Waste of time.

We’re all DOOMED as we head into self destruction due to self consumption and getting on with life.

It’s all about egos of guilty politicians who have failed. Sorry to be blunt but thats it folks.

Dubaidave YOU CYNIC!

That beats them all on this blog. If nothing else but awarness alone surely live earth will help the cause through entertainment, education and a common cause. You clearly havent seen the inconvenient truth, right?

Al gore has found his calling and good for him he was never the president he was meant to be. Live Earth is a great thing if nothing else to bring us together as our time bomb ticks :0(

I hardly think awareness needs raising. This event will actually create a lot of CO2. They are asking people to sign a pledge to change certain habits and reduce their impact on the environment.
Sorry but I am fairly sure most will be like new years resolutions, broken quickly.
This week a plan to put 60 windfarms on a Scottish island were blocked as there is a chance a few Eagles will die from hitting the rotors. China is condemned daily for the 3 gorges dam project.
The thing environmentalists fail to consider is that there will be effects no matter what we do and you need to pick the lesser of two evils.
If a few birds die on an island at the arse end of the world, that nobody visits (obviously a few go there but its hardly Teneriffe) die but we save millions of tons of CO2 during the lifetime of the windmills then we need to consider that it is a price worth paying, we aren’t talking extinction (like we are for Polar Bears) merely a few pairs.
I am sick of all the talking - put up or shut up.

A concert isn’t going to fix it and I hardly think awareness needs to be raised further but hey he’s trying.

Raising awareness is probably not a bad thing although I doubt some concerts is going to change things. What is the old saying “Think globally, act locally”.

Easier saying it Digital flower - its always someone elses issue! Isnt’ it?

Our only solution is space colonisation!

BTW, nice design your website has

GIC youre no better than Dubaidave…bitter and twisted the pair of you.

Komirad - you really think going to space is the answer as you write off mother earth? SAD!

This is a bit off… and I want people reading this to have an open mind. And realize this comment is just one person’s opinion like everybody has one.

The earth through billions of years has undergone several major changes. Even cataclysmic extinction-event changes like the Ice age. And it looks like it is headed for another one maybe soon or maybe not in our lifetime.

The way things are, it’s just a matter of time. Man-made pollution, species extinction, famine, imbalance of wealth, imbalance of resources, and especially weather changes…are all part of a much much bigger picture that the environment/earth goes through…

Look at this on a REALLY BIGGER picture… In the hundred millions of years the earth has existed the earth has undergone big changes… Our existence is just 10, 000 years or so… a tiny speck of earth’s age… If this is gonna happen, it’s because the earth is renewing itself… Nothing we can do about it… especially now…

So relax kick back and let the good times roll! Life is too short!

Again… Respect!

Hi there,
Ur blog is really good, would u be interested in link exchange?

Lyon thanks for the compliment and we’ll exchange links but only if you comment on the live earth debate that we’re right in the middle of here!

Add a comment and link away.

This thread is already becoming an interesting one!

Will it help?
Hmmm I think all awareness can help, if people would just take the time to do something, as small as changing the lightbulbs, turning off unnecessary things(LIKE PUTERS WHEN NOT USING), and just be more aware…
I applaud the efforts, the statements tose participating. I am somewhat, daunted by those who take that cynical approach. Doing anything, as small as it is, helps.

call me a dreamer but i do believe the message can pass on … with a combination of a serious message and a lot of fun and performances!! its soo good to see someone doing something for our earth that even if it only reaches one single person its worth it!!

by the way im doing a little cover of my own on the live earth and the new 7wonders of the world so if anyone is interested here is my link
http://7confessions.blogspot.com
thank u gosmelltheflowers for inviting me into this discussion!!

Hurrah! The good guys win, what happened to the cynics amongst you?

Al Gore can save not only Earth, but the entire Galaxy as well. Just kidding. Live Earth is a wonderful thing - but you don’t need to get sympathy from the common people, you need to get ACTIONS from the decision-makers worldwide. This is what I think. Correct me if I’m wrong.

confessing … nice to see you here!! I am happy that they are doing these concerts. If someone watches to see the popular preformances and learns something while they are watching then they have succeeded haven’t they??? I think that we may not be able to stop what is happening but we can try and do something to slow it down….

“Easier saying it Digital flower - its always someone elses issue! Isnt’ it?”

Not really. As someone who works the earth I have to make choices everyday. My switch to organic gardening is slowly happening. My particular industry as come a long way but still has a long way to go. At least myself and most of my professional associates are thinking about it and that shows increased awareness.

Live Earth has good intentions.

The people who are either attending or supporting it however, will probably be the ones who do their own small thing to contribute. I agree with you Daniel, we need to get the attention of the ‘powers that be’ mainly America at the moment as I think the other ‘powers’ are starting to wake up.

Good on AL Gore for sticking his head above the parapet in his country where environmental issues are obviously bottom of the priorities list.

CallcenterVet - I wish it were the earth just renewing itself, but this time around it has been speeded up and imbalanced by the carelessness of man.

I wish places like Dubai - who have a heap of money and seem to be building cities overnight, would take the lead in green solutions after all they have the sunshine. Indoor skiing, no doubleglazing or insulation and blazing airconditioning for six months of the year. Come on Sheikh Mohomad, take the lead and use that infamous vision and compassion of yours.

Ok digi flower I take it back - best we all do our bit, it just seems so out of control this global warming issue…

Callcentrevet HOW Careless is your attitude, another Co2 emission wont harm. Dropping litter keeps folk in a job? Dont think so…we all have our part to play.

OK, firstly to callcentrevet,
Agreed, the effect of solar cycles, the fact that all of the carbon we are talking about has always been on earth, the changing cycle of the earth are all valid and to a degree I think you have a point. What you do not look at or consider is the proof coming from ice cores in polar regions and so on that show we are in a very short term change that has not been seen before. Yes the Earth undergoes mass extinctions and severe ice ages and such like but over a much greater time scale. I do applaud your outlook and I think your idea is a very honest and open one but it does ignore some fairly pertinent facts regarding the pace of change. Normally animals would migrate and adapt over generations to a severe change, this change is happening over 3-4 generations, its generally accepted that to evolve to changing habitat takes much longer (typical accepted figures to evolve an organ like an eye are around the 12,000 year mark). However I do consider you to have the most relevant view point as you are ‘putting up’, you have admitted you don’t feel the need to do anything (and thats not a criticism) whereas others are spouting without any direct action or direction.

Now that brings me to the next, Sarah, Mel, et al
What are you guys doing? You call me and D Dave cynics. No, we are realists. Those that will view live earth must already be tuned into normal media sources and therefore be either senseless (no sight, hearing, feeling, etc) or plain dumb to have missed the climate change message. So please let me know other than light bulbs (pissing in the wind) what are you doing?
I personally have done little. My job causes me to fly a lot and I am in the car design and manufacture business - probably one of the worst cobinations.
I have a house full of plants (pissing in the wind) and I no longer use plastic bags (since the blog on GSTF about buying without them). I run my car on standard fuel as biofuel is not available in Changchun but I did chose the smallest engine I could, as even the smallest commercially available engine will reach 140km/hr - good enough.
I don’t use my aircon in the summer and ensure anything I buy is the best at energy economy. So not much in the + or - for me.
More is needed but be real - a concert with loads of luvvies slapping each others backs is simply window dressing of the worst kind. Examining your MP’s carbon footprint, cutting down on packaging, legislation on energy efficiency, removing greenpeace guys who criticise the smallest of savings, removing eco-warriors who want to protect 2 birds instead of going ahead with 60 wind turbines, using more hydroelectric systems (like 3 gorges) will all help.
However be careful with hydro power, a group of terrorists rammed a hydro power plant in the UK recently, police believe it was the start of Ram a Dam.

Good for you g i c, you sound like you deserve the self righteous award for single handedly saving the environment. Your tone implies that you assume that others don’t do their bit.

Yes i do ‘my bit’ but I don’t shout about it. If you have seen the Al Gore documentary, you will have seen (if you stayed around that long) that at the end it encouraged people to change their light bulbs to energy saving ones - if everyone did this it would have a huge impact on the energy used around the world. Hardly pissing in the wind if everyone took note. Why try and save the world with a few people being environmental martyrs when we could all pull together and make a huge difference by each making a small change, or pissing in the wind as you so patronisingly put it.

You may think it is pissing in the wind, but if it means that one person has started to make a change, then it is one more than yesterday.

I truly don’t believe we can dismiss the impact of each of us doing our part to the best of our ability. No, it won’t immediately bring about dramatic changes, but I have to believe that if enough of us are of the same mind, it will provide some measure of a counter balance to the earth’s shifts. Maybe we ARE too late to put an all around halt to the direction we’re headed. …but what if we’re not. I, for one, would like to live my life believing that what I do to make a difference on a daily basis will matter down the road. Maybe I’m deluding myself, but maybe I’m not. …and what if I’m not?

Wow, lively discussion. I like to see folks create ops to remind people every now and then what they can do to help. I need reminding myself, sometimes! Although I am good at recycling on a regular basis.

Good Sunday morning to all you bloggers out there….
yes the launch was brillant here in the land down under…. Sydney had the first because because we are so far ahead in the time line…and the former Olympic stadium was packed out it was incredible….. here is something for all to ponder…… while the rest of the worlds concerts are throwing out all of their co2 emitions…. our concert was total carbon netrual ….. the whole thing was run on bio diesel generators….. we did not need to trade of our co2 because we didn’t put anyout….hehehehehe….. did you know that the concert in china only had 3000 people…… tells me something about their view point…..
I think of the earth as a living thing…… it was born, it grew, it in one way or another reproduces…… thats us, it ages, it breathes…. and I do beleive it will fight to survive…… if we are the course of global warming then we deserve what ever we get…. it could also be a natural cycle and we are just too clever for our own good….. what ever the reason I do beleive it is going to continue for a very long and there is not much we can do about it…. take lessons from it… change our our ways…. and hope to survive it…. however the way we are going we will probably blow ourselves to kingdom come with nuclear weapons long before the glaciers melt is complete….
And before any of you lovely bloggers take me to task remember this my entire household…… including car and electric winter heating and hot water….have a total carbon emission for the year of just under 3.2 tonnes …… the average household is 14.6 per year…… so I think we are doing our bit…..

The concert in China was not very well promoted. A lot of the hype is in English, given that most Chinese don’t speak or read English then its understandable. The people here are prepared to do their share but both India and China need to have help from the West. Why has the Wests foot print grown yet most manufacturing was outsourced to China? What is the rate of carbon per capita for India and China versus UK, USA, Germany, etc? We in the West like to vilify these two nations yet we are much worse. I also notice China gets much more criticism than India because it seems traditional to use them as a punch bag as they are not a strategic ally.

Mel,
Regarding self righteuosness, what I was pointing out is that many people think they are ‘doing their bit’ but I was declaring I am definitely not, nowhere near enough. However kidding yourself a light bulb is ‘doing your bit’ is complete and utter fantsy of the worst kind and is merely an after dinner thing ‘oh my bulbs save blah, blah, blah’ Then jump in your 3 litre BMW 5 series.
What has been getting right up my nose is the dismissal of good projects by the very people who should be encouraging it. Nobody is making the hard decisions, 3 Eagles versus 60 Wind turbines, 3 gorges dam saves 6 power stations but needs people to move from their homes.
The other point I wanted to drive home is that MAJOR changes are needed not just a few light bulbs, are people really pressurising their suppliers about carbon footprint? Businesses only listen to consumer pressure if people stop parting with cash. Ask at your local shops, ask your bosses, frown on events that squander energy.
Forget legislation from governments, consumer pressure will win this one.

Anyone know where ‘green’ taxes go? Straight into the government coffers. Why aren’t we pressurising for this to be used to put solar, wind and other renewables into government buildings? Write to your MP, lobby your local council, frown at others who squander power.

We need radical and huge measures, lets have a few listed from all of you out there, so we can ‘do our bit’
My tips -
Don’t drive a car bigger than 1.6 litre (lets face it nobody will part with their car).
Cycle any trip under 2 miles.
Turn down your heating in the winter by 2 degrees
Don’t use AC in the summer, at all.
Do not buy composites, look for products using 1 material only.

I think the message probably reached people. Whether everyone that attended or watched the concert will change in some way - well, probably not, but I do hope that a fair percentage of people do make some changes in their lives that make them a little more green.

We try to be as green as possible. Almost all of our lights are energy efficient, as are our appliances, we turn the heat down in the winter, we live a few blocks from work so we walk to work, our car is a 4 cyl and because we live so close to work and many small shops we really only use our car once a week or so for short trips to get groceries etc,

I have a few trees in my yard and a lovely garden (with many drought resistant plants so I don’t have to water a lot), we grow many of our own veggies and fruit, our garden is organic, what we do purchase in the grocery store is local whenever possible, we don’t eat much meat, rarely eat processed foods, we recycle and used recycled products if they are available, we dry many of our clothes on the line instead of using the dryer, and we bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store.

We’ve even looked into converting our house to solar power however it’s very expensive to do and we can’t afford the cost of converting at this time.

Oh and we try to use eco-friendly products whenever possible ie no harsh cleaning chemicals etc.

I occasionally make posts in my gardening blog about how to garden organically by giving tips on how to get rid of pests on plants without using pesticides and herbicides, how to compost, how to amend soil and make organic fertilizer and so on. When we do get in conversations with others about energy usage etc we tell people what we do and between the blog and our discussions I think we’ve managed to do our part and get the word out about alternative ways of doing things.

I’m sure there’s more that we could do but we try, and we try to teach others by example.

wow another flowers debate…live earth rocks. Period.

I went to the LIVE8 concert in Hyde Park,fantastic day out with brilliant acts but where’s the feedback on what that achieved as with LIVE EARTH what will it really get the message across,as GIC said not in China because it wasn’t well publicised..the world’s worst polluters.Ok,2 billion people watched it but how many were really interested in the issue of saving the earth!!Not many,i’d say more were watching to see their fave bands performance.

The village i live in has some allotments tended to by old retired folk,betwen them and the village council they are growing tree’s and giving them away to people willing to plant them,surely that’s a better way to reduce the carbon emissions than putting on a load of concerts.

Well, I got to see Eskimo Joe on TV so I’m not complaining.

I made a post about this here - http://www.rosshetherington.com/?p=52

Another thing our leaders reject is carbon trading and carbon labelling. This is because the true scale of the West’s carbon footprint would be shown. If you imagine, we buy a lot of FMCG’s that are imported. The carbon they generate is not calculated as coming from the importing country, it goes on the source country. As such places like Vietnam, Taiwan, China, India are rapidly moving up the charts for their total carbon footprint as they export masses of FMCG’s to the West and Japan.
For instance, the global cost of leather is high right now due to a huge spike in demand. This is because the low labour rates in China and Vietnam mean shoes and jackets are made cheaply (although the cost is rising due to leather cost now increasing). The West now buys a lot more leather goods because of this. The lights and power for the sewing and cutting machines, transportation and tanning does not show up on the West’s carbon footprint. If we counted carbon at the point of sale to the consumer it would show the true scale.

Madonna’s outfit was nice

Isn’t cost an issue aswell? Yes you have the token gestures such as the light bulbs but to really make an impact ie changing cars, going solar and generally implementing i greener lifestyle has cost implications thus making the change difficult for quite a few people

Cost is the whole point Libby, despite Madonnas bits.

The whole point of what? This blog? I thought it was about carbon footprints and whether live earth will make a difference. I must have missed the bit abut about financial costs to each individual that would like to make a change, sorry to be repetative.

Anyway, in the words of Michael Jackson, ‘I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways’.

They really should have got Pete Docherty to cover that for Live Earth, TV gold man.

Lib,
Down sizing your car should not cost, in fact it should save, if you drive a 2.5 litre Audi A4 today then changing to a 1.6 litre Audi A3 woulo be a saving both in capital and running costs.
Turning down your heating - again a cost saver.
Not using AC - another cost saver
Generally in manufacturing composite materials and goods made with composites are more expensive and very tricky to recycle. If goods are made from one material then they are easier to recycle.
It would also be much better as well if we moved away from Thermosets and where possible used thermoplastics.

Libby actually changing over to a greener lifestyle can actually save you money.

Sure the energy efficient light bulbs cost more but they last four or more times longer than regular light bulbs and barely make a blip on your energy bill so you’ll end up saving money by using them.

Growing your own food is cheaper and less fattening than buying processed food or even veggies and fruit that have been transported from the other side of the country.

Hanging your clothes outside on a line to dry in the sun is cheaper than running the dryer and your clothes smell fresher.

Walking, or biking more often is good for you and doesn’t cost you a cent.

Taking public transport is cheaper than paying for gas and insurance for your car and has a lower C02 footprint.

Buying a re-usable bag to bring to the grocery store has an initial cost but if you shop at a store that charges 5 cents per plastic bag you’ll save money in the long run and keep plastic bags out of landfills.

If you convert your house to an alternative power source it will be expensive but in the research I’ve done on this I’ve learned that many homes in my city that have converted actually make surplus energy and the local energy company ends up buying it back from them. So in the long run that saves money or possibly even makes you money.

Seriously, I think everyone is missing the point here. Ok, I am your average type of human being, I think but perhaps that’s another debate and if I were to say tomorrow that I want to change to a COMPLETELY green lifestyle, no matter how I look at it, there are cost implications. I drive a 1.4 car which isn’t horrendously bad for the environment so if I wanted to go greener, I would have to BUY a new car for damsite more than mines worth.

Public transport is not an option for me, I have to drive to get to work as there is no adequate infrastructure to support me.

I live in a flat with no outside facilities, I cannot grow my own food. Granted, I can BUY food from more sustainable sources but this is generally more EXPENSIVE than a Bernard Matthews lifestyle.

Because I have no outside facilities, I cannot dry my clothes on a washing line, I have to dry them inside, sometimes by way of using my CENTRAL HEATING when not necessary.

And if you are saying that I am a one off, you must be joking, how many people are there in flats in every major city in the world in the same situation?

Hey, if anyone has any ideas about how I can combat the above, happy days, and I know that you’ll say every bit counts. And indeed it probably does but to go COMPLETELY green, there is COST, COST, COST.

Well, since being called a self righteous type of person I haven’t seen the ‘live earth was great’ brigade offer a single practical idea to allow anyone to make a noticable impact (apart from Tricia). One or two say they do their bit but don’t shout about it. Ok neither do I normally but this is a blog about such actions so hardly shouting. Does that mean we can not share your actions? You don’t think it is on a discussion blog that you might offer us your practical ideas?
Lib,
I would tend to say that the biggest change you could make would be to look at what you are buying and work out its carbon footprint for manufacture and use, regardless of where items are made they have a footprint. This is not so easy to do unless you are in manufacturing or some sort of technical discipline, unfortunately one of the easiest pieces of legislation that could be passed - compulsory carbon labelling has not yet been done - I wonder why? Instead we have everyone focusing on a concert and a couple of lightbulbs.
Nobody likes to actually tackle the problem. Our food is broken down for us on the label - salt, protein, fat, fibre, etc. Why not our consumer goods? Energy needed for manufacture, logisitcs, packaging, recycling, etc.
You could investigate a few solar panels depending on the direction your flat faces, 50% of this cost can be claimed from the government and the other 50% should repay over 20 years or so, now this is an issue as no doubt you’ll have moved by then and also investing 2000GBP on a 20 year return is not exactly good business. Same for the small wind turbines available at B&Q. This is where we should be pressing for ‘green taxes’ to be spent. How many roofs are there in the world that could have such items?
However I should shut up now before i am accused of being something else, know all, self righteuos, pious, whatever.

Thanks Gareth, I would say offering solutions is an integral part of this blog.

To everyone else, in the words of Delia Smith “Where are you!” “Who are you!” Lets come up with more ideas for going greener.

If you don’t have a shower or clean your teeth for a few weeks i suspect you’ll be a bit greener

Uuumm, perhaps we could ask Shrek to bring something to the table, he’s got it well sorted.

Shrek and the donkey remember….

The answer was staring us all in the face.

GO! Green - GO! Shrek.

Still waiting for my 4.0Lt car - hopefully it will arrive in Sept and then i can fill it with 14 gallons of cheap petrol and speed up and down the highway at 160km/hr to see how long it takes to empty the tank - petrol is $1.8/gallon here, and i don’t pay for it, yippee!
Thank’s everyone for contributing to the world’s reduction in CO2 production and allowing me to increase mine.
PS The energy efficient lightbulbs look crap in a decent lampshade

WHOcares about carbon footprints?

Not I.

The planet was goosed when I got here and it will get worse when I cark it.

Let the next generations deal with it.