(I haven’t seen this cute little Smart Car posted anywhere but every single concert goer passed it on the way in. Wouldn’t it be awesome if everyone could downsize like in Europe? Unfortunately for us, this little car looks like a nice lunch for an Escalade.)
Here’s a good read today from Joan Anderman of the Boston Globe. Joan was definitely in the press bubble with me:
Dave Matthews sang the praises of cloth diapers and his Prius in addition to the apt cautionary tale “Too Much.” Tunstall, midway through a home renovation, is installing solar panels and sheeps – wool insulation,…
It’s worth reading the whole thing, but I just adore her snarky conclusion:
And shame on the naysayers griping about the politics of hypocrisy or the value of staging an event of this scope without a measurable outcome. Bob Geldof, organizer of Live Aid and Live 8, told a Dutch newspaper that “I would only organize [Live Earth] if I could go onstage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations. They haven’t got those guarantees, so it’s just an enormous pop concert.”
I saw a drunk middle-aged man toss his beer bottle in a recycling bin for the first time. Multiply that by 2 billion. That’s a measurable outcome.
Wishing you were there, are you? Well, click on this link and you can still enjoy the show in NJ and elsewhere around the planet. (The artists and songs are clickable in the left margin and other venues are down below.) And for all the amazing short films click here. Television would be almost bearable if these were the commercials!
Geldof’s remarks are just really stupid, and it shows how little attention he’s paid to the entire Gore-motivated movement. “Just a concert”? No, Gore goes on to the next thing. I hope he’s got something big planned for the presidential race, if not his own run.
This was a show to raise awareness and spur wide spread behavioral change. It is a “bottom-up” event.
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Geldof clearly values the “top-down” approach.
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Even worse than disagreeing on tactics, Geldof doesn’t seem to understand stage of the process and how to move it forward.
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It would be just an enormous pop concert if you could walk onstage and announce the battle had already been won. Holding the event to raise awareness gives it purpose. Having it just to announce accomplishments makes it a meaningless celebration.
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It’s like he doesn’t think a campaign event is useful unless you can hold your innauguration in the middle of it.
What’s not to like? Great message, great concert. Let’s have one every year until we hit sustainable, not unsustainable, growth.
My one gripe is that the acoustics weren’t great. But other than that the concert was very good and got a good, positive message out to lots of people (including many or most of the audience members).
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And the concert people get special points for breaking the taboo about food and explicitly stating in a video that farmed animals produce more greenhouse gasses than do all cars and trucks worldwide, as well as making eating less meat one of the things people can do to help save the planet.
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The concert also catalyzed house parties across the country (many sponsored by MoveOn), which means it’s doing its part to help build the movement that this planet needs.
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Many of the performers, (plus other celebrities who introduced them) were already environmentally active. Major points to Gore for putting this on. Gore, by the way, was cheered loudly by the crowd (which was less of a hippie crowd and more the beer drinking concert goer crowd), though not as loudly as was John Bon Jovi.
That’s why the crowd went wild. (You probably knew that) If I ever get around to editing the video I took backstage, I’ll be able to post clips from all of the talent who were asked about their greeness. Only a few admitted to recently greening, but some like KT Tunstall, Dave Matthews, and one of the guys from Taking back Sunday were diehards. It was so interesting to hear how so many of them appeared to be influenced by childhoods spent outdoors.
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Take your children hiking!
Amid all the predictable ranting about Gulfstreams, tras, and the price of transporting Fiji water, one person had an interesting idea.
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Why not stage a virtual concert?
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For example, have Madonna in the back yard in Scotland, Mellancamp by the beach, etc., all of them doing a live feed to the various auditoriums – perhaps even as holograms like Gore.
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I didn’t watch the concert because…well…I didn’t like any of the musicians featured. A matter of taste. One thing that struck me as sad was kids who were raving that THIS would be their Woodstock….yeah! You can’t PLAN a spontaneous and unpredictable occurance – they happen, usually against the wishes of marketers (the producers of Woodstock lost their shirts as a concert venue). You have to let it happen, not strive to build it.
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If you do it again – what about virtuality? The cost of electricity is a whole lot less than jet fuel!
Crowds get people’s attention. Crowds form to see things and feel a part of them. Virtual doesn’t draw the crowds that get the attention of people who aren’t there.
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And now you’re spreading production to Maddona’s backyard, Mellancamp’s beach in Indiana and many more venues, so I’m not sure you save so much power.
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One thing that continues to baffle me is how so many conservatives or republicans think saving the earth is a liberal, hippie issue. Shouldn’t they want to actually protect “this land” as much as the flag? Isn’t there a giant chunk of hypocrisy in “America the Beautiful’s” smoke stacks, oil spills and strip mining?
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I don’t mean to attack, really, which is why I think you’re a good person to ask, PP. What is your opinion on this? Why do conservatives seem to oppose environmental protection? Is it because it sometimes comes in the form of “big government,” “anti-business” regulation?
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Does the more recent move to grass roots efforts to get individuals to make changes themselves stand a chance with conservatives or are they just turned off to the issue forever as a “liberal thing?”
I realize this as directed at Peter, but I’ll take a stab at it:
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This raises two points:
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1. Many conservatives, such as myself, do not think of environmentalism as a liberal or hippie issue. Personally, I contribute to many causes that support maintaining habitat for wildlife such as the National Whitetail Deer Foundation, Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Also, as an avid hunter and fisherman, many of the fees and licenses I pay for go to maintaining wildlife habitats and healthy herds. What I find distasteful is the idea of sanctimonious celebrities telling me what I should do. This is a knee-jerk reaction I have to ANYONE telling me how to live my life I suppose, but it especially rankles me when some over-the-hill musician burns up tons of fossil fuels in their private jets just so they can preach at us. Please … I’m an adult and can make my own decisions.
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2. Equating “smoke stacks, oil spills and strip mining” with the Republican side of the aisle is disingenuous at best. These things aren’t a Republican issue, they are a business issue. Plenty of Democrats have vested interests in these enterprises too.
Get over the celebrities shouldn’t preach thing. They have as much of a right to say what they feel as anyone else. And while they don’t necessarily deserve more credibility than anyone on BMG, they don’t deserve less, either. People in my office preach as bad or worse. They just don’t have as big a platform.
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I really think you hear “Hollywood politicians” bashed because more of them are liberal. But I don’t remember hearing conservatives shunning Charlton Heston, Ahhnold, Bruce Willis (actually he converted to Dem), Jackie Mason, John Wayne or Frank Sinatra, to name a few.
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Disingenuous? Please. Propose a ban on strip mining, force cleanups of power plants or enforce recycling to reduce pollution and see what the party breakdown is on the vote. How did it got with drilling up north? Are more conservatives or liberals denying the existence of global warming?
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I’m not saying it’s universal. I’m always glad to hear about Republicans like you who support environmental causes. I’m glad a link has been made between greens and hunters. But if you don’t think one party is more environmentally friendly than another you’re living in denial.
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I’ll believe the Republican establishement is concerned about saving the earth when their mouthpieces (Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity) start pushing for the issues.
…for a number of years. It’s actually manufactured by Daimler(-Benz). It’s a cute little car, but I wonder if it is as top-heavy as the old VW Beetle was, and thereby problemmatic in cross-winds.
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Interestingly, Daimler has a series the “A” series that is a little bigger than the Smart Car.
I rented one in Italy and had a blast driving the twisty roads of Tuscany. And I test-drove one here, and was quite impressed.
excited by concerts anymore and even fireworks, a passion of mine for just about 49 of my 52 years, this year I did without.
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It comes from being let down, consistently and repeatedly by not only both political parties but people in general.
I can’t get excited about something which is going to drastically reduce my standard of living while keeping the profit margins of the elite secure.
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Take the July 4 and shove it, because in my book America is dead.
although I had an unusually (for me) cynical reaction to the 4th this year too.
The attacks on Live Aid as being wasteful are exactly the same as the attacks on Gore’s vehicles, electricity usage and traveling to give his presentation, the attacks on Edward’s mansion and haircuts and Moore’s weight when talking about healthcare. They are just attempts to stop the message from being effectively transmitted.
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In order to stifle the advocates who are successful at reaching people, instead of engaging their issues, the opponents try to portray them as hypocritical. But then of course, the only thing not hypocritical would be to stay at home and not use the tools of a modern society to communicate. Which is exactly what these critics really want.
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It’s all just a shell game to silence and distract.
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Even “useful idiots” like Geldof should be told, “Hey! Shove it! We’ll use all the tools at our command to spread the message!”
“They are just attempts to stop the message from being effectively transmitted.”
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Perhaps they are examples of the hypocrisy of the messengers.
Except in this case, the only way to avoid all hypocrisy would be to do nothing except talk to people within walking distance.
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And look at the people yelling the loudest about hypocrisy, do you really think they give a damn about Live Earth’s carbon footprint? I think it’s obvious they only care about reducing the reach of the message.