Did Live Earth Influence you?

gbh

I'm just wondering if the Live Earth concerts have inspired you to do more for the environment?

My hunch is that the Concerts preached to the converted in that many people who watched and listened to them already do their bit. But i wonder have many more people not normally interested in green issues now decided to take up the message of Al Gore?

Alanthroneus

it opened my eyes to how easy it is to actualy save enegy but the concert was crap

silverharp

didn't do anything for me, It's alot of hot air and double standards coming from an industry which is at the heart of the throw away consumer culture, it was a case of do as I say and not what I do

mike65

I turned off me tv and painted the bedroom. Carbon saved & some energy expended

Mike.

jhegarty

no , in fact I drove the long way to work in protest....

bonkey

gbh wrote:

But i wonder have many more people not normally interested in green issues now decided to take up the message of Al Gore?

I think the more important question is how many people have now started considering the questions posed by the likes of Al Gore.

Personally, I think that as an awareness campaign, it was a dud. OK..I accept that awareness campaigns are almost always going to be open to cries of hypocracy for being "un-green" whilst delivering a green message.

What could have been a nice twist was to get all the acts to play unplugged. Yes, it would have been a gimic. No, it wouldn't have made any significant difference in the overall energy consumption of the concert.

But it could have been a good gimic. A hook. Because thats what you need to raise awareness. Something that grabs attention.

Another one would have been to only allow bands to play in their nation of residence. Yes, this would have meant that some of the concerts didn't have big english-speaking-world names. So what. Its another hook.

silverharp

bonkey wrote:

What could have been a nice twist was to get all the acts to play unplugged. Yes, it would have been a gimic. No, it wouldn't have made any significant difference in the overall energy consumption of the concert.

That's a good one, another would have been some of the bands playing from their homes to show that tele commuting works!


When I heard them say that they had carbon offet their emissions, I thought were freekin doomed!

cavedave

I saw Josh Stone which really had affected me. She said that we should take five minutes to plant a tree. No mention that the tree is only a carbon sink if it does not rot when it dies. No mention of the ecology of putting random trees in random places.

Climate change is not a simple issue. There are a huge number of trade offs that have to be assessed and Live Earth taught me not to trust morons to make these decisions about trade offs.

"If you want to save the planet I want to see you jumping up and down." Madonna

Celticfire

cavedave wrote:

"If you want to save the planet I want to see you jumping up and down." Madonna

Madonna has been dubbed "a climate-change catastrophe" despite her appearance at this weekend's Live Earth concert.


The singer, who began her performance with a song especially written for the event aiming to promote green issues, has allegedly been linked to companies accused of being major polluters.

A tabloid newspaper detailed estimates of Madonna's carbon emissions from nine houses, a fleet of cars, a private jet and the Confessions tour, calling her a "climate-change catastrophe."

According to other reports, Madonna leads the pack of the worst individual rock star polluters in the world.

Madge's Ray of Light Foundation reportedly has $4.2 million (£2.1 million) of shares in a string of companies, including Alcoa, the American aluminium giant, the Ford Motor Company and Weyerhaeuser, an international forest products company, which have all been criticised by environmentalists.

For her 2006 World Tour, she flew by private jet, transporting a team of up to 100 technicians and dancers around the globe.

When she's not in the air the singer owns an array of cars waiting for her including Mercedes Maybach, two Range Rovers, an Audi A8 and a Mini Cooper S.

According to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, Madonna has an annual carbon footprint of 1,018 tonnes while the average Briton produces just ten tonnes.

The Material Girl's Confessions tour last year produced 440 tonnes of carbon pollution in just four months, simply in flights between venues.

This does not include the trucks required to transport equipment, the power needed to stage each show, or the transport for fans travelling to each concert.

Do as I say eh?? :rolleyes:

barrett1965

I saw five minutes of it and swithed off, thus conserving electricity.

ednwireland

what a bunch of pop stars who'll fly round the world at the drop of a hat (that includes al gore) with huge houses fleets of cars can tell me about saving the world i dont know. complete waste of time just an ego-trip for al gore as far as i can see. didnt watch it.

breadmonkey

ednwireland wrote:

what a bunch of pop stars who'll fly round the world at the drop of a hat (that includes al gore) with huge houses fleets of cars can tell me about saving the world i dont know. complete waste of time just an ego-trip for al gore as far as i can see. didnt watch it.

Let's just pretend for a minute that this concert was in fact nothing but an 'ego trip' for Al Gore and that all of his environmental campaigning is purely for his own personal gains; WHO THE FCUK GIVES A SH1T? I don't care if he's doing it for personal ambition, the fact that someone is off their arse and trying to spread awareness and take action is a good thing. Who cares what's driving him as long as he's making a difference?

PeakOutput

man made global warming is a myth so it did not influence me in anyway got to do with that

it did get me thinking about excess in general though

BendiBus

While Madge may travel the world in a private jet, she tried to offset this carbon emission by closing down a private airfield near her English mansion, thus stopping ordinary people from enjoying the pleasure of private flight :mad:

Edit: I thought she actually had succeeded but apparently not.

SolMate

On balance, while the concert itself wasn't up to much and all the debate about whether it created more wastage than it solved (in terms of stars jetting in and all that) is a side issue - we're arguing about a drop in the ocean, anything that helps raise the general level of awareness is a good thing.

We may feel that the necessary general level of awareness is already there now - but it's sure not coming through in behaviours.

bonkey

SolMate wrote:

On balance, while the concert itself wasn't up to much and all the debate about whether it created more wastage than it solved (in terms of stars jetting in and all that) is a side issue...

This comment just reminded me of the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

It was quite possibly meant to be deliberately controversial in terms of its waste. After all, those it would provoke are "the choir" that you don't need to preach to. Better to get the incensed and have them raise the issue even further for you.

It all starts with awareness.