It has become increasingly possible that the Democratic contest for president will be decided by Superdelegates instead of actual voters. If you feel as though your vote is becoming more and more irrelevant in the electoral process, you are not alone. David Rothkopf, author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, argues that this power shift is just the tip of the iceberg. I heard him speak last night and he explained his theory that the world’s 6 billion people and their destiny is controlled by about 6 thousand wealthy individuals that he calls the Superclass. These are the same people who show up in statistical sound bites such as: “The richest 2% own more than half of global assets.”

I once heard a similar theory from a bus driver when conversing about politics during my commute, but Rothkopt does have some anecdotal and empirical evidence to support his theory. He proposed the growing disparity of wealth and power will lead to civil unrest and has helped to create populist backlashes in the form of popular leaders such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez. He also made the claim that issues such as global warming and the stability of world financial institutions are at the mercy of the Superclass as they have usurped national governments. Citing ridiculous policies such as last year’s ethanol-laden energy bill and the border wall, Rothkopt explained how powerful lawyers and lobbyist representing the Superclass have guided government into enacting policies that don’t necessarily reflect our best interests. He even quipped about how the current accusations and controversy of elitism are laughable when you consider they are coming from the wife of a former President and a man whose wife is the heiress to Hensley & Co., the nation’s second-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor.

Despite the bad news about growing disparities, the speaker was optimistic that we can reassert control over our nation and work in cooperation with increasingly powerful countries in Asia to fight global warming and economic instability.

In our latest installment, we traveled across the Bay to speak with youth development veteran Mark Henderson. For 15 years, Mark has been helping inner-city youth get jobs in the city of Oakland. In this fifth episode, he talks with us about the current job situation for youth in Oakland and how Measure Y is addressing the challenges that youth face. Mark breaks down the specifics of using job skills training and employment as an incentive to keep youth in school, off the street, and out of trouble. He also touches on green collar jobs, and explains how regular folks can get involved to help youth and reduce crime in their neighborhood.

Listen to the full version of the Green Rapper production “El Medio Ambiente (The Environment)” from the closing credits by pressing play.

In this episode, the Green Rapper cuts through the hype surrounding BioDiesel with Laura and Hakan, two ordinary citizens that have truly converted to a carbon neutral form of transportation. With a nominal startup fee (<$250 for storage tank and fuel pump) and zero mechanical modifications to their VW Golf TDI and Chevy Diesel Van, they use BioDiesel from KF3 BioDiesel Production to fuel their rides (at a slightly cheaper cost than regular diesel)! Find out how they safely store their alternate fuel and fill up from the comfort of their garage. To get started on your conversion, visit the National Biodiesel Board’s Website.

I just finished watching the DVD of The Real Dirt On Farmer John. It’s a touching story of an eccentric Midwest farmer’s struggle to save his family farm from development and economic recession. He eventually converts to an organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model and his farm survives and thrives. Plus, the DVD features include a music video with a girl dressed in a bee suit ala Blind Melon. Check out the preview:

Yesterday, our old college pal RJ White tried an experiment. RJ is the Editor and Chief of The City Desk, a fictional satire site that tells fake news stories about a fake city. Yesterday’s story declared that “former” candidate Ron Paul had been disinvited to visit a local fake university (to speak about the gold standard). Within hours, a deluge of hate mail had filled his comment box from Ron Paul supporters (because Ron Paul is still running). Later, the story was picked up by a few other sites like Wonkette and the requisite snarkiness poured in to castigate the Paul fans for their excitement/gullibility. Obviously this isn’t some world changing event, but it did have a sort of magical Orson Welsian hoax quality about it. As a result, I’m sure that someone, somewhere actually believes that Ron Paul did drop out and maybe this will somehow cause him to really quit his candidacy. It could also be that I just read The Tipping Point and my imagination is running wild.

It got me thinking about how new media can be coerced by the environmental movement in a non-satirical, hoaxy way. What if rumors were floated like “George W. Bush will retroactively sign the Kyoto Treaty” or “Al Gore will cancel all future speaking engagements due to air travel’s C02 emmissions”. Could these rumors convert into the truth somehow? The presidential campaigns have shown that even lies about a candidate begin to stick - just due to the fact that the candidates are constantly having to refute them.

Propagating such hoaxes would be a tight ethical tightrope to walk. There is already plenty of criticism of Al Gore - those who call him an opportunist, especially since he recently became involved with a venture capital firm investing in clean energy. Perhaps Al Gore invented global warming just like he invented the internet, just so he could make a lot of money? Or perhaps he is just looking to the private sector to solve problems our federal government has refused to acknowledge in any serious way?

Ultimately, I stand on the side of science and reason and believe that environmental issues are worth considering every day, maybe even in the form of rumors - if that makes people pay attention.

So did you hear that Woodsy the Owl, Smokey the Bear, and Ranger Rick were arrested in China while protesting the Three Gorges Dam Project!?!?

This video was shot in 2007 during various trips to National Parks on the West Coast. After hearing the buzzword “Watershed Event” thrown around in the political arena, we put this song and video together to shed light on environmental issues and personal responsibility. This was put together before Greenrapper.com had come about, and is slightly political, but if you’ve gotten this far, you probably won’t be offended.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, I used to take bucket baths and pour a bucket of water into the toilet to flush in lieu of running water. I had to chase down cistern trucks just like everyone else and then carry buckets of water indoors. Various government aqueduct projects came and went, and after two years passed, I really wanted to do something about the problem. Though I had neither the resources nor the time to build an aqueduct, I was able to borrow a video camera from a fellow volunteer and shoot a documentary to raise awareness.

My goal was to spread word about the precarious water situation in the community where I lived. After returning to the states, I edited the documentary, sent it around, and posted it to Google Video. Later, a friend of mine in Oviedo, D.R informed me that the water situation had improved. I don’t believe my documentary had much effect, but it was screened at several film festivals and perhaps helped some Americans become aware of their water use. Here is the video: