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Sunday, July 8, 2007

Live Earth - Hypocritical?

So I gave my thoughts on the Live Earth events and coverage over to The Rundown. I talked about it both while I was watching it and then after it was over, and my outlook was basically the same. I really hoped it was going to change, but it didn’t; I was rather disappointed by the lackluster coverage all the channels provided. But I digress.

A lot of critics have busied themselves pointing out how these popular musicians are such polluters, what with their tour buses and private jets, not to mention the lights and fireworks and excesses they promote during their concerts. One critic said that for it to be have been a truly “green” event, the musicians should have played all acoustic sets in local venues near their homes.

Well, yeah, I can agree with that. But how would that have really raised awareness?

Where I live, I was literally the only one in the entire neighborhood who watched the event or even knew it was on! In fact, I’m one of the few who has cable TV and without it, all you can pick up is the local ABC affiliate. They didn’t mention anything about it on the radio, there was nothing about it in the local newspapers, and the NBC coverage was not promoted to any great extent that I noticed. From my street-level, "grassroots" perspective, this thing occurred on all seven continents, in like ten countries or cities or whatever, and it still wasn’t all that effective. In fact, unless you have cable TV and/or are interested in "being green," I doubt you were even aware that history was being made. And history was made; Live Earth was the biggest, most successful, global event in history. So while being a purist might have been less hypocritical, it certainly wouldn’t have been more successful.

While it is a decent point, it isn’t very valid because what coverage they did provide - whether you thought it good, bad, or mediocre - absolutely did raise awareness as to the issues surrounding the movement. The spots they showed during the coverage, the short films Sundance showed constantly, and the literature you can find online absolutely educated at least a few people as to some of the simpler ways they can make the world a slightly better place without enacting any major lifestyle change.

So, while hairy-legged hippie chicks might think it a failure on purist grounds, hairy-legged hippie chicks are kinda nuts anyway. I also find it completely hypocritical that all these hippies have been bitching about this for years now and suddenly, when change is being made, they want to act all snobby, like, "We don’t want any Johnny-come-latelies." That’s the problem with those kind of people - you just can’t win with them.

© C Harris Lynn, 2007-2008

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