Will Live Earth Matter?
One of the many bands that passed through the Live Earth stages around the world Saturday put it best.
“It’s not really important what goes on here tonight, but what happens in the future,” said Pete Wentz of the band Fall Out Boy, who appeared in the New York concert.
For many who participated - as performers or spectators at the massive global music event - it was an inspiring night, perhaps the biggest concert broadcast in history, all dedicated to confronting what organizer Al Gore has called “the greatest threat mankind has ever faced.”
Saturday’s musicians were committed to changing that dynamic, but entertainers as a group have a spotty track record in forcing the body politic into change. Just look at the results of recent US presidential elections, where the entertainment business came down firmly on the side of the centre-left Democrats in 2004, only for George Bush to win a majority.
But Live Earth could be different.
The campaign to raise awareness about the dangers and causes of global warming has already gathered significant momentum. Only the most committed ideologues still dispute scientific evidence pointing to human activity as the cause of the climate threat, and children the world over re as focused on the environment as their parents were on the space race.
The sights and sounds of well-known personalities lending their voices to the cause may embolden people to take the actions demanded by the seven-point pledge offered up from organizers for all participants to sign.
“I think it’s cool that so many people are coming together to support this,” said Ellen Sanchez, 14, who watched the concerts at a big screen erected for the occasion in San Francisco. “It definitely focuses attention on the problem. We can’t ignore it any longer.”
Others already see the mega-gig as just the latest round of unwanted celebrity preaching.
That was certainly the attitude of critics who called Live Earth ”concerts for guilty stars.” They pointed out that many performances had flown to the shows in private jets, and asked how the massive productions with their huge carbon footprints could really benefit the cause. ‘All are guilty’
Perhaps the answer was at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, where some 700,000 people attended a free concert where actress and kid’s show host Xuxa framed the issue: “We are all guilty. We waste paper, water, energy and many other things. … It is not just for Americans. This is a concert for the whole world.”
Or maybe it was in the Netherlands, where thousands gathered by bicycle in an Amsterdam square to watch the shows being broadcast from other countries and hear ideas about how to save energy.
Africa, the underdeveloped continent with the least global-warming emissions but some of the worst potential effects, hosted a concert in Johannesburg. And the Shanghai concert carried great symbolism, as China continues to boom its way toward becoming one of the world’s biggest polluters.
The concerts certainly raised environmental awareness to a new level. Seen by a projected 2 billion people, the concerts featured environmental messages flashing behind the stages. Commercial breaks were filled with infomercials about the cause.
But the greatest benefit could come from the seven-point pledge organizers asked people to sign to limit their own pollution. The pledge calls on governments to sign meaningful treaties to reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent by the year 2050, and to enact strict limits on coal-burning power stations.
“I’m so proud to be a part of it today, because it’s not about the problem. It’s more about the solution,” said songstress Alicia Keys at the New York show. “So I want you to make that pledge. I’m making the pledge, and I want you to make that pledge right now.”
Source.
Live Earth, Saturday, Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy, New York, music, Al Gore, George Bush, campaign, dangers, global warming
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