Oilman makes wind on YouTube

If you check Google Trends everyday like I do, you'll notice that the top three search terms entered into Google.com today all have to do with one man: T. Boone Pickens. Pickens is a Texas oilman who today launched a public awareness campaign aimed at cutting America's dependence on foreign oil by more than a third in the next decade.

Though he made his fortune in the oil market (at an estimated net worth of $3 billion, Pickens is listed as Forbes 117th richest American), Pickens solution to the the energy crisis is more focused on wind power.

In a profile in the USA Today, Pickens says,

"We're paying $700 billion a year for foreign oil. It's breaking us as a nation, and I want to elevate that question to the presidential debate, to make it the No. 1 issue of the campaign this year."

Like any good 21st-century communications strategy, Pickens plan to raise public consciousness on the issue goes beyond just TV (though his PR man tells the USA today that he is aiming to get his face on TV as much as the presidential candidates) - and is taking his message to YouTube. He just launched his "pickensplan" YouTube channel today, and in videos like this one, he explains how the U.S. can wean itself off of foreign oil.