for the record, lame mainstream music will not ignite the revolution.
This whole Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis thing this weekend is the most rediculous thing I’ve ever heard. The dominant culture is destroying the planet and our response is a benefit concert?
The website says, “commit to change today and see your name on the Live Earth Stage”
Being green has never been so fashionable!
The website’s “green tip of the day” is: Keep your air conditioning inside this summer. Check for window drafts by carefully holding an incense stick up to each frame and watch the smoke to see if there is a leak.
The website asks us: “How many light bulbs will you pledge to switch?”…sponsored by Philips (sense and sensibility)
Is this really how we’re addressing global warming? Each green tip functions as yet another way to keep us in denial as the real world burns. But I suppose they’ll assuage our guilt and make us feel better about ourselves, which is really the main point.
AND…the whole thing is sponsored by Chevrolet? WTF? (see, Car Culture Will Never Be Sustainable)
AND…they’re asking for donations! How much money does it actually cost to remove dams, stop industrial logging, stop the murder of the oceans, stop the industrial economy, and stop industrial agriculture and factory farms? Of course any donation recieved is not going to go toward any project associated with deindustrialization. Your cash will, no doubt, go to pay for musician/publicity expenses or to pay for the printing of stupid little pamphlets that will tell you to recycle, use less hot water, buy hybrid cars, and vote for the right politicians. Way to save the f-ing planet.
My dictionary defines “farce” as “foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.” There is also a big fat picture of thousands of people attending Live Earth.
BUT…if you want to go, Mad Italian Bar & Grill (101 S San Fransisco St.) is hosting the whole thing. That’s right, you too can drink beer and watch TV AND save the planet!
Open to the public….$5 suggested donation, which I’m going to suggest they shove up their ass. I promise I’ll make a lot of friends when I talk to people wasting their time at info-tables, as they try to figure out which light bulb is the most eco-friendly.
I appreciate the increased awareness about global warming, but all these green tips, greenwashing, and green branding function to keep people in denial and, therefore, I believe they cause more harm than good; they keep people believing that nothing fundamental about the way we live on this planet has to change. We’ll follow the school into the net, all the while fully rationalizing a deeply insane lifestyle that is killing everything, including our selves.
We need people to show up at the Mad Italian to talk to people. Raise hell. Tell them you’re not buying it. I know I’ll be there.
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July 6th, 2007 at 2:45 am
You bring up a great point… My biggest fear would be the commoditization of being “green” to the point that people are making money off of it, but not much is getting done about it. Looks like we’re there.
July 14th, 2007 at 9:25 am
I agree with Roger…it has become a capalistic scheme. But people do these events to raise awareness. Having tables with nothing other than information is boring and this is why they bring in music and other kinds of events.
August 15th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
[…] High fives to Sale Kirkpatrick for writing this fantastic essay. It’s few years old, but pretty on point with my thoughts on the Live Earth fiasco (here and here. I found it when I was researching my thesis and meant to post it. Here is a great excerpt. The whole individualist what-you-can-do-to-save-the-earth guilt trip is a myth. We, as individuals, are not creating the crises, and we can’t solve them. Take our crazy energy consumption. For the past 15 years the story has been the same every year: individual consumption – residential, by private car, and so on – is never more than about a quarter of all consumption; the vast majority is commercial, industrial, corporate, by agribusiness and government. So, even if we all took up cycling and wood stoves it would have a negligible impact on energy use, global warming and atmospheric pollution. I mean, sure, go ahead and live a responsible environmental life; recycle, compost, ride a push-bike; but do it because it is the right, moral thing to do – not because it’s going to save the planet. […]