SOS: LiveEarth Concerts

It would have been prudent of me to have posted about the LiveEarth concerts prior to the event, so as to encourage you all to check it out, but ah well, time ran away with itself again and here I am on July 8th telling you about an event on July 7th. Please feel free to mentally reconstruct the sentences below to account for the time lapse in my posting (ie. they were written prior to the event taking place).

What is Live Earth?
Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.

With support from the U.S. Green Building Council, creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, Live Earth will implement new Green Event Guidelines. All Live Earth venues will be designed and constructed by a team of sustainability engineers who will address the environmental and energy management challenges of each concert site, as well as the operations of sponsors, partners and other Live Earth affiliates. Each venue will not only be designed to maintain a minimum environmental impact, but will showcase the latest state-of-the-art energy efficiency, on-site power generation, and sustainable facilities management practices.


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I signed up to host a gathering of people at a friend's house to watch the concerts last night. Great music was heard, great food was cooked and consumed, and new friendships were formed. What more could someone want out of an evening?

This show helped to bring the global climate crisis even more into the public consciousness, while spreading practical information about how to make small but important changes in our lifestyles to help the planet. Some ideas: Turning down your thermostat just 1 degree can cool your heating costs by 3%; Using compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) can reduce energy usage and costs by 70%; Computers use up to 70% less electricity when you put them to sleep instead of using a screensaver.

See links below for more info.

I was struck by how politically charged many of the musicians were - specifically Melissa Etheridge, who sang a song about a world where soldiers are not killed for the profit of the wealthy, people rebel against injustices, Bush is out of office, and we have a woman president. I'd love to find the name of that song - I'm sure it will be on You Tube soon enough.


http://www.liveearth.org/news.php
- Climate Change Tools and News


http://www.liveearth.org/crisis_solutions.php - Climate Crisis Solutions

http://liveearthpledge.org/answer_the_call.php - Take the LiveEarth Pledge