Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiWhy Live Earth Will Fail
Tomorrow the world will once again be blessed with a world wide concert featuring the leading concerned citizens of the rock 'n roll world playing for free (although all the free publicity certainly makes it worth while) to help educate the rest of the world about the dangers of global warming.
Live Earth certainly is long overdue. In fact, many of the same processes that are at the root of global warming -- thoughtless consumption and the wars, exploitation, environmental degradation and the wholesale violations of the rights of entire peoples -- were also at the root of the African famines that 1985's Live Aid concert were organized to combat. In the intervening 22 years, however, the situation for the majority of the world's poor has only gotten worse, not better. And we in the Global North are continuing to consume way beyond the means of the earth to sustain itself, all the while telling the rest of humanity that with enough hard work, World Bank loans and inducements (complete repatriation of profits, lax labor and environmental laws) to Western corporations to invest in their countries, they too can join the global consumer paradise. We seem always to forget to mention that if Americans, at six percent of the world's population, needs to consume about a quarter of its wealth and resources to maintain our standard of living, the idea of the rest of the world even approaching our levels of consumption, energy usage and exploitation of land, water, resources and people would mean the end of civilization, if not most life on the planet, in a very short period of time.
Two years ago, some of the same people now organizing Life Earth worked with Live Aid originator Bob Geldoff on Live 8. This time the goal was to raise awareness rather than money about the continuing plight of Africa, in order to get average citizens around the world to pressure their governments to enact the huge increases in debt relief, aid, and lowering of our own agricultural subsidies systems without which much of Africa will be doomed to sink even further into the hell of war, ecological disasters, drought and famine in the near future -- particularly as global warming becomes more prevalent across the continent.
I knew then that Live 8 was doomed to fail. And sure enough, a few months ago reports detailing whether governments who signed onto the Gleneagles Summit's call for increased aid and debt relief to Africa have lived up to their pledges revealed that almost none have. Even Bono's warning in May that the failure to live up to their promises could spark violent protests didn't move the G-8, whose leaders in their May meeting in Germany reminded us by their inaction that they were never interested in anything more than a photo up with Bono and his famous friends and maybe a few autographs for the grand-kids.
The reality is that there was no way that Live 8, as Bono argues on the concert's home page, would give "the poorest of the poor real political muscle for the first time." It is, unfortunately, most likely that the only thing that will give the poor muscle in places like Nigeria or other resource rich but horrifically corrupt and despotic states is literally muscle -- that is, powerful mass based resistance movements, with enough capacity to use violence against the corrupt governments and multinational corporations that they will be forced to share the profits extracted from the territories in which they operate with the people who live there.
Of course, the people of the third world understand this all to well. This is why, for example, in Johannesburg, ticket sales for Live Earth were tepid enough so that the concert had to be scaled back significantly. Rio's concert will draw the usual million people; but that's because Brasilians never pass up an opportunity to party, not because anything thinks Live Earth will help stop global warming. Indeed, Brasilians don't need Al Gore or Sting to advise them on the need to do more about global warming; the country is already in the lead among major CO2 producing countries through its use of locally produced ethanol instead of gasoline and other measures.
Even Geldoff has criticized Live Earth for not having a clearly defined program of action that people could engage in and pressure their governments to do the same, a criticism clearly shared by Who frontman Roger Daltrey, who exclaimed "the last thing the planet needs is a rock concert." Of course, that didn't stop him and remaining Who member Pete Townsend from doing a few concerts in Ireland this past weekend (there was no mention of whether carbon offsets were bought to cover the energy used to rock the crowd in Dublin). Similarly, Live Earth will do nothing to convince 99% of the people who watch it to take meaningful -- that is, painful -- steps towards reducing the harm their lifestyles are doing to the planet. Indeed, for all but the already greenest of us, joining the fight against global warming would be a bit like going into the UFC Octagon against Quinton Rampage Jackson -- who beat reining champion Chuck Liddell in one minute and fifty-three seconds. Except that we're more like Homer Simpson than Chuck Liddell.
For me, however, the biggest problem with Live Earth is not that it is a concert, or that rich rock stars are once again telling the rest of us how to behave. Artists and art more broadly have long been crucial to successful struggles for social change, and global warming should be no different. The problem is that Live Earth is reproducing the very top down and relatively painless notion of activism that doomed Live 8, and is refusing to make clear the obvious links between global warming and the policies of the Bush Administration and other governments of supporting war and dictatorships to ensure our access to oil. And most important, the organizers of Live Earth have left the grass roots activists at the forefronts of the struggles against global warming and environmental devastation more broadly, especially in the developing world, out of the conversation when in fact they should be leading it.
The most glaring evidence of this comes from the concert that was proposed, and then canceled, for Istanbul. As soon as I heard about Live Earth I contacted the producers to urge them to include the people of the Middle East and larger Muslim world in the concert planning. After all, the strategically most important location for petroleum extraction is the Middle East, and the entire foreign policy system of the US for more than half a century has been geared, largely, towards preserving our control and/or management of the most important reserves in the region. The "military industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned about half a century ago -- which today is more properly called the "arms-petrodollar complex" -- has been the primary planner, executor and beneficiary of US Middle Eastern policy since that time, from supporting some of the most corrupt, autocratic and violent regimes in the world, to invading Iraq, all for the sake of maintaining an "American way of life" -- exemplified by President Bush's exhortation after 9/11 for Americans to "go shopping" which is literally poisoning the planet to death.
From my frequent travels to the the Middle East I have become away of the strong if little discussed environmental movements who have sprung up with civil society's development across the region. More important, if the Middle East is at the center of the problem of global warming, it stands to reason that it should be part of the conversation about the solution, especially since the impact of global warming, particularly as regards increased desertification, will hit the countries of the region harder than almost anywhere else on earth.
I told them about the vibrant and growing rock, metal and hip hop scenes across the Muslim world, many of which are quite political, and whose members have already begun taking on issues related to Live Earth. I even put them in touch with an amazing array of environmental activists in Turkey who are at the forefront of the global warming movement in the country, and have put on huge festivals in the last few years bringing tens of thousands of people together, all in a spirit of DIY grassroots activism. They were already planning a concert on July 7 and were happy to work with Live Earth to bring in bands from around the Muslim world to make it a truly global affair (as far as I can tell, apart from a last minute addition of Yusuf Islam to the Hamburg show, there is not a single artist from the Middle East or North Africa performing at any of the concerts, although I can't be sure because not all the lists of performers has been made public).
But it was clear that this was not a major concern for the organizers, although ultimately they did decide to organize a show in Istanbul. But instead of working with local grass roots organizers who had a track record of doing exactly what Live Earth has said are its main goals, the producers sought out a big time concert promoter who was a convicted felon with ties to the mafia, a horrible reputation among artists, and who has no history of environmental activism. Sadly but not surprisingly, the Istanbul show was canceled because of "financial and logistical snags." My friends have still organized a great concert, but no one outside of Turkey will know about it.
The simple but profoundly depressing fact is that the entire world economic and political system as it exists today is based around practices that are destroying the planet slowly but surely. The corporations, political elites and others who benefit from the existing system are not good Christians and will not be swayed by Bono's religiously grounded arguments. They are not good environmentalists and will not be swayed by Al Gore's arguments at Live Earth. They will do whatever is necessary -- lie, cheat, steal, oppress, exploit, murder and wage war -- to maintain control of a world economy that sees half the world living on $2 per day or less while inequality and poverty increase in line with the amount of CO2 in the air, in order to continue to reap their huge salaries and bonuses and maintain their stranglehold on power.
Against such a superpower few alternatives exist. One is al-Qa'eda, but its ideology and actions have only strengthened rather than weakened the system, while enriching the oil and arms barons who most benefit from it even more than they could have ever imagined possible. Another is comprised of the multitude of grass roots movements around the world who, before 9/11 gave governments the excuse to use increasing levels of violence and abuse of rights against them, were achieving enough success in raising awareness about the current system to have been considered, for a brief moment, a "second superpower" that could potentially alter the shape of the world economic system with its demands.
In the middle stands all those movements on the front lines of the "arc of instability" around the world, who are fighting a life or death battle against western oil and mining companies and their own corrupt governments and economic elites, and who will increasingly use whatever means necessary in that struggle -- in the process coming to look either more like al-Qa'eda or like Seattle's turtle people, depending on what the rest of us do to help them.
If Kanye West, Sting, Melissa Ethridge, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the dozens of other artists donating their time to the effort to combat climate change really want to do some good, they should take their digital cameras, go to the third world communities on the front lines, record their stories -- and their music -- and stand with them against the corporations and governments (including ours) who are committed to exploiting their lands and resources down to the world's last drop of fresh water and clean air. Anything less than that is just a concert, and as Roger Daltrey points out, the world already has enough of those.
Mark LeVine is the author of, Why They Don't Hate Us (Oneworld, 2005) and Heavy Metal Islam (forthcoming, Randon House/Verso)
59 Comments so far
Show AllI dont believe live earth was a complete failure but was not the complete answer. It was a start to educate people worldwide on the impending climate disaster. The answer is not political or religious, infact politics and religion only get in the way of an attempt to change direction of climatic change. The people of the entire world need to work together no matter what race or religion or country to reverse the global warming disaster coming. Maitreya who is a world teacher has been attempting to educate us all for nearly 30 years to deaf ears. He is not himself a politician or religious leader although his simple message is very spiritual in nature and he has met with and attempted to talk sense into world political leaders. Al Gore and Madonna are only a couple of individuals very familiar with Maitreya and according to them there needs to be a start somewhere. The sooner the world opens its minds and hearts to Maitreya's message the sooner we will overcome many of the disasters and atrocities this planet is encountering. Very soon Maitreya will be presenting a worldwide televised address, his official emergence in which he will communicate telepathically to everyone in his/hers own language. Many of our world leaders at that point will run and hide under the rocks and caves of the earth as all of us citizens of the earth will at one time realize the solution doesn't rely on politics but in our own hearts as we rise together to bring in the New Age.
I totally agree with this article.I would definitely liked to have seen more musical representation from other countries, especially the middle eastern ones. The message I got was to buy more.....more "special" lightbulbs that everyone is going to "do their part" by buying, without reading the label and finding out that just breaking one is life-threatening, nevermind what mother earth is going to do with them once their ceramic bases are tossed into land-fills. I can also "do my part" by buying another "green" car. Yippee!!Imagine what could have happened if we'd been encouraged, instead not to buy products that come in plastic containers. Now, THAT would mean something.Plastic pollution is far worse than CO2 pollution, especially in the third world.
And, did anyone get the creeps, like I did, when they saw all that catholic nobility lined up? They HAVE the resources to help the planet in a really big way but do they? Just seeing them all sitting pretty made me realise that there really is a hidden agenda being foisted upon us and Al Gore is its main proponent. Meantime, NOBODY is talking about the impact that daily chemtrails are making on the planet. We've been distracted once again by lightbulbs. To think that someone thinks they're doing their part by running out and buying them without asking any questions is very sad.
Someone in the media needs to stop following blindly and do their home work. You all side step the issue at hand and your readers do too. Great movements are based on righting a wrong i.e. racism, womens suffrage ... not taking away peoples rights based on "feelings" not science. The people who do buy into all this crap claim to be intellectuals but they are the Catholic church of the middle ages. If you disagree with them and use logic and actual science as your reason then you are stupid and naive and worse yet need to be tied to the stake or be tortured. They can not explain there rational for the human element in global warming because they have "no" and I will repeat this and dare you to prove me wrong without cutsie sayings and greenpeace fake numbers but with true hard science "No" evidence. I am amazed with the arogance and the lack of any research by the media into the so called science behind this doomsday garbage, or the people who follow blindly. I had the opportunity to be at the research facilities at the South Pole a few years back and the schlock science that recieves grants is amazing, they base the studies on assumptions that no legitamate scientist would jump to and get the answers they want to support their premise. I do not deny the earth is warming but it is the utmost arrogance to presume that we have caused it. The scientific evidence is anything but convincing and the computer modeling is bogus. Meteorologist can't even get a 7 day forecast right, yet they claim to have evaluated all the variables for the warming of the earth over decades.
Now I will dismiss the moron Al Gore and his ridiculus "do as I say not as I do mentality". he has an electric bill and energy usage that would make any average middle class person cringe from the bill. He spends more on energy-fossil fuels in a year then most people make in ten years of hard work. He is like the fat guy who goes to the fast food joint and orders the triple cheese burger with bacon and super size fries and gets a diet coke and thinks he has made some sort of progress on his diet or by putting in a fluorecent bulb he has made a contribution to mankind oh sorry that not right humans do not come into this religion of global warming we are the evil destroyers of all that is good and should perish for the good of Ghia. He is a huge fraud and anyone with a brain can see it. The press love him and question nothing, I can't see why such a huge scam is being foisted on the public without any legitimate debate and I would like to know the true agenda.
Please allow a voice of reason to be heard because I do not believe it is being put out to the general public. All I ask of people is do not follow blindly into the depths of this religious ideology. Do your own research check out the real facts and make your decisions based on the evidence that is available and do not use crap from the greenies or for that matter the nay sayers.
Since the phenomenon of Global Warming is an International one, primarily perpretrated by the United States and China (although vast majority of nations are guilty of it to a certain degree), there needs to be International solutions. Perhaps the UN can create a branch of law enforcement to make sure that ALL nations use renewable resources. The technology for renewable resources already exist. In fact, the technology to harness solar energy for use has been around since the early 20th century. It's also been known that hemp could be converted as a fuel source for a few decades as well.
The greatest obstacle to prevent renewable resources for being the primary one for a given nation? The money to be made in petroleum. It would seem that petroleum should be banned in order to implement these renewable energy sources for every country in our world since it is the same petroleum companies that are preventing renewable resources from bein gused throughout the world. The motivation for each nation to use renewable resources would certainly be there if petroleum is made illegal. If Brazil can become completely energy independent using strictly renewable energy resources, so can every other nation. The penalty for any nation on Earth using pretoleum shoould be so severe that they dare not use it. Yes petroleum companies will not make money anymore selling oil and gas, but they will manage. CEOs of petroleum companies are already multi-gazillionaires anyway. Besides, look at all the people who have died and wars waged throughout the world for petroleum access and theft.
True justice for these Rapers of the Earth -
Having their assets liquidated to be used for the implementation of this new policy should it come into existence or face the death penalty by International Law.
The penalty for any nation in the world for not using strictly renewable resources effective such-and-such a date -
Complete forfeiture of said nation's sovereignty with the land being used strictly for power plants creating renewable energy. This forfeited nation would then be regulated by said International body and each surviving nation would have equal share of whatever power the land generates.
It is not that Live Earth will fail - unless its goal was actually stopping global warming. It was entertaining and informational. But it will have no more effect on global warming than Live Aid had on African poverty.
The problem we face with global warming is on such a scale that we cannot hope to reverse the warming trend without massive collective action by governments, corporations and individuals. We don't have near enough people on board to make a difference. And I don't believe we have enough time to convince the needed majority to join. When they do see, it will be too late and only the wealthy will suffer less.
Stake out your riches now to preserve your place in the life boat. The water's going to get hot. If we're lucky, we'll be like frogs and not even know we are sitting in boiling water until we're already dead.
i saw the taped concert late last night and thought to myself and my partner "what a waste of precious time and resources".
yup, every one was having a grand old time. nothing wrong with that. earlier in the eve. i was at a concert. ricardo lembo and machina loca. great show, very small. lots of dancing. in contrast to this huge thing it was nothing. on the other hand why not have gone small and local with this thing. all over the world but keep it simple. raise awareness at the local level instead of the mega-stadium with high #s of people. where did we leave practical, less-impact, more community oriented planning. this mega concert thing is wasteful. how much fuel did gore use on all his stops? why were the local-political musicians not present? how about big names like difranco, spearhead's m. franti, buffy st.marie, neil young, willie nelson, cockburn, hundreds of other activist-poet-musician-artist not invited? i thought of it as a big concert for all the spoiled children of the world to go to party in and feel like they were part of something, anything. (their woodstock). now they can go home and feel good about themselves for having attended. tomorrow they will meet their less lucky friends at the mall or bar and bragg about the bands. and go shopping or partying like business as usual. another opportunity for something big to take place in the underlying consiousness and it gets swept away by glamour, materialism, consumption and big corp. taking the $$$$$ to the bank. by the way madonna was great. she is the poster-girl for the material babes of tomorrow. glamour and sex. i'm not totally hopeless. i feel that somethin needs to happen. many concerts, smaller and run by local activist. not coke or lexus etc. something like clearwater's annual concert to bring awareness and INFORMATION to the masses.
just a thought. and thanks CD's for the opportunity.
namaste'
Live Earth psychology will fail without the hard questions of who sacrifices what. If I turn off my house lighting will a rich family just turn on an extra TV? Do I raise my house temperture in summer so a rich person can lower theirs? Do I spend hours sweltering on the freeway while the rich cruise alone on a toll road?
annemarie - you told me to "learn to read. Levine is a realist."
What I think you mean is that I should be more cynical & critical of others, to hold the view that my way (and the way of those who agree with me) is the best and only logical way to proceed, and I disagree with you.
There are many roads that lead toward a greater public awareness of the environmental crisis - and i am for all those who are working towards those ends.
I'll promise to try to learn to read, if you'll promise to try to learn to think. ;-)
I truly wish that the Live Earth concerts bring about some positive change. I really don't like being cynical, and yes some people here are throwing fireballs for no good reason, but I'm just basing my opinion on what has gone before.
Again, pop stars and celebs can't save the planet simply by being who they are. Did anything come out of Live Aid or Live 8? Did those events help feed the world and "make poverty history"?
Hey, I wish we could reverse global warming via power chords and and bass and drum beats.
I just think that these concerts are squandering energy, precious time, and candlepower.
I have a sign I have been holding up since last January when we had an Impeachment Resolution in the New Mexico legislature. It reads; "Worried about Global Warming? Step 1. Impeach Bush and Cheney" In the 6 years since Al Gore refused to contest the stealing of the 2000 election, the hopes for the planet have slid into the abyss largely because of the policies of the Bush-Cheney-oil-military-corporate US fascist state. Gore might now be finishing out his second term, with 3/4 of a trillion dollars having been invested in wind farms, electric cars, global anti poverty, anti-desertification programs etc and an unpresedented era of international peace and co-operation. We screwed up and when you screw up you have to go back nd fix it, and that means; Step 1. Impeach Bush and Cheney. Imagine if Gore would bring all these Rock stars into a united effort to fund and promote the impeachment efforts and the restoration of Democracy in the U.S.A. He could but he isn't. Call him and tell him that's what needs to be done.
Actually, the Live Earth concerts were organized so as to have no carbon footprint; they are green events. But you show your level of judgment by relying on mainstream news sources that want to discredit global warming.
Live Earth is promoting green to save the planet - what planet are they on?
...A Daily Mail investigation has revealed that far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.
The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.
The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists' and spectators' travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.
Throw in the television audience and it comes to a staggering 74,500 tonnes. In comparison, the average Briton produces ten tonnes in a year.
The concert will also generate some 1,025 tonnes of waste at the concert stadiums - much of which will go directly into landfill sites.
Moreover, the pop stars headlining the concerts are the absolute antithesis of the message they promote - with Madonna leading the pack of the worst individual rock star polluters in the world.
Sepermodel Kate Moss, another profligate polluter through her use of private jets, is producing a T-shirt for the event. Yet, Gore is touting the concerts as 'carbon neutral'. So how can that be?
Let us start with some facts. Worldwide, an audience of around 1,268,500 is expected to attend the concerts - making it one of the largest global events in history.
Dr Andrea Collins, an expert in sustainability from Cardiff University, has researched the impact of such mass gatherings on the environment.
"An event of this size at Wembley - which holds 65,000 at a rock concert, will generate around 59 tonnes of waste," she says. "That is largely composed of the rubbish from food and drink consumption."
She found that a Wembley-sized football match generated an 'ecological footprint' of 3,000 global hectares - an area the size of 4,166 football pitches. This is the amount of bioproductive land required to absorb the C02 emissions produced by such an event.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=466775&in_page_id=1879
Party on Garth! Party on Wayne! Party on dudes!
Thank you Mark Levine. Your points and your overall message were quite clear. However, I'm not surprised that you had to add a comment to "clarify" it all for the semi-literates and the delusional ones among us. ;)
----- MaxheMust July 6th, 2007 12:33 pm
Mr. Levine is looking on the dark side. Why be so cynical? Why be such a fatalist?
-------
Cynical? Fatalist? Ha ha. Learn to read. Levine is a realist.
I also agree that all these "live" concerts are merely big shows for all those pseudo artists who love nothing more than patting themselves on the backs. Gigantic celebrity circle jerks is what they are. And that includes many of their fan(atic)s too. Pfft!
http://www.liveearth.org
I love it! I'll read an interesting piece such as the preceding one, then I'll see what the general reaction is by readers, expecting that someone might have written something thought-provoking, or might have offered some insight pertaining to the subject at hand, in this case the LiveEarth get-together. But my hopes are soon dashed when I realize that the potential forum for discussion becomes an on-line catfight between the usual suspects, who make multiple posts and refer to one another by name (often very clever, provocative names, I might add). It's not just Common Dreams, obviously, where this happens. I guess all of us Armchair Anarchists (or whatever our political persuasions might be) are compelled to put our two cents in. Now I've joined the fray (no longer above it) and put in mine.
Viva la Revolucion! (I'm going to kick your ass, because my carbon footprint is smaller than yours.)
Sincerely,
---da-veed (does this name sound hip enough....does it make my butt look too big?)
Will the young generation be talking about Live Earth on Monday? Hope so. Their parents are reading about it in the paper and hearing about it in other media. Will it heal the world? No, but at least those who know and live by playing drums, guitar, singing, etc. would have done what they know -- a prayer if you will -- to heal this Earth.
Prompts us to ask, "What have I done in my little part of the world, to help heal it, lately?"
Why don't you critics put your energy into constructive solutions, rather than shoot hatred from the sidelines? You'll be waiting forever, if you expect others to be as wise and as perfect as you. It's not good to see the left hitting the left. Hell you don't KNOW the positive effect that Live Aid will have, you only speculate about it. You don't know that you don't know, because you falsely assume that you do. Unity in diversity. Try working on making your contributions to the world without criticizing your brothers/sisters who are trying to do the same. Americans who act like they think that "my way is the only way" are comign from the ugliest part of Amerikkka.
Heads up lo Q... I shouldn't dignify your rant with a response since you obviously have some unresolved issues.
My singular point is this:
There is still a significant influence of the Roman Empire.
Duh!
Funny how every time someone takes positive action on behalf of the earth some lemming has to run it in the dirt. I would like to know what the people who contribute to this forum do for sustainability in their own lives: have they divested their SUV, recycle 100% of their waste, hold a nuetral carbon debt, or are they simply part of the problem?
If you are looking for salvation from the Democratic party to impact this problem you better get ready for the end game. Only empowered individuals coupled with activists like Gore and those like him will impact this problem.
I am tired of the arm chair environmentalists running their gums. Environmentalism is no longer a spectator sport.
Wake Up!
My point is not that Live Earth could not succeed, or that musicians shouldn't do what they do best to help change the world. I specifically said that they can and should help out using their artistic talents. the point is the way live earth is framed, what is and is not being called for, and who is not being included in the conversation. i think that the rich rockers need to be willing to put a lot more on the line than doing a free concert. they need to be at the forefront of taking on the system, not thinking that world leaders will listen to them.
i did bring the problem of excluding the middle east from live earth to the attention of the organizers and offered to hook them up with huge concert promoters in Dubai and istanbul and cairo whom I've worked with as well as dozens of well known bands in the region who are activists on the issue of climate change and the environment more broadly. They chose to focus on the more well-known western artists, and to go with a promoter in istanbul who was not very down with the cause.
i hope to god live earth can change the terms of the debate, but i think that in the end that's only going to happen, as in the iraq debate, when enough people are personally threatened by the status quo and therefore feel compelled to make the serious sacrifices necessary to stop the disaster of global warming. by then, however, it will likely be too late. and even if Americans suddenly got the climate change religion, 2.5 indians and chinese are not about to stop trying to increase their living standards to something resembling ours unless we in the west lead by example and significantly lower our "footprints" on the earth, to a degree i fear few americans are presently willing to do. better to invade oil producing countries and keep everyone worried about the next american idol than help bring about the transformation in consciousness necessary to enable the transformation in the foundations of the world economy without which much of the world wil, literally, be toast.
AND stop imbibing Bushist coup Laida of Manifest Insanity!
The Revolution will be televised because there is no Revolution.
Rock & folk have long since lost their power to energize & inform, have been wholly absorbed into the wall of white noise. Once, the music with its gestures were defiant; they've long been empty rituals. The more performers perform, the more the audience is an audience. The concert venue makes the attendees & viewers incapable of action.
The radical message now is conveyed through the graphix medium. The writers & artists are the ones prepping the many for action.
Bravo. I think a key point in the article which is valid and perceptive is that the top-down structure evidenced in the production of Live Earth is ultimately not going to be effective in accomplishing political goals, and a more mutualistic operation just might be. The points about whether or not Live Earth should be held, and the counterposition of personal lifestyle, are not that relevant to the matter of how best to achieve a common ground from which broad and effective political action might emerge. The top-down approach inherently narrows down the possibility whereas events like the Live Xs could serve to knit together a broader movement if they were networked beyond beyond the penthouses.
The roman catholic church is a conservative, discriminatory, homophobic, hateful institution that has no problem with playing its own role in destroying the world and vapidly lying to and demanding submission from its own people. But no, I'm sure people like you, treefrog, will want to co-op the facts of global warming with your own psuedo religous tirade. "Traditional people's" were not close to the earth; they sexually abused and beat their children, performed human sacrifice, and otherwise gave people no human rights whatsoever. They caused the descent into our current situation by not developing empathy, individuality, and conciousness before technology came into play. They are not close to anything other than their own prejudice.
Live 8 was a massive PR victory for drag-their-heels Western governments. A couple of Irish millionaire pop stars proved to be "useful idiots" - their sincerity is absolutely irrelevant. For every tuned-in person in this world who realizes that Live 8 was a counterproductive flop, there are 20 numb persons who assume that Live 8 was a great leap forward, just as it was spun to seem like.
Live Earth is nothing more or less than here-we-go-again.
The holy Roman church is still around and embraces much of the world.
"the band playing while the Titanic sinks. "
They played because they knew there were no spots on the boats and they thought there was a good chance that a steamer that was seen on the horizon might turn and help the stricken liner. Playing on was one thing they could do to help the people stay calm. The other alternative was to jump in the water in a panic. Frankly most people seem to prefer to jump in head first into the dark... well whatever suits you.
Thank you for the information flowerchild. I will put this time on my calendar and for one hour be a part of your honoring ceremony.
"Right. I can't help but wonder if the Romans had similar thoughts as Nero played his concert while their world burned."
Remember that the fire in Rome that Nero is accused of fiddling though was in 64 AD. The Roman Empire lasted another 408 years after that regardless of what the Roman people thought of it at the time.
If Live Aid was a waste of time, then how is Live Earth going to make a difference?
These mainstream pop stars imo are so egotistical. Like Bono for example. The man seems to have some sort of messiah complex. Then he does some little thing like that G-8 jazz, and he as well as Geldof just pat themselves on the back. They all think they can change the world between gigs, recording sessions, and parties. Of course I'm sure many of them are put up to it by their labels and management. After all "it's for a good cause, babe!"
Btw, I'm glad the author mentioned heavy metal and apparently has a book in the works concerning it. It still remains an exciting (possibly moreso than ever due to the information and technology age as well as the amount of bands) yet overlooked, purposely ignored and often misunderstood as well as derided (by people from all sides) genre of music. That being said, as a metal fan, I'm glad that there are seemingly only a few participating.
And Spinal Tap doesn't count! :)
ezeflyer: "I'm looking forward to enjoying it. It will raise awareness, the first step in doing something about it."
Yes, but the first step should have come in like the 70s. Reading scientific reports on the subject, it feels late for a first step. The entire concept can only depress. How do you enjoy a rock concert under such a condition? Again, as said above, Nero fiddling, the band playing while the Titanic sinks. Feels more like mass insanity than anything remotely related to a solution. And just today I saw some ass on MSNBC saying there's no scientific evidence! How did we get so far and still have so many stupid people around?
Is the author saying Live Earth will fail because when we wake up on Monday morning, global warming will still be a problem, ergo the concert didn't work? It can't hurt to raise awareness of the issue, but yes, it's going to take a huge lifestyle change to make a big difference.
Let Live Earth Begin!
I like what you said, Treefrog.
We can help the earth heal itself when we fire the grid -- that is the intent. To help re-charge her energies.
Hear about it on www.worldPuja.org/ (6:00 p.m. pacific); or go read the story of this global event, taking place on July 17th at 11:11 GWST. (www.firethegrid.org). You'll read an amazing story. You'll feel excited.
It's not about success or failure.
"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what Light I have." (Abraham Lincoln).
Music is good.
Dancing is good.
Joy and gratitude are good.
I wouldn't endorse the violence that Mark says might be necessary to change systems.
There is much bickering, even within this forum, of "will this work", "is it effective", "worth the time"?
These constant statements of urgency like Live Earth are what will help gradually change the thinking of the masses.
I am convinced an enlightened world teacher named Maitreya will soon step forward and become a spokesperson for all humanity. He will voice aloud the major concerns of the vast majority, the need to end poverty and quickly take drastic steps to save our ailing planet.
These events, if not super effective in the immediate sense, will still become a symbolic moment, a real turning point. We're on the edge of a precipice of eco-disaster. As Maitreya predicted over a decade ago, "the environment will become the number one priority" around the world.
The earth knows how to heal its self...and somewhere hardwired to your dna you know how to live in balance with your environment. Ask yourself where you give your human seniority over to something else and that is what you need to change.
"Southpark" had it right with that episode where Cartman warns of an impending hippie rock concert, which is meant to rally the fight against corporate oppression, but which works only to allow the attendees to say they "did their part" and were "on the front lines," without actually having to do anything but get high.
That's what all these stupid concerts are for - to let people pat themselves on the back for "taking action." Thanks for the sacrifice.
"Even if it does, nobody expects extinction for the species..."
Actually,there are some runaway global warming scenarios, even "Venusification" scenarios that certainly would result in human extinction. But, scientists seem to remain quiet about those tail-of-envelope scenarios to keep from being decried as as "scremongers". Meanwhile, Civil Engineers are required to design dams for even less likely edge-of-envelope flood or earthquake events to protect the lives of just a handful of people.
Based on science... observable, measurable and repeatable. I would like to see the repeatable, but no one is going to be around for that one.
What about an alternate theory, what about cause and effect. What if global warming is a cure, and the artifical construction that created it is the bad thing.
Sorry, when the scientific community takes ethical responsibility for its actions I will consider thier otherwise very flawed theories. Until then I am quite capable of defining the world in other terms, as did the many people the existed in harmony with the earth long before humans adopted science to understand basic human needs.
"Then be content to be an isolated minority..."
At least this "isolated minority" as I presmubly you call the anarchists are doing somehing. They are riding bicycles for transportation (in my town repairing old bicycles and distributing them for free to the greater community) refusing to own cars, naming the economic system, and then refusing to participate in it.
I've seen few contributors here actually show willingness to give up the least bit of their privledged "lifestyle" to save the planet (mike2 being an exception).
"Every time I feed my children a little better, I'm probably reducing my tzedaka (charity) budget for someone who needs that money even more than my children."
No one "needs it more" than your children; since you gave birth to them, their health should be your number one priority. Feeding them ramen so you can donate money is a betrayal. Buying an SUV and voting republican would make you a disgusting right wing scumbag who merely used this reasoning as a justification for their ugliness; underminded fatalism is just a wish to quicken global extinction.
I'm looking forward to enjoying it. It will raise awareness, the first step in doing something about it.
Every time a car crashes in increases the GDP as people pay for repairs, ambulance services, and all sorts of other goodies.
Every time people gather to protest something, police departments get extra money to control them.
Every time someone schedules a concert to change the world, some capitalist who likes the world just as it is gets richer.
Every time I feed my children a little better, I'm probably reducing my tzedaka (charity) budget for someone who needs that money even more than my children.
Every time I vote for a Democrat as a progressive, I am actually prolonging the capitalist system, instead of working to overthrow it. If I really wanted to improve things I would heighten the crisis of capitalism by voting for Republicans, so people would feel the pain, and organize a truly progressive political movement in the U.S. But I can't quite bring myself to do that.
Every time I dutifully pay my U.S. taxes as a law abiding citizen, a significant part of that money goes to blow people up in Iraq and torture them in Guantanamo Bay. Shit.
Every time I ride my bike to work (every day!) I reduce the demand for gasoline, enabling OTHER PEOPLE to buy gas more cheaply and continue to use their obscene SUVs to destroy the climate. If I want to save the planet, I should buy an SUV, increase the demand for gas, help use up the supply, hasten peakoil to boost the price, and thus reduce consumption sooner. But I can't quite bring myself to do that.
Damn. The world is a complex place, full of intended and unintended consequences.
All in all I think that Gore's effort to change consciousness within the existing system won't do much, but it is probably better than nothing. Even if he is deluded, I don't hold it against him.
"Live Earth Will Fail" sounds like yet another case of the Leftist circular firing squad. If Live Earth is so unimportant why waste time and energy critiquing it?
Man, I'm just not getting it. These people you hold in such disdain are doing what they do best, and they're willingly doing it for the cause. Of course that isn't going to do anything in and of itself, and crediting one's self for exposing this obvious naievety is a little too much for me to take.
You do what you do, and we do what we do, and they do what they do, and maybe if we keep doing that, maybe something will change. Or, as your pessimism would have it, maybe not -- but that won't be because the concert failed, it will be because we failed.
The concert is only to raise awareness and inspire support; the work remains for the inspired to carry on. Should no one be inspired, whose fault is that? It's Roger Daltrey's fault, and it's your fault, and it's my fault.
No, actually, global warming is quite easy to understand, especailly through mediums pointed toward a general audience such as Al Gore's film and corresponding book, which are full of charts and photographs that easily get the point across to people that bother to educate themselves. But no, it is "scientific" in other words, based on observation, and therefore too far-fetched for "most people."
I think Mark is correct in that you cannot have something as large as Live Earth without giving some support to the very thing that you protest. Global warming is a scientific argument that most people will not understand no matter how loud you sing.
I agree that this article is quite wrong. To write it perhaps after the fact might have been worthwhile, because then it could have some factual basis. However, at this stage Mark could have simply shared his concern privately with the organizers of Live Earth instead of giving fuel to right wing attempts to disprove human caused global warming.
http://www.dreamingearth.net
If you want to be entertained go see Live earth. If you want to get information and be informed support Live earth. If you want a reasonable way to collectively show your dissatisfaction with the stewardship of the planet(that includes you) promote Live earth.
On the otherhand, if you want real change (it begins at home) stop supporting the corporations that pretty much dictate your preference, what you should eat, where you live, how you live, and just about everything else. Somebody is buying genetic polluted food, other's are unconcerned about who owns the patent not only to the food you eat but the your very own genes.
The world doesn't really need your help, it survived without science billions of years. The problems of today are created by science so don't think that gravey train will stop by it's self.
Want to save the earth, stop poisoning it, stop bombing it to pieces, stop synthsizing it, there is no new and improved. And stop thinking your doing something because you write e-emails instead of changing the way you live. Put your money where you mouth is and stop funding your own destruction.
Let's go for unity in diversity - one primary goal with millions working in millions of diverse ways to achieve it.
Not progressives snapping at progressives saying "your way is wrong, mine is right".
United we stand, divided we're screwed.
What a relief! The world is going to have a huge party! I was beginning to think humanity was never going to do anything substantial about global warming.
Look, either warming will close a feed-back loop to kill the organisms responsible for the CO2 emissions, or it will not. If it does not (an admittedly unlikely scenario), there is no problem.
Even if it does, nobody expects extinction for the species. Some populations will take the brunt of it, while others get off relatively lightly. If you are one of the lucky, there is no problem.
If you are one of the unlucky, past experience indicates that the lucky will find some rationalization to allow them not to worry about your fate, in which case, there is still no problem.
So enjoy the party.
So Bud, you mean like how Bush fiddled while the world burned? It is an effort to raise awareness and who the hell has the luxury of looking down on the efforts of others?
Me, I have had up close and personal experience with climate change. We had to abandon our generational home due to the constant state of flooding. We lost everything. So excuse me if I am just the tiniest bit annoyed by you elitists who tear down the genuine but so-unhip, uncool efforts of others.
Haha
good one about Nero.
And the band played on while the Titanic sank too!
Mark has been out there as a scholar and as a musician. Reading about his travels and experiences have given me a deeper understanding of the people underlying the policies we often talk about.
I wish Live Earth was in more locations. Music has the power to highlight our common humanity. It should be used as a peace tool whenever possible.
PJD: Then be content to be an isolated minority.
Then the question asked is are you an elitist? Is Cockburn when it comes to a shift among the common masses threatening his position as a hip iconclast and chic intellectual snob?
Ask yourself if it is a class thing.
From each according to his ability. To each according to his need.
"AT LEAST SOMETHING rather than NOTHING!"
Right. I can't help but wonder if the Romans had similar thoughts as Nero played his concert while their world burned.
If we are starting to see this nutty global-warming denial from people like Axexander cockburn, it is because of slick corporate crap like "Live Earth".
I agree that a counterculture is vitally important in supporting revolutionary change, but such culture is to be found at your local punk or anarchist music venues and projects, not at slick, corporate shows filled with largely apolitical mainstream commercial bands.
If the heart is in the right place-- if the intent is decent and caring, why criticize the sincere efforts of others even if they fall short of perfection? There will always be something to criticize, why fault others efforts for doing the best they can in putting forth any effort to raise consciousness?
Would you have people do nothing because their efforts are not pure enough? A counter-culture identity is essential to shift the paradigm and bring the masses together to realize they are together and not isolated islands of "fringe" elements--which is the latest tactic used to suppress a unified citizenry.
Not perfect maybe, BUT AT LEAST SOMETHING rather than NOTHING!
Mr. Levine is looking on the dark side. Why be so cynical? Why be such a fatalist?
Before ALL of the great human rights advances of the past 200 years, plenty of dreadful fatalists gave long winded dissertations on why the struggle was useless, or why those on the battlefield were going about it in the wrong way.
These concerts are a step in the right direction and are a help. If Mr. Levine knows how to solve the problems, let him get to it instead of criticizing from the side lines. Far too many Americans make the mistake of thinking that they're chiefs when they'd be far better off just trying to be good braves.
mark levine: everything fails. so what.