Yesterday was 7th July 2007 - 07/07/07. Apparently, this combination is special because it happens only once in a century. So special, that the organisers of Live Earth chose that day to stage the 24-hour, 7-continent concert series where the aim is to raise awareness about the climate crisis we are facing and the ways we can help to tackle the problem.
Firstly, I think the organisers of Live Earth chose an appropriate name for themselves - S.O.S (i.e. Save Our Selves). All you ‘environmentalists’ out there can stop telling me to ’save the earth’. This is something I learned from George Carlin - the earth doesn’t need saving. We are the ones who need saving. After we have made this earth unable to sustain human life and we all die out, the earth will still be around and she will probably ‘heal’ itself and life will probably one day emerge on this planet again with species who hopefully might know how to take care of her better. If you don’t realise that the earth is fine and we are the ones who are knee-deep in our own shit, please take your self-righteous ‘you don’t care about the earth if you don’t tell the whole world how much you are doing to save it’ crap and shove it up where the sun doesn’t shine.
Ok. Now that i got that out of the way, let me say the second thing. Live Earth sounds like a nice idea. There is the gimmick of a 7 continent concert series held in New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg as publicised on the Live Earth website. Wait you say? These venues only represent six continents. What about Antartica? Don’t worry. The organisers managed to get Nunatak , a band consisting of members from the Rothera Research Station in Antartica to stage a ‘concert’. What faithfulness to the gimmick of a ‘24-hour, 7 continent concert series’ just to keep in line with the number 7 theme.
Unfortunately, the organisers didn’t maintain the same fidelity to the idea of reducing if not eliminating the impact we have on earth in terms of the climate crisis. Sure, this article does highlight the ways in which the organisers are trying to make the event carbon neutral and how they plan to reduce wastage. That sounds nice, but as these three articles have said, Live Earth is probably a waste of time and probably hurting the environment more - even Sir Bob Geldof who invented the concept with Live Aid says so.
The organisers are talking about the event being carbon neutral because of the use of carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting is this idea where you pay money to contribute to an action which results in an effect opposite to another activity which you have engaged in that produces carbon emissions. For example, driving a car to a live concert event produces carbon emissions which are bad for the environment. To compensate for that, you contribute money to get a tree planted. Since trees absorb carbon dioxide, you have helped mitigate the damage you have caused to the environment.
So basically, it is like saying you punch your wife, then say sorry by buying her a diamond ring. And then you punch her again. And then you buy her another ring. So, you damage the relationship, then try to fix it. Much better not to punch her at all. No damage, nothing to fix. Likewise, better not just pollute in the first place.
But what about raising awareness about the problem of global warming and climate crisis? Err.. guys… I think most people are aware about the issue. Ok… Then how about informing us on the tools and ways we can help solve the problem. Point noted. We probably need to educate the people on how we can individually contribute to the cause of fighting climate change. But using a concert to do that? Surely, there has to be a better way.
Live Aid was a great idea in its time (i.e. 1985) because such a mass event broadcasted using satellites and TV was the best tool we had then in reaching out to everyone about a cause worth fighting for. Now, we have something I would like to call the Internet. And another thing we call the mobile phone. Somehow, maybe concentrating efforts to use that medium as the main tool with a combination of other less environmentally damaging means to raise awareness might have been a better idea. Of course, the organisers themselves would not have gained the kind of exposure they are now receiving.
In the end, even what they are trying to achieve might be flawed since Al Gore himself is quoted as saying that ‘ultimately, corporations and governments must become global leaders taking decisive action to stop global warming’. Err..no? Ultimately, it is each individual who needs to take ownership of the planet and not wait for the powers that be to do something. Everything will be to no avail if in the end, the people just gather together to make some noise hoping that the powers that be will take notice and do something while individually we do nothing consistently to help save our selves from our own destructive habits.
Finally a little bit of NKF-like conflict of interest trivia: Kevin Wall founder of S.O.S is also the CEO of Control Room which produced Live Earth. Control Room makes its money by providing live digital entertainment by broadcasting performances on broadband and tv. I wonder how much Control Room is getting to do all this work for Live Earth. I wonder how much Kevin Wall earns from Control Room. I’m not saying that anything improper is happening, but it is just a thought.
So let’s learn to take care of the earth better so that we as a species can enjoy our stay here a bit better and longer, but honestly, chest thumping isn’t the only way, if the way at all.
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