Gore's Live Earth: Raising Awareness of our "Planetary Emergency"

Former Vice President turned Environmental Campaigner Al Gore hopes to raise universal awareness on the the dire issue of global warming through a live concert event dubbed "Live Earth".

The 24 hour Live Earth event is set for July 7, 2007, with a series of concerts held in 7 different locations including Johannesburg, London, New Jersey, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. Both Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are already scheduled to play in London.

"It will be profitable for us. People who make the change to less pollution are going to find that their lives are better, the jobs are better."

"But we have to really make a commitment to this change, and that's what the Live Earth concert is really designed to symbolize and kick off."

While the tremendous size and roster headliner acts at Live Earth is sure to raise global awareness to purpose, I also believe that conducting such an event is a great way to expose the youger generations to the issue at hand as well. This upcoming generation, afterall, will inherit the world in which we live today. Previous knowledge and awareness of the global warming problem will only help them to prepare for future actions on their behalf.

Some bloggers have already attacked the event, however. According to CNN.com, "A handful of complaints about Live Earth have already surfaced on the Internet, with bloggers questioning whether pop stars and their taste for conspicuous consumption are the best advocates for cutting fossil fuel emissions".

In response, I still believe that utilizing famous musical artists as advocates is an overall good idea in objective of bringing wider attention to the global warming issue. To narrow down on consumption of these celebrities would be ignorant and missing the point of their participation. We live in a country of excess (for example, larger portions and rates of obesity, and easily dying trends and technology causing everyone to seek and consume more and more) in which most everyone is involved.

What's more important is that the word is out there, that our planet and the lives of our future generations are endangered, and that something must be done to alleviate this planertary crisis.

CNN.com article.