Live Earth, Just A Music Concert?

The much anticipated 24-hour series of concerts entitled Live Earth has been and gone. The show actually lasted some 29 hours, across ten venues over all seven continents. The artists put up an impressive show, so this was a total success from a musical point of view. But that's not the main reason behind Live Earth.

Let's look on the bright side. The biggest musical event ever staged had plenty of superlatives. First of all, it was the longest one ever held, some 29 hours, as I mentioned before. This music marathon featured over 100 of the greatest artists on the planet. The attendance record did not stop there, because more than 2 billion people worldwide tuned in to the live TV broadcast. Live Earth was also watched on the Internet by more than 10 million people. That makes it the most watched online event ever recorded in history.

The show was a blast, the artists performed to the height of their fame, and the crowd had a smashing time. But....

Live Earth was not intended to be just a great musical event, its main purpose was to raise awareness about the dangers of global warming. The first order of business is to make people acknowledge the basic message "global warming, hot, very very bad". Once that is accomplished, the environmental movement led by Al Gore must teach the masses new means that will reduce everyone's carbon footprint. The basic steps that anybody can follow are to buy low-energy light bulbs, or washing your laundry in cold water, or going out and planting a tree. You have to admit, that's not so difficult after all.

That's all fine and dandy, but there is also a slight problem that is being overlooked. Each one of us has a carbon footprint. That means that all of us are emitting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, therefore, we are all contributing to the global warming of our planet. And yet, the artists that performed at Live Earth have some massive carbon footprints. Take Madonna for example, her lifestyle ensures her a carbon footprint that is almost 100 times that of the average British population.

Putting this matter aside, this massive musical event did its part, it tried to make us change our polluting ways. Now it's our turn.