Introducing the Ranger Rick Roll

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By now, if you spend much time on the Internet, or reading newspapers, you're probably familiar with the Rickroll phenomenon. Web publishers simply link an unsuspecting user to a copy of Rick Astley's 1987 video for the hit "Never Gonna Give You Up," instead of a more expected website for some other topic.

Example: If you don't know what I'm talking about please send me a message here.

After several Internet copies of the Astley video got viewed millions of times, the joke spread to the three-dimensional world, and people started "rickrolling" such institutions as the New York Mets, Eastern Washington Univerity, Scientology, theWestboro Baptist Church and doubtless many others.

With the rickroll phenomenon having probably reached its Borat-like apex, I propose a new twist on the theme for the green blogosphere: the Ranger Rick Roll.

Why? This new viral video featuring everyone's second-favorite masked do-gooder (I think Zorro is marginally more badass) is nearly as campy and bizarre as Astley's original. Plus, Ranger Rick was introduced in 1967, exactly 20 years before "Never Gonna Give You Up." Hmmm. The raucous raccoon has been teaching kids about the importance of protecting the environment on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation ever since, and this latest message highlights what everyone can do to combat global warming.

It's rickrolling with a message! Hopefully the campaign will spread and become as big as Chris Crocker. See what I did there?

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