what we have here is a band-wagon - scuse the pun

[red]

I mean Earth Live of course....

so now its *in* to give a damn,, they all are.

Annoyingly I cant find a quote anywhere.. but I woke to the Radio yesterday morning hearing KT tunstall defending her actions - ie going to America to be on stage to 'get the message out'
and said something along the lines of 'people have a go at a few bands but their carbon footprint is nothing compared to the power stations every day (please correct me if I have this quote totally wrong)

It reminds me of when I was a kid and first heard of the greenhouse effect and was against those nasty power stations - without realising its me at the other end - the consumer.. using the electricity etc that causes the power station to be in the first place. A BBC reporter asked members of the audience why they were coming to the concert.. to learn about global warming or for the music.. and they all said the music. who'd of thought.....

so let me get this straight.. now a few bands have put on concerts across the world, using heaps of energy, encouraging 1000s of people to travel to come to the concerts, it was televised so it could be watched on zillions of tv sets... (and annoy me by being everywhere when i only wanted to watch the news at lunchtime), and this no doubt will make everyone sit up and listen...
[/sarcastic mode]

[Meredith]

My sentiments exactly. BUT, just maybe, this is the only way to reach some people. If it's 'in' and it keeps being drummed home it could make a difference, not to you and me but believe it or not there are folks out there to whom it could be a revelation.

[Martin]

I can but echo - The Grauniad summed it up in their preview "it's hard to contemplate a lineup including Genesis, Keane, Razorlight, and the appalling James Blunt without wondering if catastrophic global meltdown would be altogether bad............"

[Jandra]

Hi Red,

Personally I think it is a good thing that the environment and CO2 emissions are 'sexy' nowadays.

It's a bit like marketing: you invest in publicity and hope that the returns are worth it. Al Gore is marketing CO2 emmission reduction and he's doing it in a way that appeals to lots of people. Just like people are influenced by the advertisements even if they go to the cinema for a movie, people do get the emmission reduction message even if they go to the concert for the music.

I don't like gatherings of large groups of people (and most of the music) and so I shun events like this. But I'm definitely not against it, as long as it is incidental.

Regards, Jandra

[mybarnconversion]

Must admit I couldn't bear to see any of it so kept away from the TV ... Madonna telling me to use less carrier bags before popping home (to one of the six) is an insult to everyone's intelligence ...

I loved the PR guys on the news talking about an investment of carbon when talking of the footprint of the event & its jetsetting stars ... who decides who is allowed to invest carbon? - Al Gore?

[Wombat]

I understand and empathise with the foregoing, but on balance I think it is a good thing. At least discussions of such things are on the public agenda and not just talked about by hard core weirdo's (such as myself) to bore their friends. To get action we need to get it main stream.

Nev

(fry me if you must, but use a solar cooker to do it! )

[eccentric_emma]

i couldnt watch it either, managed about two minutes before realising that most of the bands had flown halfway around the world. although the raised awareness is good, i think they went the wrong way about it. and i think that a lot of people still think they can change their lightbulbs then sit back saying they've done their bit. (obviously if everyone in the world did this, then it would make a difference but its not quite enough....).

i hope there is a way for people to learn that they must downshift their lives and stop consuming so much energy so that us 'greenies' can stop being in a minority.

[kimmysmum]

I did watch some of the Australian part of it . I feel it was very disorganised. In some ways it was good to see all the muso's around the world help but I have to wonder of whom that appeared where only there for the glory and who played for the real reason??????????
So I am not really going to give an opinion either way as there are to many different ways to shoot the whole thing down in flames but on the other side of the coin many ways to praise it and if only 1000 people took notice well at the end of the day that will make a difference.

[wulf]

Maybe it would have been greener if a whole bunch of musicians had gone out to their local pubs and clubs and performed acoustic or semi-acoustic sets to smaller audiences. The, er, miracle of TV could still have brought it together but it would also have been demonstrating how to have a big impact by doing things on a smaller, more efficient scale.

Wulf

[kimmysmum]

Yes Wulf that would have beeen a great idea. How much fun that would have been.
Maybe some one should suggest that as it is not to late to do it. HINT HINT

[red]

yeh - I guess any increased awareness is good - you do wonder how it balances out though - how much energy was squandered and how much will be saved as a direct result

surely everyone has heard this message already?

what worries me is this is fashion.. and the problem with that .. is it will go out of fashion - remember all those models being against real fur and saying they will never wear it? then fur became fashionable again.. and they wore it...

[eccentric_emma]

according to the daily mail (this is hearsay btw), there was lots of rubbish left at wembley - however a spokesperson said that it could all be sorted through and recycled....however, the reporter waited around and watched and none of it was sorted for recycling.

i see your point about it being fashionable - green is the new black nowadays, hopefully though, this message will stick as the situation isnt likely to improve anytime soon.

[Silver Ether]

They drive me NUTS celebs that is ... what use are they ... grrrrrrrrrrrrr the whole thing was just a farce and was avoided as much as poss ...how many air/road miles did they do between them? How much fuel did they use to get there? how much energy was used so the world could to listen to folks who seemed to be flat ... well they were everytime I walked past the daughters room ... How many homes could have been warmed and lit by the power? ARGH... told you they drove me nuts ...

[kimmysmum]

Yes Fashion what a dirty word at times.
Good point Red.

[the.fee.fairy]

- green is the new black.

What an excellent slogan!

What about Ish Live? We've all got the web, have most people got webcams?

I didn't watch it out of the same principals - the bands flying round the world. If it was british bands playing in britain, Aussie bands playiong Aus, etc, then i might have thought about it, but seeing as some bands were doing more than one place, and were flying, i declined the offer.