There will be rallies and protests about global warming all over the United States today. The mainstream media will probably ignore or downplay them. 1350 rallies in all 50 states are demanding an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Read about it at http://stepitup2007.org/. This is an example of a progressive, grass-roots action. It remains to be seen if it will have the endurance and long-term focus of conservative projects.

You can hear interviews about stepitup and about the 2006 film Who Killed the Electric Car in the April 13th episode of Democracy Now!. There is a lot about the groups involved in today's rallies on sundaysalon.org/ as well. Listen to the second hour of the April 8th show.

The Who Killed the Electric Car interview is interesting as an example of something very important: In strongly oligarchic markets and political systems, there is no invisible hand. Extremely important factors in the economy and the environment are not set by market forces, but by corporate or political policy. California forced the auto industry to introduce the electric car. When it started to catch on, the auto and oil industries worked hard to kill it and quickly succeeded. Driven by purely market forces, the car might not have appeared for decades. Driven by purely market forces, it certainly would not have disappeared. We are not helpless victims of any "invisible hand." These are policies that we can influence.