You prolly don’t know this because your high-school civics class most likely wasn’t worth sh#t, but every ten years the US government counts every human being within its borders. Over the next several months, we are going to be talking a lot about the 2010 Census because it’s pretty effin important. Billions of your tax dollars are spent on schools and other important community projects. And were not talking fake rich rapper money either; the census adds up to big paper for local communities.

Of course, most times young people and people of color don’t fill out the form.  Were too busy doing other cool sh#t like filling out unemployment forms or waiting in lines at the emergency room. That’s why the good folks at the Census Bureau spend so much money producing commercials that attempt to speak directly to our demographic.

We’re not sure if these commercials have always been successful because the one above sucks really bad.  Maybe were too young to remember, but its hard to imagine that dancing that hard in ugly clothes was ever cool. After the jump is an example of a census commercial from 2000 that is much less likely to make you want to punch someone in the face.

This is a few days old i.e. another epoch in internetz time but I bet when society crashes and we burn our laptops for plastic scented warmth, we’ll kill for the chance to one more snarky blog post, to tag one more pic of the person we were before Nature takes our headphones off and smacks us back to the Ice Age.

By which I mean, is anyone really surprised that not only do we have to confront the awesome, shame-on-us specter of global destruction as a simple truth - we are consuming the world, will we do anything about it? - but also as a classic opportunity for government conspiracy, what we don’t know will kill us, of course the Man is savvy to the fact that famine and hedonism are mutually exclusive and you’ll catch more of us flies if you act like the honey is gonna flowwwww forever.

Turns out “[t]he world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit,” with the United States quite specifically called out for encouraging a false representation of 1.) how much oil is undiscovered [how do they know?!] and 2.) how much we’ve got left in our fields.

Consensus is growing that this roller coaster we call Life™ is already over the hump, we’re hurtling down hill to a NEW epoch the people at the Center for Egregiously Named Memetics call Peak Oil. When you hit Peak Oil, your oil production enters a phase called “terminal decline….” yeah, it looks kinda like this:

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Saw something crazy over on Huffington Post today about midwestern states and ten degree rises in temperature by 2010; farmers will be effed, oh they will be seriously effed (and what do farmers grow? Food. And who eats food? We do!), but the best part of the article is the classic regurgitation of what could surely be the epitaph on civilization’s uncelebrated tombstone: “[S]enators from Kansas, which will be most ravaged by climate change, are unlikely to support legislation addressing it.”

Let me try to understand. And yes, it has been said; I know I beat my head against it with nearly every environmental article I read. The planet is boiling, and our elected officials ‘are unlikely’ to support legislation addressing it?

What should we do to pull their heads out of the clouds and get them down here on the ground where the birds and bees are dying, crops are failing and all of Earth’s alarm bells are shrieking out our danger? Not that many of us can can hear, we’ve all got fingers in our ears, we use our chemically whitened teeth to rip the plastic off our burgers/ipods/American Apparel V-neck Summer Tees.

Feels kind of like life in an ivory tower; close the shutters, turn on your central air, and you can easily forget that your kids’ kids’ kids are gonna spend their days dressed in retro leather drinking irradiated water and scrounging pre-apocalyptic twinkies from the ruins of this little thing called Life.

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It’s unthinkable that a kid is killed in a drive-by while at an Anti-Violence Rally. Yet that’s precisely what happened to 13 year old Tamrah Leonard in Trenton, New Jersey last Sunday! Abomination! How is society not outraged at this heinous act?

Sadly, it was not an isolated incident.The economic recession has had an adverse affect on homicide rates, which are skyrocketing. Homicide is now the leading cause of death among young African American youth, and the number two cause of death for all other youth aged 10-24. Dire straits mean that desperate youth are becoming increasingly likely to resort to violence. At the same time, decreased funding means that many after-school programs–which have been proven to get youth off the streets and lower crime rates–are at risk of being reduced or eradicated entirely.

Thankfully, outreach programs provide hope that change is on the horizon. Find out more about these matters of life-or-death, and WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, at http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/4284/killing-the-programs-we-need-most.

We’ve all heard about the “childhood obesity epidemic,” but the truth is it’s not about kids who are too lazy to exercise or parents who are too lazy to cook healthy food. It’s about the ways that we’ve built our communities and designed our food system over the last fifty years. Why don’t our schools stay open after hours so that families have a safe place to hang out and play? Why don’t local stores offer anything besides liquor, cigarettes, and junk food? The 40 youth leaders who run werefedup.com get that obesity is a lot more complicated than people making bad choices, and they’re doing something about it.

Let’s tip the scales after the jump! Read the full story

Clowning is no laughing matter for Tommy the Clown (born Thomas Johnson). Instead, it’s a way to combat deeper issues like gang involvement, boredom, hopelessness, violence, and inactivity.

Born in Detroit, T.J. moved to LA as a teenager, where he soon found himself in trouble with the law. He had plenty of time to reconsider his life’s direction while spending 5 years in jail, where he decided to turn his life around. He’s done that and more–he’s changed the lives of youth around the world.

How? By clowning. It started out as a favor for a friend’s kid’s birthday party, but soon evolved into a way to help at-risk youth, youth who were in danger of falling through the cracks the same way that T.J. had been. Young people were allowed to join his clown/krump/hip hop crew on the condition that they did well in school, stayed out of gangs, didn’t do drugs, and acted as positive role models. In 15 years, this has grown to become a world-wide phenomenon, with 60+ dance crews in LA, performances across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and motivational lectures in schools across the country. It has also spawned a new form of street dancing (y’all know it as “krumping”) and even a 2005 movie by Dave Chapelle, called “Rize”.

Tommy is more than just a red-nosed, smiling face–he’s entertained millions, inspired thousands to get off the couch and off the streets, trained, guided, and helped countless urban youth, and spread a message of peace to us all: “You got problems? Don’t fight no more. Bring it to the dance floor.”

Ahhh Generation Y. The Generation that grew up with lyrics our parents can’t decipher and technology they don’t understand. Just what exactly is Gen Y? Basically, if you’re born between the early 80s to the early 90s, you’re a part of it. But here, let’s allow Urban Dictionary to further define us: according to one editor of the site, we are “hyper-active, hyper-sexed, ADD-affected psychopath crack baby offspring of Baby Boomers, also known in popular parlance as Generation Y.” Ouch. That’s a bit harsh, doncha think?

I do. I love my generation. Which is why I was pretty damn pleased to find an article on 80 Million Strong detailing just how awesome our generation is (props!). Never mind the claims that we are pampered, narcissistic, consumer-driven, useless versions of Gen X. According to Forbes Magazine, we are the “altruistic generation.” F%#* yah! This is what I wanna hear (and yup, I’m aware that I’m living up to the self-absorbed stereotype of Gen Y. Just call me a cliché and get on with it).

The best part is, there’s evidence to back up the article. A study by the Center for Work-Life Policy found that we are driven, dedicated, and devoted to social welfare. And this is reflected in our workplaces: 88% of Gen Y women and 82% of Gen Y men believe it’s important to be able to give back to community through work. And we expect our employers to back us up. Which is why we are seeking out employers that offer us the opportunity to help, whether by giving us time off to volunteer, or devoting a percentage of profits to a worthy cause. Read the full story

Who says we can only farm in rural areas? Despite the obvious challenges of urban farming, community gardens are popping up in parks, vacant lots, and even on rooftops across the nation.

And with good reason. While it may be difficult to find space, fertile soil, and even people interested in the cause, the benefits are endless. Researchers have found that urban farming can foster good health and community involvement, while being easier on the wallet. In fact, every $1 invested in community garden results in $6 of vegetables.

Yet saving money is just the beginning. Urban farming increases the sustainability of our cities, promotes concern for the environment, and fosters community involvement. Considering that most urbanites hardly even know their next-door neighbors, we certainly can’t expect to always know who produces our food. Urban farming, however, can alleviate both problems simultaneously.

Read the full story

If you’re not a millionaire or living with family, chances are you’re currently sharing a dorm or an apartment with roommates. Bets are you chose them (or they were selected for you) based on living compatibility: likes, dislikes, level of cleanliness, habits etc. But have you ever really analyzed them based on race?

New studies by several universities have, with several surprising results. Living with a roommate of a different race will decrease your prejudice levels. If you’re a white student (who statistically enters college with the least diverse friendship group), you’ll become the most likely to develop cross-racial relationships, whereas the opposite occurs with black students (they enter with diverse friendship then experience a decline as they seek out people from a similar background). Hispanic and Asian students maintain the same levels as they had before entering freshman year.

On the other hand, cross-racial relationships are more stressful than homogenous ones—they spent less time together and shared fewer friends. However, if they managed to tough it out for 10 weeks, they would both experience an “improvement in racial attitudes.” Read the full story

Aren’t you glad summer’s finally here? The recent reemergence of the sun makes me crave days at the beach and nights spent camping. But the recession means that for many (hell, most of us) a vacation simply isn’t that feasible this year.

We should consider ourselves lucky if that’s the worst recession can do. It’s hit a lot of people a lot harder. Every year, the number of families who are homeless skyrocket at the beginning of summer. This year has been particularly bad. People from 10 000 families will become homeless in New York alone this summer, an increase of more than 28% from last year. At last count, that number had already hit 9420—9420 moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and children on the street in one city. That’s A LOT of people—so many, that if you wanted to meet them all, one a day, it would take you more than 27 years.

But numbers are just statistics. They don’t tell the whole story. People do. Like 11 year old Arielle Figueras, who completed fifth grade one day and was in a shelter with her family the next. Or the Dixon family, who were evicted in April, have been separated in various homes since then, and are now reunited on the streets. Families who had found short-term solutions—like staying with relatives or asking the landlord to temporarily take pity on them—are booted out now that the weather is warmer and the kids are out of school and underfoot. Read the full story

Being a teen is hard enough. Being a teenage mother is infinitely harder—and according to a study by John Santelli of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, there are more and more teens who are becoming moms. Nearly 4 in 10 American teens will be preggers by age 20, and a whopping 445 000 of them will give birth. At those rates, America is the teenage pregnancy capital of the Western World.

Having a baby is a wonderful, beautiful act—but there is a time and a place for it. When a teenager gives birth, the odds of her or her baby having a fulfilling life are significantly lower than if she had waited until she was in her twenties. Teen moms are more likely to drop out of school, receive welfare, and have more children within a couple of years. In turn, the children of teen moms will statistically have poorer health and inferior results in school than their peers who had parents who gave birth later on. Children from teen pregnancies are also more likely to end up in prison (if they’re sons) or giving birth while still teenagers (if they’re daughters).

Which is why Santelli’s study is so disturbing. It shows that teenagers are having kids at a higher rate, not necessarily because they desire children at that stage in life but because they are not taking simple precautions to prevent it. The use of contraceptives is going down, leaving health educators wondering where the f*%# they went wrong. Because, instead of using a condom, youth are trying the “withdrawal method,” and even the “let’s not use anything” approach—otherwise known as the “I’m playing Russian Roulette with my girlfriend’s future” approach. Hell, the guys should be worried too, because STIs tend to spread a lot faster when there’s no condom to stop them (and by “tend to” I mean DO). Read the full story

Education as we know it is changing. Remember sitting in class and having your teacher yell at you for listening to music? No longer! If Run-DMC has their way, teachers will not only be encouraging music in the classroom but will be bringing in rap and hip hop of their own.

Darryl McDaniels, a member of the pioneering rap group Run-DMC, was invited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to attend a conference at the Summer Teacher Institute last week. While there, he spoke to teachers that had gathered from across the country about the importance of using rap as a way in which teachers could better connect with their students, saying that rap made school more interesting, relevant, and personal for students. All I can say is, why wasn’t Run-DMC saying this to my teachers when I was in school?

But seriously, he’s got a point. While he admitted that rap can be “raw,” he also pointed out that it is a form of social commentary and as such has the potential to become an educational tool and a medium of expression for kids who might not have another outlet. In his own words, “real hip-hop is information, education, communication and motivation, whether you’re rich, poor, black, white, Puerto Rican. Hip-hop is the total expression of the existence of what it’s like to be alive on the face of the earth.”

So look out students. This September, it could be your teacher that busts into the classroom with a few Run-DMC lyrics of their own:

One thing I know is that life is short
So listen up homeboy, give this a thought
The next time someone’s teaching why don’t you get taught?
( From Run-DMC:  “It’s Like That”)

Read the full story

In the middle of downtown Miami, a tent city exists not far from the mansions and beaches that Miami is famous for. Yet despite their proximity, neither community ever mixes—it’s forbidden by law. Why? Because the tent city is “home” to approximately 70 sex offenders, who are forced to live there due to a local law that mandates sex offenders who abused children must remain at least 2500 feet away from locations where there are high concentrations of children.

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What do you get when a famous rapper and an NFL free agent pair up? Simple. New hope for a brand-spankin’ new community sports center. This is what happened when Snoop Dogg and NFL star Willie McGinest teamed up with local Long Beach, CA councilman Dee Andrews on Wednesday, openly declaring their support for the Kroc Center.

The Kroc Center, a $140 million dollar project, will feature pools, playing fields, a gym, and cultural and educational spaces. Fundraising efforts had recently suffered setbacks due to the economic recession but it is expected that this announcement by the celebrities will help raise both support and the necessary funds to build it.

Turns out the center is meaningful to Snoop and Willie too. The Kroc Center will be built in their hometown of Long Beach, California. Willie grew up playing sports on the same piece of land where the center will be built. Snoop’s dedication to youth empowerment through sports, as we profiled earlier this year on 99Problems, becomes even more evident here: he has decided to create a song for the center, which will then receive all of the profits as well as the profits of a benefit concert that he plans to hold there.

As Snoop sings in “Been Around The World” from his 2008 album “Ego Trippin”

I know I’m always on the road, I’m always gone
And you say I’ll never make records for you no more
Well this record is from me to you baby

Love em or hate em, these guys never forgot where they came from… their dedication to their community provides an inspiration to us all! Much love to our boys from the LBC!

After months of waiting on Obama’s campaign promises, the gay community will finally observe a small victory tonight when President Obama announces the implementation of certain benefits for same-sex partners of government employees. But is it really a victory worth celebrating?

While on the campaign trail, Obama made countless speeches promising the gay community that he would extend full health benefits to same-sex couples. Tonight is the first time since his election that he will broach the topic, and health coverage is not on his list. This is huge: it’s an omission which has left many gay rights advocates screaming “WHAT THE %&*#?” Read the full story

We haven’t spent much time covering veteran affairs on 99problems.org but, like many Americans, I certainly support the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country.  The controversy over the War in Iraq, tied deeply to the Bush Administration, has all but died down in recent months.  Afghanistan looms on the horizon, but lately it seems you’re more likely to hear about Elections in Pakistan and Nuclear Warheads in North Korea than news from the front lines of America’s war in the Middle East.

As long as our country maintains a standing army, we owe our troops the dignity and honor they deserve.  That’s why it is so nice to read Shannon Moriarty’s article on Change.org  discussing President Obama’s promise to find homes for the 160,000 homeless veterans in America.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, “[a]bout one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services.”  One third!  That is a travesty, and it is clear that these veterans — many of them who date back to the Vietnam War — have been forgotten by our country, left to fend for themselves and shoulder the burden of their experiences alone.

President Obama’s decision to tackle this issue in 5 years is laudible.

It’s understandable to be rejected from college because of your grades, your SATs, or even your extracurriculars - but is it valid to be rejected because you need financial aid?

According to this NY Times article, Reed College in Portland, Oregon is doing just that. As a result of the recession, revenue is dropping at the school, which can’t financially commit to as much financial aid. Long story short, they’ve started rejecting students because they lack full ability to pay. Let’s go into crippling student loan debt after the jump! Read the full story

Today’s story reminds us that every day, the things we do to bring change to the world will have lasting repercussions. Ken Saro-Wiwa was an environmental activist from Nigeria, who brought about non-violent protests against the Shell Oil company, who led a group called Movement For The Survival of the Ogoni People.

In Nigeria, the Ogoni’s health were endangered by the massive amounts of pollution shell was generating by extracting oil. As the movement was gaining traction, the fear of Shell Oil was rising. It is widely speculated that Shell paid off security officials, who subsequently tried and executed Saro-Wiwa along with several of his fellow activists on false charges.

However, all was not lost. Fifteen years later, the Ogoni are starting to make some traction against the oil company. Check out this news from Treehugger:

The [Ogoni] brought [a case] against the company under an obscure US law that allows foreigners to sue companies for human rights abuses has just been settled out of court. Though $15 million may seem a paltry sum to repay the vast injustices done to their people, and the murder of some of their brightest, perhaps the international attention garnered from this case will draw some attention to their plight. And even though Shell hasn’t publicly admitted any wrongdoing, sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

Chalk this up as a hard fought victory for the little guy against multinational corporations. Ken’s legacy will live on in the hearts of anyone who wants to bring change to the world.

Five bucks can’t buy you much these days. A movie rental, a funny t-shirt, maybe a footlong sandwich. But in New Orleans, five bucks is going much further.

Amidst all the suffering and slow rebuilding of New Orleans, FEMA will sell hurricane victims a trailer for 5 bucks or less. If one has been living in a trailer in order to rebuild their home, the trailer they have been living in can be sold to them at low costs, rather than having to vacate them.

This is a drastic new development: as of a week or so ago, they had until the end of this month to GTFO those trailers. Read the full story

There are a number of images that permeate our collective psyche. Some are tragic, others hopeful. Every now and then, there is an image that embodies a state of mind so well that it can’t be described or explained. You just have to see it.

On June 4th, 1989, a young, unidentified man stood directly in front of a line of tanks in Beijing, China to express a sense of dissatisfaction, attempting to stop the Chinese government’s attacks on young activists.

Despite the defiance of Tank Man, the struggle continues. Read the full story