The United States Bureau of Land Management has reversed itself on a freeze it implented on solar development on public lands. The moratorium had been announced just a month ago, but public pressure forced the agency to undo the decision.  Thus, the government will continue to accept applications for plants to be built across the West (official website for the project here).

The freeze came on May 29, when, if you recall, the energy crisis wasn’t really doing any better. The Bureau had stated it would not accept applications for solar power plants until a study had been done on the environemntal impact of solar power had been concluded, which would take two years.

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I think we can agree that that the environmental movement has taken a strong foothold when even the billboards in Times Square are getting into the green act - the landmark area will get its first solar- and wind-powered billboard come December. From livescience.com,

The billboard, for Ricoh Americas‘ parent company Ricoh Company Ltd. of Tokyo, will measure 47 feet (14 meters) high by 126 feet (38 meters) long. Its floodlights will be powered on site by 45 solar panels and four wind turbines.

The result will reduce carbon dioxide usage by 18 tons a year, Marchetta said.

If replacing one billboard in Times Square reduces carbon dioxide usage by a ton and a half a month, I shudder to think how much energy is going into all the other signage out there.

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This just in: (over-the-wire old-fashioned telegraph squawk) …doo doo, do do… A bio-fueled boat broke the round-the-world record fueled by fat.  That’s right, a smart New Zealand man took a McDonald’s Cheeseburger and used it to traverse the globe on a floating piece of fiberglass faster than anyone ever has.  Dateline: Friday, June 27th,  Sagunto, Spain.  This is the TakePart Green Innovation Report (#1).

Environmentalists make excuses to qualify technology, “Have you seen this hybrid car?  It’s just like a regular car, only better for the environment.  Well, no more!  Not only can green be as good as conventional engineering, it can be better.

Pictured above, the green “Knight Rider” of the ocean, powered by a 1080 horsepower Cummins Mercruiser Diesel, splits the horizon of the Indian Ocean at Sunset.  Part of the boat is made of hemp.  What’s next?  Carbon neutral Nascar?

A big TakePart salute to Pete Bethune and his boat Earthrace.  Stay tuned for more.

I just returned from a trip to Montana and whoa, there are lots of bison in that state! While driving through Yellowstone National Park we often got stuck in traffic jams caused by buffalo crossing. At one point a mother bison stopped in front of our car to nurse her baby bison. Not an ideal spot for feeding, but it was amazing for us to see. And after days of endless buffalo encounters I have to admit, I sorta fell in love with these beasts. The buffalo made me smile, partly because they were so cute (in a big, hairy sorta way) and partly because every time I saw one this song would play in my head:

Now that you know all about my bison crush you can imagine how sad I was to learn that over 1,000 buffalo have been slaughtered because they carry brucellosis.

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Our green video of the week examines 5 simple tips for reducing your garbage output, and subsequently preserving biodiversity, saving money, reducing your carbon emissions and the need for landfill space.

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NASA has released a short animation that shows just how far the Arctic Ice has receded since 1979, when satellites began recording such information. According to the New York Times, an independent report from 14 research teams has 11 of those teams forecasting an even more dramatic decrease than last year in the decrease in ice. Here’s the video:

Probably not such a good thing.

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For those of you that enjoy (and can afford) traveling, Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them might be just the travel guide for you. The book, written by Heather Hansen and Kimberly Lisagor, focus on a large handful of some of the most beautiful, yet endangered, travel destinations on the planet. From the publishing company Vintage, via ecolibris,

A beautiful and memorable look at some of the most gorgeous endangered places on the planet…Glacier National Park is a destination long known for the stunning beauty of its ice floes, but in our lifetimes it will have no glaciers due to global warming…In the biobays of Puerto Rico swimmers can float in a sea shimmering with bioluminescent life, but sediment being churned up by development is killing the dinoflagellates that produce the eerie and beautiful glow…

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Tom Brokaw called David Letterman out on his carbon footprint this week. Brokaw was on the show to promote his new book, Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the ‘60s and Today. When Letterman brought up the recently snuffed climate change bill and the Bush administration’s poor performance on global warming and environmental issues, Brokaw had this response:

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*U.S. Corn Crop Could Decrease by 10% Further Fueling the Great Ethanol Debate

*Uganda ‘happy’ about food crisis. Why? Because the president hopes the food crisis will prompt the removal of trade barriers, allowing countries like Uganda to profit from food surpluses.

* Tomatoes become scarce among local businesses in the US

* In the UK, Tories argue that Govt making world food price crisis worse “As food shortages take hold across the world we should be looking to optimise domestic production and relieve pressure on world markets,” says agriculture minister Jim Paice.

* The World Bank Group announced today it would support global efforts to overcome the global food crisis with a new $1.2 billion rapid financing facility to address immediate needs, including $200 million in grants targeted at the vulnerable in the world’s poorest countries.

*S. Korea looks to fresh start after beef crisis

*Cyclone-hit Myanmar has enough rice to feed its people, the ruling junta said on Wednesday, accusing foreign aid agencies of presenting a false picture of the devastation in the Irrawaddy delta rice bowl.

*The famine in Ethiopia this year is the worst to hit the country since 2003. Officials estimate Ethiopia needs 300,000 tonnes of food supplies to last until the next harvest, due in September. They are warning that tens of thousands of children could die unless help arrives soon. The World Food Programme says about £73 million is needed to feed children at risk of starvation.

takepart and lean what you can do with Oxfam America.

Related:

Global Food Crisis Update

Cedar Falls, Iowa - There was a mandatory evacuation of the downtown area yesterday due to the swollen Cedar River.

The small city of Vinton, home to 5,000 were forced to evacuate a 15 block area where water was already 3 feet deep. In Waterloo, Iowa, water swept away a railroad bridge and prompted the city to shut its downtown and close five bridges.

A sandbagged levee has so far been preventing Cedar River from rising out of its banks and flooding Cedar Falls, but city officials are calling for more volunteers to help secure the levee as more rain is expected in the area.

takepart visit The Daily Green’s Weird Weather Watch photo blog.

Related:

• Flooding will likely reach record levels in Northeast Iowa
• Cedar Falls being evacuated, Des Moines prepares for flood
• Rising Waters Pose a Threat
• Sandbagged levee holds in Iowa, protects city