Live Earth Set to Rock for Change

Greg Galitzine : Green Blog
Greg Galitzine
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Live Earth Set to Rock for Change

 
In order to pull the world together to confront issues that affect us on a global scale, one of the most successful methods of rallying people to a cause is through music. Live Aid/Band Aid, USA for Africa, Farm Aid, The Concert for Bangladesh, Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast, America: A Tribute to Heroes… these events have all raised countless millions for those in need and most importantly raised awareness of various issues.
 
Standing on the shoulders of all of these events, Live Earth is set to take center stage on July 7 (7-7-07).
 
To call it an ambitious undertaking is understating the parameters of the event. Live Earth will last 24 hours, span 7 continents, and bring together over 100 musical artists and 2 billion people in the hopes of “triggering a global movement to solve the climate crisis.”
 
According to the Live Earth Web site:
 
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.
 
Live Earth concerts will take place in New York, London, Sydney; Rio de Janeiro; Johannesburg, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hamburg.
 
The shows will be broadcast live over the Internet at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.
 
 
Among the more mundane, yet critically important aspects of the shows, the Live Earth crew has teamed with the U.S. Green Building Council, to come up with a series of Green Event Guidelines to address the environmental and energy management challenges of each concert site. According to the official site:
 
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.

The shows are being headlined by some of the biggest artists performing today, including the Police, Madonna, Metallica, Dave Matthews, Genesis, Lenny Kravitz, Mana, Shakira, Duran Duran, and many others. For a full list of artists and the venue they will be performing at, please click here.
 
 
I remember going to see my favorite acts in concert, and I would often come home with a T-shirt from the show. One of the interesting elements of Live Earth, is the merchandising campaign. Yeah, sure, one can still buy a T-shirt commemorating the event, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of concert merchandise including things like a Global Warming Survival Handbook, an eBay auction of signed concert memorabilia, and the ability to purchase carbon offsets.
 
I wonder if carbon offsets will ever achieve that retro “gotta have it” level of hysteria that classic rock T’s are currently enjoying.
 
<sigh> I wish I held on to my Iron Maiden T-shirts… They’d probably be worth a few bucks, which I could then use to lessen the footprint of my business travel…


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