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Al Gore & Cameron Diaz |
Former United States vice-president Al Gore has every right to be pleased with the results of Saturday's Live Earth concerts.
The series of concerts held on 7/7/7 attracted hundreds of thousands of people, while millions followed the event via the Internet and around two billion watched it on television.
The number of viewers surpassed those of Live Aid (1985) and Live 8 (2005). About 17,000 people came to the Live Earth event at Amsterdam's Westerpark.
The main concerts were held in Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hamburg, London, Johannesburg, New York (New Jersey), Washington and Rio de Janeiro. A number of scientists at a research station on the South Pole formed a band for the occasion. Among the many famous musicians to perform were Crowded House, Madonna, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys and The Police.The worldwide event started in Sydney on Friday night Dutch time and ended at six on Sunday morning in New Jersey.
Placement of an idea
Mr Gore plans to use the Live Earth concerts as the start of a three-year publicity campaign on the effects of climate change. John Mayer, one of the performing artists, says it is difficult to gauge what kind of effect the concerts will have: After the performance he told CNN: "I also think it's very difficult to judge the success of a movement...You can't find out by 9:00 this evening how much awareness was raised...What you're really talking about is the placement of an idea at a rock show."
Some people criticised the even as an environmental disaster because of all the CO2 it generated. The organisers did everything in their power to compensate the emissions by using recycled cups, with generators and shuttle buses running on biofuel. In London, the stage lights were shut off at the beginning of Madonna's performance.
Small steps
Live Earth's organisers and the more than hundred participating musicians had previously appealed to the public to take similar small steps: replace your light bulb with low-energy bulbs, do not leave your television on stand-by and don't leave your recharger in the socket when you're not using it. It must have been music in the ears of Philips, the electronics multinational which is one of Live Earth's sponsors - others are Smart (DaimerChrysler), PepsiCo and Absolut (vodka).
Al Gore went a step further by calling on all spectators and viewers to make a seven-point green pledge to reduce their own carbon footprints. One of the demands is to stop the construction of coal-fueled power stations, which is currently a topic of debate in the Netherlands and the European Union. Mr Gore, who used a television link-up to address spectators in Sydney and Tokyo, said we cannot fail future generations. He was present at the start of the concerts in Washington and New Jersey, where he told spectators: "Put all this energy in your heart and help us solve the climate crisis."
"The beginning of a revolution"
In London, Madonna said she hoped the concerts would mark the beginning of a revolution. However, besides the question of whether it is too late to influence the climate, in places such as Africa the dangers of global warming have not been imprinted on the public's consciousness - despite predictions that Africans could suffer more than people on other continents.
According to a British study (Ipsos Mori Poll) conducted at the end of June, the majority of those questioned said they believed that scientists and politicans exaggerated the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, respondents found terrorism, graffiti, dog poop and crime to be more serious problems than global warming. Al Gore has a long way to go in raising concern about the environment. The three-year publicity campaign may be on the short side.
* RNW Internet translation (FS)
Tags: 07-07-07, 7/7/7, Al Gore, concerts, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Kyoto, Live Earth, LiveEarth, London, New York, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington. Rio de Janeiro