he is going to work as the executive director of the Weeks Bay Foundation and may still have the opportunity to do nature writing like this from time to time.

The Great Hatching beneath the sea | al.com: Just as spring is unfolding on land, with flowers bursting open and trees flush with vibrant new growth, so it goes in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

But in the water, spring isn’t measured in green leaves and flower buds. It is measured in tiny bodies.