Global warming concerts: A lot of hot air? The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert, The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper. Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say. This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever, Gore told The Associated Press recently. The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come.
Watch Gore discuss his son's problems and his environmental campaign More than 150 artists will perform at the nine concerts. Rolling west through Saturday, the series starts in Sydney, then Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, Rio de Janeiro, New Jersey and Washington. The biggest names will appear in London and New Jersey, with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts in the other places.
A judge canceled the Brazil concert because of security concerns before reversing the decision just two days before the event, and lukewarm public interest caused a planned show in Istanbul, Turkey to be called off. Promoter Michael Chugg said on Friday there were still plenty of tickets available for the Sydney show. But organizers were predicting live broadcasts on cable television and the Internet could reach up to 2 billion people.
Scores of short films and public service announcements will be aired giving the audience tips about how to conserve energy and reduce their environmental impact. Rob Hirst, drummer for Midnight Oil and performing at Live Earth in his new band the Ghostwriters, said at the launch of the Sydney concert lineup that the traditional rock star lifestyle was not eco-friendly. Any of the musicians here who've spent 24-to-30 years roaming the globe on planes, trains and automobiles should have a mighty guilt complex about what they've done to the environment, Hirst was quoted as saying by local media.
But it's not too late to change. Laid-back rocker Jack Johnson is the only international act in Sydney, which features the reformed 1980s pop group Crowded House as top billers. The Tokyo concert, featuring artists including Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda and Linkin Park, comes next, followed by the other cities.
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