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On Saturday July 7, 2007, 7/7/07, the world was treated to a musical cornucopia. When I say the word “world” I mean it literally. On every continent on the planet concerts were put into motion that ranged the full gambit of musical tastes.
Being a sucker for just about anything musical, I was tuned in to this event and enjoyed almost every minute of it. Sure, there were a few acts that were shown that missed the mark for me, but I’m sure there were people who preferred the Yellow Magic Orchestra over Fall Out Boy, one of my personal favorites, but to each his own.
Big concerts like this one are always a great way to see new bands as well as catching up with some that may have passed you by in recent years. It was also great for catching up with some of my old favorites, in this case acts like Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, and The Police.
The causes behind these extravagant shows are always important, but it is the bands that bring you to the soapbox. Sadly, more times than not, once the stage has gone dark, the reason behind the music is forgotten. Hopefully the message won’t be lost this time. The important part was to have enjoyed the music while picking up a few helpful hints on saving energy.
The concerts were billed as Live Earth: The Concerts For A Climate In Crisis, and despite the musical treats, the message was the true star.
Tuning in wasn’t an easy feat though, especially if you wanted to catch the lion’s share of what was broadcast. That’s because is was shown on cable/satellite TV on Bravo and the Sundance Channel, not exactly the most high profile destinations in the television universe. I watch them, but the average Joe probably doesn’t have a clue as to what station number they are.
Sure, you could have watched the Reader’s Digest version that NBC had on for 3 hours that evening, as opposed to the 18 hours shown on the others. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, the message and the performances were cut way back.
What I was most annoyed at was the lack of involvement on the part of MTV, you know the music channel that rarely plays music anymore. If there was ever a time that the “Music Channel” should stop playing the garbage that they currently show instead of music, this was the time to do it. After all, their core audience are the ones who will really feel the results of the “Crisis” if we all don’t start doing something about it now.
What is this impending “Crisis”? Well, if I have to tell you, you have either been asleep for the last 5 years or so, or you are one of those mindless twits that don’t believe global warming exists. Trust me, there are many people who are so caught up in conspiracy theory mindsets that they think that the destruction of our ozone layer isn’t happening and is some sort of left wing conspiracy.
That is the same mindset that is shared by our sitting President, 555 days to go before he’s gone, but who’s counting?
www.backwardsbush.com He has continuously ignored the pleas of the scientific community who have been warning him about the increasing global warming crisis and has done nothing. He instead put together his own group of “scientists”, all who have the same mental stability of Dr. Strangelove, who attempt to support the claim that global warming is a fallacy. What a tool.
All I can think about is the fact that if Presidential sibling and co- conspirator Jeb hadn’t fixed the election down in Florida we would have had Al Gore as President. We not only would be 6 years ahead of the game in combating global warming, instead of 6 years behind, we also wouldn’t have lost 3,610 brave and patriotic Americans in Iraq.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you like Al Gore, you can’t argue with the fact that what he has been doing is a benefit to all mankind. His efforts to bring awareness to the masses to the problems of global warming have been nothing short of Herculean.
 The Live Earth Concerts is part of the SOS Campaign. The mission of the SOS Campaign is to empower individuals to change their consumer behaviors and motivate corporations and political leaders to enact decisive measures to combat the climate crisis. It was founded by Gore and Kevin Wall who not only put together the Live Earth shows but have put together a multi-media platform that includes books, short films, and TV and radio public service announcements. These are all designed with one goal in mind: to provide the global audience with tools that they can use to help stop global warming.
Some of these tools are so easy to implement that there shouldn’t be any excuses for any of us not to start doing them immediately. Things as simple as switching to compact fluorescent lights (CFL’s) or turning up your thermostat 3 degrees in the summer or down 3 degrees in the winter. You can also turn down your water heater to 130 degrees or make sure that the tires on your car are inflated to the proper levels.
There are many more ideas that you can implement depending on your lifestyle and they can be found with a click of the computer mouse at
www.liveearth.msn.com under the Green tab. While you are there, if you missed any of the concerts, you can catch them there for free.
I’m sure you can find at least one thing you can do and that is all that they are asking, because doing at least one of their suggestions beats doing nothing. It is, after all, the planet you live on as well. You won’t go to hell if you don’t do anything about it now, but in a couple of decades from now it will feel like you are there. If we don’t start now, we, our children, and our children’s children will be paying the price down the line.
Remember, the planet you are saving is your own.
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