"Live Earth" - Climate Change Pomposity
"We - the human species - have arrived at
a moment of decision. Our home - Earth - is in danger
What is at risk of being destroyed
is not the planet itself,
but the conditions that have made it
hospitable for human beings"
- Al 'call me pompous' Gore
I think the concert is going to be spectacular own goal
I can't see it doing any more than providing
ammunition to critics of the global warming thesis
that anti-global warmers are a bunch of hypocrites
Everyone is aware of the issue,
It's arguments that are needed to convince
people of the seriousness of climate change
not a gaggle of pop stars
Global Babbling'Live Earth" - The Jaundiced ViewIt is unprecedented and even laughable for us to imagine that we could actually make a conscious choice as a species, but that is nevertheless the challenge that is before us.
Our home - Earth - is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings.
So thunders Al Gore in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Sunday.
An integral part of the response to this mammoth challenge, Gore contends, comes in the form of tomorrow's Live Earth extravaganza.
On all seven continents, the Live Earth concert will ask for the attention of humankind to begin a three-year campaign to make everyone on our planet aware of how we can solve the climate crisis in time to avoid catastrophe.
Individuals must be a part of the solution. In the words of Buckminster Fuller, "If the success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do, how would I be? What would I do?"
Live Earth will offer an answer to this question by asking everyone who attends or listens to the concerts to sign a personal pledge to take specific steps to combat climate change.
Do you go along with Gore? Is Live Earth a powerful and effective means to spread the message, or does it amount to little more than a confected sideshow?
Yes, it's a brilliant idea - get perhaps the most self-indulging, gluttonous people on the planet (pop and rock stars) to promote eco-awareness in an event that, by its nature, consumes a ridiculous amount of energy.
Western decadence in the name of energy conservation. What a ridiculous world we live in, eh?
When Al Gore and every single one of the artists attending vow NEVER to fly again, NEVER to use a car again, and most importantly, move out of their mansions and luxury apartments into mud huts served by solar panels and wind farms - then, and only then will I consider how my action impact on 'the environment'
Furthermore, until compelling scientific evidence is presented, I will continue to treat Gore and his entourage as the snake-oil salesmen they most certainly are.
I don't think there can be many people who aren't aware of the issue of climate change - publicity isn't the problem, it is convincing people to make actual changes from living consumerist, materialistic lifestyles towards more ecologically-friendly ones.
And that doesn't mean remembering to put the recycling box out every fortnight, it is a whole cultural shift. Unlikely to be achieved through the preaching of some of the richest, most extravagant people on the planet.
I really need a load of boring-old-fart has-beens with their huge houses and swimming pools, Bentleys and private jets/helicopters telling me that I'm being selfish and socially unaware because I drive a 4 year old estate car and fly to the south of France once a year with my family.
I expect it to be as successful as Make Poverty History: self-important, talentless airheads on stage, pious idiots in the audience. Ghastly!
I am all in favour of utilising the media networks and preaching to the resistant, but I fear that this will do more to discredit climate change campaigning than to promote it.
If anything it supports the notion that campaigners are wealthy hypocrites and just eager to get everyone else to change while they travel by private jet, don the fur coats, and do business as usual.
This will convey a strong message that climate change is just another slogan to be put on a T-shirt and sold back to the public, and not about individuals changing how they live NOW.
I hope I'm proved wrong, but I think this is a PR disaster for climate change campaigners.
If you want a load of vacuous middle class tits and bandwagon hopping celebs having a global wanking competition then fine, I'm sure Live Earth will be satisfactory.
But it will achieve about as much as Live 8 did - fuck all.
These mega-concerts exist to assuage the guilt and massage the egos of a very narrow section of the population.
The trendy, self-righteous, well-off, middle class, fond of hand-wringing and lecturing those lower down about how to behave. Pretty much Democrat and those that support liberal capitalism.
Please please please, may a giant tidal wave come along and wipe the bunch of postering twats away.
I agree totally. Al Gore is typical of American politicos - talk, talk,
talk! The man lives in a 20,000 sq. ft. house and he must top the scales at
280 pounds. He eats too much and wastes more than most African villages. I
know - he buys carbon offsets. So if you're a zillionaire, you can pollute,
waste and otherwise screw the earth as long as you pay for your waste. Most
of the regular people do live in a relatively ecological way. I, for
instance, live in less than 1,000 sq.ft., live 6 Km. from work, recycle or
don't buy it in the first place. I eat only what I need, so I weigh the
same 165lbs. that I did 35 years ago. I don't use paper products, unless
they can be recycled. Like 90% of the world, I use water in place of toilet
paper. I prefer to teach by example and not tell others how they should
live. Mr. Gore and his former boss, Bill Clinton had eight years in the
White House and did little to get America or the rest of the world
governments to change. There are people out there who can preach from their
personal life experience like David Suzuki or the Greenpeace campaigners,
but then they are just thinking globally and acting locally to help the
earth survive another generation or two.