Frankly Green

Planet in Peril - R.E.M Debuts New Song with Upcoming Documentary

Check out this link to R.E.M.'s new Song "Until the Day is Done". The song will appear on an upcoming four-hour CNN documentary titled Planet in Peril that looks at the environmental crisis around the world.

Global Warming Concerts: A Lot of Hot Air?

The Live Earth show might leave a big environmental footprint but supporters say it could push people to action.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer July 6 2007

Link to Article

We've all seen them. The "No Blood for Oil" bumper stickers on the Grand Cherokees, "Save the Whales" pasted on the back of an old, smoke-belching '77 Volvo.

So when anti-global warming activists throw eight concerts on six continents this Saturday - the biggest charity concert ever, with 150 big-name acts and an expected audience of 2 billion - is there reason to think the hundreds of thousands of fans driving to stadiums and chugging bottled water by the caseload may actually do more environmental harm than good?

"There is definitely going to be some local impact with having an event like this," said Jim Motavalli, editor of E/The Environmental Magazine and author of the book "Green Living."

Organizer Kevin Wall has tapped former Vice President Al Gore and a host of rock stars for an event that is by any measure huge.

Billed as Live Earth, the U.S. concert will be held at New Jersey's 80,000-seat Giants Stadium. Talent includes The Police, Bon Jovi, Roger Waters, Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Kelly Clarkson, among others...

But an event of this scale is bound to draw fire, and it should come as no surprise to an environmental community long-familiar with accusations of hypocrisy...

So far, all things being equal, Live Earth has gotten off pretty easy. That could have something to do with the care concert promoters have put into the event.

Directions for mass transit to the events are posted online. For the New Jersey show, shuttle buses have been arranged from rail stations to Giants Stadium.

Plans call for nearly all the waste at the show to be recycled or composted and for energy used to get offset with carbon credits.

But environmentalists say the shows should not be judged by the one-day footprint of concert goers.

"It's impossible not to have some environmental impact with any event," said Motavalli, who isn't involved in the Live Earth concerts. He noted that concerts happen year-round and that in the long run the concerts should be good for the environment.

Rather, supporters say, the show should be judged by its ability to motivate those people to push for broader changes in society.

"The path to a solution lies with policymakers in this country taking action, not you and I changing our light bulbs," said Chris Miller, director of global warming for Greenpeace.

Specifically, Miller said he hoped to hear artists and speakers at the event calling for laws requiring big, mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, the purchase of renewable energy by utilities, and conservation measures like higher fuel efficiency standards.