Live Earth. Huh?
As a music spectacle, it was pretty spectacular. But as a rallying cry and mustering of political might, I question if Live Earth actually made things better or worse.
- These types of “benefit concerts” are old news, leaving most people to sleep through them; I would have except my wife saw Dave Matthews on and we were hooked (go Dave, where was Tim?);
- Many of the artists and organizers themselves were wondering if the concert was hypocritical, if, in fact, the act of fans, artists and organizers traveling to and putting on these concerts used a “larger carbon footprint” that it was worth (excellent brief Time magazine article here);
- In answer to that, the organizers said they would offset their emissions, probably with the shell game of emissions credits and futures (where companies and countried can violate agreements but can make up for it by purchasing others emissions credits);
- This issue is already in the news frequently, so was this “concert to raise awareness” necessary?
- Where did the money from this event (ticket and promotional item sales, etc.) go? What will it be used for? Maybe I’m not looking hard enough (probably Adult ADD) but I do not see that stated obviously on the LiveEarth web site;
- Great to see Roger Waters, Linkin Park, The Police and others; but look how easy it was for Kanye West to ruin a classic Police song…what was that all about? Sting trying to get the attention of the rap fans? Ugh.
Rant over for the day.