Today it was announced that the US leg of the Live Earth, the Concerts for a Climate in Crisis produced by Save Our Selves will not be in Washington, DC as originally planned, but will be held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
I fully support this marriage of entertainment and the environment and the whole call to action by celebrities. I'm just not quite sure - with all due respect to Mr. Gore (who I love) - that this is the right vehicle to raise awareness on this specific issue.
The concert, to be held on July 7, 2007, will follow the Live Aid model of many concerts produced on the same day featuring many show-stopping musicians in an effort to raise awareness. All of this I'm on board with except for the whole event part.
The event's website states:
All Live Earth venues will be designed and constructed by a groundbreaking team of sustainability engineers and advisors directed by John Picard. This greening team will address the environmental and energy management concerns of each concert site, as well as the operations of sponsors, partners, and other Live Earth affiliates.
Each venue will not only be designed to maintain a minimum environmental impact, but will showcase the latest state-of-the-art energy efficiency, on-site power generation, and sustainable facilities management practices.
Having worked festivals and outdoor entertainment spaces for quite some time I know first-hand the impact that these type of large scale events can have on the venue. Bringing hundreds - if not thousands - of people together at a single venue creates a lot of trash. A lot of waste. Property damage. Not to mention that all of these people will be traveling using one form or another to the concert. Many of these people will not opt for public transportation, carpooling or driving hybrids (though I hope some will). This, of course, adds carbon to our atmosphere - and in multiple locations simultaneously, too! Then, there's human waste. (Porta potty anyone?) Sound pollution. (It's rock 'n roll, people! I love it, but it's noisy!) And, while I hope that the electricity to support the live production as well as the video simulcasts comes from a green source, as it seems they are striving, most of the homes I know of that might be tuning in their televisions to watch the concert have not yet flipped the switch.
As a public awareness tool, I think that the concert could be very effective. As an environmental tool, it feels flawed. Now, granted, the attempt is there, but I don't know how practical it really is. And I never thought I would be a skeptic on this issue. I hope that the folks behind this event can prove me wrong - I would really love to see them pull off a large scale event like this that would have no impact on the environment. I just don't know if that's possible. Yet. And for that, I give Live Earth two out of four stars. Great idea. I hope it works, but I'll believe it when I see it.
1 comment:
not to mention the $100+ ticket cost. :)
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